What is a biological individual? How are biological individuals individuated? How can we tell how many individuals there are in a given assemblage of biological entities? The individuation and differentiation of biological individuals are central to the scientific understanding of living beings. I propose a novel criterion of biological individuality according to which biological individuals are autonomous agents. First, I articulate an ecological-dynamical account of natural agency according to which, agency is the gross dynamical capacity of a goal-directed system to (...) bias its repertoire to respond to its conditions as affordances. Then, I argue that agents or agential dynamical systems can be agentially dependent on, or agentially autonomous from, other agents and that this agential dependence/autonomy can be symmetrical or asymmetrical, strong or weak. Biological individuals, I propose, are all and only those agential dynamical systems that are strongly agentially autonomous. So, to determine how many individuals there are in a given multiagent aggregate, such as multicellular organism, a colony, symbiosis, or a swarm, we first have to identify how many agential dynamical systems there are, and then what their relations of agential dependence/autonomy are. I argue that this criterion is adequate to the extent that it vindicates the paradigmatic cases, and explains why the paradigmatic cases are paradigmatic, and why the problematic cases are problematic. Finally, I argue for the importance of distinguishing between agential and causal dependence and show the relevance of agential autonomy for understanding the explanatory structure of evolutionary developmental biology. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:I contrast an ecological account of natural agency with the traditional Cartesian conception using recent research in bacterial cognition and cellular decision making as a test case. I argue that the Cartesian conception—namely, the view that agency presupposes cognition—generates a dilemma between mechanism, the view that bacteria are mere automata, and intellectualism, the view that they exhibit full-blown cognition. Unicellular organisms, however, occupy a middle ground between these two extremes. On the one hand, their capacities and activities are too adaptive (...) to count as mere machines. On the other hand, they lack the open-ended responsiveness of cognitive agents to rational norms. An ecological conception of agency as the gross behavioral capacity to respond to affordances, I argue, does not presuppose cognition and allows for degrees of agency along a continuum, from the simplest adaptive agents, such as unicellular organisms, to the most sophisticated cognitive agents. Bacteria, I conclude, are adaptiveagents, hence not mere automata, but notcognitiveagents. (shrink)

Understanding the changes in our language abilities along the lifespan is a crucial step for understanding the aging process both in normal and in abnormal circumstances. Besides controlled experimental tasks, it is equally crucial to investigate language in unconstrained conversation. I present an information-theoretical analysis of a corpus of dyadic conversations investigating how the richness of the vocabulary, the word-internal structure, and the syntax of the utterances evolves as a function of the speaker's age and sex. Although vocabulary diversity increases (...) throughout the lifetime, grammatical diversities follow a different pattern, which also differs between women and men. Women use increasingly diverse syntactic structures at least up to their late fifties, and they do not deteriorate in terms of fluency through their lifespan. However, from age 45 onward, men exhibit a decrease in the diversity of the syntactic structures they use, coupled with an increased number of speech disfluencies. (shrink)

In this comprehensive collection of essays, most of which appear for the first time, eminent scholars from many disciplines—philosophy, economics, sociology, political science, demography, theology, history, and social psychology—examine the causes, nature, and consequences of present-day consumption patterns in the United States and throughout the world.

Los documentos del Concilio Vaticano II tienen profundas consecuencias sociales para la misión evangelizadora de la Iglesia. En el posconcilio, la revista Vida Nueva, especializada en la información social y religiosa, acoge el mensaje conciliar e intenta aplicarlo a las circunstancias de la Iglesia y sociedad de aquel momento. Este estudio analiza los contenidos de los editoriales publicados por Vida Nueva de 1968 a 1975. Los resultados muestran la repercusión del Concilio en el enfoque editorial de una revista que, comprometida (...) con el orden temporal, analiza la actualidad política; fomenta el ejercicio de las libertades; defiende los derechos humanos; presta una atención preferencial a las personas más vulnerables; promueve la libertad y veracidad informativa; apuesta por una actividad económica puesta al servicio de los ciudadanos; aborda temas relativos a la moral de la persona discutidos en el seno de la Iglesia; mantiene una postura dialogante con la cultura, la ciencia y la tecnología; y propone cambios en los derechos, metodología y contenidos del sector educativo. (shrink)

El artículo analiza algunos aspectos de la comunicación política tomando como referencia las elecciones generales españolas de 1996, a fin de reflexionar sobre la eficacia de la Comunicación Política aplicada y sus riesgos en una sociedad democrática. Retórica y democracia van juntas por cuanto la retórica es el arte de la palabra y la palabra es consustancial a la democracia. El problema es que la palabra ha de entenderse hoy como el resultado de un uso científicamente programado de la comunicación (...) que afecta profundamente el discurso clásico de la política. (shrink)

