Este artículo evalúa la idea de G. Lipovetsky y J. Serroy según la cual la modernidad ha favorecido una ampliación de la compasión. A la luz de las investigaciones sobre la naturaleza y estructura de la compasión, realizados por M. Nussbaum, y algunos estudios sobre cultura de consumo, se puede sostener que la compasión efectivamente se ha generalizado gracias a un conjunto de fenómenos característicos del mundo actual: la individualización, la globalización, la interconexión informativa y la extensión del presupuesto democrático (...) de la igualdad jurídica ante la ley. Sin embargo, el actual sistema económico y social promueve, al mismo tiempo: la competencia individual despiadada en todos los niveles, la fragmentación selectiva de la información en unidades mínimas, el aislamiento de los individuos y un temor paralizante a quedar por fuera del juego económico. Esta situación favorece una compasión poco profunda, que no necesariamente se convierte en acción efectiva, y, en ciertos casos, bloquea completamente su aparición. (shrink)

Sobre la belleza humana pesa, en el reino de las artes visuales contemporáneas, casi una prohibición tácita. El cuerpo humano es todavía uno de los temas centrales del arte, pero no se lo suele representar como bello: el énfasis se pone en su fealdad, o en los aspectos terribles o abyectos de la corporalidad. Este artículo intenta comprender el proceso que lleva a esta situación a partir de la transformación del concepto de “belleza ideal” entre Kant y Baudelaire, que muestra (...) una profunda conexión entre el concepto de belleza humana y la esperanza del progreso moral. La ruptura de esta esperanza, sostenemos, es una de las razones por las cuales el arte moderno y contemporáneo ha rechazado con tanta fuerza la representación de la belleza ideal. (shrink)

Laura Montoya Upegui identifica la compasión como un sentimiento que mueve a la acción. Es una lección útil dirigida a la transformación social. En medio de las dificultades, optó por la reflexión y la evaluación de los eventos inesperados en la condición humana para dirigir la mirada hacia la vida buena. Cuando es calumniada, identifica y acepta las emociones sociales e individuales, alejándose del miedo. Ella comprende que en el desarrollo humano, lo material y lo espiritual no se excluyen. En (...) la actualidad, existe una fuerte tensión política en Colombia que reclama de la sensibilidad social y los propósitos comunes. Como lo plantea Nussbaum, y según las vivencias de Santa Laura Montoya, la compasión, la esperanza práctica y la visión imaginativa pueden guiar el camino hacia el desarrollo humano. (shrink)

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación cualitativa hermenéutica sobre la lingüística cognitiva y la lingüística aplicada, relacionadas con otras ciencias en un contexto específico de la comunidad científica especializada. Desde una visión integral y holística de las ciencias biomédicas y humanas, asimismo, se estudian los lenguajes técnico-científicos de la ciencia y de la tecnología para facilitar la interrelación cognitiva entre las diferentes disciplinas. Este estudio permite crear capacidades para evaluar el acervo léxico en contexto, útil para la transmisión y (...) la transformación del conocimiento en un lenguaje propio acorde a la exigencia del método científico. El objetivo consistió en indagar sobre la relación de la unidad léxica con su nexo cognitivo a una unidad terminológica de uso cotidiano en la información y en la comunicación académica de la práctica médico-legal forense. Los resultados establecen diferencia y precisan cierta comprensión de la significación de unidades léxicas ambiguas de mayor relevancia y frecuencia, utilizadas en este ámbito del conocimiento, en cuatro categorías de análisis; según las características propias de la disciplina en dialogo con otras ciencias en contexto. Se evidencia la importancia de educar durante el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje significativo de la disciplina en contexto, desde la metalingüística del objeto de estudio dimensionado y relacionado con otros objetos de estudio, que permita el proceso cognitivo del lenguaje técnico-científico transdisciplinar, la apropiación social y la circulación del conocimiento aplicado a las prácticas médico legales integrales en relación entre la Psicofarmacología, la Psiquiatría, la Antropología y la Psicología, con las ciencias biomédicas y humanas. In this work results of a qualitive hermeneutic research about a cognitive and applied linguistic related to other sciences in an specific context of a given scientific community were presented, a technical and scientific language regarding science and technology was pointed out from an integral vision in order to facilitate cognitive relationship among different disciplines. This study also allows to create capacities in order to assess vocabulary in context, useful for the transmission and transformation of knowledge according to a scientific method. The objective was directed to know about the relationship between the lexical unit and its meaning in a given communicative context and in the academic communication of a medical - legal forensic practice. The importance of educate during the teaching learning process is also mentioned in this research and the main objective is to develop an assertive medical practice among Psychopharmacology, psychiatric, anthropology and psychology with biomedical and human sciences. (shrink)

