Linguistic phenomena of tense and aspect have been investigated in a great deal of theoretical work in linguistics, philosophy and computer science. Modern tense logics, established by Prior, are part of this effort. Point tense logics offer an intuitive representation of tense but lack the expressiveness to represent many aspectual structures. Interval tense logics offer more expressiveness but in the general case can be computationally intractable. From a linguistic perspective there is the problem of precisely how to formalise the aspectual (...) structures, such as a culmination and a culminated process. In this paper we define a computationally tractable augmented fragment of Halpern and Shoham's interval tense logic HS and apply it to represent a core set of aspectual structures, which are incorporated into a temporal semantics of a simple fragment of English. We model the logic fragment using timelines and define two procedures, one for constructing the minimal timelines that satisfy a formula and one for checking semantic entailments between one formula and another by comparing their timelines. The former is applied to compute models of temporal readings and the latter to check entailments between them. Possible extensions to the logic fragment and timeline models are discussed as ways of accounting for a wider range of linguistic behaviour. (shrink)

The Challenge from Cognitive Diversity (CCD) states that demography-specific intuitions are unsuited to play evidential roles in philosophy. The CCD attracted much attention in recent years, in great part due to the launch of an international research effort to test for demographic variation in philosophical intuitions. In the wake of these international studies the CCD may prove revolutionary. For, if these studies uncover demographic differences in intuitions, then in line with the CCD there would be a good reason to challenge (...) philosophical views that rely on those intuitions for evidential support. I argue that philosophical views that rely on demography-specific intuitions for evidential support need not be threatened by such findings. I first provide a detailed analysis of the epistemological principles driving the CCD and distinguish three formulations of this challenge. I then show that there are good reasons to reject all such formulations of the CCD. (shrink)

Cognitive theories claim, whereas non-cognitive theories deny, that cognitive access is constitutive of phenomenology. Evidence in favor of non-cognitive theories has recently been collected by Block and is based on the high capacity of participants in partial-report experiments compared to the capacity of the working memory. In reply, defenders of cognitive theories have searched for alternative interpretations of such results that make visual awareness compatible with the capacity of the working memory; and so the conclusions of such experiments remain controversial. (...) Instead of entering the debate between alternative interpretations of partial-report experiments, this paper offers an alternative line of research that could settle the discussion between cognitive and non-cognitive theories of consciousness. Here I relate the neural correlates of cognitive access to empirical research into the neurophysiology of dreams; cognitive access seems to depend on the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, that area is strongly deactivated during sleep; a period when we entertain conscious experiences: dreams. This approach also avoids the classic objection that consciousness should be inextricably tied to reportability or it would fall outside the realm of science. (shrink)

It is often claimed that a minimal form of self-awareness is constitutive of our conscious experience. Some have considered that such a claim is plausible for our ordinary experiences but false when considered unrestrictedly on the basis of the empirical evidence from altered states. In this paper I want to reject such a reasoning. This requires, first, a proper understanding of a minimal form of self-awareness – one that makes it plausible that minimal self-awareness is part of our ordinary experiences. (...) I will argue that it should be understood as Perspectival First-Person Awareness : a non-conceptual identification-free self-attribution that defines the first-person perspective for our conscious experience. I will offer a detailed characterization of PFP-Awareness in semantic and epistemological terms. With this tool in hand, I will review the empirical literature on altered states. I will focus on psychedelics, meditation and dreams, as they have been claimed to present the clearest cases in favor of a radical disruption of self-awareness. I will show that the rejection of the idea that minimal self-awareness is constitutive of our experience on the basis of this evidence is unfounded, for two main reasons. First, although there are good grounds to think that some forms of self-awareness that typically accompany our ordinary experiences are compromised, they do not support the claim that PFP-Awareness is absent. Secondly, the reports that could make us think of a radical disruption of self-awareness are most probably due to a confirmation bias – and hence we should mistrust them – derived from the expectations and metaphysical views of their subjects. (shrink)

In their recent article, Brownet alanalyse several ethical aspects around immunity passports and put forward some recommendations for implementing them. Although they offer a comprehensive perspective, they overlook two essential aspects. First, while the authors consider the possibility that immunological passports may appear to discriminate against those who do not possess them, the opposite viewpoint of immune people is underdeveloped. We argue that if a person has been tested positive for and recovered from COVID-19, becoming immune to it, she cannot (...) be considered a hazard to public health and, therefore, the curtailment of her fundamental rights (eg, the right to freedom of movement) is not legitimate. Second, they omit that vaccine distribution will create similar problems related to immunity-based licenses. Vaccine certificates will de facto generate a sort of immunity passport. In the next phases of the pandemic, different immunity statuses will be at stake, because the need to identify who can spread COVID-19 is unavoidable. If a person does not pose a threat to public health because she cannot spread the infection, then her right to freedom of movement should be respected, regardless of how she acquired that immunity. (shrink)

