The paper deals with the question whether logical truth carry information. On the one hand it seems that we gain new information by drawing inferences or arriving at some theorems. On the other hand the formal accounts of information and information content which are most widely known today say that logical truth carry no information at all. The latter is shown by considering these accounts. Then several ways to deal with the dilemma are distinguished, especially syntactic and ontological solutions. A (...) version of a syntactical solution is favoured. (shrink)

Kant spricht bezüglich der Widerlegung des Idealismus von einem „Beweis”. Das ist sicher der höchste Status, den er bereit ist, einem Argument zuzuschreiben. Diese Notiz hier soll zeigen, daß Kant diesen Anspruch zu Recht erhebt. Dazu reicht eine an der sprachlichen Oberflächenstruktur orientierte Formalisierung. Nun hat Kant natürlich die moderne Prädikatenlogik nicht gekannt, aber für den Gebrauch dieser Logik und ein dem gemäßes Räsonieren bedarf es bekanntlich ja auch nicht der ausdrücklichen Kenntnis eines entsprechenden Kalküls. Es reicht aus, daß es (...) mindestens eine Formalisierung gibt, in die sich Kants Argument bringen läßt, um zu zeigen, daß es formal schlüssig ist. (shrink)

Is transcendental pragmatics a matter of ultimate foundation or a matter of holism? Transcendental pragmatics as developed by Karl-Otto Apel has been the object of various criticisms. Against the fallibilists' claim (Albert) that argumentation is at last either dogmatic, axiomatic or circular, the transcendental pragmatists have given an argument that ultimate foundation ('Letztbegründung') cannot be proved to be impossible. But this clarification of their claims leaves open the questions whether their method can establish universal statements, and whether they prove statements (...) which are synthetic a priori. Against the claim of the reconstructive scientist (Habermas) they have to restate their view, and take into account an element of fallibilism. Here we encounter a first element of holism. With regard to the question whether there can be ultimate foundation without ultimate foundation of the method of ultimate foundation holism breaks in. The distinction between a vicious and a transcendental circle, used against Albert, is of no use in the establishment of the transcendental circle. (shrink)

The period between the Peace of Utrecht and the French Revolution is brought into focus in this essay. Professor Manuel deals with the age of the philosophes and the enlightened despots, when belief in man's ability to achieve a good society through reason was in its first hopeful flower. The powerful pressures of that time are evaluated - the rapidly increasing population, the phenomenal growth of cities and industries, the greater facility of travel and transportation, The modern nation-state, as (...) exemplified in France, England, the Hapsburg Empire, Prussia, and Russia, was growing strong and centralized. The relations of these states to one another are discussed. (shrink)

The question of the limit and the difference between man and animal has become a philosophical issue of special relevance. Just look at its political, social, economic, etc. implications. For the first time man can direct his evolutionary process. From that context, the Heideggerian arguments on the subject are analyzed and discussed, taking their Derridian reading as a conductive thread. It reveals the contradiction between the thematic and operational need for a limit and the impossibility of founding it.

El artículo expone la contraposición entre dos posiciones filosóficas (deconstrucción y reconstrucción), dos autores (Jacques Derrida, Jean Luc Ferry) y dos libros (Apprendre à vivre enfin, Apprendre à vivre). En última instancia, dos formas de entender las relaciones entre filosofía y vida. Más allá del logocentrismo, objeto de la deconstrucción, el biocentrismo es el eje de la tarea de reconstrucción de una filosofía articulada como ontología o teoría de lo real, filosofía moral o teoría de la justicia y sabiduría o (...) teoría de la salvación. En suma, una forma renovada de asumir la necesidad de la filosofía. (shrink)

