"Nadie puede calibrar lo que fueron los sufrimientos, los problemas y la dimensión del drama humano vivido sobre todo por las gentes humildes en aquellos trágicos días". Con estas dolorosas palabras expresaba Federica Montseny, militante anarquista de la CNT y de la FAI y Ministra de Sanidad del Gobierno de la República Española (1936-1937), la inconmensurabilidad de la tragedia que supuso el triunfo de las tropas franquistas en 1939. Ella, mujer fuerte, luchadora y valiente -no hay que olvidar (...) que fue apodada como La Leona-tuvo que pasar, junto a sus seres queridos, por un éxodo, por un verdadero Apocalipsis. Sin embargo, fue consciente en todo momento de su situación privilegiada. Todavía con infinitos remordimientos por el hecho de haber intervenido en la política profesional y haber violado así uno de los principios esenciales del anarquismo que afirma que "el poder corrompe y el poder absoluto corrompe absolutamente", Montseny como su Matria al mismo tiempo. De esa orfandad terrible, como ya hemos dicho, renacerá una mujer nueva. Tras los primeros años de sufrimientos del exilio suavizó notablemente el individualismo defendido en sus novelas de juventud, entrando así en una etapa en el que el protagonismo fue cedido a los otros, defendido y levantando con ella una nueva comunidad humana cuyas características básicas presentaremos a continuación. (shrink)

Este artículo pretende hacer una lectura atenta de La Victoria, novela de Federica Montseny publicada en 1925, con dos objetivos: en primer lugar, deshacer los clichés que suelen tratar la obra de esta autora como representante de la eterna “paradoja ético-estética” que suponen sus “folletines revolucionarios” y, en segundo, señalar la capacidad que tiene el estudio de este tipo de obras para dinamizar la categoría de “literatura de mujeres” con el fin de evitar su estancamiento en el ámbito (...) de la literatura española del s. XX. (shrink)

On 6 January 1963, the same day as Spanish children were excitedly waking up to discover their presents from the Three Wise Men, the well. known Spanish anarchist and former Minister of Health, Federica Montseny, published an emotionally charged and nostalgic article in the Spanish anarchist exilic periodical L'Espoir. In the article, entitled "The New Year", Montseny reflected a similar sense of expectation as she asked rhetorically for something she had been expecting for twenty-four years: "What is (...) the greatest fortune that us exiles can wish one another? Without any shadow of doubt it is to return to our homeland. Despite the material advantages that some of us have gained in exile-whether in France, America or elsewhere in the world-we know there is not a single person who does not passionately wish to return to Spain." Two years later, on 3 October 1965, she published another article, "Those Who Return. To Die in Spain", in which she presented a brief history of the españoles universales or world-famous Spaniards who had left Spain at the start of the Civil War before returning to die during the Francoist dictatorship in the 1960s. (shrink)

Hacia 1922 la líder anarquista Federica Montseny comenóz a publicar novelas breves románticas en varios periódicos anarquistas. Fueron casi cincuenta escritos en los que dejó plasmada la misión social de todo escritor anarquista: diagnosticar los males de la sociedad, denunciar dicha realidad que no suele ser muy justa para la clase trabajadora y, por último, promover soluciones a largo plazo mediante una pedagogía social o una especie de propedéutica capaz de enseñar a la clase proletaria cōmo defenderse física (...) y moralmente de los ataques de la clase burguesa, para así lograr una sociedad mās justa en todas las esferas de la vida. El propōsito de este trabajo serā analizar cōmo Montseny gestionō esa misiōn social en el caso concreto de las mujeres a través de estos temas: enaltecimiento de la maternidad consciente, defensa de la libertad (sexual) e independencia de las mujeres, separaciōn sexo/amor, control de la natalidad, incorporaciōn de la mujer al mundo laboral, denuncia de la doble moral hombre/mujer en torno a la virginidad, etcétera. También veremos que aparecen dos grandes estereotipos o arquetipos humanos en dichas novelas – que obedecen a lo que se ha llamado sexualidad de clase, ambos enfrentados en la lucha de clases de dos mundos antagōnicos: el del burgués (libertino, desocupado, despia-dado) y el de la mujer proletaria (dōbil, indefensa, sana y sobre todo, pobre pero honrada). (shrink)

