This article argues for a new interpretation of the realist claim that politics is autonomous from morality and involves specific political values. First, this article defends an original normative source: functional normativity. Second, it advocates a substantive functional standard: political institutions ought to be assessed by their capacity to select and implement collective decisions. Drawing from the ‘etiological account’ in philosophy of biology, I will argue that functions yield normative standards, which are independent from morality. For example, a ‘good heart’ (...) is one that pumps blood well, and a good army is one that it is effective at exerting military force. I then interpret realism’s naturalistic conception of politics as an etiological function of social groups: namely making binding collective decisions under persistent disagreement. I conclude that political institutions should be evaluated realistically by how well they perform this task. Finally, I assess trade-offs between this functional political normativity and other moral values. I conclude that justice, fairness, freedom and equality remain obviously important concerns, but only once the basic political function is secured. (shrink)

El presente ensayo aborda la cuestión democrática y la crisis de época que la afectan. Subraya la complejidad y paradojalidad de la sociedad de fin del milenio y afirma la necesidad de contar con un modelo de análisis adecuado para dar cuenta de tales peculiaridades. Se detiene en la consideración de las llamadas "democracias tardías", en especial las del Cono Sur y en particular, el caso argentino. Cuestiona la insuficiencia de las visiones politológicas tradicionales. Termina afirmando la necesidad de enlazar (...) epistémicamente, cultura, derecho y política para la construcción de una matriz teórica adecuada acerca del proceso democrático en nuestra época. (shrink)

Against the recent attempts by Irwin and Furley to subsume the final cause in the efficient cause, I try to read the notion of final causality as the result of a deconstruction made by Aristotle of the "divine cause" of the Timaeus. The final cause indicates a special dependency relationship in which a single event is essentially connected only to one of its consequences, and accidentally to all the others.

We study the general problem of strengthening the logic of a given matrix with a set of axioms, using the idea of rexpansion. We obtain two characterization methods: a very general but not very effective one, and then an effective method which only applies under certain restrictions on the given semantics and the shape of the axioms. We show that this second method covers a myriad of examples in the literature. Finally, we illustrate how to obtain analytic multiple-conclusion calculi for (...) the resulting logics. (shrink)

Hybrid languages are expansions of propositional modal languages which can refer to worlds. The use of strong hybrid languages dates back to at least [Pri67], but recent work has focussed on a more constrained system called $\mathscr{H}$. We show in detail that $\mathscr{H}$ is modally natural. We begin by studying its expressivity, and provide model theoretic characterizations and a syntactic characterization. The key result to emerge is that $\mathscr{H}$ corresponds to the fragment of first-order logic which is invariant for generated (...) submodels. We then show that $\mathscr{H}$ enjoys interpolation, provide counterexamples for its finite variable fragments, and show that weak interpolation holds for the sublanguage $\mathscr{H}$. Finally, we provide complexity results for $\mathscr{H}$ and other fragments and variants, and sharpen known undecidability results for $\mathscr{H}$. (shrink)

A recent article by Burch-Brown and Archer provides compelling arguments that biodiversity is either a natural kind or a pragmatically-valid scientific entity. I call into question three of these arguments. The first argument contends that biodiversity is a Homeostatic Property Cluster. I respond that there is no plausible homeostatic mechanism that would make biodiversity an HPC natural kind. The second argument proposes that biodiversity is a multiply-realizable functional kind. I respond that there is no shared function to ground this account. (...) The final, and strongest, argument, is that biodiversity is an ineliminable explanans and explanandum in various subdisciplines of biology. I argue that once we look at the details of the relevant research, not only does biodiversity in a broad sense not function in explanatory roles, but we must eliminate biodiversity in favor of more specific concepts in order to make sense of the leading explanations in contemporary ecology and conservation science. (shrink)

