Background: The prevalence of anxiety and depression in young students is associated with biosocial factors and scholastic stress. However, few studies have evaluated emotional-affective symptoms that are related to the immune system and antioxidant parameters in young individuals without diagnoses of affective disorders.Aim: This study aims to assess the relationship between emotional-affective symptoms and glutathione concentrations and CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte counts in college students.Methods: College students completed standardized psychometric instruments, including the Perceived Stress Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression (...) Inventory, Familiar Social and Friends Support Scale, and Rosenberg Scale. Blood samples were biochemically analyzed. Analyses of variance were conducted between four groups according to symptom severity.Results: A considerable prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms was observed and negatively correlated with self-esteem and socio-familiar support. Perceived stress was sexually dimorphic. Although biochemical parameters were within reference ranges, glutathione, CD4, and CD8 tended to be lower in participants with anxiety and depression symptoms, which may be of predictive value.Conclusion: The relationship between antioxidant/immune parameters and socio-affective scores is latent in undiagnosed college students who might develop affective disorders. The findings suggest that during the initial development of affective disorders, stress management strategies should be implemented to help college students cope with the academic load and monitor negative changes in their physiological state. (shrink)

La investigación realizada consistió en un estudio llevado a cabo en la población de las Regiones de Bío Bío y Valparaíso, con intención de conocer la actitud que tienen frente a la donación de órganos. En Chile la tasa de donaciones en muy baja, y nos gustaría conocer la motivación que lleva ante la negativa a donar los órganos, o tratar de conocer cuáles son las circunstancias que llevan a que Chile se encuentre con esta baja tasa de donantes de (...) órganos. Los resultados obtenidos, mostraron que ambas regiones tienen una actitud positiva ante la donación de órganos, pero ésta baja cuando se pide donar sus propios órganos, y baja aún más, cuando se les pide donar los órganos de sus familiares. En este estudio analizamos variables sociopersonales, variables de interacción social, creencias religiosas, etc. Consideramos que este estudio es de gran relevancia para la sociedad, puesto que es una forma de conocer la opinión de la población, y pueda realizarse una implementación donde sea posible, con la finalidad de incrementar la tasa de donantes y con ello, aumentar la tasa de trasplantes realizados, de tal forma que estaríamos regalando vida a más personas. (shrink)

In the business ethics literature, the growing interest in social entrepreneurship has remained limited to the assumption that pursuing a social mission will clash against the pursuit of associated economic achievements. This ignores recent developments in the social entrepreneurship literature which show that social missions and economic achievement can also have a mutually constitutive relation. We address this gap adopting the notion of shared value for an ethical inquiry of social entrepreneurship. Using a sensemaking framework, we assume that the emergence (...) of SV propositions can be captured through the analysis of how social entrepreneurs make sense of events of change, selecting the journey of three exemplar cases for an inductive empirical inquiry. From our findings, we propose three themes for further examination. First, the ethical groundings of entrepreneurial SV are mostly shaped by idiosyncratic imperatives that inform both social mission and economic gain from the onset. Second, the ethical groundings of entrepreneurial SV will be likely operationalised as a filtering device, which allows for resilience as well as potentially detrimental blind spots. And third, the ethical groundings of entrepreneurial SV are expressed through ongoing transparency. Whilst there are agendas, these are not necessarily hidden but instead are likely put on show for the scrutiny of markets and communities. We hope that this evidence can add more light to our still modest understanding of the ethical groundings of social entrepreneurship. (shrink)

This textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Evolutionary Game Theory covers recent developments in the field, with an emphasis on economic contexts and applications. It begins with the basic ideas as they originated within the field of theoretical biology and then proceeds to the formulation of a theoretical framework that is suitable for the study of social and economic phenomena from an evolutionary perspective. Core topics include the Evolutionary Stable Strategy and Replicator Dynamics, deterministic dynamic models, and stochastic (...) perturbations. A set of short appendices presents some of the technical material referred to in the main text. Evolutionary theory is widely viewed as one of the most promising appraoches to understanding bounded rationality, learning, and change in complex social environments. New avenues of research are suggested by Vega-Redondo, and plentiful exmples illustrate the theory's potential applications. The recent boom experienced by this dscipline makes the book's systematic presentation of its essential contributions vital reading for newcomer to the field. (shrink)