Introducción: Se presenta un análisis cualitativo del acompañamiento psicosocial a jóvenes en condiciones de vulnerabilidad desde la ecología humana durante 12 meses entre 2010 a 2011; utilizando técnicas pedagógicas evaluativas participativas. Éstas, son una alternativa para crear espacios reflexivos con el propósito de potenciar la resiliencia en las relaciones comunicativas y formar en el respeto. Objetivo: Generar bienestar, prevenir la farmacodependencia y contribuir a la promoción de la salud. Material y Métodos: Se revisaron los antecedentes temáticos, fueron seleccionados 100 estudiantes (...) entre 11 y 19 años de dos instituciones educativas públicas en condiciones vulnerables;se desarrollaron cuatro talleres reflexivos y cuatro prácticas lúdicas y se realizaron tres grupos focales con estudiantes, profesores y padres de familia. Resultados y Discusión: El contexto social de la población intervenida, revela problemas de abuso sexual, violencia intrafamiliar y eventos violentos en el vecindario por grupos armados ilegales, entre otros, que constituyen factores de riesgo importantes para la farmacodependencia. Conclusión: Se infiere que lo psicosocial incide en la farmacodependencia, afectando la convivencia de la población estudiada por múltiples causas del orden psicoafectivo, sociocultural, económico y político que van desde el consumo cultural hasta la seguridad alimentaria. Introduction: A qualitative analysis of the psycho-social support to young people in situations of vulnerability from human ecology is presented for 12 months between 2010 to 2011; using participatory evaluative pedagogical techniques. These are an alternative to create reflective spaces with the purpose of enhancing resilience in communicative relationships and working in respect. Objective: to generate well-being, prevent drug abuse and contribute to the health promotion. Material aids and methods: the thematic background was reviewed, 100 students between 11 and 19 years of two public schools in vulnerable conditionswere selected; four reflective workshops and four playful practices were developed and three focus groups with students, teachers and parentswere conducted. Results and discussion: the social context of the manipulated population reveals sexual abuse problems, domestic violence and violent events in the neighborhood by illegal armed groups, among others, which constitutemajor risk factors for drug abuse. Conclusion: It can be inferred that the psychosocial factors impact on drug dependence, affecting the coexistence of the population studied by multiple causes of the psychological, socio-cultural, economic and political order, ranging from cultural consumption to food security. (shrink)

The article suggests an ethical-anthropological reading of Thoughts, magna opera of the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, which was published after his death by his relatives and friends. Such a reading is presented in three moments: Firstly, an anthropological description aimed at answering the question ‘who is man?’; secondly, an analysis of Pascal’s erotic condition; and, finally, an ethical proposal as cura amoris. The main argument of the article is that every human being has a motivation in acting, that (...) of love and being loved. Thus, having a happy or unhappy life depends on the care for this erotic condition, and the latter is achieved through thought. (shrink)

Los pacientes con síndrome braquicefálico suponen un reto para el anestesiólogo, ya que la mayoría de ellos tienen alteraciones en el sistema respiratorio que convierten a estos animales en pacientes de riesgo.

