En este ensayo explicaré mis argumentos con relación a las incoherencias que identifico en el realismo científico de Karl Popper. Fundamentalmente, creo que en la filosofía de este autor no existe una definición coherente de la noción de verdad para que tenga un papel relevante en la doctrina realista. Más allá de que a Popper se le reconozca por asumir una teoría correspondentista de la verdad, él en varios pasajes de su obra se muestra escéptico sobre la labor que puede (...) cumplir la verdad para determinar el éxito de la ciencia. Además, plantearé que Popper tiene inclinaciones fuertes hacia el realismo metafísico, en especial hacia el esencialismo, pero la manera de defender esta teoría resulta oscura porque en su proyecto epistemológico se encuentran apartados en los que se opone a ella. (shrink)

En la concepción estructuralista de teoría científica se afirma que sus tesis son neutrales respecto a compromisos epistemológicos, puesto que su análisis es estructural (Diederich, 1996). En el presente texto nos proponemos mostrar que no existe tal neutralidad epistemológica en una de las piezas clave del estructuralismo metateórico, nos referimos a la noción “aplicaciones intencionales”, y que de lo anterior se deriva un compromiso epistémico relacionado con la justificación de teorías científicas, según el cual, la ciencia es una “red” de (...) relaciones lógicas entre teorías. Para lograr lo anterior nos proponemos analizar las implicaciones semánticas y epistemológicas de esa noción y el rol que juega en la contrastación teórica. Una de las consecuencias más radicales del análisis propuesto es que la noción anterior (aplicaciones intencionales) implica que unas teorías están justificadas por otras; en otras palabras, la justificación de teorías científicas caería en un coherentismo interteórico, que precisaremos más adelante. Naturalmente, es importante advertir que esta tesis y esta implicación coherentista la aceptan los defensores del estructuralismo metateórico (Balzer, Moulines & Sneed, 1987) y (Díez & Moulines, 1997). Sin embargo, el punto realmente problemático, y lo novedoso del presente artículo, es que el coherentismo compromete la justificación de las teorías en cuanto implica un regressus ad infinitum en la reconstrucción formal. Además, este defecto del estructuralismo conlleva a otras dos réplicas adicionales, una desde el punto de vista pragmático y otra desde el punto de vista semántico. El primero consiste en que, si aceptamos la tesis del regressus la reconstrucción puede ser infructuosa para efectos pragmáticos, i.e. la corrección formal de una teoría nos obliga a corregir el conjunto de teorías ya presupuestas que intervienen en ella. De la misma manera, la dependencia semántica de una teoría respecto a sus antecesoras implica que si uno de sus conceptos fundamentales es corregido o modificado, entonces habría que hacer una revisión general de todas las teorías relacionadas en las que el concepto en cuestión es relevante. El trabajo, es pues, un avance en esta dirección. (shrink)

La permanencia y la graduación de la educación básica oficial impartida en Colombia es un tema de política pública educativa que abarca el ejercicio del derecho y las externalidades generadas por la formación de capital humano altamente calificado en una sociedad de bajos ingresos. Así, el objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la elasticidad de la oferta de educación básica oficial mediante una revisión sistemática de términos relacionados con elasticidad oferta-demanda, bajo la premisa de que es un servicio gratuito; el (...) resultado determinó que la oferta es sensible al presupuesto, así como al número de docentes que atienden el servicio educativo, pero no evidencia relación con mejora en la calidad educativa. (shrink)

Mexico has long suffered from poverty. Two common government approaches to poverty reduction are public spending for social programs, and public spending for economic competitiveness programs. This article summarizes the nature and effects of these two approaches based on information published in Mexican journals and international research institution reports written in Spanish. Since 1990, public spending for social programs has increased at an annual rate of 7%, whereas spending for economic competitiveness programs has become stagnant. Researchers report that: (1) spending (...) on social programs may not be the primary cause for poverty reduction, (2) social programs may not be reaching those with the greatest need, and (3) social program spending may be causing a decrease in productivity and economic growth. More resources are needed for economic competitiveness programs that increase workforce productivity and well-paid jobs. (shrink)

