The US poultry industry based on flexible accumulation has been advanced as the model of agro-industrial development for agrifood globalization. Similarly, Mexico has been presented as a noteworthy example of the negative effects of neoliberal restructuring associated with the globalization project. In this paper we use both of these assertions as points of departure to guide an investigation of the case of the restructuring of the Mexican poultry industry. Informed by a commodity systems analysis, archival data and key informant interviews (...) are used to generate an overview of the history of the poultry industry in Mexico. A sociology of agrifood theoretical framework informed by regimes theory is employed to analyze the events of the case. We conclude that neoregulation related to the IMF and NAFTA restructuring in Mexico facilitated the diffusion of the US model of poultry production. (shrink)

Se presenta el argumento de W. T. Stace sobre el realismo señalando no que éste sea falso sino solamente que no hay absolutamente ninguna razón para considerar que sea verdadero y por tanto no tenemos por qué creerlo. Esto se aplica a la discusión de la pregunta: ¿Cómo sabemos que los átomos existen? Haciendo referencia a algunas de las respuestas científicas más importantes conocidas que son en orden cronológico: i) La ley de las proporciones definidas o Ley de Proust, ii) (...) la teoría cinética de los gases, iii) el movimiento Browniano y, iv) imágenes de microscopio de efecto túnel. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to extend the knowledge about why procedural justice has behavioral implications within organizations. Since prior studies show that PJ leads to legitimacy, the author suggests that, when formal regulations are unfairly implemented, they lose their validity or efficacy. This “rule deactivation,” in turn, leads to two proposed destructive work behaviors, namely, workplace deviance and decreased citizenship behaviors. The results support this mediating role of RD, thus suggesting that it forms part of the generative mechanism (...) through which unfair procedures influence ethical behavior within organizations. The author ends the article by discussing behavioral ethics and managerial implications as well as suggestions for future research. (shrink)

Abstract: Introspection reveals that one is frequently conscious of some form of inner speech, which may appear either in a condensed or expanded form. It has been claimed that this speech reflects the way in which language is involved in conscious thought, fulfilling a number of cognitive functions. We criticize three theories that address this issue: Bermúdez’s view of language as a generator of second-order thoughts, Prinz’s development of Jackendoff’s intermediate-level theory of consciousness, and Carruthers’s theory of inner speech as (...) a rehearsal of action-schemata. We contend they have problems to account for those cases in which inner speech is fragmentary, and for the difference with those instances in which it appears as more sentence-like. In addition, we present verbal overshadowing as a phenomenon that neither of them can easily explain. Finally, we propose an account in which inner speech is fundamentally silent outer speech and argue that it is more explanatory than the alternatives. (shrink)

Considering the most recent advances in artificial intelligence and biomechanics, a hypothetical future of physicalism is explored. It is concluded that a rational and sensible extrapolation of present and expected future advances in those two areas will have vast consequences in the physicalist view. In particular, it is also argued that consciousness cannot be defined in a simple general manner, but only understood through the observable and behavioural actions of humans or sufficiently advanced robots, which may be, at some future (...) time, indistinct. This last result is established by applying what we call Plato’s trap, and our main conclusion is a defence of physicalism. It is argued that human beings are robots which soon will be indistinguishable from suitable advanced man-made robots, which will in turn render many philosophical questions and objections to physicalism irrelevant and, in fact, quite similar in sense and importance to some philosophical medieval questions about God, the soul and immortality. (shrink)

One of the most important characteristics of modern science is its replicability and objectivity. This means that a scientific result is taken as such only when it has been reproduced by other scientists. Indeed, the replicability of a scientific result in an objective and independent way by members of a scientific community is the cornerstone of science. Experimental laser physics is an example of “normal” science, where it is no doubt that the phenomenon could be replicated; however, the replication process (...) may not be straightforward since it requires a good understanding of the physics behind it, as well as good technical skills. In this article, two laboratory cases of experiments on laser physics are presented: the first one deals with a Nitrogen N2 laser with a Polloni excitation circuit, and the second one deals with a transversally excited TEA carbon dioxide laser. For the nitrogen laser, it will be shown that reproducibility failed, and therefore, the reported experiment cannot be taken as a valid contribution to the advancement and understanding of nitrogen laser physics and technology. On the other hand, for the case of the TEA carbon dioxide laser, several comments are presented on the development of this finally successful experiment. Both cases show the importance of being technically up-dated in order to reproduce or improve the results reported by other researchers. Finally, a discussion about: What can we learn about the research practice from these two cases? It is presented, as well as the conclusions about the case studies; we hope they may be useful to philosophers of science and young scientists alike. (shrink)