Si no me falla la memoria, fue el dibujante Álvaro Barrios quien afirmó que el trabajo del artista contemporáneo colombiano se desarrolla según una agenda de trabajo. Si miramos algunos fenómenos del arte último en Colombia, podemos señalar que su agenda está determinada por el intento de comprensión de los procesos de la violencia en el país, a partir de una amplia gama de aproximaciones al concepto de memoria que ha tenido resonancia en las disciplinas humanísticas, las investigaciones académicas, el (...) uso político del concepto por parte de la legislación estatal, y una gran diversidad de eventos artísticos. Desde el ámbito del arte, exposiciones como Destierro y reparación (2008), Tapices de Mampuján (2010), La guerra que no hemos visto (2009) o La piel de la memoria (2011), han discutido sobre la violencia en Colombia desde la aproximación a los procesos de comprensión de la memoria y nuestro pasado reciente. Así, la imbricación de violencia y memoria se manifiesta en la visión del pasado y en los efectos que este puede desplegar sobre el presente, en tanto se ha considerado, incluso, a la memoria como una instancia de reconciliación social. (shrink)

Durante el reinado de Felipe III la sociedad española vivió unos intensos procesos de elitización y marginalización procedentes en su mayoría de una particular recepción y asimilación del modelo antropológico y cultural presentado por Castiglione –lo que ha pasado a definirse con el nombre de cortegiana filosofia– que, en último término, se sirvieron del antiguo ideal de la teoría neoplatónica del amor para presentar un nuevo paradigma común de virtud y honestidad públicas destinado a preservar y sustentar instituciones sociorreligiosas como (...) el matrimonio. La novela cortesana, haciéndose eco de todo ello a través de la tradición de las novelle italianas, se sirvió del universo picaresco para servir de canal moralizante de esta ejemplaridad amorosa. Esto se traducirá en la defensa de la máxima de que el bien vivir es un sinónimo del bien amar. El presente artículo tiene por objeto el análisis de todo lo antedicho a partir de una pieza concreta del género cortesano: La hija de Celestina, o la ingeniosa Elena de Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo. (shrink)

It is common to hear talk of the aim of belief and to find philosophers appealing to that aim for numerous explanatory purposes. What belief 's aim explains depends, of course, on what that aim is. Many hold that it is somehow related to truth, but there are various ways in which one might specify belief 's aim using the notion of truth. In this article, by considering whether they can account for belief 's standard of correctness and the epistemic (...) norms governing belief, I argue against certain prominent specifications of belief 's aim given in terms of truth, and advance a neglected alternative. (shrink)

Simon May has argued that the notion of a principled compromise is incoherent. Reasons to compromise are always in his view strategic: though we think that the position we defend is still the right one, we compromise on this view in order to avoid the undesirable consequences that might flow from not compromising. I argue against May that there are indeed often principled reasons to compromise, and that these reasons are in fact multiple. First, compromises evince respect for persons that (...) we have reason to think of as our epistemic peers, and acknowledgement of our own finitudes as moral reasoners. Second, compromises are often made morally necessary by the shortfalls that unavoidably separate democratic institutions from democratic ideals. Third, compromises express a desirable form of democratic community. And fourth, compromises are often justified from a consequentialist point of view, in that they allow for the realization of values that would not be realized as well by the failure to compromise. (shrink)

Plato's dialogues frequently criticize traditional Greek myth, yet Plato also integrates myth with his writing. Daniel S. Werner confronts this paradox through an in-depth analysis of the Phaedrus, Plato's most mythical dialogue. Werner argues that the myths of the Phaedrus serve several complex functions: they bring nonphilosophers into the philosophical life; they offer a starting point for philosophical inquiry; they unify the dialogue as a literary and dramatic whole; they draw attention to the limits of language and the limits (...) of knowledge; and they allow Plato to co-opt cultural authority as a way of defining and legitimating the practice of philosophy. Platonic myth, as a species of traditional tale, is thus both distinct from philosophical dialectic and similar to it. Ultimately, the most powerful effect of Platonic myth is the way in which it leads readers to participate in Plato's dialogues and to engage in a process of self-examination. (shrink)