In the 1970s, R.D. MacElroy coined the term ‘extremophile’ to describe microorganisms that thrive under extreme conditions (MacElroy 1974). This hybrid word transliterates to ‘love of extremes’ and has been studied as a straightforward concept for the past 40 years. In this paper, we discuss several ways the term has been understood in the scientific literature, each of which has different consequences for the distribution and importance of extremophiles. They are, briefly, Human-Centric, at the Edge of life’s habitation of Morphospace, (...) by appeal to Statistical Rarity, described by Objective Limits, and at the Limits of Impossibility for metabolic processes. Importantly, these concepts have co-existed, unacknowledged and conflated, for decades. Confusion and equivocation threaten to follow from the wildly varied inclusion or exclusion of organisms as extremophiles depending on the concept used. Under some conceptions, entire kinds of extremophiles become meaningless. Since our understanding of how life works is shaped by what we take to be its extremes, clarifying extremophily is key for many large-scale projects in biology, ecology, biotechnology and astrobiology. In what follows, we proceed as if a noncontroversial account of life is possible and that it is possible to find complex chemistry in the Universe that is similar enough to Life on Earth such that both may be considered instances of ‘life’ (but see Mariscal & Doolittle 2018). We raise, but do not address, the questions of whether the distribution of Life on Earth is representative of what we may find elsewhere in the Universe, whether the same kinds of extremophiles would exist given a replay of the tape of life. Additionally, each of these concepts assumes life based on some sort of biochemistry in this universe, effectively setting aside claims made by some artificial life proponents that their digital organisms are genuine examples of life (Langton 1989, Ray 1995). On the distinction between extremophilic and extremotolerant, we note that all accounts accept the latter as a broader category than the former, since ‘phily’ means love and tolerance is a prerequisite for love under any conception. Indeed, there will be many extremely impoverished environments where tolerance is the only option and thriving is precluded, e.g. Bacillus marismortui was extracted and grown from 250-million-year-old salt crystals in the Permian Salado Formation in an inactive yet persistent state (Vreeland et al., 2000). We also note that extremophily, as a functional category, is potentially applicable at many levels of the biological hierarchy. Extremophily at one level does not necessarily extend to higher and lower levels. For instance, a microorganism in isolation might be quite intolerant to certain environmental conditions yet flourish when subjected to the same conditions as a community or natural biofilm. Alternatively, a protein molecule might be quite stable or active under certain conditions even if the optimal environment for the organism containing it is far more mesophilic. There is an industry of artificially selecting organisms and proteins to adapt to extreme environments (see van den Burg & Eijsink 2002), providing some justification to consider ‘functioning at extremes’ as a worthwhile category of investigation. Finally, we also note certain physico-chemical ranges are rarely considered with respect to extremophily – timespan, size, nutrient availability (Hoehler & Jørgensen 2013), etc. – as well as some biological parameters – abundance, isolation, competition, etc. Perhaps scientific interest must also come into play as to the reason these criteria are not considered relevant. We return to this issue later. In the next section, we give five definitions of extremophily, show their benefits, drawbacks, and unintended yet unavoidable consequences. These arguments are summarized in Table 1 and represented visually in Figures 1 and 2. Given research on polyextremophiles, it seems Figure 2 is a more plausible representation of the state of current knowledge than Figure 1 (Harrison et al. 2013). Life is patchily distributed across various dimensions, which may reflect its contingent history, poor sampling, or (perhaps) fundamental limits. Figure 3 shows the conceptual flowchart for all of these views. In the following section, we take a step back to ask whether we should choose between these definitions and how such a judgment could be made. We argue for a limited pluralism, in which some, but not all, of the concepts are acceptable relative to certain practical and theoretical aims. (shrink)

This work identifies a recurring element in Paul Ricœur1s thought, namely that of carrying out a hermeneutic graft in specialized areas of knowledge that deal with certain philosophical problems, which will be demonstrated in the following topics, where they will be presented: i) the phenomenological investigation into the privileged access to the cogito, in The Conflict of Interpretations — Essays in Hermeneutics; ii) the epistemological and ontological problems of access to the historical past, as well as the relationship between historiography (...) and fictional literature, in Time and Narrative; iii) the question of personal identity in the analytical tradition of the philosophy of language, in Oneself as Another; iv) finally, the limits of the naturalistic approaches of neurosciences and cognitive sciences on memory in Memory, History, Forgetting and What makes us think?. The philosopher, in The Conflict of Interpretations, openly claims to promote a grafting of the hermeneutic problem into the phenomenological method in his investigation into the understanding of oneself based on the conflict between rival interpretations concerning the cogito. Jean Greisch, in turn, suggests the existence of a graft not assumed by Ricœur of hermeneutics in the philosophy of language in Oneself as Another. Along the same path, this work offers as a novelty the encounter of two other tacit hermeneutic grafts in Ricœur’s work, namely the hermeneutic graft in the phenomenology of time in Time and Narrative and in the naturalized treatment of memory by neurosciences in Memory, History, Forgetting and What makes us think?. (shrink)

A decomposition model of Net Final Values (NFV), named Systemic Value Added (SVA), is proposed for decision-making purposes, based on a systemic approach introduced in Magni [Magni, C. A. (2003), Bulletin of Economic Research 55(2), 149–176; Magni, C. A. (2004) Economic Modelling 21, 595–617]. The model translates the notion of excess profit giving formal expression to a counterfactual alternative available to the decision maker. Relations with other decomposition models are studied, among which Stewart’s [Stewart, G.B. (1991), The Quest for Value: (...) The EVA™ Management Guide, Harper Collins, Publishers Inc]. The index here introduced differs from Stewart’s Economic Value Added (EVA) in that it rests on a different interpretation of the notion of excess profit and is formally connected with the EVA model by means of a shadow project. The SVA is formally and conceptually threefold, in that it is economic, financial, accounting-flavoured. Some results are offered, providing sufficient and necessary conditions for decomposing NFV. Relations between a project’s SVA and its shadow project’s EVA are shown, all results of Pressacco and Stucchi [Pressacco, F. and Stucchi, P. (1997), Rivista di Matematica per le Scienze Economiche e Sociali 20, 165–185] are proved by making use of the systemic approach and the shadow counterparts of those results are also shown. (shrink)

First, the importance of language in cognition is recognized. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily imply that the locus of thought is natural language (words, syntax, phonology). Then, difficulties with some of Carruthers’ hypotheses are stated: Is an account based on LFs capable of dealing with the complexities involved in what we call thought? Finally, mention of the issue of language production is made.

