El artículo expone la justicia como un problema político desde la perspectiva del filósofo John Rawls. En su desarrollo se señalan las implicaciones del constructivismo kantiano en el constructivismo político rawlsiano. Se discute cómo la conexión entre estos dos tipos de constructivismo, proporciona un procedimiento de construcción, en el que agentes racionalmente autónomos, sujetos a condiciones razonables, elaboran acuerdos sobre principios públicos de justicia para lograr un sistema justo de cooperación que trascienda generacionalmente. Se concluye, mostrando las limitaciones y alcances (...) de esta propuesta en el pensamiento filosófico y político contemporáneo. (shrink)

The views on the acceptability of physician-assisted suicide of lay people in a Latin American country, Colombia, have been examined. In July 2019–January 2020, 134 lay people in Bogota judged the acceptability of physician-assisted suicide in 48 realistic scenarios composed of all combinations of four factors: the patient's age, the level of incurability of the illness, the type of suffering, and the patient's request for physician-assisted suicide. In all scenarios, the patients were women receiving the best possible care. The ratings (...) were subjected to cluster analysis and analyses of variance. Three qualitatively different positions were found: Never Acceptable, Depends on the Patient's Request, and Always Acceptable. The only important factor in increasing acceptability among people not systematically opposed was the patient's request to have her life ended. The young age of some patients did not affect participants’ positions. These empirical findings suggest that most Colombian lay people are not categorically for or against physician-assisted suicide, but judge its degree of acceptability as a function of patients’ requests and other circumstances. (shrink)

Con el nombre de política de la justa memoria el pensador francés Paul Ricoeur elabora un ambicioso proyecto filosófico sobre la representación del pasado. Es un proyecto estructurado alrededor de tres elementos: deber de memoria, trabajo de la historia y deber de justicia. Este artículo de reflexión recoge algunas propuestas de Ricoeur alrededor de esta política de la justa memoria, la cual implica recuperar y usar el pasado, pero también pensar críticamente sobre sus abusos en el presente, además de encontrar (...) el sentido de justicia y de promesa en la memoria justa. (shrink)

El artículo reflexiona teóricamente sobre cómo a través del prisma de una experiencia históricamente desgarradora como fue la Gran Guerra (1914–1918) el sociólogo y filósofo Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) y el literato y biógrafo Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recrean algunos de los dispositivos centrales al estudio social y filosófico de la memoria: el olvido, el silencio y el recuerdo. El texto revisa, en esa dirección, algunos de los aportes filosóficos, sociológicos y literarios de dos de los textos principales de estos autores: Los (...) marcos sociales de la memoria y El mundo de ayer. Memorias de un europeo. A lo largo del artículo se muestra que el objetivo de dicha revisión no es inventariar con exactitud lo propuesto por ambos autores alrededor de la memoria. Más bien, buscamos recrear como sus visiones sobre la memoria de la Gran Guerra resultan seductoras en su momento y de mucha actualidad hoy en día no solo por lo que dicen sino también por lo que omiten sobre este gran acontecimiento disruptivo.AbstractThis article of theoretical reflection aims at showing how through the prism of a historically harrowing like the Great War (1914-1918), the sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) and the writer and biographer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recreate some of the central devices to the social and philosophical study of memory: oblivion, silence and remembrance. The paper reviews some of the philosophical, sociological and literary contributions of two major works by these authors: Social Frames of Memory, and the World of Yesterday. Memoirs of a European. Throughout the article I show that the views of these two authors about the memory of the Great War are seductive in their time and very current today not only for what they say but for what they omit about this great disruptive event. (shrink)

Se pretende en este artículo, desde la revisión de los llamados textos éticopolíticos de I. Kant, aventurar a lo largo de tres rutas temáticas la comprensión de los posibles cruces entre política y ética. Para ello, en primer término se aborda el problema de la libertad como condición de posibilidad no sólo de la moral sino de la política. Seguidamente se enfoca la discusión al enfrentamiento de Kant con el realismo político y su defensa de la emancipación político - moral (...) de los hombres. Finalmente la reflexión conduce a la comprensión del cruce entre política y moral bajo la tutela de una óptica política del derecho denominada por Kant Republicanismo. (shrink)

