Meat is a multi-billion-dollar industry that relies on people performing risky physical work inside meat-processing facilities over long shifts in close proximity. These workers are socially disempowered, and many are members of groups beset by historic and ongoing structural discrimination. The combination of working conditions and worker characteristics facilitate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Workers have been expected to put their health and lives at risk during the pandemic because of government and industry pressures to keep (...) this “essential industry” producing. Numerous interventions can significantly reduce the risks to workers and their communities; however, the industry’s implementation has been sporadic and inconsistent. With a focus on the U.S. context, this paper offers an ethical framework for infection prevention and control recommendations grounded in public health values of health and safety, interdependence and solidarity, and health equity and justice, with particular attention to considerations of reciprocity, equitable burden sharing, harm reduction, and health promotion. Meat-processing workers are owed an approach that protects their health relative to the risks of harms to them, their families, and their communities. Sacrifices from businesses benefitting financially from essential industry status are ethically warranted and should acknowledge the risks assumed by workers in the context of existing structural inequities. (shrink)

This book promotes the research of present-day women working in ancient and medieval philosophy, with more than 60 women having contributed in some way to the volume in a fruitful collaboration. It contains 22 papers organized into ten distinct parts spanning the sixth century BCE to the fifteenth century CE. Each part has the same structure: it features, first, a paper which sets up the discussion, and then, one or two responses that open new perspectives and engage in further reflections. (...) Our authors’ contributions address pivotal moments and players in the history of philosophy: women philosophers in antiquity, Cleobulina of Rhodes, Plato, Lucretius, Bardaisan of Edessa, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Plotinus, Porphyry, Peter Abelard, Robert Kilwardby, William Ockham, John Buridan, and Isotta Nogarola. The result is a thought-provoking collection of papers that will be of interest to historians of philosophy from all horizons. Far from being an isolated effort, this book is a contribution to the ever-growing number of initiatives which endeavour to showcase the work of women in philosophy. (shrink)

Background Voluntary post-mortem donation to science (PDS) is the most appropriate source for body dissection in medical education and training, and highly useful for biomedical research. In Mexico, unclaimed bodies are no longer a legal source, but PDS is legally possible, although scarcely facilitated, and mostly ignored by the general population. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the attitude and willingness for PDS and to identify a sociodemographic profile of people with willingness toward PDS. Methods A validated on-line survey was distributed (...) by the convenience method via the social networks of a Catholicism-inspired, private university in northern Mexico. Frequency analyses of all variables and coded free comments were complemented with association studies. Results Although the responder cohort (n = 143) was too small and biased to be representative of the university community (n = 13,500), willingness to post-mortem organ donation was 90.7% and to PDS 70.7%. In this cohort, PDS willingness had the strongest association with mature age (> 40 years old; P, 0.0008). Among young adults, willingness to PDS was the lowest among volunteers from technical and business schools and the highest among those from the social sciences (P, 0.009). Respondents from the social sciences were also the most consistent between attitude and behavior with respect to organ donation. A free comment option revealed respondents were interested in the unusual taboo topic. Conclusions A small, but sufficiently large proportion expressed willingness toward PDS. In our university cohort, which was biased in higher education and altruism, mature age and social interest were associated with PDS willingness. (shrink)

Este artículo explora varios motivos en los que Arendt pudo inspirarse en Benjamin para distanciarse luego. Sobre todo, la concepción de la naturaleza como ruina y la relación entre historia y naturaleza que él caracterizaría como historia natural. Junto a ello, la “nuda vida” y la noción de “creatura”, que Benjamin reelabora a partir del drama barroco y Arendt reconstruye en la figura de los refugiados y la “abstracta desnudez del ser humano”. Ambas figuras reaparecen en la lectura que los (...) dos hacen de Kafka como anticipación profética del totalitarismo. Pero, mientras que Arendt extrae de él las figuras opuestas del paria y del parvenu, Benjamin se fija en el mesianismo y en el carácter opresivo de la ley. La desatención de Arendt a esto último es la condición de su apuesta por la natalidad y la política, lo que le distancia de Benjamin y del propio Kafka. (shrink)

An interpretation of God as exemplary cause is in consonance with Aristotle's biological works, although in the Metaphysics Aristotle does shy away from such an interpretation. It is possible to conceive the order of the world in Aristotle as "an expression of desire of God." The rational order that is present in the universe is dependent on God, on his thought. Each organism desires to realize its form, to become intelligible, and to thus imitate God's thought. Such an interpretation of (...) Aristotle coincides with and is completed by Aquinas's treatment of the truth as the origin and end of the universe in the Summa contra Gentiles. (shrink)

Mediante el análisis de las categorías: educación bancaria, educación liberadora y método pedagógico, planteadas por Paulo Freire, se reconoce que la primera deshumaniza a los sujetos que requieren ser emancipados, la segunda constituye el espacio para el desarrollo de una conciencia crítica, y mediante la tercera es posible la concientización en aras de una verdadera transformación social.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), a type of plant‐fungal endosymbiosis, and nodulation, a bacterial‐plant endosymbiosis, are the most ubiquitous symbioses on earth. Recent findings have established part of a shared genetic basis underlying these interactions. Here, we approach root endosymbioses through the lens of the homology and modularity concepts aiming at further clarifying the proximate and ultimate causes for the establishment of these biological systems. We review the genetics that underlie interspecific signaling and its concomitant shift in genetic programs for either partner. (...) Also, through the comparative analysis of genetic modules shared by AM and nodulation symbioses, we identify fundamental nodes in these networks, suggesting the elemental steps that may have permitted symbiotic adaptation. Here, we show that this approach, allied to recent technical advances in the study of genetic systems architecture, can provide clear testable hypotheses for the advancement of our understanding on the evolution and development of symbiotic systems. (shrink)