In this article we aim to support the thesis that Nietzsche, from his first work The Birth of Tragedy, to his last texts, such as Twilight of the Idols, in What I owe to the ancients, proposes a radical transvaluation of the meaning of suffering human. He adopts a completely different perspective from Western metaphysical and religious conceptions, which considered suffering as an objection to life, arising from faults, failures, “sins”, which must be expiated through countless constraints, until inexorable death. (...) The nietzschean transvaluation, with its unique tragic perspective, inaugurated in The Birth of Tragedy and sustained throughout his entire work, far from considering suffering as an objection or imperfection of existence, values it and even exalts it as another modality of becoming. vital, consubstantial and inherent in every affirmation, every pleasure, every possibility of joy. (shrink)

This essay suggests that atheists endorse a range of naturalistic beliefs, such as belief in progress and in science. Social-psychological evidence for this belief replacement hypothesis, where naturalistic beliefs take the place of supernatural ones, is reviewed. Atheists seem to implicitly use their naturalistic beliefs to alleviate feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and stress, a psychological function which, until recently, had only been reported for religious beliefs. The second part of the essay focuses on motivational implications of being an atheist. Here, (...) it is argued that atheists are particularly driven by a desire for self-mastery and, secondarily, by a sensation seeking need to engage in intense and pleasurable activities. A number of sociological, social-psychological, narrative, and sexual-behavioural studies are reviewed to support this idea. The essay concludes by highlighting the human need to believe and the importance of studying the process, rather than the content, of beliefs. (shrink)

Resumen: El presente ensayo contiene dos partes. En la primera se hace una breve descripción de las carencias de la reflexión moral a las que parece venir al encuentro el concepto de reconocimiento. Charles Taylor y Axel Honneth, protagonistas en estos debates, dan buenas razones para dirigir la dis..

La teoría de los contratos sociales es un enfoque cognitivo que apareció décadas atrás y que defiende que la mente humana se encuentra dotada con sistemas neurocognitivos evolutivos. Estos sistemas regulan diferentes situaciones sociales, por ejemplo, los intercambios y las negociaciones, y nos permiten detectar infractores de reglas o individuos que no cumplen acuerdos. En este trabajo, revisamos críticamente las tesis de este enfoque a partir de los argumentos lingüísticos de Moldovan sobre la perfección del condicional. Nuestra conclusión apunta a (...) que, si trasladamos los planteamientos de Moldovan a un plano más psicológico, podemos explicar los resultados de los experimentos que apoyan la teoría de los contratos sociales a partir del procesamiento de la información realizado por los participantes, sin necesidad de suponer sistema neurocognitivo evolutivo alguno.Social contracts theory is a cognitive approach that emerged decades ago and holds that human mind has evolved neurocognitive systems. These systems regulate different social situations, for example, exchanges and contracts, and allow detecting offenders and individuals that do not fulfill agreements. In this paper, I check critically the theses of this approach by means of the Moldovan’s linguistic arguments about conditional perfection. In this way, I conclude that, if we apply the Moldovan’s approach in a more psychological level, we can explain the outcomes of the experiments that support social contracts theory by means of the information processing made by the participants and we do not need to suppose that there are evolved neurocognitive systems. (shrink)

This article develops a constructive criticism of methodological conventionalism. Methodological conventionalism asserts that standards of inductive risk ought to be justified in virtue of their ability to facilitate coordination in a research community. On that view, industry bias occurs when conventional methodological standards are violated to foster industry preferences. The underlying account of scientific conventionality, however, is problematically incomplete. Conventions may be justified in virtue of their coordinative functions, but often qualify for posterior empirical criticism as research advances. Accordingly, industry (...) bias does not only threaten existing conventions but may impede their empirically warranted improvement if they align with industry preferences. My empiricist account of standards of inductive risk avoids such a problem by asserting that conventional justification can be pragmatically warranted but has, in principle, only a provisional status. Methodological conventions, therefore, should not only be defended from preference-based infringements on their coordinative function but ought to be subjected to empirical criticism. (shrink)

Relativamente al margen de los debates filosóficos de la ética contemporánea, ha ido imponiéndose paulatinamente en el lenguaje y el corpus jurídico internacionales una visión intuitiva y genérica del concepto de «humanitarismo» con pretensiones de normatividad. El artículo procura descifrar las presuposiciones teóricas de este nuevo ideal moral intuitivo analizando la noción de «humanidad» que hace allí las veces de instancia de apelación moral y discutiendo el problema concerniente a la tipificación de ciertos actos como «crímenes contra la humanidad». Proyecta (...) finalmente el análisis hacia la posibilidad de incluir entre estos actos lesivos a la humanidad la existencia de la pobreza extrema en el mundo. (shrink)

