El siguiente trabajo profundiza el acontecimiento del duelo en la filosofía de Jacques Derrida. En esta perspectiva, se comienza por el libro Glas de 1974, donde se anunciaría el duelo por la muerte del sentido. Posteriormente, se profundizará en los fantasmas derridianos y la responsabilidad con los desaparecidos. En tercer lugar, emerge la figura del don, que abre al duelo hacia la espera infinita. Finalmente, y desde la lectura derridiana de los psicoanalistas Abraham y Török, se trabajará la figura de (...) la “cripta” como falso inconsciente. Se concluye con una reflexión sobre Chile y los desaparecidos por la dictadura de Pinochet. This article focus on the event of mourning in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. It begins, accordingly, with the 1974 book Glas, where Derrida announces his mourning for the death of meaning. The article then focus on the Derridean ghosts and the responsibility towards the missing. Thirdly, the figure of gift emerges, one that opens mourning towards the infinite hold. Endly, from the Derridean lecture of phsychoanalysts Abraham and Török, the figure of “crypt” will be presented as a false inconscious. It concludes with a reflection on Chile and the missing people by Pinochet’s dictatorship. (shrink)

Resumen. Este artículo profundiza en la categoría filosófica de “archivo”[1], proponiéndola como un vector relevante en el análisis filosófico y político contemporáneo. Esto, fundamentalmente, a partir del trabajo de Jacques Derrida y al tratamiento que adquiere esta cuestión en el psicoanálisis, asumiendo que es desde las lecturas de Freud que Derrida le atribuye al archivo injerencia en el ámbito filosófico y político.[1] Ponemos comillas por única vez para establecer una diferencia respecto del significado que viene del uso del vocablo archivo (...) en el lenguaje ordinario. En adelante se asume un significado técnico que se explicará en el cuerpo del artículo. (shrink)

El presente artículo busca tensionar la idea de representación, fundamentalmente a partir de la obra del filósofo francés Jean-Luc Nancy y del argelino-francés Jacques Derrida. En esta línea, se verá cómo en Nancy la representación no será un tema de presencia, sino más bien de «invisibilidad», del acontecimiento invisible que, no obstante, abre a un espacio metafísico expansivo en el que habitaría el misterio de la representación misma. Una segunda parte del trabajo persigue indagar en la noción de lo monstruoso (...) derridiano, entendido como lo que no se puede figurar ni representar. Lo monstruoso, en este sentido y aunque infigurable, sería precisamente el otro al que se le niega la acogida. (shrink)

El siguiente trabajo se organiza en torno a una cuestión fundamental: la manera en que podría articularse una reflexión sobre lo ético y lo político si consideramos la violencia como vector central de lo ético-político mismo. En otras palabras, doy cuenta de cómo la violencia se estabiliza como el fenómeno principal al interior de la vida social produciendo la instalación de un cierto ethos en las sociedades contemporáneas. Llevo a cabo esta búsqueda a partir de los trabajos de la filósofa (...) judíoestadounidense Judith Butler y del rescate de los aspectos éticopolíticos que se desprenden de su obra. (shrink)

Marc Crépon es director de investigación en el Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique y director del Departamento de Filosofía de l’École normale supérieure de París. Entre sus publicaciones se encuentran: La culture de la peur, I. Démocratie, identité, sécurité ; La culture de la peur, II. La guerre des civilisations ; Le consentement meurtrier ; La vocation de l’écriture ; La gauche c’est quand?.

El artículo plantea una reflexión acerca del alcance y el impacto de las políticas de desarrollo rural en la juventud andaluza, a través de los resultados que arroja la línea de investigación en ese ámbito que los autores han desarrollado en los últimos años. Esta ilustra sobre el contexto, las expectativas y las representaciones de la juventud —a menudo negativas—, desde los tiempos posteriores a la gran recesión iniciada en el 2008 hasta la actualidad. Asimismo, se recoge la perspectiva de (...) los gestores de tales políticas y se muestran los resultados de dos experiencias dirigidas a aumentar la participación de la juventud y su integración con las estructuras del desarrollo rural. Todo ello evidencia el limitado impacto que percibe la juventud, así como las dificultades y las inconsistencias a las que se enfrentan las políticas de desarrollo rural para revertir tal situación, pese al potencial que encierran y a sus logros en otros momentos y ámbitos. (shrink)

