In line with its institutional commitments and in order to strengthen the relevance of its business education program in addressing the persistent social challenges facing the Philippines, Mission University revised its Master of Business Administration curriculum in 2012. A core change in the curriculum was the incorporation of action research training and the requirement for graduation of implementing and defending an action research project. The introduction of action research, which is based on critical realist philosophy of science, was intended to (...) enable the university’s MBA graduates to become reflexive and humanistic agents of change in their work contexts through the application of observation, critical reflection, collaborative analysis and action and scholarly skills. The implementation of the action research requirement is beginning to yield positive results based on the types of projects implemented by the students and their resulting sense of efficacy in the workplace. Challenges in implementation include the need to further hone student skills in pursuing more emancipatory projects and the need to further orient faculty in the critical realist philosophy underlying action research, as distinct from traditional positivism. (shrink)

Across languages, we find indefinites that overtly mark a speaker’s lack of knowledge: they signal that the speaker is unable to give any further information about who or what satisfies her existential claim (Becker, 1999; Haspelmath, 1997). From now on, we will refer to the marking of the speaker’s lack of knowledge as an epistemic effect and to the indefinites that induce epistemic effects as epistemic indefinites.

Chez Leibniz tout veut être determiné par certains principes. L'ordre logique, l'ontologie, la métaphysique, la morale, même la volonté divine, dependent entièrement d'eux. Le principe de contradiction décide ce qui est ou non logiquement possible. D'autre part, le principe de raison suffisante est consideré par notre auteur comme principe des existences, mais il n'arrive pas à expliquer la realité. C'est pour cela qu'on fait appel au principe de perfection, une sorte de corollaire du principe de raison qui vient le concretiser. (...) Selon ce que nous cherchons à montrer ici, on pourrait bien l'interpréter comme la racine de la contingence, en même temps que comme le fondement de la liberté; en un mot, il représenterait en quelque sorte la cléf-de-voute de l'univers éthique leibnizien. Il ne faut pas oublier qu'on parle de la règle de ce qui doit être. (shrink)

This study focuses on change strategies generated through a dialogical–reflexive–participatory process designed to improve the care of families of critically ill patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) using a participatory action research in a tertiary hospital in the Balearic Islands (Spain). Eleven professionals (representatives) participated in 11 discussion groups and five in‐depth interviews. They represented the opinions of 49 colleagues (participants). Four main change strategies were created: (i) Institutionally supported practices were confronted to make a shift from professional‐centered work (...) to a more inclusive, patient‐centered approach; (ii) traditional power relations were challenged to decrease the hierarchical power differences between physicians and nurses; (iii) consensus was built about the need to move from an individual to a collective position in relation to change; and (iv) consensus was built about the need to develop a critical attitude toward the conservative nature of the unit. The strategies proposed were both transgressive and conservative; however, when compared with the initial situation, they enhanced the care offered to patients' relatives and patient safety. Transforming conservative settings requires capacity to negotiate positions and potential outcomes. However, when individual critical capacities are articulated with a new approach to micropolitics, transformative proposals can be implemented and sustained. (shrink)

This work is devoted to clear how the foundation of modern thought takes place as a reinforced reiteration of metaphysics which is provoked by a defensive fold of reason against the assault of transrational. We begin showing the way this asault is experimented by Descartes in a decisive moment of his life and how reagently replies to him. The article continues showing how physics and metaphysics are being moved in Descartes on the wake of a try to build seawalls against (...) the incessant return of what has been repressed. (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between cooperative business relations in small businesses and environmental protection, one of the most important policies of social responsibility in manufacturing. We reviewed the literature and carried out an empirical study of 930 small manufacturing firms in Spain. Results indicate that small businesses that maintain and improve their cooperative relations through business networking with universities, competitors, suppliers and customers spend more on environmental protection. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the obtained research findings (...) are discussed. (shrink)