This paper provides a retrospective and prospective overview of TU Delft’s approach to engineering ethics education. For over twenty years, the Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section at TU Delft has been at the forefront of engineering ethics education, offering education to a wide range of engineering and design students. The approach developed at TU Delft is deeply informed by the research of the Section, which is centered around Responsible Research and Innovation, Design for Values, and Risk Ethics. These theoretical (...) approaches are premised on the notion that technologies are inherently value-laden, and as such contain the possibility of fostering or hindering moral values. Each of these approaches encourages students to take a proactive attitude with respect to their projects and profession, thinking creatively about – and taking responsibility for – how to both prevent harm and do good via the technologies they help develop. To explain how this is put into practice, this paper sketches a brief history of ethics teaching at TU Delft, outlines current activities, and presents future plans for Bachelor and Master’s level engineering ethics education at TU Delft. (shrink)

It is often suggested that social media is a hostile environment for critical thinking and that a major source for epistemic problems concerning social media is that it facilitates emotions. We argue that emotions per se are not the source of the epistemic problems concerning social media. We propose that instead of focusing on emotions, we should focus on the affective scaffolding of social media. We will show that some affective scaffolds enable desirable epistemic practices, while others obstruct beneficial epistemic (...) practices, or enable hostile epistemic practices. Particularly, we will show that emotions play a crucial role in the epistemic practice of critical thinking and that the affective scaffolding of social media can support, or hinder, online critical thinking. The upshot of our argument is that affective scaffoldings of social media can harness emotions to support beneficial epistemic practices, like online critical thinking. (shrink)

Defining the purposes of engineering ethics education (EEE) is paramount for the engineering education community, and understanding the purposes of EEE can be a catalyst for actively involving students in the learning process. This chapter presents a conceptual framework for systematically describing and comparing various approaches to the purposes of EEE. Such a framework is inherently embedded with a tension between a normative approach and a pragmatic approach regarding the purposes of EEE. The normative approach focuses on what the purposes (...) of EEE should be, an ‘ideal world’ scenario, given the needs of the engineering profession and of society at large. Conversely, the pragmatic approach starts from the question ‘What can be achieved through educational practice?‘ and results from ‘actual world’ situated outcomes of stakeholder negotiations. The authors’ framework balances these. They – scholars from diverse cultural backgrounds – assert that the purposes of EEE are socially constructed and vary from country to country based on unique historical, political, and cultural contexts. Their framework embraces both the individualistic and holistic aspects of EEE, incorporating perspectives from both Western and non-Western traditions. It identifies six purposes of EEE (knowledge, actions, personal traits, relationships, etc.), aligning these with examples (e.g., moral knowledge, desirable actions, ethical skills or competencies, care ethics, etc.) and theoretical frameworks (moral epistemology, moral psychology, virtue ethics, objects or qualities of relations, etc.). It is problematic and potentially dangerous when engineering educators design ethics-learning activities without critically examining the purposes of these activities and assessing whether these purposes are justified for educating ethically and professionally competent engineers. This chapter provides tools to help avoid such pitfalls. (shrink)

In this paper we introduce the concept of attentional scaffolds and show the resemblance between social media platforms and slot machines, both functioning as hostile attentional scaffolds. The first section establishes the groundwork for the concept of attentional scaffolds and draws parallels to the mechanics of slot machines, to argue that social media platforms aim to capture users’ attention to maximize engagement through a system of intermittent rewards. The second section shifts focus to the interplay between emotions and attention, revealing (...) how online attentional capture through emotionally triggering stimuli leads to distraction. The final section elucidates the collective implications of scaffolding attention through social media platforms. The examination of phenomena such as emotional contagion and the emergence of group emotions underscores the transition from individual experiences to shared collective outcomes. Employing online moral outrage as a case study, we illustrate how negative emotions serve as scaffolds for individuals’ attention, propagate within social groups, and give rise to collective attitudes. (shrink)