Este trabajo de reflexión e investigación va a la fuente misma del pensamiento político kantiano, para mostrar cómo su concepción republicana se funda en lo que él llama el uso reflexionante de la razón. Para ello, se ha dividido en tres partes: en la primera se señala cómo el pensamiento político kantiano no se funda en el uso teórico ni práctico de la razón, sino en su uso reflexionante, al mismo tiempo que se señalan sus características. En la segunda se (...) desarrolla el pensamiento filosófico político kantiano, teniendo como eje articulador su idea de republicanismo de un pueblo de demonios. Y, finalmente, en la tercera, se muestra cómo, a partir de su concepción reflexionante, puede ser pensada una acción política en el mundo contemporáneo, insinuando su oposición a todo pensamiento revolucionario, dogmático tradicionalista o moralista, que no considere los límites “estructurales” propios de la capacidad moral particular de los seres humanos. (shrink)

ResumenEn este artículo me propongo realizar una defensa del naturalismo como fundamento metafísico de la ciencia, mostrando para ello que el “nuevo realismo” de Markus Gabriel es otra versión contemporánea del relativismo y del idealismo y a pesar de que Gabriel acepta la distinción fregeana de sentido y referencia, sus implicaciones son explícitamente antinaturalistas. En concreto, la defensa al naturalismo que intento ofrecer aquí es una crítica abierta a las consecuencias antinaturalistas y pseudocientíficas del “nuevo realismo” de Gabriel. Otra manera (...) de comprender este trabajo es mostrar que el naturalismo puede ser una pieza clave para entender la discusión contemporánea entre la ciencia y la pseudociencia.Palabras clave: Gabriel; naturalismo; nuevo realismo; demarcación; ciencia. (shrink)

El presente trabajo analiza las implicaciones sociales, políticas y teológicas propuestas por Giordano Bruno, a partir de su propuesta de un universo infinito. Para ello, se analizarán los conceptos de vacío y pluralidad que permiten la comprensión del modelo de universo infinito, explicado en un segundo momento, para finalizar con el análisis de la relación de esta propuesta con un pensamiento revolucionario en el terreno social, político y teológico del Siglo XVI.

Este artigo se inicia com a declaração de Díez e Moulines, segundo a qual é preferível dizer ‘família semanticista’ e não ‘concepção semanticista’, desde que, entretanto, os membros dessa família partilhem uma estratégia modal de apresentação e análise das teorias e, claro, de problemas metafóricos ligados a eles, ainda, entre eles não deve haver qualquer unanimidade em relação à natureza dos modelos. O estruturalismo, por exemplo, pensa os modelos como estruturas de conjunto teórico , enquanto para van Fraassen elas são (...) ‘pontos’ ou ‘trajetórias em fase de espaço’. Assim, o objetivo do presente trabalho consiste em pesquisar como é considerada a noção de modelo nesses dois membros da família semanticista, a despeito de sua relação em sua formulação inicial This article begins with the statement of Díez and Moulines, in which it is preferable to say ‘semanticist family’ and not ‘semanticist conception’, since, even though, the members of this family share a modal strategy of presentation and analysis of the theories and, of course, of metatheoric problems linked to them, also, between them there is no unanimity in relation to the nature of the models. Structuralism, for example, thinks in the models as structures of theory set , while for van Fraassen are ‘points’ or ‘trajectories in space phase’. Therefore, the aim of this paper consists to research how in these two members of semanticist family is assumed the notion of model, despite its relationship in its initial formulation. (shrink)