This paper addresses Husserl’s theory of image consciousness and phantasy, which, along with remembering, constitute three kinds of presentification, a sort of intuitive intentional relational different from perception. In the second place, the paper tries to highlight the significance of «neutralizatiom> - as a means to access the world of phantasy - for the understanding of the origin of the aesthetic attitude. Finally, the paper discusses the kind of spacial relations that arise from «neutralizatiom>, in contrast with life-world experience of (...) space, and how those relations can be exemplified in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Rear Window. (shrink)

This paper addresses the meaning of Husserl’s idealism between the Ideas of 1913 and the Cartesian Meditations of 1931. In the work of 1913, the idealism stems from a distinction between consciousness and world based in a difference in the corresponding modes of giveness: consciousness gives itself absolutely and without profiles, and the world is given as an identity pole of a multiplicity of profiles. The fact that Husserl offered a second definition of his idealism in the same work proves (...) that he thought the first one was not sufficient to ground the kind of idealism he was committed to. According to this second definition, consciousness is an absolute being that nulla res indigent ad existendum, while the world has a relative and contingent being. In 1931 the Cartesian Meditations give the final clue to the understanding of these earlier definitions. Husserls sharply distinguishes his phenomenological idealism from the Berkeleyan and Kantian ones and defines it as a thorough explicitation of the Ego as a constitutive agency, so that the «world that really is» is «the world constituted by consciousness». (shrink)

La conquista del poder por la izquierda ha tenido un carácter internacional desde su génesis en el siglo XIX. Esta aproximación colaborativa permite contextualizar lo que significó el Foro de São Paulo a finales del siglo XX para la izquierda latinoamericana tras la desintegración de la URSS. Por lo que se analiza al Socialismo del siglo XXI como su principal producto, explicando las circunstancias que permitieron su surgimiento en Venezuela, así como su proceso de expansión y crisis, que se vería (...) acentuada por la muerte de los líderes históricos de la izquierda latinoamericana. Finalmente, se presenta al Grupo de Puebla como una respuesta a la iniciativa articuladora de la derecha en América Latina, el Grupo de Lima, indicando por medio de ello los elementos de continuidad y disrupción con el Foro de São Paulo, sirviendo como instancia articuladora de la izquierda en la región. (shrink)

We construct the Extended Relativity Theory in Born-Clifford-Phase spaces with an upper R and lower length λ scales (infrared/ultraviolet cutoff). The invariance symmetry leads naturally to the real Clifford algebra Cl (2, 6, R) and complexified Clifford Cl C (4) algebra related to Twistors. A unified theory of all Noncommutative branes in Clifford-spaces is developed based on the Moyal-Yang star product deformation quantization whose deformation parameter involves the lower/upper scale $$(\hbar \lambda / R)$$. Previous work led us to show from (...) first principles why the observed value of the vacuum energy density (cosmological constant) is given by a geometric mean relationship $$\rho \sim L_{\rm Planck}^{-2}R^{-2} = L_{P}^{-4} (L_{\rm Planck} / R)^{2} \sim 10^{-122}M_{\rm Planck}^4$$, and can be obtained when the infrared scale R is set to be of the order of the present value of the Hubble radius. We proceed with an extensive review of Smith’s 8D model based on the Clifford algebra Cl (1, 7) that reproduces at low energies the physics of the Standard Model and Gravity, including the derivation of all the coupling constants, particle masses, mixing angles,....with high precision. Geometric actions are presented like the Clifford-Space extension of Maxwell’s Electrodynamics, and Brandt’s action related to the 8D spacetime tangent-bundle involving coordinates and velocities (Finsler geometries). Finally we outline the reasons why a Clifford-Space Geometric Unification of all forces is a very reasonable avenue to consider and propose an Einstein-Hilbert type action in Clifford-Phase spaces (associated with the 8D Phase space) as a Unified Field theory action candidate that should reproduce the physics of the Standard Model plus Gravity in the low energy limit. (shrink)

En este trabajo, el autor analiza las contradicciones que el multiculturalismo plantea en las sociedades actuales, resaltando la importante mediación que el sistema político democrático lleva a cabo en la resolución de las mismas. A partir de los artículos de tres autores ('The Politics ofRecognition" de CH Taylor: "Struggles for Recognition in Constitutional States" de J. Habermas y "Legitimacy and Diversity: Dialectical Reflections on Analytical Distinctions" de T. McCarthy) y de la referencia final al trabajo de Rawls 'The Law of (...) the People", expone una serie de momentos teóricos que representan diferentes estadios en la discusión entre el pensamiento liberal y el comunitarismo, y que componen un proceso explicativo en el que cada uno de esos momentos supondría una superación teórica del anterior. En concreto, el autor trata de situar la discusión sobre el reconocimiento del derecho a la diferencia, en el terreno en el que del análista del modelo teórico del liberalismo más acorde con el reconocimiento de derechos a las colectividades-el republicanismo comunitarista al que se refiere Taylor-, se pase al análisis del tipo de sistema político dentro del cual se reconozca la diferencia y la existencia de otras culturas como algo que ya estaba implícito en la teoría de los derechos. Este sistema político sería la democracia deliberativa y su procedimiento discursivo para tomar decisiciones y llegar a acuerdos, propuesto por J. Habermas. El trabajo de McCarthy tratarla de resolver algunas fisuras en la democracia deliberativa que afectarían a su legitimidad por cuanto suponen un menoscabo a la idea misma de las diferencias. Finalmente, la alusión a Rawls permite al autor erigir el sistema de los derechos humanos en el estándar mínimo necesario para llegar a un acuerdo global lo suficientemente amplio y abstracto como para garantizar el máximo respeto a las diferencias. Un acuerdo que, insiste el autor, sólo puede enmarcarse en un proyecto democrático con dimensión internacional, al que llama "horizonte cosmopolitamente democrático". (shrink)

