El proceso de construcción de una escuela de calidad es un reto permanente que intentan abordar tanto los sistemas educativos como los centros y los profesionales que trabajan en ambos. Sirven a este propósito las recientes muestras de evaluación externa y las experiencias de autoevaluación interna, que a menudo se acompañan de programas de innovación y cambio con o sin soporte externo. Sin embargo, lograr cambio no es fácil, dado el dinamismo de los sistemas educativos, las respuestas que no se (...) dan a una realidad sociocultural cambiante y el desencanto docente. (shrink)

Joaquín M. Fuster is an eminent cognitive neuroscientist whose research over the last five decades has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural structures underlying cognition and behaviour. This book provides his view on the eternal question of whether we have free will. Based on his seminal work on the functions of the prefrontal cortex in decision-making, planning, creativity, working memory, and language, Professor Fuster argues that the liberty or freedom to choose between alternatives is a function (...) of the cerebral cortex, under prefrontal control, in its reciprocal interaction with the environment. Freedom is therefore inseparable from that circular relationship. The Neuroscience of Freedom and Creativity is a fascinating inquiry into the cerebral foundation of our ability to choose between alternative actions and to freely lead creative plans to their goal. (shrink)

Entre los últimos años del siglo XVI y los primeros del XVII, aquel mundo sin límites de los navegantes y aventureros renacentistas comenzaba ya a cerrarse, pues las mismas potencias que antes los habían abierto precisaban ahora defenderlos. No obstante, hasta los inicios de la Guerra de los Treinta Años (1618), España y el Imperio por un lado y Francia e Inglaterra por otro vivirían un periodo de relativa paz. Por encima de rivalidades y controversias religiosas, la sociedad europea compartía (...) similares valores sociales y caballerescos, que una novela iba a poner de relieve. En 1605, la publicación en Madrid de la primera parte de El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha tuvo un éxito rotundo.…. (shrink)

A comienzos del siglo XX, cuando el redescubrimiento de Oriente se había trocado en su colonización tras la I Guerra Mundial, la poesía del viaje y el reencuentro con gentes y paisajes parecían ya imposibles. De hecho, la literatura «clásica» del viaje a Oriente estaba ya más que acabada. Sin embargo, un accidente de la historia de la aviación española haría que el capitán Rafael Martínez Esteve, integrante de la patrulla que emprendió el viaje Madrid-Manila, viviera una trágica aventura en (...) el desierto jordano- iraquí. Fruto de esa experiencia sería un libro que es, al mismo tiempo que emocionante relato, descripción poética del desierto y la vida de los beduinos, sarcástica mirada a los poderes coloniales, y un amable epígono en la historia de la literatura española de viajes a Oriente.…. (shrink)

A lo largo de la historia, diversas han sido las funciones sociales que ha desarrollado el cine más allá de sus faceta lúdica basada en el entretenimiento. Entre estas funciones destacan su capacidad para registrar hechos históricos fundamentales, su gran eficacia como herramienta de publicidad o propaganda, su facultad a la hora de interactuar con otras disciplinas artísticas, su capacidad de educar y sensibilizar a la sociedad, su facultad ética o filosófica o su faceta informativa.

The aim of the article is to analyze the role played by popularization and training within nanotechnology as a mean to build a bridge between Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies; its applications in Biology, Biotechnology and Health Care Industry; and the object of study of Bioethics, mainly its general view. The article begins with a brief presentation of the basic concepts of Bioethics; of the paradigm of the relationship between science, technology and society; and of the contribution of general scientific and technological (...) knowledge to Bioethics. Afterwards, it analyzes in detail the interdisciplinary relationship of sciences and technologies with Bioethics and presents a brief conceptual exposition of Nanotechnology as well as its benefits and risks. The article ends by presenting some arguments in favor of considering popularization and training in Nanotechnology as a bridge towards bioethics. Finally, some general conclusions are sketched. (shrink)

En las investigaciones sobre fisiología cardiovascular desarrolladas por William Harvey es posible distinguir entre dos teorías que responden a preguntas diferentes. La primera de ellas, que denominamos teoría del movimiento circular de la sangre, intenta dar una respuesta al problema sobre la cantidad de sangre que se mueve dentro del sistema. La segunda pretende dar cuenta de las causas de que la sangre se mueva y la denominamos teoría de las causas del movimiento de la sangre. En este trabajo, presentamos (...) una reconstrucción estructuralista de la primera de éstas, y mostramos que posee todos los componentes considerados esenciales para cualquier teoría, de acuerdo con la concepción estructuralista de la ciencia. (shrink)