Weak determiners have both a presuppositional and a non presuppositional reading. Two ways of accounting for this fact have been proposed. The Ambiguity Approach (Partee 1989, Diesing 1992, de Hoop 1992) posits that weak determiners are ambiguous. The Pragmatic Approach (Büring 1996) claims that we do not need to postulate an ambiguity in the semantics: the presuppositional reading arises as a result of presuppositions triggered by topic/focus marking. In this paper we explore the possibility that both theories are needed. We (...) present as evidence the behavior of two Spanish weak determiners, unos and algunos. Algunos can get a presuppositional reading independently of topic/focus marking, as predicted by the Ambiguity Approach. Unos, on the other hand, exhibits the behavior predicted by the Pragmatic Approach: it is presuppositional only when marked either as contrastive topic or as focus. (shrink)

Physical laws are irresistible. Logical rules are not. That is why logic is said to be normative. Given a system of logic we have a Norma, a standard of correctness. The problem is that we need another Norma to establish when the standard of correctness is to be applied. Subsequently we start by clarifying the senses in which the term ‘Iogic’ and the term ‘normativity’ are being used. Then we explore two different epistemologies for logic to see the sort of (...) defence of the normativity of logic they allow for; if any. The analysis concentrates on the case of classical logic. In particular the issue will be appraised from the perspective put forward by the epistemology based on the methodology of wide reflective equilibrium and the scientific one underlying the view of logic as model. (shrink)

Introduction -- Concepts and theories -- Environment and citizenship : the basics -- Introducing citizenship theories -- Theorizing environmental citizenship -- Actions and practices -- Environmental citizenship in action -- Governing environmental citizenship -- Environmental citizenship incorporated -- Pedagogies and representations -- Learning environmental citizenship -- Conclusion : into the future.

Temas actuales de Lógica y Filosofía Analítica 143 John Corcoran Notes on the Founding of Logics and Metalogic: Aristotle, Boole, and Tarski 177 Ignacio ...

El desván de la razón, cultivo de las pasiones, identidades éticas y sociedades digitales.

Across languages, we find indefinites that trigger modal inferences. Some of these indefinites, like Spanish un NP cualquiera or the Korean -na indeterminates (Choi 2007) convey indifference on the part of an agent. In this paper, we assess whether a number of proposals on the market can be extended to account for the indifference component of un NP cualquiera.

Fitch´s problem and the "knowability paradox" involve a couple of argumentations that are to each other in the same relation as Cantor´s uncollected multitudes theorem and Russell´s paradox. The authors exhibit the logical nature of the theorem and of the paradox and show their philosophical import, both from an anti-realist and from a realist perspective. In particular, the authors discuss an anti-realist solution to Fitch´s problem and provide an anti-realist interpretation of the problematic statement "It is knowable that r is (...) known and yet unknown". Then, it is argued that the knowability paradox has a solution even if one adopts a realist point of view. The authors provide a solution that takes into account the ambiguity of the term 'knowability' by deploying a temporal possible world semantics for epistemic modalities. (shrink)

This paper deals with the interpretation and distribution of universal Free Choice (FC) items, such as English FC any or Spanish cualquiera. Crosslinguistically, universal FC items can be characterized as follows. First, they have a restricted distribution. Second, they express freedom of choice: the sentence You can take any card conveys the information that the addressee is free to pick whichever card she chooses. Under standard assumptions, the truth conditions of sentences like You can take any card are taken to (...) be captured by formalizations in which a universal quantifier ranging over individuals has wide scope over the possibility modal. The crucial observation that informs the account in this paper is that this type of formalization cannot capture the freedom of choice component. I will argue that in order to derive the right interaction between possibility modals and FC items, we need to add an exclusiveness condition to the standard wide scope paraphrases. The same proposal that guarantees freedom of choice will automatically account for the distribution restrictions of FC items. The formal implementation of this proposal is cast in the Hamblin semantics proposed in Kratzer and Shimoyama (Indeterminate phrases: The view from Japanese, 2002). (shrink)

Este trabajo quiere responder a la demanda de quienes buscan una introducción breve pero significativa a las reflexiones de Joseph Ratzinger sobre la identidad histórica de Europa. Se trata de un estudio que, desde la perspectiva del teólogo alemán, realiza un somero itinerario por la historia político-espiritual de Europa, subrayando la cesura que constituyó el siglo XX, y que finaliza con algunas propuestas para construir una Europa con futuro. Entre éstas no conviene olvidar la luz que proviene de los extraños (...) destellos de revelación, sugiriendo un futuro ensayo de teología de la historia. (shrink)