Winner of the Fabian Dorsch ESA Essay Prize.For cognitivist accounts of aesthetic appreciation, appreciation requires an agent (1) to perceptually respond to the relevant aesthetic features of an object o on good evidential grounds, (2) to have an autonomous grasp of the reasons that make the claim about the aesthetic features of o true by pointing out the connection between non-aesthetic features and the aesthetic features of o, (3) to be able to provide an explanation of why those features contribute (...) to the overall aesthetic value of o. In this framework, aesthetic emotions have traditionally been confined to the level of aesthetic perception (1) and dismissed from the process of reason-giving (2, 3). I argue that this dismissal is due, firstly, to a questionable perceptual reading of the connection between emotional experience and value, and, secondly, to a narrow focus on the basic emotions. My argument will reveal that the non-standard or ‘intellectual’ emotions, the emotions which are in fact most important to appreciation, can play a significant epistemic role in our appreciative practices. They can do this because they (a) help us to deliberately focus our attention and (b) place the appreciator in a state of second-order awareness of their mental states. I conclude the paper by showing how these two epistemic tools (a, b) can help the appreciator to meet the explanatory/justificatory conditions (2) and (3). (shrink)

This is a collection of twenty-two essays by an eminent philosopher, critic, and theorist that appeared between 1971 and 1992.

Evaluating the Knowledge and Practice of Limitation of Therapeutic Effort in Health Workers at a Health Care Institution for Cancer Patients in Medellín, 2018Avaliação do conhecimento e da prática da limitação de esforço terapêutico em equipe de atendimento de uma instituição prestadora de serviços de saúde para pacientes oncológicos de Medellín, 2018Limitation of therapeutic effort is any action that involves suspending or not initiating medical treatment or therapeutic measures in patients who will not receive any clinical benefit. In Latin America, (...) some research has proven a lack of familiarization and disagreement with the subject and its practices. The present study tried to objectify the knowledge of LTE of healthcare personnel at an institute in Medellín using a self-administered survey that allowed conducting a cross-sectional descriptive study with non-probabilistic sampling. Within the results, 56.5 % of respondents understood the concept of LTE, and 90 % applied it actively. However, there were discrepancies regarding the core concepts of the definition and practice.Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigoVallejo LI, Palacio AM, Marulanda V, Restrepo A, Yepes LA, Valencia NL, Cruz MA. Evaluación del conocimiento y práctica de la limitación del esfuerzo terapéutico en personal asistencial de una institución prestadora de servicios de salud para pacientes oncológicos de Medellín, 2018. 2020;24:177-87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pebi.2020.24.2.5Recibido: 19/07/2019Aceptado: 08/08/2020Publicado: 27/11/2020. (shrink)

As attention to the pervasiveness and severity of environmental challenges grows, technical universities are responding to the need to include environmental topics in engineering curricula and to equip engineering students, without training in ethics, to understand and respond to the complex social and normative demands of these issues. But as compared to other areas of engineering ethics education, environmental ethics has received very little attention. This article aims to address this lack and raises the question: How should we teach environmental (...) ethics to engineering students? We argue that one key aspect such teaching should address is the tendency of engineers towards technical framing of (social) problems. Drawing then on engineering ethics pedagogy we propose that the competencies of moral sensitivity and critical thinking can be developed to help engineering students with problem (re)framing. We conclude with an example from our teaching that operationalizes these competencies. (shrink)

The classification of ageing as a disease is fundamental to developing new pharmacological strategies that can target said phenomenon. The European Medicines Agency does not do this and maintains a questionable perspective based on the traditional naturalistic argument and the value-free ideal. An alternative is proposed which, inspired by consequentialism, is committed to considering ageing as a disease in European regulatory contexts as long as the ethical consequences are desirable. Within a realistic framework, I show that making this decision would (...) have moderate positive effects such as increased knowledge about antiageing pharmacology or potential greater chances of completing vital projects. Furthermore, we will see that the main arguments used by critics to show that the negative effects outweigh the positive ones are not sound. Therefore, I conclude that it would be beneficial for the European Medicines Agency to change its position on ageing. (shrink)