The debate concerning the proper way of understanding, and hence solving, the “is-ought problem” produced two mutually exclusive positions. One position claims that it is entirely impossible to deduce an imperative statement from a set of factual statements. The other position holds a contrary view to the effect that one can naturally derive an imperative statement from a set of factual statements under certain conditions. Although these two positions have opposing views concerning the problem, it should be evident that they (...) both accept that the “is-ought problem” is concerned with the deducibility of imperative statements from factual statements. Later I will argue that this should not be our concern when we try to make sense of the way we reason about morality. (shrink)

This study analyzes the development of a culture of personal transformation in contemporary societies, showing its forms and orientations, and pointing to the factors that favor its development. This new culture unifies psychology and spirituality, emphasizes the transformational power of the experience of transcendence, and flourishes in an heterogeneous and loosely organized milieu driven by trends toward individualization and hybridization. The interpretative hypothesis is that this cultural development is a response to a societal change at the level of the individual: (...) the expansion of the self. The culture of personal transformation can be explained as a response to the existential turmoil that is inherent to the expansion of the self. (shrink)

Theodore Sider’s puzzle in Hell and Vagueness has generated some interesting responses in the past few years. In this paper, I explore yet another possible solution out of the conundrum. This solution implies three ways of denying a binary conception of the afterlife. I argue that while these solutions might first seem tenable, they might still succumb to a Sideresque revenge puzzle.

Durante el pasado siglo y como consecuencia de la proyección europea en Oriente, las potencias de la época apoyaron las investigaciones que llevarían al redescubrimiento de las capitales asirias y la verdadera historia del Oriente antiguo. Ajena al área por razones evidentes, España tenía, sin embargo, buenos motivos para haber participado en aquellos descubrimientos. Una tradición viajera importante, antiguos vínculos culturales e intereses económicos así lo sugerían, pero nuestro país hubo de contentarse con la empresa africana. Con todo, ciertos espíritus (...) curiosos y especialmente dotados llenarían con su esfuerzo páginas y hechos de la mayor altura. Ellos representan las raíces primeras del desarrollo que los estudios sobre Oriente Próximo han tenido en las dos últimas décadas. Entre las de otros equipos, varias excavaciones abiertas por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid tienen el mérito de haber sido las pioneras de la investigación española en Siria, Iraq y la Península de Omán. (shrink)

El atractivo de la figura de San Francisco de Asís ha sido permanente desde el siglo XIII hasta nuestros días. A pesar de sus biografías y leyendas, que deben ser leídas e interpretadas según sus propias estructuras literarias, en su contexto histórico y como obras interdependientes (Cuestión Franciscana), la verdadera imagen del santo se muestra preferentemente en sus escritos personales. Los estudios franciscanos han aportado no sólo una imagen renovada de san Francisco, sino también de su espiritualidad.

The relationship between value and nature has been central in philosophy of the environment, especially in the field known as ‘environmental ethics,’ and it has become even more complex in the wake of the rights of nature movement. The present article argues that such a movement in the domain of law shows a lack of coherence in the domain of ethics. Using the recent recognition of the Mar Menor lagoon in Spain as a legal person as a point of departure, (...) I present what I believe are the three main approaches in ethics of the environment, with special emphasis on ‘environmental ethics’ and the notion of intrinsic value. I then return to the question of the right of nature and discuss the Mar Menor case as a patchwork ethics. Finally, I offer some comments on the effect that philosophical reflection on value in the environment has had on rights of nature legislation. (shrink)

In his Formal Logic, Arthur N. Prior declared that Jan Łukasiewicz's logical notation is ‘unquestionably the best logical symbolism for most purposes’. Whether he had a substantive, and...

In this essay, I would like to look at two particular attempts of developing a preliminary question that paves the way for establishing a Filipino Philosophy: viz. Rolando Gripaldo’s Historian of Philosophy approach and Napoleon Mabaquiao’s Strict Discipline approach. The former envisages that the first question that needs to be considered in the discussion of Filipino Philosophy must be taken from the perspective of a scholar of the history of philosophy. The latter’s procedure is to take what academic philosophers deem (...) to be the characterization of their discipline. In effect, while the former’s question is a question of a historian of philosophy; the latter’s question is a question of a philosopher. As this essay progresses I will try to make a critical assessment of the two attempts by first showing the strengths and weaknesses of their respective attempts, and secondly by stressing that their attempts, whether successful or not, should already be taken as contributions to the effort of establishing a Filipino Philosophy. (shrink)

In this paper, I address the problem about the role of academic philosophy for the feminist movement. I argue that the professionalization of feminism, especially within the sphere of academic philosophy, is detrimental to the stated goal of the feminist movement, which, as historically understood, is to procure women’s rights and liberties and to reassess the treatment of women by different social institutions. The thought is that if feminism were to reap the rewards of a socio-political change, feminists should stop (...) their fantastic theorizing and start bringing their advocacies to the proper forums. (shrink)

In this paper, I offer a reconstruction of Wittgenstein's view of the happy life by sketching out three interconnected themes in his early works. The first theme is the distinction between a science of ethics and the ethical. The second is the idea of the willing subject. And finally, the third is the possibility of the happy life.

