Alexis de Tocqueville mantuvo una muy abundante correspondencia a lo largo de su vida. Familiares y relevantes contemporáneos, no sólo franceses, figuran entre sus destinatarios. Sus cartas ofrecen una parte esencial de su pensamiento, expuesto con la libertad propia del género epistolar, y representan una componente de primera importancia dentro de su obra literaria. Las Cartas Americanas, escritas entre abril de 1831 y febrero de 1832 con ocasión de su viaje al Nuevo Mundo, son un buen ejemplo. Además, por servir (...) de referencia inmediata a su gran obra, La democracia en América, cobran un valor excepcional. Cabe pensar que este apartado de la correspondencia tocquevillana, acotado en el tiempo a la perfección, está bien estudiado al día de hoy. Sin embargo una carta, dirigida a su hermano Edouard 3 el 20 de junio de 1831 desde Nueva York e inédita hasta este momento, evidencia que no es así. A ello nos referimos en este trabajo. (shrink)

El siguiente artículo ofrece un resumen de la panorámica descrita por Jean Luis Benoît acerca de la percepción actual de Alexis de Tocqueville en Francia [2009]. Sus apreciaciones hallan complemento en el relato de algunas circunstancias relacionadas con la primicia de la edición de la carta que dirigió a su hermano Edouard, el 20 de junio de 1831 desde Nueva York, inédita hasta marzo de 2013. Finalmente se ofrece una versión en inglés de la misma, probablemente en primicia, de modo (...) que todo el mundo pueda acceder a ella en cualquiera de sus tres versiones: francés, español o inglés. (shrink)

Trata-se de propor, através da leitura conjunta de Jacques Rancière e Paulo Freire, uma filosofia da educação capaz de nos orientar em uma crítica da atual sociedade neoliberal. Tendo tal objetivo em vista, primeiramente exponho como a igualdade pode aparecer enquanto princípio a orientar nossas práticas educacionais. Com a afirmação da potência própria à inteligência é toda uma compreensão antropológica do homem que se desenha, compreensão essa que afirma o ser humano enquanto um ente que tem no aprendizado uma forma (...) privilegiada de se relacionar e existir no mundo. Em um segundo momento, argumento que tal princípio da igualdade encontra uma complementariedade importante com a dialética entre opressores e oprimidos desenvolvida por Paulo Freire, explicitando o caráter político do princípio de igualdade de inteligências e sua necessária mediação social dentro de uma história marcada pelas relações de desigualdade. A partir disso, podemos propor uma ideia de educação não pautada na estratégia do investimento em capital humano e no decorrente crescimento econômico – pressuposto tão caro à racionalidade do capitalismo contemporâneo - mas sim na normatividade própria de uma antropologia e de uma filosofia da história democráticas e emancipadoras. (shrink)

If personhood is the quality or condition of being an individual person, brainhood could name the quality or condition of being a brain. This ontological quality would define the `cerebral subject' that has, at least in industrialized and highly medicalized societies, gained numerous social inscriptions since the mid-20th century. This article explores the historical development of brainhood. It suggests that the brain is necessarily the location of the `modern self', and that, consequently, the cerebral subject is the anthropological figure inherent (...) to modernity (at least insofar as modernity gives supreme value to the individual as autonomous agent of choice and initiative). It further argues that the ideology of brainhood impelled neuroscientific investigation much more than it resulted from it, and sketches how an expanding constellation of neurocultural discourses and practices embodies and sustains that ideology. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente artículo consiste en analizar la relación Dewey-Honneth con el propósito de profundizar en la comprensión de la idea de > y evidenciar algunos puntos de encuentro que, en el ámbito de la filosofía social, se dan entre la tradición pragmatista y la teoría crítica de la sociedad representadas por John Dewey y Axel Honneth. Se considera la existencia de cierto aire de familia en el entendimiento de Honneth sobre la idea > con relación a las consideraciones (...) del pragmatismo, especialmente las elaboradas por C. S. Peirce y Dewey, en lo que respecta al análisis de la relación entre teoría y praxis. La tesis que se defiende afirma que para Dewey y Honneth, existe una prioridad metodológica de la experiencia para la comprensión de la moralidad en el contexto de la reconstrucción normativa de la misma; dicha prioridad entiende que la fuente de normatividad se constituye en el análisis de las prácticas sociales individuales y colectivas, de cómo se relacionan los individuos y los grupos con las instituciones vigentes, y de la incidencia recíproca de las mismas en su interacción con el ambiente social, económico, político y cultural. (shrink)

We study the emergence of all references to modern mathematics in Difference and Repetition, and we explain how, using these mathematical approaches, Deleuze constructs an “ideal synthesis of difference” which goes well beyond the usual reductionist perspectives of his commentators.