From March to September 2020, researchers working at a biomedical scientific campus in Spain faced two lockdowns and various mobility restrictions that affected their social and professional lifestyles. The working group “Women in Science,” which acts as an independent observatory of scientific gender inequalities on campus launched an online survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on scientific activity, domestic and caregiving tasks, and psychological status. The survey revealed differences in scientific performance by gender: while male researchers participated in (...) a larger number of scientific activities for career development, female researchers performed more invisible scientific tasks, including peer review or outreach activities. Mental impact was greater in researchers caring for children or dependents, and this was aggravated for women. Results spot a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on female scientific career development, and urges for equity measures to mitigate the consequences of an increase in the gender gap in biomedical sciences for current and future pandemics. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to examine preliminary evidence of the validity of the Trauma Reflective Functioning Scale and to investigate reflective functioning and attachment in pregnant women with histories of trauma, with a particular focus on the capacity to mentalize regarding trauma and its implications for adaptation to pregnancy and couple functioning. The Adult Attachment Interview was used to assess attachment, unresolved trauma and mentalization (measured as reflective function; RF) regarding relationships with attachment figures (RF-G) and trauma (RF-T) (...) in 100 pregnant women with histories of abuse and neglect. The majority (63%) of women had insecure attachment states of mind and approximately half were unresolved regarding trauma. Furthermore, the majority of women manifested deficits specific to RF-T. Their RF-T was significantly lower than their RF-G; the findings indicate that women with histories of childhood abuse and neglect do not manifest a generic inhibition of reflectiveness, but a collapse of mentalization specific to trauma. Low RF-T, indicative of difficulty in considering traumatic experiences in mental state terms, was associated with difficulty in investment in the pregnancy and lack of positive feelings about the baby and motherhood. In addition, low RF-T was also associated with difficulties in intimate relationships. Results of a regression analysis with RF indicated that RF-T was the best predictor of investment in pregnancy and couple functioning. In sum, the study provides preliminary evidence that RF-T can be reliably measured and is a valid construct that has potential usefulness for research and clinical practice. It highlights the importance of mentalization specifically about trauma and suggests that it is not the experience of trauma per se, but the absence of mentalization regarding trauma that is associated with difficulties in close relationships and in making the transition to parenthood. (shrink)

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the approach to the health-disease system, raising the question about the principles of bioethics present in physician–patient relations. The principles while widely accepted may not be sufficient for a comprehensive ethical analysis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the perception of these principles and the physician–patient relationship during a hospital stay through a qualitative approach. Method Sixteen semi-structured interviews took place to know the patients’ perception during their 2020 hospitalization for COVID-19. (...) The data was analyzed through the constant comparison method, creating categories and comparing them. In the end, seven categories were established and were grouped in three: bioethical principles (dignity, charity, vulnerability, autonomy), doctor-patient relationship (participant commitment, informed consent, health staff-patient relationship) and the experience of the disease (illness, the role of the family). Results The research found that most patients described a positive experience, with the feeling of having been well cared for with no sense of discrimination or injustice done. The majority also reported that their autonomy was respected in the treatment decisions. The evaluation of these attitudes is an area of opportunity, especially when the patients' vulnerability is at risk. Conclusions The ethics of virtue offers a better reflection of how human beings manifest themselves by emphasizing the development of virtuous character and behaviors that allow them to realize their values in life. Authorized by the Research Ethics Committee with registration: DI/18/105-B/3/308. (shrink)

Globalisation has given rise to a new field of debate due to the growing mobility of the workers and the consequent cultural diversity inside companies. In this sense, a complex world like ours demands a review of the professional profile which should include the so called intercultural competences as a structuring element of companies’ policy and strategic plan. Subsequently it is suggested that, as the intercultural competences affect the cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects, they actually imply a transformation of the (...) person’s identity. (shrink)

