An investigation into the concept of life in Michel Foucault's work leads both to a more precise understanding of the development of his work and to the elaboration of a critical look at recent interpretations of his thought, especially in relation to the readings of the concept of biopolitics that oscillate between a positive and a negative interpretation of this concept. The analyzes of this term, which have proliferated among recent readings of Foucault's work, seem to lack a more accurate (...) understanding of the problem of life, from which largely results the very acuity of Foucault's reflections on biopower. What above all guides this brief and incipient reflection on Foucault’s notion of life is Muhle's (2021) finding that Foucault does not attribute an ontological status to the notion of life and that this life plays a double role (Gegenstand and Funktionsmodell) regarding its implication in biopower, as well as Mauer's assumption (2015) that Foucault turns to the notion of life in order to deviate from the concept of man, i.e., from humanism. These two hypotheses help us not only to shed light on the elaboration of Foucault's thought as a whole, particularly with regard to biopower, but also on recent readings of the notion of biopolitics. (shrink)

Este artigo se divide em quatro partes. Inicialmente apresentamos a noção de biopolítica de modo introdutório, considerando a relação entre poder soberano e biopoder. Voltamo-nos para a elaboração foucaultiana do termo de modo a esclarecer, em linhas gerais, seu sentido. Essa breve análise da noção de biopolítica encaminha-nos para o conceito de tanatopolítica, que aparece, na segunda parte do texto, como epíteto da derivação funesta da biopolítica. Na terceira parte, a partir de uma perspectiva biopolítica, lançamos luz sobre a crise (...) que enfrentamos. Trata-se de um esforço de evidenciar o sentido biopolítico da crise atual, considerando o conteúdo das reflexões de Foucault. Finalmente, na quarta parte, atualizamos o debate acerca da biopolítica por meio de uma análise da noção de imunidade formulada por Esposito, a qual fornece uma importante chave interpretativa da pandemia atual. (shrink)

While applying general ethical principles and reasoning to the dilemmas presented by the development of nanotechnology is often useful and always legitimate, we also need to find a way to bridge the gap between general principles and the specific issues that arise from the development of individual nanotechnologies. Drawing inspiration from pragmatist thinking, a useful strategy is to focus on the links between the epistemological, political and social representations of a particular case. Using the example of a nanotechnological house, this (...) paper analyzes the problematic connections between scientific knowledge, technical expertise, decision-making and public engagement in nanotechnology representational networks. (shrink)

In this paper we explore in what sense we can claim that affordances, the objects of perception for ecological psychology, are related to normativity. First, we offer an account of normativity and provide some examples of how it is understood in the specialized literature. Affordances, we claim, lack correctness criteria and, hence, the possibility of error is not among their necessary conditions. For this reason we will oppose Chemero’s normative theory of affordances. Finally, we will show that there is a (...) way in which taking advantage of affordances could be considered as possessing a normative character, but only when they are evaluated within the framework of social normative standards in particular situations. This reinforces our claim that affordances, per se, lack normativity and can only be taken to be rule-governed in relation to established normative practices. (shrink)

In this paper we reject the nature–culture dichotomy by means of the idea of affordance or possibility for action, which has important implications for landscape theory. Our hypothesis is that, just as the idea of affordance can serve to overcome the subjective–objective dichotomy, the ideas of landscape and ecological niche, properly defined, would allow us to also transcend the nature–culture dichotomy. First, we introduce an overview of landscape theory, emphasizing processual landscape theory as the most suitable approach for satisfying both (...) cultural and naturalist approaches. After that, we introduce the idea of affordance and we analyze a tension between sociocultural and transcultural affordances (affordances that depend on cultural conventions and affordances that depend on lawful information and bodily aspects of agents). This tension has various implications for landscape theory and ecological niches. Our proposal is that sociocultural and transcultural aspects of affordances could be systematically accommodated if we apply niche construction theory (the theory that explains the process by which organisms modify their selective environments) as a methodological framework for explaining the emergence of ecological niches. This approach will lead us to an integrative account of landscapes as the products of the interaction between human and environmental elements, making it a clear example of a concept that transcends the nature–culture dichotomy. (shrink)