El baile de las Águilas y San Juan Pelós es una manifestación clave del acervo cultural mallorquín que ha sobrevivido hasta el presente a pesar de las censuras eclesiásticas y prohibiciones por parte del poder civil. Los habitantes de Pollensa participan en este acto comunitario, de raíz religiosa, como parte de la solemnidad del Corpus Christi. Esta investigación ahonda en su evolución histórica para contribuir a la explicación de su vigencia, relación con las instituciones, función social y significado desde el (...) punto de vista antropológico. Desde un origen didáctico, este complejo teatral bascula hacia un rito de solidaridad útil para mantener la cohesión y reproducción del grupo. Como consecuencia de las sucesivas disputas por el control del pensamiento y la conducta, así como de los cambios en la estructura económica y política del pueblo, el contenido material de la ceremonia atravesará distintas fases de transformación, desembocando en su función vigente como seña de identidad local a través de la reproducción de una tradición ancestral. (shrink)

"Le philosophe chilien Javier Agüero Águila a consacré ses recherches à la psychanalyse, à la philosophie française contemporaine - avec une attention toute particulière à la pensée de Jacques Derrida -, à la « philosophie politique » : la violence, la démocratie et les droits de l'homme, l'hospitalité, la communauté et l'extranéité, la marginalité mais encore l'héritage, la mémoire, l'oubli, le pardon, etc. C'est autour du pardon que ce livre s'organise, engageant un débat sur le processus chilien (...) de transition et de démocratisation mis en oeuvre après la dictature militaire de Pinochet" (4ème de couv.). (shrink)

While punishment is a longstanding object of philosophical scrutiny, other controversial aspects of the justice system, such as policing, have flown under the radar. In this paper, we consider possible reasons why philosophers interested in crime and punishment have neglected policing. We make the case for a broader account of the political morality of the justice system, with a particular emphasis on policing. We sketch the outlines of an egalitarian version of such a theory, highlighting parallels between policing and the (...) welfare state. Finally, we turn to recent calls for police abolition. Evaluating such radical claims requires, we argue, going beyond the traditional confines of the philosophy of punishment and considering a more holistic and interdisciplinary theory of criminal justice. (shrink)

Political philosophy in the last decades has turned away from universal narratives of progress, on grounds that these narratives produce exclusion and justify domination. However, the universal values that underlie emancipatory political projects seem to presuppose universal history, which explains its persistence in some contemporary political philosophers committed to such projects. In order to find a response to the paradox according to which universal history is inherently exclusionary and yet necessary to uphold universal values, I examine the contrast between Adorno’s (...) and Lyotard’s perspectives on the problem of writing history ‘after Auschwitz’. For both philosophers, Auschwitz interrupts our fundamental normative and cognitive values, because any attempt to identify the meaning of the camps by means of these values misunderstands the suffering that took place in them. Yet this interruption produces a feeling that calls for the institution of new universal normative values. For Adorno, this value is a purely negative command to act in such a way that Auschwitz does not repeat itself. For Lyotard, by contrast, it is the demand to invent new idioms that make it possible to find meaning in Auschwitz. (shrink)

The political practice of the Left is going through a deep crisis, an important part of which is connected to the crisis of modernity and the rise of the postmodern era. It is true that postmodernity is a relatively confused phenomenon. J.-F. Lyotard, who is more committed to providing clear definitions than some other philosophers, has attempted various descriptions: from postmodernity understood as a nascent state of rupture with modernity, to that which defines it as the paradox of a “previous (...) future”, or that which defines it as a process of “ana-”. It seems, however, that in general terms, postmodernity claims to represent the dissolution of modernity and the experience of the end of History and/or the end of ideologies. But this view of postmodernity as rupture has more than one problem. There are those who think that if ours is a postmodern epoch then “Postmodernity is in every respect parasitic on modernity: it lives and feeds on its achievements and its dilemmas.” Others contend that what we are going through is a phase of the radicalization of modernity but in no way its end. Still others argue that “the aspiration to become postmodern is one of the paradigmatic ways to be modern”. (shrink)

