Se revisitan las distintas resoluciones de Schmitt y Agamben ante una misma percepción ontopolítica: la contingencia en la definición del derecho, cuya función primaria es la organización de lo múltiple, tradicionalmente entendido como caos. Mientras Schmitt se decanta hacia un posfundacionalismo organicista, hacia una política del origen, Agamben opta por suspender, en un plano ontoético, la fundación del nomos. En este artículo se recorre con Schmitt la búsqueda de la forma transcendente y se acompaña a Agamben en la descripción aporética (...) de la política, exponiendo el estado de excepción como muestra de los factores de politización y despolitización que la atraviesan, y concluyendo con la propuesta mesiánica que pretende recuperar la potencia (múltiple del no-origen). (shrink)

This essay advances the thesis that Derrida’s ethics consists in the practice of philosophical responsibility. I contend that philosophical responsibility is the historical and ethical task of establishing a critical relation to one’s tradition which deliberately avoids passively and naively taking it for granted by questioning its origin and revealing its historicity. Further, I show that Derrida learns the task of philosophical responsibility from Husserl’s own version of philosophical responsibility, which he later transforms with the help of Husserl’s own methodological (...) tools. I maintain that the difference between Husserl’s and Derrida’s respective tasks is the injunction they are responding to and, concomitantly, the sense each gives to historicity. Whereas Husserl is responding to the principle of reason so as to reawaken the historicity of universal truth and its foundation, that is, the telos of Reason, Derrida is responding for the principle of reason with the purpose of disclosing the historicity of signification – différance – whose operation reduces the telos of Reason. (shrink)

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo revelar el verdadero nombre de Finlay y la trascendencia de su firma a fin de salvaguardar cómo llega hasta hoy la autenticidad denominativa del científico. Para ello fue necesaria la revisión bibliográfica de diversas fuentes documentales. Destacan las Obras Completas del médico, artículos científicos de revistas indexadas de la nación y el exterior: Educación Médica Superior, Cuadernos de Historia de la Salud Pública, Biomédica, Acimed, Asclepio, entre otras; periódicos, así como entrevistas a especialistas de la (...) Casa Natal de Carlos J. Finlay. This work aims to real the true name of Finlay and the significance of his signature in order to safeguard its authenticity in present times. To this end, the bibliographic revision of several documentary sources was necessary. Revisions were made of his Complete Works, scientific articles indexed in national and foreign scientific journals, newspaper articles and interviews with specialists from the Carlos J. Finlay Birth House Museum. (shrink)

Artículos Naturaleza, carácter y violencia: derivas a partir de Schopenhauer. Nature, character and violence: roads from Schopenhauer. Grave, Crescenciano Sobre la posibilidad de un fundamento analógico y simbólico. Ensayo de hermenéutica analógica. About the possibility of an analogical and symbolic fundament. Essay of analogical hermeneutic.Maldonado, Rebeca Consideraciones biojurídicas sobre la vida en el embrión humano. Biojuridical considerations on life of the human embryo. Parra Tapia, Ivonne La Europa unificada según Leibniz: irenismo y política. A unified Europe according to Leibniz: (...) irenism and politics. Rensoli Laliga, Lourdes Repensar el "dilema" comunitarista-liberal en Venezuela. To rethink the communitarism-liberalism "dilemma" in Venezuela. Seoane C., Javier B. Una introducción a la doctrina platónica del alma. An introduction to the platonic doctrine of the soul. Suzzarini, Andrés De vuelta al tribuno. Back to the tribune. Terán Pimentel, Milagros Discusiones en torno a la reparación del daño moral. Discussions about the redress of pain and suffering. Vielma Mendoza, Yoleida Interdisciplinares El giro en la obra de Milan Kundera: un reflejo de la contemporaneidad. The turning on Milan Kundera´s work: a reflex of contemporaneity. Pérez Lo Presti, Alirio Aproximación histórica sobre el consumo de drogas en Venezuela. Historical approach about drug consumption in Venezuela. Salazar, Teresa Informaciones Índice acumulado. (shrink)