In this article some intriguing aspects of electromagnetic theory and its relation to mathematics and reality are discussed, in particular those related to the suppositions needed to obtain the wave equations from Maxwell equations and from there Helmholtz equation. The following questions are discussed. How is that equations obtained with so many irreal or fictitious assumptions may provide a description that is in a high degree verifiable? Must everything that is possible to deduce from a theoretical mathematical model occur in (...) the world? Does everything that takes place in the world have a mathematical description? (shrink)

A partir de un enfoque internalista para los estados mentales, se propone que los términos metafísicos son el resultado de estados mentales que, a su vez, son propiedades emergentes de sistemas dinámicos caóticos con atractores coexistentes en el cerebro. Se sugiere que esto proporciona una explicación física para los conceptos metafísicos. Esto se hace a partir de la propuesta de que todos los sistemas dinámicos con atractores coexistentes caóticos, como el cerebro, presentan propiedades emergentes. Obtenemos así una explicación no reductiva (...) de los estados mentales y su alta sensibilidad al ruido y a las condiciones iniciales. (shrink)

Bergson em As duas fontes da moral e da religião se propõe a investigar a origem da moralidade e da religiosidade humana, encarando-as como formas criadas pelo élan vital no curso do desenvolvimento da vida. Bergson concebe o surgimento da sociedade como algo natural, isto é, como um artifício da natureza para que o homem pudesse perseverar no mundo; assim, sua pesquisa visa encontrar e analisar os caminhos que a vida mesma armou no interior do humano, em sua constituição biológica, (...) para que ele pudesse se apegar de diversas formas à existência. Descortinando os motivos pelos quais as variadas sociedades, bem como suas mais diferentes morais se constituem como fechadas ou visando aos interesses da espécie, e abertas, tendo na humanidade uma referência por onde o amor criativo passaria, o filósofo nos mostra como determinados homens, excepcionais, vêm ao mundo encarnado em múltiplos sentidos uma nova atitude criadora, ainda não expressa, que se revela através de uma intuição despertada por uma emoção profunda. Dessa forma, a relação entre moral, vida e emoção é o que cumpre aqui estabelecer, uma vez que as leis morais seguidas pela humanidade são, no limite, necessidades vitais colocadas pela natureza e que só alcançam um desenvolvimento melhor graças à inteligência humana que, mesmo atrelada à necessidade imposta, também pode encontrar dentro de si a abertura para uma liberdade possível. (shrink)

Los procesos reales, en curso, desbordan los análisis dicotómicos y muestran un cuestionamiento cada vez más profundo de la modernidad capitalista, entendida como sistema múltiple de dominación. Los movimientos sociales producen saberes vinculados a procesos políticos-civilizatorios de ruptura, con carácter estratégico, siempre incompletos, inacabados y en construcción, pero que cuestionan la lógica moderna y capitalista de la vida. El trabajo indaga sobre los significados teóricos y prácticos de estos saberes emancipadores y las nuevas propuestas sobre los movimientos sociales en América (...) Latina. (shrink)

El trabajo pretende mostrar que la expansión de la dogmática, sobre todo en el discurso penal, representa un desafío al legislador y cuál es el precio que debemos pagar por ello. La dogmática, al igual que la legislación, necesita ofrecer al juez pautas precisas que sirvan para delimitar las decisiones correctas y, en ese mismo sentido, identificar a las que se consideran arbitrarias. Sólo bajo este supuesto la dogmática contribuye a lograr decisiones más previsibles. La dificultad radica en que la (...) búsqueda de precisión puede limitar la arbitrariedad de los órganos de aplicación, pero, a la vez, la precisión introduce distinciones arbitrarias. En ciertos casos la arbitrariedad se produce por la indeterminación que generan las normas imprecisas y en otros casos, la arbitrariedad consiste en que al aplicar normas precisas, los funcionarios se apartan de las razones que justifican a esas normas. El desafío para la dogmática es mostrar que su contribución a la racionalidad puede superar a las que elabora el legislador. Es decir, debe mostrar por qué sus normas pueden tener éxito donde el legislador, por cuestiones conceptuales, inevitablemente fracasa. Los autores de este trabajo sostienen que la incorporación de normas dogmáticas en el horizonte de justificación de las decisiones no solo posee las mismas dificultades conceptuales que las del legislador sino que sus soluciones compiten con otras justificaciones formales, e.g. normas legisladas y, con frecuencia, suponen una tensión entre las palabras de la ley y lo que los dogmáticos dicen que dice el legislador. (shrink)

