Although US and European research has documented improvement in earnings quality associated with corporate governance characteristics, the situation in Latin America is questionable, given the business environment in which firms operate, which is characterized by controlling family ownership and weak legal protection. The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between the internal mechanisms of Corporate Governance and Earnings Management measured by discretionary accrual. We use a sample of listed Latin American non-financial companies from the period 2006–2009. Our (...) results show how in the Latin American context the role of external directors is limited and that Boards which meet more frequently take a more active position in the monitoring of insiders, so showing a lower use of manipulative practices. In addition, we find a non-linear relation between insider ownership and discretionary accruals, also pointing to the fact that ownership concentration may be a manipulative practices constrictor mechanism only when the ownership of main shareholders is moderate. The findings have important policy implications since this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study to analyze the relation between the effectiveness of the government and the earnings management behavior. As policy implications, we document how when a country implements controls aimed at reducing corruption, strengthening the rule of law or improving the effectiveness of government, this leads to a reduction in firm earnings management. (shrink)

Esta investigación tiene como finalidad responder, desde la filosofía y literatura de Camus, la pregunta de si el hombre puede ser feliz sin Dios. Para llevar a cabo este trabajo, se utiliza un método hermenéutico, pues se hace un acercamiento dialógico y holístico a las obras del pensador argelino para descubrir su pensamiento respecto a Dios y a la felicidad humana. Los principales resultados de la investigación concluyen que el hombre puede ser feliz sin Dios en la medida en que, (...) en primer lugar, acepte el absurdo y viva su rebeldía, y, en segundo lugar, comprenda la felicidad como una vocación ontológica más allá de un estado. (shrink)

Banking firms are becoming increasingly aware that their clients’ management of environmental and social risks may in term threaten their own business as lenders and investors. In addition, stakeholders are requiring banks to improve their social performance. As a result, some banks are developing corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and management systems to reduce potential risks and improve their performance. In the Spanish financial system, half of the banking firms are savings banks, most of which have always used some Corporate (...) Social Responsibility (CSR) criteria in their management. Private Banks have only recently started to integrate social aspects in their performance. However, no formal analysis has been carried out on the impact of CSR strategies. Various initiatives have been launched nationally and internationally to include the social dimension in management systems. The purpose of this research is to analyse the social performance of the main Spanish financial companies through public data such as social or sustainability reports and media sources. In order to do this, we need to determine which CSR criteria most greatly affect banking firms and to choose the most accurate quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure social performance. (shrink)

_Reseña de: Longuenesse, Béatrice, _I, Me, Mine. Back to Kant, and Back Again_, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 257. __ISBN: 978-0-19-966576-1._.

El análisis foucaultiano de la "parresía" termina su proyecto de una "historia de la verdad". La parresía muestra al ser del sujeto como sola actividad y, así, destaca el límite fundamental, que podemos encontrar en Platón por primera vez, entre el ser del hombre como éthos y el ser del hombre como téchne, que es la frontera entre la filosofía y la retórica. El propósito de este trabajo es mostrar esta contraposición en lo siguiente. La filosofía es un decir atemático (...) frente a la dependencia del tema de la retórica. La filosofía es deber, asunción de la fáctica finitud del hombre , y crítica, descubrimiento de la necesidad del decir... verdadero en el juego del alma y de la pólis. La filosofía es exposición al peligro que supone la descomposición de la pólis, frente al aseguramiento de la posición más ventajosa en ella.Foucault's analysis of "parrhesy" ends his project of a "history of the truth". The parrhesy shows the being of the subject as only activity and, thus, it points out the essential limit between the subject's being as éthos and the subject's being as téchne. That is, it points out the border, which we can find first in Plato, between philosophy and rethoric . The purpose of this paper is to show that philosophy is un-thematized as opposed to the dependence of the theme of rhetoric. Philosohy is duty, the acknowledgment of the factical finitude of man , and criticism, the discovery of the need of truth-telling in the... game of the soul and the pólis. Philosophy is the exposition to the danger that means the decadence of the pólis, as opposed to the assurance of the more advantageous position in it. (shrink)

En la «Introducción» de El conflicto de las facultades, Kant expone el modo en que tiene que organizarse la Universidad con vistas a satisfacer el legítimo interés del Estado, que no es otro que el de “gobernar”. En cierta manera, podría considerarse que, en éste y otros textos, Kant ensaya la respuesta a la pregunta, nunca formulada explícitamente en ninguno, ‘¿qué significa “gobernar”?’ La respuesta va a estar en la crítica de la erudición, un conocimiento a medio camino entre el (...) saber y la virtud. (shrink)

Reseña de: Møller, Sofie, Kant’s Tribunal of Reason. Legal Metaphor and Normativity in the Critique of Pure Reason, Cambridge/New York, Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp. 198. ISBN: 978-1-108-49849-4.

