El pintor Rafael Ángel Fernández Piedra, fallecido en 2018, es considerado uno de los artistas más representativos de Costa Rica, cuya obra ha tenido también una proyección internacional considerable, al formar parte de la Colección del Museo José Luis Cuevas en Ciudad de México, así como de la Colección del Museo Rally de Arte Contemporáneo, en Punta del Este, Uruguay, entre otros. Obtuvo el premio Aquileo J. Echeverría en Artes Plásticas en 1968, 1972 y 1975, así como el premio (...) Nacional de Cultura Magón en 2002, el más importante galardón que otorga el Estado costarricense en reconocimiento a una vida dedicada a la cultura. Como homenaje póstumo a este insigne creador, en esta edición la Revista Ístmica convierte su sección de Artes Visuales en una galería virtual dedicada a la exposición de parte de su obra, comentada sentidamente por su hija, la curadora y también artista, Alma Fernández. (shrink)

Este trabajo surge como resultado de una investigación cuyos objetivos son identificar los tipos de espacios escénicos, suelos y localizaciones que utiliza la videodanza. Para ello hemos analizado 152 videodanzas escogidas de las selecciones oficiales de los festivales españoles específicos, desde su creación, hasta el año 2018. Para el análisis hemos creado un modelo ad hoc de nueve variables y 44 categorías. Del análisis podemos concluir que la videodanza utiliza preferentemente encuadres centrados en espacios abiertos y normalmente planos, que se (...) ubican en entornos urbanos, generalmente en interiores, con suelos específicos que aportan significado a la coreografía o a la narrativa de la videodanza. (shrink)

Es necesario enfocar escépticamente las pocas referencias a Pitágoras y los pitagóricos contenidas en los diálogos de Platón, pues resulta difícil tomar la medida efectiva de una influencia pitagórica sobre el ateniense. De hecho, las únicas referencias explícitas a Pitágoras (Rep. X 600a-b) y a los pitagóricos (Rep. VII 530c-531a) no nos dicen mucho y, respecto a los personajes tradicionalmente considerados pitagóricos, nuestra información es poco fiable, incierta y a veces contradictoria. Tal prudencia es particularmente útil en el caso de (...) Timeo y del personaje homónimo de este diálogo, cuyo pitagorismo, aunque ampliamente aceptado por los comentaristas, parece muy discutible. Así sólo la aplicación de un método histórico prudente y lúcido puede evitar esta deriva que identifica como pitagórico toda referencia a la transmigración del alma y las matemáticas en sentido amplio. (shrink)

El presente artículo trata la presentación que Henry Corbin hace del sufismo de Ibn ' Arabī. Pretende mostrar cómo el proyecto filosófico del pensador francés (atravesado de protestantismo, heideggerianismo y fenomenología) produce una obturación de la doctrina akbarí, que denota cierta falta de amor o desinterésen la alteridad en tanto alteridad. El itinerario constará de cinco pasos. Primero, nos acercaremos a los años de formación de Corbin. Segundo, presentaremo salgunos puntos esenciales de su obra más célebre, La imaginación creadora en (...) el sufismo de Ibn ‘Arabî. Tercero, se mostrarán aquellos aspectos de la doctrinade Ibn ' Arabī allí obturados. Cuarto, expondremos algunas conclusiones a partir de estas ausencias. Quinto, a modo de epílogo, y ya en el ámbito de la filosofía latinoamericana, ofreceremos una mirada al proyecto de la transmodernidad de Enrique Dussel, desde el paradigma del amor akbarí. (shrink)