We present a formal analysis of Douglas Hofstadter’s concept of superrationality. We start by defining superrationally justifiable actions, and study them in symmetric games. We then model the beliefs of the players, in a way that leads them to different choices than the usual assumption of rationality by restricting the range of conceivable choices. These beliefs are captured in the formal notion of type drawn from epistemic game theory. The theory of coalgebras is used to frame type spaces and to (...) account for the existence of some of them. We find conditions that guarantee superrational outcomes. (shrink)

ArgumentSeeing a prodigious cure happen and then testifying about it certainly differs from attending an air pump experiment in order to bear witness to it. Yet early-modern saint-making and the “new” or “experimental philosophy” shared juridical roots, and thereby an understanding of the role of testimony for the establishment of “matters of fact” and for the production of legitimate knowledge. The reforms carried out after the Council of Trent, especially during Urban VIII's pontificate, of the juridical procedures for saint-making in (...) the Catholic Church implied a new attitude towards the examination of proposed miracles. Most of these miracles were healings. While the appeal to medical expertise had long been common, and skepticism had often manifested itself regarding cures or extraordinary bodily phenomena, both were now given formal status. Miracle inquests henceforth leaned towards refuting miraculousness by means of natural explanations. The procedure was systematized in a treatise published in the 1730s by Prospero Lambertini. The combination of Lambertini's work with the canonization causes in which he acted as the “devil's advocate” in charge of disputing arguments favorable to a sainthood candidate allows for a reconstruction of the interplay between the juridical and scientific economies of saint-making, and of the role of testimony in the production of trust and evidence. (shrink)

Eventualities and worlds are analysed uniformly as schedules of certain descriptions of eventuality-types (reversing the reduction of eventuality-types to eventualities). The temporal interpretation of modals in Condoravdi 2002 is reformulated to bring out what it is about eventualities and worlds that is essential to the account. What is essential, it is claimed, can be recovered from schedules that may or may not include worlds.

Richard Miller's two central theses rest on dubious predictions, and, more important, are morally objectionable. The United States would be perpetrating a major injustice if it enabled the Taliban to rule over any part of the territory and over any person.

Scholars have debated the meaning of the foreign-relations clauses in the U.S. Constitution. This essay attempts to outline the foreign-relations clauses that an ideal constitution should have. A liberal constitution must enable the government to implement a morally defensible foreign policy. The first priority is the defense of liberty. The constitution must allow the government to effectively defend persons, territory, and liberal institutions themselves. The liberal government should also contribute to the advancement of global freedom, subject to a number of (...) conditions, especially cost. The essay recommends improved methods to incorporate treaties and customary international law into the constitutional structure. Treaties should be approved by the whole legislature and should generally be self-executing. Customary law should be genuine, not fake, and consistent with liberal principles. Finally, based on economic theory and evidence, the essay recommends that liberal constitutions prohibit the government from erecting trade barriers. It concludes by tentatively proposing concrete constitutional language to implement these recommendations. (shrink)

Iterated admissibility embodies a minimal criterion of rationality in interactions. The epistemic characterization of this solution has been actively investigated in recent times: it has been shown that strategies surviving \ rounds of iterated admissibility may be identified as those that are obtained under a condition called rationality and m assumption of rationality in complete lexicographic type structures. On the other hand, it has been shown that its limit condition, with an infinity assumption of rationality ), might not be satisfied (...) by any state in the epistemic structure, if the class of types is complete and the types are continuous. In this paper we analyze the problem in a different framework. We redefine the notion of type as well as the epistemic notion of assumption. These new definitions are sufficient for the characterization of iterated admissibility as the class of strategies that indeed satisfy \. One of the key methodological innovations in our approach involves defining a new notion of generic types and employing these in conjunction with Cohen’s technique of forcing. (shrink)

Postmodernity is a move ment that arose as a re sult of the cri sis of the dom i nant mo der nity, con front ing many of the great pro jects which ex - alted the do min ion and the power of man, and re - plac ing them with small ness, what is lo cal, and other al ter na tives. One of the most o..

El sistema neuronal, máquinas triviales y no triviales - La empresa como tejido conversacional - Conversaciones que transforman el mundo - Conversaciones responsables - Tejiendo la red - Conversaciones que completan la conversación - Reabriendo conversaciones.