El hábito es una de las encrucijadas filosóficas en las que el dilema entre naturaleza y libertad se pone de manifiesto. El artículo expone la descripción que Paul Ricoeur ofrece sobre esta noción en Lo voluntario y lo involuntario (1950) y defiende que el hábito constituye una genuina y paradójica forma de libertad, pues ésta se realiza gracias y a través de la necesidad. Se tiene en consideración el difícil punto de partida de Ricoeur, quien, por una parte, rechaza lo (...) que él denomina la explicación cosmológica de Tomás de Aquino y, por otra, acoge la novedad del cogito cartesiano, siendo a la vez consciente de las limitaciones dualistas que el planteamiento conlleva. Inspirándose en Ravaisson, Ricoeur rechaza una interpretación maquinal del hábito y se acerca a la idea clásica de segunda naturaleza. En el artículo se muestran los problemas de Ricoeur en el empleo de este término y se señalan los límites de la propuesta del autor, para quien, al final, no hay sistema entre lo natural y lo libre. (shrink)

This paper analyses the notion of ‘interpretation’, which is often tied to the semantic approach to logic, where it is used when referring to truth-value assignments, for instance. There are, however, other uses of the notion that raise interesting problems. These are the cases in which interpreting a logic is closely related to its justification for a given application. The paper aims to present an understanding of interpretations that supports the model-theoretic characterization of validity to the detriment of the proof-theoretic (...) one. This is done by making use of the hierarchy of ST-related logics. Finally, a localist conception of logic is defended as the natural view stemming from the model-theoretic approach. (shrink)

Resumen: Marx lleva a cabo dos críticas a los derechos. Por un lado, muestra las limitaciones emancipatorias de los derechos de ciudadanía, resultado de la (no reconocida) subordinación del Estado con respecto a la sociedad civil. Por otro, desvela el egoísmo que se esconde detrás de los llamados derechos humanos (libertad, propiedad, igualdad y seguridad), los cuales son en realidad una forma de naturalizar la forma de vida de la sociedad burguesa. Termina por relacionar una crítica con otra, señalando que (...) la emancipación política (el reconocimiento de los derechos de ciudadanía) y el egoísmo sin trabas de la sociedad civil (sancionado a través de los derechos humanos) son dos procesos que tienen lugar a la vez, en el momento en que el ascenso de la burguesía rompe con los mecanismos de la vieja sociedad feudal.Abstract: Marx carries out two critiques of rights. On the one hand, he shows the emancipatory limitations of citizenship rights, resulting from the (unrecognized) subordination of the State in relation to civil society. On the other hand, he reveals the selfishness that hides behind the so-called human rights (liberty, property, equality and security), which are actually a form of naturalizing bourgeois society lifestyle. He ends up connecting this two critiques, noting that political emancipation (the recognition of citizenship rights) and unfettered selfishness of civil society (sanctioned through human rights) are two processes taking place simultaneously, at the moment when the bourgeoisie social climbing breaks with the mechanisms of old feudal society.Palabras clave: Marx, crítica, derechos humanos, ciudadanía, emancipación.Keywords: Marx, critique, human rights, citizenship, emancipation. (shrink)

El movimiento hermenéutico ha sido uno de los más determinantes y prolíficos en la historia del pensamiento contemporáneo. Como una filosofía de la comprensión, la hermenéutica de Gadamer ha sido capaz de desenvolverse en torno a grandes problemas de la metafísica haciendo manifiesta una conexión medular entre la hermenéutica, la metafísica y la fenomenología. La máxima gadameriana que reza «el ser que puede ser comprendido es lenguaje» ilumina esta relación abordando el problema del ser estrictamente desde la dimensión lingüística de (...) la vivencia. En el presente estudio indagaremos en esta profundidad metafísica del pensamiento gadameriano al mostrar, en primer lugar, las raíces heideggerianas de estas preocupaciones y, en segundo lugar, las diversas líneas de lectura que se han abierto desde ese famoso adagio de Verdad y Método I. Finalmente, se sostendrá la interpretación de la obra de Gadamer que da cuenta de una determinada ontología hermenéutica. (shrink)