Ultimamente bastante atençáo vem sendo dispensada ao estudo do ceticismo moderado na modernidade. O famoso historiador da filosofia Richard Popkin, em sua História do Ceticismo de Erasmo a Espinosa , cunhou a denominaçáo de ceticismo epistemológico para qualificar os membros desta corrente e nela inseriu os filósofos setecentistas Gassendi e Mersenne, considerando-os seus principais representantes. Além disso, no século XVIII temos o denominado ceticismo mitigado de Hume, que chamou a atençáo dos filósofos modernos para definir os limites do ceticismo. Este (...) artigo procura contribuir para o estudo do ceticismo moderado na modernidade, mostrando náo só que Hume, Mersenne e Gassendi podem fazer parte do assim chamado ceticismo epistemológico ou mitigado, mas também que há certos elementos comuns em suas filosofias destinados a mitigar os argumentos dos céticos de seu tempo. (shrink)

Este trabalho é uma breve análise do livro eletrônico ― tomado como meio de comunicação relevante para a educação e a cultura no futuro próximo ― centrada nos potenciais e desafios que ele apresenta em relação a acesso e autonomia. A análise visa apontar tendências gerais relativas às características das plataformas de leitura (dispositivos leitores e softwares), particularmente para leitores. Essas tendências são extrapoladas a partir de um pequeno número de exemplos ou casos já existentes. O trabalho avalia as restrições (...) à autonomia impostas pelo caráter proprietário das plataformas de leitura atuais, bem como seus efeitos sobre a mercantilização do livro, e esboça alternativas possíveis, ligadas a padrões abertos de arquivos, software livre e hardware livre. Conclui relacionando esse novo meio à chamada “era do acesso” (RIFKIN) ― evidenciada pela transição da propriedade à licença de uso dos livros ―, e avaliando as principais consequências possíveis (positivas e negativas) dessa transformação. (shrink)

The consensus today is that both Newton and Leibniz created calculus independently. Yet, this was not so clear at the beginning of the eighteenth century. A bitter controversy took place at that time, which came to be known as the ‘calculus war’, probably the greatest clash in the history of science. While it is accepted that the debate started when Fatio de Duillier publicly accused Leibniz of plagiarism in 1699, earlier evidence of its origins can be found in an exchange (...) of letters between Leibniz and Huygens. (shrink)

Identifies immanence as the original impetus and the driving force behind Deleuze's philosophy In 5 chapters dealing with the status of thought itself, ontology, logic, ethics and aesthetics, de Beistegui reveals how immanence is realised in each of these classical domains of philosophy. Ultimately, he argues, immanence is an infinite task, and transcendence the opposition with which philosophy will always need to reckon.

The Ethics of Liberation by Enrique Dussel pleads for three criteria that every political revolution must fulfill if it wishes to use violence in a legitimate way: the formal criterion (that basically takes after the ideal dialogue situation endorsed by Apel and Habermas); the material criteri..

En el Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico de Córdoba se conserva un copioso tesorillo de monedas almohades de plata compuesto por varios millares de piezas, hallado en Priego de Córdoba en 1959. Algunas de ellas permiten la lectura de dos nuevas cecas: las de Qart.ay^anna y Ba-guh, que pueden identificarse con las localidades españolas actuales de Cartagena y Priego. La multiplicidad de cecas almohades recibe aquí una explicación hipotética: se trataría de acuñaciones conmemorativas de acontecimientos políticos o religiosos.

En su última obra, Political Liberulism, John Rawls modifica el estatuto epistemológico de su teoría de la justicia, de forma tal que ésta ha de considerarse ahora como una teoría política y ya no como una teoría moral O metafísica. El giro se lleva a cabo con la finalidad de asegurar la «estahilidad » de la teoria, es decir, su capacidad de generar un overiapping consensos con todas las doctrinas morales actualmente en conflicto. El tema de nuestro trabajo es el (...) análisis del rol central que ahora desempeña en la teoría este overlapping consensos. De él habla Rawls como una meta por alcanzar, cuando la teoría entra en contacto con las doctrinas rivales; se puede decir, en tal sentido, que andamos tras el consenso. Pero este consenso perseguido reposa, en realidad -ésta es nuestra tesis-, sobre un acuerdo o consenso previo, cuya validez debe ser asumida por la teoría en el nuevo marco epistemológico; el consenso nos precede, nos hallamos tras él. El análisis de esta ambivalencia del overlapping consensos permite mostrar las debilidades epistcmólogicas del giro anunciado por Rawls. (shrink)