Once hematopoiesis is established in the bone marrow, a continuous egress of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to the periphery occurs at a low frequency. It has been proposed that this phenomenon is part of a regenerative homeostatic mechanism that ensures the maintenance of hematopoiesis through the life of the individual. The administration of certain cytotoxic drugs or cytokines can enhance the mobilization of hematopoietic progenitors to the periphery. During the past 15 years, granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF) has been used as (...) a standard cytokine for mobilization protocols in experimental models and in humans. Despite extensive efforts by multiple groups, a definitive mechanism explaining its role in mobilization has not been provided. In a recent paper, Katayama et al.,1 through a series of clever associations supported by well‐defined experimental systems, proposed that signals through the sympathetic nervous system modify the activity of the hematopoietic niche, acting as regulators of the mobilization of hematopoietic progenitors. This surprising finding adds a new level of complexity to the cellular milieu responsible for generation and maintenance of the hematopoietic niche. BioEssays 28: 687–691, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

En esta entrevista se formularon preguntas al magíster Iván Martínez, docente universitario destacado por sus conocimientos especializados en infraestructuras de redes y por sus múltiples participaciones en eventos académicos. Los interrogantes que se le plantearon se basaron en sus recientes enfoques de estudio, como el empleo de la herramienta informática de Microsoft Azure. En la conversación se llega a comprender cuál es su utilidad y cómo esta puede servir al usuario en distintos ámbitos, como el laboral. Por otro lado, el (...) ingeniero de Sistemas concluye con el modo en que sus saberes son transferidos a sus alumnos con mucha prerrogativa. (shrink)

The paper reads Kant’s notion of radical evil as anticipating and clarifying problematic aspects of what Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’. By reconstructing Arendt’s varied analyses of this notion throughout her later writings, I show that the main theoretical challenge posed by it concerns the adjudication of responsibility for evil deeds that seem to lack recognisable evil intentions. In order to clarify this issue, I turn to a canonical text in which the relationship between evil and responsibility plays a (...) central role: Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Relying on an interpretation of this writing by Arendt’s mentor Karl Jaspers published in 1935, in evident connection to National Socialism, I challenge Arendt’s own interpretation of Kant’s notion of radical evil, which, I argue, represents an antecedent, rather than a contrast, to ‘the banality of evil’. For Kant, radical evil consists in the destruction of the person’s sense of responsibility, thus producing a self-exculpatory mentality such as the one that characterised Eichmann during his trial. (shrink)

The paper reads Kant’s notion of radical evil as anticipating and clarifying problematic aspects of what Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’. By reconstructing Arendt’s varied analyses of this notion throughout her later writings, I show that the main theoretical challenge posed by it concerns the adjudication of responsibility for evil deeds that seem to lack recognisable evil intentions. In order to clarify this issue, I turn to a canonical text in which the relationship between evil and responsibility plays a (...) central role: Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Relying on an interpretation of this writing by Arendt’s mentor Karl Jaspers published in 1935, in evident connection to National Socialism, I challenge Arendt’s own interpretation of Kant’s notion of radical evil, which, I argue, represents an antecedent, rather than a contrast, to ‘the banality of evil’. For Kant, radical evil consists in the destruction of the person’s sense of responsibility, thus producing a self-exculpatory... (shrink)

Este estudio es una aproximación al tema del trabajo desde el pensamiento sociológico de Zygmunt Bauman. Uno de los textos más conocidos de Bauman al respecto es Trabajo, consumismo y nuevos pobres; sin embargo, este es un tema que el sociólogo trata en otras obras. Aquí se pretende dar una visión en la que se tienen en cuenta la globalidad de sus escritos. Además, se dan unas claves que permiten comprender el enfoque que Bauman tiene del trabajo: se hace una (...) breve explicación de su perspectiva sociológica y de la importancia de la modernidad en su pensamiento. Por último, se expone cómo el trabajo cambia de sentido e importancia en la modernidad sólida y en la líquida. (shrink)

