In this paper I explore alternative ways of addressing the infinite regress problem of inference, as it was depicted in Lewis Carroll’s ‘What the Tortoise said to Achilles’. Roughly put, the problem is that if a claim to the effect that one’s premises give support to one’s conclusion must itself be part of one’s premises, then an infinite regress of reasons ensues. I discuss some recent attempts to solve that problem, but I find all of them to be wanting. Those (...) attempts either require the reasoner to believe that her premises give support to her conclusion, or to take her premises to give support to her conclusion, where taking is not a doxastic attitude. I conclude that, on the face of the failure of those attempts to solve the problem, there is a strong prima facie case for allowing inference to be blind. (shrink)

It is possible to find in Machiavelli an expression of the original consent to explain the origin of the political communities. This paper investigates this hypothesis in the approach of the roman political thought. With Lucretius and Cicero, it is clear the terms of the pact, covenant, consensus, and the primitivism of the difference between man and beasts, the fear and the common safety to founder the political community under the leadership of one man. The paper also debates the Aristotelian (...) premises of the political nature of man and explores some examples of the Machiavellian time, that aims to confirms the existence of the language of the Aristotelianism within the original consent. It concludes that Machiavelli does not have a substantial theory to explain the origins of the political community, because politics and its study requires the research of the cities in the historical mean. This contractual language in accordance with that Aristotelian is used as a rhetoric strategy in the beginning of the Discourses. (shrink)

Deontological evidentialism is the claim that S ought to form or maintain S’s beliefs in accordance with S’s evidence. A promising argument for this view turns on the premise that consideration c is a normative reason for S to form or maintain a belief that p only if c is evidence that p is true. In this paper, I discuss the surprising relation between a recently influential argument for this key premise and the principle that ought implies can. I argue (...) that anyone who antecedently accepts or rejects this principle already has a reason to resist either this argument’s premises or its role in support of deontological evidentialism. (shrink)

Since Freud and his co-author Breuer spoke of dissociation in 1895, a scientific paradigm was painstakingly established in the field of unconscious cognition. This is the dissociation paradigm. However, recent critical analysis of the many and various reported dissociations reveals their blurred, or unveridical, character. Moreover, we remain ignorant with respect to the ways cognitive phenomena transition from consciousness to an unconscious mode. This hinders us from filling in the puzzle of the unified mind. We conclude that we have reached (...) a Kuhnian crisis in the field of unconscious cognition, and we predict that new models, incorporating partly the relevant findings of the dissociation paradigm—but also of dynamic psychology—, will soon be established. We further predict that some of these models will be largely based on the pairs representation–process and analog–digital. (shrink)

Adorno's aesthetic is organized in fields of force, under which orbiting constellations of categories which reflect the truth of the managed world in the era of late capitalism. Understand the nuances of this aesthetic is preparing to reinterpret the world, so as to achieve the things forgotten by the concept. In this sense, the aesthetic becomes a way of reconnecting the human sciences with the reality, from the recovery of sensitivity troubled by the dominance of instrumental reason.

2nd edition. Many-valued logics are those logics that have more than the two classical truth values, to wit, true and false; in fact, they can have from three to infinitely many truth values. This property, together with truth-functionality, provides a powerful formalism to reason in settings where classical logic—as well as other non-classical logics—is of no avail. Indeed, originally motivated by philosophical concerns, these logics soon proved relevant for a plethora of applications ranging from switching theory to cognitive modeling, and (...) they are today in more demand than ever, due to the realization that inconsistency and vagueness in knowledge bases and information processes are not only inevitable and acceptable, but also perhaps welcome. The main modern applications of (any) logic are to be found in the digital computer, and we thus require the practical knowledge how to computerize—which also means automate—decisions (i.e. reasoning) in many-valued logics. This, in turn, necessitates a mathematical foundation for these logics. This book provides both these mathematical foundation and practical knowledge in a rigorous, yet accessible, text, while at the same time situating these logics in the context of the satisfiability problem (SAT) and automated deduction. The main text is complemented with a large selection of exercises, a plus for the reader wishing to not only learn about, but also do something with, many-valued logics. (shrink)

W.K. Clifford’s famous 1876 essay The Ethics of Belief contains one of the most memorable lines in the history of philosophy: "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." The challenge to religious belief stemming from this moralized version of evidentialism is still widely discussed today.

