The expression ψυχαγωγεῖ Σωκράτης used by Aristophanes in Birds has been interpreted in different ways. However, the fact that the comediographer compares the action of invoking the souls of the dead to Odysseus, ὥσπερ Οὑδυσσεύς, suggests that book 11 of the Odyssey was the model that inspired the scene. Many platonic passages from Protagoras, Republic, Gorgias, Phaedo and Apology explain which could have been the cause of the aristophanic parody: Socrates’ propensity to mention Odysseus in his descriptions of what is (...) awaiting for the souls in Hades after the death. (shrink)

In the Statesman Plato resourced to the paradigm of the art of weaving to define the technique that the good governor must possess. However, with this analogy Plato equated political activity with the most characteristic of women’s activities in Ancient Greece. In such a way, Plato recognized that the philosopher-king, as he had put forward in the Republic , should give way to an expert that, like women weaving, knows the technique to weave the social fabric well. However, Plato did (...) nothing more than propose a model that had already been put in Lysistrata’s mouth by Aristophanes, when ironically postulating a government headed by women, who had no match in the art of weaving. (shrink)

Recent works by Fabienne Jourdan, Luc Brisson and Francesc Casadesús emphasize the importance of the similarities between the Derveni papyrus and early Stoicism. The paper examines the se parallelisms – focusing on the method of allegorical interpretation, the cosmological roles of air, fire and pneuma and cosmic teleology – and argues that the similarities, although non-negligible, are not such that would require us to re-interpret the Derveni papyrus against the background of Stoicism. Moreover, the relevant features of the (...) papyrus may be explained from the internal dynamics of the Derveni author’s system, and there is thus no need to modify the date of the papyrus to allow Stoic influence. (shrink)

What are financial institutions' social responsibilities in developing countries? On the one hand, these institutions share the generic responsibilities of all human organizations and business enterprises. However, their specific social responsibility is the performance of the social function of financial intermediaries, which, in the case of emerging countries, consists mainly of contributing to economic growth and solving the problem of poverty. This paper describes a number of technical-economic and moral problems that take us to a consideration of the performance of (...) banking operations in microfinancing, with special reference to Latin America. The paper also provides a series of recommendations that, in addition to contributing to solving the development and poverty problems in emerging countries, help define financial institutions' social responsibility in such countries. (shrink)

The framework presented by Bayefsky and Berkman is based on having clear and accurate genetic information to offer parents, for them to either decide to prepare for birth or to terminate the...

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss some of the best practices of financial industry, in three emerging economies: Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The main thesis is that, notwithstanding the importance of certain specific deficiencies, such as an inadequate regulatory context or the lack of financial education among the population, the main factor that explains the low banking levels in emerging and developing economies, affecting mostly lower-income segments, is the use of inefficient financial service distribution models. In (...) connection with this thesis, we will try to show that traditional financial institutions, both in developing countries and in the advanced economies have a special social responsibility to help create an efficient financial system that makes saving and borrowing instruments available to the greatest possible number of citizens. (shrink)

Aquí se presenta la colección de volúmenes que recogen las ponencias y discusiones de los, hasta hoy, nueve Encuentros Internacionales organizados por el Centro de Estudio de las Tradiciones de Sabiduría de Barcelona. Un requisito principal en la realización de los Encuentros ha sido un marcado carácter interdisciplinar, interreligioso y espiritual. El objetivo general que alumbra las diferentes ediciones ha sido abordar el papel vital, para la especie y para el medio, de la cualidad humana profunda o espiritualidad en sociedades (...) de cambio continuo. Todo ello bajo la preocupación por la crisis religiosa con consecuencias sobre los valores, que se sufre en Europa, que se extiende a todos los países, a medida que se incorporan a la sociedad que vive de la innovación y el cambio continuo. A pesar de que los países de procedencia de los diferentes participantes sufren la crisis religiosa en diverso grado, gracias al intenso trabajo realizado en las diferentes ediciones, se ha conseguido aunar el interés de los participantes en torno al objetivo general. También se ha conseguido llegar a ciertos acuerdos sobre las bases teóricas desde las cuales cada uno construye sus aportaciones a los temas concretos de cada edición. Así pues, podemos decir que se ha conseguido generar un equipo estable de doce investigadores, muchos de ellos profesores universitarios de España así como de México, Costa Rica, Brasil, Colombia, que trabaja para ir construyendo una respuesta al cambio epistemológico que sufren las sociedades actuales y que crea la inadecuación de la religión. (shrink)

Residuated fuzzy logic calculi are related to continuous t-norms, which are used as truth functions for conjunction, and their residua as truth functions for implication. In these logics, a negation is also definable from the implication and the truth constant $\overline{0}$ , namely $\neg \varphi$ is $\varphi \to \overline{0}$. However, this negation behaves quite differently depending on the t-norm. For a nilpotent t-norm (a t-norm which is isomorphic to Łukasiewicz t-norm), it turns out that $\neg$ is an involutive negation. However, (...) for t-norms without non-trivial zero divisors, $\neg$ is Gödel negation. In this paper we investigate the residuated fuzzy logics arising from continuous t-norms without non-trivial zero divisors and extended with an involutive negation. (shrink)