Bourrat and Griffiths :33, 2018) have recently argued that most of the evidence presented by holobiont defenders to support the thesis that holobionts are evolutionary individuals is not to the point and is not even adequate to discriminate multispecies evolutionary individuals from other multispecies assemblages that would not be considered evolutionary individuals by most holobiont defenders. They further argue that an adequate criterion to distinguish the two categories is fitness alignment, presenting the notion of fitness boundedness as a criterion that (...) allows divorcing true multispecies evolutionary individuals from other multispecies assemblages and provides an adequate criterion to single out genuine evolutionary multispecies assemblages. A consequence of their criterion is that holobionts, as conventionally defined by hologenome defenders, are not evolutionary individuals except in very rare cases, and for very specific host-symbiont associations. This paper is a critical response to Bourrat and Griffiths’ arguments and a defence of the arguments presented by holobiont defenders. Drawing upon the case of the hologenomic basis of the evolution of sanguivory in vampire bats, I argue that Bourrat and Griffiths overlook some aspects of the biological nature of the microbiome that justifies the thesis that holobionts are evolutionarily different to other multispecies assemblages. I argue that the hologenome theory of evolution should not define the hologenome as a collection of genomes, but as the sum of the host genome plus some traits of the microbiome which together constitute an evolutionary individual, a conception I refer to as the stability of traits conception of the hologenome. Based on that conception I argue that the evidence presented by holobiont defenders is to the point, and supports the thesis that holobionts are evolutionary individuals. In this sense, the paper offers an account of the holobiont that aims to foster a dialogue between hologenome advocates and hologenome critics. (shrink)

Lyotard’s diagnosis of a ‘postmodern condition’ has been repeatedly interpreted as a disavowal of the universal aspiration of political action and judgment. This article challenges this interpretation by showing that postmodernity involves an attempt to reconsider universality in such a way that it involves dissensus rather than consensus. I proceed by reconstructing Lyotard’s critique of the idea of consensus as a ground of political action and judgment, which in his view is based on a certain model of production of scientific (...) knowledge. Then, I analyse Lyotard’s turn to Kant’s judgment of the sublime as an alternative to a consensus-based conception of universal judgments. In the judgment of the sublime, universality stems from the disagreement between the faculties, which arouses respect for universal ideas. Analogously, political judgments stem from the disagreement between heterogeneous discourses, which produces a universal call to invent new languages that make communication possible. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to clarify what is properly common to the common good and to support its irreducibility as a guarantee of overcoming an atomistic conception of civil society. We begin by addressing the notion of individual freedom and the questioning of the selfish condition of the human being. Then, we delve into the normative possibilities offered by an ethical interpretation of the common good. The difference of the common good from other notions used in late-modern discourses (...) is key in determining the intrinsic commonality of social relations. In concluding, we argue for a conception of the common good that accommodates individual freedom, understanding it no longer in isolation, but as part of intersubjectivity. (shrink)

The paper defends an interactive theory of the distinctiveness of criminal law. It argues that criminal law’s distinctive behavior can be connected to the interaction between five traits: it is an institutional practice administered by a large and special bureaucracy, playing a substantial role in authorizing the use of coercive police force, leading to a harsh sanctioning regime linked, at least in part, with core wrongs and notions of personal responsibility. Although none of these features is exclusive to criminal law, (...) their interaction leads to modes of behavior that set it apart from other institutions. The paper argues that putting attention on the effects of this interaction provides us with powerful tools to both understand and asses the value and problems of criminal law. (shrink)

Contemporary biological research has suggested that some host–microbiome multispecies systems (referred to as “holobionts”) can in certain circumstances evolve as unique biological individual, thus being a unit of selection in evolution. If this is so, then it is arguably the case that some biological adaptations have evolved at the level of the multispecies system, what we call hologenomic adaptations. However, no research has yet been devoted to investigating their nature, or how these adaptations can be distinguished from adaptations at the (...) species-level (genomic adaptations). In this paper, we cover this gap by investigating the nature of hologenomic adaptations. By drawing on the case of the evolution of sanguivory diet in vampire bats, we argue that a trait constitutes a hologenomic adaptation when its evolution can only be explained if the holobiont is considered the biological individual that manifests this adaptation, while the bacterial taxa that bear the trait are only opportunistic beneficiaries of it. We then use the philosophical notions of emergence and inter-identity to explain the nature of this form of individuality and argue why it is special of holobionts. Overall, our paper illustrates how the use of philosophical concepts can illuminate scientific discussions, in the trend of what has recently been called metaphysics of biology. (shrink)