Convengamos en que el sistema no es algo adjetivo o sobrevenido. No es algo ‘metodológico’, como suele decirse. En realidad, el sistema “es lo más alto y esencial” (HEIDEGGER, M. Schellings Abhandlung über das Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit (1809). Tübingen, Max Niemeyer, 1971, p. 29). Esto, sin embargo, no significa que toda filosofía tenga sistema. Como recuerda Heidegger (1971, p. 32-3), la filosofía griega carecía de sistema, que gana su apogeo con la filosofía moderna y con el particular devenir metódico (...) de la misma. En Foucault, en cambio, habría que buscar una honda preocupación por el sistema (tal es, nos parece, la tesis fundamental de la obra que reseñamos) pero que, quizás marcada por Heidegger, ha tenido lugar casi siempre contra este su cuño moderno que es el método. No es casual por tanto que Foucault haya querido volver la mirada sobre esta época sin centrarse en el método pero sí en la máthesis, demostrando con ello la potencia del orden. (shrink)

This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, I shall expound the kantian concept of paradox and its three different senses, the anthropological, the rhetorical and the metaphysical. In the second part, I shall examine the presence of these senses of paradox in Kant’s texts about Enlightenment. The paradox of immaturity consists of the fact that we are responsible, as human beings, and non-responsible, as subjects of a State, of the exit from it. Another formulation of the same (...) paradox, but in dynamical and metaphysical terms, is that of heautocracy, the paradox of self-constraint, which implies that the subject is at the same time active and passive. Finally, the opposition between public and private use of reason also seems paradoxical, since private use seems to be a prejudiced use while public use seems to be free and reasonable as such. (shrink)

El artículo 270.2 del Código penal español hace responsables a los prestadores de servicios intermediarios cuando existe una facilitación activa y no neutral de un comportamiento infractor en las obras protegidas por copyright. Ello se ha traducido en un mecanismo incierto que fomenta la colaboración acrítica con los titulares del copyright sin ponderar de forma adecuada la creatividad social a través del uso transformativo de la obra. Este artículo propone un análisis de la autoría como signo distintivo con la finalidad (...) de corregir esta incertidumbre normativa mediante una interpretación restrictiva del derecho de uso exclusivo eliminando los usos derivados como fuente generadora de una obligación de actuar, y a la vez, reconociendo la necesidad de un mecanismo de contra-notificación que permita al supuesto infractor una defensa efectiva de sus intereses sin que ello implique la pérdida de la condición de actor neutral. (shrink)

La «Einleitung» de la KrV puede considerarse como un texto particularmente elaborado desde el punto de vista fenomenológico. Este artículo intenta mostrar cómo funciona en el texto (en detalle los §§ III-V) una estructura interpretativa basada en el trabajo y articulación interna de la reflexión (como el movimiento de emergencia, como un especial diferir, del fenómeno). Para mostrar que la filosofía trascendental es la investigación de la facticidad de la Razón como facticidad de la ciencia. Pero donde por “ciencia” habrá (...) que entender el particular concernimiento de la Razón por su propia e interna problematicidad como trascendencia; por cuanto el “conocimiento” no es otra cosa que el ser fáctico de la Razón. Esta lectura tiene también el propósito de rechazar algunas interpretaciones, por parciales (en ambas se trata de una metafísica “revisada”), de este texto; tanto las que lo ven como algo relativo a una epistemología como las que entienden la imposibilidad de la metafísica como un malogro dialéctico de la ontología. (shrink)