Resumen: El texto pretende un acercamiento al carácter amoroso de la escritura de Maria Gabriela Llansol. Explica cómo ésta, igual que la de María Zambrano, lleva la defensa amorosa del devenir de Nietzsche un paso más allá, en tanto nace de un interés por la otredad en sí misma y no de una voluntad de autoafirmación. La ruptura de las nociones convencionales de tiempo, espacio e identidad será una de las vías que utiliza. En ello puede apreciarse cierta similitud con (...) Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī, de quien aprendió la necesidad de buscar un tiempo propio para el alma, diferente del cuantitativo y cuya doctrina del amor y de la santidad exige un genuino interés en la otredad en tanto otredad. -/- Abstract: The text is an attempt to approach the loving character of the writing of Maria Gabriela Llansol. It explains how her works, similarly to those of María Zambrano, go further than Nietzsche in the affirmation of the becoming: as long as there is not will of self-affirmation, but an authentic interest in alterity. One of the paths she explores is to break the conventional notions of time, space and identity. It is possible to appreciate two coincidences with Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī. First, Llansol learned from him the need of an own time for the soul, different from quantitative time. Second, Ibn ʿArabī’s doctrine of love and sainthood also implies a genuine interest in otherness as otherness. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza la presencia simbólica del amor, la belleza y el ‘eterno femenino’ en la tragedia Fausto de Johann Wolfgang von Goethe a través de la hermenéutica comparativa con dos textos fundamentales del Renacimiento, De los heroicos furores de Giordano Bruno y la Hypnerotomachia Poliphili de Colonna. La tesis de partida es que los tres amores de Fausto, Margarita, Helena y la Mater Gloriosa, son en realidad una representación simbólica de los tres aspectos fundamentales del alma que también (...) podemos encontrar en estos dos textos por su conexión con la tradición neoplatónica. (shrink)

Dos inquietudes han determinado las palabras que componen la presente obra. La primera es de raigambre filosófica, y se refiere a la necesidad de clamar por la unidad de la persona en un período histórico como el actual caracterizado por profundas escisiones en sus dimensiones constitutivas. La segunda inquietud es de orden pedagógico, dado que la restitución de la persona ha de pasar por una educación interior que, recogiendo la totalidad de las dimensiones de aquélla, puedan verterse al todo social (...) sin necesidad de dirigismo alguno. La densidad del alma es un libro que recorre la interioridad personal sin esquivar ninguno de sus contenidos más propios. Por supuesto, tampoco elude abordar la intensa y rica profundidad de tal interioridad. En su desarrollo tales incursiones se realizan siempre desde el convencimiento en la eficacia de todas las posibilidades de una educación interior en virtudes. Tiempo, muerte, eternidad y resurrección son los ejes referenciales en los que se inscriben todos los demás temas, tales como la humildad, el silencio, la lealtad, el sacrificio, el valor, la marcialidad, la nobleza, el servicio, la esperanza y la fe. De estilo conciso y directo, no renuncia a la sonoridad literaria como tampoco a la expresión fiel de la realidad. Fidelidad que en absoluto está reñida con la firme convicción en que es tan posible como necesaria la elevación moral de todos desde cada uno. La densidad del alma se estructura en tres grandes capítulos. Sus mismos títulos –el primero, Interioridad. Diálogos íntimos; el segundo, Nación y destino. Diálogos compartidos y, el tercero, Eternidad. Diálogos trascendentes- expresan con claridad no sólo el itinerario seguido sino, además, las dimensiones fundamentales y constitutivas del ser humano: íntima, sociopolítica y trascendente. Un capítulo introductorio, que lleva por título Espíritu vertical, realiza la tarea de guía inicial que encamina al lector hacia el apasionante y fecundo mundo espiritual de la persona humana. La tarea de conocerse no puede abarcar toda una vida. Es necesario decidirse por lo mejor, decantarse por lo más excelso, y seguirlo. Es una obligación que ha de asumirse libremente con independencia de errores, deserciones y decepciones. Es nuestra más gozosa tarea. Es mi mejor tarea. (shrink)

Social robotics attempts to build robots able to interact with humans and other robots. Philosophical and scientific research in social cognition can provide social robotics research with models of social cognition to implement those models in mechanic agents. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, I present and defend a framework in social cognition known as mindshaping. According to it, human beings are biologically predisposed to learn and teach cultural and rational norms and complex cultural patterns of behavior that (...) enhance social cognition. Secondly, I will highlight how this framework can open new research perspectives in the area of social robotics. (shrink)