The biblical source mentions on three occasions the nautical journeys of Solomon, king of Judah and Israel, and Hiram of Tyre to Ophir in search of riches. Throughout the study, we point out that the mention of the journeys constitutes a theological construction, composed between the twilight of the 6th century BC and the first half of the 5th century BC, to magnify, in contrast with the nautical failure of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, the figure of Solomon as the prototype (...) of the ideal monarch to whom pagan nations, represented by the Phoenicians, render servitude,. The later biblical tradition, manifested by the Greek, Latin and Arabic translation, will continue to magnify the figure of the monarch, placing the location of Ophir on an increasingly more distant horizon. (shrink)

En este artículo exponemos las intuiciones del teólogo y biólogo alemán Karl Schmitz-Moormann sobre la evolución. Como leitmotiv subyacente en toda su obra, Schmitz-Moormann tiene a Teilhard de Chardin. Inspirado por Teilhard y su metafísica de la unión, introduce un nuevo concepto, a saber, la uni-totalidad. Veremos aquí cómo Schmitz-Moormann observa diversas uni-totalidades a lo largo del progreso evolutivo, desde las partículas subatómicas hasta las agrupaciones humanas. Esas diversas uni-totalidades implican, a la vez, diversidad de unión, que puede ser explicada (...) por causas que van desde la interacción nuclear hasta el amor interpersonal. Análogamente, Schmitz-Moormann ve nuestro Dios tri-uno como la Uni-totalidad suprema unida por amor, a la que se acercan las uni-totalidades creadas. (shrink)

Globalisation has given rise to a new field of debate due to the growing mobility of the workers and the consequent cultural diversity inside companies. In this sense, a complex world like ours demands a review of the professional profile which should include the so called intercultural competences as a structuring element of companies’ policy and strategic plan. Subsequently it is suggested that, as the intercultural competences affect the cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects, they actually imply a transformation of the (...) person’s identity. (shrink)

The monoidal t-norm based logic MTL is obtained from Hájek''s Basic Fuzzy logic BL by dropping the divisibility condition for the strong (or monoidal) conjunction. Recently, Jenei and Montgana have shown MTL to be standard complete, i.e. complete with respect to the class of residuated lattices in the real unit interval [0,1] defined by left-continuous t-norms and their residua. Its corresponding algebraic semantics is given by pre-linear residuated lattices. In this paper we address the issue of standard and rational completeness (...) (rational completeness meaning completeness with respect to a class of algebras in the rational unit interval [0,1]) of some important axiomatic extensions of MTL corresponding to well-known parallel extensions of BL. Moreover, we investigate varieties of MTL algebras whose linearly ordered countable algebras embed into algebras whose lattice reduct is the real and/or the rational interval [0,1]. These embedding properties are used to investigate finite strong standard and/or rational completeness of the corresponding logics. (shrink)

This conceptual paper explores and compares the ethical dimension of Islamic and so-called ethical banks. The investigation is made in two succeeding steps. First, an individual analysis as regards the respective level of correspondence between ethical principles and business practice. For the latter, a time-based perspective is adopted. Second, a side-by-side comparison of their overall “ethical coherence gap”. The results show that this gap is wider in the case of Islamic banks. The final part of the paper draws up three (...) different scenarios for future development of these financial institutions where their ethical coherence is enhanced. (shrink)

Whenever the state of a biological system is not determined solely by present conditions but depends on its past history, we can say that the system has memory. Bacteria and bacteriophage use a variety of memory mechanisms, some of which seem to convey adaptive value. A genetic type of heritable memory is the programmed inversion of specific DNA sequences, which causes switching between alternative patterns of gene expression. Heritable memory can also be based on epigenetic circuits, in which a system (...) with two possible steady states is locked in one or the other state by a positive feedback loop. Epigenetic states have been observed in a variety of cellular processes, and are maintained by diverse mechanisms. Some of these involve alternative DNA methylation patterns that are stably transmitted to daughter molecules and can affect DNA–protein interactions (e.g., gene transcription). Other mechanisms exploit autocatalytic loops whereby proteins establish the proper conditions for their continued synthesis. Template polymers other than nucleic acids (e.g., components of the cell wall) may also propagate epigenetic states. Non‐heritable memory is exemplified by parasitic organisms that bear a signature of their previous host, such as host‐controlled modification of phage DNA or porin hitchhiking in predatory bacteria. The heterogeneous nature of the examples known may be indicative of widespread occurrence of memory mechanisms in bacteria and phage. However, the actual extent, variety and potential selective value of prokaryotic memory devices remain open questions, still to be addressed experimentally. BioEssays 24:512–518, 2002. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Coherence is today a source of moral authority. Being coherent frees us from external influences and gives us the capacity to decide for ourselves, but also places us in a privileged position with regard to others. We will turn our attention now to coherence as a foundation of authority in organisations. And to do that, organisations must be divided into different levels and different dimensions. Coherence will only be possible when the worker is capable of weighing up the distance between (...) the organisation's specific vision and the operational processes that effectively take place within it. All companies, as a sum of possibilities, respond to the intention of those who govern them insofar as their assets permit it, and their ultimate value resides therein; the possibility of being recognised for their way of being, their corporate ethos. (shrink)

