Resumen Nombrar implica ejercer el poder sobre lo nombrado, involucra coacción y coerción social. La atribución de nombres, adjetivos, designaciones, favorece la taxonomía cognitiva, pero también socio-ideológico-cultural. Cuando una Institución al servicio del Estado nomina, esas denominaciones tienen consecuencias en los sujetos nombrados. En México, a través de las prácticas semiótico- discursivas se llevó a cabo esta edificación del concepto de discapacidad con importantes implicaciones. El objetivo de este artículo es describir la construcción discursiva, a través de la historia de (...) la nominación de la discapacidad para vincular este hecho con el imaginario social de México y revisar las implicaciones socio-ideológicas resultantes. Para efectuar un primer acercamiento, estudiamos los términos con que se designa la discapacidad en los Censos de población y vivienda realizados por el organismo responsable y sustentamos la exposición del proceso a partir de las propuestas de Lyons y Serrano sobre las implicaciones semánticas vinculadas con la designación; de Thiebaut respecto a la articulación semántica del nombre con la pragmática del texto, y con apoyo en Koike para la co-construcción del significado. (shrink)

An emerging literature has begun to document the emotional consequences of everyday executive functions on emotional distress. Little is known, however, about whether this relation is mediated by other variables. A multiple mediation model was proposed to integrate core concepts of daily executive dysfunctions with emotional distress in order to increase understanding of their relationship to psychological well-being and emotional regulation. The working hypothesis was that dimensions of well-being and emotional regulation may be a suitable mediator. It was hypothesized that (...) dimensions of well-being and emotional regulation are a possible mediator between the executive dysfunctions and psychological distress. Participants were 122 undergraduate students from university courses in General Education and Social Education at, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with a mean age of 21.76. Results indicate that several dimensions of psychological well-being and emotional reappraisal strategies mediate the relationships between daily executive dysfunctions and psychological distress. Implications of these data are discussed. (shrink)

Raimo Tuomela, late Professor Emeritus at the Centre for Philosophy of Social Sciences (TINT), University of Helsinki, is widely regarded as one of the most important philosophers of our time. He published extensively on various topics within social philosophy; particularly, on social action, cooperation, group belief, group responsibility, group reasoning, social practices, and institutions. To celebrate his legacy, this volume engages with and delves deeply into his philosophy of sociality. By gathering original essays from a world-class line-up of social ontologists, (...) social action theorists, and social philosophers, this collection provides the first comprehensive and critical treatment of Tuomela's outstanding contribution to social ontology and collective intentionality. (shrink)

In this paper I explore Michael Loux’s important distinction between “tropes” and “tropers”. First, I argue that the distinction throws into relief an ambiguity and discrepancy in the literature, revealing two fundamentally different versions of trope theory. Second, I argue that the distinction brings into focus unique challenges facing each of the resulting trope theories, thus calling into question an alleged advantage of trope theory—that by uniquely occupying the middle ground between its rivals, trope theory is able to recover and (...) preserve the insights of these views. Ultimately, the distinction suggests that trope theory is a divided house. (shrink)

The general concept of a trope – that of a non-shareable character-grounder – admits of a distinction between modifier tropes and module tropes. Roughly, a module trope is self-exemplifying whereas a modifier trope is not. This distinction has wide-ranging implications. Modifier tropes are uniquely eligible to be powers and fundamental determinables, whereas module tropes are uniquely eligible to play a direct role in perception and causation. Moreover, each type of trope theory faces unique challenges concerning character- grounding. Modifier trope theory (...) faces challenges concerning the inscrutability of predication and the incompatibility with bundle theory, whereas module trope theory faces challenges concerning character overdetermination and a collapse into austere nominalism. These differences indicate that the modifier/module distinction divides the advantages of general trope theory and thus presents the trope theorist with a pivotal choice. (shrink)

