And how are the answers to these questions affected by the Black and Latino experience in the United States"-From the Preface This collection of new essays explores the relation between race and ethnicity and its social and political ...

The aim of this paper is to answer the question of whether the two evolutionary debunking arguments (EDA) which, in my interpretation, can be developed from memetics (the argument of contagion and the argument of belief in belief) successfully undermine both the internalist and the externalist rationality of theism. The EDA against the rationality of religious belief try to prove that if such belief is caused by processes that do not track the truth, then this belief is unwarranted or even (...) false. I will argue that the contagion argument is not valid due to the theoretical weakness of memetics, while the argument of belief in belief may be partly valid, since it is logically independent of the memetic approach. Finally, I will examine a possible refutation of that argument based on the thesis that the propositional belief in God is not decisive for the adaptive explanation of the complex system of religion. I will show, briefly, that this does not save theism from another EDA based on the adaptive nature of religion. (shrink)

I claim that the increase in complexity in the trace of Paleolithic stone tools can be parsimoniously explained by postulating the emergence of effective mechanisms for the social transmission of representations. I propose that Paleolithic tools, similar to more contemporary tools, were subject to a process of evolution by artificial selection based on functionality.

IF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY studies ideas from the past, as is generally accepted, then historians of philosophy face a serious problem concerning their object of study for two reasons. In the first place, like all history, the history of philosophy is concerned with the past and we can never have direct empirical access to the past unless that past is close to us and we have taken part in it. In order to know the past in which we have (...) not participated we must rely on the testimony of those who had direct access to it and left records of what they witnessed. In the second place, the problem arises because the specific object that the history of philosophy studies is ideas and ideas are not things, events, or facts for which we can have direct empirical evidence even if we are contemporaneous with them. The most we can have is indirect empirical evidence. We do not perceive ideas; what we perceive are certain phenomena that suggest to us certain ideas. If I ask you, for example, "Do you approve of what the President did?" and you frown in return, I conclude that you do not. But it is altogether possible that you do in fact approve of the President's action, although you wish me to think that you do not and thus mislead me by making the frown. My conclusion that you do not, then, can be taken only as an interpretation of what you are thinking based on certain empirical evidence that is only indirectly related to what you think. Thus the study of the history of philosophy is very difficult, more difficult than the study of the type of history that relies on events for which there can be direct empirical evidence; for not only is direct access to the past impossible for historians of philosophy from the present, but even if they had it they would not have direct access to the ideas which are supposed to be the object of their study. (shrink)

We draw from upper echelons theory to investigate whether the presence of a chief sustainability officer (CSO) is associated with better corporate environmental performance in highly polluting industries. Such firms are under strong pressure to remediate environmental damage, to comply with regulations, and to even exceed environmental standards. CSOs in these firms are likely to be hired as legitimate agents to lead and successfully implement environmental strategy aimed at reducing pollution levels. Interestingly and contrary to our expectations, we found that (...) the presence of a CSO is associated with higher levels of pollution emissions. Nonetheless, we found that the CSO has a positive influence on a firm’s environmental performance if faced with strict environmental regulations. We argue that the enforcement of environmental regulations enhances monitoring and accountability of pollution emissions. The sample for this study comprised all the S&P 500 firms required by the Environmental Protection Agency to annually report their toxic emissions to the Toxic Release Inventory. Data were collected for a 6-year period from 2006 to 2011. We used a panel data regression and employed propensity score matching to correct for potential endogeneity problems. (shrink)

In the 10 years after the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (GC), there have been very few empirical assessments of the initiative in the academic literature. In this study, drawing from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, we examine motivations of business participants to adopt the GC principles in the Spanish context. Using survey data from Spain – the country reporting the highest volume of business participants in the GC – we find that external institutional (...) forces as well as internal organisational resources shape motivations for adopting GC principles. In particular, we find that early and late adopters are motivated similarly by the perceived opportunity of achieving image gains, while late adopters are motivated more by economic gains than early adopters. We further find that regardless of the extent of internal intangible resources possessed, firms are similarly motivated by economic gains. The results also show that companies with more intangible resources are motivated more by image gains than those with fewer resources. Our findings indicate that contrary to its earlier days, economic gains have emerged as an important motivator for the adopters of the GC principles with image gains still being an important motivator. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza dos herramientas teóricas relevantes para estudiar la función del mérito como un dispositivo que cumple una función de legitimación de las desigualdades políticas: una crítica democrática de la diferencia manual e intelectual en la división social del trabajo y la distinción entre capital y recurso. Para ello, comenta las posiciones de Marx y Durhkeim sobre la división social del trabajo y especifica cómo esta se concreta en la diferencia manual/intelectual apoyándose en Étienne Balibar. Posteriormente, se expone la (...) distinción entre capital y recurso de José Luis Moreno Pestaña para abordar cómo esa lógica se reproduce en el campo político en la actualidad, ejemplificándolo con referencias a Rawls y Lenin. Finalmente, concluye proponiendo dos salidas para democratizar la diferencia manual/intelectual desde la política actual. (shrink)

This anthology brings together extracts that come from a wide variety of sources and that illustrate Western thought on the subject of humour and laughter from Antiquity to Late Modernity. The selection of texts is comprehensive, historically representative, and original, and includes writings from more than 40 different authors.

