Marx conceives of capitalism as a production mode based on the exploitation of labour-power, whose productive consumption in the labour process is considered as the main source of value creation. Capitalists seek to obscure and secure workers’ contribution to the production process, whereas workers strive to have their contribution fully recognized. The struggle between capitalists and workers over labour-time is thus central to capital’s valorization process. Hence, capital–labour antagonism is structured over the capture and exploitation of unpaid labour-time. Building on (...) Marx’s labour value theory, as well as on some of its contemporary interpretations, I call this struggle over labour-time capture a process of ‘invisibilization’ of labour. I claim that this invisibilization process is still a relevant form of surplus-value extraction in contemporary capitalism, especially in the platform economy, characterized by remote but pervasive control by algorithms. The rediscovery of this form of surplus-value extraction and its manifestation in platform labour is the main contribution of this study. To corroborate this contribution, I compare the case of platform labour with that of textile-clothing, where value production is more clearly based on the classical forms of surplus-value extraction (i.e., absolute and relative). This comparison helps to cast a new light on the nexus between work-process transformations and surplus-value creation, which is the core of the Marxian labour theory of value, and which – I argue – is crucial to understanding contemporary capitalist developments. (shrink)

The use of statistical methods to model gravitational systems is crucial to physics practice, but the extent to which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics genuinely apply to these systems is a contentious issue. This paper provides new conceptual foundations for gravitational thermodynamics by reconsidering the nature of key concepts like equilibrium and advancing a novel way of understanding thermodynamics. The challenges arise from the peculiar characteristics of the gravitational potential, leading to non-extensive energy and entropy, negative heat capacity, and a lack (...) of standard equilibrium. Hence it has been claimed that only non-equilibrium statistical mechanics is warranted in this domain, whereas thermodynamics is inapplicable. We argue instead that equilibrium statistical mechanics applies to self-gravitating systems at the relevant scale, as they display equilibrium in the form of metastable quasi-equilibrium states. We then develop a minimal framework for thermodynamics that can be applied to these systems and beyond. Thermodynamics applies in the sense that we can devise macroscopic descriptions and explanations of the behaviour of these systems in terms of coarse-grained quantities like energy and temperature within equilibrium statistical mechanics. (shrink)

The use of statistical methods to model gravitational systems is crucial to physics practice, but the extent to which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics genuinely apply to these systems is a contentious issue. This paper provides new conceptual foundations for gravitational thermodynamics by reconsidering the nature of key concepts like equilibrium and advancing a novel way of understanding thermodynamics. The challenges arise from the peculiar characteristics of the gravitational potential, leading to non-extensive energy and entropy, negative heat capacity, and a lack (...) of standard equilibrium. Hence it has been claimed that only non-equilibrium statistical mechanics is warranted in this domain, whereas thermodynamics is inapplicable. We argue instead that equilibrium statistical mechanics applies to self-gravitating systems at the relevant scale, as they display equilibrium in the form of metastable quasi-equilibrium states. We then develop a minimal framework for thermodynamics that can be applied to these systems and beyond. Thermodynamics applies in the sense that we can devise macroscopic descriptions and explanations of the behaviour of these systems in terms of coarse-grained quantities like energy and temperature within equilibrium statistical mechanics. (shrink)

What I call theoretical abduction (sentential and model-based)certainly illustrates much of what is important in abductive reasoning, especially the objective of selecting and creating a set of hypotheses that are able to dispense good (preferred) explanations of data, but fails to account for many cases of explanation occurring in science or in everyday reasoning when the exploitation of the environment is crucial. The concept of manipulative abduction is devoted to capture the role of action in many interesting situations: action provides (...) otherwise unavailable information that enables the agent to solve problems by starting and performing a suitable abductive process of generation or selection of hypotheses. Many external things, usually inert from the epistemological point of view, can be transformed into what I call epistemic mediators, which are illustrated in the last part of the paper, together with an analysis of the related notions of ``perceptual and inceptual rehearsal'' and of ``external representation''. (shrink)

