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 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.

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)

La oposición a Hegel mediante la cual con frecuencia la tradición presenta la filosofía schopenhaueriana se ha interpretado en ocasiones como una relación de dependencia, en la medida en que aquella habría surgido como una cierta reacción frente a la de Hegel. El artículo muestra que los documentos disponibles acerca de los comienzos de la relación de Schopenhauer con Hegel hacen insostenible tal supuesto, además de ofrecer un marco y diversas claves para comprender su posterior polémica con el hegelianismo.

This book explores the notion of endangerment which stands at the heart of a network of concepts, values and practices dealing with objects considered threatened by extinction, and with the procedures aimed at preserving them. It looks at some of the fundamental ways in which this process involves science, but also more than science: not only data and knowledge and institutions, but also affects and values. With a focus on endangerment sensibility, it encapsulates tensions between the normative and the utilitarian, (...) the natural and the cultural. (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)

O desengano de Garrett.--A desilusão de Herculano.--A descrença de Soriano.--O pessimismo de Oliveira Martins.--A penitência de Ramalho.--A ironia de Eça de Queiroz.--O te0temunho de Antero.--A contrição de Fialho.--Concêrto de acusações.--Apêndice.

A lo largo de la última década, China ha asumido un creciente protagonismo con respecto a la reforma de las estructuras de la gobernanza global. Su discurso e iniciativas revelan su preferencia por un orden que reconozca un mayor peso a los países en desarrollo frente a Occidente, pero que al mismo tiempo resulte favorable a sus específicos intereses nacionales. Las dimensiones adquiridas por la economía china y las cada vez más explícitas ambiciones internacionales de sus dirigentes obligan a preguntarse (...) por sus intenciones y agenda, así como por el impacto de la transformación que pretende. Aunque no resulta plausible que China suceda a Estados Unidos al frente del sistema multilateral, sí puede emerger un nuevo orden híbrido o pluralista. (shrink)

Em um artigo influente publicado em meados dos anos 80, Jacques Brunschwig defendeu a ideia de que o debate dialético, para Aristóteles, não resultaria em vencedores e derrotados. Sua defesa é baseada no debate dialético como sendo um trabalho comum entre questionador e respondedor (cláusula koinon ergon [cf. Tópicos VIII.11 161a20-21]) e como um tipo de teste de consistência de uma dada proposição (cláusula dia tēn thesis [cf. Tópicos VIII.4 159a20]). Apesar dos muitos méritos do artigo, penso que o argumento (...) de Brunschwig não considera adequadamente aspectos importantes do debate dialético no que concerne à performance dos debatedores, especialmente acerca dos recursos que o questionador deve usar. Ao não considerarmos esses aspectos, temos dificuldades para interpretar passagens em que Aristóteles recomenda o uso de táticas para enganar o respondedor. Meu objetivo nesse artigo será oferecer uma explicação diferente das cláusulas dia tēn thesis e koinon ergon, de modo que isso implicará uma conclusão segundo a qual o debate dialético honesto pode envolver vencedores e derrotados e manter a observância das duas cláusulas. Palavras-chave: Dialética; Aristóteles; Debate. Winners and losers in Aristotle’s dialectical debate. Abstract: In the mid-eighties Jacques Brunschwig published an influential paper of whose main claim consists in a defence of the Aristotelian conception of dialectical debate as a game without winners and losers. His claim is based on the dialectical debate as being a common work between answerer and questioner (koinon ergon clause [cf. Topics VIII.11 161a20-21]) and as a kind of test of the consistency of a given proposition (dia tēn thesis clause [cf. Topics VIII.4 159a20]). Despite its many merits, I think Brunschwig’s argument overlooks important aspects of the dialectical debate concerning the debaters’ performance, especially the resources that should be used by the questioner. By overlooking these aspects, we end up with several troubles to interpret passages in which Aristotle recommends deceptive tactics in the debate. My objective in this paper is to give a different account the dia tēn thesis and the koinon ergon clauses, which will imply a conclusion by which fair dialectical debates can still have winners and losers and observe both clauses. Key-words: Dialectics; Aristotle; Debate. Ganadores y perdedores en el debate dialéctico según Aristóteles. Resumen: En un influyente artículo publicado a mediados de los años 1980, Jacques Brunschwig defendió la idea de que el debate dialéctico, para Aristóteles, no resultaría en ganadores y perdedores. Su defensa se basa en el debate dialéctico como trabajo común entre el que pregunta y el que responde (cláusula koinon ergon [cf. Tópicos VIII.11 161a20-21]) y como una especie de prueba de la consistencia de una proposición dada (cláusula dia tēn thesis [cf. Tópicos VIII.4 159a20]). A pesar de los muchos méritos del artículo, creo que el argumento de Brunschwig no considera adecuadamente aspectos importantes del debate dialéctico con respecto a la actuación de los debatientes, especialmente con respecto a los recursos que debe utilizar el interrogador. Al no considerar estos aspectos, nos resulta difícil interpretar pasajes en los que Aristóteles recomienda el uso de tácticas para engañar al que responde. Mi objetivo en este artículo será ofrecer una explicación diferente de las cláusulas dia tēn thesis y koinon ergon, de modo que esto implique una conclusión de que el debate dialéctico honesto puede involucrar a ganadores y perdedores y mantener la observancia de las dos cláusulas. Palabras-clave: Dialéctica; Aristóteles; Debate. 1 Pesquisa desenvolvida no âmbito do Edital Universal Nº28/2018 financiada pelo CNPq sob o número 433825/2018-9. Data de registro: 01/08/2023 Data de aceite: 24/04/2024. (shrink)