Este artigo problematiza a possibilidade de uma definição de natureza humana em Kant a partir da sua teoria dos juízos. Cohen defende que a antropologia fisiológica é a base da antropologia pragmática, porque o ajuizamento do ser humano como um ser organizado, nos permite ajuizá-lo em conformidade a fins [ Zweckmässigkeit ]. Neste sentido, ainda de acordo com o pesquisador, a antropologia pragmática compartilha certas características metodológicas com os princípios de uma filosofia da biologia em Kant, pois a causalidade mecânica (...) é insuficiente para explicar os seres vivos, por isso é necessário um novo tipo de causalidade, que segundo Kant é a final. Mas, este novo tipo de causalidade somente é possível mediante um princípio teleológico, todavia Kant adverte que a causalidade final não é aplicada diretamente ao organismo vivo, mas sim ao conjunto de leis empíricas que o regem, o que nos permite ajuizar que qualquer ser vive segundo fins. Por essa razão, a antropologia fisiológica é a base da antropologia pragmática. Destarte, diferente dele, propomos que a concepção de natureza humana é viável a partir dos efeitos materias produzidos pelas condições de possibilidade e de execução das proposições sintéticas a priori práticas. Neste sentido, a nossa concepção de natureza humana é possível mediante um conjunto de efeitos, que neste caso é o sentimento moral [ moralische Gefühl ]. (shrink)

Substantial advances in our understanding of the neural bases of emotional processing have been made over the past decades. Overall, studies in humans and other animals highlight the key role of the amygdala in the detection and evaluation of stimuli with affective value. Nonetheless, contradictory findings have been reported, especially in terms of the exact role of this structure in the processing of different emotions, giving rise to different neural models of emotion. For instance, although the amygdala has traditionally been (...) considered as exclusively involved in fear (and possibly anger), more recent work suggests that it may be important for processing other types of emotions, and even nonemotional information. A review of the main findings in this field is presented here, together with some of the hypotheses that have been put forward to interpret this literature and explain its inconsistencies. (shrink)

Estabelecer uma cone çáo entre um pressuposto etico - viver a vida e um enunciado ontologico: uma vida em sua imanencia. Articular os conceitos filosoficos ao seu plano de imanencia. lnstaurar uma relaç áo inequivoca entre imanencia e vida filosofica em Gilles Deleuze. ' Palavras-chave: Imanencia/ vidal ontologia/ Deleuze.

This essay discusses three axioms of sociopoietic theory from the point of view of philosophy of social science. The first axiom, its de-ontologised character, it is associated to theory formalism and it allows to question the validity of a factual theory that do not presuppose the reality. Th..

From Jean-Luc Marion’s examination of Gustave Courbet and his painting, it is shown how grief can operate as a model for the hermeneutics of love. This hermeneutics of grief, in turn, makes possible a consideration of all phenomena, and not only the human, as saturated phenomena.

Die Untersuchungen betreffen die Rezeption von kantischem Denken in der Hispanidad. Es handelt sich um Akten eines Kongresses, der 1983 an der Universitat zu Koln stattfand. Die verschiedenen Reaktionen (positive wie auch kritische) auf das kantische Denken von Autoren wie M. Nieto Serrano, J.M. Rey y Heredia, K.C.F. Krause, J. Sanz del Rio, J. Zubiri und R. Torretti werden thematisiert.".