Aim: The presence of noise in urban environments is rarely considered a factor that causes damage to the environment. The primary generating source is transportation means, with vehicles being the ones that affect cities the most. Traffic noise has a particular influence on the quality of life of those who are exposed to it and can cause health alterations ranging from annoyance to cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to describe the relationship between the traffic noise level and the perceived annoyance (...) in the inhabitants of a city on the Northern Border of Mexico. The work carried out in a city represents the vulnerability characteristics: economic, social, and migratory of its sizable portion of the inhabitants. Due to that, it is impossible to identify precisely the number of residents as the number of vehicles in circulation.Methods: The streets and avenues with an annual average daily traffic of more than 1,000 vehicles were considered for the measurement of traffic noise. The equipment used was a vehicle gauge with non-invasive speed radar; type I integrating sound level meters, with their respective gauges and tripods. A questionnaire was applied to people living within 250 m of the streets and avenues in which the noise was measured.Results: The noise measurement found a parameter of LAeq estimated for 12 h during the day, exceeding 70 dBA. The data received from the questionnaire were statistically tested by using Pearson's correlation tests. A total number of 2,350 people were participated, of whom 1,378 were women and 972 were men. The age of participants is ranged from 18 to 75 years. The overall perception of traffic noise annoyance identified that 1,131 participants responded “Yes” as they considered the noise annoying. Participants who responded “No” as well as those who responded “Do not know” resulted in a total of 1,219 people.Conclusion: The results show that the population is desensitized to traffic noise and does not perceive it as an annoyance. The flow of vehicles and the type of vehicles are the significant factors for the propagation and increase in the traffic noise levels. Women present a considerable appreciation of traffic noise perception instead of younger people who demonstrate a higher tolerance to high-level exposure. This reflects the lack of information of the population around the noise problem and its effects. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo discuto la consistencia que elargumento de la inferencia a la mejor explicación ofrece al realismo, en particularal realismo científico. Mi trabajo está dividido endos partes. En la primera, trataré de explicar lasvirtudes del realismo, relacionándolo con la IME.En otras palabras, expondré los argumentos de porqué la IME es importante para el realismo científico.Adicionalmente mencionaré algunas definicionessobre teorías de la verdad para justificar cuál deellas es la más afín al realismo en general; y mereferiré a las diferencias (...) que existen sobre losdistintos niveles de realismo para mostrar que,por lo menos, uno de ellos puede ser compatiblecon una postura antirrealista, que en últimas esla que voy a defender. En la segunda, mostrarétres réplicas que se le pueden hacer a la IME si lointerpretamos como un razonamiento distintivodel realismo científico. El primer reparo es que losrealistas científicos incurren en un error categorialcuando hablan de términos observacionales yentidades teóricas; el segundo es que la IMEconstituye una petición de principio, siempre ycuando se use como un argumento realista; y latercera objeción consiste en mostrar que la IMEno es genuinamente un argumento exclusivo delrealismo científico ya que puede ser compatible conposturas empiristas o instrumentalistas.In this paper I try to discuss the consistencyargument that the inference to the best explanation offers to realism, in particular toscientific realism. My paper will be divided in twoparts. In the first one, I try to explain the virtuesof realism, relating it to IBE. In other words, I willdiscuss the arguments of why IBE is important forscientific realism. I also mention some definitionson theories of truth to justify which one is moreakin to realism in general. In addition, I will focuson the differences of various levels of realism toshow that, at least one of them may be compatiblewith an anti-realist position, which ultimately iswhat I defend. In the second part, I offer threereplies that can be given to IBE if we interpret it asan argument typical of scientific realism. The firstobjection is that scientific realists make a categorymistake when they talk about observation termsand theoretical entities, the second is that IBE turnsout to be a petitio principii, provided it is realisticto use it as an argument, and the third objection isthat IBE is not genuinely an argument exclusive ofscientific realism, since it may also be compatiblewith empiricist or instrumentalist views. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo está orientado a aplicar el modelo de espacios controversiales propuesto por Oscar Nudler al campo de estudios filosóficos y científicos vinculados con la problemática de la complejidad. El análisis se centra en tres enfoques en particular: la ciencia de la complejidad, el pensamiento complejo y la teoría constructivista de los sistemas complejos. La estructura argumental del artículo está organizada en tres partes, en la primera se realiza una introducción conceptual al modelo de espacios controversiales; (...) en la segunda se analiza el espacio controversial de los sistemas complejos; finalmente, se presentan las conclusiones del trabajo. (shrink)

Dorian Gray pays a hefty price for years of sin and vice in this completely unabridged edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