This paper argues that the Extended Synthesis, ecological information, and biosemiotics are complementary approaches whose engagement will help us explain the organism-environment interaction at the cognitive level. The Extended Synthesis, through niche construction theory, can explain the organism-environment interaction at an evolutionary level because niche construction is a process guided by information. We believe that the best account that defines information at this level is the one offered by biosemiotics and, within all kinds of biosemiotic information available, we believe that (...) ecological information is the best candidate for making sense of the organism-environment relation at the cognitive level. This entanglement of biosemiotics, ecological information and the Extended Synthesis is promising for understanding the multidimensional character of the organism-environment reciprocity as well as the relation between evolution, cognition, and meaning. (shrink)

This article analyzes the complex European social itinerary of the last two centuries through one of the most important literary works of this period: the Faust´s tragedy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The intellectual journey of its protagonist coincides with that which took place in Europe in the late 19th century at the mercy of the passage from the modern world to the contemporary one. In this sense, the crisis of values and the disproportionate sense of omnipotence that emerges from (...) the nineteenth-century postrevolutionary model, coincides dramatically with the fictional character of the protagonist of this work, that leads him, as well as the current consumer society, to succumb in a kind of descensus ad inferos or nihilistic psychological fall. However, just as Faust is reborn from his ashes and achieves, through social and community longing, the symbolic salvation of his soul, Europe still has the opportunity to reinterpret itself and embark on a new path that allows it to be someday itself, through the recognition of their differences and the reunion with their roots. (shrink)

Although same-sex couples and their offspring have been legitimised in many European countries, heteronormativity is still embedded in institutions and practices, thereby continuing to affect the daily lives of LGBT individuals. Italy represents a clear example of the hegemonic power of heteronormativity because of the fierce opposition to recognising lesbian and gay parenthood among many parts of society. This paper focuses on the peculiarities of the Italian scenario with the aim of highlighting how heteronormativity works in contemporary neoliberal contexts. By (...) drawing on queer and feminist perspectives, the article also analyses how LGBT equal rights demands can contribute, to some extent, to reinforcing heteronormativity. Implications concerning strategies for challenging the regime of normality and queering kinship are discussed. (shrink)

Richard Moran has argued, convincingly, in favour of the idea that there must be more than one path to access our own mental contents. The existence of those routes, one first-personal—through avowal—the other third-personal—no different to the one used to ascribe mental states to other people and to interpret their actions—is intimately connected to our capacity to respond to norms. Moran’s account allows for conflicts between first personal and third personal authorities over my own beliefs; this enable some instances of (...) Moore-paradoxical cases to be meaningful. In this paper we reflect on the consequences of this view for the acquisition of beliefs, and argue that, as in the moral case, excessive concentration on a thirdpersonal understanding of thought undermines the very idea of being directed to the world and of being capable to fully own our own beliefs. We suggest that maybe too much attention to epistemic virtues or tojustification is misdirected and could produce beliefs that are themself not first-personal enough. (shrink)

Desde la perspectiva de la «sociología del espacio» el estudio explora las conexiones que se dan entre los factores ideológicos (paradigmas de representación del parto), los siste­mas de organización clínica (culturas del parto) y las evoluciones arquitectónicas (tipologías espaciales de los paritorios), y sus re­percusiones en clave de humanización asistencial. Para ello se ha realizado una investigación etnográfica de veinticuatro meses de duración en seis paritorios del servicio estatal de salud de una re­gión del sur de España. La técnica de (...) investigación fue la observa­ción participante, acumulando un total de trescientas veinticuatro horas de análisis. Los resultados muestran cómo las disposiciones arquitectónicas están íntimamente ligadas a los paradigmas y cul­turas obstétricas preexistentes, tendiendo desde las perspectivas tecnocráticas, en clave orgánica, a una fragmentación del espacio asistencial que deshumaniza el proceso, y desde las cosmovisio­nes holístico-humanísticas, en clave de continuum, a una reinte­gración espacio-asistencial que contribuye a la humanización. (shrink)

Existe evidencia de que el ajuste transcultural influye en el desempeño académico en población migrante. A partir de un análisis categorial del discurso, este trabajo evidencia experiencias de ajuste transcultural en cinco migrantes retornados de nivel de licenciatura que emigraron a EE.UU. Los resultados ofrecen guías para diseñar intervenciones psicoeducativas en inclusión social para esta población en contextos universitarios.

