Este artículo presenta los resultados de una encuesta sobre el funcionamiento del sistema de seguridad alimentaria en España, con especial atención al tema de los alimentos transgénicos (a causa del debate social que suscitaron). La encuesta muestra que la valoración que la industria alimentaria española hace del sistema de seguridad alimentaria, tanto a nivel de España como a nivel de la Unión Europea, es ambivalente, especialmente por las dudas sobre la independencia y eficacia en su funcionamiento. Una comparación con datos (...) de otras encuestas revela que la percepción de otros actores, especialmente de los consumidores, es igualmente ambivalente, indicando una importante falta de aceptación entre diferentes actores sociales relevantes para el sistema. (shrink)

Desde hace años, la hermenéutica de Paul Ricoeur ha sido trabajada, estudiada y difundida en México, de manera especial, por la doctora Gloria Prado, lo que se puede constatar en su libro “Creación, recepción y efecto. Una aproximación hermenéutica a la obra literaria“ (1992), así como en su artículo titulado “Neohermenéutica y teoría literaria” (Neohermenéutica. Literatura, filosofía y otras disciplinas, 2009). En ambos escritos, Prado establece cinco niveles hermenéuticos como método de análisis literario que permiten identificar la textura simbólica (...) de un texto. A partir de ello, de la mano de Ricoeur y de Prado, y sin dejar de propiciar el diálogo con otros pensadores como José Ortega y Gasset, Hans George Gadamer y Pierre Klossowski, me propongo llevar a cabo un análisis hermenéutico del cuento “El gato” (publicado en 1972 en Encuentros), del escritor mexicano Juan García Ponce, ubicado dentro de la denominada Generación de Medio Siglo; generación que, en su mayoría, se ve influenciada por la obra de Octavio Paz y Georges Bataille. (shrink)

Octavio Paz has been known worldwide as a talented poet and essayist, but not as a sociologist. And yet his seminal work, The Labyrinth of Solitude, published in 1950 and containing Paz’s interpretation of Mexican history and identity, arrived at via his analysis of Mexican ‘myths’ or cultural forms, is rich in sociological content – particularly sociology of culture and sociology of knowledge. The author of this article, after noting that very few of the experts on Paz’s work have tried (...) to analyze in a serious and sustained manner its sociological content, has determined not only to decipher Paz’s method but to reveal its strong links to the sociology of form and content produced by the German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel. Thus, the main goal of this article is to apply Simmel’s methods to The Labyrinth of Solitude and to thereby (1) shed some light on the sociological aspects of Paz’s seminal work, thus bringing him the credit he deserves as an early Mexican sociologist, and (2) reveal the extent of Simmel’s influence – hitherto ignored or at least very much minimized – upon The Labyrinth. (shrink)

This article sets forth a compositional model of ideology by drawing on the tradition of historical materialism and further developing its insights into the aesthetic composition of reality. It demonstrates how ideology is not simply a set of false beliefs but is rather the process by which social agents are composed over time in every dimension of their existence, including their thoughts, practices, perceptions, representations, values, affects, desires, and unconscious drives. By working through a number of diverse debates and authors—ranging (...) from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to Louis Althusser, Eduardo Galeano, Rosaura Sánchez, and Paulo Freire—it thereby elucidates how ideology is best understood as an aesthetic process that includes aspect of sense and sense-making, and that therefore requires a collective, cultural revolution as its antidote. (shrink)

En este trabajo abordamos la relación entre escepticismo, materialismo y clandestinidad en los primeros escritos de Denis Diderot. A partir del estudio de las referencias al escepticismo encontradas en su traducción de An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit de Shaftesbury y analizando las posiciones sostenidas posteriormente en dos obras de su propia autoría -Pensamientos filosóficos y El paseo del escéptico -, intentamos mostrar: a) qué significado tiene el escepticismo en tanto actitud filosófica en la obra del joven Diderot, y b) (...) cómo se configuró la transformación de mitad de siglo en el movimiento ilustrado y qué papel cumplió nuestro autor en la misma. In this paper, we study the connections between skepticism, materialism and clandestinity in Denis Diderot' first writings. Leaning on the references found in his translation of Shaftesbury's An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit in the first place and, secondly, analyzing what Diderot says as an author in two of his works -Philosophical Thoughts and The Skeptic's Walk - we try to show: a) what's the meaning of skepticism as a philosophical attitude in young Diderot's writings; b) how transformation at the Enlightenment movement in the second half of the Eighteenth Century was configured, and what was Diderot's role in that transformation. (shrink)