Federica Montseny Mañé (1905-1994) fue una anarquista española nacida en Madrid en el seno de una reputada familia de librepensadores. Dirigente de la FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica) y de la CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo), fue la primera mujer en encabezar un ministerio en Europa, concretamente el de Sanidad y Asistencia Social (1936-1937). Después de la Guerra Civil se exilió a Francia hasta su muerte. Su ideario se encuentra plasmado en más de 600 artículos, en una infinidad de (...) mítines por toda España y Europa, en casi cincuenta novelas breves y en sus novelas extensas (La Victoria de 1925, El hijo de Clara de 1927 y La Indomable de 1928) donde se propugnaba tanto el nacimiento de una “mujer nueva” como el de un “hombre nuevo”. Los valores de justicia social, libertad, individualismo, autogestión y solidaridad atraviesan toda su obra. (shrink)

Chris Ealham's book reveals a fascinating dialogue between a prominent individual figure (José Peirats, 1908–1989) and the anonymous masses in the history of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism, and vice versa. Peirats would hardly be known without Spanish anarcho-syndicalism, while Spanish anarcho-syndicalism would have been less relevant if José Peirats had not been included in its ranks. -/- What is remarkable is that, despite Ealham's honest confession of his sympathy for some of the working-class movements in general and for anarcho-syndicalism in particular (3), (...) his research is highly critical of both anarcho-syndicalism and Peirats's numerous personal and ideological errors and contradictions. We need not go far to find examples: in his book, Ealham makes no effort to conceal that Peirats can be described at times using adjectives such as homophobic, sexist (or rather, antifeminist), anti-intellectual, antinationalist, and anticommunist (226). Nevertheless, his negative elements paled in comparison with his achievements. -/- Peirats was born in La Vall d'Uixó (Castellón); he was a brick-maker, anarchist militant, and later a noted writer and historian. The moral influence [End Page 188] coming from his mother and maternal uncles was decisive in the young Peirats's character and training. His informal education, together with his move to Barcelona, awakened his early militancy. In spite of having to work very hard from a young age, he was lucky enough to be educated later at the Ateneo Obrero Racionalista in Sants (a neighborhood in the southern part of Barcelona). There, he started having contact with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), joining the union when he was just fourteen years old. During Primo de Rivera's dictatorship (1927–1930) Peirats was devoted to avoiding—sometimes fighting back against—State repression of syndicalists. He also continued doing manual work while cultivating his intellectual training and techniques as a working-class writer. -/- With the coming of the Second Republic (1931), the general attitude within the CNT was that nothing revolutionary would be achieved by collaborating with professional or parliamentary politics: "radicals like Peirats gave no quarter to the new regime. After the enforced interregnum of the dictatorship, they were primed and ready for direct action" (47). Nonetheless, the CNT was not united on this issue and the disputes over ideological tactics came swiftly. At this point, Ealham pinpoints a three-fold division within the CNT: one revolutionary, one syndicalist, and another anarcho-syndicalist (55–56). The divisions and differences would become even more marked when the CNT took part in the Frente Popular with four anarchist ministers (Federica Montseny, Joan Peiró, Juan García Oliver, and Juan López Sánchez): "the anarchist leaders opted simply to ignore what remained of the old state and accept a policy of 'democratic collaboration' with the other anti-fascist forces on behalf of unity in the fight against authoritarianism" (90). Peirats vehemently opposed this strategy that placed the CNT inside a republican state, and from this time on, including during the Spanish Civil War "conferences, meetings, and plenums were organized like witch-hunts" (104). -/- After Franco's triumph, Peirats did not follow in Montseny's or Germinal Esgleas's footsteps—that is, he opted against a diplomatic passport or any special safe conduct, but joined the multitudes of Republican soldiers and civilians who escaped in their retirada (retreat) towards France (119). In fact, after going through a French internment camp, he asked himself whether the best option was to return to Franco's Spain or try his luck abroad. Without any hint of cowardice, he knew that in Spain he could only expect his death... (shrink)