Este artículo analiza la presencia simbólica del amor, la belleza y el ‘eterno femenino’ en la tragedia Fausto de Johann Wolfgang von Goethe a través de la hermenéutica comparativa con dos textos fundamentales del Renacimiento, De los heroicos furores de Giordano Bruno y la Hypnerotomachia Poliphili de Colonna. La tesis de partida es que los tres amores de Fausto, Margarita, Helena y la Mater Gloriosa, son en realidad una representación simbólica de los tres aspectos fundamentales del alma que también podemos (...) encontrar en estos dos textos por su conexión con la tradición neoplatónica. (shrink)

A pesar de algunos antecedentes dispersos y excepciones, existe una manifiesta laguna en la literatura sobre el concepto de cultura científica comunitaria. Con esa expresión nos referimos a situaciones en las cuales unos ciudadanos perciben un problema, se agrupan, organizan, comunican y ponen en común sus recursos para buscar, evaluar y producir conocimiento científico con el fin de encarar dicho problema. En este trabajo realizamos una propuesta de caracterización de la cultura científica comunitaria. Posteriormente, procedemos a aplicarla y contrastarla respecto (...) del caso de los colectivos de afectados por la COVID persistente. La metodología empleada se ha basado en el análisis documental. (shrink)

José Luis Moreno argumenta contra lo que considera una variedad de formas de fetichismo político. Lo que tienen en común es depositar una confianza excesiva o monolítica en algún mecanismo democrático en particular. Compartimos su motivación y en esta nota crítica intentamos llevar sus argumentos más lejos preguntándonos si diferentes tipos de conocimiento políticamente relevante pueden distinguirse, si en algunos contextos es necesario dejar las decisiones en manos de expertos y si la propuesta de Moreno cae en un nuevo tipo (...) de fetichismo con respecto al sorteo como mecanismo capaz de eliminar injusticias sociales profundas. (shrink)

La epistemología / Guéry, François -- Práctica epistemológica y ciencias sociales, o, Cómo desarrollar la lucha de clases en el plano teórico sin internarse en la metafísica / Catells, Manuel y De Ipola, Emilio.

ABSTRACT Most theorem provers for Classical Logic transform the input formula into a particular normal form. This tranformation is done before the execution of the algorithm or it is integrated into the deductive algorithm. This situation is no different for Non-Classical Logics and, particularly, for Temporal Logics. However, unlike classical logic, temporal logic does not provide an extension of the notion of non negative normal form. In this work, we define a temporal negative normal form for the future fragment of (...) the linear time propositional temporal logic, named FNext. The definition saves as much information as possible about implicants and implicates of the input formula and its subformulas. This property is the novelty of this normal form; for example, in [Fis97] the normal form is guided by the separation property and in [Ven86] the normal form provided prepares the input formula to be treated by a resolution method. Moreover, we also introduce an algorithm having linear cost, which transforms the input formula into a temporal negative normal form. Furthermore, in this work we present a new structure and a set of operators over it that allows us to efficiently manage the information about unitary implicants and implicates contained in the subformulae. (shrink)

How can the power of wholes be resisted without essentializing their parts? Drawing on different archives and methodologies, including aesthetics, history, biology, affect, race, and queer, the interventions in this volume explore different ways of troubling the consistency and stability of wholes, breaking up their closure and making them more dynamic. Doing so without necessarily presupposing or producing parts, an outside, or a teleological development, they indicate the critical potential of partiality without parts.