El dualismo es una solución religiosa que ha atraído a muchos espíritus religiosos, y que adquirió formas muy diversas en la Antigüedad. Para clasificar estas variedades religiosas , el historiador italiano Ugo Bianchi propuso un modelo interpretativo constituido por tres partes de categorías. Al aplicar al maniqueísmo (religión dualista por excelencia) las categorías interpretativas propuestas por Bianchi éstas muestran en algunos casos su utilidad, pero también sus limitaciones. El presente artículo intenta efectuar una caracterización precisa del dualismo maniqueo mediante la (...) aplicación de cinco categorías que modifican y completan la aproximación del estudioso italiano. A la luz de los resultados obtenidos se examina la piedad idiosincrásica del maniqueísmo. (shrink)

Reductionists about testimony think that testimony is never a basic source of justification. By contrast, anti-reductionists claim that, at least in some paradigmatic cases, testimony is a basic and independent source of justification. In support of their position, anti-reductionists usually claim that paradigmatic testimony-based beliefs are non-inferential in that recipients of testimony usually don’t reason their way from the fact that they were told that p to the belief that p—they simply come to believe that p. In this paper I (...) explore in detail the idea that paradigmatic testimony-based beliefs are non-inferentially justified and conclude that it is grounded on an overly simplistic characterization of inferential relations. Then, and taking my cue from Malmgren’s (2018) rich proposal about the varieties of inferential relations, I defend the view that paradigmatic testimony-based beliefs are inferentially justified after all. (shrink)

The title of this issue of Science in Context – “Believing Nature, Knowing God” – is intended to suggest the moral, emotional, and cognitive conditions in which the historical alliance of “nature” and “God” operated, and to make a more general point about knowing and believing. The production of scientific knowledge includes mechanisms for bringing about acceptance that such knowledge is true, and thus for generating a psychological state of belief. To claim to have knowledge of nature involves an attitude (...) of belief in certain epistemic values, in the procedures associated with them, and in the results to which they lead. “Nature,” both as a totality to be known, and as the sum of the results of research directed towards it, turns out to be an object of belief. (shrink)

In the context of the Eurocentric theories of modernity, the following article addresses four relevant topics and its corresponding deconstruction. 1) Hegel’s concept of modernity as the discovery of subjectivity in Western Europe. 2) Max Weber’s concept of modernity by emphasizing his criticism of protestant ethic as the engine of capitalism.3) Jürgen Habermas's conception of modernity as ‘unfinished project’, emphasizing the theoretical structure of the life-world, which occupies a special and important place in his theory of modernity.Finally, I discuss the (...) strengths and weaknesses of the emerging paradigm of decolonization, as a contribution to the improvement of their theoretical positions. En el contexto de las teorías de la modernidad eurocéntrica, el artículo siguiente aborda cuatro tópicos relevantes y su correspondiente deconstrucción. En primer lugar, el concepto de modernidad de Hegel como el descubrimiento de la subjetividad europea y occidental. El segundo lugar, el concepto de Max Weber de la modernidad, acentuando la crítica de la ética protestante como motor del capitalismo. En tercer lugar, la concepción de JürgenHabermas de la modernidad como "proyecto inconcluso", haciendo hincapié en la estructura teórica del mundo de la vida, que ocupa un lugar privilegiado en su teoría de la modernidad. Por último, se discuten las fortalezas y debilidades del paradigma emergente de descolonización, como una contribución al mejoramiento de sus posiciones teóricas. (shrink)