The classification of preserved hypothalamic activity in brain death and brainstem death as functional or non-functional has become a subject of debate. While proponents of the neurological criterion claim that these activities lack functional significance (Shemie et al. 2014), Nair-Collins and Joffe (2023) argue for their functional physiological role. However, the interpretation of the term "function" within the medico-legal framework, where death is characterized by the irreversible cessation of all brain functions, remains unclear. -/- My intention here is not to (...) engage in a debate over the validity of different viewpoints regarding the functional significance of preserved activities in the hypothalamus or the heart. Rather, I aim to highlight the critical importance of exploring and defining the concept of function in medicine, which currently lacks clarity. My point is that, whatever our position in the brain death debate, reaching a consensus on this conceptual matter would minimize misunderstandings and establish a robust foundation for further insightful analysis. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende seguir el rastro de la noción de λόγοι σπερματικοί, clave de la explicación física estoica sobre la generación, y su inserción en la corriente neoplatónica, por la que consideramos que llega a Agustín de Hipona, quien la utiliza en su exégesis de los relatos de la creación que aparecen en las Escrituras. La racionalidad seminal es analógica, atraviesa y da sentido a la constitución misma del cosmos, y es ella misma, en su más elevada expresión, el (...) Λόγος que era en el principio, fundamento de lo real. (shrink)

This research evaluates the improvements that the use of Active Teaching and Learning Methodologies entails regarding the acquisition of professional skills of future graduates of the Masters dealing with intervention in Architectural Heritage, including product and resource improvements. The objectives address students’ training, oriented toward professional activity, determining the effectiveness of innovation. The real problems were exposed to be faced at a professional level and were solved through different parts, which were developed in different phases. The results obtained allowed us (...) to conclude that teaching and performing practical tasks related to professional competencies are verified as an advance in the subject. (shrink)

We show that both Rado's Conjecture and strong Chang's Conjecture imply that there are no special ℵ2-Aronszajn trees if the Continuum Hypothesis fails. We give similar result for trees of higher heights and we also investigate the influence of Rado's Conjecture on square sequences.

The conditions involved in the applicability of mathematics in science are the subject of ongoing debates. One of the best‐received approaches is the inferential account, which involves structural mappings and pragmatic considerations in a three‐step model. According to the inferential account, these pragmatic considerations happen in the immersion and interpretation stages, but not during derivation (symbol‐pushing in a mathematical formalism). In this work, I draw inspiration from the later Wittgenstein and make the case that the applicability of mathematics also rests (...) on pragmatic considerations at the mathematical derivation level. I make the further case that pragmatic considerations at the mathematical derivation level may substitute pragmatic considerations in the other two stages, thus showing how they are holistically interrelated. I illustrate these two points with the solution of a simple geometrical problem. (shrink)

The notion of a correct appreciation of nature, like the one put forward in Carlson’s environmental account, has been rejected by many other authors in the aesthetics of the natural environment. Their critics challenge the idea that only scientific cat- egories can ground the aesthetic appreciation of nature as nature, and they hold that there is not a correct way of appreciating nature. However, they may share with Carlson the idea of correctness under an objectivist paradigm of aesthetic appreciation, according (...) to which correctness means the adequation of the experi- ence to properties of the object. My aim in the article is to claim that it is necessary to endorse an aesthetic standard of correctness that takes into consideration the subjective character of aesthetic appreciation. An aesthetic standard of correct- ness implies universal assent, or validity for everyone in Kantian terms, in place of an objectivist notion. This notion of correctness permits the inclusion of expressive perception of nature as an essential form of aesthetic appreciation. (shrink)