Symbiosis plays a fundamental role in contemporary biology, as well as in recent thinking in philosophy of biology. The discovery of the importance and universality of symbiotic associations has brought new light to old debates in the field, including issues about the concept of biological individuality. An important aspect of these debates has been the formulation of the hologenome concept of evolution, the notion that holobionts are units of natural selection in evolution. This review examines the philosophical assumptions that underlie (...) recent proposal of the hologenome concept of evolution, and traces those debates back in time to their historical origins, to the moment when the connection between the topics of symbiosis and biological individuality first caught the attention of biologists. The review is divided in two parts. The first part explores the historical origins of the connection between the notion of symbiosis and the concept of biological individuality, and emphasizes the role of A. de Bary, R. Pound, A. Schneider and C. Merezhkowsky in framing the debate. The second part examines the hologenome concept of evolution and explores four parallelisms between contemporary debates and the debates presented in the first part of the essay, arguing that the different debates raised by the hologenome concept were already present in the literature. I suggest that the novelty of the hologenome concept of evolution lies in the wider appreciation of the importance of symbiosis for maintaining life on Earth as we know it. Finally, I conclude by suggesting the importance of exploring the connections among contemporary biology, philosophy of biology and history of biology in order to gain a better understanding of contemporary biology. (shrink)

Holobionts are symbiotic assemblages composed by a host plus its microbiome. The status of holobionts as individuals has recently been a subject of continuous controversy, which has given rise to two main positions: on the one hand, holobiont advocates argue that holobionts are biological individuals; on the other, holobiont detractors argue that they are just mere chimeras or ecological communities, but not individuals. Both parties in the dispute develop their arguments from the framework of the philosophy of biology, in terms (...) of what it takes for a “conglomerate” to be considered an interesting individual from a biological point of view. However, the debates about holobiont individuality have important ontological implications that have remained vaguely explored from a metaphysical framework. The purpose of this paper is to cover that gap by presenting a metaphysical approach to holobionts individuality. Drawing upon a conception of natural selection that puts the focus on the transgenerational recurrence of the traits and that supports the thesis that holobionts are units of selection, we argue that holobionts bear emergent traits and exert downward powers over the entities that compose them. In this vein, we argue, a reasonable argument can be made for conceiving holobionts as emergent biological individuals. (shrink)

Given one conception of biological individuality (evolutionary, physiological, etc.), can a holobiont – that is the host + its symbiotic (mutualistic, commensalist and parasitic) microbiome – be simultaneously a biological individual and an ecological community? Herein, we support this possibility by arguing that the notion of biological individuality is part‐dependent. In our account, the individuality of a biological ensemble should not only be determined by the conception of biological individuality in use, but also by the biological characteristics of the part (...) of the ensemble under investigation. In the specific case of holobionts, evaluations of their individuality should be made either host‐relative or microbe‐relative. We support the claim that biological individuality is part‐dependent by drawing upon recent empirical evidence regarding the physiology of hosts and microbes, and the recent characterization of the ‘demibiont’. Our account shows that contemporary disagreements about the individuality of the holobiont derive from an incorrect understanding of the ontology of biological individuality. We show that collaboration between philosophers and biologists can be very fruitful in attempts to solve some contemporary biological debates. (shrink)

