Most research studying the corporate social performance –corporate financial performance link has utilized developed country samples. Also, this literature has generally focused on a wide variety of industries, ignoring the fact that certain sectors – such as controversial industries – have graver social and environmental issues. Hence, a gap exists in this tradition when it comes to emerging markets and controversial industries. This paper attempts to fill this void by providing preliminary evidence and insight on the matter. Based on an (...) exploration in six Latin American countries and five controversial industries, we find a negative bidirectional association between CSP and CFP. These results tend to contradict the mainstream conclusion of a positive bidirectional link, suggesting that institutional and market-level forces play a major role in shaping this relationship. (shrink)

Even though the link between perceived corporate social responsibility fit and corporate reputation has received much attention from scholars, this tradition has ignored that the underpinnings of this association vary depending on the particular characteristics of each industry under study. To delve into this matter, we investigate in the increasingly relevant context of controversial industries how PCSR-fit could enhance corporate reputation and which are the mediating mechanisms of this association. Our academic contribution is twofold. First, we find that controversial sectors (...) indeed can increase corporate reputation through CSR activities. However, we find that to achieve this goal, the nature of PCSR-fit should be different than what extant literature indicates, because companies in these settings should directly focus on avoiding or reducing their inherent controversial harm or impact. Second, we evidence that “CSR initiatives' legitimacy” and “situational skepticism” mediate the PCSR-fit and corporate reputation relationship in CIs. Therefore, we further unravel the underpinnings of this association to advance what we know on the matter and aid practitioners in this particular context. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

Se investiga el valor fundamental del constructivismo para el proceso educativo y se establecen conclusiones valiosas al respecto. Se analizan ideas claves de J. Dewey, L. Vigotsky y H. Maturana sobre educación, para concluir con una consideración positiva del constructivismo como proyecto pedagógico consciente y realista respecto al valor del ser humano, y de las necesidades y desafíos que las personas tienen en la actual realidad social. The article explores the fundamental values of constructivism for the educational process and draws (...) conclusions in that respect. It analyzes the key ideas of J. Dewey, L. Vigotsky, and H. Maturana regarding education and closes with a positive evaluation of constructivism as a conscious and realistic pedagogical project with respect to the value of human beings and the needs and challenges people face in contemporary social reality. (shrink)

El libro Aurelio Arturo y la poesía colombiana del siglo xx. Espacio y subjetividad en el contexto de la modernidad tardía despliega ante el lector una sucesión de marcos de análisis de la poesía colombiana del siglo xx. A manera de eje transversal, distintas piezas poéticas de la obra del poeta colombiano Aurelio Arturo (1906-1974) son tomadas como referente literario a partir del cual distinguir los principales tópicos de la poesía colombiana en el siglo xx. Dicho así, la reflexión se (...) concentra en una concepción canónica de la poesía colombiana, con remisión a la personalidad y la obra de autores como Rafael Maya, José Eustasio Rivera, el grupo Piedra y Cielo, Eduardo Carranza, el grupo Mito, Jorge Gaitán Durán, el grupo Nadaísmo, Jaime Jaramillo Agudelo, José Manuel Arango, Héctor Rojas Erazo, Andrés Holguín y Álvaro Mutis. (shrink)

El desafío científico-político de coproducir y proveer "servicios climáticos" en el sudeste de Sudamérica / Cecilia Hidalgo -- Coproducción, ciencia y activismo : empoderamiento epistémico y retórico de activistas seropositivos en la Argentina / Emiliano Marello -- Coproducción en lactancia materna y alimentación del niño pequeño / Pablo Duran -- Coproducción de conocimientos entre especialistas y docentes mediados por una plataforma virtual gubernamental / Marisa Álvarez, Verónica Xhardez y Marcela Pologna -- Conocimiento científico, performatividad e interacción social: compromisos (...) filosófico-sociológicos / María de los A. Martini -- Aportes para un lenguaje de la coproducción / María Laura Martínez -- Ciencia, retórica y semiótica / Robert C. Marafioti -- La cuestión de la agencia en el discurso coproduccionista / Sergio Russo -- Aprendices de brujos : interludios y variaciones en la antropología de la ciencia / Adriana A. Stagnaro -- Una teoría sociológica del conocimiento humano / Florencia Rimoldi -- El conocimiento en la comunicación : aportes pragmatikstas apra la disoluciónd e la imagen clásica del conocimiento científico / Paula Rossi. (shrink)