El artículo indaga y compara diferentes posturas que se tiene sobre la informalidad comercial en Latinoamérica, en donde se realiza una revisión detallada y analítica de este fenómeno; que se define como el conjunto de actividades comerciales no reguladas, que en estos países desborda la institucionalidad, generando un deterioro de la estructura social, económica, política e inclusive humana. Estas dificultades tienen su origen en una serie de situaciones como la pobreza, el desempleo, el desplazamiento, la migración, el analfabetismo, entre otros; (...) las cuales son importantes conocer y analizar a fin de generar soluciones reales a estas profundas dificultades. (shrink)

Tomando como punto de partida el artículo 27.7 de la Constitución Española, que reconoce expresamente que "los profesores, los padres y, en su caso, los alumnos intervendrán en el control y gestión de todos los Centros sostenidos por la Administración con fondos públicos, en los términos que la ley establezca", nuestro sistema jurídico educativo ha venido estableciendo un marco de actuación de los conocidos Consejos Escolares de los Centros, marco que lejos de haber permanecido inalterado desde la Ley Orgánica reguladora (...) del Derecho a la Educación (19885), he evolucionado llamativamente con el transcurso de los años, a través de las sucesivas Leyes orgánicas: Ley Orgánica de Participación, Evaluación y Gobierno de los Centros (LOPEG, 1995), Ley Orgánica de Calidad de la Educación (LOCE, 2002) y Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOE, 2006. (shrink)

Suprastate policy formation in such bodies as the WTO remains fundamentally exclusive of individuals within states. This article critiques the "don't kill the goose" arguments commonly offered in defense of such exclusions.

The essays in this volume investigate the norms of reason--the standards which contribute to determining whether beliefs, inferences, and actions are rational. Nine philosophers and two psychologists discuss what kinds of things these norms are, how they can be situated within the natural world, and what role they play in the psychological explanation of belief and action. Current work in the theory of rationality is subject to very diverse influences ranging from experimental and theoretical psychology, through philosophy of logic and (...) language, to metaethics and the theory of practical reasoning; this range is well represented here. (shrink)

El cultivo de la filosofía, particularmente el de la metafísica, constituye el fin último del hombre y cuyo acto tiene por objeto la contemplación de Dios ut auctornaturae. Ahora bien, la Revelación cristiana introduce dos factores determinantes que modificaron la condición pura de nuestra naturaleza: la elevación al orden sobrenatural y la intromisión del pecado original. De allí que, por un lado, el fin último del hombre consistirá en la visión sobrenatural de Dios ut auctor gratiae y, por otro, la (...) necesidad de la gracia sanadora y elevadora para llegar a esa visión. No obstante, Santiago Ramírez siguiendo a Santo Tomás de Aquino, explicará que el hombre actual –es decir, caído por el pecado– es impotente incluso para alcanzar su fin connatural sin la ayuda de la gracia. (shrink)

El presente artículo recupera los argumentos de Agamben respecto del infundamento del derecho, la violencia que le es intrínseca y la centralidad de la ficción en los dos primeros volúmenes de Homo sacer, _El poder soberano y la nuda vida_, _Estado de excepción_. A su vez, estudia la potencia diagnóstica de la apropiación que hace Agamben de las tesis de Schmitt, así como la crítica que despliega a sus límites teóricos desde Benjamin.

The present paper intends to place “Lo que queda de Auschwitz” in the Homo Sacer’s proyect started by Giorgio Agamben in 1995. In order to do so, we must point out, in the first place, the need of understanding this proyect as a political ontology, then the relation between this proyect and the philosophy of language of his youth, along with its ethical claims, and, finally, we must identify some of his fundamental moves, as the formation of ontological categories created (...) from historical figures which are able to show the “arcanum imperii” of the political system to which they belong. As a result, the paper shows the metaphysical foundation of the analysis of the subject carried out in “Lo que queda de Auschwitz”, and the way it affects the author’s ideas on ethics, leading to a open way to critics and posible reformulations. (shrink)

In this paper I attempt at drawing a philosophical picture about Cicero's ideas on after death survival. In spite of the fact that this issue has not been paid much attention in contemporary discussion, it deserves consideration because of its great humanistic value.