El propósito de este artículo es desarrollar una relectura al mecanicismo moderno. Esto implica que una adecuada comprensión de este consiste, ante todo, en considerarlo como un proyecto antes que un sistema doctrinal consolidado. Para ello se toma como eje la filosofía de Leibniz, la cual, a diferencia del cartesianismo, identifica las inconsistencias que implica concebir el mecanicismo como un sistema filosófico completo, principalmente al pretender justificar mecánicamente el mundo natural, esto es, a partir de la figura, el tamaño y (...) el movimiento. Todo lo anterior no implica un rechazo completo del mecanicismo por parte de Leibniz, sino que permite concebirlo como un medio para desarrollar su filosofía, proponiendo una complementariedad entre la causa final y la causa eficiente. de este modo, el mecanicismo es reubicado como un problema metodológico para la ciencia natural antes que como un problema metafísico. This article aims to develop a second reading to the modern mechanicism. This implies that an appropriate understanding of mechanicism consists, above all, in considering it as a project, instead of a consolidated doctrinal system. To do so, we take Leibniz's philosophy as our building blocks, since unlike the Cartesianism, it does identify the inconsistencies implied when we conceive mechanicism as a complete philosophical system, mainly under the pretension to justify the natural world mechanically, that is, based on the figure, size and movement. It does not imply that Leibniz rejects entirely mechanicism, but allows us to understand it as a mean to develop his philosophy, proposing a complementary relationship between final cause and efficient cause. This way, mechanicism is re-posed as a methodological issue for the natural science instead of a metaphysical issue. (shrink)

Philippe Huneman has recently questioned the widespread application of mechanistic models of scientific explanation based on the existence of structural explanations, i.e. explanations that account for the phenomenon to be explained in virtue of the mathematical properties of the system where the phenomenon obtains, rather than in terms of the mechanisms that causally produce the phenomenon. Structural explanations are very diverse, including cases like explanations in terms of bowtie structures, in terms of the topological properties of the system, or in (...) terms of equilibrium. The role of mathematics in bowtie structured systems and in topologically constrained systems has recently been examined in different papers. However, the specific role that mathematical properties play in equilibrium explanations requires further examination, as different authors defend different interpretations, some of them closer to the new-mechanistic approach than to the structural model advocated by Huneman. In this paper, we cover this gap by investigating the explanatory role that mathematics play in Blaser and Kirschner’s nested equilibrium model of the stability of persistent long-term human-microbe associations. We argue that their model is explanatory because: i) it provides a mathematical structure in the form of a set of differential equations that together satisfy an ESS; ii) that the nested nature of the ESSs makes the explanation of host-microbe persistent associations robust to any perturbation; iii) that this is so because the properties of the ESS directly mirror the properties of the biological system in a non-causal way. The combination of these three theses make equilibrium explanations look more similar to structural explanations than to causal-mechanistic explanation. (shrink)

Despite the increase in the research field of ethics in artificial intelligence, most efforts have focused on the debate about principles and guidelines for responsible AI, but not enough attention has been given to the “how” of applied ethics. This paper aims to advance the research exploring the gap between practice and principles in AI ethics by identifying how companies are applying those guidelines and principles in practice. Through a qualitative methodology based on 22 semi-structured interviews and two focus groups, (...) the goal of the current study is to understand how companies approach ethical issues related to AI systems. A structured analysis of the transcripts brought out many actual practices and findings, which are presented around the following main research topics: ethics and principles, privacy, explainability, and fairness. The interviewees also raised issues of accountability and governance. Finally, some recommendations are suggested such as developing specific sector regulations, fostering a data-driven organisational culture, considering the algorithm’s complete life cycle, developing and using a specific code of ethics, and providing specific training on ethical issues. Despite some obvious limitations, such as the type and number of companies interviewed, this work identifies real examples and direct priorities to advance the research exploring the gap between practice and principles in AI ethics, with a specific focus on Spanish companies. (shrink)

This paper aims to offer a new argument in defence bacterial species pluralism. To do so, I shall first present the particular issues derived from the conflict between the non-theoretical understanding of species as units of classification and the theoretical comprehension of them as units of evolution. Secondly, I shall justify the necessity of the concept of species for the bacterial world, and show how medicine and endosymbiotic evolutionary theory make use of different concepts of bacterial species due to their (...) distinctive purposes. Finally, I shall show how my argument provides a new source of defence for bacterial pluralism. (shrink)