Paru une première fois en février 1968 à l'enseigne de la galerie Claude Givaudan, L'Abolition de l'art est l'un des textes les plus emblématiques parmi ceux préfigurant Mai 68, mais aussi dans la réflexion d'Alain Jouffroy sur l'art. Accompagné ici, et pour la première fois, du film éponyme réalisé dans la foulée, et de deux textes qui en redistribuent les enjeux (« Que faire de l'art? », écrit en août 1968, et « Le futur abolira-t-il l'art? », écrit en 1970); (...) les propositions de L'Abolition de l'art se présentent désormais comme un ensemble autonome dont Alain Jouffroy donnait la portée inaugurale en ces termes : « C'est au moment où, devant une oeuvre nous oublions qu'elle relève de l'art, au moment où la méthode d'exécution suscite dans le spectateur, une méthode de méditation - une série d'actes organisés par la pensée – que nous sommes confrontés vraiment avec nous-même, avec le feu. C'est ce basculement que j'appelle l'Abolition de l'art (...). » Cette édition, accompagnée des plans des « Urgences » de Daniel Pommereulle et du DVD du film, est préfacée par Pablo Durán. Alain Jouffroy est né en 1928. (shrink)

This book addresses key conceptual issues relating to the modern scientific and engineering use of computer simulations. It analyses a broad set of questions, from the nature of computer simulations to their epistemological power, including the many scientific, social and ethics implications of using computer simulations. The book is written in an easily accessible narrative, one that weaves together philosophical questions and scientific technicalities. It will thus appeal equally to all academic scientists, engineers, and researchers in industry interested in questions (...) related to the general practice of computer simulations. (shrink)

Since time immemorial, the phenomenon of leadership and its understanding has attracted the attention of the business world because of its important role in human groups. Nevertheless, for years efforts to understand this concept have only been centred on people in leadership roles, thus overlooking an important aspect in its understanding: the necessary moral dimension which is implicit in the relationship between leader and follower. As an illustrative example of the importance of considering good morality in leadership, an empirical study (...) is conducted in which a good performance of the "leader-follower" relationship is reflected when individuals perceive ethical leadership in higher hierarchical managerial levels. To be precise, findings of this study demonstrate that follower job response is improved through an ethics trickle-down partial effect from the Top Manager to the immediate supervisor, and also reveal both key aspects and managerial level on which the practice of ethical leadership should rest upon to have a stronger effect on the follower positive job response. Practical implications of these findings and directions for future research are finally presented. (shrink)

The main purpose of these introductory remarks is to give the reader a sense of Philip Rossi’s philosophical project and its importance. I will then advance an interpretation of what motivates Kant’s commitment to community, and, on its basis, object to Rossi’s views on radical evil –a point which affects how one should conceive the moral vocation of humanity and the role that politics and religion play within it. My reconstruction concludes with a sketch of how the five contributions to (...) this Symposium fit together and deepen our understanding of Rossi’s overall project. (shrink)

Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion and caused by exposure to excessive and prolonged stress related to job conditions. Moreover, burnout is highly prevalent among health care professionals. The aim of this study is, first, to examine the mediating role of social support over the effect of burnout in health care professionals and, second, to explore potential gender differences. A convenience sample of 1,035 health professionals from Ecuador, including 608 physicians and 427 nurses, was surveyed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, (...) Social Support Survey, and General Health Questionnaire as measures of burnout, social support, and general health, respectively. Social support was found to mediate the negative effects of burnout on health regardless of gender. Differences across the three dimensions of burnout and health are further discussed, along with their implications for designing effective burnout interventions for health care professionals in Ecuador. (shrink)

Drawing on recent advances in analytic epistemology, feminist scholarship, and philosophy of science, Jane Duran's Toward a Feminist Epistemology is the first book that spells out in the detail required by a supportable epistemology what a feminist theory of knowledge would entail.