El artículo presenta un análisis de cuatro temas centrales de Sen: su visión sobre el ser humano, la libertad individual, la evaluación moral y los derechos, y la igualdad. Con esto quiero mostrar que estas ideas no sólo son consistentes, sino que explican muchas de las reflexiones sobre temas sociales y económicos que lo han convertido en un referente en estas áreas. En las conclusiones presentaré una síntesis e interpretación de estas ideas fundamentales, mostrando cómo constituyen un núcleo filosófico y (...) qué relaciones mantienen entre ellas. Mi objetivo no es encasillarlo en algunas de las corrientes de filosofía actuales, sino destacar la solidez y pertinencia de su aporte filosófico, algo sumamente útil en un tiempo como el nuestro, deseoso de ideas frescas para los acuciantes problemas de siempre. (shrink)

Miranda Fricker has introduced the insightful notion of epistemic injustice in the philosophical debate, thus bridging concerns of social epistemology with questions that arise in the area of social and cultural studies. I concentrate my analysis of her treatment of testimonial injustice. According to Fricker, the central cases of testimonial injustice are cases of identity injustice in which hearers rely on stereotypes to assess the credibility of their interlocutors. I try here to broaden the analysis of that testimonial injustice by (...) indicating other mechanisms that bias our credibility assessments. In my perspective, the use of identity stereotypes is just one case among many biases in our credibility judgments. (shrink)

AI systems play an increasingly important role in shaping and regulating the lives of millions of human beings across the world. Calls for greater _transparency_ from such systems have been widespread. However, there is considerable ambiguity concerning what “transparency” actually means, and therefore, what greater transparency might entail. While, according to some debates, transparency requires _seeing through_ the artefact or device, widespread calls for transparency imply _seeing into_ different aspects of AI systems. These two notions are in apparent tension with (...) each other, and they are present in two lively but largely disconnected debates. In this paper, we aim to further analyse what these calls for transparency entail, and in so doing, clarify the sorts of transparency that we should want from AI systems. We do so by offering a taxonomy that classifies different notions of transparency. After a careful exploration of the different varieties of transparency, we show how this taxonomy can help us to navigate various domains of human–technology interactions, and more usefully discuss the relationship between technological transparency and human agency. We conclude by arguing that all of these different notions of transparency should be taken into account when designing more ethically adequate AI systems. (shrink)

In this innovative book, Gloria Frost reconstructs and analyses Aquinas's theories on efficient causation and causal powers, focusing specifically on natural causal powers and efficient causation in nature. Frost presents each element of Aquinas's theories one by one, comparing them with other theories, as well as examining the philosophical and interpretive ambiguities in Aquinas's thought and proposing fresh solutions to conceptual difficulties. Her discussion includes explanations of Aquinas's technical scholastic terminology in jargon-free prose, as well as background on medieval (...) scientific views - including ordinary language explanations of the medieval physical theories which Aquinas assumed in formulating his views on causation and causal powers. The resulting volume is a rich exploration of a central philosophical topic in medieval philosophy and beyond, and will be valuable especially for scholars and advanced students working on Aquinas and on medieval natural philosophy. (shrink)

A compelling exploration of how reputation affects every aspect of contemporary life Reputation touches almost everything, guiding our behavior and choices in countless ways. But it is also shrouded in mystery. Why is it so powerful when the criteria by which people and things are defined as good or bad often appear to be arbitrary? Why do we care so much about how others see us that we may even do irrational and harmful things to try to influence their opinion? (...) In this engaging book, Gloria Origgi draws on philosophy, social psychology, sociology, economics, literature, and history to offer an illuminating account of an important yet oddly neglected subject. Origgi examines the influence of the Internet and social media, as well as the countless ranking systems that characterize modern society and contribute to the creation of formal and informal reputations in our social relations, in business, in politics, in academia, and even in wine. She highlights the importance of reputation to the effective functioning of the economy and e-commerce. Origgi also discusses the existential significance of our obsession with reputation, concluding that an awareness of the relationship between our reputation and our actions empowers us to better understand who we are and why we do what we do. Compellingly written and filled with surprising insights, Reputation pins down an elusive subject that affects everyone. (shrink)

This book defines the relationship between the thought of Adam Smith and that of the ancients---Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and the Stoics. Vivenza offers a complete survey of all Smith's writings with the aim of illustrating how classical arguments shaped opinions and scholarship in the eighteenth century.