The casting of maize seeds is a tool used by contemporary daykeepers in the Ayöök area of Oaxaca, Mexico, which along with the prognostications and prescriptions of the 260-day calendar, helps to cure illnesses and afflictions. This divinatory practice was also employed by precolonial tonalpouhque, who were experts of reading the tonalamatl, the pictographic manuscripts with calendrical, ritual and oracular content, such as the now called Borgia Group codices. In this article maize divination will be described and analyzed, arguing that (...) maize divination results in images that can be read in a similar way to these codices. The reading of maize is approached here by employing the concepts of signs and symbols as described by Carl Jung and the notions of chronotope and dialogical narratives by Mijail Bakhtin. The Jungian understanding of divinatory practices as a means of gaining consciousness of oneself is also applied to argue in favor of the therapeutic capacity of reading maize, as it offers relief and triggers action. (shrink)

In this longitudinal study, we explore the co-evolution of the cognitive complexity of the CEO of Puma, Jochen Zeitz, and his view and initiatives on sustainability. Our purpose was to explore how the changes in a leader’s mindset relate to his/her views and actions on sustainability. In contrast to previous studies, we adopt an in-depth longitudinal case study approach to capture the role of leaders’ cognitive complexity in the context of corporate sustainability. By understanding the cognitive development of Zeitz as (...) leader of Puma, we provide an important step toward understanding the co-evolution of leaders’ cognitive complexity and proactive corporate sustainability initiatives over time. Our findings show that as he developed a more complex mindset that also included non-business lenses, Zeitz developed a more inclusive understanding of sustainability and adopted proactive initiatives that went beyond business-as-usual. Our study also demonstrates that a longitudinal perspective can offer valuable insights for a better understanding of how individuals and their interactions affect and are affected by an organization’s strategies and performance, in corporate sustainability and beyond. (shrink)

Hacemos una lectura del “Tratado sobre los principios de la teología” de Guillermo de Occam, y echamos un vistazo a la Escolástica tardía que esta obra representa tan bien, revisando diferentes referencias bibliográficas, que me han permitido conocer y analizar diferentes conceptos y enfoques acerca de este singular tema. De hecho, se trata de una obra mayor, de gran calibre, pero de autor incierto, generalmente atribuida a Occam, aunque la autoría real está en disputa. Lo cierto es que se trata (...) de un momento culminante de una época de la historia del pensamiento occidental; una en la que su autor, con briosa arquitectura, levanta un edificio que perenniza el pensar occamista, comentándolo, glosándolo y dándole forma enciclopédica, minuciosa, como la que uno esperaría encontrar en un diccionario o un manual del Nominalismo naciente. (shrink)

While a significant body of literature has highlighted the moral obligations of companies regarding the sustainable use of common pool resources, business activities that contribute to the sustenance of common pool resources remain embryonic. Studies in this area have largely focused on environmental stimuli rather than on the complex motivational structures that drive or hinder businesses’ contributions to common pool resources. We explore the different motives and behaviors of businesses and their contributions to common pool resources, and propose four roles (...) by which companies’ motives and behaviors toward common pool resources can be categorized—namely, free riders, followers, believers, and altruists. We shift the focus from moral reasoning to Platt’s :641–651, 1973) notion of social trapping and his “ways out” as Platt’s “ways out” include propositions that address not only environmental stimuli but also companies’ motives. Both types of propositions are important for businesses to be able to respond rapidly to the scarcity of certain common pool resources and to use and maintain common pool resources in a sustainable way. Based on our categorization and Platt’s typology of social traps and “ways out,” we propose a theoretical framework by which companies and other stakeholders are provided with a differentiating perspective that allows for propositions addressing the complex nature of motivational structures and common pool resources. Our framework helps business leaders, institutions, and policy makers decide on actions that can contribute to the sustainability of common pool resources and that differ from actions that solely serve organizational self-interests. (shrink)