La biología utiliza múltiples criterios para individuar fenómenos biológicos. Frente a esta diversidad, los enfoques monistas proponen criterios fundamentales para el reconocimiento unívoco de individuos, esto es, formas únicas de dividir el mundo biológico en entidades individuales. El pluralismo, por otro lado, argumenta que no deberíamos restringir el estudio de la individualidad a concepciones únicas, reconociendo, en su lugar, diferentes tipos de individuos. En este artículo, analizaré cómo ciertos enfoques monistas y pluralistas enfrentan la pluralidad de criterios de individuación utilizados (...) por la práctica científica. Siguiendo las recientes aproximaciones epistemológicas y pragmáticas en filosofía de la individualidad biológica, argumentaré por qué la diversidad de individuaciones no suele representar un inconveniente para la biología y por qué contribuye a nuestro conocimiento del mundo biológico. La conclusión general será que requerimos múltiples maneras de individuar la naturaleza para poder cumplir los diversos objetivos epistémicos de la biología, una labor que las aproximaciones monistas no suelen visibilizar. Palabras clave: Individuo Biológico, Pluralidad, Pluralismo, Monismo. (shrink)

I argue that a standard formulation of hinge epistemology is host to epistemic relativism and show that two leading hinge approaches (Coliva’s acceptance account and Pritchard’s nondoxastic account) are vulnerable to a form of incommensurability that leads to relativism. Building on both accounts, I introduce a new, minimally epistemic conception of hinges that avoids epistemic relativism and rationally resolves hinge disagreements. According to my proposed account, putative cases of epistemic incommensurability are rationally resolvable: hinges are propositions that are the objects (...) of our belief-like attitudes and are rationally revisable in virtue of our overarching commitment to avoid systematic deception in our epistemic practices. (shrink)

Considering the case of Juan de Vilanova y Piera, often celebrated as the first scientist to accept the prehistoric antiquity of palaeolithic paintings, we explore some of the problems related to the concept of ‘precursor’ in the field of the history of science. In the first section, we propose a brief history of this notion focusing on those authors who have reflected critically on the meaning of predecessors. In the second section, the example of Vilanova illustrates the ways in which (...) historians of science have created precursors. From the vantage of modern science, precursors have traditionally been defined as those who first indicated or announced ideas or theories later accepted by the scientific community. As a result, they have been represented as ‘heroes’ struggling hard to defeat the ignorance of their time. As the case of Juan de Vilanova illustrates, this traditional view is unsatisfactory in many ways. For this reason we consider in the third section a number of methodological strategies to promote a more adequate approach to pioneers. In particular, we suggest that the best way to surmount hagiographical approaches to past scientists is to put them in their own intellectual and historical contexts. (shrink)

Since some AI algorithms with high predictive power have impacted human integrity, safety has become a crucial challenge in adopting and deploying AI. Although it is impossible to prevent an algorithm from failing in complex tasks, it is crucial to ensure that it fails safely, especially if it is a critical system. Moreover, due to AI’s unbridled development, it is imperative to minimize the methodological gaps in these systems’ engineering. This paper uses the well-known Box-Jenkins method for statistical modeling as (...) a framework to identify engineering pitfalls in the adjustment and validation of AI models. Step by step, we point out state-of-the-art strategies and good practices to tackle these engineering drawbacks. In the final step, we integrate an internal and external validation scheme that might support an iterative evaluation of the normative, perceived, substantive, social, and environmental safety of all AI systems. (shrink)

I argue against the Standard View of ignorance, according to which ignorance is defined as equivalent to lack of knowledge, that cases of environmental epistemic luck, though entailing lack of knowledge, do not necessarily entail ignorance. In support of my argument, I contend that in cases of environmental luck an agent retains what I call epistemic access to the relevant fact by successfully exercising her epistemic agency and that ignorance and non-ignorance, contrary to what the Standard View predicts, are not (...) modal in the sense that knowledge is. After responding to objections, I conclude by sketching an alternative account of ignorance centered on the notions of epistemic access and epistemic agency. (shrink)

