The last years of the 20th Century have been somewhat contradictory with respect to values like loyalty, trust or truthfulness. On the one hand, (often implicitly, but sometimes very explicitly), self-interest narrowly defined seems to be the dominant force in the business world, both in theory and in practice. On the other hand, alliances, networks and other forms of cooperation have shown that self-interest has to be at least "enlightened".The academic literature has reflected both points of view, but frequently in (...) an ambiguous way, since the concepts of loyalty and trust are somewhat elusive and equivocal. This paper attempts to analyze the concept of loyalty in depth, examining the different conceptions about the word that can be found in the literature. We begin by going to the management classics (specifically, Follett, Barnard and Simon), and we then turn to the anthropological approach of Pérez López (1993), with its built-in ethical analysis, and show how trust and loyalty are crucial to the development of organizations. We end by suggesting in what ways loyalty and trust can be created and fostered in organizations. (shrink)

In this paper, we review the conventional analyses of management control systems, to conclude, first, that the illusion of control can mislead managers into believing that everything can be controlled and monitored, and, second, that no incentive system based only on extrinsic rewards can motivate individuals properly. Then, we investigate the philosophical foundations of the basic assumptions that, implicitly or explicitly, are made about the nature of the acting person. Based on personalist phenomenology, we show how the development of technical (...) and moral values is crucial to the long-run survival of organizations. We end by offering some guidelines as to what control systems should be like in order to be compatible with the nature of human persons. (shrink)

Two-dimensional semantics is a framework that helps us better understand some of the most fundamental issues in philosophy: those having to do with the relationship between the meaning of words, the way the world is, and our knowledge of the meaning of words. This selection of new essays by some of the world's leading authorities in this field sheds fresh light both on foundational issues regarding two-dimensional semantics and on its specific applications. Contributors: Richard Breheny, Alex Byrne, David Chalmers, Martin (...) Davies, Gareth Evans, Manuel Garcia-Carpintero, Josep Maci`, Martine Nida-Rumelin, Christopher Peacocke, James Pryor, Francois Recanati, Scott Soames, Cara Spencer, Robert Stalnaker, Kai-Yee Wong, Stephen Yablo. (shrink)

Entre el 26 y el 29 de julio de 2004 se llevó a cabo en el Forum de Barcelona un diálogo sobre el tema de la globalización, orientado especialmente a interpretar los conflictos que la globalización genera entre la diversidad y la identidad culturales. Estuvo dirigido por Manuel Castells y se presentó bajo el título genérico ¿Globalización, identidad y diversidad¿. En este artículo vamos a considerar, por un lado, los elementos conceptuales que aparecieron en la discusión de estos temas (...) y, por otro, la adecuación de esos conceptos y de la discusión misma en vistas a la comprensión del fenómeno de la globalización y los conflictos culturales que éste genera. (shrink)

In his paper “Obras de ficción, formas de conciencia y literatura”, Josep Corbí raises a few sharp objections to my distinction between fiction and non-fiction, as I formulate it in my recently published Relatar lo ocurrido como invención. In this response, I present first in a compact form such ideas, and then I try to answer to Corbí’s criticisms.

Siete historias lógicas y un cuento breve contiene ocho aproximaciones a la obra lógica y epistemológica de Manuel Sacristán Luzón (1925-1985) cuya Introducción a la lógica y al análisis formal fue, tal como ha señalado Luis Vega Reñón, un libro esencial en los años sesenta del pasado siglo para la consolidación de los estudios de lógica y de filosofía de la lógica en nuestro país. Se incluyen en estas historias, lógicas y político-culturales, las cartas cruzadas entre Sacristán y algunos (...) de los grandes filósofos y lingüistas de nuestro país como Víctor Sánchez de Zavala, Juan David García Bacca, Miguel Sánchez-Mazas y Josep Ferrater Mora. Se incluyen también sendos capítulos sobre la correspondencia con Ludovico Geymonat y Salvador Espriu y una aproximación al papel de la lógica en la tesis de Sacristán sobre la gnoseología de Martin Heidegger, así como la presentación de un texto inédito interrumpido del traductor de Quine sobre la teoría del conocimiento y una aproximación a lo ocurrido en las oposiciones a la cátedra de lógica de la Universidad de Valencia de 1962. (Fuente: Bellaterra). (shrink)

