This article compares situated cognition to contemporary Neo-Aristotelian approaches to the mind. The article distinguishes two components in this paradigm: an Aristotelian essentialism which is alien to situated cognition and a Wittgensteinian “capacity approach” to the mind which is not just congenial to it but provides important conceptual and argumentative resources in defending social cognition against orthodox cognitive science. It focuses on a central tenet of that orthodoxy. According to what I call “encephalocentrism,” cognition is primarily or even exclusively a (...) computational process occurring inside the brain. Neo-Aristotelians accuse this claim of committing a “homuncular” or “mereological fallacy”. The article explains why the label “fallacy” is misleading, reconstructs the argument to the effect that encephalocentric applications of psychological predicates to the brain and its parts amount to a category mistake, and defends this argument against objections by Dennett, Searle, and Figdor. At the same time it criticizes the Neo-Aristotelian denial that the brain is the organ of cognition. It ends by suggesting ways in which the capacity approach and situated cognition might be combined to provide a realistic and ecologically sound picture of cognition as a suite of powers that flesh-and-blood animals exercise within their physical and social environments. (shrink)

Kalhat has forcefully criticised Wittgenstein's linguistic or conventionalist account of logical necessity, drawing partly on Waismann and Quine. I defend conventionalism against the charge that it cannot do justice to the truth of necessary propositions, renders them unacceptably arbitrary or reduces them to metalingustic statements. At the same time, I try to reconcile Wittgenstein's claim that necessary propositions are constitutive of meaning with the logical positivists’ claim that they are true by virtue of meaning. Explaining necessary propositions by reference to (...) linguistic conventions does not reduce modal to non‐modal notions, but it avoids metaphysical accounts, which are incapable of explaining how we can have a priori knowledge of necessity. (shrink)

Hans-Johann Glock develops a capacity-based alternative to the currently widespread view that concepts and experiences are mental representations. He claims that experiences must be explained by way of perceptual and sensory capacities and that concepts must be explained by way of intellectual ones, in particular, by way of capacities for classification and reasoning. Glock does not, however, identify concepts with intellectual capacities. He rather conceives of them as rules that guide the application of capacities. He defines the relationship (...) between perceptions and concepts by coupling rationalistic, Aristotelian, and Kantian motifs: perceptions are to be strictly distinguished from concepts; perceptual capacities genetically, causally, and conceptually precede conceptual ones; and conceptual capacities must, in principle, be applicable to objects of experience. Glock's “capacity approach” can accordingly be understood as a variant of non-conceptualism. (shrink)

In this paper, we review the conventional analyses of management control systems, to conclude, first, that the illusion of control can mislead managers into believing that everything can be controlled and monitored, and, second, that no incentive system based only on extrinsic rewards can motivate individuals properly. Then, we investigate the philosophical foundations of the basic assumptions that, implicitly or explicitly, are made about the nature of the acting person. Based on personalist phenomenology, we show how the development of technical (...) and moral values is crucial to the long-run survival of organizations. We end by offering some guidelines as to what control systems should be like in order to be compatible with the nature of human persons. (shrink)

There are many theories about organizations that are mutually inconsistent with each other, which explain phenomena to very similar extents. Most of them ignore the ethical dimension completely. In this paper I put forth the basic principles for a theory of decision-making in organizations, which integrates ethics in the core of the theory. It is based on the work of Juan Antonio Pérez López [1991, Teoría de la Acción humana en las organizaciones (Ediciones Rialp, Madrid), 1993, Fundamentos de la Dirección (...) de Empresas (Ediciones Rialp, Madrid)] and is essentially a humanistic view of the interrelationships between people and its implications for organizational decision-making. I will first show that in any relationship between two people, the learning of the two is crucial for such a relationship to last; and then I will expand on the different aspects of that learning. This analysis will then be applied to the organizational context as a basis for organizational decision-making, Second, it applies the previous analysis to the organizational context as a basis for organizational decision making, showing how any decision in an organization needs to be analyzed on the basis of three criteria (short-run effectiveness, development of distinctive competence, and unity and identification with the organization) and how ethics is included in the last two. (shrink)