To date, no definition of life has been unequivocally accepted by the scientific community. In frustration, some authors advocate alternatives to standard definitions. These include using a list of characteristic features, focusing on life’s effects, or categorizing biospheres rather than life itself; treating life as a fuzzy category, a process or a cluster of contingent properties; or advocating a ‘wait-and-see’ approach until other examples of life are created or discovered. But these skeptical, operational, and pluralistic approaches have intensified the debate, (...) rather than settled it. Given the failure of even these approaches, we advocate a new strategy. In this paper, we reverse the usual line of reasoning and argue that the “life problem” arises from thinking incorrectly about the nature of life. Scientists most often conceptualize life as a class or kind, with earthly life as a single instance of it. Instead, we advocate thinking about Earth’s Life as an individual, in the way that species are now thought to be. In this view, Life is a monophyletic clade that originated with a last universal common ancestor, and includes all its descendants. We can continue to use the category ‘life’ pragmatically to refer to similarities between various phenomena and Life. But the relevant similarities are a matter of interest and preference, not a matter of fact. The search for other life in the Universe, then, is merely a search for entities that resemble parts of Life in whatever sense astrobiologists find most appealing. This does not mean that the search for evolved complexity elsewhere in the universe or its creation in the lab are futile endeavors, but that debates over whether they count as ‘life’ are. Ironically, finally abandoning the concept ‘life’ may make our searches for evolved complexity more fruitful. We explain why. (shrink)

BackgroundIn Palliative Care, family and close people are an essential part of provision of care. They assume highly complex tasks for which they are not prepared, with considerable physical, psychological, social and economic impact. Informal Caregivers often falter in the final stage of life and develop distress, enhancing emotional burden and complicated grief. The lack of available and accessible in-person counselling resources is often reported by ICs. Online resources can promote early access to help and support for patient-IC dyads in (...) palliative care. The primary aim of this research is to co-design, develop and test the feasibility of the Help2Care-PAL mHealth app that addresses the needs of ICs of palliative patients cared for at home. This Digital Health Intervention in palliative care will be used for education, symptom management, communication and decision-making, to enhance Quality of Life of patients and ICs, fostering anticipatory grief and the reach and efficiency of services.MethodsThis study will use an iterative co-design process and convergent mixed-methods design, following the MORECare consensus for developing a complex intervention. Construction of the DHI will follow four main phases: a needs assessment ; design and co-production of mHealth materials and interventions to support ICs; the development of a mHealth app; and usability and feasibility of the mHealth app. The Help2Care-PAL platform seeks to build resources from the perspectives and needs of both family dyads and nursing professionals working in the field of community palliative care. User-centeredness will be ensured by the active participation of patient-IC dyads and professionals of the palliative care community.DiscussionThis mixed-method study will offer new insights on needs and expectations of patient-IC dyads and nurses in community palliative care regarding caregiving preparedness and online health resources. Through the implementation of an adaptive digital tool, we aim to improve access to palliative care family support, which is highly linked with the wellbeing of patients and especially new ICs. (shrink)

RESUMEN Este trabajo se propone analizar los aportes de Judith Butler a las actuales lecturas norteamericanas sobre la introducción del deseo en la Fenomenología del espíritu de Hegel. Para ello, en primer lugar, situamos la aparición del deseo en la obra mencionada; en segundo lugar reconstruimos los principales lineamientos de las interpretaciones estadounidenses en boga; en tercer lugar nos ocupamos del análisis que Butler realiza sobre esta cuestión en Sujetos del deseo. Reflexiones hegelianas en la Francia del siglo XX. Por (...) último, en la conclusión, sistematizamos las contribuciones de Butler, destacando fundamentalmente tres: la significación particular que le otorga al deseo en su momento de emergencia; el modo de abordaje de esta problemática que se detiene en el estudio del tercer capítulo de la Fenomenología del espíritu; y la perspectiva retórica desde la que explica el deseo. ABSTRACT This paper aims to analyze Judith Butler's contributions to the recent interpretations of the introduction of desire in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, proposed by American scholars. In order to achieve this goal, we situate the appearance of desire in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Then, we reconstruct the main recent American readings. Finally, we examine Butler's interpretation. In the conclusion of this paper, we systematize the most important features of Butler's reading: the meaning of desire in the context of its moment of emergency; the way in which Butler studies this issue, which consist in a thorough reading of chapter III ofHegel's Phenomenology of Spirit; and Butler's rhetorical perspective of desire. (shrink)

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the phenomenological epoché and the phenomenological problem of the relationship between the consciousness and the world. Initially, the article examines the first implication of the exercise of epoché : the idea of "loss of the world." Then examines the second implication of this exercise: the idea of "recovery of the world" in the transcendental consciousness. Finally, the article elucidates the specificity of phenomenological idealism of Husserl. The widespread exercise of the epoché does (...) not imply a denial of the existence of the world. The task of this idealism is elucidate the phenomenological sense of this world that is formed intentionally in the transcendental subjectivity. (shrink)