El jaramillismo fue y es, puesto que aún existen decenas o centenas de labriegos que se reclaman jaramillistas, un movimiento social, prioritariamente agrario, que se ubica específicamente en el estado de Morelos y partes de Puebla y Guerrero. La figura de un excapitán del Ejército Libertador del Sur, se va a convertir en el principal impulsor de las diversas luchas en las que participan los campesinos sureños organizados en torno a Rubén Jaramillo. El enfrentamiento con los sectores hegemónicos del Estado (...) de Morelos, abarca desde los lejanos años veintes, hasta el asesinato de su dirigente en 1962. Todas las tácticas fueron empleadas por esta tendencia rural, la demanda de tierras y créditos, la formación de cooperativas de producción y consumo, las huelgas en el ingenio de Zacatepec, la fundación de un partido político, con la finalidad de participar en procesos electorales y cuando se cerraban las opciones, la lucha armada. Siempre pugnando por que se cumplieran los postulados agraristas del Plan de Villa de Ayala y desde luego, del contenido del artículo 27 constitucional. Nunca fueron resueltos los problemas sociales, políticos y económicos, que presentaba Rubén Jaramillo en su incansable confrontación con los grupos hegemónicos y su representante el partido oficial PRI. A pesar de contar con una amnistía que le había otorgado el gobierno de Adolfo López Mateos, el dirigente social, fue acribillado en unión de su familia en la zona arqueológica de Xochicalco en mayo de 1962. Una vez más el sistema político de esta nación, había deshonrado su palabra Palabras clave: Jaramillismo, nacionalismo revolucionario, clandestino, guerrilla, hegemonía. (shrink)

The computational metaphor of organisms as phenotypic automata controlled by a genetic programme has been replaced by the cognitive metaphor of organisms as intelligent agents making decisions about how to use their genomic and environmental resources. This metaphor facilitates novel ways of thinking about organisms that defy the assumptions of the old machine metaphor. But like all metaphors, the cognitive metaphor discloses important similarities at the expense of eclipsing significant dissimilarities. I argue that although cognitivism carries with it the crucial (...) insight that living organisms are agents rather than mere automata, this metaphor distorts the nature of biological agency by over-intellectualizing, which risks eliminating the distinction between life and mind. I trace the Cartesian root of these metaphors and argue that it generates a dilemma between mechanism and intellectualism. To capture the middle path that most organisms occupy between these two extremes, I propose an ecological account of natural agency. (shrink)

Early in animal development, gradients of secreted morphogenic molecules, such as Sonic hedgehog (Shh), Wnt and TGFβ/Bmp family members, regulate cell proliferation and determine the fate and phenotype of the target cells by activating well‐characterized signalling pathways, which ultimately control gene transcription. Shh, Wnt and TGFβ/Bmp signalling also play an important and evolutionary conserved role in neural circuit assembly. They regulate neuronal polarization, axon and dendrite development and synaptogenesis, processes that require rapid and local changes in cytoskeletal organization and plasma (...) membrane components. A key question then is whether morphogen signalling at the growth cone uses similar mechanisms and intracellular pathway components to those described for morphogen‐mediated cell specification. This review discusses recent advances towards the understanding of this problem, showing how Shh, Wnt and TGFβ/Bmp have adapted their ‘classical’ signalling pathways or adopted alternative and novel molecular mechanisms to influence different aspects of neuronal circuit formation. (shrink)

This article explores the intersection between critical pedagogies and social justice in the context of environmental education, with a focus on transforming educational projects to promote meaningful social change. Through theoretical analysis and qualitative methodology, it highlights how critical pedagogies offer a valuable framework for addressing social and environmental inequalities. This approach fosters students' awareness of their role as agents of change in environmental protection and in creating more equitable and resilient communities. The results show that the application of these (...) principles facilitates the development of critical thinking and empowerment competencies in students, promoting active participation in environmental management. (shrink)

The finding of fractal scaling (FS) in behavioral sequences has raised a debate on whether FS is a pervasive property of the cognitive system or is the result of specific processes. Inferences about the origins of properties in time sequences are causal. That is, as opposed to correlational inferences reflecting instantaneous symmetrical relations, causal inferences concern asymmetric relations lagged in time. Here, I integrate Granger-causality with inferences about FS. Four simulations illustrate that causal analyses can isolate distinct FS sources, whereas (...) correlational techniques cannot. I then analyze three simultaneous sequences of responses from a database of word-naming trials. I find that two, or perhaps three, distinct sources account for the presence of FS in these sequences, but FS is not a general property of the system. This suggests that FS arises due to the properties of a limited number of identifiable psychological and/or neural processes. Finally, I reanalyze a previously published dataset of acoustic frequency spectra using the new tools. The causality/criticality combination introduced here offers a new important perspective in the study of cognition. (shrink)