Este artículo busca sacar a flote y estudiar diferentes historias de la materia presentes en el río Magdalena en Colombia, a través de la novela _En el brazo del río _(2006) de Marbel Sandoval Ordoñez, y la crónica _Los escogidos_ (2012), de Patricia Nieto. El objetivo de mi lectura es analizar el fenómeno del río, mediante el concepto de ‘viscosidad porosa’, es decir, evidenciando el enmarañamiento entre cuerpos humanos y no humanos que se da en este y cómo estos reconfiguran (...) los discursos alrededor del Magdalena. Usando una metodología que parte desde los presupuestos de los nuevos materialismos y las humanidades azules_, _propongo una mirada desde una ontología relacional que reconoce la capacidad expresiva (creativa) y el potencial de acción (agenciamiento) del río. A partir de esto realizo una lectura atenta de las dos obras, identificando dónde se visualizan dichos enmarañamientos y cómo la forma de dichas obras literarias permite una reconfiguración del sentido del río. Esto me permite mostrar que las historias de violencia y riqueza que han configurado el Magdalena están, indudablemente, conectadas con la materialidad del mismo, de los cuerpos humanos asesinados que recorren el río en constante interacción con otros animales, o de las aguas del Magdalena entrelazadas con el petróleo que se filtra por el extractivismo de su subsuelo. Por lo tanto, en estos textos literarios el fenómeno del río Magdalena se complejiza y se densifica, permitiéndonos reconocer cómo nuestra realidad esta enmarañada con otros cuerpos humanos y no humanos que habitan nuestro mundo. (shrink)

This paper defends the epistemic account of the normativity of requests. The epistemic account says that a request does not create any reasons and thus does not have any special normative power. Rather, a request gives reasons by revealing information which is normatively relevant. I argue that compared to competing accounts of request normativity, especially those of David Enoch and James H.P. Lewis, the epistemic account gives better answers to cases of insincere requests, is simpler, and does a better job (...) incorporating the importance of relationships. I also defend the epistemic account from three objections: that requests are important because they constitute consent, that requests and wishes must be normatively different, and that some requests do not provide any new information. (shrink)

Supporters of open borders sometimes argue that the state has no pro tanto right to restrict immigration, because such a right would also entail a right to exclude existing citizens for whatever reasons justify excluding immigrants. These arguments can be defeated by suggesting that people have a right to stay put. I present a new form of the exclusion argument against closed borders which escapes this “right to stay put” reply. I do this by describing a kind of exclusion that (...) has not been discussed in depth, which I call “territorial exclusion.” Territorial exclusion is the process according to which the group that wishes to exclude current citizens secedes from the territory in which those citizens reside. I argue that the wrongness of territorial exclusion explains why there is no pro tanto right for a state to exclude immigrants, because otherwise there would be a pro tanto right for the state to kick people out by seceding from the territory they inhabit. Because kicking people out like this is typically wrong, borders cannot be closed. (shrink)

The U.S. election in November 2016 raised and amplified doubts about first-past-the-post (“plurality rule”) electoral systems. Arguments against plurality rule and for alternatives like preferential voting tend to be consequentialist: it is argued that systems like preferential voting produce different, better outcomes. After briefly noting why the consequentialist case against plurality rule is more complex and contentious than it first appears, I offer an expressive alternative: plurality rule produces actual or apparent dilemmas for voters in ways that are morally objectionable, (...) and avoidable under preferential voting systems. This expressive case against plurality rule is both simpler and more ecumenical than its consequentialist counterpart, and it provides strong reasons to prefer alternatives to plurality rule. Moreover, it suggests a distinct way of evaluating different alternatives like preferential voting. (shrink)

I ask you to X. You now have a reason to X. My request gave you a reason. How? One unpopular theory is the epistemic account, according to which requests do not create any new reasons but instead simply reveal information. For instance, my request that you X reveals that I desire that you X, and my desire gives you a reason to X. Peter Schaber has recently attacked both the epistemic account and other theories of the reason-giving force of (...) requests. Schaber defends a new theory of the reason-giving force of requests according to which request give reasons because it is valuable for requesters and requestees that requests have this power. In this paper I argue that Schaber's attack on the epistemic account fails, and that his own theory ought to be rejected because it faces compelling objections. (shrink)