We propose Edgar Morin’s notion of transdisciplinarity as a complementary educational perspective for preparing business school students in addressing the complex global socio-economic and environmental challenges that our planet has been facing for some time. Morin’s notion of transdisciplinarity spans various disciplines, both within disciplines and beyond individual disciplines. Morin’s transdisciplinary approach is inquiry driven and presents a systemic/humanistic vision and form of awareness that challenges habitually dualistic and simplistic thinking. Morin’s transdisciplinarity is based on a dialogical and translogical principle (...) that extends classical and rigid logic and that helps students to explore and unify concepts of a simultaneous complementary and contradictory nature. Confronting students with different modes of thinking, imagining and feeling can help them to develop greater self-awareness, critical reflection, and creativity; with various frames of reference; and with an openness toward and confidence in engaging in changes needed to address global challenges in a sustainable and responsible way. (shrink)

Defends a version of the Davidsonian Demonstrative Theory of quotation against proponents of the Fregean Identity Theory.

Nosso objetivo é responder a uma questão proposta por Richard Heck no artigo “Formal Arithmetic Before Grundgesetze”. Heck indaga a respeito das razões pelas quais Frege levou quase oito anos para honrar suas promessas de concluir seu grandioso projeto de fundamentar a matemática na lógica. Embora Heck tenha fornecido algumas respostas, pensamos que uma discussão filosófica mais adequada ainda pode ser oferecida. Este artigo tentará preencher essa lacuna apresentando o que entendemos ser o problema central enfrentado por Frege em _Die (...) Grundlagen der Arithmetik_: a falta de um critério unificado para fixar o significado das proposições de identidade da matemática. Acreditamos que o filósofo alemão finalmente tenha decidido preencher essa lacuna, fornecendo uma nova interpretação para o conceito de “extensão”, uma que acrescentasse alguns refinamentos importantes a sua concepção anterior. O novo conceito assim construído permitiu a Frege unificar seu tratamento das proposições de identidade, incluindo em seu sistema um critério universal para decidir a verdade de qualquer proposição de identidade apoiado por sua famosa lei básica V. Assim, nossa alegação será que a resistência de Frege e as dúvidas sobre a inclusão do axioma V como uma lei lógica em seu sistema foram a causa primária desse atraso. (shrink)

This paper defends a version of Davidson’s demonstrative theory of quotation and against against the Fregean identity theory (IT henceforth) as articulated and defended by Corey Washington (1992). On the Fregean view, when an expression is referred to by means of quotation the quoted material itself is a linguistic referring expression. Quotation-marks are not needed; when they are used, they serve to make clearer the shift in syntactic and semantic properties effected on the quoted material by its occupying that linguistic (...) context: whatever its usual syntactic function, the quoted material functions as a singular term; whatever its usual semantic function, in that linguistic environment the quoted material refers to itself. On DT, in contrast, quotation-marks themselves are the linguistic bearers of reference, functioning like a demonstrative; the quoted material merely plays the role of a demonstratum. In the version I argue for the referent is obtained through some contextually suggested relation; in the default case the relation will be: … instantiates the linguistic type __, but there are other possibilities. In this way, the view can deal with the fact that we do not merely refer with quotations to expression-types, but also to other entities related in some way to the relevant token we use: features exhibited by the token distinct from those constituting its linguistic type, features exhibited by other tokens of the same type but not by the one actually used (as when, by using a graphic token, we refer to its phonetic type), or even other related tokens. (shrink)