Three ethics program components, a code of ethics, ethics training initiatives and ethics-oriented performance appraisal content, were examined for their relationship to ethical intent using a sample of 525 employees from the Spanish financial services industry. As expected, all three components contributed to the prediction of ethical intent. Importantly, clusters of employees who reported experiencing distinct combinations of the program components were identified and compared for their level of ethical intent. Employees who perceived all three components to be strongly implemented (...) reported significantly higher levels of ethical intent relative to those who viewed the components as either all weakly implemented or not present. Combinations including training initiatives plus one other element had a similar impact to the fully implemented approach. Contrary to expectations, ethics-oriented performance appraisal content did not relate more strongly to ethical intent than codes of ethics. (shrink)

When one wants to use citizen input to inform policy, what should the standards of informedness on the part of the citizens be? While there are moral reasons to allow every citizen to participate and have a voice on every issue, regardless of education and involvement, designers of participatory assessments have to make decisions about how to structure deliberations as well as how much background information and deliberation time to provide to participants. After assessing different frameworks for the relationship between (...) science and society, we use Philip Kitcher's framework of Well-Ordered Science to propose an epistemic standard on how citizen deliberations should be structured. We explore what potential standards follow from this epistemic framework focusing on significance versus scientific and engineering expertise. We argue that citizens should be tutored on the historical context of why scientific questions became significant and deemed scientifically and socially valuable, and if citizens report that they are capable of weighing in on an issue then they should be able to do so. We explore what this standard can mean by looking at actual citizen deliberations tied to the 2014 NASA ECAST Asteroid Initiative Citizen forums. We code different vignettes of citizens debating alternative approaches for Mars exploration based upon what level of information seemed to be sufficient for them to feel comfortable in making a policy position. The analysis provides recommendations on how to design and assess future citizen assessments grounded in properly conveying the historical value context surrounding a scientific issue and trusting citizens to seek out sufficient information to deliberate. (shrink)

A chronicled approach to the notion of computer simulations shows that there are two predominant interpretations in the specialized literature. According to the first interpretation, computer simulations are techniques for finding the set of solutions to a mathematical model. I call this first interpretation the problem-solving technique viewpoint. In its second interpretation, computer simulations are considered to describe patterns of behavior of a target system. I call this second interpretation the description of patterns of behavior viewpoint of computer simulations. This (...) article explores these two interpretations of computer simulations from three different angles. First, I collect a series of definitions of computer simulation from the historical record. I track back definitions to the early 1960s and show how each viewpoint shares similar interpretations of computer simulations—ultimately clustering into the two viewpoints aforementioned. This reconstruction also includes the most recent literature. Second, I unpack the philosophical assumptions behind each viewpoint, with a special emphasis on their differences. Third, I discuss the philosophical implications of each viewpoint in the context of the recent discussion on the logic of scientific explanation for computer simulations. (shrink)

A chronicled approach to the notion of computer simulations shows that there are two predominant interpretations in the specialized literature. According to the first interpretation, computer simulations are techniques for finding the set of solutions to a mathematical model. I call this first interpretation the problem-solving technique viewpoint. In its second interpretation, computer simulations are considered to describe patterns of behavior of a target system. I call this second interpretation the description of patterns of behavior viewpoint of computer simulations. This (...) article explores these two interpretations of computer simulations from three different angles. First, I collect a series of definitions of computer simulation from the historical record. I track back definitions to the early 1960s and show how each viewpoint shares similar interpretations of computer simulations—ultimately clustering into the two viewpoints aforementioned. This reconstruction also includes the most recent literature. Second, I unpack the philosophical assumptions behind each viewpoint, with a special emphasis on their differences. Third, I discuss the philosophical implications of each viewpoint in the context of the recent discussion on the logic of scientific explanation for computer simulations. (shrink)

