Adult stem cell populations must coordinate their own maintenance with the generation of differentiated cell types to sustain organ physiology, in a spatially controlled manner and over long periods. Quantitative analyses of clonal dynamics have revealed that, in epithelia, homeostasis is achieved at the population rather than at the single stem cell level, suggesting that feedback mechanisms coordinate stem cell maintenance and progeny generation. In the central nervous system, however, little is known of the possible community processes underlying neural stem (...) cell maintenance. Recent work, in part based on intravital imaging made possible in the adult zebrafish, conclusively highlights that homeostasis in neural stem cell pools may rely on population asymmetry and long‐term spatiotemporal coordination of neural stem cell states and fates. These results suggest that neural stem cell assemblies in the vertebrate brain behave as self‐organized systems, such that the stem cells themselves generate their own intrinsic niche. (shrink)

This paper offers a framework for consciousness of internal reality. Recent PET experiments are reviewed, showing partial overlap of cortical activation during self-produced actions and actions observed from other people. This overlap suggests that representations for actions may be shared by several individuals, a situation which creates a potential problem for correctly attributing an action to its agent. The neural conditions for correct agency judgments are thus assigned a key role in self/other distinction and self-consciousness. A series of behavioral experiments (...) that demonstrate, in normal subjects, the poor monitoring of action-related signals and the difficulty in recognizing self-produced actions are described. In patients presenting delusions, this difficulty dramatically increases and actions become systematically misattributed. These results point to schizophrenia and related disorders as a paradigmatic alteration of a ''Who?'' system for self-consciousness. (shrink)

El Ethos es el fenómeno de la moralidad en su sentido más amplio. El presente trabajo –de naturaleza programática– esboza la idea de una fenomenología integral del ethos capaz de pensar, evitando toda forma de reduccionismo, sus diversos niveles de sentido. Procedemos en cinco pasos: en primer lugar, sostenemos que las experiencias humanas fundamentales –en particular la experiencia ética– son del orden de la contingencia y que, en consecuencia, sus verdades no se dejan captu-rar por el análisis fenomenológico-transcendental. En segundo (...) término, presentamos la noción de experiencia ética, a la que describimos como la experiencia del contacto traumático de la Ley en su cuádruple carácter: singular, universal, verdadero, y contingente. En tercer lugar, vía la lectura del ensayo de Derrida Violencia y metafísica. Ensayo sobre el pensamiento de Emmanuel Levinas, ponemos en cuestión la tesis de la supuesta preeminencia de la fenomenología –en tanto que idealismo transcendental– respecto del discurso ético. En cuarto término, introducimos la noción de testimonio como la modalidad narrativa, “pre-filosófica”, capaz de expresar de la manera más fiel el sentido de la experiencia ética. Por último, distinguimos cinco niveles fundamentales del ethos y, sobre esta base, señalamos algunas de las tareas específicas de una fenomenología integral del ethos.The Ethos is the phenomenon of morality in its broadest sense. Our programmatic essay sketches the idea of a comprehen-sive phenomenology of the ethos capable of thinking –non-reductively– its different layers of meaning. We proceed in five steps: first, we claim that fundamental human experiences –in particular, ethical experience– are contingent in nature and that, as a consequence, their truths cannot be grasped by a phenomenologico-transcendental analysis. Second, we describe the notion of ethical experience as a traumatic experience of contact with the Law in its quadruple character: singular, universal, true, and contingent. Third, through a reading of Derrida’s Violence and Metaphysics. An Essay on the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas, we question the alleged preeminence of phenomenology –as transcendental idealism– over ethical discourse and praxis. Fourth, we introduce the notion of testimony as the kind of “pre-philosophical” narrative able to convey most faithfully the meaning of ethical experience. Finally, we distinguish five fundamental layers of the ethos and, on the basis of these distinctions, we identify some of the specific tasks of a comprehensive phenomenology of the ethos. (shrink)

Jean-François Kervégan’s The Actual and the Rational is a detailed study of the bulk of Hegel’s social and political philosophy, as we find it in the published text of the Philosophy of Right, the...