Previously, the author tried to show that some arguments in one of the two versions of Nicholas of Autrecourt’s Quaestio de intensione visionis are taken almost verbatim from the anonymous Tractatus de sex inconvenientibus. This paper concentrates on the arguments themselves in order to consider two main issues: the ‘translatability’ of limit decision problems, manifest in Autrecourt’s juxtaposition of questions de maximo et minimo, de primo et ultimo instanti, and the intension and remission of forms; the importance of Parisian discussions (...) of limit decision problems prior to the adoption of the new analytical languages developed at Oxford. Thus, the paper is divided in two sections, the first concerning some arguments of Autrecourt’s question, the second focusing on the link between one of Autrecourt’s arguments and the medieval tradition of commentaries on Aristotle’s De caelo, in which it is possible to find some antecedents of the analytical approach that later Parisian scholars would apply to these problems. (shrink)

Kant is not typically considered a major figure in the just war tradition's canon, although his work has informed recent discussions about international justice and just war theory. More specifically, philosophers have suggested that Kant's work may provide a coherent, normatively practical just war theory, basing this claim, in the main, on his views on the goal of peace and its purpose of establishing a cosmopolitan civil society.1 Such discussions are mostly concerned with jus ad bellum and jus in bello (...) constraints on nations and how Kant's writings can guide deliberation and, perhaps, the considered policy and practices of governments. Yet, the fact remains that it is embodied men and women and not the metaphysical ?nation? who actually conduct war. Hence, this paper seeks to determine the extent to which Kant's thought might contribute to the moral deliberation of those individuals who a fortiori will be bound to jus in bello constraints. To this end, the idea of moral learning will be explored, emphasizing the Kantian idea of autonomy. The ultimate goal of this paper is to demonstrate how some aspects of Kant's thought would contribute to ethics education in a military academy. (shrink)

This article focuses on 'improving' schools in difficult or disadvantaged contexts. It explores the contemporary policy discourse and intervention strategies aimed at improving schools in such circumstances. It argues that contemporary approaches to improvement are unlikely to succeed because the approaches adopted are not sufficiently differentiated or context specific. Drawing on two recent empirical studies, the article offers an alternative perspective on school improvement within this group of schools. It argues against standardised solutions in favour of a differentiated approach to (...) school improvement that recognises and respects the diversity, variability and complexity of schools in difficult contexts. (shrink)

In this article, we develop a new approach to integrating philosophical phenomenology with qualitative research. The approach uses phenomenology’s concepts, namely existentials, rather than methods such as the epoché or reductions. We here introduce the approach to both philosophers and qualitative researchers, as we believe that these studies are best conducted through interdisciplinary collaboration. In section 1, we review the debate over phenomenology’s role in qualitative research and argue that qualitative theorists have not taken full advantage of what philosophical phenomenology (...) has to offer, thus motivating the need for new approaches. In section 2, we introduce our alternative approach, which we call Phenomenologically Grounded Qualitative Research (PGQR). Drawing parallels with phenomenology’s applications in the cognitive sciences, we explain how phenomenological grounding can be used to conceptually front-load a qualitative study, establishing an explicit focus on one or more structures of human existence, or of our being in the world. In section 3, we illustrate this approach with an example of a qualitative study carried out by one of the authors: a study of the existential impact of early parental bereavement. In section 4, we clarify the kind of knowledge that phenomenologically grounded studies generate and how it may be integrated with existing approaches. (shrink)

The purpose of this essay is to account for privileged access or, more precisely, the special kind of epistemic right that we have to some beliefs about our own mental states. My account will have the following two main virtues. First of all, it will only appeal to those conceptual elements that, arguably, we already use in order to account for perceptual knowledge. Secondly, it will constitute a naturalizing account of privileged access in that it does not posit any mysterious (...) faculty of introspection or "inner perception" mechanism. (shrink)

Según Julián Marías, fue Ortega, en 1914, quien hizo el primer uso filosófico de la palabra griega _alétheia_ con el significado de descubrimiento o iluminación: se trata de una innovación significativa porque Ortega introdujo una acepción nueva, sirviéndose de esa palabra, para superar la idea, que le parecía inaceptable, de que la verdad tenga que ser adecuación. Después de Ortega, los demás filósofos, a partir de 1927 con Heidegger, no saben de dónde procede la interpretación etimológica que ellos dan como (...) obvia para sus reflexiones filosóficas sobre la verdad. En realidad no hay textos griegos claros que interpreten el concepto de _alétheia_ ni etimológica ni filosóficamente. Julián Marías descubrió la más antigua discusión etimológica en el lingüista y filósofo Teichmüller (1879), de la cual se sirvió Ortega en fecha tan temprana como 1914 para hacer la primera interpretación filosófica de esa palabra. A pesar de ello, se ha hecho general la creencia de que fue Heidegger el primero que trató sobre la verdad como _alétheia_ en contraposición a lo que denomina _concepto tradicional de la verdad._. (shrink)