El estudio de la segunda persona como condición del Yo en el discurso poético toma impulso en los estudios de teoría literaria a partir del surgimiento del ámbito relativamente reciente de la pragmática de la comunicación lírica. Esta perspectiva de estudio actual admite que el Yo lírico no se reduce a la categoría de mero «sujeto enunciativo» que explica en sí mismo el proceso locutivo de la enunciación; sino que es considerado la proyección del sujeto hacia la alteridad del interlocutor (...) (Yo) al interlocutario (Tú), es decir, la expresión del sujeto de la enunciación al destinatario postulado en el discurso. En ese sentido, la presencia textual del Yo y del Tú es interpretada como signo de una relación dialógica que se convierte en el sentido fundamental de la estructura poemática. En este contexto, se indagan los modos de postulación del Tú como signo de manifestación dialógica en la poesía de Juan Gelman. Para el objetivo de este trabajo, el marco teórico se compone de las posturas de Émile Benveniste (2004) sobre la enunciación; de Carmen Bobes Naves (1991) y de Jesús Maestro (1998) acerca de las manifestaciones de la expresión dialógica en el discurso lírico; y de Margarida Bassols y Anna M. Torrent (1997), de Amparo Tusón (2015) y de Álvarez Muro Alexandra (2001) sobre las condiciones formales de la conversación. (shrink)

This article tells the empirical story of women from seven villages of Kwale, the most southeastern county in the Coast Province of Kenya that borders with Tanzania—Lunga Lunga, Godo, Perani, Umoja, Maasailand, Mpakani and Jirani—as they searched for community health, equity, gender equality and peace on their own terms. This article shows that creative health initiatives can be successfully used as mechanisms for peace building. Since 2010, the Nikumbuke-Health by All Means projects from the University of Madison-Wisconsin in the United (...) States, have trained 57 health promoters and 32 female actors on disease prevention and health promotion that have outreached approximately 120,000 inhabitants around the county enhancing unity in diversity, and breaking down the walls of ethnic hostilities and prejudice. Because of its low cost and high effectivity, the United Nations awarded N-HbAM[1] the 2013 Public Service Award as a model of best practice in gender, community development and sustainable wellbeing. [1] In 2013, at the time of the UNPS Award the projects were still called Nikumbuke-Health by Motorbike. The name was changed in 2018 as the projects broadened in scope and geographical location. (shrink)

El consumo responsable se está convirtiendo en una de esas muletillas que tanto valen para un barrido como para un fregado. La publicidad, como el algodón, no engaña y cuando algo llega a ser argumento de venta, es que ha alcanzado la consagración social, lo que a menudo equivale a la trivialización significativa.

Certain claims that Wittgenstein made about the role of philosophy have earned him criticism for being a supposedly conservative and anti-revolutionary author. This article begins by exposing how these statements do not have the meaning that these critics gave them, and is made through a comment of the beginning of the Philosophical Investigations. From there, it is a question of relating the philosophical project of the second Wittgenstein with that of Karl Marx, an author not suspected of being "conservative" or (...) "anti-revolutionary." The central axis of the comparison is the parallelism that exists between the ideas of language and consciousness in both authors, and the deep link that these have with social practice. (shrink)

O objetivo principal deste artigo será tornar mais claro o papel desempenhado pela noção de “forma de vida” nos escritos de Ludwig Wittgenstein. Como pano de fundo desta discussão, teremos em mente a questão do emprego do termo “forma de vida” no plural ou apenas no singular. Investigaremos criticamente quatro possíveis interpretações oferecidas por diferentes comentaristas da obra de Wittgenstein. Cada uma delas se aterá a diferentes aspectos da noção de “forma de vida”.

The “observational categoricals” constitute a very special set of sentences of great importance in the last phase of Quine’s work. According to Quine, the grammatical structure and therefore the role played by these sentences considered by the philosopher as the neutral empirical content of theories would solve several difficulties in semantics and epistemology. Most urgent among them would be: the incommensurability of theories, their empirical verifiability, as well as explaining the language learning process. In consequence of the importance of their (...) task and their rather late appearance, we consider quite relevant to investigate in details the origin of these choice, as well as the structure and function of these sentences, very peculiars to Quine’s semantical approach. (shrink)