Few arguments against intentional states in animals have stood the test of time. But one objection by Stich and Davidson has never been rebutted. In my reconstruction it runs: Ascribing beliefs to animals is vacuous, unless something counts as an animal believing one specific “content” rather than another; Nothing counts as an animal believing one specific content rather than another, because of their lack of language; Ergo: Ascribing beliefs to animals is vacuous. Several attempts to block the argument challenge the (...) first premise, notably the appeals to “naked” belief ascriptions and alternative representational formats. This essay defends the first premise and instead challenges the second premise. There are non-linguistic “modes of presentation”; these can be determined by attributing to animals specific needs and capacities—a “ hermeneutic ethology” based on lessons from the debate about radical translation/interpretation in the human case. On that basis we can narrow down content by exclusion. What remains is an “imponderability of the mental” which does not rule out attributions of intentional states to animals. (shrink)

The last years of the 20th Century have been somewhat contradictory with respect to values like loyalty, trust or truthfulness. On the one hand, (often implicitly, but sometimes very explicitly), self-interest narrowly defined seems to be the dominant force in the business world, both in theory and in practice. On the other hand, alliances, networks and other forms of cooperation have shown that self-interest has to be at least "enlightened".The academic literature has reflected both points of view, but frequently in (...) an ambiguous way, since the concepts of loyalty and trust are somewhat elusive and equivocal. This paper attempts to analyze the concept of loyalty in depth, examining the different conceptions about the word that can be found in the literature. We begin by going to the management classics (specifically, Follett, Barnard and Simon), and we then turn to the anthropological approach of Pérez López (1993), with its built-in ethical analysis, and show how trust and loyalty are crucial to the development of organizations. We end by suggesting in what ways loyalty and trust can be created and fostered in organizations. (shrink)

Do animals have minds? We have known at least since Aristotle that humans constitute one species of animal. And some benighted contemporaries apart, we also know that most humans have minds. To have any bite, therefore, the question must be restricted to non-human animals, to which I shall henceforth refer simply as "animals." I shall further assume that animals are bereft of linguistic faculties. So, do some animals have minds comparable to those of humans? As regards that question, there are (...) two basic stances. Differentialists maintain that there are categorical differences separating us from animals; assimilationists hold that the differences are merely quantitative and gradual (see Brandom 2000, pp. 2–3). This paper only deals with one kind of mental phenomenon, namely intentional states such as believing, desiring, and intending. I shall also refer to these as having thoughts or thinking rather than as "propositional attitudes," since that terminology is misguided. My primary target is a variant of differentialism, namely lingualism. It maintains that animals lack intentional states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions, since, on a priori conceptual grounds, the latter require language. The term "language" is here confined to public languages, notably natural languages, and excludes inner symbolisms such as the language of thought postulated by many cognitive scientists. (shrink)

“Hacia una nueva ética médica” es el título del capítulo 5 de Confesiones de un médico (Triacastela, Madrid, 2011), la versión española del libro del médico y filósofo norteamericano Alfred Tauber, cuidadosamente traducida por Antonio Casado da Rocha. En él, se abordan cuestiones relacionadas con la alteración identitaria que supone la enfermedad, la deshumanización de la medicina y sus causas y la necesidad de un cambio radical en el enfoque de la relación médico-paciente para combatirla. En una sociedad que prioriza (...) la autonomía individual, dice Tauber, conviene recordar que estar enfermo supone la pérdida de esa autonomía y autosuficiencia. Por tanto, los profesionales sanitarios, cuya relación con los usuarios es necesariamente asimétrica, no sólo han de aplicar los correspondientes procedimientos técnicos, sino que han de asumir la obligación moral de restaurar la salud de sus pacientes. .. (shrink)

