Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas offer an informed analysis on the views of Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Steven Weinberg; carefully distinguishing science from philosophy and religion in the writings of the oracles.

Ethical approval must be obtained before medical research can start. We describe the differences in EA for an pseudonymous, non-interventional, observational European study. Sixteen European national coordinators of the international study on very old intensive care patients answered an online questionnaire concerning their experience getting EA. N = 8/16 of the NCs could apply at one single national ethical committee, while the others had to apply to various regional ECs and/or individual hospital institutional research boards. The time between applying for (...) EA and the first decision varied between 7 days and 300 days. In 9/16 informed consent from the patient was not deemed necessary; in 7/16 informed consent was required from the patient or relatives. The upload of coded data to a central database required additional information in 14/16. In 4/16 the NCs had to ask separate approval to keep a subject identification code list to de-pseudonymize the patients if questions would occur. Only 2/16 of the NCs agreed that informed consent was necessary for this observational study. Overall, 6/16 of the NCs were satisfied with the entire process and 8/16 were unsatisfied. 11/16 would welcome a European central EC that would judge observational studies for all European countries. Variations in the process and prolonged time needed to get EA for observational studies hampers inclusion of patients in some European countries. This might have a negative influence on the external validity. Further harmonization of ethical approval process across Europe is welcomed for low-risk observational studies. Getting ethical approval for low-risk, non-interventional, observational studies varies enormously across European countries. (shrink)

Popper's philosophy is usually interpreted as a fallibilist epistemology that, when applied to the social theory, serves as the foundation of the open society. It is argued here that the reverse is also true, namely that Popper's theory of knowledge has some ethical roots whose analysis provides us with a better understanding of Popper's thought.

In science it is obvious that we are certain about many things, but among philosophers there is little agreement as to why we know these things. In Knowing Things for Sure physicist and realist philosopher, Mariano Artigas traces the confusion to non-realist philosophies and argues that practitioners of experimental science do reach logical truths about reality.

Este trabajo intenta analizar la concepción, naturaleza jurídica y garantía de los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, en América Latina, así como las condiciones y medidas que pueden contribuir a su efectividad. Presenta tambien una propuesta de indicadores que pueden utilizarse en la supervision de la efectividad de esos derechos y de la proteccion que ellos han alcanzado, proporcionando información sobre la situactón latinoamericana y caribeña actual.

El presente trabajo aborda la temática de la temporalidad ligada a la producción de relatos de memoria en la antigua Grecia, cuando esta tarea era encomendada a la creación de palabra en boca de los poetas. Mediante un estudio de las odas y de los epinicios de Píndaro -tanto en el contexto de su surgimiento como a través de interpretaciones filosóficas posteriores-, los relatos plausibles de conformar una memoria aparecen ligados a un acto de composición selectivo, donde el poeta decidirá (...) qué acontecimientos serán dignos de Elogio y cuáles, en cambio, de Vituperio. En un contexto que se asume complejo, constituido por fuerzas ambivalentes, las producciones de palabra al servicio de un sostenimiento de la memoria deberán sortear siempre la opacidad de las circunstancias que la confunden, la ironizan, la amenazan de olvido. La palabra, así, en boca de los poetas, tendrá la eficacia capaz de dar cuenta de una economía de lo verdadero que ya va trazando la memoria de las paradojas de su propia historia. This paper addresses the issue of temporality linked to the production of memory narratives in ancient Greece, when this task was entrusted to poets and their creation of words. Through a study of Pindar Odes and Epinicia - both, in the context of its emergence as through further philosophical interpretations- plausible stories to form a memory appear linked to a selective act of composition, where the poet decides what events will be worthy of Praise, and which, instead, of Shame. In a context that is assumed complex, consisting of mixed forces, word productions serving a sustaining memory must always overcome the opacity of the confusing circumstances, the irony, and the threat of oblivion. Words, in the voice of the poets, will become the efficacy marks of some kind of economy of the ruth that is already mapping the paradoxal memory of its own history. (shrink)

Fallibilism is a common view in contemporary epistemology. However, an examination of its philosophical basis and consequences shows that it requires some non trivial qualifications about its meaning.

Scientific truth, the unity of knowledge, scientism, and scientific progress , are topics that occupy a central place in the dialogue between science and faith. Fides et ratio illuminates them in the light of the present-day circumstances, and provides new philosophical and theological insights.

El trabajo precisa el significado de la finalidad en el mundo natural, mostrando su relevancia en la tarea de alcanzar intelectualmente a Dios. La propuesta se articula sobre las nociones de direccionalidad, cooperatividad y funcionalidad. A continuación se contrastan las nociones anteriores y la de finalidad con la cosmovisión que se deriva de nuestro conocimiento científico actual. Finalmente se muestra la continuidad de su propuesta con la tradición filosófica realista y la vigencia del argumento teleológico de Tomás de Aquino.