The work of Spinoza, Descartes and Leibniz is cited in an attempt to develop, both expositorily and critically, the philosophy of Anne Viscountess Conway. Broadly, it is contended that Conway's metaphysics, epistemology and account of the passions not only bear intriguing comparison with the work of the other well-known rationalists, but supersede them in some ways, particularly insofar as the notions of substance and ontological hierarchy are concerned. Citing the commentary of Loptson and Carolyn Merchant, and alluding to other commentary (...) on the Cambridge Platonists whose work was done in tandem with Conway's, it is contended that Conway's conception of the "monad" preceded and influenced Leibniz's, and that her monistic vitalism was in many respects a superior metaphysics to the Cartesian system. It is concluded that we owe Conway more attention and celebration than she has thus far received. (shrink)

This article examines the work of the seventeenth-century thinker Catharine Trotter Cockburn with an eye toward explication of her trenchant empiricism, and the foundations upon which it rested. It is argued that part of the originality of Cockburn's work has to do with her consistent line of thought with regard to evidence from the senses and the process of abstract conceptualization; in this she differed strongly from some of her contemporaries. The work of Martha Brandt Bolton and Fidelis Morgan is (...) cited, and there is an auxiliary argument to the effect that Cockburn is probably better known as a playwright than she is as a philosophical thinker. (shrink)

Grounded in a will to adapt to dangers, and espouse both responsibility and resilience, voluntary measures have largely replaced one of the oldest public health strategies, quarantine. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, elicited a broad sweep of tactics from the archive of public health armoury. On a general level, this review essay addresses the common measures rolled out by various authorities against the pandemic - the lock-downs, reopening process, financial support and vaccination. By relating these measures to 1) the “plague-stricken town”, (...) deployed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe by the Polizeistaat; 2) the “self-regulation strategy” that emerged with liberal ideas at the end of the eighteenth century; and 3) the “minimum security” programmed by neoliberal governmentality in the second half of the twentieth century, it is suggested that tensions between freedom and security during, and after, the pandemic can be better understood. To end, the essay noticed that the pandemic has enforced tensions in the administration and calibration of individual wishes and collective wellbeing, creating a fragile “freedom-security relationship” and new problem space for self-regulation. (shrink)

Resumen Este artículo busca reconstruir los principios metodológicos de la “arqueología de la política” que Foucault introduce hacia el final de L’archéologie du savoir aunque nunca desarrolla de manera explícita. La exposición se organiza en tres ejes. En primer lugar, explora los puntos de cruce y las posibles diferencias entre la arqueología del saber y la arqueología de la política. En segundo lugar, examina el lugar que podrían ocupar los “programas” y las “racionalidades de gobierno” en la arqueología de la (...) política. Por último, propone a la razón de Estado, el liberalismo y el neoliberalismo como posibles campos de investigación para el desarrollo de esa arqueología. Con ello se pretende obtener una “grilla de inteligibilidad” cuyo punto de partida no sean las categorías universales habitualmente utilizadas por el análisis jurídico-político procedente de los siglos XVI y XVII, sino las prácticas de los gobernantes y los gobernados.This article proposes to reconstruct the methodological principles of the “archaeology of politics” mentioned by Foucault at the end of L’archéologie du savoir, although never explicitly continued. The text is organized in three complementary axes. First, it explores the crossing points and possible differences between the archaeology of knowledge and the archaeology of politics. Second, it investigates the place that “programs” and “government rationalities” might take in the archeology of politics. Finally, it porposes the reason of State, liberalism and neoliberalism as possible research fields for the development of said archeology. Therefore, this article seeks to obtain a “grid of intelligibility” whose basis are not the universal categories usually used by legal-political analysis from the 16th and 17th centuries, but the practices of the governing and governed. (shrink)