Este artículo se pregunta qué se conmemorará realmente en el 40° aniversario de la guerra de Malvinas (1982-2022), contrastando las modalidades de recordación pública que tendrán lugar en 2022 y las lecturas que ha aportado la academia sobre lo sucedido en aquel entonces. La reflexión elabora comparativamente estos significados y describe qué hemos hecho los investigadores argentinos en ciencias sociales con el conflicto armado anglo-argentino por las Malvinas e Islas del Atlántico Sur, examina los fundamentos que subyacen a esos significados (...) y sostiene la tesis de que los académicos universitarios hemos ignorado el carácter bélico de la iniciativa de la tercera junta de la última dictadura militar, el autodenominado Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976-1983). Así, este artículo muestra que los protagonistas directos de la guerra y sus analistas postulan sentidos alternativos que se reelaboran como una paradoja de difícil comprensión: una causa popular originada en una cuestión de soberanía territorial pendiente fue acometida, con éxito y respaldo popular, por una ya antipopular y sangrienta dictadura militar. (shrink)

En el ámbito de la situación presente de crisis de lo humano, así como de la efusión actual del fenómeno místico, esta reflexión se aproxima a la experiencia mística contemporánea a través de uno de sus testigos: Etty Hillesum. El acercamiento a la trama narrativa de su diario hizo posible que el decir del ser, el decir sobre lo humano en la experiencia mística se abriera paso a través de un ejercicio hermenéutico existencial con la mediación del relato. El asunto (...) central consistió en buscar en la experiencia mística la raíz y expresiones de su fuerza humanizadora. En este sentido, a partir de una aproximación a ‘lo humano’ desde las categorías: interioridad, actitud teologal y alteridad, la reflexión abrió el paso a la consideración sobre la experiencia mística y su conexión con ‘lo humano’ que busca humanidad. Asunto éste que hizo posible plantear algunas perspectivas que contribuyan a explicitar el potencial humanizador de la Experiencia Mística hoy. ln the ambit of the present situation of the crisis of the 'human', as well as of the current outpouring of the mystic phenomenon, this reflection approaches contemporary mystical experience by one of its witnesses: Etty Hillesum. The approach to the narrative of her diary made it possible to soy of the "being", which is to say about the human in the mystical experience would open a way through a hermeneutic existential exercise with the mediation of the story. The main issue consisted of searching in the mystical experience, the root and expressions of its humanizing force. In this sense, from an approximation to the 'human' from the categories: interiority, theological attitude and otherness, the reflection opened the way for consideration on the mystical experience and its connection with the 'human' which seeks its humanity. This matter which made it possible to set out some perspectives that contribute to make explicit the humanizing potential of the Mystical Experience today. (shrink)

Paulo Freire constrói um legado para a educação brasileira que é atemporal. Diante disso, o objetivo do texto In Memorian é trazer uma entrevista póstuma com o autor. A partir de uma revisão bibliográfica, apresentamos sua história de vida e suas obras. Além disso, trazemos uma resenha das três principais obras, a saber, Pedagogia do Oprimido, Pedagogia da Esperança e Pedagogia da Autonomia. Os trechos dessas obras embasam as respostas construídas para os questionamentos em relação à Covid-19, ao movimento Black (...) Lives Matter e suas interfaces com a educação linguística e a decolonialidade, como uma forma de dialogar com as reflexões freirianas propostas para o contexto educacional. (shrink)