Este artículo reseña: Oscar PÉREZ DE LA FUENTE, Odio, minorías y libertad de expresión.

El pensamiento español contemporáneo.--España ante la idea sociológica del Estado.--Supervivencias de la Iberia primitiva en la España contemporánea.

This paper defends the view that a correct analysis of knowledge must take empirical data into consideration. The data here provided is from experimental psychology, namely from phenomena involving unconscious cognition.

Este ensayo aborda una interpretación de la violencia, la criminalidad y la corrupción en la sociedad, a partir del estudio de un cúmulo de fuentes de diversa índole, y del análisis crítico de las interpretaciones vigentes. Por ello, se discuten, con cierto detalle, los efectos perniciosos del predominio del platonismo en la interpretación de dichas fuentes, y se propone, de la mano de Nietzsche y del pensamiento evolucionista, un abordaje del problema, que, apoyado en la perspectiva del platonismo invertido planteado (...) por el filósofo, concibe la sociedad como un ecosistema, esto es, un sistema vivo, donde cada individuo debe enfrentar el reto de sobrevivir, arreglándoselas para obtener recursos que aseguren su existencia. Así, hemos identificado diferentes modos de supervivencia y los hemos clasificado en tres categorías: 1) generadores (creadores-productores); 2) saqueadores (parásitos, predadores y oportunistas) y, 3) simbiontes (mutualistas y leoninos). (shrink)

Political and social research on populism has discussed its development in the framework of modern constitutional democracies. Populism thrives as ‘parasitic’ to those democracies by addressing their unfulfilled promises. Citizens’ loss of trust in the system opens the way for varied forms of ‘populist ruptures’, facilitating the construction of the category of ‘the people’, through which leaders and their followings claim to stand for all citizens and embody the common will. This article analyzes how, both discursively and performatively, populism addresses (...) major parameters and antinomies of Liberal democratic citizenship, e.g., by recalibrating representation and mass participation. Analysis indicates that by impacting the contours of collective identity as much as citizen expectations, entitlements and commitments, populism challenges the Liberal conceptions of citizenship that uphold modern constitutional democracies. (shrink)

The analysis of modernity in Latin America has led to recurrent controversy and debate. In spite of its tension-ridden and even contradictory implications, it has been the relatively open-ended character of modernity and its élan of material and cultural progress and the promise of expanding autonomy and equality that has been a major asset for its endorsement in Latin America, a region that some have called the ‚farthest West,‘ a name that hints at the ambiguous and sometimes conflict-ridden relationship of (...) these societies with the poles and agents of Western expansion and hegemony. This article claims that the confrontation with Western modernity is in Latin America a confrontation with roots, discourses and institutions that turned out to be their own. Accordingly, the dynamics of expansion of modernity has been linked from very early on to global and transnational arenas, turning modernity into multiple yet truncated, leading to recurring attempts to reconstitute and attain the unfulfilled promises of modernity in the region. (shrink)

La Fenomenología en Italia: Giovanni Piana.

A observação do tema dos Direitos Humanos entre inúmeros avanços e retrocessos sugere enfrentar o problema de pesquisa que indaga: Qual a relevância de estudos a partir de uma epistemologia de caráter filosófico, sociológico e construtivista para os Direitos Humanos? Assim, tem-se como objetivo lançar um olhar diferente das concepções tradicionais dos Direitos Humanos. Para tanto, o método utilizado, foi o sistêmico construtivista, equacionando reflexões filosóficas-sociológicas e construtivistas do Direito. Como resultado se constatou a relevância de realizar novas observações no (...) Direito e da superação, antes de tudo, dos próprios obstáculos para a realização dos Direitos Humanos na Sociedade Complexa. (shrink)