Humanitarian aid in Central Europe after World War I repositioned both food and food research on a global scale. This essay follows the British scientific delegation that worked in Vienna as part of the food aid program and shows how the city became a “lab” for international nutrition. Assuming a political role, British nutrition experts were motivated to collaborate with local experts. To examine what internationalism looked like in the lab, the essay reconstructs the forgotten Viennese NEM system, a scientific (...) theory in which food was measured in milk units instead of calories, and demonstrates the unlikely ways the British researchers adopted it. The exchange of scientific standards between experts resulted in a series of milk experiments in which human and animal milks were exchanged and compared. Bearing on historiographic discussions of standards and internationalism, this case study offers an intervention into how we connect the history of measurement, international politics, and living creatures. (shrink)

El autor realiza una lectura en clave perspectivista de la neurofenomenología, enfoque transdisciplinar y metodológico iniciado a mediados de los 90 por el neurobiólogo Francisco J. Varela desde el ámbito experimental de las ciencias de la mente. La originalidad del artículo reside en que estudia comparativamente el problemático entrecruce de la neurofenomenología de Varela con el perspectivismo científico de Ronald N. Giere, mostrándonos que la neurofenomenología no sólo lo antecedió cronológicamente, sino que fue mucho más radical al tener en cuenta (...) la la dimensión fenomenológica y trascendental de la experiencia vivida humana y al aplicarla en los protocolos de las neurociencias cognitivas. // The author makes a perspectivist reading of neurophenomenology, a transdisciplinary and methodological approach pioneered in the 90’s by the neurobiologist Francisco J. Varela, who worked in the experimental field of the science of mind. The originality of the article consists in studying with a comparative method the problematic intertwine of Varela’s neurophenomenology and the scientific perspectivism recently defended by Ronald N. Giere. In this way, the autor shows how neurophenomenology notonly came before Giere’s proposal but also how it was more radical in considering the phenomenological and transcendental human dimension and in trying an implementation in cognitive neuroscience protocols. (shrink)

The Modern concept of truth, which subjects truth to certainty, broke the harmonious relation between reality and truth, that prevailed in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Hans-Georg Gadamer thinks that the main task of contemporary Philosophy is to recover the original harmony of being and knowledge. To shed light on the nature of this problem, we expound the metaphysical-theological foundation of truth, which is at the roots of Aristotelian and Thomistic Philosophies. Specifically, we analyze here the relation between being, truth and (...) logos in the Aristotelian treatise Perì Hermeneías, and in its Thomistic commentary. (shrink)

Interview with Pierre Rosanvallon, conducted by Javier Fernández Sebastián, in Madrid, September 28, 2006.

The dichotomy between the qualitative and the quantitative has been a classic throughout the history of science. As will be seen, this dichotomy permeates all ontological levels of reality. In this work, phenomenological examples potentially related to semiosis are presented at the different levels established by Mario Bunge and Josep Ferrater Mora, contrasting the qualitative categorizations with the quantifiable physical reality. Likewise, the need to continue in the quantification of the biosemiotic and linguistic studies will be presented, while, in contrast, (...) the need to establish a qualitative framework in the little-addressed study of technosemiotics will be raised, of potential interest given the notable advances that are expected in communication systems for inert artifacts in the next years. In short, in the thesis defended here the qualitative precedes the quantitative in the defining path of science. (shrink)

Se problematiza la conexión entre la libertad práctica y trascendental en la Crítica de la razón pura. La intención es explicitar las dificultades que enfrenta Kant al relacionar estos sentidos de libertad dentro del marco de la filosofía crítica. Por lo general, los intérpretes entienden la relació..