This work explores the scantly studied Spanish anarchist exile that followed the Spanish Civil War and lasted until Francisco Franco’s death and, arguably, beyond. The article is built around the controversial case of Juan López Sánchez (1900-1972) –one of the four anarchists that became ministers during the Second Spanish Republic. In what follows, the work traces the panoramic historical, geographical and ideological journey of Juan López Sánchez mainly through his correspondence, with particular attention to his brief French exile. -/- Este (...) trabajo explora el exilio anarquista español que siguió tras la Guerra Civil y que duró hasta la muerte de Franco y, discutiblemente, más allá. Dentro de este exilio, hasta cierto punto académicamente desatendido, mi texto se centra en el polémico caso de Juan López Sánchez (1900-1972) –uno de los cuatro anarquistas que se convirtieron en ministros durante la Segunda República. A continuación reconstruyo panorámicamente la trayectoria histórica, geográfica e ideológica de Juan López Sánchez principalmente a través de su correspondencia, poniendo especial atención a su brevísimo exilio francés. (shrink)

We argue that the health sciences make causal claims on the basis of evidence both of physical mechanisms, and of probabilistic dependencies. Consequently, an analysis of causality solely in terms of physical mechanisms or solely in terms of probabilistic relationships, does not do justice to the causal claims of these sciences. Yet there seems to be a single relation of cause in these sciences - pluralism about causality will not do either. Instead, we maintain, the health sciences require a theory (...) of causality that unifies its mechanistic and probabilistic aspects. We argue that the epistemic theory of causality provides the required unification. (shrink)

The paper examines definitions of ‘cause’ in the epidemiological literature. Those definitions all describe causes as factors that make a difference to the distribution of disease or to individual health status. In the philosophical jargon, causes in epidemiology are difference-makers. Two claims are defended. First, it is argued that those definitions underpin an epistemology and a methodology that hinge upon the notion of variation, contra the dominant Humean paradigm according to which we infer causality from regularity. Second, despite the fact (...) that causes be defined in terms of ‘difference-making’, this cannot fixes the causal metaphysics. Causality in epidemiology ought to be interpreted according to the epistemic theory. In this approach relations are deemed causal depending on the evidence and on the available methods. Indeed, evidence to establish causal claims requires difference-making considerations; furthermore, those definitions of cause reflect the ‘variational’ epistemology and methodology of epidemiology. (shrink)

The anti-causal prophecies of last century have been disproved. Causality is neither a ‘relic of a bygone’ nor ‘another fetish of modern science’; it still occupies a large part of the current debate in philosophy and the sciences. This investigation into causal modelling presents the rationale of causality, i.e. the notion that guides causal reasoning in causal modelling. It is argued that causal models are regimented by a rationale of variation, nor of regularity neither invariance, thus breaking down the dominant (...) Human paradigm. The notion of variation is shown to be embedded in the scheme of reasoning behind various causal models: e.g. Rubin’s model, contingency tables, and multilevel analysis. It is also shown to be latent – yet fundamental – in many philosophical accounts. Moreover, it has significant consequences for methodological issues: the warranty of the causal interpretation of causal models, the levels of causation, the characterisation of mechanisms, and the interpretation of probability. This book offers a novel philosophical and methodological approach to causal reasoning in causal modelling and provides the reader with the tools to be up to date about various issues causality rises in social science. (shrink)

Critical Data Studies explore the unique cultural, ethical, and critical challenges posed by Big Data. Rather than treat Big Data as only scientifically empirical and therefore largely neutral phenomena, CDS advocates the view that Big Data should be seen as always-already constituted within wider data assemblages. Assemblages is a concept that helps capture the multitude of ways that already-composed data structures inflect and interact with society, its organization and functioning, and the resulting impact on individuals’ daily lives. CDS questions the (...) many assumptions about Big Data that permeate contemporary literature on information and society by locating instances where Big Data may be naively taken to denote objective and transparent informational entities. In this introduction to the Big Data & Society CDS special theme, we briefly describe CDS work, its orientations, and principles. (shrink)

Girls Laughters Solar Eclipse Output Solar Eclipse The programmatic ontology of our contemporary technical-information age is marked by a complicity with algorithmic architectures : new models of information processing evolving with the entropically-hiden complexities and open-ended contingencies of material evolution. Algorithms are abstractly-coordinated entities of “soft thought” sui generis. In fusing generative concreteness with abstract modelling – i. e. matter with information – - Galerie sonore – Nouvel article.