It is usual to identify initial conditions of classical dynamical systems with mathematical real numbers. However, almost all real numbers contain an infinite amount of information. I argue that a finite volume of space can’t contain more than a finite amount of information, hence that the mathematical real numbers are not physically relevant. Moreover, a better terminology for the so-called real numbers is “random numbers”, as their series of bits are truly random. I propose an alternative classical mechanics, which is (...) empirically equivalent to classical mechanics, but uses only finite-information numbers. This alternative classical mechanics is non-deterministic, despite the use of deterministic equations, in a way similar to quantum theory. Interestingly, both alternative classical mechanics and quantum theories can be supplemented by additional variables in such a way that the supplemented theory is deterministic. Most physicists straightforwardly supplement classical theory with real numbers to which they attribute physical existence, while most physicists reject Bohmian mechanics as supplemented quantum theory, arguing that Bohmian positions have no physical reality. (shrink)

Most physics theories are deterministic, with the notable exception of quantum mechanics which, however, comes plagued by the so-called measurement problem. This state of affairs might well be due to the inability of standard mathematics to “speak” of indeterminism, its inability to present us a worldview in which new information is created as time passes. In such a case, scientific determinism would only be an illusion due to the timeless mathematical language scientists use. To investigate this possibility it is necessary (...) to develop an alternative mathematical language that is both powerful enough to allow scientists to compute predictions and compatible with indeterminism and the passage of time. We suggest that intuitionistic mathematics provides such a language and we illustrate it in simple terms. (shrink)

[R]eflection is a system of thought no less closed than insanity, with this difference that it understands itself and the madman too, whereas the madman does not understand it.– Merleau-Ponty, Phen...

Copyright ©2005–2010 All rights reserved. Jonathan Bennett [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small ·dots· enclose material that has been added, but can be read as though it were part of the original text. Occasional •bullets, and also indenting of passages that are not quotations, are meant as aids to grasping the structure of a sentence or a thought. Every four-point ellipsis . . . . indicates the omission of a brief passage that seems to present more difficulty than it is worth. (...) Larger omissions are reported, between brackets, in normal-sized type. The numbering of the segments of each dialogue is Malebranche’s. (shrink)

It is commonly assumed that moral deliberation requires that the alternatives available in a choice situation are evaluatively comparable. This comparability assumption is threatened by claims of incomparability, which is often established by means of the small improvement argument (SIA). In this paper I argue that SIA does not establish incomparability in a stricter sense. The reason is that it fails to distinguish incomparability from a kind of evaluative indeterminacy which may arise due to the vagueness of the evaluative comparatives (...) ‘better than,’ ‘worse than,’ and ‘equally as good as.’. (shrink)

In the historical context of a crisis in biological psychiatry, psychedelic drugs paired with psychotherapy are globally re-emerging in research clinics as a potential transdiagnostic therapy for treating mood disorders, addictions, and other forms of psychological distress. The treatments are poised to soon shift from clinical trials to widespread service delivery in places like Australia, North America, and Europe, which has prompted ethical questions by social scientists and bioethicists. Taking a broader view, we argue that the ethics of psychedelic therapy (...) concerns not simply how psychotherapies are different when paired with psychedelic drugs, but how psychedelic therapies shape and are shaped by different values, norms, and metaphysical commitments. Drawing from the published literature and interviews with seven psychedelic therapists working in clinical trials in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia, this article opens the black box of the treatments to consider the values and informal debates currently animating the therapies. Considering questions of patient autonomy, mechanisms of therapeutic action, and which therapies are best suited to pair with psychedelic substances, we examine the ethics of psychedelic therapy as an emergent form of life. To bring this form of life out in fuller relief, we conclude by comparing and contrasting it with ayahuasca use in Amazonian shamanism. (shrink)

Beginning from a critique of neoliberalism, and in particular of its concept of freedom, I develop an alternative notion of freedom as love. In order to escape the current neoliberal hegemony, I argue that we must reconnect with the radical traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I thus take as my starting point the debate between Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm over the nature of freedom that took place in the pages of Dissent in the mid-1950s. Building on their (...) work I construct a theory of freedom as “connective expression.”. (shrink)

(in press, under contract with MIT Press, accepted on June 30th, 2006). Attention, Information and Epistemic Perception. In Terzis, G. & Arp, R. (Eds) Information and the Living Systems: Essays in the Philosophy of Biology. The MIT Press. (14,000 words).