O'Brien & Opie's connectionist vehicle theory of consciousness is heavily dependent on their notion of explicitness as (1) structural and (2) necessary and sufficient for consciousness. These assumptions unnecessarily constrain their position: the authors are forced to find an intrinsic property of patterns that accounts for the distinction between conscious and unconscious states. Their candidate property, stability, does not capture this distinction. Yet, I show that we can drop assumptions (1) and (2) and still develop a vehicle theory of consciousness. (...) This alternative is better served by models that incorporate both connectionist and symbolic representations. (shrink)

Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar os temas do “novo método” filosófico e da “Filosofia da Psicologia”, nos escritos tardios de Ludwig Wittgenstein, como relacionados prática e necessariamente. Para o proposto, a estratégia expositiva segue a seguinte ordem: analisam-se os pressupostos filosóficos relativamente irrefletidos que determinam a visão que o jovem Wittgenstein tinha do “método correto da Filosofia” e da “Filosofia da Psicologia”; interpreta-se a volta filosófica de 1929 como comprometida em apresentar o rosto ainda informe do “novo método” (...) e retomar criticamente os alvos do TLP, sob essa nova perspectiva metodológica; e considera-se a Filosofia da psicologia de Wittgenstein inserida numa perspectiva diferente da perspectiva da ciência psicológica do fim do século XIX e início do século XX, fundamentada em investigações empíricas. Essas observações constituem propriamente uma prática do “novo método” de apresentação perspícua e se caracteriza como um aspecto-chave e necessário, um filtro, para a compreensão das observações do filósofo em torno da psicologia e de seu objetivo em dissolver os problemas metafísicos ali presentes.The main purpose of this article is to present the themes of the philosophical “new method” and the “philosophy of psychology” in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s late writings as practically and necessarily related. For the proposed, our expository strategy follows the following order: we analyzed the relatively unreasonable philosophical presuppositions that determine the young Ludwig’s view of the “correct method of philosophy” and of “philosophy of psychology”; we interpreted the philosophical turn of 1929 as committed to presenting the still-informed face of the “new method” and to critically revisiting the TLP targets under this new methodological perspective; and we considered Wittgenstein’s philosophy of psychology inserted in a different perspective from the perspective of the psychological science of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century based on empirical investigations. These observations are properly a practice of the “new method” of perspicuous presentation and they are characterized as a key and necessary aspect, a filter, for the understanding of the philosopher’s observations about psychology, and his goal in dissolving the metaphysical problems present there. (shrink)

In Mexico, significant ethical and social issues have been raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the most pressing issues are the extent of restrictive measures, the reciprocal duties to healthcare workers, the allocation of scarce resources, and the need for research. While policy and ethical frameworks are being developed to face these problems, the gender perspective has been largely overlooked in most of the issues at stake. Domestic violence is the most prevalent form of violence against women, which can (...) be exacerbated during a pandemic: stress and economic uncertainty are triggers for abuse, and confinement limits access to support networks. Confinement also exacerbates the unfair distribution of unpaid labor, which is disproportionately assigned to women and girls, and highlights inequality in the overall labor market. Lack of security measures has resulted in attacks towards health workers, particularly female nurses, due to fear of contamination. Finally, resource results in lack of access to other health necessities, including sexual and reproductive health services. Research across all disciplines to face—and to learn from—this crisis should be done through a gender lens, because understanding the realities of women is essential to understand the pandemic’s true effects in Mexico and the world. (shrink)