Este artigo concerne três questões: a concepção kantiana da política, a sua relação com a doutrina do direito e o papel da Urteilskraft na esfera da política. No § 1 sublinha-se que a perspectiva kantiana é caracterizada por uma flexibilidade contextual que permite de realizar o modelo normativo da Rechtslehre em diversas circunstâncias culturais: à política diz respeito, de fato, o como ‘traduzir’ as prescrições do direito em princípios contextuais que se adaptem corretamente a uma determinada comunidade humana. No § (...) 2 analisa- se o papel da capacidade de juízo enquanto instrumento capaz de compreender as especificidades do contexto no qual se realizam as reformas políticas solicitadas pela razão pratica; a propósito será evidenciado que através da reflektierende Urteilskraft é possível construir regras que refletem as peculiaridades do contexto ao qual são aplicadas as normas a priori do direito. (shrink)

In social science, one objection to causal analysis is that the assumption of the closure of the system makes the analysis too narrow in scope, that is, it considers only 'closed' and 'hermetic' systems thus neglecting many other external influences. On the contrary, system analysis deals with complex structures where every element is interrelated with everything else in the system. The question arises as to whether the two approaches can be compatible and whether causal analysis can be integrated into the (...) broader framework of system analysis. This article attempts a negative answer on the grounds of fundamental differences in their assumptions and suggests using system analysis as a post-hoc comparative tool. (shrink)

Objective. Tako-Tsubo syndrome (TTS) is historically related to the occurrence of psychological (emotional) factors (“broken heart” syndrome). Our aim was conducting a systematic review analyzing the role of psychological factors in TTS. Methods: All studies on TTS and psychological factors from 1991 to April 2019 were scrutinized according to the Cochrane Collaboration and the PRISMA statement. Selected studies were additionally evaluated for the Risk of Bias according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results. Fifteen case-control studies (Mayo Clinic criteria) were finally (...) selected. Most studies analysed the role of stressful life-events or trauma, although with conflicting findings, while a likely role for long-lasting psychological distress seems to be a homogenous result. Among life-time psychopathology, only anxiety seems to have a significant role. Some studies outlined a likely role for personality, but findings are conflicting. Conclusion. A role for psychological factors in TTS requires more studies with stronger research methodology than the existing ones. (shrink)

The need for fair and just AI is often related to the possibility of understanding AI itself, in other words, of turning an opaque box into a glass box, as inspectable as possible. Transparency and explainability, however, pertain to the technical domain and to philosophy of science, thus leaving the ethics and epistemology of AI largely disconnected. To remedy this, we propose an integrated approach premised on the idea that a glass-box epistemology should explicitly consider how to incorporate values and (...) other normative considerations, such as intersectoral vulnerabilities, at critical stages of the whole process from design and implementation to use and assessment. To connect ethics and epistemology of AI, we perform a double shift of focus. First, we move from trusting the output of an AI system to trusting the process that leads to the outcome. Second, we move from expert assessment to more inclusive assessment strategies, aiming to facilitate expert and non-expert assessment. Together, these two moves yield a framework usable for experts and non-experts when they inquire into relevant epistemological and ethical aspects of AI systems. We dub our framework ‘epistemology-cum-ethics’ to signal the equal importance of both aspects. We develop it from the vantage point of the designers: how to create the conditions to internalize values into the whole process of design, implementation, use, and assessment of an AI system, in which values (epistemic and non-epistemic) are explicitly considered at each stage and inspectable by every salient actor involved at any moment. (shrink)

A shared problem across the sciences is to make sense of correlational data coming from observations and/or from experiments. Arguably, this means establishing when correlations are causal and when they are not. This is an old problem in philosophy. This paper, narrowing down the scope to quantitative causal analysis in social science, reformulates the problem in terms of the validity of statistical models. Two strategies to make sense of correlational data are presented: first, a 'structural strategy', the goal of which (...) is to model and test causal structures that explain correlational data; second, a 'manipulationist or interventionist strategy', that hinges upon the notion of invariance under intervention. It is argued that while the former can offer a solution the latter cannot. (shrink)