Since its inception, liberalism has thought of itself as being at sear with « war ». It has understood « war » as the greatest threat to a civil society whose essential end is the autonomy of individuals. Liberalism identifies two main sources of «war»: the first is orthodoxy, the second is democracy. Yet in modernity it is not unusual to find repeated alliances between these two, indicating perhaps that the « war » against which liberalism fights is not as (...) such anti-political, but rather expresses an understanding of politics as war. The formula « politics is war » is central to the thought of two important critics of liberalism who are not usually treated together: Michel Foucault and Carl Schmitt. In this essay I shall use them to bring out two aporias, concerning the presuppositions of-the rule of law and of individualism, that the liberal understanding of politics constantly encounters, and that require a rethinking of both democracy and orthodoxy. (shrink)

La presente nota crítica del libro de Juan Comesaña Being Rational and Being Right se divide en tres secciones. La sección I describe las caracteristicas fundamentales del “Experiencialismo”, que es la teoría de la racionalidad básica desarrollada y defendida a lo largo del libro; la sección II indica brevemente el contenido de los capítulos; y la sección III articula y discute una cuestión problemática acerca de cómo el Experiencialismo interactúa con el debate liberalismo/conservadurismo en la teoría de la justificación.

Em analogia com outras discriminações, como o racismo ou o sexismo, o especismo é concebido como uma forma de discriminação moral com base na espécie. Em grande medida, a discussão contemporânea sobre a importância moral dos animais surgiu e desenvolveu-se em torno da crítica e da defesa do especismo. Este artigo oferece uma visão da discussão filosófica contemporânea sobre o especismo. Após uma breve introdução, apresenta-se uma definição de especismo e caracterizam-se vários tipos de especismo, sendo o Antropocentrismo o mais (...) relevante. Depois, expõe-se um argumento proeminente contra o Antropocentrismo: o argumento dos casos marginais. Por fim, algumas posições antropocêntricas são criticamente discutidas. (shrink)

Este artículo examina la concepción del espacio infinito y del tiempo en Hasdai Crescas, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola y Giordano Bruno. Si la presencia de Crescas es explícita en el _Examen vanitatis_ (1520) de Pico, su recepción por Bruno, que nunca lo menciona, fue postulada por Harry A. Wolfson en 1929. Más recientemente, David Harari y Mauro Zonta han afirmado el papel intermediario de un autor judío desconocido. Sin embargo, una comparación de la crítica de Aristóteles efectuada por Crescas y (...) Bruno pone de manifiesto que, excepto dos puntos, Bruno pudo alcanzar sus posiciones con independencia de Crescas, a partir de su propia lectura crítica de Aristóteles y de su conocimiento de los desarrollos de la escolástica medieval y del concepto neoplatónico del tiempo. La significativa calificación por Crescas del espacio y del tiempo como atributos de Dios en un sentido puramente metafórico, una cuestión que Pico deja a un lado, deja paso en Bruno a la calificación del espacio infinito, de la duración y también de la materia como atributos reales de Dios, que es a la vez mente e intelecto, espacio y materia, en tanto que unidad indiferente de los opuestos. (shrink)

Últimamente se han desarrollado nuevos y estimulantes enfoques teóricos sobre los movimientos sociales. Este artículo se basa en las teorías que investigan el papel de los movimientos sociales como creadores de marcos de interpretación, de nuevos «marcos de injusticia» desde los que reinterpretar la realidad y subvertir los códigos culturales dominantes. Estas teorías se aplican a la reconstrucción del actual proceso de deslegitimación de la violencia contra las mujeres. Es posible objetivar tres momentos clave en la redefinición de un hecho (...) tan arraigado y casi universal como la violencia contra las mujeres. Partimos de la interpretación patriarcal de la violencia contra las mujeres para después reconstruir los tres pasos seguidos en la construcción de un nuevo marco interpretativo, el de la denominada violencia de género. (shrink)

A partir de 1695-96 la monadología de Leibniz adquiere un fuerte carácter energético y biológico que lleva al filósofo hasta extremos nunca alcanzados por otros autores. En esta metafísica biológica, la doctrina de los archei de J. B. Van Helmont y sus sucesores, F. M. Van Helmont y Lady Conway, juega un papel mucho más profundo de lo que el filósofo nunca quiso admitir: donde materia y espíritu se encuentran.

Este trabajo reflexiona sobre la producción en las industrias creativas, tomando el caso argentino de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. En primer lugar, da cuenta del contexto general donde se inscriben estos procesos. Luego presenta una elaboración en relación con el lugar de la creatividad en este enfoque y los debates en torno a las industrias culturales y creativas, brindando algunos datos que dan cuenta de la relevancia de este sector productivo, al igual que de las políticas públicas desarrolladas en (...) la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Por último, se ocupa de presentar algunos casos para comprender las transformaciones que en los últimos años pudieron registrarse en la producción cultural y simbólica, en relación con la creatividad y la emergencia de nuevos productores. (shrink)