Although metaphysics as a discipline can hardly be separated from Aristotle and his works, the questions it raises were certainly known to authors even before the reception of Aristotle in the thirteenth century. Even without the explicit use of this term the twelfth century manifested a strong interest in metaphysical questions under the guise of «natural philosophy» or «divine science», leading M.-D. Chenu to coin the expression of a twelfth century «éveil métaphysique». In their commentaries on Boethius and under the (...) influence of Neoplatonism, twelfth century authors not only anticipate essential elements of thirteenth century metaphysics, they also make an original contribution to the history of metaphysics by attempting to integrate the theory of first principles, philosophical theology and ontology. This volume presents and examines the contributions of the twelfth century to metaphysics made by selected Jewish, Christian and Muslim authors of the Iberian Peninsula and Francia. -/- Contributors include Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (Frankfurt am Main), Andreas Speer (Würzburg), Charles Burnett (London), Alexander Fidora (Frankfurt am Main), Thomas Ricklin (Neuchâtel), Yossef Schwartz (Jerusalem), Josep Udina (Barcelona), Jack C. Marler (St. Louis/USA), Gillian R. Evans (Cambridge), Andreas Niederberger (Frankfurt am Main) and Françoise Hudry (Paris). (shrink)

Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne: The future of mind.--Marquis de Condorcet: The taming of the future.--Comte de Saint-Simon: The pear is ripe.--Children of Saint-Simon: The triumph of love.--Charles Fourier: The burgeoning of instinct.--Auguste Comte: Embodiment in the great being.

In this article, we put forward a new strategy for teaching the concept of energy. In the first section, we discuss how the concept is currently treated in educational programmes at primary and secondary level (taking the case of France), the learning difficulties that arise as well as the main teaching strategies presented in science education literature. In the second section, we argue that due to the complexity of the concept of energy, rethinking how it is taught should involve teacher (...) training specifically developed for the concept. In our view, Epistemology and the History of Science and Technology (EHST) is the best method for a full understanding of the concept of energy and should thus be included in the teacher training programme. In the third section, we provide a general framework for a teacher training programme on energy, based on the history and epistemology of the concept and structured on the following three questions: ‘What is the origin of the concept of energy?’, ‘What is energy?’ and ‘What purpose does the concept of energy serve?’. (shrink)

Recent debates on linguistic diversity inevitably raise questions about the value of languages. This paper deals with two descriptions of language’s value that play a prominent role in those debates: language considered as a means of communication and a cultural heritage. Its purpose is explanatory, providing an account of how languages are assessed in each of these descriptions. Moreover, the paper will also pay attention to the rhetorical uses of such value descriptions in the discourses on linguistic diversity, considering the (...) intrinsic value given to language as a cultural heritage. (shrink)

Un libro imprescindible para comprender los grandes debates de algunos de los importantes temas de la agenda ética de hoy. A la vez profundo y actual, con la rigurosidad intelectual que lo caracteriza, Vivanco rescata para la visión de izquierda los principios de la autonomía individual, mal apropiados por las ideologías conservadoras. Tal autonomía sería, sin embargo abstracta si no se asegura la igualdad material de los individuos que conforman la sociedad, lo que sólo puede ser garantizado por el Estado (...) en sus aspectos normativos y de política pública. Sin entrar en esta dimensión del debate, Vivanco sienta los fundamentos de una posición libertaria anclada en la constitución social de los seres humanos. (shrink)

This paper argues for the existence of two levels of stakeholder dialogue: a micro and a macro level. The first is the one companies have with their own stakeholder groups, the second is a broader social debate among different agents about the role of business in society. The paper argues why the macro level matters for CSR and why it can be called a dialogue. It also underlines the importance of mutual perceptions in the macro-dialogue. For this purpose we present (...) a research done in Spain about how different stakeholder groups perceive each other in relation to CSR and how they perceive the dialogue process. (shrink)