According to Russo and Williamson (Int Stud Philos Sci 21(2):157–170, 2007, Hist Philos Life Sci 33:389–396, 2011a, Philos Sci 1(1):47–69, 2011b ), in order to establish a causal claim of the form, ‘_C_ is a cause of _E_’, one typically needs evidence that there is an underlying mechanism between _C_ and _E_ as well as evidence that _C_ makes a difference to _E_. This thesis has been used to argue that hierarchies of evidence, as championed by evidence-based movements, tend to (...) give primacy to evidence of difference making over evidence of mechanisms and are flawed because the two sorts of evidence are required and they should be treated on a par. An alternative approach gives primacy to evidence of mechanism over evidence of difference making. In this paper, we argue that this alternative approach is equally flawed, again because both sorts of evidence need to be treated on a par. As an illustration of this parity, we explain how scientists working in the ‘EnviroGenomarkers’ project constantly make use of the two evidential components in a dynamic and intertwined way. We argue that such an interplay is needed not only for causal assessment but also for policy purposes. (shrink)

Causal analysis in the social sciences takes advantage of a variety of methods and of a multi-fold source of information and evidence. This pluralistic methodology and source of information raises the question of whether we should accordingly have a pluralistic metaphysics and epistemology. This paper focuses on epistemology and argues that a pluralistic methodology and evidence don’t entail a pluralistic epistemology. It will be shown that causal models employ a single rationale of testing, based on the notion of variation. Further, (...) I shall argue that this monistic epistemology is also involved in alternative philosophical theories of causation. (shrink)

Social and cultural contexts influence power dynamics and shape gender perceptions, roles, and decisions regarding the management of agrobiodiversity for dealing with and adapting to climate change. Based on a feminist political ecology framework and a mixed method approach, this research performs an empirical analysis of two case studies in the northern of India, one in the Himalayan Mountains and another in the Indian-Gangetic plains. It explores context-specific influence of gender roles and responsibilities on on-farm agrobiodiversity management gendered expertise and (...) knowledge related to agrobiodiversity and gendered preferences for practices and institutional arrangements for agrobiodiversity conservation linked to adaptation to climate change. In the Himalayan mountains women actively participate in crop and seed management decisions and tasks, and maintain informal institutions for seed and services exchanges in the case of crisis, which simultaneously favours high levels of agrobiodiversity and enhances women’s social status. By contrast, in the Indio-Gangetic plains, where women from better-off households are socially secluded and women from poorer households work mainly as labourer to respond to high out-migration of men, they exercise less public control over agrobiodiversity, with their role being mainly invisible at the homestead and related to post-production tasks. We finally discuss as improved understanding of the links between gendered spaces, crops, tasks, social status, and agrobiodiversity management can facilitate the design of gender-sensitive policy interventions for conservation and adaptation to climate change. (shrink)

Technologies have always been bearers of profound changes in science, society, and any other aspect of life. The latest technological revolution—the digital revolution—is no exception in this respect. This paper presents the revolution brought about by digital technologies through the lenses of a specific approach: the philosophy of information. It is argued that the adoption of an informational approach helps avoiding utopian or dystopian approaches to technology, both expressions of technological determinism. Such an approach provides a conceptual framework able to (...) address the ethical challenges that digital technologies pose, without getting stuck in the dichotomous thinking of technological determinism, and to bring together ethics, ontology, and epistemology into a coherent account. (shrink)

The paper addresses the question of how different types of evidence ought to inform public health policy. By analysing case studies on obesity, the paper draws lessons about the different roles that different types of evidence play in setting up public health policies. More specifically, it is argued that evidence of difference-making supports considerations about ‘what works for whom in what circumstances’, and that evidence of mechanisms provides information about the ‘causal pathways’ to intervene upon.