“X-Firsters” hold that there is some normative feature that is fundamental to all others (and, often, that there’s some normative feature that is the “mark of the normative”: all other normative properties have it, and are normative in virtue of having it). This view is taken as a starting point in the debate about which X is “on first.” Little has been said about whether or why we should be X-Firsters, or what we should think about normativity if we aren’t (...) X-Firsters. Hence the chapter’s two main goals. First, to provide a simple argument that one shouldn’t be an X-Firster about the normative domain, which starts with the observation that analogous views have dubious merits in analogous domains. Second, to offer an alternative view—taking normativity to be a determinable explained in terms of its determinates—that offers an interesting way to think about the structure and unity of normativity. (shrink)

RESUMEN La presente reflexión tiene como punto de partida la noción de antropotécnica desarrollada por el filósofo Peter Sloterdijk. El autor asume que los humanos somos seres ejercitantes en tanto día a día ejecutamos una serie de rutinas diarias que nos permiten modelar nuestra existencia. En dicho proceso nos encontramos con instituciones sociales que orientan tales ejercicios antropotécnicos. A partir de una caracterización exhaustiva del planteamiento de Sloterdijk, proponemos la noción de antropotécnica negativa, como envés de la antropotécnica, para referirnos (...) a una comprensión alternativa de las ejercitaciones contraindicadas que se realizan en oposición a valores legitimados e idealizados cutralmente sobre cómo modelar la existencia. Concluimos que la antropotécnica negativa puede ser un recurso analítico para aproximarnos a la mala ejercitación como fenómeno histórico y a la potencia existencial de algunas vidas que se expresan privilegiadamente como negatividad, abyección o marginalidad. ABSTRACT This analysis uses the notion of anthropotechnics developed by the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk as its starting point. The author assumes that humans are exercising beings in that day by day we carry out a series of diary routines that allow us to shape our existence. Within this process, we encounter social institutions that guide those anthropotechnics exercises. From an exhaustive characterization of Sloterdijk's approach, we propose the notion of negative anthropotechnics (as the inverse of anthropotechnics) to refer to an alternative understanding of the counterindicated exercises that are performed in opposition to legitimized and idealized values of how to shape existence. We conclude that negative anthropotechnics can be an analytical resource to approach malpractice as a historical phenomenon and to the existential potency of some lives that are expressed as privileged negativity, abjection, or marginality. (shrink)

Motion—and, in particular, local motion or change in location—plays a central role in Kenelm Digby’s natural philosophy and in his arguments for the immateriality of the soul. Despite this, Digby’s account of what motion consists in has yet to receive much scholarly attention. In this paper, I advance a novel interpretation of Digby on motion. According to it, Digby holds that for a body to move is for it to divide from and unify with other bodies. This is a view (...) of motion—as change in relations of parthood—that Alison Peterman attributes to Digby’s contemporary and acquaintance, Margaret Cavendish. Having shown that Digby’s presentation of the view predates Cavendish’s by more than a decade, I make a case that Digby’s work influenced Cavendish’s on this topic. In developing and defending my reading, I consider to what extent the Digbean account of motion and the arguments for it accord with the ideals of the mechanical philosophy emerging in the early modern period. (shrink)

I defend the cosmopolitan instrumentalist theory of secession, according to which a group has a right to secede only if this would promote cosmopolitan justice. I argue that the theory is preferable to other theories of secession because it is an entailment of cosmopolitanism, which is independently attractive, and because, unlike other theories of secession, it allows us to give the answers we want to give in cases like secession of the rich or secession that would make things worse for (...) minorities. I defend the view against the objections that it allows for colonialism and annexation, that it is not a distinct theory, and that it is impractical. (shrink)