Organization figures centrally in the understanding of biological systems advanced by both new mechanists and proponents of the autonomy framework. The new mechanists focus on how components of mechanisms are organized to produce a phenomenon and emphasize productive continuity between these components. The autonomy framework focuses on how the components of a biological system are organized in such a way that they contribute to the maintenance of the organisms that produce them. In this paper we analyze and compare these two (...) accounts of organization and argue that understanding biological organisms as cohesively integrated systems benefits from insights from both. To bring together the two accounts, we focus on the notions of control and regulation as bridge concepts. We start from a characterization of biological mechanisms in terms of constraints and focus on a specific type of mechanism, control mechanisms, that operate on other mechanisms on the basis of measurements of variables in the system and its environment. Control mechanisms are characterized by their own set of constraints that enable them to sense conditions, convey signals, and effect changes on constraints in the controlled mechanism. They thereby allow living organisms to adapt to internal and external variations and to coordinate their parts in such a manner as to maintain viability. Because living organisms contain a vast number of control mechanisms, a central challenge is to understand how they are themselves organized. With the support of examples from both unicellular and multicellular systems we argue that control mechanisms are organized heterarchically, and we discuss how this type of control architecture can, without invoking top-down and centralized forms of organizations, succeed in coordinating internal activities of organisms. (shrink)

Según varios filósofos del lenguaje contemporáneos, el argumento Frege-Geach plantea una objeción genuina para el expresivismo semántico. En el presente texto se sostiene que una manera eficaz de enfrentar y superar este argumento es modificando la concepción expresivista clásica. Se examinan el expresivismo clásico y el expresivismo mínimo y se propone una versión de este último que, a la vez que supera la objeción derivada del argumento Frege-Geach, tiene la ventaja de incluir dentro del espectro del expresivismo teorías que claramente (...) tienen este “espíritu” pero que la caracterización clásica deja fuera. (shrink)

Biological regulation is what allows an organism to handle the effects of a perturbation, modulating its own constitutive dynamics in response to particular changes in internal and external conditions. With the central focus of analysis on the case of minimal living systems, we argue that regulation consists in a specific form of second-order control, exerted over the core regime of production and maintenance of the components that actually put together the organism. The main argument is that regulation requires a distinctive (...) architecture of functional relationships, and specifically the action of a dedicated subsystem whose activity is dynamically decoupled from that of the constitutive regime. We distinguish between two major ways in which control mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of a biological organisation in response to internal and external perturbations: dynamic stability and regulation. Based on this distinction an explicit definition and a set of organisational requirements for regulation are provided, and thoroughly illustrated through the examples of bacterial chemotaxis and the lac-operon. The analysis enables us to mark out the differences between regulation and closely related concepts such as feedback, robustness and homeostasis. (shrink)

El propósito de esta contribución es demostrar el aporte del pensarniento hobbesiano a la idea de la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres, y confrontarlo con el de su objetor B. Spinoza. En sus obras Elements of law y De Cive, Thomas Hobbes va a cuestionar la autoridad patriarcal y la desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres como expresión de una ley de la naturaleza. Por el contrario, va hablar del carácter convencional de la sujeción de las mujeres y va a exponer (...) que la familia funciona bajo la misma regla de operación de los estados, mediante el pacto. Este aparte hobbesiano parece haber reunido poca resonancia entre los filósofos posteriores, pues el único que lo tuvo en cuenta para contravenirlo fue B. Spinoza. Spinoza combatió el punto de partida hobbesiano de que la desigualdad existente entre hombres y mujeres es producto de una convención o acuerdo. Pero, tal vez a su pesar, convino que son la educación y la cultura los agentes de dicha diferenciación. This paper is aimed at showing Hobbes's contribution to the notion of quality between men and women, in opposition to Spinoza. In his books Elements of Law and De Cive, Thomas Hobbes challenges the allegation that patriarchal authoritarism and inequality between men and women are laws of nature. He assents the conventional character of women's submission, and contends tha the family functions under the same operational rule as the Stares: Agreement. This Hobbesian position seems to have had little echo arnong later philosophers, being Spinoza the only one who addressed it in order to criticize it .Spinoza opposed the Hobbesian view that inequality between men and women is the result of agreement; bur, perhaps or his own defeat, he accepted that the causes of the difference are education and culture. (shrink)

Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no consensus on necessary and sufficient conditions for life. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the value of definitions of life and encouraged scientists and philosophers alike to discard the project. As an alternative to this pessimistic conclusion, we argue that critically rethinking the nature and uses of definitions can provide new insights into the epistemic roles of definitions of life for different research practices. This paper examines the possible (...) contributions of definitions of life in scientific domains where such definitions are used most (e.g., Synthetic Biology, Origins of Life, Alife, and Astrobiology). Rather than as classificatory tools for demarcation of natural kinds, we highlight the pragmatic utility of what we call operational definitions that serve as theoretical and epistemic tools in scientific practice. In particular, we examine contexts where definitions integrate criteria for life into theoretical models that involve or enable observable operations. We show how these definitions of life play important roles in influencing research agendas and evaluating results, and we argue that to discard the project of defining life is neither sufficiently motivated, nor possible without dismissing important theoretical and practical research. (shrink)