¿Qué entendemos hoy por “neoliberalismo”? Si bien hay varias formas de contestar tal pregunta, la respuesta más frecuente consiste en asociarlo con la aplicación de un conjunto de medidas estrictamente económicas; de hecho, se dice que los neoliberales, casi por defecto congénito, no pueden pensar la realidad más allá de los números y las recetas abstractas. Siguiendo el método arqueológico-genealógico de Michel Foucault y de algunos de sus intérpretes contemporáneos, el presente artículo buscará revisar y en lo posible ampliar aquella (...) concepción crítica. Nuestra hipótesis es que el neoliberalismo no se reduce a un mero “economicismo”, sino que contiene más bien toda una dimensión “espiritual”, todo un campo de prácticas y de discursos que se conforma como respuesta ante el excesivo racionalismo de las sociedades modernas. La cuestión consiste en transformar a los hombres desde dentro, hasta el punto de tornarlos más aptos para acceder a un conjunto de valores y asimilar ciertas formas de comportamiento. Según sostiene este artículo, es en los escritos de Wilhelm Röpke, un economista y sociólogo alemán de mediados del siglo XX, donde mejor se aprecia la dimensión espiritual del neoliberalismo. Röpke proponía un “diagnóstico” y una “terapéutica”. El primero sostiene que los hombres padecen una enfermedad espiritual denominada como “masificación” y “proletarización”, mientras que la terapéutica procura hacer de esos hombres unos emprendedores de sí mismos. Tal sería el modo de superar los efectos adversos del capitalismo: transformando a los hombres masificados y proletarizados en sujetos completamente comprometidos con su profesión. No se trata sencillamente de recuperar un pensamiento casi olvidado por la historia, sino de explorar los límites de nuestro presente, especialmente de nuestras formas de subjetividad. Aunque muchas de las críticas contemporáneas no hayan reparado aún en ello, hay que preguntarse hasta qué punto los diagnósticos y las terapéuticas propuestas por neoliberales como Röpke persisten en la actualidad. Aquí no se darán respuestas tajantes y definitivas, pero sí algunos indicios al respecto. (shrink)

La realización del Proyecto Genoma Humano (PGH) supuso la utilización de diversas técnicas de cartografiado y secuenciación del genoma. En términos muy generales, los mapas del genoma permiten identificar y aislar genes individuales, esto es, fragmentos de ADN que codifican una determinada cadena polipeptídica. Por su parte, la secuenciación consiste en la determinación del orden de las bases nitrogenadas del ADN. Las técnicas implicadas en ambos procesos, aunque plurales y heterogéneas, tienen su origen en el ámbito de la biotecnología. En (...) su desarrollo constatamos cómo un conjunto de realidades heterogéneas se configuran como artefactos, operadores y relatores, en relación a otras configuraciones circulares y radiales con las que se codeterminan. (shrink)

El examen de los actores, instituciones y materiales implicados en el Proyecto Genoma Humano (PGH) remite inmediatamente al contexto de los macroproyectos científicos que suelen caracterizarse con el expresivo rótulo de «Big Science». Como es bien sabido, la afortunada expresión fue acuñada por el sociólogo de la ciencia Derek de Solla Price en 1936 quien elaboró su concepción considerando, principalmente, a la física de su época. Sin embargo, las ciencias biológicas tardaron varios decenios más en adquirir las dimensiones de la (...) Big Science. En el caso del PGH se presenta un panorama muy distinto al contexto en el que surgió la estructura de la doble hélice. El investigador aislado no tiene cabida en este contexto, y los grandes científicos son ahora directores de proyectos y el caso de James Watson es de nuevo paradigmático. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo se estudia la génesis del Proyecto Genoma Humano (PGH) desde un enfoque filosófico. A la vista de la cuantiosa bibliografía sobre el tema, quizá las siguientes páginas pudieran parecer impertinentes, pero no pretendemos elaborar una mera paráfrasis, más o menos afortunada, de varios ensayos previos porque este trabajo supone una reacción crítica frente a esos mismos ensayos. Nuestro proceder es, desde un primer momento, dialéctico, pues supone una rectificación de las distintas exposiciones acerca de la génesis (...) del PGH. Por ello, hemos de tomarlas en consideración como contenidos del propio trabajo. El análisis pormenorizado sería excesivo; una breve reseña, casi a título inventarial, de los ejemplares más destacados permitirá ejemplificar los problemas mencionados, además de ofrecer un primer bosquejo de los contenidos y contornos de la investigación. (shrink)