La aspiración a formar sociedades justas se choca con alarmantes niveles de pobreza y desigualdad, un problema al cual toda reflexión sobre la justa sociedad debe ofrecer una respuesta convincente. Esta ponencia afirma (1ª parte) que la experiencia que tenemos de las injusticias – como la pobreza – puede dar origen a una reflexión sobre la justicia. Luego (2ª parte) presenta el concepto de pobreza según el enfoque de las capacidades de Amartya Sen y lo completa con una interpretación filosófica (...) de la pobreza como privación radical de libertad individual. Finalmente (3ª parte) analiza y critica la forma en que la teoría de la justicia de John Rawls no aborda el problema de la pobreza y propone un principio de justicia previo a los dos de Rawls – el principio “cero” – que recoge el desafío que la pobreza plantea al concepto de sociedad justa. (shrink)

L’importance de la figure d’Empédocle dans le Phèdre a été négligée par les commentateurs. Cet article entend montrer qu’elle permet pourtant de donner un nouvel éclairage au mythe de l’attelage ailé. Son point de départ consiste à mettre en relation une nouvelle interprétation du fragment 29 d’Empédocle, qui identifie le Sphairos à un Éros n’ayant plus d’ailes sur le dos, avec le dépassement du dos du ciel par les âmes ailées qui a lieu dans ce mythe du Phèdre. Le dos (...) du ciel serait en effet la transposition platonicienne de la surface externe du Sphairos évoquée dans le fragment, de sorte que son dépassement équivaudrait à un dépassement du matérialisme empédocléen vers l’intelligible. Quant à Éros, Platon prend sur ce point le contre-pied de la critique empédocléenne de la religion traditionnelle, en en faisant moins le Sphairos que l’élan qui mène au-delà de celui-ci. (shrink)

BackgroundPaternalism/overprotection limits communication between healthcare professionals and patients and does not promote shared therapeutic decision-making. In the global north, communication patterns have been regulated to promote autonomy, whereas in the global south, they reflect the physician’s personal choices. The goal of this study was to contribute to knowledge on the communication patterns used in clinical practice in Mexico and to identify the determinants that favour a doctor–patient relationship characterized by low paternalism/autonomy.MethodsA self-report study on communication patterns in a sample of (...) 761 mental healthcare professionals in Central and Western Mexico was conducted. Multiple ordinal logistic regression models were used to analyse paternalism and associated factors.ResultsA high prevalence (68.7% [95% CI 60.0–70.5]) of paternalism was observed among mental health professionals in Mexico. The main determinants of low paternalism/autonomy were medical specialty (OR 1.67 [95% CI 1.16–2.40]) and gender, with female physicians being more likely to explicitly share diagnoses and therapeutic strategies with patients and their families (OR 1.57 [95% CI 1.11–2.22]). A pattern of highly explicit communication was strongly associated with low paternalism/autonomy (OR 12.13 [95% CI 7.71–19.05]). Finally, a modifying effect of age strata on the association between communication pattern or specialty and low paternalism/autonomy was observed.ConclusionsAmong mental health professionals in Mexico, high paternalism prevailed. Gender, specialty, and a pattern of open communication were closely associated with low paternalism/autonomy. Strengthening health professionals’ competencies and promoting explicit communication could contribute to the transition towards more autonomist communication in clinical practice in Mexico. The ethical implications will need to be resolved in the near future. (shrink)