This book is a study of the role of intellect in human action as described by Thomas Aquinas. One of its primary aims is to compare the interpretation of Aristotle by Aquinas with the lines of interpretation offered in contemporary Aristotelian scholarship. The book seeks to clarify the problems involved in the appropriation of Aristotle's theory by a Christian theologian, including such topics as the practical syllogism and the problems of akrasia. Westberg argues that Aquinas was much closer to Aristotle (...) than is often recognized, and he puts forward important new interpretations of the relation of intellect and will in the stages of intention, deliberation, decision, and execution. In the concluding section of the book, he shows how this new interpretation yields fruitful insights on a range of theological topics, including sin, law, love, and the moral virtues. (shrink)

Abstract This paper offers an appraisal of Phillip Pettit's approach to the problem how a merely finite set of examples can serve to represent a determinate rule, given that indefinitely many rules can be extrapolated from any such set. I argue that Pettit's so-called ethnocentric theory of rule-following fails to deliver the solution to this problem he sets out to provide. More constructively, I consider what further provisions are needed in order to advance Pettit's general approach to the problem. I (...) conclude that what is needed is an account that, whilst it affirms the view that agents' responses are constitutively involved in the exemplification of rules, does not allow such responses the pride of place they have in Pettit's theory. (shrink)

Mandatory minimum sentencing provisions have been a feature of the U.S. justice system since 1790. But they have expanded considerably under the war on drugs, and their use has expanded considerably under the Trump Administration; some states are also poised to expand drug-related mandatory minimums further in efforts to fight the current opioid epidemic. In this paper I outline and evaluate three prominent arguments for and against the use of mandatory minimums in the war on drugs—they appeal, respectively, to proportionality, (...) consistency, and efficiency. I ultimately defend the view that the use of mandatory minimums in the war on drugs is unjust. -/- . (shrink)

This paper aims to understand Hegel’s claim in the introduction to his Philosophy of Mind that mind is an actualization of the Idea and argues that this claim provides us with a novel and defensible way of understanding Hegel’s naturalism. I suggest that Hegel’s approach to naturalism should be understood as ‘formal’, and argue that Hegel’s Logic, particularly the section on the ‘Idea’, provides us with a method for this approach. In the first part of the paper, I present an (...) interpretation of Hegel’s method in which life plays a central role. In the second part of the paper, I develop Hegel’s method by providing a reading of Hegel’s Subjective Spirit, focusing on the sections ‘Anthropology’ and ‘Phenomenology’ in particular, arguing that they display the dialectic between life and cognition outlined by Hegel’s Idea. (shrink)

La investigación asume el enfoque cualitativo. La información se obtuvo a partir de talleres, diarios de campo y autorrelatos de docentes participantes, representantes de 19 programas de pregrado de la Universidad Mariana, Pasto. El análisis se realizó mediante categorías deductivas e inductivas, de donde se extrajo las proposiciones que dan consistencia a la comprensión de la pedagogía franciscana desde la teoría de los campos de Bourdieu. El aporte logrado se resume en una mirada integradora y novedosa de la pedagogía franciscana, (...) la resignificación de las prácticas pedagógicas de los docentes, a partir de relatos y experiencias que configuran el corpus teórico de la constitución del campo, capital y habitus, desde la perspectiva franciscana para la formación en capacidades humanas. (shrink)

La investigación, al ser un ejercicio de naturaleza humana, permite realizar la descripción de una porción de realidad desde su objeto de estudio; por tanto, este trabajo investigativo permitió abordar algunos aportes de la teoría crítica de Frankfurt a través del ejercicio filosófico-reflexivo, orientado a pensar lo social desde lo humano con el fin de transformar una postura tradicional, desde lo crítico, contrastando la heteronimia que seculariza las voluntades humanas, pensando las problemáticas sociales desde el reconocimiento del otro como sujeto (...) y generando acciones encaminadas a la emancipación de los fenómenos tradicionales como es la “Cultura de Guerra” desde la educación policial. (shrink)

