Review of Delia Cristina Balaban, Advertising. From Strategic Planning to Media Implementation, (Iaşi: Polirom, 2009).

Review of Cristina Gavriluţă, Nicu Gavriluţă, Sociologia sportului. Toerii, metode, aplicaţii (Sports' Sociology. Theories, methods, applications) , (Iaşi: Polirom Publishing House, 2010).

Issues surrounding transsexualism, especially when surgical operations have been performed to achieve the desired sex, can create serious problems for canon law. After an examination of how sex is determined, the author provides a clear explanation of transsexualism and then differentiates it from hermaphroditism, homosexuality, and transvestitism. Transsexualism’s effect on the liciety of marriage is analyzed, followed by an exploration of considerations regarding transsexualism and Holy Orders. Finally, transsexualism and the vowed religious life are examined. The author encourages those faced (...) with such situations to pursue solutions that preserve, as well as possible, the good of the patient and their community, as well as the Church. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 14.1 : 105–118. (shrink)

En el año 2006 se reconoció constitucionalmente la etnia diaguita como parte de los pueblos originarios de Chile. En paralelo, se generó un amplio debate que transitó desde lo político hasta lo académico, éste último haciendo referencia a los enfoques interpretativos de este fenómeno. De esta discusión surgieron diferentes terminologías para retratar este proceso, tales como la emergencia indígena y reetnificación. Sin embargo, a mi juicio, hubo un concepto que fue quedando atrás, al menos en el debate formal; el de (...) etnogénesis. El caso diaguita, entre varios, permite, entre otras muchas posibilidades de reflexión, abrir la discusión teórica para la comprensión de los resurgimientos y reivindicaciones identitarias contemporáneas. El presente artículo se propone reflexionar en torno a la pertinencia del uso del concepto de etnogénesis en la actualidad, para la comprensión de los fenómenos recientes de emergencias de nuevas identidades indígenas, similares al proceso diaguita, a través de una trayectoria crítica del término. (shrink)

The debate on the ethics of privacy has been mainly dominated by Western perspectives, to the exclusion of broader ethical theories and socio-cultural perspectives. This imbalance carries risks; transplanted ethical norms and values can collide with those of the communities in which they are deployed. The consequent homogenization might also represent a missed opportunity to enrich and develop the current paradigm of privacy protection so as to effectively face new technological challenges. This article introduces and discusses the sub-Saharan philosophy of (...) Ubuntu and argues how its conception of the self helps to reinterpret some of the emerging issues revolving digital information technologies. To begin with, a general overview of the debate on the ethics of privacy is provided by distinguishing between individual and relational privacy. Also, the challenges of 'group privacy' are discussed. Then, we introduce basic principles of Ubuntu focusing on how these may have affected privacy conceptions and related legal practices. By outlining opportunities and risks of intercultural information ethics, we argue how Ubuntu—similarly to other communitarian moral philosophies—strengthens the development of the concept of relational privacy and, in particular, of group privacy. (shrink)

Underestimated for a long time, serendipity is an increasingly recognized design principle of the infosphere. Being influenced by environmental and human factors, the experience of serendipity encompasses fundamental phases of production, distribution and consumption of information. On the one hand, design information architectures for serendipity increases the diversity of information encountered as well as users’ control over information processes. On the other hand, serendipity is a capability. It helps individuals to internalize and adopt strategies that increase the chances of experiencing (...) it. As such, the pursuit for serendipity can help to burst filter bubbles and weaken echo chambers in social media. The article reviews the literature on emerging issues surrounding serendipity in human–computer interactions. By doing so, it firstly presents the study of serendipity and the debate about its role in digital environments. Then, it introduces the main features of a preliminary architecture for serendipity. Finally, it analyzes from an interdisciplinary perspective the values that embraces and sustains. The conclusion is that serendipity can be conceived as an emerging design and ethical principle able to strengthen media pluralism and other emerging human rights in the context of online personalization. Main limitations and potential unintended consequences are also discussed. (shrink)

In this paper, we will consider the following issue: the innovative dimension of E. Husserl’s phenomenology repeatedly finds in the philosophies of Descartes and Kant a clear obstacle for its full comprehension. After all, is it not the case that the former discipline is just an extension of the perspectives stated by those earlier philosophers? But, to state the idea of a hidden phenomenology in the philosophies of Descartes and Kant has not, as its unavoidable counterpart, the dependence and the (...) full commitment of Husserl ‘s phenomenology with positive doctrines as the one sponsored by Descartes and Kant? And, if so, how can we rescue the idea of phenomenology as prima philosophia? (shrink)

In this paper, we want to address the Merieau Ponty’s thesis which states that occidentai philosophical tradition mistreats sensibiiity. It’s not as we had some kind of substantial doubt regarding this statement which is, in fact, historically and philosophically accurate. However, what is not clear enough is the reason for disregarding the notable effort developed by Kant to restore its value and importance. Thus, we will first attend Kant’s sensibility doctrine which underlies both knowledge and taste, and concentrate subsequently on (...) the reasons for the diagnosis of its insufficiency, according to the principles established by Merleau-Ponty’s theoretical perspective. A final question regarding the distinction between a “Sensitive Reason” and a so called “Aesthetic Reason” will guide the reader trough the central assumptions that lie behind this critical assessment expounded by Merleau-Ponty’s new ontology. (shrink)

O presente trabalho trata da questão da imortalidade da alma, um tema com o qual o ser humano se ocupa há milênios, tanto no âmbito da religião como no da filosofia. Inicialmente, define-se o que se entende por imortali-dade e, num segundo momento, aborda-se essa questão em dois expoentes da filosofia antiga, Platão e Plotino.

