Eloy Bueno, actual decano y catedrático de la Facultad de Teología de Burgos, ha dedicado varios trabajos al estudio de algunos filósofos actuales. En ellos expone la sensibilidad del pensamiento filosófico español que va desde una conciencia trágica a una dionisíaca. Con diversos planteamientos Javier Sádaba, Fernando Savater, Eugenio Trías, entre otros, consideran la importancia de tres conceptos: el de limite, el de tragedia y el de lo sagrado como núcleo de su reflexión. Aunque estos filósofos argumentan de (...) manera distinta, Eloy Bueno observa que la sensibilidad de nuestro tiempo se centra en un lenguaje restrictivo a los hechos empíricos y en una consciencia trágica porque ante los grandes problemas humanos no se propone una respuesta. (shrink)

Criticism of the traditional periodization of history (antiquity, the Middle Ages, the modern age), generally centered on the medieval period as the crucial point, has not even stooped to consider what is called the “contemporary age.” This new and poorly defined phase, proposed by the methodologists to inclose in history the events and times which immediately precede us or in which we live, has not in general been accepted as such a theoretical unity by those who have been occupied with (...) the other pretentious “ages” in order to deny their equal validity.In the ingenious and controversial scheme outlined here, certainly, the contemporary age represents a concept so artificial, so devoid of unified personality and feeling and of clear differentiation, that it only disturbs the already slight harmony of this controversial and antiquated system. (shrink)

We examine, from the partial structures perspective, two forms of applicability of mathematics: at the “bottom” level, the applicability of theoretical structures to the “appearances”, and at the “top” level, the applicability of mathematical to physical theories. We argue that, to accommodate these two forms of applicability, the partial structures approach needs to be extended to include a notion of “partial homomorphism”. As a case study, we present London's analysis of the superfluid behavior of liquid helium in terms of Bose‐Einstein (...) statistics. This involved both the introduction of group theory at the top level, and some modeling at the “phenomenological” level, and thus provides a nice example of the relationships we are interested in. We conclude with a discussion of the “autonomy” of London's model. (shrink)

In this paper a constructive empiricist account of scientific change is put forward. Based on da Costa's and French's partial structures approach, two notions of empirical adequacy are initially advanced (with particular emphasis on the introduction of degrees of empirical adequacy). Using these notions, it is shown how both the informativeness and the empirical adequacy requirements of an empiricist theory of scientific change can then be met. Finally, some philosophical consequences with regard to the role of structures in this context (...) are drawn.Now, we daily see what science is doing for us. This could not be unless it taught us something about reality; the aim of science is not things themselves, as the dogmatists in their simplicity imagine, but the relations between things; outside those relations there is no reality knowable. (shrink)

In this article there is a criticism of the thesis that defines the Spanish political transition as a successful attempt to put an end to the "law of the pendulum" that had been governing our constitutional history. On the one hand, this thesis underestimates the conditions of the Spanish situation of 1978, marked by the transit between two worlds, the modern one that inherited and the emerging postmodern, which would become an unquestionable reality from 1989. In addition, the Spanish Constitution (...) of 1978 was drafted at a time when the political-normative conceptual assumptions of the dominant constitutional paradigm in Europe after World War II were declining. Likewise, the thesis ignores the specific spanish differential feature: the civil war of 1936-1939 and the subsequent rupture and radical separation of Spanish modernity into two distinct historical sections: one initiated with the French Revolution and culminated in the most absolute destruction of the pre-existing political and social order; and another that starts in 1939, since the construction of zero of a radically new pattern of society and culture, with which the Spaniards encountered in December 1975 when they assumed their full political protagonism in a situation unprecedented and completely devoid of precedents in our national constitutional tradition. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to outline a thesis which in some ways attemts to retrieve the value of meaning as a constituent element of theories. It will be argued that theories possess in common a more or less explicit relational structure, but, at the same time, they possess a meaningful function by means of which they are instruments of knowledge or, rather, by means of which theories have the value ofknowledge in science. In conclusion, it will be suggested (...) that this approach to theories allows those with weak relational structure (social, historical theories, etc.) to be treated with a degree of adequacy by the philosophy of science. Likewise, it will be suggested that the method of semantic analysis linked to the theory of “possible worlds” could be fruitful for this purpose. (shrink)

In this paper we examine theoretical utility arguments in metaphysics. While philosophers claim a procedural continuity with science when using such arguments, we argue that examining famous instances from the history of science expose their fundamental flaws. We find that arguments from theoretical utility invoke considerations that are not truth conducive and that justifications for claims that a theory possesses theoretical virtues often assume the truth of the theory such virtues are supposed to support. We conclude that theoretical utility arguments (...) provide no epistemic grounds for metaphysical inquiry. (shrink)

Consider the following denumerably infinite sequence of sentences: (s1) For all k > 1, sk is not true. (s2) For all k > 2, sk is not true. (s3) For all k > 3, sk is not true.