This article focuses on the following three novel and original philosophical approaches to classical liberalism: Den Uyl and Rasmussen’s perfectionist argument from meta-norms, Gaus’s justificatory model, and Kukathas’s conscience-based theory of authority. None of these three approaches are utilitarian or consequentialist in character. Neither do they appeal to the notion of a rational bargain as it is typical within contractarianism. Furthermore, each of these theory rejects the idea that classical liberalism should be grounded on considerations of interpersonal justice such as (...) those that are central to the Lockean tradition. It is argued that these three theories, despite their many attractive features, fail to articulate in a convincing manner some central classical liberal concerns. (shrink)

Robert Nozick famously argued that acknowledging that individuals have certain fundamental natural or prepolitical rights to their lives and property does not preclude the legitimacy of the state, as the individualist anarchist would claim. The reason is that “a state would arise from anarchy. . . even though no one intended this or tried to bring it about, by a process which need not violate anyone’s rights”. Many doubts have been raised about some of the claims that Nozick needs to (...) make to reach this conclusion. Doubts have also been raised about the normative relevance of that conclusion for the moral evaluation of states that did not arise in such a way. But even if all these doubts were unfounded, Nozick’s argument falls short of justifying what, according to the anarchist challenge, is in need of justification. This shortcoming is significant because it reminds us about the true nature of the problem that the state poses for any philosophical outlook grounded on a theory of natural, libertarian rights. (shrink)

Discussions on indeterminism in physics focus on the possibility of an open future, i.e. the possibility of having potential alternative future events, the realisation of one of which is not fully determined by the present state of affairs. Yet, can indeterminism affect also the past, making it open as well? We show that by upholding principles of finiteness of information one can entail such a possibility. We provide a toy model that shows how the past could be fundamentally indeterminate, while (...) also explaining the intuitive (and observed) asymmetry between the past—which can be remembered, at least partially—and the future—which is impossible to fully predict. (shrink)

Les « collectifs en ligne » proposent un modèle original qui cherche à rendre compatible d'une part la production de quasi-unanimités avec l'exigence de ne pas perdre de temps dans la production de consensus, d'autre part l'intérêt pour la discussion argumentée avec la mise en oeuvre de techniques de délibération et de vote. L'article explore le fonctionnement de ces communautés virtuelles, en faisant l'hypothèse qu'elles construisent un modèle souverainiste de délibération.The "online group" . Propose an original model that seeks to (...) make it compatible with a production share of almost unanimities with the requirement not to lose time in the production of consensus, On the other hand the interest in reasoned discussion with the technical implementation of deliberation and vote. The article explores how these virtual communities, assuming they construct a model of deliberation sovereignty. (shrink)

The prolific discussion about consciousness has resulted a multiplicity in the uses for the term. The -curious- little clarity regarding the use of the notion, can lead to confusion to who tries to enter the contemporary discussion of the philosophy of mind. The purpose of this article is to serve as a starting point for those who seek to enter the contemporary discussion of consciousness, presenting: i) the central concept of the consciousness that is used, and ii) give an account (...) of the state of the discussion, that is, the central problem of consciousness. (shrink)

The book that the French reader holds in his hands is one of the century’s most fascinating and liberating. It does nothing less than instigate the psychoanalytic approach as a universal method of...

Lois is so easily deceived by Clark’s glasses and mild‐mannered demeanor because identity isn’t nearly as clear as we’d like to believe. In fact, may be there is a strong sense in which Clark Kent and Superman really are two different people. Memory isn't the right place to look for identity, unless we want to agree that Superman losing his memory would mean that he was, in effect, dead. If we look at personal identity as something we just kind of (...) make up about ourselves and others, basically as just using names to avoid confusion and complexity, then we can start to give Lois some slack for never realizing that Superman and Clark aren't the same person. When we name things, we give them a common‐sense version of identity, and Superman and Clark are given two different identities by society and even themselves. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta la traducción al español de la parte sexta del De multiplicatione specierum de Roger Bacon, originalmente escrito en latín, y que posee como tema transversal la filosofía natural. Esta traducción tiene el carácter de ser comprensiva, esto es, fue escrita de tal forma que pueda ser entendida por el lector. También, para efectos de un mejor ejercicio pedagógico, se propone un comentario filosófico– crítico, es decir, una breve paráfrasis explicativa, que otorgue luces a la comunidad de habla (...) hispana en función de potenciar el acercamiento a este texto traducido. Nos encontramos ad portas de la primera traducción comentada en español de una parte de la obra de Roger Bacon3, quien es real e indudablemente el padre del método científico y el verdadero reformador de la ciencia moderna. (shrink)