O paradoxo da análise e a antinomia da relaçáo de nomeaçáo sáo dois argumentos que servem para explicitar um aspecto paradoxal das interpretações filosóficas da identidade. Meu objetivo nesse artigo será o de investigar esses paradoxos e seus papeis como limitadores de uma teoria semântica. Usarei como guia dessa investigaçáo a hipótese de que as dificuldades nas quais todas as teorias semânticas investigadas incorrem náo se devem a tese da relaçáo de nomeaçáo, como diria Carnap, mas ao caráter composicional dessas (...) teorias. Essa investigaçáo se dará em duas etapas. A primeira será uma investigaçáo a cerca das soluções que foram historicamente apresentadas para evitar esses paradoxos. Procuraremos mostrar que cada uma dessas soluções envolve de alguma maneira o problema de lidar com esse aspecto composicional. Em especial, daremos ênfase a uma tentativa fracassada de soluçáo defendida por Quine, Carnap e mesmo Wittgenstein e Russell, num certo período, que ficou conhecida como a tese da extensionalidade. A segunda etapa consistirá em uma avaliaçáo crítica sobre em que medida a verdadeira causadora dos paradoxos náo seria uma preferência filosófica equivocada por uma abordagem composicional da linguagem. Palavras-chave : Antinomia da relaçáo de nomeaçáo, Frege, Identidade, Paradoxo da análise, Tese da extensionalidade. (shrink)

Nesse artigo pretendo desenvolver um ponto bastante central de uma famosa discordância entre Quine e Davidson, uma disputa conheci-da na literatura como “a questão proximal x distal”. Em poucas palavras, enquanto Quine adota uma posição proximal, segundo a qual devemos localizar o conteúdo empírico das sentenças de observação já nas termina-ções neuronais dos falantes, Davidson prefere uma localização distal para esse conteúdo, pressupondo assim a existência de objetos no mundo. Essa discussão é de suma relevância para a compreensão do debate (...) em torno do “terceiro dogma do empirismo”, proposto por Davidson e recusado por Quine, bem como para a compreensão da posição semântica de Quine como um todo. (shrink)

Este artigo trata do chamado “problema de incompatibilidade de cores”, enfrentado por Wittgenstein no Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, em seus Manuscritos inéditos 105 e 106, e em seu único artigo publicado – “Some Remarks on Logical Forms” (SRLF). Nossa tarefa será dupla. Primeiro, pretendemos mostrar como e por que Wittgenstein ficou preso nesse dilema. Nossa segunda tarefa será muito mais específica.Tentaremos elucidar alguns detalhes sobre a impossibilidade de reduzir predicados de cor a unidades mais fundamentais de brilho, croma e intensidade. Nosso objetivo (...) é mostrar como e por que os números tiveram que ser introduzidos na estrutura interna das proposições elementares. Também queremos investigar como Wittgenstein tentou fazer isso através da ideia de um “esquema” e uma operação nãover-funcional. Pretendemos também apresentar algumas vantagens que Wittgenstein obteve ao usar uma notação de barra para sua construção dos “esquemas”.AbstractThis paper deals with the so-called “color incompatibility problem”, faced by Wittgenstein in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, in his unpublished Manuscripts 105 and 106, and in his only published paper – “Some Remarks on Logical Forms” – (SRLF, for now on). Our task will be a twofold one. First, we aspire to show how and why Wittgenstein got stuck into that dilemma. Our second task will be much more specific. We will try to elucidate some details about the impossibility of reducing color predicates to more fundamental units of brightness, chroma, and intensity. We aim to show how and why numbers had to be introduced into the inner structure of elementary propositions. We also want to investigate how he tried to do that through the idea of a “scheme” and a non-truth functional operation. We aim also to present some advantages Wittgenstein gained from using a bar notation for his construal of the “schemes”. (shrink)