Blind, deaf, and mute: the healthcare system regarding conscientious objection to abortion Resumen: A la luz de la obra de Fernando Broncano, Conocimiento expropiado (2020), este trabajo plantea la objeción de conciencia generalizada al aborto como un fenómeno que origina situaciones de injusticia epistémica. El acceso a la información, el disvalor del testimonio de las mujeres y el silencio cómplice, individual e institucional, perpetuador de la ignorancia sistémica son realidades que afectan a un número indeterminado de mujeres que requiere la (...) interrupción de su embarazo. Para hacer frente al daño generado, se plantea cómo las redes y movimientos pro-elección distribuyen información y recursos sobre el aborto fuera del ámbito clínico y se organizan como fuerzas de resistencia epistémica, capaces de crear y compartir conocimiento en un ejercicio de democracia radical, en el sentido expresado por Broncano. Abstract: In accordance with Fernando Broncano’s work, Conocimiento expropiado (2020), this paper considers the widespread conscientious objection to abortion as a phenomenon that creates situations of epistemic injustice. Access to information, devaluation of women’s testimony, as well as individual and institutional complicit silence that perpetuates systemic ignorance, are realities that affect an indeterminate number of women who require the termination of their pregnancies. In order to address the damage generated, we consider how pro-choice networks and movements distribute information and resources on abortion outside the clinical sphere. They also organise themselves as forces of epistemic resistance, capable of creating and sharing knowledge in an exercise of radical democracy, in the sense expressed by Broncano. Palabras clave: Objeción de conciencia, aborto, injusticia epistémica, ignorancia institucional, resistencia epistémica. Keywords: Conscientious objection, abortion, epistemic injustice, institutional ignorance, epistemic resistance. (shrink)

Wittgenstein has often been ascribed a ‘use-theory of meaning’. However, he explicitly renounced theory construction. Furthermore, his slogan ‘Don’t ask for the meaning, ask for the use!’ invites circumventing the question ‘What is meaning?’ altogether. This chapter argues that, Wittgenstein’s ambivalence notwithstanding, there is no merit in avoiding the title question (‘What is meaning?’). Moreover, it is argued that, while Wittgenstein’s reflections are incompatible with a formal theory of meaning, they do lay the foundations of a viable account of the (...) concept of linguistic meaning, namely by elucidating its connections with other concepts like those of rule, explanation, and understanding. The chapter makes a case for a use-theory thus understood. (shrink)

Dos místicos relativamente contemporáneos: Etty Hillesum y Benjamín González Buelta; dos estilos, dos contextos y una coincidencia establecida desde sus experiencias espirituales, en profunda conexión con la realidad, en medio de la vida y sus desafíos. Hillesum no habla propiamente de la experiencia mística, sin embargo, su proceso personal existencial en el duro contexto de guerra que le tocó vivir, la condujo a descubrirse profundamente habitada. Su experiencia de Dios le hizo posible comprender y gestionar el dolor en medio de (...) la guerra, así como la necesidad de ‘hacerse bálsamo sobre las heridas’ de sus hermanos judíos. Etty es una mística de ojos abiertos. Benjamín González Buelta ha profundizado en la comprensión de la mística, describiéndola y analizándola desde la experiencia de Dios en el contexto latinoamericano. Su reflexión permite hoy leer a Etty Hillesum desde la perspectiva del místico de ojos abiertos. (shrink)

Ce dictionnaire apporte à l'œuvre de Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) ce qui était à ses yeux la chose la plus importante en philosophie, une " vue synoptique ". L'œuvre de Wittgenstein, par son style et son inachèvement, demande beaucoup au lecteur. Ce livre est un véritable guide, dressant la carte de sa philosophie, ou plutôt de ses philosophies, puisque Wittgenstein présente le cas unique d'un grand philosophe auteur de deux philosophies, également influentes, et dont la seconde est largement une critique de (...) la première. En soixante-dix-sept entrées, complétées par une " brève biographie intellectuelle " très accessible, le Dictionnaire Wittgenstein de Hans-Johann Glock explique les concepts de base de la pensée du philosophe, présente leur genèse et leur contexte, et livre les clés de son influence dans les débats philosophiques contemporains : la nature du langage et sa place dans la forme de vie humaine, la philosophie de la logique et des mathématiques, l'anthropologie des normes et, enfin, la transformation de la philosophie à l'âge de la science et de la fin de la métaphysique. Combinant notions élémentaires (" jeu de langage ", " grammaire " " forme logique ", etc.) et études détaillées dans tous les domaines abordés par Wittgenstein (par exemple " tautologie ", " non-sens ", " mémoire ", " anthropologie ", " éthique "), il sera utile au débutant comme au spécialiste. Les références nombreuses aux écrits de Wittgenstein et l'index détaillé permettent des parcours variés parmi les questions vives que sa pensée ne cesse de nourrir. (shrink)