St. Anselm provides us with a metaphysics of the Logos, whereby things are true in relation to the Divine Intellect, or by the one first truth. Anselm will, as Aquinas after him, consider whether things are more true in the Divine Word than they are in themselves. This question seems to be closely related to the human person’s desire for God, a desire which makes possible the person’s return to God and which involves not only being created true but also (...) doing the truth, or being as the person ought to be. The questions I will treat in this paper will show that Anselm’s metaphysical and ethical thought is heavily indebted to Neoplatonic themes such as measure and order. (shrink)

St. Anselm provides us with a metaphysics of the Logos, whereby things are true in relation to the Divine Intellect, or by the one first truth. This type of metaphysics has ethical implications, for the truth of man’s essence needs to be brought to completion through right action. Rectitude of the rational creature’s will is necessary for man’s doing the truth or standing in the truth. This paper shows that the actualization of man’s essence can only be achieved through the (...) return of the rational creature to the divine Truth, which is its exemplary and final cause. (shrink)

Nos pouco mais de dois anos da gestão de Jair Bolsonaro, as questões ambiental e indígena e a Amazônia tiveram grande destaque entre os temas que mais mobilizaram ações de oposição ao governo, tanto em campanhas da sociedade civil em âmbito nacional e internacional, quanto em embates no Congresso Nacional e ações judiciais no Supremo Tribunal Federal. Neste texto apontamos alguns desses momentos, pontuando com o histórico de posicionamentos do presidente sobre essas questões ao longo de sua trajetória política, demonstrando (...) como sua visão conflita diretamente com as premissas da maior parte dos tratados internacionais, os fundamentos da Constituição Federal, o consenso científico e o histórico das políticas implementadas no Brasil nos últimos 30 anos. A partir da análise da política socioambiental para a Amazônia, é inevitável tratar do papel das Forças Armadas no atual governo, ainda que de modo superficial, sem a menor pretensão de esgotar todos os aspectos em que se relacionam. (shrink)

In a little over two years of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, questions related to the Amazon, to the environment, and to indigenous peoples have come to the fore among the themes that have mobilized the opposition to the government, both in national and international civil society campaigns as well as in struggles taking place in Congress and in lawsuits in the Supreme Court. In this article, I point out some of these moments, highlighting the history of the president's positions on (...) some of these questions. I demonstrate how his visions contrasts starkly with the premises of most international treaties, with the foundations of Brazil's constitution, with scientific consensus, and with the policies implemented in the country in the past thirty years. The analysis of his anti-environmental policies for the Amazon makes it inevitable to treat the role of the Armed Forces in his government, even though many of the aspects involved still remain to be addressed. (shrink)

La reciente proliferación de lecturas fragmentarias de la obra de Simondon exige una interpretación que entienda su carácter sistemático. Consideramos que la allagmática es uno de los problemas fundamentales de su obra y que, sin embargo, apenas ha sido tratado o tomado en serio. La siguiente publicación parte de las profundidades de obra de Simondon y busca encontrar lo particular de esa «ciencia buscada» a la que llama allagmática.

La relación intelectual oculta que sostenía la amistad entre Hannah Arendt y Walter Benjamin va más allá de la relación de amistad personal que sostuvieron en el exilio en Francia y más allá de las interpretaciones que la propia Arendt hace posteriormente de Benjamin, que lo colocan injustamente cerca de Heidegger. Este artículo se propone, más bien, buscar la conexión entre los dos en la lectura que hacen de Kafka como escritor de las parábolas de la vida moderna. En ellas, (...) ambos encuentran la figura del paria y del refugiado expulsado de la sociedad administrada. Arendt encontrará también la posibilidad del paria consciente, dotado de la facultad de juicio que replica la figura benjaminiana de la redención. (shrink)

Seeking to provide a richer alternative to both the contemporary cult of beauty and appearance and the concomitant decline of real beauty, this book offers a systematic treatment of the relationship between beauty and the good by drawing from ancient (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, and others) and medieval (e.g., Aquinas, Bonaventure, Hugh of St. Victor, and others) thought in such a way as to bring together scholars in these traditions.

El presente artículo es un análisis de un trabajo de Zubiri, inédito y hasta ahora desconocido, que está dedicado a la filosofía del pragmatismo y demuestra un estudio minucioso de obras que, en los comienzos del siglo XX, pasaban por ¿pragmatistas¿. Una parte de este artículo está dedicado a fijar la fecha de composición del estudio de Zubiri; diversos índices externos e internos llevan a la conclusión de que la fecha más probable de su redacción es la primavera de 1919, (...) con lo que estamos ante el primer trabajo importante del filósofo, aunque ignoramos cuál fue exactamente el motivo para su elaboración. Con materiales de diversa procedencia, Zubiri hace del vago pragmatismo un ¿sistema filosófico¿ fuertemente trabado en torno a dos puntos fundamentales: la crítica radical del positivismo monista y una nueva teoría de la verdad. Zubiri acepta el primer punto, pero rechaza contundentemente el segundo bajo el reproche de desembocar en un relativismo escéptico. El problema que aquí se abre será determinar si en la restante producción filosófica de Zubiri quedó una ¿dimensión pragmática¿, integrada en planteamientos filosóficos muy distintos. (shrink)

Este estudio examina la influencia de la tradición neoplatónica en el pensamientode Santo Tomás con respecto a la causalidad de la bondad divina. El axioma “bonum est diffusivum sui,” atribuido en general al Pseudo-Dionisio, será puesto de relieve e interpretado en el sentido de la causalidad final.