Theoretical accounts of development exhibit several internal tensions and face multiple challenges. They span from the problem of the identification of the temporal boundaries of development (beginning and end) to the characterization of the distinctive type of change involved compared to other biological processes. They include questions such as the role to ascribe to the environment or what types of biological systems can undergo development and whether they should include colonies or even ecosystems. In this chapter we discuss these conceptual (...) issues, and we argue that adopting an organizational approach may help solve or clarify them. -/- While development is usually identified with the achievement of an adult form with the capability to reproduce and therefore maintain a lineage, adopting the organizational approach may provide a different strategy, which focuses also on the maintenance of the current organization of the organism. By doing so an organizational approach favors a switch in perspective which consists in analyzing how organisms maintain their viability at each moment of development rather than considering them as going through intermediate stages of a process directed toward a specific goal state. This developmental dimension of biological organization has yet to be given a general and detailed analysis within the organizational theoretical perspective, apart from some preliminary attempts. How a biological organization is maintained through a series of radical organizational changes and what these changes are issues that still require clarification. In this chapter we offer the beginnings of such an analysis of developmental transitions, understood as changes in functionality brought forth by regulatory mechanisms in the context of the continued maintenance of organizational viability at every step. (shrink)

The new mechanists and the autonomy approach both aim to account for how biological phenomena are explained. One identifies appeals to how components of a mechanism are organized so that their activities produce a phenomenon. The other directs attention towards the whole organism and focuses on how it achieves self-maintenance. This paper discusses challenges each confronts and how each could benefit from collaboration with the other: the new mechanistic framework can gain by taking into account what happens outside individual mechanisms, (...) while the autonomy approach can ground itself in biological research into how the actual components constituting an autonomous system interact and contribute in different ways to realize and maintain the system. To press the case that these two traditions should be constructively integrated we describe how three recent developments in the autonomy tradition together provide a bridge between the two traditions: (1) a framework of work and constraints, (2) a conception of function grounded in the organization of an autonomous system, and (3) a focus on control. (shrink)

Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no consensus on necessary and sufficient conditions for life. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the value of definitions of life and encouraged scientists and philosophers alike to discard the project. As an alternative to this pessimistic conclusion, we argue that critically rethinking the nature and uses of definitions can provide new insights into the epistemic roles of definitions of life for different research practices. This paper examines the possible (...) contributions of definitions of life in scientific domains where such definitions are used most. Rather than as classificatory tools for demarcation of natural kinds, we highlight the pragmatic utility of what we call operational definitions that serve as theoretical and epistemic tools in scientific practice. In particular, we examine contexts where definitions integrate criteria for life into theoretical models that involve or enable observable operations. We show how these definitions of life play important roles in influencing research agendas and evaluating results, and we argue that to discard the project of defining life is neither sufficiently motivated, nor possible without dismissing important theoretical and practical research. (shrink)

Las Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación se presentaron como una alternativa “efectiva o no”, tanto para quienes enseñan su uso como para quienes las utilizan; es un hecho, se quiera o no, que arribaron a nuestra sociedad para permanecer y multiplicarse, una realidad compleja ante la cual tenemos dos alternativas: las proporcionamos, las profundizamos. Tecnológicamente hablando, hasta el ocaso de la era paleolítica, nuestros congéneres no tenían nada que decir…, sin embargo, si podían hablar y comunicarse por medio de la (...) palabra. El lenguaje es consustancial al ser humano; es importante hacer esta aclaración. El cuerpo humano, sobre todo ambas extremidades, fueron los primeros instrumentos que empleó la humanidad como apoyo para recordar y contar. Los dedos de la mano, pueden considerarse los primeros apoyos de los que se valieron hombres y mujeres de la antigüedad para contar y constituyen, por tanto, la noción más elemental de la aritmética, anterior incluso a la noción de número. Es muy probable que los dedos de las manos y los pies hayan sido el origen de los sistemas numéricos quinario, decimal y vigesimal: es decir, el Hombre podía contar cinco, diez o veinte. Los constantes cambios tecnológicos —políticos y filosóficos— que se manifestaron en el Siglo XX dieron como resultado la aparición a lo que se ha dado en llamar “Era de las Tecnologías o Informática” que ha cambiado radicalmente la situación mundial en todos los aspectos, y que ha dado origen a una revolución tecnológica presente cada día. (shrink)