Contextualist theorists have recently defended the views (a) that metaphor-processing can be treated on a par with other meaning changes, such as narrowing or transfer, and (b) that metaphorical contents enter into “what is said” by an utterance. We do not dispute claim (a) but consider that claim (b) is problematic. Contextualist theorists seem to leave in the hands of context the explanation about why it is that some meaning changes are directly processed, and thus plausibly form part of “what (...) is said”, while some others are not. While granting the role of context in this respect, we contend that there are elements that play an instrumental role in providing direct access to the metaphorical content, namely, the conventionality of the expressions and the salience of the concepts involved. We will start by criticizing Recanati’s and Relevance Theory’s accounts of metaphor. Then we examine the claims of Carston’s and Giora’s two-process accounts that set the stage for a revision of the main elements involved, namely, the properties of conventionality and salience. Finally we examine a number of representative examples, explaining why some cases involve a direct access to the metaphorical content and others require an intermediate non-figurative interpretation. (shrink)

Although anomic feelings have been found to lead employees to unethical performance, little is known about why this relationship is possible. The aim of this study is to test a compassion-based explanation of why anomic employees harm co-workers by displaying interpersonal deviance. The prediction is made that once sociological anomie enters organizations in the form of employees’ private feelings of anomie—i.e., “anomia”—, this anomia will individually move staff to be uncompassionate in the workplace. Three uncompassionate feelings toward co-workers are then (...) hypothesized to mediate the relationship between anomia and interpersonal deviance: negative judgments about others, over-identification, and isolation. Data were collected from 280 employees at ten hotels in the Canary Islands. The results indicated that anomia was significantly and positively linked to uncompassionate feelings and interpersonal deviance, but only negative judgments about others mediated the anomia effects on interpersonal deviance. Findings suggest to managers that by spreading ethical standards that discourage negative judgments about others in the workplace, they can neutralize the mechanisms leading anomia to interpersonal deviance. (shrink)

Object or subject of rights Cartay, Belkis Acerca de la racionalidad científica: Feyerabend y los límites de la argumentación Scientific rationality, Feyerabend and the limits of the argument Castrejón, Gilberto El embrión es vida humana The embryo is human life Chacín, Ronald Ética y política: Las consecuencias prácticas de la modernización en la óptica de una acción comunicativa Ethics and politics: Practical consequences of modernization from the viewpoint of a comunicative act De La Vega, Marta La libertad de expresión: (...) De la doctrina a la ley The freedom of expresion: From doctrine to law Belandria, Margarita y González, Javier Globalización y "Glocalización" frente al debate postmoderno Globalization and "Glocalizacion" in the post-moderne debate Mora García, José Pascual El Derecho en "El Alcalde de Zalamea" Law in "The Mayor of Zalamea" Parodi Remón, Carlos Interdisciplinares La palabra y su universo de sentido Word and its universe of sense Espar, Teresa Procesos existenciales en el ritmo de la poesía Existential processes in the thythm of poetry Hocevar, Drina Traducciones Karl Löwith "Mi vida en Alemania antes y después de 1933" Vasquez, Eduardo. (shrink)

Cinema is commonly hailed as "the universal language," but how does it communicate so effortlessly across cultural and linguistic borders? Drawing on a lifetime's worth of viewing an reviewing, influential critic Gilberto Perez invokes a dizzying array of masters past and present includin Chaplin, Ford, Kiarostami, Eisenstein, Malick, Mizoguchi, Haneke, Hitchcock, and Godard--to explore the transaction between filmmaker and audience. The Eloquent Screen shows how cinema, as the consummate contemporary art form, establishes a thoroughly modern rhetoric in which different (...) points of view are brought into clear focus.". (shrink)

_Importance and implications of an oath in times of a pandemic_ _Importância e implicações de um juramento em tempos de pandemia_ La pandemia del SARS-CoV-2, que causa el Covid-19, es un hecho que está desestabilizando no solo los sistemas de salud, sino la misma cultura actual. En torno a ella hay una serie de elementos que complican su contención, mitigación y tratamiento: interrogantes sobre su origen, profusión de información, medidas de aislamiento con efectos diametralmente opuestos, despertar de una pesadilla de (...) agresión al ecosistema, develamiento de falencias y fragilidades de gobiernos, sistemas económicos y de salud pública; crisis de liderazgo y un largo etcétera. Se examina el trabajo del talento humano en salud a partir de la constatación de situaciones paradójicas frente al mismo y se plantea la importancia del Juramento hipocrático, como razón que justifica el accionar del personal de salud en escenarios normales, pero sobre todo en situaciones límite. Se concluye que el Juramento hipocrático, más que la Declaración de Ginebra, es un punto de partida clave para el actuar médico, también en las crisis, y que la humanidad debería cambiar y salir fortalecida de la pandemia, porque aprendió las lecciones que el Covid-19 le ha dejado. _Para citar este editorial / to reference this editorial / para citar este editorial_ Gamboa-Bernal GA. Importancia e implicaciones de un juramento en tiempos de pandemia. 2020;24:5-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pebi.2020.24.1.1 Publicado: 07/05/2020. (shrink)