La muerte de Hegel es tomada frecuentemente por los intérpretes como el acontecimiento que marca el final de la metafísica. Lo que generalmente se asume con ello no es sólo una determinada periodización de la historia de la filosofía, sino también una muy determinada interpretación de su “final” como agotamiento de algo que ha llegado al final de sus fuerzas y se desvanece como algo caduco y obsoleto. Pero si esto es así, ¿cómo explicar entonces los constantes repuntes del hegelianismo (...) a lo largo del s. XX? ¿Son las últimas apariciones de una sombra del pasado que se deja ver por última vez antes de desvanecerse por completo? ¿O son más bien las manifestaciones de un espíritu vivo que se niega a ser enterrado como un “perro muerto”? ¿Es verdaderamente la muerte de Hegel como la del perro, o más bien como la de espíritu que mira a la muerte a los ojos y emerge renovado de ella? ¿Son las diversas reacciones contra Hegel que se suceden a lo largo del pensamiento postmetafísico la clara expresión histórica de una nueva conciencia filosófica que ha conseguido romper el lazo con la metafísica, o son más bien el síntoma de una nueva enajenación del espíritu destinada a escribir un nuevo capítulo de la Historia universal? El objetivo de este artículo es evidenciar el hegelianismo como el momento decisivo y final del despliegue del espíritu en el camino hacia la autoconciencia universal. (shrink)

In this paper we analyze some of the major difficulties of informed consent. We consider insufficient to base IC on the principle of autonomy. We must not forget that the patient may be in a situation of extreme vulnerability and the good doctor should assume a degree of commitment and responsibility with his/her decisions. Our aim is to introduce the ethics of responsibility of Levinas in practice and theory of IC in order to generate a beneficent medical practice in which (...) the supervision and overseeing of the patient do not undermine his/her autonomy. (shrink)

Ortega trasladó sus ideas pedagógicas a su quehacer como profesor universitario. Muchos de sus discípulos y colaboradores han dejado constancia de ello, como aquí se refiere. Fue para ellos, sobre todo ejemplo, ejemplo de vida, de orientación vital, de sinceridad intelectual en su quehacer filosófico. En este artículo no analizamos la filosofía de Ortega, lo que hemos hecho en otros textos, sino el impacto que causó la «persona» Ortega en sus colaboradores y discípulos. Aunque es algo estudiando, nunca se ha (...) presentado de esta forma sintética que muestra la envergadura del impacto que Ortega produjo en el mundo intelectual de la Edad de Plata de la cultura española. (shrink)

This paper sets forth Marx’s critique of equality as an essential dimension of modern citizenship. For this purpose, the paper traces a link between the early Marxian critique to the citizen “celestial sphere” with the ways in which production and circulation processes are articulated to set up modern societies, according to the commercial logic and the logic of capital. According to our thesis, Marx’s political economy provides someelements to better understand, and in a more comprehensive way, his early criticism, particularly (...) about the relationship between the public and the private, and about the place of the citizen equality in the capitalist society. (shrink)

Este artículo intenta establecer ciertas convergencias críticas entre la filosofía de la praxis de Karl marx, expuesta en sus clásicos Manuscritos de París de 1844, y la reflexión contemporánea de hans Jonas, propuesta en El principio de la responsabilidad, a propósito de la circunstancia humana que se desprende de los desarrollos de la industria moderna, tanto en lo que concierne a la depredación de la naturaleza, como en lo tocante al extravío humano que ello supone. en particular, espero mostrar que (...) el tercero de estos manuscritos marxianos contiene lo que vengo a llamar una “ontología relacional”, desde la cual se iluminan las reivindicaciones éticas contemporáneas de la responsabilidad, así como se pueden encontrar elementos para sostener sus orientaciones antropológicas y aspiraciones epistémicas. el holismo jonasiano y su consecuente crítica del antropocentrismo, y su perspectiva de futuro –o la exigencia de hacer del bien y la justicia algo más que un compromiso con el presente– pueden encontrar en el diálogo con la filosofía de la praxis una ocasión para evaluar su urgencia por los principios últimos de fundamentación a favor, más bien, de una conciencia comprometida con rastrear los términos efectivos en que se confirma la objetualidad de lo humano y la humanidad de la naturaleza. (shrink)

