La disolución del poder colonial en la América española creó una serie de interrogantes respecto al ordenamiento jurídico-político de los futuros estados soberanos. En este sentido, Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) insistió en la idea de que el control político de los territorios liberados por él debía estar al mando de un poder central conservador capaz de garantizar los derechos ciudadanos sin menoscabo de la estabilidad sociopolítica del orden republicano. Aunque algunos aspectos del ideario constitucional bolivariano resultaron inaceptables para sus contemporáneos, sus (...) medidas para asegurar el goce de los derechos civiles y políticos de los americanos se ajustaban a la realidad social de su tiempo. Con base en una amplia consulta bibliográfica, el presente artículo examina la concepción bolivariana del cuerpo político a la luz de las circunstancias sociohistóricas a las que el Libertador debió hacer frente. (shrink)

Cognitive research on metaphoric concepts of time has focused on differences between moving Ego and moving time models, but even more basic is the contrast between Ego‐ and temporal‐reference‐point models. Dynamic models appear to be quasi‐universal cross‐culturally, as does the generalization that in Ego‐reference‐point models, FUTURE IS IN FRONT OF EGO and PAST IS IN BACK OF EGO. The Aymara language instead has a major static model of time wherein FUTURE IS BEHIND EGO and PAST IS IN FRONT OF EGO; (...) linguistic and gestural data give strong confirmation of this unusual culture‐specific cognitive pattern. Gestural data provide crucial information unavailable to purely linguistic analysis, suggesting that when investigating conceptual systems both forms of expression should be analyzed complementarily. Important issues in embodied cognition are raised: how fully shared are bodily grounded motivations for universal cognitive patterns, what makes a rare pattern emerge, and what are the cultural entailments of such patterns? (shrink)

The formation and evolution of multiculturalism and hybridization belong today to the leading research priorities of social sciences. These developments assumedly forward a kind of new or next society features of which seemingly emerge and may be captured in processes taking place in given partial structures. We think especially of subsystems that, at the origin, concretized utopic orientations that were abandoned over time to leave room to new ambitions. One such subsystem consists of the kibbutz that was for long viewed (...) as one of the most successful utopia that was both rigorous and performing, and which illustrates today an appropriate example of next-society emergence. The general validity of this assumption resides in this setting’s multigenerational survival through far reaching structural, cultural and ideological changes. A model of communitarian collectivity at its start that now is best defined by the oxymoron of “individualistic community”. (shrink)