Resumen: Varios comentaristas han sostenido que la ontología de la concepción hegeliana de “alma bella” se funda en la determinación conocida como “mal infinito”, desarrollada en la Doctrina del Ser. En correlación con lo antedicho, comentaristas como Paha, Hinchman, Solomon y Harris sostienen que Hegel pensaba en el sistema filosófico fichteano al momento de desarrollar su concepción de “alma bella”. Sin embargo, esta hipótesis de lectura adolece de algunas falencias que serán desarrolladas a continuación. En primer lugar, es necesario realizar (...) una breve exposición de la figura del Espíritu conocida como “alma bella”; en segundo lugar, se describirá la determinación denominada “mal infinito”; en tercer lugar, se desarrollarán los problemas que conlleva la mencionada exégesis; en cuarto lugar, se expondrán las objeciones a la inclusión de la filosofía de Fichte como ejemplo de la concepción hegeliana de “alma bella”. Finalmente, se expondrán las conclusiones.: Many scholars have stated that the ontology of the Hegelian notion of “beautiful soul” is grounded in the category known as “bad infinite”, developed in the Doctrine of Being. Regarding this, scholars like Paha, Hinchman, Solomon and Harris state that Hegel was thinking of the Fichtean philosophical system as He developed his own notion of “beautiful soul”. However, this interpretation has some issues, which will be developed below. First, we give a short explanation about the shape of the Spirit known as “beautiful soul”. Second, we describe the category called “bad infinite”. Third, we show the issues related to the interpretation. Fourth, we present the objections to the inclusion of the Fichtean philosophy as an example of the Hegelian notion of “beautiful soul”. Finally, we present the conclusions. (shrink)

L’article présente une brève histoire de l’interprétation évolutionniste des traités d’Aristote à partir de la tendance évolutionniste de Jaeger. Il se concentre surtout, en premier lieu, sur la naissance et le développement des interprétations dialectiques des traités aristotéliciens à partir des années soixante du XX e siècle et, en second lieu, sur les critiques adressées à cette tendance par les interprètes contemporains du début du XXI e siècle. La section finale propose une approche alternative : selon cette interprétation, Aristote (...) ne renonce pas, y compris dans ses Éthiques, à la recherche de la définition. Dans l’ Éthique à Nicomaque, il parvient à définir les principaux concepts et phénomènes moraux en suivant la méthode permettant de fonder les définitions qui est décrite dans les Seconds Analytiques, livre II. Cela n’exclut pas que la méthode « dialectique » ou « endoxale » ait un certain rôle dans l’ Éthique à Nicomaque. (shrink)

Exchange of arguments in a discussion often makes individuals more radical about their initial opinion. This phenomenon is known as Group-induced Attitude Polarization. A byproduct of it are bipolarization effects, where the distance between the attitudes of two groups of individuals increases after the discussion. This paper is a first attempt to analyse the building blocks of information exchange and information update that induce polarization. I use Argumentation Frameworks as a tool for encoding the information of agents in a debate (...) relative to a given issue a. I then adapt a specific measure of the degree of acceptability of an opinion. Changes in the degree of acceptability of a, prior and posterior to information exchange, serve here as an indicator of polarization. I finally show that the way agents transmit and update information has a decisive impact on polarization and bipolarization. (shrink)

Since its origin, Greek philosophy has made an attempt to rationally determine what the 'divine', object of myth and religious practice, really is. In the present article we examine Proclus's project of a philosophical theology. First, by determining its object (theion) : the absolute One and the henads, secondly by distinguishing its method (logos) from other forms of theological discourse : symbolic-mythological, eikonic and oracular. Finally, we explain how Proclus came to understand the logical discussion in the Parmenides of Plato (...) as the perfect system of scientific dialectical theology, a philosophical 'hymn of the generation of the gods'. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo plantea la tesis que la complejidad humana es directamente proporcional a la consideración y estudio de múltiples temporalidades, todas las cuales tienen una base común la biología. Esta tesis se articula en dos argumentos. El primero sostiene que la complejidad en general es el tiempo mismo, lo cual significa directa e inmediatamente que el tiempo no es simplemente una variable. El segundo afirma la necesidad y la importancia de una epistemología del tiempo. Este segundo argumento emerge como (...) una subtesis, relativamente a la tesis principal. Al final se concluyen dos cosas: a) que la base material de la ciencia no es hoy ya la física, sino la biología; sin embargo, biología y cultura constituyen una sólida unidad, algo que es evidente gracias a la epigenética; b) que los actos humanos pueden explicarse a partir de temporalidades diferentes anteriores al segundo, las cuales se proyectan a escalas más amplias y densas. Las ciencias sociales y humanas pueden enriquecerse enormemente a partir de un cuadro semejante.: This paper claims that human complexity is directly proportional to considering and studying various times, all of which have a common ground in biology. The claim brought out entails a twofold argument. One says that complexity in general is time, which means straightforwardly that time is not a sheer variable. The second argument argues about the need for and importance of an epistemology of time. The latter argument emerges a second claim vis-à-vis the main one. At the end two clear cut conclusions are drawn, thus: a) the material ground for science is nowadays not physics any more but biology; however, biology and culture make a solid unity, something that is made evident thanks to epigenetics; b) human actions can be explained by virtue of different times prior to a second, all of which are projected onto larger and more dense time scales. The human and social sciences can benefit enormously from such a depicted frame. (shrink)

This paper aims of this to describe, from Hannah Arendt’s point of view the theoretical and historical route that provide the emergence of one at the three faculties of the spirit: the faculty of the will or want. Drawing initially on ancient Greece, the paper also deals with contributions of classic, mediavel and modern thinkers. In a retrospective approach Arendt examines the perception and installation process of the faculty of the will, by correlating it with the advent and consolidation of (...) the linear conception of time, essencially from christian origins, against the background of cyclical conception of time, from Greek origins. It also reflects about the clash between the faculties of will and thinking, by following the controversy between Saint Tomas Aquino and Duns Scotus about the subject. Finally, the paper links the faculty of the will to the idea of freedom which is rationale of human condition. (shrink)