Les réseaux sociaux sont l’une des pierres angulaires des dynamiques transnationales, qui articulent dans les études sur la migration espaces d’origine et de destination au travers de liens maintenus à travers la distance et dans la durée. La recherche porte sur les temporalités, analysées sur trente ans, de la constitution de réseaux sociaux au sein d’un groupe composé initialement de 72 Jummas, une minorité opprimée du Bangladesh, arrivés enfants en France en 1987 à la suite d’une opération d’exfiltration depuis des (...) camps de réfugiés situés en Inde, et placés dans des familles d’accueil dispersées sur le territoire national. L’article articule une analyse, à un niveau micro, des trajectoires individuelles, lues à travers l’évolution de quelques réseaux personnels, reconstitués a posteriori sur un quart de siècle, qui témoignent de l’évolution d’ancrages individuels, entre ici et là-bas, et, à un niveau méso, une lecture des processus plus collectifs de mise en réseau qui témoignent de la fabrique d’une communauté transnationale. Grâce à la spatialisation des processus de mise en lien, l’article analyse la façon dont temporalités et spatialités des réseaux posent la question du rôle de la distance et de la connexion dans les dynamiques territoriales. (shrink)

English summary: G.W. Leibniz's philosophy represents a fundamental chapter in the constitution of what we mean by modernity. Leibniz can be considered a source of inspiration for both the moment of the emergence of modernity as well as for the moment of the crisis of Enlightenment. Despite his influence on various authors, Leibniz does not let himself be identified with the core of Enlightenment thinking that was prevalent in the Western world in recent centuries. We are therefore faced with a (...) thinking that in its development depends neither on the enlightened modernity, nor on the principal alternative, hermeneutics. Thus, the span of Leibniz's thought ranges from the time before the Enlightenment through to post-hermeneutics. This volume presents a selection of articles from the "IV Congreso Internacional Leibniz: G. W. Leibniz entre la genesis y la crisis de la Modernidad" which was selected by the "Sociedad Espanola Leibniz" held in Granada. German, English, & French text. German description: Die Philosophie G. W. Leibniz stellt ein grundlegendes Kapitel fuer die Konstituierung dessen dar, was wir unter Modernitat verstehen. Leibniz kann als eine Inspirationsquelle sowohl im Moment der Entstehung der Modernitat als auch im Moment der Krise der Aufklarung verstanden werden. Trotz seines Einflusses auf verschiedene Autoren lasst sich Leibniz nicht mit dem Kern des aufklarerischen Denkens identifizieren, das in der westlichen Welt in den letzten Jahrhunderten vorherrschend war. Wir stehen also vor einem Denken, das in seinem Werdegang weder von der aufgeklarten Modernitat noch von deren hauptsachlicher Alternative, der Hermeneutik, abhangt. Somit spannt sich der Bogen des Denkens Leibniz von der Zeit vor der Aufklarung bis hin zur Post-Hermeneutik. Dieser Sammelband prasentiert eine Auswahl der Beitrage auf dem IV Congreso Internacional Leibniz: G. W. Leibniz entre la genesis y la crisis de la Modernidad, der von der Sociedad espanola Leibniz in Granada abgehalten wurde. Die Studien umfassen vier thematische Bereiche: Leibniz und die Entstehung der Modernitat, die Prinzipien der Philosophie und der Naturwissenschaften, die Sprachphilosophie und die Erkenntnistheorie, Ontologie und Theodizee. (shrink)

Quantum physics, which offers an explanation of the world on the smallest scale, has fundamental implications that pose a serious challenge to ordinary logic. Particularly counterintuitive is the notion of entanglement, which has been explored for the past 30 years and posits an ubiquitous randomness capable of manifesting itself simultaneously in more than one place. This amazing 'non-locality' is more than just an abstract curiosity or paradox: it has entirely down-to-earth applications in cryptography, serving for example to protect financial information; (...) it also has enabled the demonstration of 'quantum teleportation', whose infinite possibilities even science-fiction writers can scarcely imagine. This delightful and concise exposition does not avoid the deep logical difficulties of quantum physics, but gives the reader the insights needed to appreciate them. From 'Bell's Theorem' to experiments in quantum entanglement, the reader will gain a solid understanding of one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary physics. (shrink)