La dimensión científica del Proyecto Genoma Humano (PGH) remite a un conjunto de entidades de orden biológico: bases nitrogenadas, genes, enzimas, SNP’s1, etc., sobre las cuales se ejercitan las operaciones tecnológicas que dan lugar a la secuenciación del genoma. Un examen más atento muestra que todos los cuerpos, morfologías y estructuras que forman parte constituyente del PGH pueden circunscribirse al campo de la biología molecular, con lo cual están dados a la misma escala, lógicamente. Esta primera suposición, que habrá que (...) constatar en la reconstrucción ulterior, permite regresar hacia el curso de la constitución de la biología molecular, como factor del contexto histórico determinante del PGH, sin tener que retrotraerse a procesos anteriores de la historia de la biología para dar razón de la conformación y conexión de los trazos que forman parte de la figura de referencia. (shrink)

Durante su intercambio epistolar con Spinoza, Tschirnhaus defiende la imposibilidad de deducir la naturaleza de los cuerpos particulares a partir de la sola extensión. El motivo de esta objeción reside en su dificultad para desmarcarse de la concepción sustancial de los cuerpos como partes finitas de la extensión sostenida por Descartes. Esta dificultad inicial, sin embargo, queda ensombrecida por la intervención de Leibniz en un momento clave de la correspondencia que convertirá la disputa de carácter físico en una controversia teológica. (...) Este artículo demuestra que el problema metafísico detectado por Leibniz consiste en la afirmación radical del principio de plenitud contenida en la proposición 16 de la primera parte de la Ética y las consecuencias heréticas que de ésta se desprenden. El examen del papel que la crítica de Leibniz jugó en el desarrollo de la discusión permitirá leer bajo una nueva luz tanto la paradójica actitud de Tschirnhaus como las enigmáticas y elusivas respuestas de Spinoza. (shrink)

Scholars have considered that Spinoza’s difficulties in dealing with the objections raised by Tschirnhaus against his physical approaches were the spur that led the latter to dissociate himself from the former in the field of natural philosophy. The aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to refute this misjudgment and, on the other, to show that the cause of it lies in having dismissed a significant post-Cartesian current of thought, buried in oblivion by the triumph of Newtonian mechanics, (...) which intended to develop a physics in purely relational terms. In turn, this will allow us to read the physical proposals of Spinoza and Tschirnhaus as paradigmatic examples of this relational physics. (shrink)

El ajuste entre Estado y nación en Latinoamérica ha observado complicaciones desde la fundación de sus repúblicas. La pluralidad de subjetividades, realidades materiales y brechas, sumadas a las coyunturales demandas insatisfechas y una débil institucionalidad influyeron en que las construcciones nacionales hayan tenido un componente populista en diferentes intentos refundadores. En los países andinos ese componente se expresa a partir de unas condiciones sociopolíticas previas a las performativas identidades nacionales y la presencia de liderazgos personalistas. Parte de los estudios sobre (...) identidades nacionales en estos países se centraron en el análisis de sus liderazgos y discursos. Otros optaron por centrarse en los procesos o condiciones de posibilidad que favorecen la irrupción de estas identidades. El objetivo del trabajo es brindar una base epistemológica que emerja de la compatibilidad entre los anteriores abordajes explicativos de las identidades nacionales. (shrink)