Against the pervading opinion, the author takes the positive side of the question "Does logic rest on a metaphysical foundation?" Logic is generally understood as a science that investigates ways of distinguishing good from bad arguments. This conception leads many to think that logic does not rest on any metaphysical foundation - that it is not an ontologically-committing enterprise. To claim that "'Someone is male' logically follows from 'Joey is male"' does not commit one to the existence of maleness or (...) the existence of Joey, even if it is logically true that if Joey is male, then someone is male. This paper, however argues for the contrary thesis. In one possible rendering of what logic means and in one possible understanding of what it is for someone to be ontologically committed to something else, it can be shown that logic is an ontologically-committing activity. From this it is argued that logic has a metaphysical foundation. (shrink)

Through the epistemic potential of speculative science fiction, this article offers a reflection on the impacts of technologies on the human body. More precisely, this article illuminates how literary texts anticipate the challenges which will arise in relation with the body of the future from our most awaited and fantasized technologies. Olga Ravn’s novel, The employees (2018), will be the basis of this article’s inquiry into how the augmented body, extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence impact the body and, by the (...) same token, upset our own understanding of ourselves and the world which surrounds us. As a whole, this article illustrates that a future where technical advancement takes precedence on social progress can lead not only to a disembodied reality, but more importantly to an alienated humanity. (shrink)

Single-unit data from the cortex of monkeys performing working-memory tasks support the main point of the target article. Those data, however, also indicate that the activation of long-term memory is essential to the processing of all cognitive functions. The activation of cortical long-term memory networks is a key neural mechanism in attention (working memory is a form thereof), perception, memory acquisition and retrieval, intelligence, and language.

De manera general se podría decir que en la modernidad ilustrada lo trágico deja de expresarse públicamente en un género cultural específico para ser conducido a los espacios íntimos que el individuo autónomo encuentra en la novela. La resistencia de lo trágico se hace tensión con lo filosófico en el nuevo lugar personal de la literatura. Dostoievski, en esta tesitura, se convierte en paradigma y destino. El presente artículo intenta insistir en la capacidad filosófica de su literatura para hacer transparentes (...) los abismos del alma humana. Veremos cómo únicamente admitiendo las heridas de la existencia se puede decir la verdad. Aunque vaya en ello la vida. En su energía narrativa encontramos la fuerza contradictoria que anima la existencia en el marco del nihilismo y de la compasión. ¿Nos podrá liberar su filosofía trágica de las peligrosas y dogmáticas derivas actuales del idealismo? (shrink)

In this article I tease out a conception of reason in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s writings that is both decoupled from Enlightenment notions of human nature, progress, and transcendental truth, as well as auto-critically engaged with the anti-authoritarian Enlightenment ethos of anarchist thought. In so doing, I hope to reveal how the Proudhonian deployment of reason retained a healthy skepticism of foundationalism, philosophical systems-building, and the intellectualism bred of its dogmatic excesses as well as reconsider Proudhon’s relation to our most privileged faculty.

This article cybernetically (isomorphically) investigates the causes of the Hellenic financial crisis. It (1) describes the crisis and its commonly assessed root cause: systemic corruption coupled to the decisions of ample numbers of Greeks to endure the problem rather than resolve it; (2) reviewsSYRIZA's 2015 anti‐austerity campaign and identifies incompatibilities within its apparent collective purposes that imply processes more fundamental than corruption and bad faith may be causing the crisis; (3) situates cybernetics within a sociological framework to analyze those processes (...) appropriately; (4) propositionally reduces them to a general rule—the tragedy of the commons—operating more or less within the collective conscience of the Greek people; and (5) and exposes the parameter's self‐similar manifestation in social actions that have contributed to the crisis. (shrink)

In order to fulfil their essential roles as the bearers of truth and the relata of logical relations, propositions must be public and shareable. That requirement has favoured Platonist and other nonmental views of them, despite the well-known problems of Platonism in general. Views that propositions are mental entities have correspondingly fallen out of favour, as they have difficulty in explaining how propositions could have shareable, objective properties. We revive a mentalist view of propositions, inspired by Artificial Intelligence work on (...) perceptual algorithms, which shows how perception causes persistent mental entities with shareable properties that allow them to fulfil the traditional roles of (one core kind of) propositions. The clustering algorithms implemented in perception produce outputs which are (implicit) atomic propositions in different minds. Coordination of them across minds proceeds by game-theoretic processes of communication. The account does not rely on any unexplained notions such as mental content, representation, or correspondence (although those notions are applicable in philosophical analysis of the result). (shrink)