This text addresses the problems of tragedy, invention and the colonized body in the writings of the martinican thinkers Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon. To do this, at first we stop at the link that exists between the tragedy of the experiences of the black bodies alluded to in the writings of the aforementioned authors with the controls and reifications of colonial modernity. In a second moment, we discuss the invention of poetic image in Césaire's Notebook of a Return to (...) Native Land and how the agency of a body of its own excels out from it through a critical rewriting of the Atlantic Triangle. Next, in a third section, we reflect on Fanon's lived experience in his work Black skin, white masks in order to trace his tragic, self-destructive nature, and his inventive power. Finally, it is concluded that Césaire and Fanon make the invention a possibility of constructing another historical imagination of the body outside of the racial orders of colonial modernity. (shrink)

Since the crisis of Fordism, capitalism has been characterised by the ever more central role of knowledge and the rise of the cognitive dimensions of labour. This is not to say that the centrality of knowledge to capitalism is new per se. Rather, the question we must ask is to what extent we can speak of a new role for knowledge and, more importantly, its relationship with transformations in the capital/labour relation. From this perspective, the paper highlights the continuing validity (...) of Marx's analysis of the knowledge/power relation in the development of the division of labour. More precisely, we are concerned with the theoretical and heuristic value of the concepts of formal subsumption, real subsumption and general intellect for any interpretation of the present change of the capital/labour relation in cognitive capitalism. In this way, we show the originality of the general intellect hypothesis as a sublation of real subsumption. Finally, the article summarises key contradictions and new forms of antagonism in cognitive capitalism. (shrink)

Among the correspondence between Husserl and Brentano kept at the Houghton Library of Harvard University there is a letter from Husserl to Brentano from 29 XII 1889, whose contents were completely unknown until now. The letter is of some significance, both historically as well as systematically for Husserl’s early development, painting a vivid picture of his relation and indebtedness to his teacher Franz Brentano. As in his letter to Stumpf from February 1890, Husserl describes the issues he had encountered during (...) the elaboration of his habilitation work into the Philosophy of Arithmetic, but also announces that he has finally found "clarity" regarding the arithmetica universalis. (shrink)

In his final writings Guattari designed a four-functor meta-model with which to map subjective resingularisation against the backdrop of what he saw as the late-modern admixture of ecological collapse, social deterioration and subjective decomposition. I examine here Guattari’s fourfold in neo-structuralist terms and then engage in a discussion on the difference between worlding and deterritorialisation, reassessing in this sense Guattari’s concept of machinic indices in conversation with the works of anthropologists. Further, I show that Guattari’s fourfold is reminiscent of Heidegger’s (...) Geviert, which I place at the very core of Heidegger’s project of overcoming the modern Ge-stell. Lastly, from the fact that Guattari’s fourfold opens onto the question of worlding and that Heidegger points to our incapability to tune in and sing back to the earth’s song, I draw the conclusion that they put forward an eco-cosmo-poetics that points beyond the flat ontology of today’s new materialism and the subtractive logic of speculative realism. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo explica la complejización de las ciencias sociales en el curso del siglo XXI, y aporta tres razones por las que este proceso ha tenido lugar. La tesis que se defiende aquí es que las ciencias sociales sufren una metamorfosis radical que deben asumir si quieren seguir existiendo. Aunque nada obliga a que tengan que seguir existiendo. Al final, en unas concusiones abiertas, se señala cómo, como consecuencia de las transformaciones en crisis, emerge una ciencia de lo imposible.: (...) This paper explains the process of complexification of the social sciences during the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, while it provides three reasons why this has happened. The paper claims that the human and social sciences must undergo a radical metamorphosis if they want to keep alive at all. Even though, nothing obliges that these sciences must go on existing. At the end, as an open-ended conclusion, it is pointed out how, because of the changes that express a deep crisis, how a brand-new science of the impossible has emerged. (shrink)

The notion of stimulus meaning, a key notion for Quine's Indeterminacy of Translation thesis, has undergone an essentiaJ change fi'om the beginning of the nineties. Then, this essay offers an expository work oj this change (its origin and motivations) and its final result. Th~ main aim of this essay is to show the validity of the reasons that forced Quine to modify his stimulus meaning notion and the failure of its substitutes (global stimulus, stimulus range, and perceptual similarity) to solue (...) the problems they were thought to give an account of. Moreover, these new notions make the Indeterminacy Thesis, mainly the Inscrutability of Reference Thesis, face new problems and, if I'm right, unsolvable ones. (shrink)

Family, bioethics, and contemporary assertion of rights Família, bioética e reivindicação contemporânea de direitos The starting point of this article is a historical approach to the contemporary origins of the current right recognition movement in relation to the family. Also, through a philosophical-legal research into its essential features, the author proposes an interdisciplinary reflection on the links between such movement and a new anthropological and legal conception of family driven by a particular use of biotechnology. Some alternative critical proposals to (...) this way of thinking by authors from the legal, psychoanalytic and philosophical fields are also explored. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion on the need for broadening the philosophical and anthropological bases of the debate on the family in order to overcome the ideological bias of legal reforms underway. Para citar este artículo / to reference this article / para citar este artigo Hoevel C. Familia, bioética y reivindicación contemporánea de los derechos. pers. bioét. 2018; 22: 247-262. DOI: 10.5294/pebi.2018.22.2.4. (shrink)