Hace ya varias décadas que Latinoamérica salió del colonialismo “centroeuropeo”, como lo llama Dussell; sin embargo, se mantiene una actitud de “colonialidad”, entendida como un proceso amplio de control hegemónico de imposición de conocimientos, prácticas y formas culturales en todos los campos de la vida social, al tiempo que se desprecian y desdeñan los valores autóctonos, los conocimientos ancestrales y populares que Boaventura de Sousa Santos denomina con la metáfora de “Las epistemologías del sur”; es decir, aquellas epistemologías de quienes (...) no han tenido voz ni voto en las decisiones trascendentales de la vida social, económica, política y cultural, como los desposeídos, los marginados de la sociedad, campesinos, indígenas, afrodescendientes, homosexuales, entre otros. Los responsables de esta actitud colonialista, no solamente han sido los gobiernos que, mediante convenios y tratados bilaterales y multilaterales con las potencias hegemónicas, financian proyectos de diversa índole e imponen sus criterios e intereses en los distintos campos de la economía, la política y la educación. Pero también la misma educación ha tenido su responsabilidad en este proceso. El conocimiento impartido en las universidades es hegemónico y colonizador, que llega de Europa y Norte América. Por esta razón, la ciencia y el conocimiento que se producen en estas regiones, debe construirse para su validez, con las epistemologías y las metodologías de estas potencias; mientras que los conocimientos culturales, populares y ancestrales, se consideran obstáculos epistemológicos que no pueden convivir e interactuar con la epistemología de la ciencia clásica. Es por esto que la Universidad también tiene que “decolonizar” sus saberes, para alcanzar un espacio transcultural que incluya todos aquellos conocimientos y cosmovisiones populares y tradicionales para que puedan ser tenidos como pares, en un diálogo de saberes dentro de los procesos de formación y aprendizaje. (shrink)

The article contributes to a deeper understanding of the Colombian armed conflict by considering it from the perspective of the political emotions of disgust and shame. It also considers emergent emotions such as love and fear in the narrative of two former members of FARC, who were part of the group since their childhood and spent most of their lives in the armed conflict. Thus, these political emotions are linked to the dynamics of the conflict and to the experiences of (...) the former members. The interpretative analysis focuses on understanding the beliefs, judgments and assessments associated with liberty, will and human dignity. The literature review included major works regarding violence in Colombia and it revealed that such works did not considered emotional narrative. The conceptual framework is built around Nussbaum’s political emotions and the methodology is that of narrative analysis, which made possible to read the faces of individuals that have been disqualified and stigmatized, an acknowledgement that is necessary for reconciliation. Emotions activate and deactivate war actions: shame activates the search for truth, justice and reparation; disgust activates the fight against social injustice; fear activates distrust during war and peacetime; and love activates the possibility for many to sacrifice their lives and to recover their own dignity through devoting themselves to humanity and to deactivate the action of harm caused to others. (shrink)

The problem of determinism and freedom in the human being has always been a fruitful philosophical debate. In this discussion Spinoza is a reference in this regard, since since the publication of his works he has generated controversy around the problem. This work seeks to clarify the concept of necessity that Spinoza uses in his philosophy, in order to unravel the meaning of determinism that he builds from it. Within the analysis I show that in Spinoza’s philosophy there is no (...) clear distinction between logical necessity and metaphysical necessity. Furthermore, I argue that the concepts of contingency and possibility are de dicto and not de re issues in the author’s philosophy. That is to say, that they are not properties of the things themselves, but ways of speaking about them. Finally, I conclude that Spinoza’s thesis on determinism should be understood mainly as a necessitarianist theory, which can be compatible with a certain sense of freedom in the human being. (shrink)

Reseña de / Review of: New Vico Studies, 11, 1993.

Traducción capítulo siete del libro de Brian O’Connor Adorno, publicado por Routledge en 2013.