Como valor fundamental da atividade, a objetividade jornalística já foi investigada conceitualmente por diversos estudos acadêmicos cujos resultados, apesar de publicados em livros e revistas da área, não alteraram a maneira como consumidores de informação, jornalistas e até mesmo professores de jornalismo entendem filosoficamente a objetividade e, consequentemente, a sua aplicação nas rotinas e procedimentos da prática jornalística. Este artigo tem o objetivo de realizar a revisão bibliográfica de dois importantes trabalhos de autores brasileiros que investigaram a noção de objetividade. (...) Vamos discutir as obras “A objetividade jornalística”, de Luiz Amaral e “Jornalismo, fatos e interesses”, de Wilson Gomes, inventariando as suas maneiras de compreender e também debater filosoficamente essa noção fundamental para a atividade. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungIm November 2015 ereignete sich an einer Schweizer Sekundarschule ein Vorfall, der in der Folge als sogenannter „Handschlag von Therwil“ Schlagzeilen machte. Mit diesem Topos ist jedoch nicht nur die Entscheidung zweier Schüler gemeint, ihrer Lehrerin unter Verweis auf religiöse Motive den Handschlag zu verweigern, sondern ebenso die medialen, schulischen, politischen und rechtlichen Konsequenzen, die sich an diese Episode anschlossen. Die folgende Einleitung zu dieser Thematik bietet, neben einer Schilderung des Vorfalls, eine Rahmensetzung, die sich mit dem religionswissenschaftlichen Stellenwert lokaler (...) Aushandlungsprozesse von Religion befasst. Es wird argumentiert, dass lokale Aushandlungen von Religion weder rein binnenreligiös noch in den sozialen und räumlichen Grenzen ihrer Lokalität vollzogen werden. Stattdessen sind sie in eine Vielzahl nicht-religiöser und translokaler Kontexte eingebunden. Daraus ergibt sich eine Reihe von Fragestellungen: Unter welchen Umständen werden lokale Religionsthematiken zum Verhandlungsgegenstand anderer, nicht-religiöser Gesellschaftsbereiche? Wie wirken diese Dynamiken auf lokale Aushandlungsprozesse zurück und welche Themen fungieren dabei als Kristallisationspunkte? Nicht zuletzt stellt sich zudem die Frage nach geeigneten Konzepten und Ansätzen, anhand derer die Aushandlungsprozesse von Religion in nicht religiösen Kontexten adäquat erfasst werden können. Die vorliegende Einleitung stellt verschiedene Beiträge vor, die sich in ihrer Analyse des Therwiler Handschlags auf unterschiedliche Weise diesen Fragen angenähert haben. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to address some of the questions on the notion of agent and agency in relation to property and personhood. I argue that following the Kantian criticism of Aristotelian metaphysics, contemporary biotechnology and information and communication technologies bring about a new challenge—this time, with regard to the Kantian moral subject understood in the subject’s unique metaphysical qualities of dignity and autonomy. The concept of human dignity underlies the foundation of many democratic systems, particularly in Europe (...) as well as of international treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Digital agents, artificial organisms as well as new capabilities of the human agents related to their embeddedness in digital and biotechnological environments bring about an important transformation of the human self-appraisal. A critical comparative reflection of this transformation is important because of its ethical implications. I deal first with the concept of agent within the framework of Aristotelian philosophy, which is the basis for further theories in accordance with and/or in opposition to it, particularly since modernity. In the second part of this paper, I deal with the concept of personhood in Kantian philosophy, which supersedes the Aristotelian metaphysics of substance and builds the basis of a metaphysics of the moral human subject. In the third part, I discuss the question of artificial agents arising from modern biology and ICT. Blurring the difference between the human and the natural and/or artificial opens a “new space” for philosophical reflection as well as for debate in law and practical policy. (shrink)

When examining the current form that modern society has acquired, it is hard to overlook the emergence of a systemic dimension that has become far removed from its social-symbolic roots. This systemic dimension is the result of a process of functional differentiation and simultaneous growth that has led to the gradual formation of social systems that, alongside their coordinating effect, give rise to multiple conflicts or crises. But how are the crises of modern societies to be understood in light of (...) this logic of functional differentiation and internal growth? The purpose of this article is to postulate one particular form of crisis, which will be understood as the result of a consubstantial tendency towards systemic growth. The trend takes the form of a concentration of the performances of social systems that recreates modern schemes of stratification, homogenizes the diversity of options and selections of these systems and, by becoming caught up in thoughtless patterns of growth, produces critical scenarios. (shrink)

The article discusses the relationship between Stanley Cavell’s philosophy of ordinary language - FLO, and the possibility of self-knowledge through the uses of ordinary language. In this sense, I discuss the ideas of normativity and personal responsibility involved in the possibility of intersubjective communications, in which meaningful uses of ordinary language can be shared and which result in self-knowledge. Thus, I analyze the Cavellian conception of FLO, correlating it with the conditions of subjective expression, a central theme in Cavell’s philosophy.

In Brazil, induced abortion in adolescents has been frequent in less-advantaged socioeconomic classes, and the vulnerability of these adolescents has not been addressed. Given this context, the present study sought to investigate the relationship between the practice of abortion and vulnerability in adolescents. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 201 adolescents who completed a structured questionnaire that allowed the analysis of variables with respect to intent to abort. The profile of the pregnant adolescents in the sample studied was the (...) following: average age, 16.1 years; stable partner; mulatas; did not use condoms during sexual relations; precocious with respect to their first sexual relations; and did not plan the pregnancy. According to the classification of the World Health Organization, 81.59% of the subjects‘ abortions were known to be induced. Twenty-one were vulnerable to induced abortion; of these, 13 reported forced sexual intercourse, of whom 8 reported that they had suffered associated violence. These results indicate that sexual violence and unwanted pregnancy subject adolescents to a context of greater vulnerability to induced abortion. Thus, it is suggested that this relationship should be considered from the perspective of bioethics and human rights, but always respecting the cultural values of the society in which the adolescents live, as well as their human dignity. (shrink)