This study employed a technology surveillance process in the beekeeping sector with the objective of identifying emerging technologies that are relevant to small beekeepers in emerging economies. The analysis of patents classified under A01K 47/00 revealed the emergence of pivotal innovations in domains such as hive design, automated honey extraction, and the integration of sensors for hive monitoring. The surveillance process facilitated the collection and analysis of data on the most patented technologies in the sector, thereby addressing key planning questions. (...) The study identified technological trends with the potential to transform beekeeping in low-tech contexts, thereby enhancing the productivity and sustainability of beekeeping operations. The findings of this study indicate that the identified technologies have the potential to significantly contribute to the well-being of small beekeepers, provided that their adoption is facilitated through the provision of governmental and organizational support. It is recommended that future research investigate the implementation of these technologies and the factors that influence their adoption in diverse production contexts. (shrink)

This article introduces some soft computing methods generally used for data analysis and flow pattern detection in fluid dynamics. These techniques decompose the original flow field as an expansion of modes, which can be either orthogonal in time, or in space or in time and space, or they can simply be selected using some sophisticated statistical techniques. The performance of these methods is tested in the turbulent wake of a wall-mounted square cylinder. This highly complex flow is suitable to show (...) the ability of the aforementioned methods to reduce the degrees of freedom of the original data by only retaining the large scales in the flow. The main result is a reduced-order model of the original flow case, based on a low number of modes. A deep discussion is carried out about how to choose the most computationally efficient method to obtain suitable reduced-order models of the flow. The techniques introduced in this article are data-driven methods that could be applied to model any type of non-linear dynamical system, including numerical and experimental databases. (shrink)

As part of her argument that relativism and contextualism are nothing but notational variants of each other, Stojanovic holds that contextualism is flexible enough to achieve whatever relativism might do if the matter is what truth-value is assigned to each pair of sentence and context. In this paper, I reply to this statement by arguing that contextualism cannot be made as flexible as relativism without in fact turning it into a version of relativism. The key to my response to Stojanovic (...) is that, while relativism relativizes utterance truth, contextualism does not, so parameters that are not fixed at the context of utterance will be accessible for the relativist, but not for the contextualist. Although the relativity of utterance truth follows as soon as propositional truth is relativized to contexts of assessment, as the relativist does, it is easy to lose sight of this fact if we identify the context of assessment with the assessor’s context. Hence, the point of this paper is that the difference between relativism and contextualism is not one as to whose parameters play a role in determining the sentence’s truth-value. If it were, contextualism could indeed be made just as flexible as relativism. (shrink)

Self-regulated learning is critical for learning across tasks, domains, and contexts. Despite its importance, research shows that not all learners are equally skilled at accurately and dynamically monitoring and regulating their self-regulatory processes. Therefore, learning technologies, such as intelligent tutoring systems, have been designed to measure and foster SRL. This paper presents an overview of over 10 years of research on SRL with MetaTutor, a hypermedia-based ITS designed to scaffold college students’ SRL while they learn about the human circulatory system. (...) MetaTutor’s architecture and instructional features are designed based on models of SRL, empirical evidence on human and computerized tutoring principles of multimedia learning, Artificial Intelligence in educational systems for metacognition and SRL, and research on SRL from our team and that of other researchers. We present MetaTutor followed by a synthesis of key research findings on the effectiveness of various versions of the system on learning outcomes. First, we focus on findings from self-reports, learning outcomes, and multimodal data and their contributions to our understanding of SRL with an ITS. Second, we elaborate on the role of embedded pedagogical agents as external regulators designed to scaffold learners’ cognitive and metacognitive SRL strategy use. Third, we highlight and elaborate on the contributions of multimodal data in measuring and understanding the role of cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and motivational processes. Additionally, we unpack some of the challenges these data pose for designing real-time instructional interventions that scaffold SRL. Fourth, we present existing theoretical, methodological, and analytical challenges and briefly discuss lessons learned and open challenges. (shrink)

A central debate of Agroecology is the incorporation of socioeconomic and political-cultural criteria in the evaluation of agri-food sustainability. However, the way to define and evaluate these criteria remains an unexplored terrain. In this paper, we aim to systematise how these dimensions are being defined and evaluated through the analysis of 8 initiatives of Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) considered to be part of the agroecological movement in Spain. This analysis identifies those criteria that are commonplace, widely recognised and evaluated by (...) the PGS sample. An in-depth, qualitative analysis of the difficulties that PGS are encountering in defining and evaluating these criteria provides an insight into the complexity of the task. The analysis reveals the hurdles to overcome to better define Agroecology at a supralocal level in order to promote its scaling up and out. (shrink)

Este artículo reseña: Benjamín RIVAYA GARCÍA, Los derechos humanos en el cine, Palestra Editores.