La pobreza y la democracia guardan relaciones complejas y ya bastante estudiadas por los científicos sociales. En este artículo no volveré sobre estos enfoques, ni tampoco insistiré en los problemas de gobernabilidad que nacen de la pobreza, sino que presentaré la crítica filosófico-política al ideal democrático que resulta cuando consideramos a la pobreza como privación de libertad individual. A la pobreza se la puede entender desde múltiples perspectivas filosóficas, pero el interpretarla como privación de libertad individual, como lo hace Amartya (...) Sen, la pone en relación directa y problemática con un sistema de gobierno que precisamente hace de las libertades, y de la libertad humana en general, su nervio central. Quisiera sostener que la existencia de la pobreza pone en duda que vivamos en sociedades democráticas porque cuestiona la finalidad y la esencia de estas comunidades, a la vez que les desafía a pensar cómo pueden convertirse realmente en sociedades justas. Comenzaré con una interpretación filosófica de la pobreza a partir de algunas ideas de Sen (sección 1). Seguiré con el análisis de la relación que se podría establecer entre la privación de libertad y la comunidad política según tres filósofos de la tradición occidental: Aristóteles, Baruch de Espinosa y John Locke (sección 2), y terminaré presentando tres desafíos que la pobreza presenta a nuestras democracias (sección 3). (shrink)

Este artículo quiere investigar el lugar que tienen los afectos en el modo de hacer filosofía en América Latina. Para esto, la investigación se centra en las reflexiones de un grupo de filósofos que se autodenomina Equipo Jesuita de Reflexión Filosófica de América Latina, activo desde 1981. Utilizaré textos de su primera etapa cuando el equipo quiso expresamente reflexionar sobre una filosofía propia de América Latina, proyecto que denomina “filosofía inculturada”. Espero mostrar que las reflexiones de este grupo abordan tanto (...) el acto integral del filosofar como el pensamiento filosófico teórico. En el primer sentido, propone una “deontología del filósofo latinoamericano” cuyo método incluye como uno de sus pasos esenciales el “dejarse afectar” por la realidad según el principio de la simpatía, el cual generará otros sentimientos o afectos respecto a la realidad como encuadre para el filosofar. Pero el equipo no deja muy en claro la relación entre afectos y compromiso: ¿quién precede a quién? (shrink)

Although there is widespread agreement that our epistemic dependence on other people's knowledge is a key ingredient of our cognitive life, the role of trust in this dependence is much more open to debate. Is trust in epistemic authority—or “epistemic trust” for short—an epistemological notion in any sense, or is it simply a bridge-concept that connects our epistemological concerns to moral issues? Should we depict it in terms of the more familiar sociological notion of trust as a basis for cooperation?

In this paper I argue that the epistemology of trust and testimony should take into account the pragmatics of communication in order to gain insight about the responsibilities speakers and hearers share in the epistemic access they gain through communication. Communication is a rich process of information exchange in which epistemic standards are negotiated by interlocutors. I discuss examples which show the contextual adjustment of these standards as the conversation goes on. Our sensitivity to the contextual dimension of epistemic standards (...) make us more responsible communicators. (shrink)

Language is both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. Our aim here is to discuss, in an evolutionary perspective, the articulation of these two aspects of language. For this, we draw on the general conceptual framework developed by Ruth Millikan (1984) while at the same time dissociating ourselves from her view of language.

According to the Extended knowledge dilemma, first formulated by Clark (Synthese 192:3757–3775, 2015) and subsequently reformulated by Carter et al. (in: Carter, Clark, Kallestrup, Palermos, Pritchard (eds) Extended epistemology, Oxford Univer- sity Press, Oxford, pp 331–351, 2018a), an agent’s interaction with a device can either give rise to knowledge or extended cognition, but not both at the same time. The dilemma rests on two substantive commitments: first, that knowledge by a subject requires that the subject be aware to some extent (...) of some features of that knowledge’s sources and, second, that cognitive processes can only be extended if the subject is mostly unaware of the external object. The overwhelming response to the dilemma by proponents of extended knowledge has been to reconcile the demands of knowl- edge with the requirement that genuine extended cognition must lack any conscious encountering of the external artifact that features in the putative extended cognitive process. My approach, thus far unexplored, will be the opposite: I show how extended cognition can be made compatible with a wide range of agential attitudes, including an active form of epistemic hygiene. Consequently, I open the door for a new way of vindicating the possibility of extended knowledge, and call into question some assumptions that lie at the core of extended cognition theory. (shrink)