The aim of this chapter is to understand how sortals determine what aesthetic properties an object has. It is argued that Frank Sibley’s notion of an ideal of beauty does not help us to achieve that aim. Instead, it is argued, the special aesthetic relevance of sortals is better understood by reference to the (non-aesthetic) ideas of normality and functionality associated with sortals. In passing, the paper also argues that there must be a maximum degree of beauty if non-comparative judgments (...) of beauty are possible, as they seem to be. (shrink)

When we consider the Dialogus de Genesi, we find that Cusa's thought on the relationship between God and the world is distinctively non-medieval. Cusa considers God as the sole and absolute substance; and, as such, as being unknowable. God cannot be determined within any category that we know of. The world has some identity with God as manifestation or phenomenon.

What did the early Greek philosophers think about animals and their lives? How did they view plants? And, ultimately, what type of relationship did they envisage between all sorts of living beings? On these topics there is evidence of a prolonged investigation by several Presocratics. However, scholarship has paid little attention to these issues and to the surprisingly "modern" development they received in Presocratics' doctrines. This book fills this lacuna through a detailed (and largely unprecedented) analysis of the extant evidence. (...) The volume includes also the first extensive collection of the ancient sources pertaining to living beings and life in early Greek philosophy, organized chronologically and thematically. (shrink)

En este escrito se argumentará que uno de los problemas centrales de la rigidez en los términos generales para clases naturales es consecuencia de no distinguir entre términos rígidos de jure y términos rígidos de facto en dichos casos. Se sostiene que los enunciados de identidad necesarios defendidos por Kripke en Naming and Necessity consideran la ocurrencia de términos que designan a una misma clase (clases que poseen entre sí la relación transmundana de ser una misma clase) a través de (...) dos términos rígidos, uno de jure y uno de facto. Esto permite explicar los problemas que la noción de rigidez plantea en los casos de los términos generales para clases naturales, pues mantiene los requerimientos de conexión causal y a su vez enuncia el criterio de identidad entre tales clases, a través de la(s) propiedad(es) esencial(es) de dicha clase. (shrink)

Deepfakes are highly realistic, albeit fake, audiovisual contents created with AI. This technology allows the use of deceptive audiovisual material that can impersonate someone’s identity to erode their reputation or manipulate the audience. Deepfakes are also one of the applications of AI that can be used in cultural industries and even to produce works of art. On the one hand, it is important to clarify whether deepfakes in arts and culture are free from the ethical dangers mentioned above. On the (...) other hand, there are specific ethical issues in this field of application. Deepfake technologies can be used to include the performance of deceased persons in audiovisual materials for the dissemination of cultural heritage, and to generate images or sounds in the style of real authors, but deepfakes are also potentially misleading by blurring the boundary between artwork and reality, and raise questions about the relationship between technology, artificial creativity and authorship. The answer to these problems requires an analysis of the normative foundations of copyright to accommodate the new role of AI. (shrink)

Since the publication and reception of Levinas’s critique of Heidegger, it has become standard practice among some authors to argue that Heidegger’s thinking of being, both early and late, is an insistent meditation on the alterity of the self in the call of conscience and the alterity of being in relation to beings, and that this thought is consequently already ‘ethical’. This line of argument has been recently pursued by Dastur, Raffoul, and Ricoeur. None of them contests that there is (...) a difference between the alterity of the self and the alterity of the other. But they argue that the experience of the first is the condition of possibility of gaining access to the second. There are several reasons why I have failed to be convinced by this argument. In this paper, I spell out those reasons and argue that Ricoeur’s attempt to carve out a path between Heidegger and Levinas remains unsuccessful. (shrink)