RésuméL'article examine la thèse leibnizienne de la tendance à l'existence de toutes les essences et de la réalisation de la série des êtres possibles qui, ensemble, ont le plus d'entité. Bien qu'elle offre une réponse à la question de savoir pourquoi il y a un monde – et pourquoi il s'agit du monde réel et non d'un autre –, la thèse se heurte à de nombreux obstacles. On tend actuellement àécarter les lectures nécessitaristes. L'article s'inscrit en faux contre cette tendance; (...) il vise à montrer les difficultés qui entourent l'interprétation de la nécessité fondée en théorie de la preuve, non seulement en général mais aussi en particulier par rapport à Leibniz. Une issue aux difficultés pourrait consister à développer la notion leibnizienne des degrés de réalité, en concevant aussi des degrés d'existence. Cela permettrait d'éviter la rupture entre l'ordre des possibles et celui des existants. Alors que Leibniz reconnaît des variations dans le degré d'entité des possibles, il est mené par son attachement à la logique aristotélicienne à faire du passage de la possibilitéà l'existence un bond métaphysique, l'actualitéétant ainsi rque comme une question de tout ou rien. Une approche gradualiste permettrait de concilier une partie des motivations métaphysiques de Leibniz avec un réalisme modal apparentéà celui de David Lewis, mais dûment nuancé. (shrink)

La filosofía analítica ha contribuido a esclarecer la cuestión de los dilemas morales, sobre todo gracias a la utilización de la lógica deóntica. Vienen aquí examinados los debates recientes en el seno de dicha corriente filosófica sobre los conflictos de obligaciones.. Se pone de manifiesto cuán difícil es admitir conflictos- morales sin pagar el precio de aceptar contradicciones verdaderas. Pero, a la inversa de lo habitual en quienes sostienen esa tesis, el artículo, en vez de pronunciarse en contra de que (...) haya conflictos morales, trata de mostrar que sí los hay y, a tenor de ello, aboga por el reconocimiento de contradicciones verdaderas en la vida moral. Tales contradicciones pueden entenderse en el marco de una metafísica a la vez gradualista y aspectualista. (shrink)

Castañeda’s most significant insights iie in his awareness of serious ontologicaI problems, which beset usual treatments. Among this outstandlng proposals are these about the structure of relational facts, guise theory and the bundle view of individuals, the I, and practitions. Castañeda’s metaphysics Is one of the most remarkable achievements in anaytical philosophy.

Raúl Orayen's Lógica, significado y ontología Foot note is a profound book, a thorough inquiry into several important issues in the philosophy of logic. Raúl Orayen is one of the outstanding analytical philosophers in the Spanish speaking world. As in his other publications, he displays a masterly reasoning power. No patched up solutions in this book. Orayen is not going to let what he takes to be unsatisfactory treatments off the hook with vague considerations of their being able to cope (...) «somehow or other» with such difficulties as beset them. (shrink)

Throughout my investigation into abductive cognition, which is also associated with the endeavor to naturalize logic of its special consequence relation, I stressed the relevance of the following key elements: ‘optimization of eco-cognitive situatedness’, ‘maximization of changeability’ of both input and output of the general form of an inferential abductive problem and high ‘information-sensitiveness’. These elements will be summarized and further deepened in this article. In addition, I will demonstrate how, in contrast to traditional demonstrative logical ideal systems, which are (...) typified by what I refer to as the ‘maximization of memorylessness’, a naturalized logic of abduction demonstrates the necessity of recording the ‘past life’ of abductive inferential praxes. Lastly, I will analyze the significance and nature of the maximization of eco-cognitive openness, which characterizes abduction in science and describes how the many above-mentioned elements are relevant to the aims of new eco-cognitive epistemology. (shrink)

In this article, we want to demonstrate how thoughts experiments (TEs) incorporate cognitive structures—abductive inferences as conceptual metaphors—that reliably underpin everyday thinking and are enhanced and rendered more effective in scientific and philosophical contexts. Indeed one might successfully rethink the inferential structure at the heart of thought experiment production as the application of a generative abductive procedure. We shall characterize TES as possessing two characteristics that are essential to the definitions of abductive and metaphorical thinking, but when considered in relation (...) to TE’s description, can excuse mild bewilderment: both knowledge-enhancing and ignorance-preserving features. In sum, we will say that TEs realize extended conceptual metaphors, which instantiate forms of abductive reasoning and, therefore, partially preserve the ignorance of the authors who produce them (even if they also increase a bit their knowledge by—so to speak—mitigating ignorance). In certain fortunate and exceptional instances, however, TEs can also provide a purely knowledge-enhancing benefit; in order to do this, a reference to the innovative and creative function of thought experiments in Galileo’s findings is also included. (shrink)