RESUMEN La polémica sobre los prejuicios es un símbolo distintivo de la Ilustración alemana. Este artículo presenta aspectos históricos de esta polémica que resultan útiles para esclarecer el pensamiento de Kant. Se argumenta que la posición kantiana respecto de ella, como una polémica en la que convive una perspectiva que busca la liberación de todo prejuicio y otra que permite que algunos permanezcan, y hasta los estima como útiles, representa un esfuerzo por conciliar ambas perspectivas, y anticipa la distinción planteada (...) en la "Dialéctica trascendental" entre el uso regulativo y constitutivo de las ideas. ABSTRACT The controversy over prejudices is a distinctive feature ofthe German Enlightenment. The article addresses some historical aspects of this controversy that are useful to shed light on Kant's thought. Enlightenment positions ranged from the perspective seeking to rid itself of all prejudices, to that which allows for some prejudices and even considers them useful. The article argues that the Kantian position on the matter constitutes an effort to reconcile these perspectives, thus anticipating the distinction set forth in the "Transcendental Dialectic" between the regulative and the constitutive use of ideas. (shrink)

Against the impression that Rousseau is an eclectic thinker, this paper is an attempt to reconstruct the systematic core of his anthropology. First, I discuss the methodological starting-point. Second, I develop the structural framework required to make the concept of nature operative as an ideal within social contexts. Finally, I interpret Rousseau's genetic account in terms of this framework. Such a procedure allows me to solve two interpretative problems, the aporia of the origin of wickedness and the question of man's (...) natural isolation. A twofold notion of logic is introduced to integrate the demands of history and structure, which overlap with those of freedom and necessity in Rousseau's thought. This organizes my argument in a mirror-like way. I call this undertaking an essay, for it is the endeavor to think what Rousseau must have thought in order to write what he wrote. Key Words: amour de soi • amour propre • bourgeois • ego sentio • human make-up • human nature • natural as ideal • other-centered • savage • self-centered • totalities of feeling • totalities of needs. (shrink)

In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This (...) paper is skeptical of Kant's view. It proposes an alternative account, according to which the parerga are essential to our moral education, since they force human reason to confront its own limitations and resist the urge to take refuge in spurious religious beliefs. That urge, I argue, is linked to the propensity to evil, and uses religious orthodoxy to undermine moral religion. By clipping our dogmatic wings, the parerga encourage reason to face its own dialectical tendencies and direct its speculative interest to immanent practical use. This redirection counteracts the debilitating effects of the propensity to evil and plays a key role in our moral regeneration. To consider the parerga “derivative,” as Kant himself does, is therefore a grave mistake. (shrink)

In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This (...) paper is skeptical of Kant's view. It proposes an alternative account, according to which the parerga are essential to our moral education, since they force human reason to confront its own limitations and resist the urge to take refuge in spurious religious beliefs. That urge, I argue, is linked to the propensity to evil, and uses religious orthodoxy to undermine moral religion. By clipping our dogmatic wings, the parerga encourage reason to face its own dialectical tendencies and direct its speculative interest to immanent practical use. This redirection counteracts the debilitating effects of the propensity to evil and plays a key role in our moral regeneration. To consider the parerga “derivative,” as Kant himself does, is therefore a grave mistake. (shrink)

An analysis of the specific yogurt and phone microcredit schemes in Bangladesh is made along three lines of argument. It is important to note that these schemes are pulled together by NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) to assist women and children in developing areas to attain financial independence—the first line employs leftist criticism of the corporate constructs, and an additional line of inquiry compares some of the programs to those in other nations. A final line of argument analyzes the specific cultural views (...) of Bengali Islam and the long tradition of Bengali literacy. It is concluded that, despite areas of difficulty, the programs are in general beneficial. (shrink)

The kantian concept of friendship has been recently but yet scarcely studied. However, it has its place as the conclusion of the doctrine of virtue, which gives it some prominence. This article argues that the kantian approach to friendship, as it emerges from the analysis of the texts of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Lectures on Ethics, involves elements that connect with our contemporary sensibility and, far from being a marginal concept in his ethical philosophy, represents one of its (...) crucial moments. (shrink)

The thesis that I intend to address in this article can be summarized with the idea that positive bonds1 engender not only dependence, but also freedom and autonomy. Accordingly, it is worth asking what positive human bonds are based on. Or, to phrase the question another way, how can dependence and autonomy be blended when we talk about relationships in terms of bonds, that is, relationships with a special quality of union?