Considering the problem of a supposed hidden psychology as the question which, in practice, shows the true face of Husserlian phenomenology is to put, from the very beginning, the relation between psychology and phenomenology in a misguided way. In fact, what is to be considered is the decisive influence psychology has in the route systematically followed by the discipline created by E. Husserl, and whether or not such influence can meet its latter transcendental dimension.

One of the most significant marks of this article is the attempt to establish the idea that a new phenomenological approach is needed for the study consciousness and all it’s features. The point is that the old demand for a scientific approach to consciousness shouldn’t be, as it has been, incompatible with de need to preserve the essential nature of consciousness. Unfortunately, that’s precisely the case in the majority of the proposals related with the study of consciousness. The debate with (...) Fodor is thus quite important, since it brings to light precisely what one must avoid in order to save every single difficulty related with consciousness, and consciousness itself. A new methodology is therefore needed, one that is capable to observe the demands just acknowledged, but one that is capable to point new directions as well. Husserl, as we have seen, has much to say on the subject, but there is yet much to be done. (shrink)

The article examines the notion of open system as suitable for giving an account of dynamism of living being. However difficulties come by trying to incorporate the finality to the system, since it´s fixed as a state from outside or is established in the improper terms of autoproductivity and neguentropye. That leads to explain the final cause in interaction with the other intrinsecal causes, in as much they remain incomplete without her. Whith the passage to human living the linear scheme (...) means-end should be replaced by the expressions which reveal an end in itself. (shrink)

Ancient biographies were more than accounts of the deeds of past heroes and guides for moral living. They were also arenas for debating pressing philosophical questions and establishing intellectual credentials, as Arthur P. Urbano argues in this study of biographies composed in Late Antiquity.

This paper interprets the character and self-control as the two chief keys of the sistematic unity of human virtues, according to the thought of Saint Josemaria. First, the character is not only forged through acts, but more definitively it amounts to the identity of the heart in a biblical sense. Secondly, self-control by several ways preserves the unity of the person among the plurality of expressions corresponding to each virtue.

In this first stage of his Ethics Husserl stresses on the theory of value. The teleology seems necessary to him to form the concept of not objectivant act. Nevertheless since the essays after the second world war the striving and volountary end will be more and more central in this ethical thought.

Para explicar el crecimiento en el querer libre se parte de la libertad como actividad constitutiva en el acto de ser personal y a través del yo quiero se la extiende a los actos de la voluntad. Estos actos se prolongan en forma curva desde simplex volitio hasta el ordo amoris. El crecimiento curvo se transmite al querer-hacer en sus distintas dimensiones, tales como la acción técnica, la cultura integrada en la praxis y el quehacer histórico.

In this paper I intend to classify the modes of temporality and to place History within the Sciences of Spirit according to Edith Stein's thought. Its specific treatment refers temporality and History to lays of the person (body, psyche, spirit). While the passives associations of immanent time correspond to corporal and psychic levels of the person, the historical succession is made possible by the intentions which derive from the spirit. And thus as history consists of a unity not reducible to (...) conscious intentions, so the person is also a unity not entirely transparent to itself. (shrink)

For Levinas dialogue occurs when one is open to and receptive of the Other. He cautions, however, that although dialogue impedes violence, it should not be pursued unilaterally or vigorously, because this can also lead to violence. The abolition of violence, which is the goal at which dialogue aims, can instead turn violent in the face of unrestrained persuasive discourse. Vigilance and caution must be maintained if dialogue is not to lapse into hostility and aggression. It is important to respect (...) differences and acknowledge insoluble problems in order to avoid animosity. Without recognition and respect, dialogue can become adversarial and antagonistic. (shrink)

El objetivo perseguido al aceptar coordinar este monográfico fue proporcionar un estado de la cuestión sobre las diferentes materias a las que habían podido contribuir los escritores que habitualmente se asocian a la Escuela de Salamanca en el período comprendido entre la llegada del dominico Francisco de Vitoria a Salamanca y el fallecimiento del jesuita Francisco Suárez. La misma existencia de la Escuela nos parecía que merecía una consideración por parte de los investigadores que colaboraran en el número que tan (...) generosamente el director de la revista _Araucaria_ nos había ofrecido publicar. Nos hubiera gustado incluir algún tema más, especialmente por lo que respecta a la ciencia, en su parte de teoría física y en la emparentada con la historia natural, que creemos que en buena parte está por hacer para el período de referencia. (shrink)