Eco-cognitive computationalism is a cognitive science perspective that views computing in context, focusing on embodied, situated, and distributed cognition. It emphasizes the role of Turing in the development of the Logical Universal Machine and the concept of machines as “domesticated ignorant entities”. This perspective explains how machines can be dynamically active in distributed physical entities, allowing data to be encoded and decoded for appropriate results. In this perspective, we can clearly see that the concept of computation evolves over time due (...) to historical and contextual factors, and it allows for the emergence of new types of computations that exploit new substrates. Taking advantage of this eco-cognitive framework I will also illustrate the concepts of “locked and unlocked strategies in deep learning systems, indicating different inference routines for creative results. Locked abductive strategies are characterized by poor hypothetical creative cognition due to the lack of what I call eco-cognitive openness, while unlocked human cognition involves higher kinds of creative abductive reasoning. This special kind of “openness” is physically rooted in the fundamental character of the human brain as an open system constantly coupled with the environment (that is an “open” or dissipative system): its activity is the uninterrupted attempt to achieve the equilibrium with the environment in which it is embedded, and this interplay can never be switched off without producing severe damage to the brain. Brain cannot be conceived as deprived of its physical quintessence which is its openness. In the brain, contrary to the computational case, ordering is not derived from the outside thanks to what I have called in a recent book “computational domestication of ignorant entities”, but it is the direct product of an “internal” open dynamical process of the system. (shrink)

Firstly, this contribution proposes to address synthographies – images generated through Text-to-image technologies – by deepening the epistemological shift related to the possibility of transposing the image-creation process from the analogue arts to the notational ones (or, by drawing on Nelson Goodman's terminology, from the “autographic” to the “allographic” forms of art). Secondly, the paper highlights how synthographies can be considered partly autographic and partly allographic, since the linguistic prompts constitute only the notational aspect of the generated images. Furthermore, this (...) contribution argues that the recent critiques around such images, which referenced aspects related to the absence of authorial presence and mechanicality, characterised the history of photography since its beginning. Finally, the contribution explores how the possibility to create synthographies that are almost indistinguishable from photographies easily might further separate the interaction between the detective and the depictive functions to the advantage of the latter, erasing what remains of the visual reliability and documental value of images. (shrink)

Firstly, this contribution proposes to address synthographies – images generated through Text-to-image technologies – by deepening the epistemological shift related to the possibility of transposing the image-creation process from the analogue arts to the notational ones (or, by drawing on Nelson Goodman's terminology, from the “autographic” to the “allographic” forms of art). Secondly, the paper highlights how synthographies can be considered partly autographic and partly allographic, since the linguistic prompts constitute only the notational aspect of the generated images. Furthermore, this (...) contribution argues that the recent critiques around such images, which referenced aspects related to the absence of authorial presence and mechanicality, characterised the history of photography since its beginning. Finally, the contribution explores how the possibility to create synthographies that are almost indistinguishable from photographies easily might further separate the interaction between the detective and the depictive functions to the advantage of the latter, erasing what remains of the visual reliability and documental value of images. (shrink)

El presente articulo pretende poner de manifiesto el interés que tienen los libros penitenciales en la Alta Edad Media para informar sobre las costumbres y la vida cotidiana, tanto en lo que se ajusta como en lo que no se ajusta a las normas de conducta.

Este trabajo presenta la información que Juan de Salisbury nos ofrece en su Metalogicon sobre el problema de los universales en el siglo XII. Se detiene de modo especial en la solución de Aristóteles, por el que muestra gran simpatía.

El objetivo del siguiente texto es presentar la distinción entre sufrimiento y dolor; y ofrecer unas nociones básicas sobre cómo los pensamientos y emociones pueden influir directamente sobre respuestas fisiológicas, de qué forma los factores psicológicos afectan también a su modo de afrontarlo; e ilustrarlo con ejemplos. Así se pretende ayudar a entender, por ejemplo, cómo los sentimientos de indefensión pueden incrementar la percepción de dolor, o cómo las relaciones con otras personas pueden muy bien reforzarlo.

La teoría clásica de las ideas innatas conoció en las últimas décadas un resurgir de la mano de filosofía chomskyana del lenguaje y la mente al amparo de una coartada genética. Sin embargo, la clarificación del alcance del papel de los genes en el desarrollo y de la complejidad y pluralidad de los sistemas en que aquellos se integran ha ensombrecido, si no apagado definitivamente, la infuencia del planteamiento. En este trabajo se argumenta, además, que históricamente se produjo un efecto (...) semejante con el innatismo cartesiano, al ser interpretado como un modelo disposicional de lo innato y acomodado al modelo epigeneticista del desarrollo orgánico. El precio de la supervivencia de alguna forma de innatismo parece ser el de permanecer aislado de cualquier lectura naturalista o científica y reafirmarse como una postura metafísica, epítome de la cual sería el modelo monadológico de Leibniz. (shrink)

Recensión de A. Rubio Castro (ed.), Los desafíos de la Familia Matrimonial (Estudio Multidisciplinar en Derecho de Familia), Instituto Andaluz de la Mujer, Sevilla, 2000.