The literature on physicalism often fails to elucidate, I think, what the word physical in physical ism precisely means. Philosophers speak at times of an ideal set of fundamental physical facts, or they stipulate that physical means non-mental , such that all fundamental physical facts are fundamental facts pertaining to the non-mental. In this article, I will probe physicalism in the very much tangible framework of quantum mechanics. Although this theory, unlike “ideal physics” or some “final theory of non-mentality”, is (...) an incomplete theory of the world, I believe this analysis will be of value, if for nothing else, at least for bringing some taste of physical reality, as it were, back to the debate. First, I will introduce a broad characterization of the physicalist credo. In Sect. 2, I will provide a rather quick review of quantum mechanics and some of its current interpretations. In Sect. 3, the notion of quantum non-separability will be analyzed, which will facilitate a discussion of the wave function ontology in Sect. 4. In Sects. 5 and 6, I will explore competing views on the implications of this ontology. In Sect. 7, I will argue that the prior results, based on a thoroughly realist interpretation of quantum mechanics, support only a weak version of non-reductive physicalism. (shrink)

Our objective will be to argue in favor of the idea that in Nietzsche there is no genealogical method, stricto sensu, with universalist and systemic-substantivist epistemic claims (traditionally conceived by justificationist and foundationalist philosophies from Plato to Hegel). However, there is a characteristic genealogical program, which opposes the majority genealogies and philosophies insofar as a self-suppression of the method is imposed as the primary and heterodox register of its reflection. We start from the hypothesis that Nietzsche’s genealogy, understood programmatically, became (...) viable because it was markedly structured on the basis of three reflexive movements that free his genealogical thinking from an analytical-methodological conduct, like the canon, which are: (i) variation of style in his writing; (ii) critical historicism or radical and (iii) discontinuity of origin. However, it would be pointless to show how clearly the Nietzschean genealogical program was outlined if we couldn’t say where it came from, for whom and for what purpose, or even more so, what it is intended to denounce. Therefore, in our conclusion, we will show, with some reservation, how the Nietzschean genealogical program lends itself to evaluating the dimension of power. (shrink)

Este artículo trata de la estancia en Italia del traductor del árabe Diego de Urrea, que pasó los últimos años de su vida en Nápoles. Su relación con círculos eruditos italianos, como el del príncipe Federico Cesi y su Accademia dei Lin-cei, a la que perteneció Galileo, pone de relieve algunos de los rasgos característicos del "orientalismo" italiano de la época, y sus relaciones y diferencias con lo que ocurría en España a comienzos de a. XVII, cuando el asunto de (...) los Plomos del Sacromonte ejerció un papel fundamental en la definición de la lengua y la historia árabes dentro de la historia de España. (shrink)

Frank Wilderson: I introduce a semiotic configuration. The point is, at important levels of abstraction, people who are positioned as Black—which is very different from saying people who think of themselves as Black. One of the basic premises of Afropessimism, which makes it resonate with psychoanalysis or Marxism, is that where one is positioned in a paradigm might not be where one thinks one is or where one desires to be. When I teach undergraduates, I say: “Look, I used to (...) study neorealism. In these neorealist films, we have these people who are bona fide fascists, and then you have those people in the Communist Party, so they could not agree on much. They don’t see themselves as having much of a connection. But in a Gramscian sense, they are both positioned as the host of capitalist parasites. Both groups rely on the wage. So, they are both workers.” One of the big points with respect to the narratological question is that I, as a Black person, trained at Columbia University in creative writing, trained at UC Berkeley in critical theory, love narrative, but narrative does not love me. In other words, it is impossible for me to be “emplotted” as a speaking subject. I can only be “emplotted” as an object of narrative. But I am always struggling to attain that love of humanity; and if I were to attain it, the Human would not have a foil against which to know itself. So, what I am saying is that in a book like Red, White & Black, I am just being very categorically clear about the divisions. In Afropessimism, I am actually talking about the desire of a sentient being who cannot be allowed into an arena where people are recognized and incorporated, in Lacanian terms, as “contemporaries” of human beings. So, there is all this back and forth. I don’t think this speaking subject in Afropessimism ever achieves anything in particular. It is always struggling toward being a subject that can actually travel on a narrative arc and yet ultimately is an object that can never travel from dispossession to redemptive recovery. (shrink)