In Frege’s logicism, numbers are logical objects in the sense that they are extensions of certain concepts. Frege’s logical system is inconsistent, but Richard Heck showed that its restriction to predicative quantification is consistent. This predicative fragment is, nevertheless, too weak to develop arithmetic. In this paper, I will consider an extension of Heck’s system with impredicative quantifiers. In this extended system, both predicative and impredicative quantifiers co-exist but it is only permissible to take extensions of concepts formulated in the (...) predicative fragment of the language. This system is consistent. Moreover, it proves the principle of reducibility applied to concepts true of only finitely many objects. With the aid of this form of reducibility, it is possible to develop arithmetic in a thoroughly Fregean way. (shrink)

The law of maturity is the belief that less-observed events are becoming mature and, therefore, more likely to occur in the future. Previous studies have shown that the assumption of infinite exchangeability contradicts the law of maturity. In particular, it has been shown that infinite exchangeability contradicts probabilistic descriptions of the law of maturity such as the gambler’s belief and the belief in maturity. We show that the weaker assumption of finite exchangeability is compatible with both the gambler’s belief and (...) belief in maturity. We provide sufficient conditions under which these beliefs hold under finite exchangeability. These conditions are illustrated with commonly used parametric models. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se comparan críticamente las teorías del condicionamiento y la expectativa. Se retoma la propuesta de Oron Frenkel a fin de juzgar si la noción de intencionalidad motriz permite establecer un marco teórico superador de las deficiencias de dichas teorías. Finalmente, se analiza la categoría de forma y los órdenes físico, vital y humano, propuestos en La estructura del comportamiento, como abordajes alternativos. La conclusión destaca el valor de la experiencia del paciente en los ensayos y plantea la posibilidad de (...) redefinir la noción tradicional de conciencia entendida como formación de representaciones y juicios. ABSTRACT The article carries out a critical comparison of the theories of conditioning and expectation. It takes up Oron Frenkel's proposal in order to determine whether the notion of motor intentionality makes it possible to establish a theoretical framework that overcomes the deficiencies of those theories. Finally, it analyzes the category of form and the physical, vital, and human orders set forth in The Structure of Behavior as alternative approaches. Te conclusion highlights the value of the patient's experience in trials, and suggest the possibility of redefining the traditional notion of consciousness understood as the formation of representations and judgments. (shrink)

Recent discoveries have suggested the concept that intracellular signals are the sum of multiple, site‐specified subsignals, rather than single, homogeneous entities. In the context of cancer, searching for compounds that selectively block subsignals essential for tumor progression, but not those regulating “house‐keeping” functions, could help in producing drugs with reduced side effects compared to compounds that block signaling completely. The Ras‐ERK pathway has become a paradigm of how space can differentially shape signaling. Today, we know that Ras proteins are found (...) in different plasma membrane microdomains and endomembranes. At these localizations, Ras is subject to site‐specific regulatory mechanisms, distinctively engaging effector pathways and switching‐on diverse genetic programs to generate different biological responses. The Ras effector pathway leading to ERKs activation is also under strict, space‐related regulatory processes. These findings may open a gate for aiming at the Ras‐ERK pathway in a spatially restricted fashion, in our quest for new anti‐tumor therapies. (shrink)

When, on December 7, 2000, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission proclaimed solemnly in Nice the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, many thought that European integration was practically guaranteed and that the Charter would soon be made into a binding legal text. Since then, the two attempts to enact a European consitution - the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union of 2004 and the arguably less ambitious Treaty of Lisbon of 2007 - both failed. Further (...) efforts at unification have stagnated, in part due to the 2008 economic crisis and the European Union’s inability to coordinate responses to issues as serious as immigration, the refugee crisis, and terrorism. In this paper, I examine a theoretical counterpoint to that bleak perspective for European unification, to wit, Jürgen Habermas’ eurofederalist proposal of the postnational democracy and European constitutional patriotism. (shrink)

Os pressupostos da estrutura afetiva dos tipos de governo em Hobbes dizem respeito aos afetos fundamentais que determinam as ações humanas desde o estado de natureza, em especial o medo, o egoísmo e a glória. O medo, para Hobbes, talvez seja o afeto mais restritivo da liberdade natural no estado de natureza e, ao contrário, a principal condição para a obtenção da paz no estado civil, mas a esperança de glória é tão relevante quanto o medo para a transformação do (...) homem natural num ser social e, posteriormente, num súdito e num cidadão. (shrink)

Marilena Chauí, entre 1977 e 1982, produziu uma série de textos de Filosofia Política que podem ser considerados marco inicial para uma longa e ainda ativa carreira de investigações socialistas acerca da democracia, da liberdade e, não menos importante, da justiça. Sua filosofia promove uma crítica às teorias liberais do Estado, ao nosso autoritarismo genuinamente brasileiro, aos inimigos da classe trabalhadora então dedicada a se auto-afirmar politicamente. Ao lado da crítica chauiana à justiça liberal, porém, penso ser o caso de (...) identificar um conceito próprio de Justiça na obra de Chauí. (shrink)