Se quiere presentar la figura de Pedro Abelardo, desde el concepto de “intelectual total”, por ello atrevernos a proponer una lectura de “Historia Calamitatum” basada en los estudios de Sociología de la Literatura, de Pierre Bourdieu y Jacques Dubois es una tarea un tanto compleja. Para comprender la propuesta que presentamos: Abelardo: El intelectual del siglo XII, es necesario tener en cuenta que dicha hipótesis esconde tres cuestiones fundamentales. La primera es acerca del concepto de Intelectual Total; la segunda, se (...) refiere a la trayectoria intelectual de Pedro Abelardo basándonos en los trabajos sobre postura literaria del Jêrome Meizoz, y la tercera se basa en una comparación, un poco más atrevida, entre las condiciones históricas, del siglo XII y la de finales del siglo XIX, en París. (shrink)

Can a liberal state exclude illiberal immigrants in order to preserve its liberal status? Hrishikesh Joshi has argued that liberalism cannot require a commitment to open borders because this would entail that liberalism is committed to its own demise in circumstances in which many illiberal immigrants aim to immigrate into a liberal society. I argue that liberalism is committed to its own demise in certain circumstances, but that this is not as bad as it may appear. Liberalism’s commitment to its (...) own demise is merely a reflection of the fact that it must take into account the rights of outsiders, not just the rights of existing citizens, and of the fact that circumstances of injustice can sometimes leave liberal societies with no correct choice. (shrink)

This paper aims to understand Hegel’s claim in the introduction to his Philosophy of Mind that mind is an actualization of the Idea and argues that this claim provides us with a novel and defensible way of understanding Hegel’s naturalism. I suggest that Hegel’s approach to naturalism should be understood as ‘formal’, and argue that Hegel’s Logic, particularly the section on the ‘Idea’, provides us with a method for this approach. In the first part of the paper, I present an (...) interpretation of Hegel’s method in which life plays a central role. In the second part of the paper, I develop Hegel’s method by providing a reading of Hegel’s Subjective Spirit, focusing on the sections ‘Anthropology’ and ‘Phenomenology’ in particular, arguing that they display the dialectic between life and cognition outlined by Hegel’s Idea. (shrink)

The potential to collect brain data more directly, with higher resolution, and in greater amounts has heightened worries about mental and brain privacy. In order to manage the risks to individuals posed by these privacy challenges, some have suggested codifying new privacy rights, including a right to “mental privacy.” In this paper, we consider these arguments and conclude that while neurotechnologies do raise significant privacy concerns, such concerns are—at least for now—no different from those raised by other well-understood data collection (...) technologies, such as gene sequencing tools and online surveillance. To better understand the privacy stakes of brain data, we suggest the use of a conceptual framework from information ethics, Helen Nissenbaum’s “contextual integrity” theory. To illustrate the importance of context, we examine neurotechnologies and the information flows they produce in three familiar contexts—healthcare and medical research, criminal justice, and consumer marketing. We argue that by emphasizing what is distinct about brain privacy issues, rather than what they share with other data privacy concerns, risks weakening broader efforts to enact more robust privacy law and policy. (shrink)

This essay considers the critical response to Hegel's view of Socrates we find in Kierkegaard's dissertation, The Concept of Irony. I argue that this dispute turns on the question whether or not the examination of particular thinkers enters into Socrates’ most basic aims and interests. I go on to show how Kierkegaard's account, which relies on an affirmative answer to this question, enables him to provide a cogent defence of Socrates' philosophical practice against Hegel's criticisms.

El texto entrega un análisis sobre las posibles causas del rechazo al proyecto de constitución europea por parte de dos de los países ancla de la Unión: Francia y Holanda. Por otra parte, se adentra en los problemas que enfrenta la institucionalidad comunitaria para enfrentar los desafíos futuros, especialmente en un ambiente de mayor politización, participación ciudadana y descrédito de las viejas élites que dieron origen a la idea de una Europa unida sobre principios fundamentalmente funcionalistas.