La muerte resulta problemática para la contemporaneidad. El existencialismo es una corriente filosófica que presenta la facticidad de la mortalidad como propia de la vida. El pensador Albert Camus articula los pilares fundamentales de su filosofía en torno a la experiencia de la muerte, que lleva al absurdo, del que debe partir la acción rebelde. En esta investigación se analizan algunas dinámicas que, pretendiendo huir de la muerte, solo han conseguido hacernos débiles frente a ella. Presentaremos a Sísifo y Rieux, (...) dos de los personajes de sus escritos, como aquellos paradigmas de conducta que pueden contribuir a hacernos más conscientes del absurdo y poder, de este modo, vivir, amar y luchar. (shrink)

How is that when scientists need some piece of mathematics through which to frame their theory, it is there to hand? What has been called 'the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics' sets a challenge for philosophers. Some have responded to that challenge by arguing that mathematics is essentially anthropocentric in character, whereas others have pointed to the range of structures that mathematics offers. Otavio Bueno and Steven French offer a middle way, which focuses on the moves that have to be (...) made in both the mathematics and the relevant physics in order to bring the two into appropriate relation. This relation can be captured via the inferential conception of the applicability of mathematics, which is formulated in terms of immersion, inference, and interpretation. In particular, the roles of idealisations and of surplus structure in science and mathematics respectively are brought to the fore and captured via an approach to models and theories that emphasize the partiality of the available information: the partial structures approach. The discussion as a whole is grounded in a number of case studies drawn from the history of quantum physics, and extended to contest recent claims that the explanatory role of certain mathematical structures in scientific practice supports a realist attitude towards them. The overall conclusion is that the effectiveness of mathematics does not seem unreasonable at all once close attention is paid to how it is actually applied in practice. (shrink)

La cultura griega, al mismo tiempo que la filosofía platónica, ha contemplado la inmortalidad del alma como algo cierto. Por su parte, el pensamiento de Unamuno se encuentra articulado poru anhelo de inmortalidad. En el pensamiento unamuniano se ofrecen diversas vías que buscan solucionar este problema antropológico fundamental. La falta de éxito en esta empresa nos aboca al tragicismo, que se convierte en un posicionamiento filosófico, cuya conceptualización filosófica encontramos en la obra Del sentimiento trágico de la vida. anto Platón (...) como Unamuno acaban realizando un giro desde el logos al mito o la religión, a fin de abordar temáticas que la racionalidad no puede solucionar. ¿Es posible que ambos pensadores se encuentren en su concepción de la inmortalidad del alma? Perseguimos la tesis de que el amor es el punto de encuentro entre ambos pensamientos, entendido este como una vía de «inmortalización» del alma. En esta investigación intentaremos poner en contacto ambos pensamientos, así como identificar algún posible elemento platónico en la filosofía del bilbaíno. (shrink)

Batterman raises a number of concerns for the inferential conception of the applicability of mathematics advocated by Bueno and Colyvan. Here, we distinguish the various concerns, and indicate how they can be assuaged by paying attention to the nature of the mappings involved and emphasizing the significance of interpretation in this context. We also indicate how this conception can accommodate the examples that Batterman draws upon in his critique. Our conclusion is that ‘asymptotic reasoning’ can be straightforwardly accommodated within (...) the inferential conception. 1 Introduction2 Immersion, Inference and Partial Structures3 Idealization and Surplus Structure4 Renormalization and the Stability of Mathematical Representations5 Explanation and Eliminability6 Requirements for Explanation7 Interpretation and Idealization8 Explanation, Empirical Regularities and the Inferential Conception9 Conclusion. (shrink)

_Thinking about Science, Reflecting on Art: Bringing Aesthetics and Philosophy of Science togethe_r is the first book to systematically examine the relationship between the philosophy of science and aesthetics. With contributions from leading figures from both fields this edited collection engages with such questions as: Does representation function in the same way in science and in art? What important characteristic do scientific models share with literary fictions? What is the difference between interpretation in the sciences and in the arts? Can (...) there be a science of aesthetics? In what ways can aesthetics and philosophy of science be integrated? Aiming to develop the interconnections between the philosophy of science and the philosophy of art more broadly and more deeply than ever before this volume not only explores scientific representation by comparison with fiction but extends the scope of interaction to include metaphysical and other questions around methodology in mainstream philosophy of science, including the aims of science, the characterisation of scientific understanding, and the nature of observation, as well as drawing detailed comparisons between specific examples in both art and the sciences. (shrink)

Modality - the question of what is possible and what is necessary - is a fundamental area of philosophy and philosophical research. The Routledge Handbook of Modality is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising thirty-five chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into seven clear parts: worlds and modality essentialism, ontological dependence, and modality modal anti-realism epistemology of modality (...) modality in science modality in logic and mathematics modality in the history of philosophy. Within these sections the central issues, debates and problems are examined, including possible worlds, essentialism, counterfactuals, ontological dependence, modal fictionalism, deflationism, the integration challenge, conceivability, a priori knowledge, laws of nature, natural kinds, and logical necessity. The Routledge Handbook of Modality is essential reading for students and researchers in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of language. It will also be very useful for those in related fields in philosophy such as philosophy of mathematics, logic and philosophy of science. (shrink)

Logical pluralism is the view according to which there is more than one relation of logical consequence, even within a given language. A recent articulation of this view has been developed in terms of quantification over different cases: classical logic emerges from consistent and complete cases; constructive logic from consistent and incomplete cases, and paraconsistent logic from inconsistent and complete cases. We argue that this formulation causes pluralism to collapse into either logical nihilism or logical universalism. In its place, we (...) propose a modalist account of logical pluralism that is independently well motivated and that avoids these collapses. (shrink)

An account of scientific representation in terms of partial structures and partial morphisms is further developed. It is argued that the account addresses a variety of difficulties and challenges that have recently been raised against such formal accounts of representation. This allows some useful parallels between representation in science and art to be drawn, particularly with regard to apparently inconsistent representations. These parallels suggest that a unitary account of scientific and artistic representation is possible, and our article can be viewed (...) as laying the groundwork for such an account—although, as we shall acknowledge, significant differences exist between these two forms of representation. (shrink)