El debate actual en torno al transhumanismo hace pertinente tener en cuenta el pensamiento de Foucault. Tras la crítica al humanismo moderno, el último Foucault da pie para pensar un «humanismo otro» al servicio de esa «vida otra» que por razón de dignidad y anhelos de autorrealización la filosofía propone como tarea suya irrenunciable. El coraje o audacia para la verdad, pieza clave en su concepción de una «filosofía militante», permite a su vez replantear la tarea de la crítica en (...) la opinión pública de una cultura digital, teniendo en cuenta posibilidades y riesgos de la civilización tecnológica en la época del «big data» y la inteligencia artificial. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss Rodriguez-Pereyra�s claim according to which analytical philosophy should be published exclusively in English. I focus my reply on three issues: (1) the implicit conception of philosophy and of the philosophical practice that underlies his argument, (2) the myth of the �native speaker� and (3) some values that should guide philosophy and which I propose to highlight.

Frente a la imagen de un Vico ajeno a las exigencias del rigor metódico, este trabajo se propone plantear: a) Que la preocupación por el problema del método es una constante en el pesamiento de Vico. b) Que su aportación debe considerarse especialmente relevante en lo que atañe a los actuales empeños rehabilitadores de la racionalidad práctica y, en particular, para las más recientes teorias de la argumentación jurídica. c) Que, no obstante lo anterior, la actitud metódico jurídica de Vico (...) no puede ser calificada de meramente "retórica", más bien, entraña un intento de proyectar principios de justificación racional a los tópicos argumentativos del Derecho; o a propiciar un esfuerzo integrador de los topoi retóricos de las controversias jurídicas con las exigencias justificatorias de la razón práctica. Para explicitar este enfoque se procederá a abordar, por aproximación sucesiva, tres cuestiones: 1ª) Los aspectos básicos del actual debate sobre la racionalidad juridica y la teoría de la argumentación en el Derecho. 2ª) La apelación a Vico como punto de partida del nuevo interés por la revalorización de la tópica jurídica. 3ª) El significado de la argumentación en el "interior" de la reflexión metódica viquiana y en sus proyecciones "externas" al presente. (shrink)

El pensamiento utópico es un producto especialmente significativo de la modernidad occidental y, por tanto, no debe sorprender que la crisis que se ha cebado sobre ella lo arrastre consigo como pieza herida de muerte. A medida que nuestra postmodernidad, largamente anunciada desde Nietzsche, ha ido configurándose como nueva etapa en la que las pretensiones de la razón moderna evidencian el resquebrajamiento de lo que parecían sus bases más sólidas, el pensamiento utópico a través del cual plasmó sus ideales resulta (...) fuertemente cuestionado, tanto que apenas si es posible una honrosa salida de la escena cultural mediante revisión autocrítica de sus planteamientos. Achicado al máximo el espacio para la utopía en la reflexión filosófica contemporánea, ni siquiera cabe una cura de adelgazamiento de pensar utópico para hacerlo sostenible en medio de nuestras perplejidades. Hoy, y en cualquier caso venciendo un pudor difícilmente superable, cuesta asumir la defensa de lo utópico, y si se ha puesto muy complicado hablar de utopía es por el riesgo de caer bajo la doble acusación de ingenuidad y de cinismo. ¿Quién lo iba a decir, cuando el pensamiento utópico logró afirmarse como ariete de la crítica del orden establecido frente al pragmatismo de los defensores del statu quo? (shrink)