This paper presents the topological arrangements in four geometrical figures of modal propositions and their derivative relations by means of Peirce's gamma graphs and their rules of transformation. The idea of arraying the gamma graphs in a geometric and symmetrical order comes from Peirce himself who in a manuscript drew two cubes in which he presented the derivative relations of some gamma graphs. Therefore, Peirce's insights of a topological order of gamma graphs are extended here backwards from the cube to (...) the line and the square; and then forwards from the cube to the four-dimensional polyhedron. (shrink)

This paper first uncovers the subtle spiritual narcissism that has characterized historical approaches to religious diversity and discusses the shortcomings of the main forms of religious pluralism that have been proposed as its antidote: ecumenical, soteriological, postmodern, and metaphysical. It then argues that a participatory pluralism paves the way for an appreciation of religious diversity that eschews the dogmatism and competitiveness involved in privileging any particular tradition over the rest without falling into cultural-linguistic or naturalistic reductionisms. Discussion includes the question (...) of the validity of spiritual truths and the development of a participatory critical theory of religion. The essay concludes with an exploration of different scenarios for the future of religion– global religion, mutual transformation, interspiritual wisdom, and spirituality without religion–and proposes that such a future may be shaped by spiritually individuated persons engaged in processes of cosmological hybridization in the context of a common spiritual family. A participatory approach to spirituality turns the problem of religious plurality into a celebration of the critical spirit of pluralism. (shrink)

The formula "being of beginning " is employed by Hegel to name the immediate non- determined being from which the beginning of science must take place. Beginning come together in it. Being and doing of beginning are one. To Hegel, this means that being is the only and factic response to the question about beginning. The being of beginning neither is nor represents itself by means of any principle, it is pure "determinetness". To Hegel, the task of depuration and action (...) of beginning constitutes the moment of consummation of philosophy. "Being", as a concept in itself, is set as pure sign void of signification. But in this lack of signification lies the "demand of signs". "Being of beginning" expresses being as pure sign. Lack and significance, considered up to now as negation and position of the being of beginning, are both consummated simultaneously and at the same time. Consummation of scepticism also carries nominalism with it. All words and representations may be emptied of significance and set to work in view of pure signification. But pure being may be considered, in the context of the Doctrine of Being, as the irreductible result of the proof of semiotic resistance carried out in the beginning. Scepticism consummates itself in beginning. "Being" is the only sign that signifies, even empty of significations; it is the only signifier in itself.La fórmula "ser del comienzo" es utilizada por Hegel para denominar al ser inmediato indeterminado a partir del cual debe ser hecho el comienzo de la ciencia. En ella convergen comienzo y ser. El ser y el hacer del comienzo son uno. Esto significa para Hegel que el ser es la única y fáctica respuesta a la pregunta por el comienzo. El ser del comienzo no es ni se representa mediante ningún principio, él es pura determinidad . La tarea de depuración y acción del comienzo constituye para Hegel el momento de consumación de la filosofía. "Ser" en tanto concepto en sí es puesto como signo puro vaciado de significación. Pero en esta carencia de significación radica la "demanda de signos". "Ser del comienzo" expresa al ser en tanto signo puro. Carencia y significación, considerados hasta aquí como negación y posición del ser del comienzo, se consuman ambos simultánea y conjuntamente. La consumación del escepticismo conlleva también del nominalismo. Todas las palabras o representaciones pueden ser vaciadas de significado y puestas en función de la pura significación. Pero el ser puro puede ser considerado, en el contexto de la Doctrina del ser, como el resultado irreductible de la prueba de resistencia semiótica efectuada por el comienzo. El escepticismo se consuma en el comienzo. "Ser" es el único signo que significa aún vacío de significados, es el único signo significante en sí. (shrink)

The questions inherent to the relationship between time and freedom reach their maturity in the works of Hegel and Schelling. In this article, we will attend particularly to the latter since the way opened by his "Investigations on the essence of human freedom" derives quite clearly into the successive attempts of exposition of a system of time in the "Ages of the World" and in the Lessons of München . Following Schelling's development, then, we will try to understand why in (...) the post-Kantian idealism the search for a philosophy of the spirit as a system of freedom leads to treat "time" not only as an a priori intuition of sensibility but as an inherent determination of the absolute, and in that sense, why in Schelling's thought system of freedom and system of time are equivalent to the exposition of the absolute.Las cuestiones inherentes a la relación entre tiempo y libertad alcanzan su madurez en las obras de Hegel y Schelling. En el presente artículo atenderemos de manera particular a este último, ya que el camino abierto por sus Investigaciones sobre la esencia de la libertad humana deriva con cierta claridad en los sucesivos intentos de exposición de un sistema del tiempo en las Edades del mundo y en las Lecciones de München . Siguiendo el desarrollo de Schelling, pues, intentaremos comprender por qué en el idealismo postkantiano la búsqueda de una filosofía del espíritu como sistema de la libertad conduce a tratar el "tiempo" ya no sólo como una intuición a priori de la sensibilidad sino como una determinación inherente al absoluto, y, en tal sentido, por qué en el pensamiento de Schelling sistema de la libertad y sistema del tiempo equivalen a la exposición del absoluto. (shrink)