Cell‐wall‐less bacterial variants, or L‐forms, have been described in many bacterial species under laboratory conditions, in infected eukaryotic cell cultures and inside animals. Of special interest for human health is the formation of L‐forms as a consequence of specific antibiotic treatments, and the potential involvement of L‐forms in persistent and relapsing infections. An old enigma about L‐forms is how they can divide in the absence of cell wall synthesis, since septum formation is an essential requisite for cell division. However, the (...) classical definition of L‐forms as cell‐wall‐less bacterial variants may need a revision to accomodate recent observations by Richard d'Ari and coworkers:1 genetic and biochemical evidence indicates that E. coli L‐forms induced by β‐lactam antibiotics do contain small amounts of peptidoglycan, essential for their growth and probably required for septum formation. If these observations are extrapolated to all known L‐forms, the very concept of cell‐wall‐less bacteria may need revision, and be restricted to mycoplasmas and their relatives. BioEssays 29:1189–1191, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This article aims to find out the relation between secular and atheistic spiritualties underlining the only one that seems to be able to suit the knowledge society. We analyze several texts of main classical personalities of both spiritualities, such as Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Comte Sponville, among others. Some of the essential elements of an atheistic spirituality are specifically discussed: critical spirit and rationality, centrality and sufficiency of human beings and their release from submission and exploitation, and a will without (...) limits instead of laziness. However, the main objective is to highlight that there is a culture of absolute dimension of reality beyond the religious traditions. We also intend to point out that culture, in changing societies, requires, as Corbí suggests, a new anthropology, of an animal who talks, with a dual access to reality. We also point to the existence of a new epistemology, beyond the previous mythical paradigms, allowing the merely free and symbolic use of mankind wisdoms. Finally, it is a question of survival of humankind and of its environment. (shrink)

El trabajo parte de la distinción teórica entre nación en sentido jurídico-político y nación en sentido histórico-cultural. Sobre esa base, se trata de averiguar cuál es el concepto de nación que utiliza la Constitución española. Del análisis jurídico-constitucional efectuado, se concluye que la palabra nación se utiliza en el sentido jurídico-político y se equipara a pueblo, a patria, a España o a Estado, aunque cabe hacer la distinción entre nación-constituyente y nación-constituida para encontrar el significado preciso de todos estos términos. (...) En cambio, el concepto de nación en sentido histórico-cultural es utilizado parcialmente en la Constitución —si nos fundamos en la voluntad del constituyente— bajo el término nacionalidades o regiones, aunque limitando las aspiraciones de éstas —por ello decimos parcialmente— al derecho a la autonomía y no al derecho a la soberanía. (shrink)

En este artículo queremos profundizar en los datos científicos que hay en la actualidad sobre el Homo neanderthalensis para poder dilucidar, desde las dimensiones biológica, antropológica, anatómica, fisiológica y, finalmente, teológica, la posibilidad de que los neandertales pudieran tener alguna forma de espiritualidad o religiosidad. Si bien, Dios Creador, movido por su voluntad salvífica universal, quiso establecer, por gracia, una relación con todos los seres humanos desde sus orígenes, mostramos en este trabajo que los neandertales, esos homínidos contemporáneos de los (...) primeros humanos anatómicamente modernos (Homo sapiens), a partir de su capacidad intelectual, abstractiva y simbólica, podían tener –y tenían– ya un comportamiento religioso primitivo y rudimentario. Aunque no fueran aún capaces de la revelación divina explícita, estaban en camino hacia la capacidad trascendente. Así que el origen temporal de esa relación humano-divina (además de la dependencia de la Creación) y del don de la gracia debe situarse más allá de los 200.000 años. (shrink)

Podríamos calificar a Nietzsche de un profeta heroico e innovador, que hace un oráculo de la decadencia, denunciando el triunfo de lo suprasensible, de lo ideal, la imposición de otro mundo como la historia de un error, de una ilusión, fuente común de todas las ficciones, prejuicios y dogmatismos de la tradición cultural occidental. Sin embargo, el pensamiento que Nietzsche expresa con la muerte de dios, y que conlleva el fin del cristianismo y de la metafísica, tiene un origen metafísico (...) y un origen genuinamente cristiano. (shrink)