Resumo: o propósito desse artigo é circunscrever e discutir a autocrítica, feita por Wittgenstein no período de 1933-39, a uma das teses mais fundamentais do Tractatus (TLP): ”Há uma e apenas uma análise completa da proposição” (3.25). Chamaremos esse procedimento peculiar de a “Grande análise”. Os argumentos de Wittgenstein contra a sustentabilidade da sua antiga tese podem ser encontrados em algumas passagens do livro Investigações Filosóficas (IF), bem como em passagens do Grande Datiloscrito (BT). Conforme será argumentado nesse artigo, essa (...) autocrítica é uma consequência direta da preocupação de Wittgenstein, no período intermediário, com duas importantes propostas feitas por Frege nos §§18-24 do Os Fundamentos da Aritmética (FA) em relação o seu entendimento da noção de “atribuição numérica”. Nosso objetivo principal será mostrar de que maneira o movimento de autocrítica feito por Wittgenstein em relação a sua antiga concepção de “Grande Análise” teria sido influenciado por suas preocupações, no período intermediário de sua obra, com essas duas propostas feita por Frege no FA a respeito da noção de “atribuição numérica”. A fim de completar tal tarefa, será apresentada inicialmente de modo breve uma versão de como seria a “Grande análise” no TLP. Em seguida, selecionaremos e discutiremos algumas passagens do IF nas quais Wittgenstein recusa a completude e unicidade envolvida em sua prévia concepção tratariana de “análise”. Procuraremos destacar com clareza uma noção que estaria envolvida de um modo essencial na autocrítica de Wittgenstein: a noção de “ver como/ver aspectos”. Como será argumentado, essa noção, assim como a autocrítica feita por Wittgenstein, foram ambas diretamente influenciadas pela noção fregiana de “atribuição numérica”. Para completar essa segunda tarefa, teremos de revisitar e discutir algumas noções pertencentes ao período inicial da filosofia de Wittgenstein -- como a de “propriedades internas e externas” e a distinção entre “dizer e mostrar” -- ambas noções discutidas no TLP. No decorrer de nossa discussão, apresentaremos uma crítica feita por Wittgenstein a Russell, mas também a Frege, sobre a concepção de generalidade, ou mais especificamente, sobre o uso do quantificador existencial, proposta por ambos. Abstract: The purpose of this article is to discuss Wittgenstein 1933-39 self-criticism of one of the most fundamental tractarian theses: There is one and only one complete analysis of the proposition (3.25). Wittgenstein's arguments against his previous thesis can be found in some passages of the Philosophical Investigation (PI) as well as in the Big Typescript (BT). As we shall argue, Wittgenstein's self-critique is directly related to two important ideas proposed by Frege in §§18-24 of The Foundations Arithmetic (FA) with respect to his construal of “number attributions”. Our main goal in this paper will therefore be to show how Wittgenstein's self-criticism of his old conception of the tractarian “analysis” would have been influenced by his concerns in the middle period of his work with these two proposals made by Frege in FA regarding the notion of “numerical attribution”. Our first task will then be to connect Wittgenstein's self-criticisms to his former conception of “analysis” in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP). To accomplish this first goal, we will have to briefly present a version of how such analysis would look like in TLP. Our next task will be to pinpoint some passages of the PI in which Wittgenstein rejects the completeness and uniqueness involved in his previous construal of the analytical process. We will try to circumscribe clearly a crucial notion involved in Wittgenstein's self-critique: the idea of “seeing as/seeing aspects”. Our claim is that this notion, as well as Wittgenstein's self-criticism, were both directly influenced by Frege's construal of the “number attribution” presented in FA. To accomplish this second task, we will have to revisit and discuss some further concepts from an early period of Wittgenstein's philosophy, like “internal and internal properties” and the “saying/showing distinction” in TLP. On our way towards accomplishing this goal, we will present a curious complaint by Wittgenstein regarding Russell's, as well as Frege's conception of generality, or more specifically, on the usage of the existential quantifier suggested by both these authors. (shrink)