Se problematiza la conexión entre la libertad práctica y trascendental en la Crítica de la razón pura. La intención es explicitar las dificultades que enfrenta Kant al relacionar estos sentidos de libertad dentro del marco de la filosofía crítica. Por lo general, los intérpretes entienden la relación entre estos dos sentidos de libertad como ontológica o como conceptual. Se quiere mostrar que ninguna de estas interpretaciones alcanza a superar los presuntos dogmatismos racionalista y empirista que, en conformidad con Kant, sustentan (...) las posturas del proponente de la Tesis y de la Antítesis, respectivamente. The article discusses the connection between practical and transcendental freedom in the Critique of Pure Reason, in order to reveal the difficulties faced by Kant when he relates these two meanings of freedom in the context of critical philosophy. Interpreters have generally understood the relation between these two meanings of freedom as ontological or conceptual. The objective of this article, however, is to show that neither of those interpretations manages to overcome the rationalist and empiricist dogmatism that, according to Kant, support the positions of the proponents of the Thesis and the Antithesis, respectively. (shrink)

La responsabilidad ética de las acciones de un hombre que pudiera tornarse invisible reabre en Cicerón el debate entre lo honestum y lo utile y con él la necesidad de presentar un modelo de ciudadano que vincule elementos políticos, éticos y jurídicos en orden a la conservación de una serie de valores necesarios para la convivencia. Dicho modelo se presenta en De officiis como una traducción de la filosofía de Panecio en la que el complejo término decorum adquiere una dimensión (...) central. El artículo analiza dicho concepto y la posición que ocupa en el pensamiento político ciceroniano la imitación de los exempla virtutis como forma de garantizar la estabilidad política en un momento de grave crisis de los valores republicanos. (shrink)

Abraham Maslow’s needs theory is one of the most influential motivation theories in management and organizational behavior. What are its anthropological and ethical presuppositions? Are they consistent with sound business philosophy and ethics? This paper analyzes and assesses the anthropological and ethical underpinnings of Maslow’s needs theory from a personalistic framework, and concludes that they are flawed. Built on materialistic naturalism, the theory’s “humanistic” claims are subverted by its reductionist, individualistic approach to the human being, which ends up in a (...) needs-based ethics that understands goodness, virtue, and rights in instinctual, subjectivistic, and relativistic terms. Its moral imperative, “Be yourself!,” is either the materialistic fiat of genetic drives or the voluntaristic command of unbridled will. Significant implications for business educators, managers, and organizations are discussed, along with recommendations. Managerial theories and approaches that reduce personality to individuality are inconsistent with proper anthropological and ethical business principles. Adopting those individualistic theories may ultimately undermine organizational effectiveness, and the very essence of business as human activity and of management as human calling. Instead, personalistic anthropology and virtue ethics, rooted in Aristotelian–Thomistic thought, soundly account for properly human nature and the good life. Business educators and practitioners are encouraged to embrace this integral, truly humanistic framework for motivation, and management theory and practice. (shrink)

As the official UK COVID Inquiry is investigating the response by the government to the 2020 global pandemic, revealing the difficulties that the Johnson administration had to face and the overall lack of adequate preparedness at the top of the UK executive, people are becoming growingly aware of the many challenges that such situations pose in terms of crisis management and public governance. Beyond the somewhat sterile blame game played by leading political actors, this formal accountability forum has also revealed (...) competing narratives about the crisis that might have hampered any coherent political solution. This article proposes to focus on the ‘official’ narratives by the UK government and to analyse critically the way Boris Johnson narrativised his political response to the pandemic in order to examine how his unconventional style of leadership was deployed during a global crisis. Using a typology of crisis management inspired by crisis expert and leadership scholar Arjen Boin, the objective is to examine how ‘crisis narratives’ framed the way the UK government responded to the crisis. (shrink)

Recently, several scholars have argued in support of the idea that folk psychology involves a primary capacity for regulating our mental states and patterns of behavior in accordance with a bunch of shared social norms and routines :259–281, 2015; Zawidzki, Philosophical Explorations 11:193–210, 2008; Zawidzki, Mindshaping: A new framework for understanding human social cognition, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2013). This regulative view shares with the classical Dennettian intentional stance its emphasis on the normative character of human socio-cognitive capacities. Given those similarities, (...) it makes sense to assess the regulative view by considering some of the classical arguments against the normative nature of the intentional stance :76–100, 1985; Stich, Philosophical Topics 12:39–62, 1981; Stich, The fragmentation of reason: Preface to a pragmatic theory of cognitive evaluation, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1990). The aim of this paper is to argue that the priority that the regulative view lays on the pluralistic and regulative character of folk psychology leaves the theory well-placed to resist these arguments. In this sense, the regulative view possesses better theoretical options to defend the normative character of human social cognition. (shrink)