Spanning over nine hundred years, Eight Women Philosophers is the first singly-authored work to trace the themes of standard philosophical theorizing and feminist thought across women philosophers in the Western tradition. Jane Duran has crafted a comprehensive overview of eight women philosophers--Hildegard of Bingen, Anne Conway, Mary Astell, Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor Mill, Edith Stein, Simone Weil, and Simone de Beauvoir--that underscores the profound and continuing significance of these thinkers for contemporary scholars. Duran devotes one chapter to each (...) philosopher and provides a sustained critical analysis of her work, utilizing aspects of Continental theory, poststructuralist theory, and literary theory. (shrink)

Technoscientific research, a kind of scientific research conducted within the decontextualized approach (DA), uses advanced technology to produce instruments, experimental objects, and new objects and structures, that enable us to gain knowledge of states of affairs of novel domains, especially knowledge about new possibilities of what we can do and make, with the horizons of practical, industrial, medical or military innovation, and economic growth and competition, never far removed from view. The legitimacy of technoscientific innovations can be appraised only in (...) the course of considering fully what sorts of objects technoscientific objects are: objects that embody scientific knowledge confirmed within DA; physical/chemical/biological objects, realizations of possibilities discovered in research conducted within DA, brought to realization by means of technical/experimental/instrumental interventions; and components of social/ecological systems, objects that embody the values of technological progress and (most of them) values of capital and the market. What technoscientific objects are - their powers, tendencies, sources of their being, effects on human beings and social/economic systems, how they differ from non technoscientific objects - cannot be grasped from technoscientific inquiry alone; scientific inquiry that is not reducible to that conducted within DA is also needed. The knowledge that underlies and explains the efficacy of technoscientific objects is never sufficient to grasp what sorts of object they are and could become. Science cannot be reduced to technoscience. (shrink)

This article analyzes the main reasons offered by the literature in relation to the question of whether pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and selection should be allowed in the context of assisted reproduction techniques to avoid the birth of children with disabilities. The bioethical literature faces a challenge from the disability discourse. When the oppressive social dimension of disability is taken into account, it results in a series of questions that could challenge the most settled conclusions of the bioethical debate. However, the (...) social model has not been without criticism and one of them, the underestimation of the importance of biological traits origin against a disability of social origin, resonates particularly in the debate on preimplantation genetic selection. (shrink)

This paper aims to answer the question: what does the realism of laws of nature consist of? To achieve this, in the first part, three philosophical accounts of laws of nature are presented and examined: the universalist, the dispositionalist and the counter-factualist. The presentation and examination focuses on the answer given by each of these accounts to the question: what is a law of nature? Later, in the second part, convergences and divergences between these three accounts are shown. Finally, in (...) the third section, the points of agreement between them are put together to advance the fundamental thesis that encompasses each of these accounts as realist accounts of laws of nature. This thesis, I argue, is at the end the core of the general realist stance on laws of nature that I name “Realism of Laws of Nature”. (shrink)

Tanto la teoría de la elección racional como diversas versiones de estructuralismo adoptan posiciones deterministas en el estudio de la sociedad de consumo. Como consecuencia, explican la relación entre identidad y consumo en términos de racionalidad abstracta o de estructuras de dominación, que niegan protagonismo a las personas concretas en los procesos de construcción identitaria. El realismo crítico relacional aporta una perspectiva de observación más atenta al papel de las personas y a su relación con su contexto sociocultural.