Hablar de emancipación en la sociedad neoliberal, es cuestionar ciertos principios y valores de democracia participativa donde la noción de ciudadanía pública debe ser ampliada más allá de la mera discusión de carácter ético; precisamente, porque la democracia ciudadana es un concepto que defi..

En este artículo examinamos la última propuesta de Carruthers acerca del papel del lenguaje en cuanto emisor global de pensamientos en una arquitectura masivamente modular, centrándonos en dos aspectos: el habla interna como integrador intermodular y su función para explicar la creatividad de la cognición humana. En primer lugar argumentamos que el lenguaje no es suficiente para la integración intermodular, a partir de lo que llamamos el "problema de la audiencia": las oraciones compuestas por el módulo lingüístico, que incorporan información (...) de distintos dominios, son ininteligibles para cada módulo central, que es de dominio específico. Como alternativa, consideramos la posibilidad de que exista integración sin que sea llevada a cabo por ningún módulo en concreto. Finalmente sostenemos que la propuesta de Carruthers para el pensamiento creativo no respeta la fenomenología ni la ambigüedad del lenguaje. Defendemos que un sistema relacionado con la "lectura de mentes", cuya función es crucial para la comunicación lingüística, debe tener un papel mucho más importante. This paper examines Carruthers's latest proposal on the role of language as a global broadcaster of thoughts in a massively modular architecture. We focus on two aspects: inner speech as an intermodular integrator, and its function to explain creativity in human cognition. First, we argue that language is not sufficient for intermodular integration from what we call "the audience problem": sentences composed by the linguistic module, combining information from different domains, would be unintelligible to each central module, which is domain-specific. As an alternative, we consider the possibility that there is integration not carried out by a specific module. Finally, we claim that Carruthers's proposal for creative thinking respects neither the phenomenology nor the ambiguity of language. We contend that a mindreading system, which has a crucial function in linguistic communication, must have a much more important role to play. (shrink)

Little is known about whether followers who perceive ethical leadership are more easily moved to act compassionately with peers. This study hypothesizes four compassionate feelings as mediators of the relationship between ethical leadership and interpersonal citizenship behavior directed at peers: empathic concern or an other-oriented emotional response elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of a peer in need; mindfulness, a state of consciousness in which attention is focused on present-moment phenomena; kindness, understanding the pain or suffering of peers; (...) and common humanity, viewing peers’ experiences as part of the larger human experience. Data were obtained from 300 followers working in three-member groups with a common leader in each of 100 investment banks in the city of London. Results indicated that: ethical leadership was significantly and positively linked to compassion and peer-focused citizenship and common humanity is the only compassionate feeling that mediates the link between ethical leadership and peer-focused citizenship. Findings suggest that supervisors who act morally more easily move their followers to become sensitized to peers’ setbacks and misfortunes and take action in the form of interpersonal OCBs to lessen or relieve their suffering. (shrink)

Claims that necessary and sufficient conditions are not converse relations are discussed, as well as the related claim that If A, then B is not equivalent to A only if B . The analysis of alleged counterexamples has shown, among other things, how necessary and sufficient conditions should be understood, especially in the case of causal conditions, and the importance of distinguishing sufficient-cause conditionals from necessary-cause conditionals. It is concluded that necessary and sufficient conditions, adequately interpreted, are converse relations in (...) all cases. (shrink)

This paper investigates whether 'even if A, B' is pragmatically polysemic, so that a nonconcessive conditional may have 'even if', and whether concessive conditionals, pragmatically defined, can fail to have 'even if' or a non-temporal 'still'. Different paraphrases are used to help elucidate pragmatic meanings. A theory of the pragmatic meanings of concessive and implicative conditionals is presented. The semantic meaning of 'even if' and the question of whether concessive conditionals imply the truth of their consequents are also discussed.