In the past decade, experiments on altruistic punishment have played a central role in the study of the evolution of cooperation. By showing that people are ready to incur a cost to punish cheaters and that punishment help to stabilise cooperation, these experiments have greatly contributed to the rise of group selection theory. However, despite its experimental robustness, it is not clear whether altruistic punishment really exists. Here, I review the anthropological literature and show that hunter-gatherers rarely punish cheaters. Instead, (...) they avoid dealing with them and switch to other partners. I suggest that these data are better explained by individual selection, and in particular by partner choice models, in which individuals are in competition to be recruited by cooperative partners. I discuss two apparent problems for partner choice theories: large-scale cooperation and punishments in economic games. I suggest that rather than favouring group selection theory, these two phenomena provide evidence in favour of individual selection: (1) people produce large-scale cooperation through institutions in which punishment is not altruistic but rewarded on an individual basis; (2) punishment in experimental games can be explained without altruism and is indeed often better explained by individual interests. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se propone una ética de la donación a partir de la idea de donación en la fenomenología de Jean Luc Marion, junto a la noción de la acción no recíproca en Kant y la noción de don y gratuidad en Santo Tomás de Aquino. La intención de Marion es liberar al fenómeno de cualquier condición subjetiva que se le imponga; es decir, intenta darle la prioridad a los fenómenos y comprenderlos como lo que se da. De (...) ahí es que teoriza sobre el don y la donación, cuya particularidad es que están libres del intercambio y la deuda. Similarmente, que Kant afirma que el bien debe hacerse sin esperar algo a cambio, mientras que Santo Tomás afirma que el don es hacer el bien gratuitamente. Por eso se puede proponer una ética de la donación cuyos pilares fundamentales son: gratuidad, desinterés, no reciprocidad, libertad, entrega generosa, compasión y responsabilidad afectiva. (shrink)

El presente artículo busca describir la crítica de F. H. Jacobi a la filosofía trascendental en torno al problema de la afección y la cosa en sí. Esta crítica atribuye al pensamiento de Kant un idealismo incompatible con toda noción de realismo. La interpretación de Jacobi, sin embargo, se apoya sobre un desconocimiento de la naturaleza metodológico-trascendental no solo de la terminología involucrada en el problema de la afección, sino de toda la reflexión kantiana acerca del conocimiento. El modelo exegético (...) de la two aspects view ha proporcionado instrumentos que nos permiten una reconstrucción hermenéutica del problema de la afección y ponen en evidencia el extravío metodológico en la crítica de Jacobi. (shrink)

D'où vient que tous les régimes politiques prétendent rétablir ou défendre la liberté et qu'il n'y en ait pas un qui ne semble la confisquer ou la dévoyer? Pourquoi les diverses représentations que nous en formons spontanément sont-elles en outre si contradicctoires que nous ne puissions jouir d'aucune liberté sans nous sentir privés d'une autre? Certains mathématiciens croient parfois avoir contribué à l'élucidation d'un problème en démontrant qu'il ne peut avoir de solution. A leur exemple, cet essai tente de montrer (...) pourquoi la conception de la liberté tombe en d'insurmontables antinomies dès qu'on l'associe au temps en la définissant comme pouvoir d'accomplir ce qu'on désire ou de faire ce qu'on veut. Seule échapperait aux antinomies de la contingence et de la nécessité, de la différence et de l'identié, de la médiation et de l'immédiation, une liberté affranchie du désir et du temps. Mais il faudrait pour cela nous être délivrés des obsessions de l'ego et du prestige de ses images. Quoiqu'il n'y ait rien dont le monde contemporain parle autant que de la liberté, il est donc à craindre que rien ne lui soit plus étranger. C'est cette diversité que l'auteur traduit par la description de quelques exemples, avant d'en rechercher l'origine. (shrink)

Without joint action, man's cultural, scientific and everyday achievements would be unthinkable. What special cognitive abilities make it possible for this to happen so often and in so many ways? Dancing, waging war, building a castle together in the sandbox - joint action is a central component of everyday life and the success of mankind. This ability is based on special socio-cognitive abilities, the scope and interplay of which characterize the human species. Literature often focuses on the large and complex (...) forms of joint action. This book represents an attempt to present a philosophical reconstruction of joint action through an interdisciplinary investigation of small forms with few actors. This is suitable for explaining the behavior of children and adults, as well as for taking into account empirical results from related disciplines, especially developmental psychology. (shrink)