Este trabajo esboza una forma de justificar el principio estructurador central de una teoría veritista de la evaluación epistémica, en respuesta a críticas planteadas por Eleonora Cresto a mi defensa del veritismo frente a una serie de objeciones en el sentido de que no es capaz de explicar la naturaleza y el valor del entendimiento. La primera sección presenta el esbozo de justificación del núcleo de una teoría veritista; la segunda responde a críticas más específicas de Cresto. This paper sketches (...) a way to justify the central tenet of a veritistic theory of epistemic evaluation, in response to problems raised by Eleonora Cresto concerning my defense of veritism, against a series of objetions to the effect that veritistic epistemology is uncapable of explaining the nature and value of understanding. The first section presents the sketch of justification of the nucleus of a veritistic theory, the second responds to some of Cresto's more specific criticisms. (shrink)

Workplace bullying has a well-established body of research internationally, but the United States has lagged behind the rest of the world in the identification and investigation of this phenomenon. This paper presents a managerial perspective on bullying in organizations. The lack of attention to the concept of workplace dignity in American organizational structures has supported and even encouraged both casual and more severe forms of harassment that our workplace laws do not currently cover. The demoralization victims suffer can create toxic (...) working environments and impair organizational productivity. Some methods of protecting your organization from this blight of bullying are proposed. Bullying has always been part of the human condition; history is rife with references to abuse of power and unnecessary or excessive force. The classic bully story is of Joseph and his brothers, a tale of envy and hostility. The refinement of bullying to include various forms of legally defined social harassment is a relatively late phenomenon, however, dating to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the United States, bullying is not illegal, whereas it is illegal in many other countries. Bullying is not about benign teasing, nor does it include the off-color jokes, racial slurs, or unwelcome advances that are the hallmarks of legally defined harassment. Workplace bullying is the pattern of destructive and generally deliberate demeaning of co-workers or subordinates that reminds us of the activities of the schoolyard bully. Unlike the schoolyard bully, however, the workplace bully is an adult, usually (but not always) aware of the impact of his or her behavior on others. Bullying in the workplace, often tacitly accepted by the organizational leadership, can create an environment of psychological threat that diminishes corporate productivity and inhibits individual and group commitment. The two examples that follow will help to clarify the difference between harassment and bullying. (shrink)

Abductive problems and their solutions are presented by means of justification logic. We introduce additional meta-constructions in order to generate and compare different solutions to the same abductive problem. Our approach has three advantages: (i) it makes structurally explicit the solution to an abductive problem (as it has a syntactic nature); (ii) it gives a precise meaning to the notion of evidence; (iii) it provides clear definitions and procedures for the comparison of solutions that can be adapted to different needs.

This paper addresses alleged contradictions between the use and theory of metaphora in Aristotle. Some authors claim that these inconsistencies are resolved by showing that the use of metaphorai is allowed in the technai and forbidden in the epistemai. This paper instead unpacks Aristotle’s view on language, as it is contained in the semantics of metaphora, to make sense of Aristotle’s statements on metaphora. My proposal is that Aristotle refers to metaphora under different nomenclatures (metaphora, metapherein, and metaphorikon einai) as (...) they relate to the level of linguistic expression, to the perception of similarities, or to the ability to produce metaphors. This threefold distinction helps us understand that the use of metaphora by Aristotle is guided by his idea of the lexis as a means to show the dianoia, and express reality in energeia. This use does not contradict his methodological principles. Lastly, this interpretation also enlightens Aristotle’s understanding of the relations between language, thought, and reality. (shrink)