In attempting to debunk moral realism through an appeal to evolutionary facts, debunkers face a series of problems, which we label the problems of scope, corrosiveness, and post‐hoc justification. To overcome these problems, debunkers must assume certain metaphysical or epistemological positions, or otherwise pre‐establish them. In doing so, they must assume or pre‐establish the very conclusion they seek in advancing the argument. This means that such debunking arguments either beg the question against the moral realist or are undermined as standalone (...) metaethical arguments. (shrink)

Living organisms act as integrated wholes to maintain themselves. Individual actions can each be explained by characterizing the mechanisms that perform the activity. But these alone do not explain how various activities are coordinated and performed versatilely. We argue that this depends on a specific type of mechanism, a control mechanism. We develop an account of control by examining several extensively studied control mechanisms operative in the bacterium E. coli. On our analysis, what distinguishes a control mechanism from other mechanisms (...) is that it relies on measuring one or more variables, which results in setting constraints in the control mechanism that determine its action on flexible constraints in other mechanisms. In the most basic arrangement, the measurement process directly determines the action of the control mechanism, but in more complex arrangements signals mediate between measurements and effectors. This opens the possibility of multiple responses to the same measurement and responses based on multiple measurements. It also allows crosstalk, resulting in networks of control mechanisms. Such networks integrate the behaviors of the organism but also present a challenge in tailoring responses to particular measurements. We discuss how integrated activity can still result in differential, versatile, responses. (shrink)

Este artículo revisa el proceso histórico de la ‘Conquista del desierto’ y la existencia de campos de concentración para indígenas en Argentina a través de una lectura de hermenéutica filosófica. El objetivo del artículo es interpretar el periodo y el uso de campos como instancias que configuraron la diferenciación del pueblo mapuche como sujeto racializado en la sociedad argentina. Los resultados de la exposición muestran que la marginación del cuerpo mapuche ocurre por el registro de excepciones y que aquella es (...) disputada por sujetos mapuche. This paper reviews the historical process of the ‘Conquest of the Desert’ and the existence of concentration camps for indigenous people in Argentina. The research is conducted through philosophical hermeneutics. The objective of the paper is to read the period and the use concentration camps as instances that shaped the differentiation of the Mapuche people as a racialized subject in Argentine society. The results of the argumentation show that marginalization of the Mapuche body occurs through the registration of exceptions, which is disputed by Mapuche subjects. (shrink)

In this article an epistemological framework is proposed in order to integrate the emergentist thought with systemic studies on biological autonomy, which are focused on the role of organization. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the observer’s activity, especially: (a) the different operations he performs in order to identify the pertinent elements at each descriptive level, and (b) the relationships between the different models he builds from them. According to the approach sustained here, organization will be considered (...) as the result of a specific operation of identification of the relational properties of the functional components of a system, which do not necessarily coincide with the intrinsic properties of its structural constituents. Also, an epistemological notion of emergence—that of “complex emergence”—will be introduced, which can be defined as the insufficiency, even in principle, of a single descriptive modality to provide a complete description of certain classes of systems. This integrative framework will allow us to deal with two issues in biological and emergentist studies: (1) distinguishing the autonomy proper of living systems from some physical processes like those of structural stability and pattern generation, and (2) reconsidering the notion of downward causation not as a direct or indirect influence of the whole on its parts, but instead as an epistemological problem of interaction between descriptive domains in which the concept of organization proposed and the observational operations related to it play a crucial role. (shrink)

This book presents an original thesis about the notion of sensory experience and of the mind’s architecture, which is grounded in current trends in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. Presented in the form of a dialogue, the book explores some of the psychological and philosophical consequences that the author derives from his proposal.