Recent corporate governance literature on gender diversity within boards has linked the effect of an increase in gender diversity to the firm’s corporate reputation. This paper analyzes the media impact of appointing new directors of Spanish companies at a particularly significant moment, during the period from 2007 to 2010, just a year before and 3 years after the Gender Equality Act was passed. By analyzing female and male board nominations in Spanish IBEX-35 companies, the paper examines whether appointing a female (...) does have greater visibility than appointing a male, and thus a potential signaling effect for corporate stakeholders and an effect on the firm’s reputation. Results indicate that the effect on press visibility of appointing a female versus a male is negligible, although there is significant media visibility for new executive directors, in particular for the case of the only woman nominated as an executive director during the period. The paper contributes to the existing literature on gender diversity in corporate governance, specifically its effect on corporate reputation. The paper also offers information relevant to policy making and in particular to the current debate over quotas for women on boards. (shrink)

This paper examines the task of understanding dialogues in terms of the mental states of the participating agents. We present a motivating example that clarifies the challenges this problem involves and then outline a theory of dialogue interpretation based on abductive inference of these unobserved beliefs and goals, incremental construction of explanations, and reliance on domain-independent knowledge. After this, we describe UMBRA, an implementation of the theory that embodies these assumptions. We report experiments with the system that demonstrate its ability (...) to accurately infer the conversants’ mental states even when some speech acts are unavailable. We conclude by reviewing related research on dialogue and discussing avenues for future study. (shrink)

There is a long-standing discussion concerning the nature of moral discourse. Multiple views range from realism—according to which moral discourse is closer to scientific discourse than to fictional discourse—to anti-realism—according to which moral discourse is rather closer to fictional discourse. In this paper, I want to motivate a novel anti-realist account. On this view, there are no moral properties or truths, neither mind-independent nor mind-dependent ones (i.e., anti-realism). However, moral cognition results from the use of higher order cognitive abilities with (...) enough resources to grant moral discourse with all the features of a realist talk (i.e., cognitive quasi-realism). I defend this view based on empirical evidence on human moral development and by showing that the resulting account can meet the demands of robust moral realism. The paper concludes by placing the proposed view within the metaethical landscape by comparing it against other forms of anti-realism, most significantly against expressivism. (shrink)

The paper discusses the criticism of externalist theories of content which, on the basis of "Twin Earth" considerations, claims that such theories cannot make intentional properties supervenient on basic, intrinsic properties of the organism -- while supervenience is a necessary condition for the causal efficacy of any macro-property. The paper accepts the supervenience requirement, understood as arising from a requirement that macro- properties should be explained by micro- properties. It points out, however, that as a consequence of this, the modality (...) in the concept of supervenience should be understood as "nomic", not conceptual. Then the paper attempts to show that the usual thought- experiments do not establish that such variety of supervenience does not hold for psychological properties -- at least with regard to a particular, teleo- functional way of interpreting them. (shrink)

Proxy agency is the capacity of individuals and groups to act for other individuals or groups in specific social transactions. For example, a legal team acts as a proxy for a client in a courtroom, or the Prime Minister acts as a proxy for the UK Government when attending international meetings, etc. Although a very common social phenomenon, it has not yet received enough philosophical treatment. Currently, the most developed account of this capacity is Ludwig’s proxy agency in collective action. (...) Yet, his account relies on a deflationary, we-content approach to collective intentionality (á la Bratman). In this chapter, I argue that this approach is far too weak to explain proxy agency in institutional contexts—where the individuals and groups formally authorised to perform rule-guided group activities for the principal hold a strong, non-conditional we-commitment. In order to elucidate this feature, I provide an account of proxy agency based on a more robust, we-mode approach to collective intentionality (á la Tuomela). I suggest with this that, for institutional proxy agency to operate as expected, there must be appropriate conditions of sociality in place—which ultimately coheres with the larger project developed by Tuomela on social ontology. (shrink)