Después de la publicación de su tesis doctoral titulada La acción (1893), el filósofo francés Maurice Blondel escribió algunas obras en las que trató asuntos de enorme importancia, tanto en el campo filosófico como teológico, que desarrollaron las temáticas centrales de La acción, obra que a finales del siglo XIX generó tanto revuelo en el ambiente filosófico francés. Con la conciencia de su actualidad y su inmenso valor para una perspectiva novedosa de la metafísica y el diálogo fe-razón, se pretende (...) aquí una aproximación a cuatro obras que los estudiosos del pensamiento blondeliano han llamado “menores”. El presente artículo desarrolla los principales aportes de dichas obras a la reflexión filosófica contemporánea, indagando al mismo tiempo por la filosofía de la acción en cada una de ellas. Después de una corta biografía del pensador en cuestión, se abordará el significado de la filosofía de la acción con vistas a su elucidación para el lector. Posteriormente se presentará el contexto histórico de cada obra y se mostrarán sus vínculos con La acción, para terminar con algunas reflexiones que su lectura suscita en nuestro tiempo, cuyos desafíos son similares a los que Blondel tuvo que enfrentar en su momento. (shrink)

Experimental studies have suggested that variables such as aptness or conventionality are predictors of people’s preference for expressing a particular topic–vehicle pair as either a metaphor or a simile. In the present study, we investigated if such variables would also be predictive within a more naturalistic context, where other variables, such as the intention to include an explanation, may also influence people’s decision. Specifically, we investigated the production of metaphor and simile expressions on the Internet via the Google search engine (...) and checked for accompanying explanations, as well as the properties they expressed, to examine whether ratings such as aptness, conventionality, as well as participants’ own stated preference or the intention to produce an explanation, would predict which topic–vehicle pairs appeared more often as metaphor. We found that participants’ stated preference predicted metaphor dominance on the Internet, and that apt topic–vehicles occurred more often as metaphors. The explanations collected, however, occurred 82% of the time after similes, and familiar expressions were the most explained. Finally, comparing the properties expressed in these explanations to normed property lists, we found that simile explanations typically expressed a novel conception of the topic–vehicle relationship. Therefore, we found that Internet posters use metaphors to convey an apt relationship, as found in previous laboratory studies, but prefer using a simile frame when they want to express a relationship that readers will find novel. (shrink)

We continue to explore the consequences of Thermal Relativity Theory to the physics of black holes. The thermal analog of Lorentz transformations in the tangent space of the thermodynamic manifold are studied in connection to the Hawking evaporation of Schwarzschild black holes and one finds that there is no bound to the thermal analog of proper accelerations despite the maximal bound on the thermal analog of velocity given by the Planck temperature. The proper entropic infinitesimal interval corresponding to the Kerr–Newman (...) black hole involves a \ non-Hessian metric with diagonal and off-diagonal terms of the form \^2 = g_{ ab } d Z^a dZ^b\), where \ are the mass, charge and angular momentum, respectively. Since the computation of the scalar curvature associated to this metric is very elaborate, to simplify matters, we focused on the singularities of the metric and found that they correspond to the extremal Kerr–Newman black hole case \ with vanishing temperature. Black holes in asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetimes are more subtle to study since the mass turns out to be related to the enthalpy rather that the internal energy. We finalize with some remarks about the thermal-relativistic analog of proper force, the need to extend our analysis of Gibbs-Boltzmann entropy to the case of Reny and Tsallis entropies, and to complexify spacetime. (shrink)

How can evil exist in a world governed by providence? That is the main question addressed in this chapter. To answer it, the author first sets out Proclus’ defence of providence, which combines the gods’ transcendence with their sharing goodness. The next step is to show that despite providence, evils have reality as well. There is, however, no substance or principle of evil, and only human and irrational souls and material bodies are susceptible to it. Evil’s having a ‘parhypostasis’ is (...) explained as its existing upon and alongside real existents; uncaused because a result of weakness, not power; not pure privation because parasitic on good existents, and hence a ‘subcontrary’ of the good. Finally, the author returns to the relation between providence and evil, showing that bodily evil fits the good of the universe, and that providence will punish evil souls in due course. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to reflect on the application of Semiotics to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and interface analysis. To accomplish the objective the article presents an example of semiotic analysis of a blog interface but the methodology proposed, conveniently adapted, may be applied to any kind of digital interactive environment. The analysis reconstructs the interface sense production device (including the surface of the page and the link architecture), identifies implied users and exchange scenes of the blog and concludes (...) with some reflections on interface evolution and hybridation. Finally, the article proposes future trends for a Semiotics of HCI. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo parte de un interrogante y se propone abordar un problema, a saber, si existen y son posibles una epistemología de la imposibilidad o, lo que es equivalente, una ciencia de la indeterminación. A fin de resolver el problema, se proponen tres argumentos. Esto son: primero, la imposibilidad, como la indeterminación, no deben ser concebido en modo alguno como limitaciones, restricciones o carencias. Por el contrario, se trata de ganancias o adquisiciones en el campo del conocimiento y de (...) la investigación. En segundo término, la imposibilidad significa un abandono de toda la tradición centrada en la importancia del ser, la realidad, lo dado, lo que acaece o lo que está ahí. Lo que está en juego es una fantástica revolución científica. El tercer argumento pone en evidencia que el mundo y el universo no tienen una determinación específica, y ciertamente no dada de antemano. Sobre la base de estos tres argumentos el artículo afirma que no hay ninguna disyuntiva entre una epistemología de la imposibilidad y una ciencia de la indeterminación, y que la buena investigación puede avanzar por este camino gracias al descubrimiento o la invención, que es la dúplice forma de una educación e investigación que sabe de cambios y transformaciones. Algunas conclusiones de cara a las ciencias sociales y humanas se extraen el final.: This paper starts with a question and is devoted to solving a problem, namely so establish whether an epistemology of the impossible or a science of indetermination are at all possible. In order to solve the problem three arguments are set out: firstly, impossibility very much as indetermination are not to be conceived in any sense as limits, restraints or constrictions. Quite on the contrary, they are assets that are won or acquired in the field of research and knowledge. The second argument claims that the impossible entails abandoning the entire tradition centred around being, reality, the given, what happens or what is at-hand. What is at stake is a fantastic scientific revolution. The third argument point out that the world and the universe do not have any specific determination, and certainly not one established beforehand. Based on these arguments this paper argues that there is not disjunction between an epistemology of the impossible and a science of indetermination, for research can go forwards thanks to discovery or invention which are a twofold form of research and education that know about change and metamorphosis. Several conclusions are drawn at the end vis-à-vis the social and human sciences. (shrink)