This paper examines the concept of objectivity traceable in Francis Bacon's natural philosophy. After some historical background on this concept, it considers the question of whether it is not an anachronism to attribute such a concept to Bacon, since the word ‘objectivity’ is a later coinage and does not appear anywhere in his writings. The essay gives reasons for answering this question in the negative, and then criticizes the accounts given of Bacon's understanding of objectivity by Lorraine Daston and Julie (...) Robin Solomon. It argues that this understanding is most directly and fully expressed in his discussion of the idols of the mind. In this connection, the paper notes Bacon's critical attitude to sixteenth-century scepticism and its relevance to the idea of objectivity implicit in his comments on the idols. In conclusion, the paper argues that Bacon was not a pure empiricist and describes the place assigned to theories and hypotheses in his natural philosophy. (shrink)

: Apesar das mudanças do projeto kantiano, é possível identificar o problema da loucura como sendo abordado em duas perspectivas: uma fisiológica, outra semântica. A abordagem fisiológica corresponde ao modelo das ciências dos objetos dos sentidos externos. Já a abordagem semântica da loucura se desenvolve dentro da tarefa crítica da filosofia, isto é, como parte de uma investigação acerca do alcance e dos limites da razão humana. Nesse sentido, a loucura se insere em duas séries diferentes. No primeiro caso aparece (...) vinculada às lesões cerebrais, problemas de percepção ou até mesmo em relação ao consumo de substâncias que alteram o funcionamento físico. No segundo caso se relaciona com o entusiasmo do desvario profético, o fanatismo religioso, o misticismo e até mesmo a ilusão metafísica. Para desenvolver o nosso trabalho apresentaremos elementos da abordagem fisiológica e da abordagem semântica encontradas em alguns dos diferentes textos e, por último, realizaremos algumas considerações sobre a possibilidade do desenvolvimento de um saber sobre a loucura em Kant. (shrink)

[ENGLISH] This article discusses the potential of synthetic biology to address fundamental questions in the philosophy of biology regarding the nature of life and biological functions. Synthetic biology aims to reduce living organisms to their simplest forms by identifying the minimal components of a cell and also to create novel life forms through genetic reprogramming, biobrick assembly, or novel proteins. However, the technical success of these endeavors does not guarantee their conceptual success in defining life. There is a lack of (...) consensus among researchers on how to define and classify the entities produced in the lab, whether they should be considered living or categorized differently. The criteria for minimal cells and minimal life are subject to arbitrary choices and varying interpretations. The concept of function, crucial to synthetic biology, is also difficult to define. The article highlights the need to consider the minimal set of functions that characterize life before determining the smallest genomes that code for those functions. The arbitrary nature of defining both life and function complicates the understanding and classification of these entities. The article suggests that the traditional dichotomy between the living and the non-living may no longer be valid and that the concept of life itself may not require precise scientific definition. As synthetic biology advances, the article emphasizes the importance of redefining or constructing new categories to encompass the expanding possibilities and creations in the field. The ability to create new life forms raises questions about recognition, identification, and ethical implications, requiring a conceptual and philosophical engagement beyond the technical achievements of synthetic biology. -/- [FRENCH] L'article aborde le potentiel de la biologie synthétique pour répondre à des questions fondamentales de la philosophie de la biologie concernant la nature de la vie et des fonctions biologiques. La biologie synthétique vise à réduire les organismes vivants à leurs formes les plus simples en identifiant les composants minimaux d'une cellule et à créer de nouvelles formes de vie grâce à la reprogrammation génétique, à l'assemblage de biobriques ou à des protéines nouvelles. Cependant, le succès technique de ces approches ne garantit pas leur réussite conceptuelle dans la définition de la vie. Il n'y a pas de consensus parmi les chercheurs sur la façon de définir et de classer les entités produites en laboratoire, qu'elles doivent être considérées comme vivantes ou catégorisées différemment. Les critères des cellules minimales et de la vie minimale sont soumis à des choix arbitraires et à des interprétations variables. La notion de fonction, essentielle en biologie synthétique, est également difficile à définir. L'article met en évidence la nécessité de prendre en compte l'ensemble minimal de fonctions qui caractérisent la vie avant de déterminer les plus petits génomes qui codent ces fonctions. La nature arbitraire de la définition de la vie et de la fonction complique la compréhension et la classification de ces entités. L'article suggère que la dichotomie traditionnelle entre le vivant et le non-vivant pourrait ne plus être valable et que le concept même de vie ne nécessite pas une définition scientifique précise. À mesure que la biologie synthétique progresse, l'article souligne l'importance de redéfinir ou de construire de nouvelles catégories pour englober les possibilités et créations croissantes dans le domaine. La capacité à créer de nouvelles formes de vie soulève des questions de reconnaissance, d'identification et d'implications éthiques, nécessitant une réflexion conceptuelle et philosophique au-delà des avancées techniques de la biologie synthétique. (shrink)