If it is true that Spinoza belongs to the history of Jewish Philosophy, his concept of God also cannot cease to being “Jewish”. Our aim here is to call into question if Spinoza’s concept of God, as exposed in Ethics’ definitions, has something of Jewish, particularly when faced with conceptions yielded by some of the main philosophers from Jewish and Arabic traditions: Saadya, Avicenna, Ibn Gabirol, Halevi, Maimonides and Crescas. Our answer, at the end, is negative.

Many natural connections between Peirce and Whitehead have been appearing since Peirce’s manuscripts began to be published in Harvard’s Collected Papers edition. The resemblances are profound, based on speculative philosophies founded on interactions between science and philosophy, in turn erected over a wide understanding of mathematical thought. Some doctoral dissertations have explored the field, but a full monograph was still needed in order to clarify the panorama. Maria Regina Brioschi’s Creativity Between Experience and Cosmos. C.S. Peirce and A.N. Whitehead on (...) Novelty provides the sound, exact, and extremely... (shrink)

En este artículo se muestra una comparación de las lógicas diagramáticas lulianas y peirceanas. En la Sección 1, se introduce una problemática general del tránsito y de sus resoluciones triádicas y espaciales, aprovechando perspectivas de las obras de Aby Warburg y Walter Benjamin. La Sección 2 es una síntesis de los engranajes fundamentales del sistema diagramático de Llull. En la Sección 3, se resumen las características geométrico-topológicas esenciales de los gráficos existenciales de Peirce. Y finalmente, en la Sección 4, se (...) efectúa un rastreo de las apariciones de Llull en los textos de Peirce, y proponemos un reencuentro entre los dos pensadores. (shrink)

We introduce the work of Mariano Picón Salas, who tries to enlarge the Hispanoamerican tradition —historically focused on the web of transits/obstructions between Europe and Latin America— via a larger triangulation that includes the presence of the culture of the United States. His essays from the period 1930-1950 show how pragmatism —understood in Peircean terms as a web of topological transfers of knowledge between the borders of culture— can help to provide a vision that encompasses America as a whole.

As has happened in Latin America, and more generally in the Hispanic World, pragmatism came to our countries mainly through William James and John Dewey (particularly, through his influence in education). Studies in Spanish on Peirce were scarce and superficial until the end of the 20th century. The situation in Colombia follows that pattern. The first valuable Colombian study on Peirce came from Mariluz Restrepo (1993), a fine introduction to Peirce’s semeiotics through the unfolding of the...

The article presents two gestures corresponding to two profound new understandings of Peirce's Continuum and Peirce's Existential Graphs. Vargas and Oostra have revolutionized Peirce's mathematical studies, thanks to a first complete model for Peirce's continuum provided by Vargas, and thanks to the emergence of intuitionistic existential graphs provided by Oostra. The article aims at showing how these careful mathematical constructions can be encrypted in very simple gestures.

Resumimos la información aportada por estudios científicos recientes sobre las opiniones, visiones y actitudes de los cazadores españoles sobre la caza y su gestión. En concreto, discutimos las distintas funciones que atribuyen los cazadores a la actividad cinegética, así como los juicios morales asociados a diversas motivaciones para cazar. Seguidamente, exploramos las valoraciones expresadas por cazadores y gestores respecto a ciertas herramientas de gestión cinegética, y discutimos sobre cómo éstas influyen en la toma de decisiones. Por último, exploramos las posibles (...) tendencias futuras de esta actividad, a partir de lo expresado por los propios cazadores. (shrink)

O artigo tem como objetivo analisar a recíproca dependência dos direitos fundamentais, democracia e da paz, como três momentos integrantes do mesmo movimento histórico. Sem a devida proteção das liberdades fundamentais não se perfaz um governo democrático, pois, aludido regime sustenta-se na soberania popular, na separação de poderes e respeito pleno aos direitos humanos. Por outro lado, nota-se a paz como elemento intrínseco da ordem republicana, posto que fundada segundo os princípios cardeais da liberdade, igualdade e solidariedade. Destarte, necessária se (...) faz uma interpretação contemporânea buscando, sobretudo, o fortalecimento gradual e simultâneo desses três valores essenciais. (shrink)

The paper deals with he tension between morality and efficacy both from the point of view of economics (and politics) on the one hand and ethics (and politics) on the other.