In this commentary, we criticize the argument that allowing euthanasia for people with disabilities is ableist. We analyze the distinction between facts and values in medical assistance in dying, the expressivist objection, and the problem of crypwashing.

Traditionally the study of chemical elements has been limited to well-known concepts like the periodic properties and chemical families. However, current information shows a new and rich language that allows us to observe relations in the elements that are not limited to their positions in the table. These relations are evident when reactions are represented through networks, as in the case of similar reactivity of organic compounds sharing functional groups. For the past two decades, it has been argued that network (...) reactions may be considered the core of chemistry. This network, which constitutes the basic set of chemical knowledge, provides the basis for classification and delivers routes to obtain new and known substances. In order to provide an example, we constructed and analyzed a network of chemical elements from the formation of stoichiometric binary compounds, providing to the chemistry, a formal structure of extracting the chemical knowledge. Thus, we explored all possible presence of relationships among elements. Concepts like degree centrality and centralization, the relationships among metals, semimetal and nonmetal classes, blocks, and chemical families were analyzed. We observed that the network structure had a small core set of elements of high reactivity and also a peripheral set of elements of low reactivity. The classes, blocks and families show the following increasing order of reactivity: nonmetals > semimetals > metals; p > s > d > f; and families: boron, carbon, pnictogens, chalcogens, halogens, lanthanoids > other families. This example shows, from the network perspective, that the elements and their classifications exhibit properties such as the reactivity, order, and similarity. (shrink)

Alfred Schutz’s Constitutive Phenomenology of the natural attitude was completed under the influence of Edmund Husserl Phenomenology, Henri Bergson’s Vitalism and William James’ Psychology. Schutz used James’ psychology mainly to analyze acts, their intentional modifications and the modifications found in finite realities of meaning. While the phenomenology of Husserl was important for the topics discussed, Schutz’s appreciation of James’s psychology is due to the fact that he makes these analyses without resorting to reduction, i.e. he explores worldly consciousness. Despite these (...) differences, Schutz values the contact points between the two theories. Indeed, the first one of these contact points refers to the election of perception as the privileged act in the experience of the world. Such coincidence originated in Brentano’s basis that sustains both theories, particularly in relation to the concept of intentionality. On the other hand, the second contact point can be noticed in the use of the term “horizon” in Husserl and “fringes” in James. These notions influenced the Schutzian theory of Multiple Realities and provided significant support for that theory. This paper is intended to stress the coincidences that Schutz analyzes in detail in “William James’s ‘Concept of the Stream of Thought Phenomenologically Interpreted” contained in CP III, and also as an exegesis of the way these authors cooperated with the Schutzian notion of “the world of everyday life” or “world of working” (Wirkwelt). (shrink)

This paper considers the connection between concepts, conceptual schemes and grammar in Wittgenstein’s last writings. It lists eight claims about concepts that one can garner from these writings. It then focuses on one of them, namely that there is an important difference between conceptual and factual problems and investigations. That claim draws in its wake other claims, all of them revolving around the idea of a conceptual scheme, what Wittgenstein calls a ‘grammar’. I explain why Wittgenstein’s account does not fall (...) prey to Davidson’s animadversions against the idea of a conceptual scheme as a force operating on a pre-conceptual content. In the sequel I deny that the distinction between grammatical and empirical propositions disappears in the last writings: it is neither deliberately abandoned, nor willy-nilly undermined by the admission of hinge propositions in On Certainty or by the role accorded to agreement in judgement. (shrink)