Achieving a comfortable thermal situation within buildings with an efficient use of energy remains still an open challenge for most buildings. In this regard, IoT and KDD processes may be combined to address these problems, even though data analysts may feel overwhelmed by heterogeneity and volume of the data to be considered. Data analysts could benefit from an application assistant that supports them throughout the KDD process and aids them to discover which are the relevant variables for the matter at (...) hand, or informing about relationships among relevant data. In this article, the EEPSA ontology which supports such an assistant is presented. The ontology is developed on the basis that a proper axiomatization shapes the set of admitted models better, and therefore, establishes the ground for a better interoperability. On the contrary, underspecification facilitates the admission of non-isomorphic models to represent the same state which hampers interoperability. This ontology is developed on top of three ODPs which include proper axioms in order to improve precedent proposals to represent features of interest and their respective qualities, as well as observations and actuations, the sensors and actuators that generate them, and the procedures used. Moreover, the ontology introduces six domain ontology modules integrated with the ODPs in such a manner that a methodical customization is facilitated. (shrink)

Resumen: El principal objetivo de este trabajo es pensar el concepto de meditación en la filosofía de Ortega y Gasset. La meditación es la esencia de la filosofía para Ortega. Meditar y filosofar son sinónimos. La filosofía no es mera teoría, sino que implica también práctica. El elemento teórico sólo tiene sentido cuando surge de la vida, pero ante todo la teoría sólo vale si vale para vivir. El ser humano para Ortega piensa porque vive, pero lo fundamental es que (...) piensa para vivir. Sólo los pensamientos que se alcanzan viviendo tienen valor para vivir. La meditación filosófica está siempre supeditada a la vida.The principal aim of this work is to think the concept of meditation in the Ortega y Gasset’s philosophy. For Ortega, meditation is the essence of philosophy. To meditate and to philosophize are synonymous. Philosophy isn’t simply theory, but it also implies practice. The theoretical element only makes sense when it arises from life, but above all theory only have value if it have value for life. For Ortega, human being thinks because he lives, but is fundamental that he thinks for life. Only thoughts reached by living have value for life. Philosophical meditation is always subordinated to life. (shrink)

Los estudios sobre la fenomenología de Ortega apenas han atendido al víncunlo entre forma o estructura y campo del fenómeno. Ortega ha insistido en la formalidad del ámbito de aparición de los fenómenos, que ha vinculado con su radicalidad. La forma del ámbito emerge dentro del campo como un juego de diferencias, de la que el par superficie/ profundidad es el fundamental. En este trabajo vamos a mostrar que la formalidad del ámbito tiene un ejemplo señalado en los análisis del (...) campo visual en el horizonte de las Meditaciones. (shrink)

J. Butler has dealt with politics and the problem of social transformation since her early works. Her interest in these topics has been linked to the phenomenology of field, but her work has also been linked to psychoanalysis, with which she has had a fruitful dialogue. In this paper, I show, firstly, that a field is marked and receives its necessary mobility from the constitutive outside. Secondly, I show that Butler makes a “à la Freud” reading of the psyche which (...) she interprets as a field traversed by the economy of melancholy. Melancholy is not a psychic phenomenon but a structure and a fundamental event of the psyche and its formation. This event inaugurates a field marked by the ambivalence between the loss of the Other and the interpellation open to the Other, and marked by vulnerability as well, since the activity of agency and the passivity of receptivity cannot be distinguished. This indistinguishability or ambivalence is thought by Butler to be the starting point for a different way of doing politics. (shrink)

The Air Quality Index (AQI) shows the state of air pollution in a unique and more understandable way. This work aims to forecast the AQI in Algeciras (Spain) 8 hours in advance. The AQI is calculated indirectly through the predicted concentrations of five pollutants (O3, NO2, CO, SO2 and PM10) to achieve this goal. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), sequence-to-sequence long short-term memory networks (LSTMs) and a newly proposed method combing a rolling window with the latter (LSTMNA) are employed as the (...) forecasting techniques. Besides, two input approaches are evaluated: using only the data from the own time series of the pollutant in the first case or adding exogenous variables in the second one. Several window sizes are employed (24, 28 and 72 hours) with ANNs and LSTMNAs. Additionally, several feature ranking methods are applied in the exogenous approach to select the most relevant lagged variables to feed the models. Results show how the proposed exogenous approach increases the performance of the prediction models. Besides, the newly proposed method LSTMNA provides the best performances in most of the cases evaluated. Hence, it constitutes an exciting alternative to standard LSTMs and ANNs to predict pollutants concentrations and, consequently, the AQI. (shrink)