In 1908 the German mathematician Ernst Zermelo gave an axiomatization of the concept of set. His axioms remain at the core of what became to be known as Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. There were two axioms that received diverse criticisms at the time: the axiom of choice and the axiom of separation. This paper centers around one question this latter axiom raised. The main purpose is to show how this question might be solved with the aid of another, more recent mathematical (...) theory of sets which, like Zermelo’s, has numerous philosophical underpinnings. Keywords: properties of sets, foundations of mathematics, axiom of separation, subobject classifier, truth values. (shrink)

La Unión de Consumidores de España (UCE) es una asociación sin ánimo de lucro fundada en el año 1984 gracias a la integración en una misma institución de las diferentes asociaciones de consumidores de ámbito regional y local. UCE, al igual que otras asociaciones de consumidores, nace en plena transición al amparo de lo establecido en los artículos 22 y 23 de la Constitución Española.

Ramon Llull y el secreto de la vida descubre el enigmático mundo de este filósofo, místico y visionario (Mallorca, 1232-1316) que escribió unos 300 libros en catalán, latín y árabe recorriendo las principales capitales europeas, el Mediterráneo oriental y el norte de África con el claro propósito de comunicar y predicar un modelo místico de contemplación. El descubrimiento del «ars combinatoria», un nuevo lenguaje que tenía sus paralelismos en las técnicas de cabalistas y sufíes, encontraría numerosos admiradores en Europa, desde (...) los filósofos del Renacimiento –que lo entendieron como un arte de la memoria– hasta los más recientes estudios, que lo ven como un precedente del lenguaje de la informática. Este libro quiere ofrecer una interpretación del pensamiento filosófico y religioso de Llull. La primera parte se vincula a la necesidad de comprensión de su propia experiencia extraordinaria. La segunda desarrolla la teoría de la contemplación mística. En la tercera se estudian los diversos usos del lenguaje empleados por Llull. Y la cuarta incluye una selección de sus textos más representativos. (shrink)

RESUMEN: Este artículo argumenta a favor de la necesidad de mantener una distinción nítida entre ciencia y técnica en contra de ciertas tendencias interpretativas y socio-institucionales dominantes en algunos círculos de filósofos y sociólogos. Se presentan dos argumentos: el primero insiste en la conveniencia analitíca de describir direrencìadamente las actividades científicas y tecnológicas a partir de las nociones de "acto epistémico" y "acto material"; el segundo descubre en las reglas constitutivas de la aceptabilidad de resultados científicos y técnicos respectivamente un (...) modo de distinguir socio-institucionalmente ambas esferas de producción de conocimiento.ABSTRACT: This paper argues for the need to maintain a clear distinction between science and technology against some well-known interpretative tendencies within some dominant circles of philosophers and sociologists. Two arguments are presented: the first one insists on the analytical convenience to describe differently the scientific and the technological activities by introducing the notions of "epistemic act" and "material act"; the second one discovers in the constitutiverules for the acceptability of scientific and technological results a way to distinguish socioinstitutionally both spheres of knowledge production. (shrink)

RESUMEN: Este artículo revisa contribuciones recientes a la filosofía de la tecnología tomando como punto de partida una reflexión sobre la naturaleza de los artefactos, su conocimiento y las condiciones normativas vinculadas a su producción y uso. Se discute, en primer lugar, en torno al realismo/anti-realismo respecto a las clases artificiales según la teoría funcional y la teoría histórico-intencional de los artefactos. En segundo lugar, se abordan cuestiones relativas a las peculiaridades del conocimiento funcional y el privilegio epistémico del conocimiento (...) que los hacedores tienen de sus productos. Por último, se retoma el tradicional debate sobre los artefactos como portadores de valor y sobre la dimensión normativa de la técnica.ABSTRACT: In this paper, I review recent contributions to the philosophical reflection on technology. I take as starting point discussions on the ontological nature of artifacts and then discuss questions regarding how we get to know about them and the normative dimensions involved in the making and use of artifacts. Firstly, I introduce the debate between realists and antirealists about the nature of artificial kinds and how the issue is respectively addressed by functional and intentional-historical conceptions. Secondly, I raise some questions about the specificity of functional knowledge as a kind of know-how and discuss about the epistemic privilege of the makers-knowledge. The last section takes up again the traditional debate on artifacts as value bearers and the normative dimensions of technology. (shrink)