Understanding terrestrial carbon metabolism is critical because terrestrial ecosystems play a major role in the global carbon cycle. Furthermore, humans have severely disrupted the carbon cycle in ways that will alter the climate system and directly affect terrestrial metabolism. Changes in terrestrial metabolism may well be as important an indicator of global change as the changing temperature signal. Improving our understanding of the carbon cycle at various spatial and temporal scales will require the integration of multiple, complementary and independent methods (...) that are used by different research communities. Tools such as air sampling networks, inverse numerical methods, and satellite data allow us to study the strength and location of the global- and continental-scale carbon sources and sinks. Bottom-up studies provide estimates of carbon fluxes at finer spatial scales and examine the mechanisms that control fluxes at the ecosystem, landscape, and regional scales. Bottom-up approaches include comparative and process studies that provide the necessary mechanistic information to develop and validate terrestrial biospheric models. An iteration and reiteration of top-down and bottom-up approaches will be necessary to help constrain measurements at various scales. We propose a major international effort to coordinate and lead research programs of global scope of the carbon cycle. (shrink)

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion.

Este breve ensaio é uma reacção a perguntas de Bernardino Orió de Miguel. As per­guntas que fecham Leibniz, Crítica de la razón simbólica são: “porque há analogias de ana­logias in infinitum?” e, para o filósofo da harmonia pré-estabelecida, “a expressão, que liga todos os níveis, terá sido apenas um compromisso socialmente correcto que oculta a noção do símbolo?”. Examino algumas das suas implicações para a noção actual de organismo, sob a forma de documentação preliminar ao estudo de mónadas, forças, fibras, (...) ictos e suas expressões. Dados os constrangimentos de espaço, concentro-me em duas questões: que significou o mecanismo, na sua diversidade, para Leibniz e alguns médicos do séculos XVII e XVIII; que significou a invenção do conceito de organismo pelo autor da Monadologia, na perspectiva das relações entre corpo, espírito e alma? Interessado no mergulho do infi nito no finito, concluo com um apontamento acerca da teoria da doença mental na proto­-modernidade. (shrink)

This chapter provides summaries of the chapter of this book and introduces the major themes and debates addressed in the volume. Discussed are Nietzsche’s metaphysics; his philosophy of mind in light of contemporary views; the question of panpsychism of Beyond Good and Evil 36; the rejection of dualism in favour of monism, in particular a monism of value; Nietzsche’s positions on consciousness and embodied cognition in light of recent cognitive science; a conception of freedom and agency based on an intrinsically (...) motivating; embodied sense of self-efficacy; a Nietzschean account of valuing understood as drive-induced affective orientations of which an agent approves; the idea of ressentiment conceived as a process of intentional, not reflectively strategic, self-deception about one’s own conscious mental states; and a defence of a Nietzschean naturalism. (shrink)

This volume presents new essays exploring important aspects of Nietzsche's philosophy in connection with two major themes: mind and nature. A team of leading experts address questions including: What is Nietzsche's conception of mind? How does mind relate with the nature? And what is Nietzsche's conception of nature? They all express the thought that Nietzsche's views on these matters are of great philosophical value, either because those views are consonant with contemporary thinking to a greater or lesser extent or because (...) they represent a rich alternative to contemporary attitudes. (shrink)

The current COVID-19 crisis may have an impact on the mental health of professionals working on the frontline, especially healthcare workers due to the increase of occupational psychosocial risks, such as emotional exhaustion and secondary traumatic stress. This study explored job demands and resources during the COVID-19 crisis in predicting emotional exhaustion and STS among health professionals. The present study is a descriptive and correlational cross-sectional design, conducted in different hospitals and health centers in Spain. The sample consisted of 221 (...) health professionals with direct involvement in treating COVID-19. An online survey was created and distributed nationwide from March 20 to April 15 which assessed: sociodemographic and occupational data, fear of contagion, contact with death/suffering, lack of material and human protection resources, challenge, emotional exhaustion, and STS. Descriptive findings show high levels of workload, contact with death/suffering, lack of MHPR and challenge, and are moderately high for fear of contagion, emotional exhaustion, and STS. We found an indirect significant effect of lack of MHPR on predicting emotional exhaustion through the workload and on STS through fear of contagion, contact with death/suffering, and workload. To conclude, this study examines the immediate consequences of the crisis on health professionals' well-being in Spain, emphasizing the job demands related to COVID-19 that health professionals are facing, and the resources available in these health contexts. These findings may boost follow-up of this crisis among health professionals to prevent them from long-term consequences. (shrink)