In this paper, we analyse the most important documents establishing the criteria for the treatment and exclusion of COVID-19 patients, especially in regard to the giving of respiratory support, in Italy and Spain. These documents reflect a tension that stems from limited healthcare resources which are insufficient to save lives that, under normal conditions, could have been saved, or at least could have received the best possible treatment. First, we analyse the healthcare systems of these two countries before the spread (...) of the virus, both of which have seen decreases in the number of intensive care beds and have been marked by financial cuts during the last ten years. It is a fact that a greater number of people, especially those over 70 years of age, have been left without respiratory support treatment, and therefore, there have been a greater number of deaths. It is also a fact that there has been a higher infection rate among healthcare professionals due to the delay in the management of protective measures and the inability to provide adequate care for those in nursing homes, as recognised by WHO. In the context of this health emergency, healthcare professionals have suffered a real ‘moral distress’ because, knowing first-hand the causes of the limitation of resources, they have had to put triage protocols into practice. Finally, we set forth a series of concrete ethical proposals with which to face the successive waves of COVID-19 infection, as well as other future pandemics. (shrink)

We present an inferentialist account of collective rationality and intentionality, according to which beliefs and other intentional states are understood in terms of the normative statuses attributed to, and undertaken by, the participants of a discursive practice—namely, their discursive or practical commitments and entitlements. Although these statuses are instituted by the performances and attitudes of the agents, they are not identified with any physical or psychological entity, process or relation. Therefore, we argue that inferentialism allows us to talk of collective (...) intentionality and agency without needing to posit the existence of any sort of collective psychology or mind. (shrink)

Our purpose in this paper is to contribute to a practice-based characterization of scientific inference. We want to explore whether Brandom’s pragmatist–inferentialist framework can suitably accommodate several types of ampliative inference common in scientific reasoning and explanation (probabilistic reasoning, abduction and idealisation). First, we argue that Brandom’s view of induction in terms of merely permissive inferences is inadequate; in order to overcome the shortcoming of Brandom’s proposal, we put forward an alternative conception of inductive, probabilistic reasoning by appeal to the (...) notion of degrees of commitment. Moreover, we examine the sorts of inferential commitments operative in other types of ampliative inferences, such as abduction or reasoning involving idealizations and assumptions. We suggest that agents engaging in these forms of reasoning often undertake restricted inferential commitments, whose scope and reach are more limited that in the case of the commitments associated with full beliefs. (shrink)

La lectura de Derrida de Der Streit de Fakultäten, de Kant, que aborda la relación de saber (Universidad) y poder (Estado), tiene dos fases. Primero Derrida apostará por “dos Kant”, que comparten una visión de la facultad de filosofía cuya fortaleza crítica sólo podrá asegurarse a cuenta de sus distanciamiento del poder, para luego leer en el texto kantiano una propuesta de intervención de la filosofía a través de una vía subjetiva, similar a la deconstrucción. Por último, nosotros leeremos la (...) propuesta kantiana como una crítica de la sociedad del conocimiento de su época, de carácter retórico-subjetivo y político. (shrink)

Banking firms are becoming increasingly aware that their clients’ management of environmental and social risks may in term threaten their own business as lenders and investors. In addition, stakeholders are requiring banks to improve their social performance. As a result, some banks are developing corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and management systems to reduce potential risks and improve their performance. In the Spanish financial system, half of the banking firms are savings banks, most of which have always used some Corporate (...) Social Responsibility (CSR) criteria in their management. Private Banks have only recently started to integrate social aspects in their performance. However, no formal analysis has been carried out on the impact of CSR strategies. Various initiatives have been launched nationally and internationally to include the social dimension in management systems. The purpose of this research is to analyse the social performance of the main Spanish financial companies through public data such as social or sustainability reports and media sources. In order to do this, we need to determine which CSR criteria most greatly affect banking firms and to choose the most accurate quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure social performance. (shrink)

Se examina el trasfondo subjetivo de Respuesta a la pregunta: ¿qué es la ilustración?, que anuncia la condición antropológico-política de la minoría de edad; mostrán-dose que su objetivo es lograr la ilustración del Estado a partir de dicha condición. Finalmente, se expone cómo la minoría de edad es la traslación antropológica del despotismo político, y cómo este se traduce lógico-subjetivamente en los prejuicios.