Although there are exceptions, most researchers on collective memory have neglected the idea that collective mnemonics involve embodied aspects and practices. And though the corpus of Collective Memory Studies (CMS) has helped us better understand how social groups relate to time, especially to the past, it has taken little notice of how embodied social actors collectively relate to time. In contrast, expanding upon the French School and the French sociological tradition, I argue for an approach that, on the one hand, (...) connects mental schemata to bodily schemata to social frameworks. And on the other hand, I speak of how embodied social actors collectively relate to common pasts and presents; and of how embodiment can thus provide a structure of possibilities for individuals and groups, as well as shared compasses and orientations that help people move toward certain futures while foreclosing others. (shrink)

Plato scholars such as Matthias Baltes (1940-2003) and Luc Brisson have defended the thesis that Plato‘s Idea of the Good is on the one hand beyond being (epekeina tês ousias) in dignity and power, but is nevertheless not transcendent over being. The article gives first (I.), an introduction into the status questionis. Second (II.), it delivers the most important arguments for the thesis of Baltes and Brisson. Third (III.), it gives two counterarguments against the thesis. Fourth (IV), it deals with (...) the translation of L. Brisson "Apollon, quelle merveilleuse emphase" of 509c1-2. Fifth (V.), it concludes with some general questions concerning the deflationist interpetation of Plato‘s Republic, 509b9-10. (shrink)

Trata-se de uma tradução de uma carta que Descartes remeteu a Colviu em novembro de 1640 na qual ele delimita as diferenças entre seu cogito e o penso, logo existo de Santo Agostinho.

The point of the article is that representation is primarily an activity in the realm of knowledge while participation belongs to the will. Representation and participation are two dimensions of human life, at the same time personal and political. One cannot expect real participation in the absence of true representation. The present democracies have a real problem regarding the participation of the people in politics.

A good will is not so much an "ethical concept" as one that refers to the nucleus of human existence and the meaning of life. If the intellect is a function of identity, the will is a function of otherness. Together, the intellect and the will render an account of that arcane principle of all reality which is unity-diversity or limit. Such arcana is manifested in the following: the intellect is the limit of the will and the will is the (...) limit of the intellect. The perfection of the will -the will that becomes good- requires self-knowledge. In order to give an account of the other I have to take myself seriously and realize that I only know myself through the other. A good will, therefore, has many other related dimensions aside from that of love and respect. (shrink)

Few Philosophers have been able to give to their work a deep an wise visíon of the world applicable to everyday existence. Among them we find Joseph Pieper, extraordinary writer and philosopher whose works (edited by Berthold Wald) confirm his socratic character of wisdom lover (filo-sophos).

Pure being, without reference to negativity and otherness, is unthinkable and unreal. Being with regard to negativity is giving: being gives what it is not. The radical act of giving is to produce the other in itself; the derived act is to create. Being in relation to non-being is having. There is no existence other than in having. Giving, donation, implies a having which is had, consciousness, freedom, reflection. Without reflection, there is no giving. Being is knowing; having, loving. There (...) is no donation without love. The notion of "pure exchange" is infrahuman. (shrink)

En la filosofía de Heidegger se encuentra un diagnóstico de nuestro tiempo problemático que él llamó das Gestell, es decir, la esencia de la era técnica. Esta esencia es una peligrosa destinación del Ser porque implica olvidar nuestra condición de mortales. Frente a ello, Heidegger tiene una propuesta: serenidad. Por medio de esta actitud se consigue recordar nuestra mortalidad olvidada y recuperar nuestra posición en otra destinación del Ser: das Geviert, es decir, la cuaternidad. En esta destinación necesitamos dejarnos ser (...) lo que esencialmente somos y habitar como mortales sobre la tierra. (shrink)