Perspectivas: una aproximación al pensamiento ético y político contemporáneo recoge algunas de las conferencias pronunciadas en unas jornadas sobre pensamiento crítico, tituladas ¿Liquidar la Modernidad?, que tuvieron lugar en la Biblioteca María Moliner de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Zaragoza en 2010. Y por otro lado, recopila las cuatro intervenciones que se produjeron en una jornada sobre pensamiento contemporáneo que, dirigida a profesorado de enseñanza secundaria, tuvo lugar en el Paraninfo de la Universidad de Zaragoza (...) el 26 de noviembre de 2011. El libro pretende también contribuir a establecer vínculos estrechos entre el Departamento de Filosofía y el profesorado de secundaria con el fin, entre otras cuestiones, de implicarse en la mejor preparación del alumnado de cara a la Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad y de facilitar la tarea docente del profesorado. En ese sentido, y puesto que actualizar el programa, dando cabida al siglo XX, parecía una cuestión necesaria, se ha configurado una aproximación a algunos autores y autoras contemporáneos, en la dimensión ética y/o política de su pensamiento, que también puede resultar útil para el profesorado de Filosofía en enseñanza secundaria. (shrink)

From the standpoint of the theory of medicine, a formulation is given of three types of reasoning used by physicians. The first is deduction from probability models (as in prognosis or genetic counseling for Mendelian disorders). It is a branch of mathematics that leads to predictive statements about outcomes of individual events in terms of known formal assumptions and parameters. The second type is inference (as in interpreting clinical trials). In it the arguments from replications of the same process (data) (...) lead to conclusions about the parameters of a system, without calling into question either the probabilistic model or the criteria of evidence. The third is illation (as in the elucidation of symptoms in a patient). It is a process whereby, in the light of the total evidence and the conclusions from the other types of reasoning, one may modify, expand, simplify or demolish a conceptual framework proposed for deductions, and modify the nature of the evidence sought, the criteriology, the axioms, and the surmised complexity of the scientific theory. (The process of diagnosis as applied to a patient may in extreme cases lead to the discovery of an entirely new disease with its own, quite new, set of diagnostic criteria. This course cannot be accommodated inside either of the other two types of reasoning.) Illation has something of the character of Kuhn's scientific revolution in physics; but it differs in that it is the nature, not the degree or frequency of change that distinguishes it from Kuhn's normal science. (shrink)

How can the power of wholes be resisted without essentializing their parts? Drawing on different archives and methodologies, including aesthetics, history, biology, affect, race, and queer, the interventions in this volume explore different ways of troubling the consistency and stability of wholes, breaking up their closure and making them more dynamic. Doing so without necessarily presupposing or producing parts, an outside, or a teleological development, they indicate the critical potential of partiality without parts.

A lo largo del siglo XX hemos asistido al desplome de esa ciudadela interior (el sujeto) laboriosamente edificada desde el helenismo, cuya expresión filosófica más acabada es el cogito cartesiano. Consecuencia inevitable de tal desplome es la muerte de esa ilusión llamada «hombre». La antropología filosófica ha de partir de esa verdad: No hay hombre. Este volumen reúne trabajos sobre autores diversos que, desde Heidegger, han abierto vías para pensar hoy una ontología sin sujeto y una antropología sin hombre.

La transición del siglo XIX al XX supone una quiebra de paradigma que afecta al conjunto de los saberes. Desde la ciencia hasta la estética, pasando por la filosofía, el paradigma moderno se ve sometido a un proceso de erosión que desembocará en lo que algunos denominan Posmodernidad. La presente obra supone una aproximación al pensamiento contemporáneo, buscando las raíces de su especificidad en la profunda mutación discursiva con que se alumbra el siglo XX. Esta aproximación, lejos de ser una (...) mera descripción, se realiza desde una vocación crítica que subraya aquellos elementos del discurso actual que pueden convertirse en herramienta para la construcción de un pensamiento antagonista. (shrink)

Testemunhos na primeira pessoa dados por quem aceitou recordar os factos, os dramas e os sucessos do tempo de mudança e transformação vertiginosa que constituiu o período de vida do Padre Manuel Antunes, professor que marcou indelevelmente várias gerações.