This article seeks to clarify the concepts of risk and uncertainty, restricting its focus to environmental problems and to three strands of reflection. Firstly, I suggest that we should apply the label riscophrenia to the tendency to envisage most environmental problems excessively in terms of probabilistic risk, erecting the concept to a core dogma of certainty based on the image it offers of safety and control of the random. Looking at the most serious environmental problems of the twenty-first century through (...) the prism of "animal spirits" is above all an exercise which shows that unpredictability and uncertainties are constituent elements of human existence and social life. Secondly, I argue that the assessment of uncertainty has political and normative implications. I hold that uncertainty may make it possible to invoke precautionary, not just preventive, measures, and that alternative "contextualised" research strategies, open to a variety of points of view, are possible. Lastly, I claim that the language of risk and its excessive application is generally laden with a type of ambiguity which tends not to emphasize society's current problems, and so facilitates the continuation rather than the questioning of our society's dominant technocratic and technological model. (shrink)

Young children judge that violations of ordinary, causal constraints are impossible. Yet children’s religious beliefs typically include the assumption that such violations can occur via divine agency in the form of miracles. We conducted two studies to examine this potential conflict. In Study 1, we invited 5- and 6-year-old Colombian children attending either a secular or a religious school to judge what is and is not possible. Children made their judgments either following a minimal prompt or following a reminder of (...) God’s extraordinary powers. Irrespective of their education, and whether or not they had been reminded of God’s extraordinary powers, children systematically judged violations of ordinary, causal constraints to be impossible. In Study 2, we asked if more extensive reminders of God’s special powers would prompt religious children to say that the impossible can happen. Five- and 6-year-old Colombian children attending either a secular or a religious school were presented with narratives in which the protagonist desired an ordinarily impossible outcome. In half the stories, the protagonist prayed to God for the desired outcome. Irrespective of education and of whether the protagonist prayed, children systematically concluded that the desired outcome would not occur and justified that conclusion by reference to ordinary causal constraints. Nevertheless, in a minority of their replies children did assert that violations of ordinary causality are possible. Overall, irrespective of their religious education, young children judge that events rarely deviate from their natural course; only occasionally do they acknowledge exceptions. (shrink)

Lovejoy (1873-1962) was America's foremost historian of ideas, a major participant in the philosophical debates of the twentieth century, and a prominent advocate of academic freedom. The product of an emotionally unsettled childhood and an evangelical father, Lovejoy reacted against his father by postulating the certainty of self-sufficient reason. He believed that only the principles of reason could order the world and so make our universe intelligible. Originally published in 1980. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions (...) use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value. (shrink)

According to ethical objectivism, what a person should do depends on the facts, as opposed to their perspective on the facts. A long-standing challenge to this view is that it fails to accommodate the role that norms play in guiding a person’s action. Roughly, if the facts that determine what a person should do lie beyond their ken, they cannot inform a person’s deliberations. This paper explores two recent developments of this line of thought. Both focus on the epistemic counterpart (...) to ethical objectivism, according to which what a person should believe depends on the facts, as opposed to their perspective on the facts. The suggestion in each case is that epistemic objectivism faces a distinctive problem in accommodating guidance. Insofar as objectivism concerning the epistemic domain stands or falls with objectivism concerning the ethical domain, this is a problem for objectivism more generally. In this paper, I show that those arguments are not successful. The upshot is that the objectivist – whether ethical or epistemic – need not reject the idea that norms serve a guiding function. (shrink)

Some of the fundamental activities of the software development process are related to the discipline of Requirements Engineering. Their objectives are to discover, analyze, document, and verify the system’s requirements. The requirements are the conditions or capabilities that software needs to have or fulfill to meet its users’ needs, and problems in its identification can mean the failure of a software project. This study is part of the research that is being developed to propose a model based on Know­ledge Organization (...) Systems to be used in the Requirements engineering process. This article aims to present the results of an analysis on a set of Know­ledge Organization Systems to identify whether they are likely to be applied in the Requirements engineering process and identify at which stage of this process each one of them can be implemented. The Know­ledge Organization Systems analyzed were the authority files, gazetteers, glossaries, subject headings, classification systems, thesauri, semantic networks, and ontologies. Based on the results obtained, it was possible to conclude that the Know­ledge Organization Systems analyzed can be used in the Requirements engineering process and, consequently, contribute to increasing the software requirements’ quality. (shrink)