Como asociado del Instituto de Investigación Social de Frankfurt durante la década de 1930, Herbert Marcuse produjo una serie de artículos que tendrían un impacto significativo en la agenda futura de la teoría crítica. Hizo contribuciones innovadoras, entre otras cosas, al desarrollo de la relación entre la teoría de la Escuela de Frankfurt y las nociones hegeliana y weberiana de desarrollo social, a la idea de la cultura como una limitación de la posibilidad humana y a la articulación de las (...) marcadas diferencias entre el liberalismo y la teoría emancipatoria. A diferencia de varios de sus pares en este periodo, en particular Max Horkheimer, Erich Fromm y Theodor W. Adorno, Marcuse prestó poca atención a las posibles afinidades entre la teoría crítica y el psicoanálisis. (shrink)

Este artículo plantea la posibilidad de entender la melancolía como un paradigma hermenéutico. En concreto, se enfatiza su idoneidad como tal para interpretar aquellos textos construidos desde la voz de un Yo. Los diversos trabajos que Jean Starobinski ha dedicado a dicho concepto y, sobre todo, su texto capital L’encre de la mélancolie (2012), serán el eje en torno al cual gire esta propuesta –esta tentativa crítica–; desde esta obra, remitiremos a otros autores esenciales, como Aristóteles, Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva (...) o Roger Bartra. Nuestra argumentación se divide en tres etapas: primero indagamos en el juego de contrarios que ha lastrado la historia conceptual de la melancolía, después ahondamos en el desplazamiento, el desdoblamiento y el exceso como núcleos de sentido del paradigma hermenéutico propuesto, y culminamos con una aplicación analítica, que nos conducirá a unas conclusiones en torno a la crítica. (shrink)

As well as Vico was the first and most persistent to understand myth as a contemporary phenomenon that, far of being in conflict with reason, is originally the instrument for escaping the loneliness of man against the mutism of a meaningless nature, Hans Blumenberg has been in our age who has spoken most forcefully for the rationality of mythical thought, doing it with arguments that the author finds very similar to Vico¿s ones. "Absolutism of reality", "absolute metaphor" and "principle of (...) insufficient reason", the three main elements, according to this reading, of Blumenberg¿s work, share with Vico the same metaphorical sensibility. (shrink)

A novidade do Deus cristão apresentado por Jesus Cristo é a Trindade. Sem contradizer o monoteísmo judeu, a reflexão para formulação dogmática se estendeu por quatro séculos. Sucessivamente, a Trindade foi tema esquecido na Igreja por 1.600 anos. Sua importância está sendo redescoberta não somente na liturgia, mas, também, na vida e na reflexão eclesial. A unidade no amor dos Três distintos, Pai, Filho e Espírito Santo, estimula a espiritualidade e a vivência do cristão de hoje. Para tanto, é necessário (...) o auxílio das ciências humanas, que permitem a atualização da linguagem do dogma sem a perda do seu conteúdo fundamental. A reflexão do teólogo napolitano Bruno Forte dá uma grande contribuição para a teologia atual, respeitando a formulação dogmática e, ao mesmo tempo, buscando categorias e linguagens apropriadas para a compreensão do homem contemporâneo. A Trindade de Deus tem algo importante a dizer para o ser humano de hoje a respeito de si mesmo, pois que feito “à imagem e semelhança de Deus” (Gn 2, 26). Palavras-chave : Trindade. Pai. Filho. Espírito Santo. Amor.The Holy Trinity is the novelty of God presented by Jesus Christ. Without contradicting Jewish monotheism, the reflection for a dogmatic formulation lasted for four centuries. Subsequently, the issue of the trinity was forgotten in the Church for 1,600 years. The importance of this issue is currently being rediscovered not only in the liturgy but also in life and ecclesial reflection. The unity in love on the part of the three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, stimulates spirituality and experience of the Christians today. To do so, one needs the assistance of the humanities that allow the update of the dogma of language without losing its essential content. The reflection of the Neapolitan theologian Bruno Forte is of great value to the current theology because it respects the dogmatic formulation and also uses categories and languages appropriate to an understanding of contemporary man. The Trinity of God has something important to say about the man himself because man was created as God’s image. (Gn 2,26). Keywords : Trinity. Father. Son. Holy Spirit. Love. (shrink)