Me propongo delinear las nociones de vida y revelación tal como son descritas en la obra temprana y en la obra tardía de Michel Henry. Además, cotejaré estas descripciones con la piedra de toque de la fenomenología, a saber, la experiencia en primera persona. A partir de ella levantaré una objeción material: que la vida no se revele en mí como una fenomenalidad pura distinguida del fenómeno propia-mente dicho pone en jaque el carácter absoluto de la manifestación pues hay al (...) menos un caso en que no se cumple. Luego mostraré que, en sus últimos años, Henry da cuenta de este tipo de experiencia a partir de las figuras del mal. Argumentaré, por último, que aunque tiene el mérito de dar cuenta de una heterogeneidad posible de la experiencia, la respuesta ofrecida allí resulta insuficiente para retirar la objeción planteada inicialmente.My aim is to delineate the notions of life and revelation as they are described in the early work and in the late work of Michel Henry. In addition, I will compare these descriptions with the touchstone of phenomenology, namely, the first-person experience. Based on it I will raise a material objection: that life does not reveal itself in me as a pure phenomenality distinguished from the phenomenon itself calls into question the absolute character of manifestation because there is at least one case in which it is not fulfilled. Then I will show that, in his latest years, Henry accounts for this type of experience as a figure of evil. Finally, I will argue that, although it has the merit of accounting for a possible heterogeneity of the experience, the answer offered there is insufficient to withdraw the objection raised initially. (shrink)

El ser en su riqueza se expresa en el lenguaje que emana también del ser. El lenguaje emergió de su olvido en la filosofía griega, gracias a las ideas cristianas de encarnación y trinidad que le hicieron más justicia. El mayor milagro del lenguaje no estriba en que la palabra aparezca en su ser externo, sino en el hecho de que lo que emerge y se manifiesta sea siempre palabra. La vuelta de Gadamer al final de Verdad y método, en (...) torno a la evidencia de que el ser de lo bello consiste en presentarse, ilustra la estructura universal del ser mismo. Apalabrar a lo que es el ser mismo. Lo que determina y hace posible la interpretación es el presentarse del ser de lo que es. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This work proposes reflections on possible meanings constructed in the circulation of discourses that refer to the meaning of the term ‘competence,’ present in official documents that regulate the performance of Tilsp (Tradutores e Intérpretes de Libras e Português [Translators and Interpreters of Libras and Portuguese]). We start from the assumption that the meanings of a word are not completely static, but shift depending on the concrete situation and the interlocutors who use it. As a methodology, excerpts from official (...) documents that regulate Tilsp’s activities were analyzed. By surveying possible interlocutors brought into the documents, we were able to verify that the meaning of ‘competence’ slowly shifts as the documents are produced in their respective times. Firstly, the use of the term points to a hierarchy, later, this meaning undergoes another shift towards the construction and delimitation of Tilsp’s professional work field. Finally, ‘competence’ moves to the labor market in the relationship between supplier and customer. (shrink)

The “philosophy of conscience” is the fundamental paradigm of modern philosophy from Descartes to Kant. Such paradigm has been the object of continuous criticism starting with the so call “philosophy of suspicion” and latter on by the “linguistic turn”, which in this article is considered from the perspective of the discursive ethics of Habermas. Although these criticisms force us to abandon the primacy and the monologism of the “philosophy of conscience”, we should not forget the value of the moral conscience (...) itself in spite of all its resituations. This is what I try to claim in this work, following the arguments of Wellmer, Muguerza, Bilbeny or Renaut, among other critics, revisiting, from this perspective, the confrontation between Kant and Hegel, which has been brought up again by the liberal/communitarian debate, leading finally my discussion to the relation between individualism and cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

The objective of this work is to analyse the phenomena and the implications of hyperglobalization on current companies. To introduce this purpose, we are going to review the different processes of global economic cohesion produced throughout history. We will focus on the hyperglobalization stage and on the effect that hyperconnectivity has had for companies and their operation. We will analyze the phenomenon of big data, his new technological innovations and how they have affected the companies act and the global society. (...) Finally, we will present an ethical analysis of these new technological phenomena and their implications for society. (shrink)

We propose a notion of -minimality for partially ordered structures. Then we study -minimal partially ordered structures such that is a Boolean algebra. We prove that they admit prime models over arbitrary subsets and we characterize -categoricity in their setting. Finally, we classify -minimal Boolean algebras as well as -minimal measure spaces.