The hypothetical conflict between self‐interest, corporate interest, and the common good is one of the hottest debated issues in business ethics. This article focuses on a particular corporate social responsibility approach within the field of sustainable (project) finance, which has the potential—given that certain reform measures are adopted—to overcome the alleged trade‐off between self‐interest and the common good. The approach is labeled as the Equator Principles (EPs) framework, which celebrated its tenth anniversary and the formal launch of the third generation (...) of the EPs (EP III) in 2013. The article shows how companies can theoretically be both profitable and socio‐environmentally responsible by adhering to the EPs. The article proceeds as follows: Before moving on to the EPs, section 2 defines the key terms self‐interest and common good. Section 3 then analyzes the EPs from a business ethics perspective. Section 4 shows how the EPs can help in solving the potential trade‐off between self‐interest and the common good—provided that the EPs are substantially revised. These required reform steps are discussed in section 5. The article ends with a summary of the main findings. (shrink)

The E.U. is shortly before implementing the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to regulate digital markets and (ideally) rein in the power of big tech gatekeepers. Several researchers claim that this proposal – and especially its goal to ensure the contestability and fairness of digital markets – is ordoliberal in nature, yet what is missing in the academic literature is a closer look at the parallels (and differences) between the E.U.’s competition policy (and the DMA) and ordoliberalism. This paper (...) tries to close the gap and help answer the question of whether the DMA is indeed standing in an ordoliberal tradition. Furthermore, it evaluates the Act’s institutional strengths and weaknesses – as seen from an ordoliberal perspective – and points out potential ways to strengthen E.U. competition policy (and the DMA) and bring it closer to the ordoliberal ideal. (shrink)

The relationship between ethics and performance has previously been addressed in the literature, although there are still some gaps, for example, the relationship of ethical ideologies to student performance. This work aims to contribute to the literature with a statistical evaluation using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) regarding whether university students’ ethical ideologies and moral meaningfulness influence their level of student performance and academic achievement. Results indicate that the ideologies of justice and deontology increase moral meaningfulness, moral meaningfulness in (...) turn increase student’s citizenship behaviours and student’s in-role performance, and finally, student’s in-role performance positively influences academic achievement. This research provides resources applicable to the fields of pedagogy and ethics to encourage performance during the study and highlight the value of the ideologies of justice and deontology. (shrink)

The paper proposes a new understanding of the relationship that links philosophy and literature, assuming the Greek tragedy of the 5th century BC as the exemplary occasion for the development of this enquiry. In this perspective, moving from the original interpretation of the tragedy recently offered by Pierre Judet de La Combe, the paper shows how the specific cognitive function of the tragedy, understood as “artistic form”, consists in its ability to bring to manifestation, in exemplary way, the “conditions of (...) sense” that make possible any knowledge of experience, with the consciousness of the aesthetical-imaginative and not logical-conceptual character of these same conditions. From this point of view, the critical and reflexive function of the tragedy is due – according to the Adornian interpretation – to the autonomy of the “form”, i.e. to the sensible configuration of the tragedy. What emerges, here, is the “non-reproductive” but “productive” nature of the tragic form: what it offers to the spectator is not the representation of a sense already given in the world, but rather an “indefinite opening to meaning”, i.e. a form able to construct an indeterminate multiplicity of “possibilities of sense”. (shrink)

The paper proposes a focus upon the notion of “aura” as it emerges from the work of Baudelaire. In particular, the paper shows how the relevance of such a work lies precisely in its capacity to critically interrogate the relationship between art, aura and modernity: in its capacity to exhibit exemplary, on the one hand, the irremediable decline of aura understood as “uniqueness” and “originality” of the artwork (therefore, the aura as expression of a sense given once and for all) (...) and, on the other hand, the possible survival of an aura conceived rather as appearance of an inaccessible “distance”, and then of an irreducible otherness. From this point of view, in staging a short-circuit between spleen and idéal, i.e between “myth” and “hope”, the Baudelairian artistic form offers itself to us as an expression of authentic “auratisation of the datum”. (shrink)