The Shadow of Totalitarianism develops a new way to think about the problem of evil in politics. Beginning with the commonplace idea that the rise of totalitarianism in the twentieth century marked the emergence of a new form of evil, Javier Burdman finds early seeds of thinking about this form in Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy. Far from being an isolated object of inquiry, evil, Burdman argues, has long shaped and been central to philosophical understandings of political action and judgment. (...) Systematically analyzing the relationship between evil, action, and judgment in the work of Kant, Hannah Arendt, and Jean-François Lyotard, The Shadow of Totalitarianism aligns evil in politics with a desire for moral certainty, hence the emphasis on the need to accept and affirm uncertainty in current ethical theories. The careful philosophical analysis through which Burdman develops this inquiry contributes to a better understanding of some of the theoretical complexities involved in the problem of evil and provides conceptual tools with which to approach it. (shrink)

A general view in philosophy of science says that the appropriateness of an object to act as a surrogate depends on the user’s decision to utilize it as such. This paper challenges this claim by examining the role of surrogative reasoning in high-throughput sequencing technologies as they are used in contemporary microbiome science. Drawing on this, we argue that, in technology-driven surrogates, knowledge about the type of inference practically permitted and epistemically justified by the surrogate constrains their use and thus (...) puts a limit to the user’s intentions to use any object as a surrogate for what they please. Ignoring this leads to a serious epistemic misalignment, which ultimately prevents surrogative reasoning. Thus, we conclude that knowledge about the type of surrogate reasoning that the technologies being used allow is fundamental to avoid misinterpreting the consequences of the data obtained with them, the hypothesis this data supports, and what these technologies are surrogates of. (shrink)

The hologenome concept of evolution is a hypothesis about the evolution of animals and plants. It asserts that the evolution of animals and plants was partially triggered by their interactions with their symbiotic microbiomes. In that vein, the hologenome concept posits that the holobiont (animal host + symbionts of the microbiome) is a unit of selection. -/- The hologenome concept has been severely criticized on the basis that selection on holobionts would only be possible if there were a tight transgenerational (...) host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection. As our current evidence suggests that this is not the case for most of the symbiont species that compose the microbiome of animals and plants, the opportunity for holobiont selection is very low in relation to the opportunity for selection on each of the species that compose the host microbiome. Therefore, holobiont selection will always be disrupted ‘from below’, by selection on each of the species that compose the microbiome. -/- This thesis constitutes a conceptual effort to defend philosophically the hologenome concept. I argue that the criticism according to which holobiont selection requires tight transgenerational host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection is grounded on a metaphysical view of the world according to which the biological hierarchy needs to be nested, such that each new level of selection includes every entity from below. Applied to hologenomes, it entails that the hologenome is a collection of genomes, and selection of hologenomes is assumed to entail cospeciation of the host with the species that constitute its microbiome. -/- Against that interpretation, I propose the ‘stability of traits’ account, according to which hologenome evolution is the result of the action of natural selection in a non-nested hierarchical world. In that vein, hologenome evolution does not entail cospeciation, and thus it does not require tight transgenerational host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection. By embracing a multilevel selection perspective, I argue that hologenome evolution results from the simultaneous action of natural selection on each of the lineages that compose the microbiome, and on the assemblage composed by the host genome plus the functional traits of its microbiome. Hologenome selection occurs when the evolution of the traits of the microbiome result from their effects on the fitness of the host, and it can take the form of multilevel selection 1, or multilevel selection 2. In both cases, hologenome selection entails the evolution of microbiome traits, as well as evolution of the host genome, rather than cospeciation of lineages. (shrink)

Are properties universal or particular? According to Universalism, properties are universals because there is a certain fundamental tie that makes properties capable of being shareable by more than one thing. On the opposing side, Particularism is the view that properties are particulars due to the existence of a fundamental tie that makes properties incapable of being shared. My aim in this paper is to critically examine the connections between the notions of the fundamental tie and universality and particularity. I argue, (...) first, that universality and particularity can characterize a property if and only if there is a universalist or a particularist fundamental tie, and, second, that it is unclear that these should be the fundamental ties that connect ordinary and scientific properties to their respective bearers. Then I develop an alternative approach to properties and the fundamental tie, which is neutralist because it dispenses with universality and particularity as features of properties, and naturalist because it naturalizes the possession of properties by replacing metaphysical fundamental ties with a scientific one, in particular, a physical process. I show how this approach improves our understanding of properties and instantiation. (shrink)