This paper deals in detail with a fairly recent philosophical debate centered around the ability of the theory of natural selection to account for those phenotypical changes which can be argued to make organisms better adapted to their environments. The philosopher and cognitive scientist Jerry Fodor started the debate by claiming that natural selection cannot do the job. He follows two main lines of argumentation. One is based on an alleged conceptual defect in the theory, the other on alleged empirical (...) problems in it as well as empirical alternatives to it. Four philosophers and two biologists respond in a way that displays what might easily be described as fallacious. The paper relies on the ideal model of critical discussion of pragma-dialectics to offer a step-by-step analysis of the whole debate, which extended for four issues of the _London Review of Books_, from October 2007 through January 2008. This pragma-dialectical analysis is carried out by constant reference to the various questions (problems, issues) that arise in the debate. The analysis includes as much detail as possible both in Fodor’s original argument and in the critics’ various comments as well as Fodor’s replies along two rounds of debate. Since a simple negative evaluation in terms of fallacies is out of the question in view of the proved argumentative accomplishments of the participants, an alternative explanation is offered: the undeniable derailments in strategic maneuvering are due to the fact that, whilst ostensibly discussing the theory of natural selection, Fodor’s detractors are worried by an underlying issue, namely, the dangers of discussing the merits and demerits of natural selection as a theory of evolution in a venue as exposed to the general public as the _London Review of Books_, given the religiously inspired movements that threaten the teaching of evolutionary biology in schools. (shrink)

Resenha de: Fernandes, Simone. Subjetividade e dominação. A filosofia de Nietzsche na teoria crítica de Horkheimer nos anos 1930 e 1940. Santo André: EdUFABC, 2022.

Establecer algún tipo de relación entre libertad y seguridad supone darle a cada una un contenido específico. En nuestro caso, hablaremos de la seguridad en el ámbito público y de la libertad como libertad política y civil. Partiendo de ahí se reflexionará sobre la seguridad y la libertad en relación al monopolio legítimo de la violencia (coaccion física) por parte del Estado moderno y su vinculación con la teoría democrática moderna. Y lo haremos siguiendo la disyuntiva existente entre política y (...) ética característica de las sociedades modernas. (shrink)

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)

Conditional logic is the deductive system , where is the set of propositional connectives {, ,} and is the structural finitary consequence relation on the absolutely free algebra that preserves degrees of truth over the structure of truth values C, . HereC is the non-commutative regular extension of the 2-element Boolean algebra to 3 truth values {t, u, f}, andfut. In this paper we give a Gentzen type axiomatization for conditional logic.

Se continúa el estudio sobre el tema del tiempo en la filosofía de Polo comenzando en la Superación del tiempo . En el contexto de la gnoseología poliana, es analizada la diversidad de las objetivaciones del tiempo, así como la función cognoscitiva desempeñada por las nociones modales en semejante articulación.

This paper studies time in Hegel’s thought according to the interpretation of the topic in Polo’s philosophy. Two senses of the Hegelian time are distinguished as well as it is explained the dialectic development from one to the other. The first sense is tiem understood as the empty form of become, and the second one is the time of the spirit, the pure negative variation which may be designated in modal terms as whole possibility.

ResumoO Senado Federal brasileiro criou uma Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito (CPI) para investigar as irregularidades do governo Bolsonaro na gestão da pandemia da COVID‐19. Um dos casos que chamou a atenção foi a pesquisa realizada pela Prevent Senior, uma seguradora privada de saúde, sobre o tratamento precoce da COVID‐19. O artigo analisa a validade científica da pesquisa e os problemas éticos relacionados à sua implementação. Baseia‐se na análise do relatório do ensaio clínico da Prevent Senior, dos registros do ensaio clínico (...) em plataformas do Brasil e dos EUA, do relatório da CPI do Senado e nas informações divulgadas pela mídia. Esse caso de fraude científica e viés político‐ideológico exemplifica como a Prevent Senior, usando um protocolo questionável para melhorar sua reputação e ganhar o apoio do governo, foi fundamental na construção da narrativa do “tratamento precoce” para a COVID‐19, e mostra como serviu de base para uma política pública governamental que promoveu o uso de drogas ineficazes. (shrink)

El presente artículo desarrolla el diagnóstico nietzscheano sobre la condición moral de la tradición judeo-cristiana occidental. Haciendo un recorrido por la crítica nietzscheana en La genealogía de la moral, nos proponemos, bajo la clave hermenéutica de sentido, mostrar que el sacerdote asceta se alza como una figura de dominio de carácter sacro de los sentimientos morales, convirtiéndose en una suerte de administrador del sentido del sufrimiento, de la pena, de la culpa y de la mala conciencia.