The United Kingdom is the first and so far only country to pass explicit legislation allowing for the licensed use of the new reproductive technology known as mitochondrial replacement therapy. The techniques used in this technology may prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA diseases, but they are controversial because they involve the manipulation of oocytes or embryos and the transfer of genetic material. Some commentators have even suggested that MRT constitutes germline genome modification. All eyes were on the United Kingdom (...) as the most likely location for the first MRT birth, so it was a shock when, on September 27, 2016, an announcement went out that the first baby to result from use of the intervention had already been born. In New York City, United States-based scientist John Zhang used maternal spindle transfer to generate five embryos for a woman carrying oocytes with deleterious mutations of the mitochondrial DNA. Zhang then shipped the only euploid embryo to Mexico, where it was transferred to the mother's uterus. Zhang's team's travel across international borders to carry out experimental procedures represents a form of scientific tourism that has not been properly ethically explored; it can, however, have seriously detrimental effects for developing countries. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to develop accurate forecasting models for chlorophyll-α concentrations at various depths in El Mar Menor, Spain. Chlorophyll-α plays a crucial role in assessing eutrophication in this vulnerable ecosystem. To achieve this objective, various deep learning forecasting techniques, including long short-term memory, bidirectional long short-term memory and gated recurrent uni networks, were utilized. The models were designed to forecast the chlorophyll-α levels with a 2-week prediction horizon. To enhance the models’ accuracy, a sliding window method (...) combined with a blocked cross-validation procedure for time series was also applied to these techniques. Two input strategies were also tested in this approach: using only chlorophyll-α time series and incorporating exogenous variables. The proposed approach significantly improved the accuracy of the predictive models, no matter the forecasting technique employed. Results were remarkable, with |$\overline{\sigma}$| values reaching approximately 0.90 for the 0.5-m depth level and 0.80 for deeper levels. The proposed forecasting models and methodologies have great potential for predicting eutrophication episodes and acting as decision-making tools for environmental agencies. Accurate prediction of eutrophication episodes through these models could allow for proactive measures to be implemented, resulting in improved environmental management and the preservation of the ecosystem. (shrink)

The "people of knowledge" of traditional Mazatec medicine have preserved until today the ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms as part of their health care systems. The renewed interest in the effect of psilocybin on human consciousness for both therapeutic and recreational purposes usually obviates the historical and cultural background of indigenous peoples, as well as the legitimation of their practices and knowledge. In this article, through the case study of a foreign person who attended a Mazatec ritual specialist to participate (...) in a ritual night ceremony known as velada, we show the importance of approaching research on psychoactive plants and mushrooms from a transdisciplinary and intercultural perspective, so that we can appreciate the profound complexity of the healing processes that take place in traditional indigenous contexts, as well as the limits of recreational uses or exclusively neopositivist and clinical approaches. (shrink)

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in some populations being confined to their homes as part of infection control measures. This situation can be hard to cope with due to separation from loved ones, prohibition of regular activities, fear of infection, loss of freedom, and so on. These negative impacts cause considerable psychological stress, and all the more so when the situation continues for an extended period, as was the case in Spain. The present study was aimed at investigating the effects (...) of COVID-19 quarantine on the emotional functioning of confined Spanish individuals after 8 weeks of lockdown by means of a cross-sectional study. The possible associations between changes in emotional functioning and demographic variables, health habits, social support, and resilience were also analyzed.MethodsA total of 906 Spanish adults completed an online survey to gather information about their prevailing mood and affects, using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and other variables related to their habits and protective factors.FindingsAs expected, the data indicated an increase in negative affects and a decrease in positive affects after 8 weeks under lockdown, as well as a general decline in overall mood. The largest increases in negative affects were observed in young adults and women. We did not find any differences between people who were or were not diagnosed with COVID-19. Adhering to a routine, maintaining the same weight, and moderate physical exercise were associated with fewer negative affects, which indicates they are important protective factors, as are perceived social support and resilience.ConclusionIn order to mitigate the psychological impact of confinement, it is important to develop psychoeducational measures that encourage subjects to adhere to health habits and promote social support and resilience as protective factors. A special preventive focus should be placed on the most vulnerable population groups, namely women and young adults. For a public health lockdown to succeed, its negative consequences must be minimized insofar as possible through adequate knowledge of the risk factors and protective factors, and by means of prevention-oriented organization. (shrink)