As interest in women’s roles in agriculture increases, research on women livestock-keepers remains limited. Advances in feminist scholarship highlight farming women’s dual roles in agricultural production and biological and socio-cultural reproduction, including women’s uncompensated labor in child-bearing, child-rearing and home-making. To expand knowledge about women pastoralists’ lived experiences, we conducted life-history interviews with 25 herder women in two regions of Mongolia, following-up with participatory workshops in each region. As mothering and carework emerged as key themes, we drew on feminist care (...) ethics and the anthropology of mothering and motherhood to analyze interview data and co-interpret results with workshop participants. Our findings reveal three caring conflicts experienced by Mongolian herder women: between caring for _nutag_ (homeland) and caring for herds, between caring for herds and caring for children, and between caring for family, herd and _nutag_ and caring for self. These conflicts highlight contradictions between normative Mongolian motherhood as depicted in cultural images and narratives, and the lived reality of herder mothers, and between public valorization of and incentives for motherhood and the lack of sufficient public support for mothers and carework in rural Mongolia. Unmet needs for care, resulting risks to maternal and child health, and the extraordinary workload associated with mothers’ multiple caring tasks likely contribute to rural–urban migration and increasing masculinization of the Mongolian countryside. Although Mongolian culture frames mothers as leaders who unify their communities through their wisdom, many herder-mothers today live isolated lives where their multiple caring responsibilities preclude active participation in community development and governance. (shrink)

My purpose in this essay is to clarify the notion of explanation by computer simulation in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. My contention is that computer simulation may be understood as providing two different kinds of explanation, which makes the notion of explanation by computer simulation ambiguous. In order to show this, I shall draw a distinction between two possible ways of understanding the notion of simulation, depending on how one views the relation in which a computing system that performs (...) a cognitive task stands to the program that the system runs while performing that task. Next, I shall suggest that the kind of explanation that results from simulation is radically different in each case. In order to illustrate the difference, I will point out some prima facie methodological difficulties that need to be addressed in order to ensure that simulation plays a legitimate explanatory role in cognitive science, and I shall emphasize how those difficulties are very different depending on the notion of explanation involved. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to introduce an approach for understanding social cognition that we call the normative approach to social cognition. Such an approach, which results from a systematization of previous arguments and ideas from authors such as Ryle, Dewey, or Wittgenstein, is an alternative to the classic model and the direct social perception model. In section 2, we evaluate the virtues and flaws of these two models. In section 3, we introduce the normative approach, according to (...) which human, socio-cognitive competences rely on a myriad of social norms and routines that mediate our social interactions in such a way that we can make sense of each other without taking into consideration their mental states. In sections 4 and 5, we find some common premises shared by the two prior models and offer some arguments against them. In section 6, we advance some possible arguments against our approach and offer some responses against them. (shrink)

1. Contemporary psychology values quantitative over qualitative research and emphasises the importance of the neuroscientific approach. However, there are cases in which quantitative research desig...

Phenomenology has been adapted for use in qualitative health research, where it’s often used as a method for conducting interviews and analyzing interview data. But how can phenomenologists study subjects who cannot accurately reflect upon or report their own experiences, for instance, because of a psychiatric or neurological disorder? For conditions like these, qualitative researchers may gain more insight by conducting observational studies in lieu of, or in conjunction with, interviews. In this article, we introduce a phenomenological approach to conducting (...) this kind of observational research. The approach relies on conceptual grounding to focus a study on specific aspects of the participants’ experiences. Moreover, the approach maintains the openness to novel discoveries that qualitative research requires while also providing a structured framework for data collection and analysis. To illustrate its practical application, we use examples of hemispatial neglect—a neurologic disorder in which patients characteristically lack awareness of their own illness and bodily capacities. However, the approach that we describe can be applied more broadly to the study of complex illness experiences and other experiential alterations. (shrink)