Aristóteles afirma en el De Anima que percibir consiste en recibir una forma sensible sin materia. Cuando Tomás de Aquino comenta este pasaje precisa la definición del Estagirita y sostiene que esa forma sensible posee una existencia intencional en el sujeto cognoscitivo. De esta manera, denomina inmutación espiritual al proceso por el cual un ente recibe una forma sensible que posee una existencia intencional. Los problemas respecto a la inmutación espiritual surgen cuando se estudia en profundidad su status ontológico, puesto (...) que en varias de sus obras el Aquinate declara que se trata de una inmutación inmaterial, pero en muchas afirma que es una inmutación material. El objetivo de este artículo es resolver esta aparente contradicción y demostrar que para Tomás de Aquino existe una gradación ontológica. (shrink)

En la obra de William Shakespeare, es posible identificar, según Terry Eagleton, al menos dos visiones del comunismo. Por un lado, como un mundo de abundancia absoluta, tal como es descripto por Gonzalo en La tempestad; y por otro, como un sistema donde cada quien recibe sólo lo suficiente, en un escenario de recursos escasos, según se desprende de El rey Lear. La concepción del comunismo de la abundancia coincide con la interpretación elaborada por Gerald A. Cohen, quien compara al (...) comunismo marxiano con una banda de jazz en la cual —dada una plena abundancia material— cada individuo persigue sus fines auto-referentes y sin obligación de asistir a los demás. Esta interpretación va a contracorriente de las escuetas anticipaciones marxianas sobre el comunismo, ya que dibuja un mundo social dominado por afanes individuales y no por la presencia de lazos comunitarios. En este artículo, analizaremos las dos visiones shakespearianas para luego establecer algunas relaciones con la posición de Cohen. Argumentaremos que la perspectiva más deseable y acaso posible —y más ajustada a la visión marxiana— es aquella que se sitúa en un punto medio entre la indolente plenitud sin normas de la utopía de Gonzalo y el comunismo inexorable que se vislumbra en El rey Lear. En segundo término, examinaremos los límites de la metáfora jazzística, enfatizando que la indiferencia mutua y el individualismo —con un trasfondo de plenitud material ilimitada— no son rasgos congruentes con el espíritu del comunismo marxiano. Tras los pasos de Cohen, sostendremos, por último, que el comunismo requiere comunidad —o clemencia shakespeariana— para templar los bordes más filosos de la justicia igualitaria de las instituciones. (shrink)

This article explores the transformative power of art circulation by analysing surprising narratives of abducted fountains across the early modern Mediterranean area under the political influence of the Spanish Empire. The object of this study will be the stories of Italian fountains stolen by Spanish viceroys or rescued during naval skirmishes between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire. These narratives reveal a widespread desire for fountains throughout the Mediterranean, which generated a sequence of geographical relocations and cultural translations. My (...) aim is to conceptualise the desire for Italian fountains as an engine for continental circulation, taking into consideration several cases of stolen, abducted, or captive works of sculpture whose stories navigate the dubious boundaries of historical truth and resemble more popular episodes of thefts of relics or the kidnapping and trafficking of enslaved people. Sometimes demonstrable facts, sometimes charming legends linked to the suggestive power of water, these episodes disclose the life of monumental art in motion and subvert the widespread reading of fountains as site-specific objects. (shrink)

Resumen Este artículo examina siete concepciones filosóficas acerca de la libertad -incluyendo la distinción entre libertad negativa y positiva, liberal y republicana-, ejemplificándolas con representantes de la historia de la filosofía. Por otra parte, para enriquecer la mirada desde un texto jurídico concreto, examinamos la Constitución ecuatoriana de 2008. El propósito principal que ha animado esta investigación es el de sondear las distintas visiones que se han propuesto sobre la libertad, en su triple relación con: 1) los valores, tales como (...) el bien común y la igualdad; 2) el tipo de deber correspondiente que tienen que cumplir los particulares y la sociedad con respecto al sujeto portador del derecho a la libertad; y 3) el Estado y las leyes. Aspiramos a que los resultados alcanzados aporten mayor claridad en aquellos debates de la filosofía normativa en los que está involucrada la libertad.The paper examines seven philosophical conceptions of freedom -including the distinctions between positive and negative liberty, and liberal and republican liberty-, exemplifying them with great authors in the history of philosophy. On the other hand, in order to enrich the vision with a concrete legal document, we examine the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008. The central aim of the research is to probe the use made by those who participated in the drafting of that Constitution of philosophical ideas concerning liberty in its threefold relation to: 1) values, such as common good and equality; 2) the correlative duties imposed on individuals and the society at large with respect to the holder of the right to freedom; and 3) the state and its laws. We hope that the results provide greater clarity in those debates of normative philosophy in which freedom is involved. (shrink)