Traditionally, liberals have confined religion to the sphere of the ‘private’ or ‘non-political’. However, recent debates over the place of religious symbols in public spaces, state financing of faith schools, and tax relief for religious organisations suggest that this distinction is not particularly useful in easing the tension between liberal commitments to equality on the one hand, and freedom of religion on the other. This article deals with one aspect of this debate, which concerns whether members of religious communities should (...) receive exemptions from regulations that place a distinctively heavy burden on them. Drawing on Habermas’ understanding of churches as ‘communities of interpretation’, we explore possible alternatives to both the ‘rule-and-exemption’ approach and the ‘neutralist’ approach. Our proposal rests on the idea of mutual learning between secular and religious perspectives. On this interpretation, what is required is (i) the generation and maintenance of public spaces in which there could be discussion and dialogue about particular cases, and (ii) evaluation of whether the basic conditions of moral discourse are present in these spaces. Thus deliberation becomes a touchstone for the building of a shared democratic ethos. (shrink)

La idea del sentido del mundo antes de todo filosofar, de Husserl, implica dar un paso atrás de la reflexión del Ego filosofante, ir al ámbito pre- reflexivo (no- eidético); sin embargo, aunque Husserl sí da un paso atrás revisando profundamente los procesos de las síntesis pasivas en los que el Ego no está posicionado, a nivel del registro de la fantasía y de la percepción —por lo que podría haber realizado una descentralización del Ego trascendental—, regresa al Ego filosofante (...) buscando expresar, en el modo de la evidencia eidética de la conciencia, el sentido pre- reflexivo ganado en los procesos de correlación intencional operante de las síntesis pasivas. La tesis de este ensayo es que, de las dos vías epistemológicas presentes en la filosofía de Husserl, la vía epistémica del Ego trascendental (el “camino cartesiano”, como él le llama), se impone por sobre la vía del Husserl de las vivencias (el “camino del mundo-de-la-vida”, como lo definirá en Crisis), en lo que respecta a su idea del sentido del mundo antes de todo filosofar, a pesar de sus implicaciones pre- reflexivas. (shrink)

Se examina el trasfondo subjetivo de Respuesta a la pregunta: ¿qué es la ilustración?, que anuncia la condición antropológico-política de la minoría de edad; mostrándose que su objetivo es lograr la ilustración del Estado a partir de dicha condición. Finalmente, se expone cómo la minoría de edad es la traslación antropológica del despotismo político, y cómo este se traduce lógico-subjetivamente en los prejuicios. The article examines the subjective background of Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? A text in which the (...) anthropological and political condition of minority is announced. It is shown that the objective of Kant's article is to achieve the enlightenment of the State taking such condition as starting point. Finally, it is shown how minority is the anthropological translation of political despotism and how it is logically and subjectively translated into prejudices. (shrink)

En los primeros trabajos de Ortega sobre estética, y más particularmente en los que se ocupa de Zuloaga, se reconoce el influjo del neokantismo, pero también la inci-piente presencia de la fenomenología. El propósito de este trabajo se poner en claro ambos elementos, al tiempo que se esbozan las claves de la estética orteguiana de la pintura en esta época como “pintura del mundo”, que logra salvar las cosas sirviéndose de dos recursos: 1º de un tema circunstancial, y 2º de (...) una técnica impresionista que pinta el “ambiente. (shrink)

Politicians, pundits, and Pentagon officials are singing the praises of a kinder, gentler American counterinsurgency. Some claim that counterinsurgency is so sophisticated and effective that it is the “graduate level of war.” Private military contracting firms have jumped on the bandwagon, and many have begun employing anthropologists, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists to help meet the Department of Defense’s new demand. The $60 million Human Terrain System, an intelligence gathering program that embeds social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and (...) Afghanistan, dramatically illustrates the approach. But when the military, transnational corporations, and the human sciences become obsessed with controlling the “human terrain”—the civilian populations of Iraq and Afghanistan—what are the consequences? In this timely pamphlet, Roberto González offers a searing critique of HTS, showing how the history of anthropology can be used to illuminate the problems of turning “culture” into a military tool. (shrink)