Since the publication of Hartry Field’s influential paper “Tarski’s Theory of Truth” there has been an ongoing discussion about the philosophical import of Tarski’s definition. Most of the arguments have aimed to play down that import, starting with that of Field himself. He interpreted Tarski as trying to provide a physicalistic reduction of semantic concepts like truth, and concluded that Tarski had partially failed. Robert Stalnaker and Scott Soames claimed then that Field should have obtained a stronger conclusion, namely that (...) Tarski’s failure in his allegedly intended physicalistic reduction was total. From another front, Hilary Putnam argued for an even more sweeping thesis: “[a]s a philosophical account of truth, Tarski’s theory fails as badly as it is possible for an account to fail.” Scott Soames followed suit also on this count, endorsing Putnam’s argument in section iii of the aforementioned paper; and John Etchemendy used a very similar argument to contend that “a Tarskian definition of truth [...] cannot possibly illuminate the semantic properties of the object language.” The paper argues that these contentions are based on several misunderstandings about the nature of a definition like Tarski’s. Regarding the Putnam-Soames-Etchemendy argument, we must apply a distinction Frege found natural to draw—and is natural to draw anyway—between what he called “constructive” definitions, definitions properly so called, which are mere stipulations, and what he described as “analytic” definitions, definitions which aim to make explicit the meaning of a term already in use. Regarding the Field-Soames-Stalnaker criticism, the paper contends that the true aims of a Tarskian truth definition are perfectly well fulfilled without Field’s amendments. (shrink)

The technical possibilities of biomedicine open up the opportunity to intervene in ageing itself with the aim of mitigating, reducing or eliminating it. However, before undertaking these changes or rejecting them outright, it is necessary to ask ourselves if what would be lost by doing so really has much value. This article will analyse the desirability of ageing from an individual point of view, without circumscribing this question to the desirability or undesirability of death. First, we will present the three (...) most widely used arguments to reject biomedical interventions against ageing. We will argue that only the last of these arguments provides a consistent answer to the question of the desirability of ageing. Second, we will show that the third argument falls prey to a conceptual confusion that we will call the paradox of ageing: although ageing entails negative health effects, it leads to a life stage with valuable goods. Both valuations, one positive and the other negative, refer to two different dimensions of ageing: the chronological and the biological. We will defend that, by not adequately distinguishing these two types of ageing, it does not become apparent that all the valuable goods exclusive to ageing derive only from its chronological dimension. Third, we will argue that, if we just conceive ageing biologically, it is undesirable. We will elaborate on the two kinds of undesirable effects biological ageing has: direct and indirect. Finally, we will respond to potential objections by adducing that these are insufficient to weaken our argument. (shrink)

For the philosopher of Rotterdam, religious coercion has two essential sources of illegitimacy: the linking of religious and ecclesiastical belief and the use of politics for religious purposes. Bayle responds to it, with his doctrine of freedom of conscience, on one hand and by means of the essential distinction between voluntary religious affiliation and political obligation, on the other hand. From my perspective, his doctrine of tolerance does not involve an atheist state, nor does it mean the rejection of the (...) presence of religion in the public space or its displacement to the intimate sphere of the conscience. This paper proposes a reading of Baylean tolerance as a political doctrine that allows the articulation between freedom of conscience, minority confessions, and official religion. Thus, the Baylean theoretical model could be considered a proposal to provide a normative form to the practice of toleration present in the seventeenth -century Netherlands. (shrink)

This paper examines the task of understanding dialogues in terms of the mental states of the participating agents. We present a motivating example that clarifies the challenges this problem involves and then outline a theory of dialogue interpretation based on abductive inference of these unobserved beliefs and goals, incremental construction of explanations, and reliance on domain-independent knowledge. After this, we describe UMBRA, an implementation of the theory that embodies these assumptions. We report experiments with the system that demonstrate its ability (...) to accurately infer the conversants’ mental states even when some speech acts are unavailable. We conclude by reviewing related research on dialogue and discussing avenues for future study. (shrink)