Según Williamson, saber y creer son estados mentales, pero creer algo verdadero y creer justificadamente algo verdadero no lo son. Ese tratamiento discriminatorio es relevante para la epistemología de Williamson. Su principal tesis epistemológica negativa y su principal tesis epistemológica positiva están en peligro si su teoría metafísica sobre lo mental es incorrecta. Presento aquí un problema para dicha teoría: impone limitaciones implausibles a los posibles usos de conceptos y expresiones lingüísticas. Describiré algunas opciones que tendría Williamson para evitar el (...) problema; pero sostendré que acarrean cierta dosis de arbitrariedad. (shrink)

Finality, design and purpose have started to be excluded from the language of the natural sciences since the XVIIth century. Darwin succeeded in excluding them from his theory of evolution appealing to a blind and mechanical natural selection. Today, the most usual definitions for the concept of biological function take for granted that functions: 1) are not dependent on a goal; 2) are not dependent on observers, but only on nature; 3) are explicable in causal terms, either with reference to (...) the causal history of the organ (etiological definition), or with reference to its present structure and causal capabilities (dispositional definition). However, we shall see that such presuppositions cannot take into account the normative character of the concept of biological function. We show that a generalization of the concept of scientific objectivity lets us affirm that functions: 1’) are dependent on a goal; 2’) are dependent on both observers and nature; 3’) cannot be reduced to causality, nor break the laws of physics; and yet, 4) are truly objective. (shrink)

This chapter aims to examine the configuration of the sharing economy in the United Kingdom. The chapter provides an examination of the key opportunities and challenges that this socio-economic model generates in the country. It includes an account of different sharing economy initiatives in the United Kingdom, including crowdfunding projects, tool libraries, timesharing banks, men’s sheds, and shared workspaces, commercial sharing economy services, micro-libraries, community-gardening projects, and paid online peer-to-peer accommodation. Increased consumer choice and economic benefits derived from an extended (...) economy around the sharing economy are identified as key opportunities. Key challenges relate to policymaking and taxation of businesses and participants in the sharing economy, as well as the wider enforcement of health and safety regulations and the impact that the recent pandemic is having on the industry. The chapter also provides an examination of the latest developments and regulations in this area. In addition, the chapter identifies the most pressing issues and possible future directions of research in this context. (shrink)

Tanto la Fórmula Barcan como la postulación de possibilia contradicen los juicios intuitivos preteóricos de la mayoría de los sujetos, favorables al actualismo sobre la naturaleza de los mundos posibles. En este artículo discuto y rechazo dos argumentos que pretenderían contrarrestar tales juicios, y que conciben erróneamente la relación entre la semántica de mundos posibles y nuestros lenguajes naturales modales. El argumento más importante asume que el dominio de todas las entidades es idéntico al dominio de @. Desarrollo una interpretación (...) de la SMP conforme a la cual esa tesis no está suficientemente justificada. /// Barcan Formula and the postulation of possibilia contradict the pretheoretical intuitive judgments of most people, which favour actualism about possible worlds. In this paper I discuss and reject two arguments against such judgments, both of which conceive wrongly the relation between possible worlds semantics and modal natural languages. The more important argument assumes that the domain of the actual world is identical to the domain of @. I develop an interpretation of PWS which elucidates why that thesis is unwarranted. (shrink)