Fodor argue that Darwinism cannot be true on the grounds that there are no laws of selection to support counterfactuals about why traits are selected-for. Darwinian explanations, according to this objection, amount to mere ‘plausible historical narratives’. I argue that the objection is predicated on two problematic assumptions: A nomic-subsumption account of causation and causal explanation, and a fine-grained view of the individuation of selected-for effects. Against the former, I argue that Darwinian explanations are a historical species of mechanistic explanation (...) and that mechanisms are causally productive and counterfactual supporting in the absence of appropriate laws. Once this mechanistic framework is in place, the demand for laws of selection vanishes and the historical cum causal coherence of Darwinism is restored. As for the second assumption, I argue that it is an artefact of the teleosemantic program with no basis in evolutionary biology and that properly understood, Darwinian evolutionary biology shows just why teleosemantics cannot succeed. (shrink)

El artículo presenta un examen de la relación entre la teología cristiana católica en México en el siglo XVII, específicamente en las ideas de autores pertenecientes a la Compañía de Jesús, y el estilo barroco de las obras que se crearon en dicho periodo, sobre todo en pintura, poesía y arquitectura. Se estudian especialmente las ideas expresadas por Tomás de Alfaro, S.J. (ca. 1667) y Luis de Villanueva, S.J. (1605-1659).

As opposed to Descartes, and in accordance with authors such as Nietzsche, Darwin or Chomsky, Pinker sustains that language is just another instinct of human nature. But he differs himself from Chomsky by affirming that language is also the result of the mechanism of natural selection. Recent discoveries seem to strengthen Pinker’s thesis, in as far as it has been possible to establish a link between the FOXP2 gene and language. Philosophy should take good note of these results, as they (...) fully affect the status of lógos: from now on, it is possible, without needing to resort to any type of transcendence, to consider language as constitutive of human singularity regarding other species and, at the same times, as just another avatar in the evolution of the natural world. (shrink)

ABSTRACTEmotion regulation substantially develops during the childhood years. This growth includes an increasing awareness that certain ER strategies are more appropriate in some contexts than...

What is natural selection? I address this question by exploring the relation between two debates: Is natural selection a mechanism? Is natural selection a causal or a statistical theory? I argue that the first can be assessed only relative to a model and that, following the second, there are two fundamentally different and independent kinds of models, Modern-Synthesis and Darwinian models. MS-models, I argue, are not mechanistic even if they are causal. D-models, in contrast, are mechanistic. A causal-mechanistic interpretation of (...) D-models is thus compatible with a statistical interpretation of MS-models. Natural selection, I conclude, lacks a single, unifying nature. (shrink)

The debate about justice in immigration seems somehow stagnated given that it seems justice requires both further exclusion and more porous borders. In the face of this, I propose to take a step back and to realize that the general problem of borders—to determine what kind of borders liberal democracies ought to have—gives rise to two particular problems: first, to justify exclusive control over the administration of borders (the problem of legitimacy of borders) and, second, to specify how this control (...) ought to be exercised (the problem of justice of borders). The literature has explored the second but ignored the first. Therefore, I propose a different approach to the ethics of immigration by focusing on concerns of legitimacy in a three-step framework: first, identifying the kind of authority or power that immigration controls exercise; second, redefining borders as international and domestic institutions that issue that kind of power; and finally, considering supranational institutions that redistribute the right to exclude among legitimate borders. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo se analizan tres piezas de Rodolfo Usigli bajo la perspectiva del chantaje que impulsa la confrontación de dos fuerzas axiológicas que son la verdad y la mentira; sin embargo, no se trata sólo de dos antagonismos que determinan la temática de su teatro, sino además son dos términos cuya confrontación construye la estructura de la mayor parte de sus dramas. Esta confrontación entre verdad y mentira Rodolfo Usigli la maneja desde distintas aristas, como es la desinformación, (...) la obediencia a la autoridad y la gubernamentalidad. (shrink)

Parece haber una contradicción entre la idea de Leibniz de que vivimos en el mejor de los mundos posibles y sus constantes esfuerzos por mejorar la condición humana ofreciendo soluciones a problemas sociales. En este artículo exploramos algunos enfoques para tratar este conflicto entre teoría y práctica.

El artículo busca revelar como resultado el papel de la comunicación de la innovación social en el comportamiento del usuario, si este modifica su intención de consumir un producto o servicio, cuando conoce que la empresa que oferta el bien o servicio tiene una práctica de innovación social implementada. Para responder al objetivo se formularon dos hipótesis que fueron testeadas mediante la aplicación de una encuesta basada en una muestra de conveniencia, que recolectó 300 respuestas en toda América Latina. Los (...) resultados obtenidos permiten suponer que el consumidor en Latinoamérica, en general, no solo quiere tener más información disponible y accesible (tanto en términos de accesibilidad de medios como de lenguaje), sino que quiere involucrarse, ser escuchado y poder intervenir en la comunidad; ya sea por iniciativa propia o alentado por las marcas y empresas en general. (shrink)