Many pragmaticians have distinguished three levels of meaning involved in the comprehension of utterances, and there is an ongoing debate about how to characterize the intermediate level. Recanati has called it the level of ‘what is said’ and has opposed the idea that it can be determined semantically — a position that he labels ‘pragmatic minimalism’. To this end he has offered two chief arguments: semantic underdeterminacy and the Availability Principle. This paper exposes a tension between both arguments, relating this (...) discussion with Carruthers’s cognitive view of language, according to which some thoughts are, literally, sentences of our natural language. First we explain how this view entails minimalism, and we construct an argument based on semantic underdeterminacy that shows that natural language sentences do not have the compositional properties required to constitute thoughts. Then we analyze the example of a subject’s overhearing a sentence without an interpretive context, arguing that in the light of the Availability Principle the corresponding thought can be regarded as a natural language sentence. Thus, semantic underdeterminacy and availability pull in different directions, and we claim that there is no characterization of the latter that can relieve this tension. We contend that Recanati’s availability shares with Carruthers’s introspectivism an overreliance on intuitions about what appears consciously in one’s mind. We conclude, therefore, that the Availability Principle ought to be abandoned. (shrink)

It is argued that contraposition is valid for a class of natural language conditionals, if some modifications are allowed to preserve the meaning of the original conditional. In many cases, implicit temporal indices must be considered, making a change in verb tense necessary. A suitable contrapositive for implicative counterfactual conditionals can also usually be found. In some cases, the addition of certain words is necessary to preserve meaning that is present in the original sentence and would be lost or changed (...) in the contrapositive without them. A distinction is made between adding new meaning and adding new words to preserve existing meaning. For concessive conditionals and relevance conditionals, however, no valid contrapositive can be found. They do not belong to the class of contraposable conditionals, which can be independently defined. Difficult cases are also discussed in which the contradictory of the consequent semantically entails the truth of the antecedent. In such cases the content of the antecedent is implicit in the meaning of the consequent. Contraposition becomes possible if what is implicit in the original consequent is made explicit in the contrapositive antecedent. (shrink)

Belandria, Margarita Artículos El erotismo como experiencia vinculada a lo sagrado Eroticism as an experience linked to the sacred order Castrejón, Gilberto Laberintos de sabiduría: Entre la razón y el mito Labyrinths of the knowledge: Between the reason and the myth Espar, Teresa Hacia una noción de "globalización" Towards a globalization notion González R., Javier y Belandria, Margarita Filosofía, semiótica, y ritmo Philosophy, semiotics, and rhythm Hocevar, Drina Más allá del pensamiento determinante, el pensamiento reflexionante Beyond deterministic thought, reflexive (...) thought Maldonado, Rebeca La muerte como imaginario social: una mirada de la modernidad a la postmodernidad cultural Death as a social imaginary: A view modernity to cultural postmodernity Mora García, José Pascual El impacto de la ideología y la política en la cultura y el arte de la América Latina Ideological and political interference related to artistic and cultural creations in the Latin American ambit Peña, Edilio Ontología de la trascendencia Metaphysics of Transcendence Ramis Muscato, Pompeyo Sentido de una reforma general de la educación The meaning of a general reform on education Suzzarini, Andrés Traducciones H. Arendt y la idea del derecho moderno Renaut, Alain y Sosoe, Lukas Interdisciplinares Los personajes femeninos en las novelas de Alejo Carpentier Márquez Rodríguez, Alexis Gobernabilidad y constituciones (De la colonización a la emancipación Zambrano Labrador, Laurencio Recensiones Conozca al investigador: Elías Capriles Acercamiento a la obra: Individuo Sociedad y Ecosistema Velasco, Fabiola CDCHT. (shrink)