In eukaryotic cells the nucleus and its contents are separated from the cytoplasm by the nuclear envelope. Macromolecules, as well as smaller molecules and ions, can cross the nuclear envelope through the nuclear pore complex. Molecules greater than approx. 60 kDa and containing a nuclear localization signal are actively transported across the nuclear membranes, but there has been little evidence for regulatory mechanisms for smaller molecules and ions. Recently, diffusion across the nuclear envelope has been observed to be regulated by (...) nuclear cisternal Ca2+ concentrations. Following depletion of Ca2+ from the nuclear store by inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate or Ca2+ chelators, a fluorescent 10 kDa marker molecule was no longer able to enter the nucleus. Distinct conformational states of the nuclear pore complexes depended on the Ca2+ filling state of the nuclear envelope, supporting the assumption that a switch in the conformation of the nuclear pore complex may control the transport of intermediate‐sized molecules across the nuclear envelope. Thus nuclear Ca2+ stores may regulate the conformational state of the nuclear pore complex, and thereby passive diffusion of molecules between the cytosol and the nucleoplasm. The physiological significance of this finding is currently unknown. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is rather modest: we do not intend to reconstruct Aristotle’s theory of truth (although we are convinced that there is such a thing), and we will not try to settle the issue concerning Bivalence in Aristotle. We merely want, on the one hand, to argue for the consistency between the main Aristotelian texts on truth and a possible rejection of Bivalence; and on the other hand, to investigate the conditions of a possible counterexample to Bivalence. (...) The motivation for this research is also very specific. We are interested in the apparent violation of Bivalence introduced by vague predicates, and in particular we want to respond to a family of arguments put forward by T. Williamson in support of the idea that allowing for exceptions to Bivalence would be incoherent. We have focused on these arguments for two reasons. On the one hand, what is allegedly threatened by a denial of Bivalence is no less than the very “nature of truth or falsity”. On the other hand, Aristotle is explicitly mentioned as one of the defendants of this “natural” conception of truth, and we are reminded about the connection between Aristotle’s theory and Tarski’s semantic conception. These arguments, therefore, give us an occasion to explore Aristotle’s analysis of the nature of truth and falsity, and to examine its connection with the Tarskian conception of truth. In particular, we would like to question the assumption, which has become a commonplace in the field of analytical philosophy, that Aristotle’s notion of truth can be encoded in the pair of disquotational biconditionals that derive from Tarski’s “T schema”. (shrink)

I deal here with one of Boghossian’s arguments against content externalism, related to ourinferential rationality(to use his term). According to his reasoning, the apriority of our logical abilities is inconsistent with certain externalist assumptions. Nevertheless, the problem constitutes an important challenge foranytheory of content, not just for externalism. Furthermore, when we examine what internalists may propose to solve the problem, we see that externalists have at their disposal a more promising repertoire of possible replies than internalists. In that sense, insofar (...) as Boghossian’s scenario is relevant to the debate externalism/internalism, it can be seen (against Boghossian’s original intention) as providing additional evidence for content externalism. (shrink)

The differences in clinical bioethics between the Mediterranean and Latin American cultures have not been analyzed. The objective of the study is to compare the ethical conflicts that internists in Spain, Mexico and Argentina have. Cross-sectional observational study through a survey directed at internists from Spain, Argentina and Mexico. The survey was administered to affiliated members of the National Societies of Internal Medicine across three countries via an online platform. 762 internists participated, 261 from Spain, 154 from Argentina and 347 (...) from Mexico. The main ethical conflicts that internists in Spain, Argentina and Mexico have are related (in order) to the end of life, to the clinical relationship and to the patient’s autonomy. Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment is the most frequent conflict in Spain and Argentina and the second in Mexico. Internists from Spain and Argentina identify very similar ethical conflicts. Furthermore, they consider them more frequent and difficult than in Mexico. In Argentina they are less satisfied with the way they are resolved. To explain these differences, socio-cultural factors are postulated, among others: paternalism, individualism, masculinity, organization of the health system, formal training in bioethics and assessment of death. (shrink)