A partir de una investigación aplicada sobre programas de alfabetización digital de jóvenes latinoamericanas/os, el artículo ofrece una reflexión sobre los imaginarios sociales que sostienen la difusión de las nuevas tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC) como condición para su aceptación y asignación de sentido social y subjetivo. Incursiona en el proceso de construcción de la juventud como concepto y como grupo social, presentando las principales características y problemáticas que experimentan las y los jóvenes en los contextos actuales, especialmente en (...) América Latina, y brinda datos sobre su acceso a las TIC. A través de una tipología de los programas estudiados y de un análisis comparado de las representaciones y valoraciones de las TIC por parte de adultos y jóvenes, interroga sobre los discursos y las prácticas educativas dominantes que incentivan el acceso de la juventud excluida o en riesgo al mundo tecnológico y sobre las formas en que caracterizan y aplican al enfoque de equidad de género. (shrink)

Focused on preparing educators to teach African American students, this straightforward and teacher-friendly text features a careful balance of published scholarship, a framework for culturally relevant and critical pedagogy, research-based case studies of model teachers, and tested culturally relevant practical strategies and actionable steps teachers can adopt. Its premise is that teachers who understand Black culture as an asset rather than a liability and utilize teaching techniques that have been shown to work can and do have specific positive impacts on (...) the educational experiences of African American children. (shrink)

This single volume is a thematically organized history of New York City filled with prints, paintings, and photos from the early days through the present. These telling images and revelations are a rich exploration of the most intriguing city in the world. 63 color photos. 100 line art illustrations.

This work studies an artistic way of narrating an exile without having to resort to direct words such as violence or crime. Max Aub, a Spanish exile in Mexico, published his personal magazine Sala de Espera in Aztec lands. In the section called “Zarzuela,” he compiled a series of short stories entitled Crímenes, which later, for its edition in book format, he called Crímenes ejemplares. The short stories are a series of humorous confessions about various types of murders narrated by (...) the "murderers," so that they seem real testimonies. Throughout the three editions of this book, during Aub's lifetime, the author incorporated a series of "clues" in the paratexts with the aim of referring to the social phenomena of the time, especially those related to the situation with the Franco regime, the Cold War —historical context of the time of Aub's exile in Mexico— and the events that would take place in Mexico and Paris in 1968. For example, this last nod to the violent events of that summer of 68 is represented with a painting that evokes the French gang Bonnot, dedicated to bank robberies to destabilize the economy of the richest. This is an example of how the writer related the fiction of the crimes to real events, in such a way that a kind of dilution between the real and the imaginary arises. (shrink)

La mentalización es una capacidad que puede definirse como la habilidad de atribuir estados mentales que intervienen entre el comportamiento observable y la acción futura de otros. Esta capacidad ha sido estudiada durante décadas, pero las investigaciones al respecto no han logrado consolidar si es exclusivamente humana. Una vez dicho esto, surge la pregunta: ¿los chimpancés son capaces de atribuir estados mentales que intervienen entre el comportamiento observable y la acción futura o solo son capaces de leer el comportamiento? La (...) respuesta a esta pregunta no ha logrado ser determinada debido a que la hipótesis de la mentalización y la hipótesis de lectura de comportamiento poseen las mismas variables experimentales para justificarse, lo cual da forma al problema lógico del debate entre ambas hipótesis. Este artículo introduce la discusión entre las hipótesis de la mentalización y la hipótesis de la lectura comportamental para explicar el comportamiento de los chimpancés. Para lograrlo, se analizará primero lo que se ha dicho sobre la mentalización y la lectura de comportamiento en filosofía, luego se delimitarán ambas hipótesis y, finalmente, se explicarán los enfoques experimentales que han investigado la resolución del problema lógico. (shrink)

In this chapter, I propose a new framework for extended epistemology, based on a second-wave approach to extended cognition. The framework is inclusive, in that it takes into account the complex interplay between the diverse embodiments of extended knowers and the salient properties of technological artifacts, as well as the environment in which they are embedded. Thus it both emphasizes and exploits the complementary roles played by these different elements. Finally, I motivate and explain this framework by applying it to (...) a case of interaction with contemporary technologies. (shrink)