Manipulationism holds that information about the results of interventions is of utmost importance for scientific practices such as causal assessment or explanation. Specifically, manipulation provides information about the stability, or invariance, of the relationship between X and Y: were we to wiggle the cause X, the effect Y would accordingly wiggle and, additionally, the relation between the two will not be disrupted. This sort of relationship between variables are called 'invariant empirical generalisations'. The paper focuses on questions about causal assessment (...) and analyses the status of manipulation. It is argued that manipulationism is trapped in a dilemma. If manipulationism is read as providing a conceptual analysis of causation, then it fails to provide a story about the methods for causal assessment. If, instead, manipulationism is read as providing a method for causal assessment, then it is at an impasse concerning causal assessment in areas where manipulations are not performed. Empirical generalisations are then reassessed, in such a way that manipulation is not taken as methodologically fundamental. The paper concludes that manipulation is the appropriate tool for some scientific contexts, but not for all. (shrink)

While Beauvoir admitted that feminists refused to be women-alibi as she had been, Irigaray recognized that she was one of the many who had read The Second sex being reanimated by it. Nevertheless the two authors have been considered the reference of two opposite feminist theoretical and political paradigms, again and again – emancipation vs liberation, constructivism vs essentialism, materialism vs symbolical. Through the rereading of their main issues, a new feminist paradigm can be developed for the contemporary challenges.

Econometrics applies statistical methods to study economic phenomena. Roughly, by means of equations, econometricians typically account for the response variable in terms of a number of explanatory variables. The question arises under what conditions econometric models can be given a causal interpretation. By drawing the distinction between associational models and causal models, the paper argues that a proper use of background knowledge, three distinct types of assumptions (statistical, extra-statistical, and causal), and the hypothetico-deductive methodology provide sufficient conditions for a causal (...) interpretation of econometric models. (shrink)

Resumen: El presente trabajo intenta analizar los elementos críticos a la base de aquella suerte de prescripción que Edward Said formulara a los intelectuales bajo la célebre consigna de “decir las verdades al poder”, esto es, de interpelar públicamente al poder -político, económico, religioso, militar- frente a toda evidencia de injusticia, inconsistencia o turbia manipulación en su operar. En tanto tal, y a partir de nuestra lectura de Said, delimitamos cinco dilemas que el intelectual ha de resolver, en tanto requisitos (...) para decir las verdades al poder: orientación intramundana versus extramundana, rol profético versus sacerdotal, libertad universalista versus organicidad, racionalidad sustantiva versus instrumental y arrojo versus temor. Se comentan las implicaciones de estos dilemas a la luz de los desafíos y oportunidades que las sociedades contemporáneas -en particular, las latinoamericanas- presentan para el rol del intelectual.: This work analyzes the critical foundations of that quasi-rule posed by Edward Said to intellectuals through the famous motto “speaking truth to power”, that is, of publicly interpellating to power -political, economic, religious, military- whenever its exercise may involve injustice, inconsistency or underhanded manipulation. So, according to our interpretation of Said’s work, we identify five dilemmas the intellectual should resolve in order to be able to speak truth to power: a worldliness orientation versus an otherworldliness one, a prophetic role versus a priestly one, universalist freedom versus organic compromise, a substantive rationality versus an instrumental one, and courage versus fear. Involvements of these dilemmas are discussed according to the challenges and opportunities posed by current societies -in particular, the Latin American ones- to the intellectual’s role. (shrink)

This work develops different contributions that challenge the epistemological classic notions to dividing fields of knowing in those who are susceptible of being studied and learnt and those who are not, beyond the knowledge considered as such by the Academy or by certain hegemony of knowledge. We propose some perspectives that question this dichotomy and the notion of totality as its basis, as for example, intercultural philosophy, from Raúl Fornet-Betancourt; the rupture like a function of the concept itself, analyzed by (...) Arturo Roig; the consciousness of world product of the simultaneity proposed by Alexander Von Humboldt and finally the notion of the abysmal developed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. These perspectives contribute to think an "epistemology of the South". However, we expect here to advance from that notion to other, that is postulated as an 'anthropophagic epistemology". So some basic knowledge of the Brazilian avant-garde movement of the 1920s are developed in order to pave the way in the consolidation of this new epistemological perspective. (shrink)