Little is known about employee reactions in the form of un/ethical behavior to perceived acts of unfairness toward their peers perpetrated by the supervisor. Based on prior work suggesting that third parties also make fairness judgments and respond to the way employees are treated, this study first suggests that perceptions of interactional justice for peers (IJP) lead employees to two different responses to injustice at work: deviant workplace behaviors (DWBs) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Second, based on prior literature pointing (...) to supervisors as among the most important sources of moral guidance at work, a mediating role is proposed for ethical leadership. The article suggests that supervisors who inflict acts of injustice on staff will be perceived as unethical leaders, and that these perceptions would explain why employees react to IJP in the form of deviance (DWBs) and citizenship (OCBs). Data were collected from 204 hotel employees. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrate that DWBs and OCBs are substantive reactions to IJP, whereas ethical leadership significantly mediates reactions in the form of DWBs and OCBs. Behavioral ethics and managerial implications are discussed. (shrink)

In this article, an epistemological and ontological view of Statistical Mechanics is presented. The author believes that this is a clear-cut example that can prove to be useful as a resource material for teachers, and also, a clear pedagogical material for science students when taking courses of Philosophy of Science. Statistical Mechanics is a regular course on most science and engineering programs, we believe that this fact facilitate the understanding of the philosophical discussion here presented.

In the Poetics of Aristotle there is a definition of the human being that perhaps has not yet been well considered in educational theory and practice. This definition calls into question a dynamism that according to Plato was unavoidable for an appropriate understanding of the educational process that turns a human being into a beautiful, good and just citizen: mimesis. The paper's intent is to reconsider the definition of the human being, centred on mimesis, presented by Aristotle in the Poetics (...) to demonstrate if, and how, it might establish new paradigms for human coexistence. Aristotle's anthropological statement is included in a much wider discourse concerning philosophy of art; but if isolated from the context, it is an essential definition of human beings that can be synthesised as follows: human beings are the mimetic animal par excellence, and their process of understanding has a fundamental connection with such excellence. Ignorance and/or negligence of how relevant mimesis might be in the educational process may have decisively contributed to separate human beings from this core aspect of their humanity and therefore produced painful consequences in human coexistence. As long as education does not pay attention to the pedagogical implications of the definition taken from the Poetics, how can human flourishing be safeguarded? I argue that recognition of the centrality of mimesis in the educational process allows human edification to proceed devoid of ideological basis, be it secular or confessional; and overcomes the risk of relativism. Mimesis, formerly recognised by Plato as a link between what is expressed and what really is, is masterfully reinterpreted by Aristotle. Aristotle recognised its positive pedagogic value in the Poetics, and nowadays we can recognise how it offers existential dynamics that restore the vital human relationship between self and other. The sense of this proposal lies in giving mimesis the role it deserves in education, by raising the significance of how coexistence might benefit from a vast human dimension, capable of recognising our humanity beyond our rational capacity. (shrink)

A theory of necessary and sufficient conditions is presented, as well as a theory of necessary and sufficient causes and effects, viewed as a particular case of the former. Ambiguities of the terms 'condition' and 'necessary condition' are explored, and a neutral meaning for 'condition' is favoured. The relation between necessary and sufficient conditions and implicative conditionals (including counterfactuals) is also discussed. Two problems of counterfactual theories of causal explanation are indicated, concerning (i) how to account for causes that are (...) not necessary and (ii) how to interpret the counterfactual from the negation of the effect to the negation of the cause. Application of the theory of necessary and sufficient conditions to Euler’s explanation of the Königsberg bridge problem is discussed. The theory of necessary and sufficient causes and effects is then applied to the flagpole shadow explanation and to two biological explanations, one involving a sufficient but not necessary cause and the other a necessary but not sufficient cause. Causes that are neither sufficient nor necessary are also recognized. Finally, a probabilistic approach to causes that are either not sufficient or not necessary is explored, including its application to examples of such cases. (shrink)

Since the mid-20th century, human beings have become aware of the negative changes that planet Earth is undergoing, some of them produced by themselves and which endanger their existence. One of these changes is the increase in the average temperature caused by the greenhouse effect. The United Nations has taken care of this problem and organized 25 summits on global warming. In 2021, the World Economic Forum proposed leveraging the crisis that the world is experiencing due to COVID-19 for a (...) “great reset” within a globalist agenda that guides the next meeting on climate change. From a bioethical perspective, some components and strategies of this agenda are analyzed, and reflections and recommendations are made. We conclude that climate change is a real issue but magnified by pseudoscience and permeated by politics. Mitigation and adaptation strategies are needed to combat it, including techno-scientific advances, political will, and changes in human behavior. (shrink)