La comprensión de la actual crisis del sistema capitalista mundial reviste una gran complejidad analítica: concita siete explicaciones teóricas canalizadas por tres vertientes paradigmáticas, expresa diez dimensiones críticas, afronta cuatro paradojas sintomáticas y suscita seis respuestas políticamente diferenciadas. Además de examinar el intrincado debate, este artículo analiza críticamente la crisis como un problema de carácter estructural, sistémico y civilizatorio. En primera instancia, esta es una crisis de valorización que entraña una espiral de sobreacumulación, la caída de la tasa de ganancia (...) y la ruptura de las dinámicas de acumulación; pero en última instancia significa una crisis civilizatoria. La acumulación mundial centralizada, comandada por el capital transnacional y basada en la explotación del trabajo barato, devastación ambiental y financiarización muestra sus verdaderos límites. Empero, el gran capital pretende restaurar el proceso de concentración de capital, poder, riqueza y conocimiento, sin importar que la vida humana y el metabolismo social estén amenazados de múltiples formas. (shrink)

Caracterización de un grupo de comités de ética en investigación en Colombia Caracterização de um grupo de comitês de ética em pesquisa na Colômbia In the last decades, controlled clinical trials sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry have increased considerably. This has led to the need for greater control and assistance by regulators and ethics committees to ensure appropriate compliance with established ethical standards and good clinical practices in general. In Colombia, the National Food and Drug Surveillance Institute, the regulator in (...) the country, controls and monitors the operation of clinical research with drugs. In 2008, this entity issued Resolution 2378, which provides and regulates research actors in Colombia, including ethics committees. After being in force for several years, it is necessary to know whether research ethics committees in Colombia operate in accordance with this regulation and to determine the status of implementation of the requirements therein. For this purpose, a survey was designed to be voluntarily answered and a response was obtained from 25 of the 69 certified committees in Colombia. Twenty-two of them could be analyzed because their information was complete. Compared with previous studies, favorable changes in development and organization were observed in accordance with the current proposed regulation. Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo Suárez-Obando F, Reynales H, Urina M, Camacho J, Viteri M. Caracterización de un grupo de comités de ética en investigación en Colombia. pers. bioét. 2018; 22: 303-318. DOI: 10.5294/pebi.2018.22.2.8. (shrink)

El presente artículo intenta revisar el uso y empleo de las máscaras para la creación de un efecto transformador y sinestético en el arte simbólico e imaginativo de crear un paisaje de lejanía y familiaridad en que un ‘otro’ visualiza un diagrama metasignificativo de las representaciones y efectos de las máscaras en el arte ritual amazónico. El estudio, lejos de ser una descripción material de las culturas y el uso de las máscaras, intenta explorar el por qué de su utilización, (...) así como la manipulación de poderes y la intensa dramaticidad con que el acto del disfrazarse compone la performance ritualística en la amazonía brasileña. El foco principal es la constante creación del binomio identidad-alteridad en lo cuál las figuras mitológicas, las experiencias reveladas en los sueños coletivos y el propio teatro del ser, constituyen la ‘persona ritual’ que enfatiza el extenso universo de una indumentaria de la floresta en la confección simbólica de las máscaras y sus multisignificados. Finalmente, la idea de la performance a través de la mirada cenográfica amazonica y su empleo en las máscaras, adornos y ornamentos para una construcción del cuerpo, persona e identidad en la geografía de las almas de los pueblos del Amazonas. (shrink)

La historia de la Cirugía Pediátrica cubana está pendiente de ser documentada científicamente. Se estableció como objetivo definir las etapas de desarrollo de la especialidad en Cuba, para lo cual se hizo un análisis histórico y se identificó cuatro períodos fundamentales. Este artículo tiene una significación práctica puesto que permite conocer en qué momento se encuentra la especialidad para modelar el futuro de la misma. The history of Cuban pediatric surgery is pending of being scientifically documented. It was established as (...) an objective to define the stages of the development of the specialty in Cuba. For this purpose a historical analysis was carried out and four main periods were identified. This study has a practical importance because it allows knowing the stage in which the specialty is to model its future. (shrink)

This book provides a persuasive account of how identity and difference factor in the debate on the 'self' in the humanities. It explores this topic by applying the question to fields such as philosophy, cultural studies, politics and race studies. Key themes discussed in this collection include: authenticity in Michel de Montaigne's essays, the limits of the narrative constitution of the self, the use and abuse of the notion of human nature in political theory and in the current political context (...) of multiculturalism, and the feminist notion of the erotic and of sexual violence. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in new perspectives on the self within the humanities. (shrink)