A questão da clareza e objetividade dos critérios utilizados na avaliação e interpretação dos testes psicológicos é uma das preocupações dos profissionais da Psicologia que trabalham com a avaliação psicológica. O objetivo deste trabalho consistiu em verificar em que medida os critérios de avaliação..

This paper argues that the normative character of our unreflective situated behaviour is not factual. We highlight a problematic assumption shared by the two most influential trends in contemporary philosophy of cognitive science, reductionism and enactivism. Our intentional, normative explanations are referential, descriptive or factual. Underneath this assumption lies the idea that only facts can make true or false our attributions of cognitive, mental and agential abilities. We will argue against this view by describing the main features and problems of (...) reductionism and enactivism and then we will offer two arguments against this shared factualist assumption: (1) normative vocabulary is ineliminable if we want a complete explanation of our situated practices; and (2) the factualist assumption is a species of the is-ought fallacy. Finally, we will claim that a folk psychological explanation of our normative practices is fully compatible with ontological naturalism when such descriptivist or factualist assumption is rejected. (shrink)

We used a new method called “Ghost-in-the-Machine” (GiM) to investigate social interactions with a robotic bartender taking orders for drinks and serving them. Using the GiM paradigm allowed us to identify how human participants recognize the intentions of customers on the basis of the output of the robotic recognizers. Specifically, we measured which recognizer modalities (e.g., speech, the distance to the bar) were relevant at different stages of the interaction. This provided insights into human social behavior necessary for the development (...) of socially competent robots. When initiating the drink-order interaction, the most important recognizers were those based on computer vision. When drink orders were being placed, however, the most important information source was the speech recognition. Interestingly, the participants used only a subset of the available information, focussing only on a few relevant recognizers while ignoring others. This reduced the risk of acting on erroneous sensor data and enabled them to complete service interactions more swiftly than a robot using all available sensor data. We also investigated socially appropriate response strategies. In their responses,the participants preferred to use the same modality as the customer’s requests, e.g., they tended to respond verbally to verbal requests. Also, they added redundancy to their responses, for instance by using echo questions. We argue that incorporating the social strategies discovered with the GiM paradigm in multimodal grammars of human–robot interactions improves the robustness and the ease-of-use of these interactions, and therefore provides a smoother user experience. (shrink)

Leituras em Educação — volume 8 — constitui importante contribuição às discussões que se formulam sobre o ensino e a prática pedagógica - da leitura, da literatura infantojuvenil, da iniciação científica no Ensino Médio, dos infinitos diálogos com Paulo Freire. Esta coletânea, em seus cinco artigos, explora de modo consistente pressupostos teóricos que explicitam a importância da educação e sua construção em saberes, incluindo a tecnologia, quando refletem sobre a aprendizagem. Todas as leituras examinam, de maneira cuidadosa, a prática pedagógica (...) oferecendo minuciosos roteiros de trabalhos, mostrando com maturidade e espírito crítico algumas respostas obtidas. (shrink)

In this paper, we offer a criticism, inspired by Wittgenstein’s rule-following considerations, of the enactivist account of perception and action. We start by setting up a non-descriptivist naturalism regarding the mind and continue by defining enactivism and exploring its more attractive theoretical features. We then proceed to analyse its proposal to understand normativity non-socially. We argue that such a thesis is ultimately committed to the problematic idea that normative practices can be understood as private and factual. Finally, we offer a (...) characterization of normativity as an essentially social phenomenon and apply our criticisms to other approaches that share commitments with enactivism. (shrink)

Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy cuts to the heart of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and of today's science wars.At the start of the 21st Century, ...

It is common to criticize the idea of objectivity by claiming that we cannot make sense of any cognitive contact with the world that is not constituted by the very materials of our thinking, and to conclude that the idea must be abandoned and that the world is ‘well lost’. We resist this conclusion and argue for a notion of objectivity that places its source within the domain of thoughts by proposing a conception of facts, akin to McDowell’s, as thinkable (...) while independent of any act of thinking. However, we do so without any empiricist commitment. (shrink)