Recent developments in pattern analysis research have made this methodology suitable for the study of the processes that are set in motion in psychological interventions. Outcome research, based on the comparison between clinical results from treatment and control groups, has leveraged our empirical knowledge about the efficacy of psychological interventions. However, these methods of research are not precise enough for the analysis of these processes. On the contrary, pattern analysis could be a powerful tool to study moment-to-moment interactions typical of (...) psychological interventions. This is methodology is relevant because clinical psychology is experiencing a paradigm shift from a protocol for syndrome perspective to a principle-based and person-centered intervention. This evidence-based, theory-grounded, and process-oriented paradigm of clinical intervention needs new research methods to thrive. The analysis of the therapeutic relationship built into the verbal interaction between the clinician and the client is one of the cornerstones of this new era of research. So, the purpose of this article is three-fold: to discuss the role of the verbal interaction pattern analysis in the clinical context to the development of the principle-based clinical psychology, to analyze the patterns of verbal interaction in a clinical case, and to compare the results using two different methods. To reach these purposes, using the observational methodology, we have coded the verbal interaction of 16 clinical sessions with a person diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder. We have analyzed the data using sequential analysis and pattern recognition algorithms. We have been able to detect typical patterns during different phases of psychological intervention. Finally, the conceptual, methodological, and empirical implications of this study will be discussed within the realms of pattern analysis research and principle-based clinical psychology. (shrink)

Resumen En el siguiente artículo se pretende hacer una lectura teológica del poder siguiendo a Karl Rahner en su concepción del mismo como don, tarea y posibilidad. El poder es don divino para el ser humano el cual participa del poder de Dios, sin embargo, cuando lo ejerce puede corromperse y pierde la finalidad para lo que es entregado. De este modo, el mal ejercicio del poder tiene repercusiones tanto para la persona como para la sociedad, graves consecuencias, por eso (...) es necesario asumir la responsabilidad de cada acción. En este sentido, el ejercicio del poder es una tarea esencial para la vida en sociedad y, a la vez, es una posibilidad de construcción del Reino con alcances escatológicos. Abtracts The following article intends to make a theological reading of power following Karl Rahner in his conception of it as a gift, task and possibility. Power is a divine gift for the human being who participates in the power of God, however when exercised it can be corrupted and loses the purpose for what is delivered. In this way, the bad exercise of power has repercussions for both the person and society, serious consequences, that is why it is necessary to take responsibility for each action. In this sense, the exercise of power is an essential task for life in society and at the same time, it is a possibility of building the Kingdom with eschatological scope. (shrink)

Este breve trabajo trata de presentar a personas poco expertas en temas filosóficos esa realidad cotidiana y misteriosa que es el valor. Se pone en relación la dimensión axiológica con las etapas biográficas del ser humano, en especial, con la de la juventud -a quien esta comunicación se dirigía-. Y, puesto que hoy es un tema recurrente el de la crisis de los valores, se trata de entender en que estriba esa famosa crisis.

Enfatizando la distinción entre “la política” y “lo político”, Ernesto Laclau corona su examen de los puntos ciegos de la tradición marxista con un elogio del populismo. Su proyecto de recentramiento de “lo político” no postula un comienzo marcado por un gran acontecimiento. Antes bien, Laclau pondera la fundamentación ontológica como el abismo de toda politicidad. Este ensayo evalúa críticamente la conjunción de maniobras deconstruccionistas y democrático-radicales a través de las cuales Laclau inviste el cuerpo del líder populista con un (...) carácter extra-cotidiano. En términos de Laclau, de hecho, la política radical requiere la figura del líder populista que, ontológicamente, señala el camino hacia la emancipación. Sin embargo, se mostrará cómo la suposición de que el cuerpo del líder anima los inicios políticos y los canaliza primordialmente, restringe la anterior “profundización del proyecto materialista” de Laclau y excluye una consideración del papel que “los muchos” juegan en las fundaciones democráticas. (shrink)