The management of big data has become one of the great challenges of the digitally hyperconnected society. Although it is recognized that the collection, processing and use of massive data generates important advances in spheres such as the economy, health, politics, communication, education or science, at the same time there are strong criticisms for the disruptive effects and negative consequences that this process can generate on society, especially among its most vulnerable groups. The objective of this work is to propose (...) guidelines for the design of an ethical data governance system that, through participation, dialogue and good practices and supported by various digital technology tools, allows a socially responsible and morally valid of big data compilation, processing and use. (shrink)

Durante la última década principalmente, diferentes estudios neuroeconómicos están contribuyendo a fomentar el debate sobre la necesidad de reconceptualizar la ‘racionalidad económica’ para acercarla tanto a lo empíricamente observado a través de experimentos de laboratorio con juegos de estrategia como a lo moralmente exigible y deseable por una sociedad madura. El objetivo de este estudio será mostrar qué ha provocado el actual proceso crítico sobre los límites de la racionalidad económica, cuáles son las aportaciones de la neuroeconomía en este sentido, (...) y cómo debería ser ampliada la racionalidad para estar a la altura de lo observado y lo exigido. (shrink)

The management of commons is now at the centre of researchers’ attention in many branches of science, particularly those related to the human or social sciences. This paper seeks to demonstrate how civil society participation in common goods or resources is not only possible but is also desirable for society because of the medium and long-term benefits it offers involved and/or affected parties. To this end, we examine the falsity of the discourse underlying the supposed incompetence of civil society to (...) cooperate interpersonally in the pursuit of common objectives, and also analyse a specific example of the necessary and possible participation of civil society in managing common goods through biobanks.La gestión del bien común se ha convertido actualmente en centro de atención para diferentes ramas de la ciencia, especialmente aquellas vinculadas con lo humano y lo social. El presente estudio busca mostrar cómo la participación de la sociedad civil en la gestión de este tipo de bienes o recursos no sólo es posible, sino deseable para la sociedad por los beneficios que reporta a las partes implicadas y/o afectadas a medio y largo plazo. Para ello, se atenderá la falsedad del discurso sobre el cual se asienta la supuesta incompetencia de la sociedad civil para poder cooperar interpersonalmente en busca de objetivos comunes, así como se analizará un ejemplo concreto de la necesaria y posible participación de la sociedad civil en la gestión del bien común a través de los centros de recursos biológicos (brcs). (shrink)

La ciencia económica preponderante descuidó el estudio de la cooperación humana. Esto se debe a que hay una contradicción entre ser seres racionales con propensión a maximizar el bienestar, por un lado, y la posibilidad de concretar objetivos de beneficiocomún e implementar procesos relacionales no coercitivos, por el otro lado. Sin embargo, la economía experimental se ha preocupado por hallar explicación a la actitud de reciprocidad que muestran los agentes en distintos juegos de estrategia, ya que posibilita concretar acciones colectivas (...) en las que subyace una intencionalidad compartida que permite cumplir objetivos mutuamente dispuestos. Se busca mostrar cuándo y por qué los seres humanos empiezan a relacionarse con sus semejantes y cuáles el fundamento normativo que logra orientar estos comportamientos. (shrink)

This book proposes, from a civil perspective —such as that developed by Stefano Zamagni— and a cordial perspective —such as that developed by Adela Cortina—, orientations to design an economy in tune with what the historical moment demands. Among other things, this comes from encouraging institutions, organisations and companies to include in their designs aspects as important for carrying out their activities as cordial reciprocity, mutual recognition of the communicative and affective capacities of the linked or linkable parties, public commitment (...) and the active participation of civil society. The book first shows the conceptualisation of the process of self-interest as operating for one’s own benefit and its inclusion in the orthodox economic model. In Chapter 2 it then displays some of the logical/formal and experimental limits of the axiomatic economics model to discover the possibility of building bridges between theoretical modelling and factual validation. Chapter 3 demonstrates the fragility of a rationality model based on the paradigmatic figure of homo oeconomicus. Chapter 4 reflects on the critical process that has identified reciprocity as a determining factor for human cooperation, turning this behaviour into a paradox in which the lack of a reasonable explanation from the selfish perspective becomes inconsistent in the predominant economic theory. Chapter 5 is from a moral point of view it describes and criticises the different approaches to reciprocity observed by sociologists, biologists, psychologists and economists. Chapter 6 analyses three mutual recognition proposals as possible foundations for human cooperation, highlighting one of them –cordial recognition, developed by Cortina– because it is more closely related to studies of reciprocity, particularly the most recent contributions from the neurosciences. Chapter 7 proposes cordial reciprocity as a horizon of meaning for the various approaches to reciprocity observed. Chapter 8 explores the possible emergence and development of cordial goods, a type of relational and communicative good that enables joint actions to take place in different contexts of human activity. Chapter 9 analyses the application and implementation of cordial reciprocity at the macro, meso and micro levels of the economy. And finally, it proposes guidelines for designing a monitoring and compliance system which, based on the communication, storage and processing of big data and the committed participation of stakeholders, offers businesses the possibility of inspecting their underlying dimensions of morality, emotions and responsibility. (shrink)

Based on a deliberative democracy, this book uses a hermeneutic-critical methodology to study bibliographical sources and practical issues in order to analyse the possibilities, limits and consequences of the digital transformation of democracy. Drawing on a two-way democracy, the aim of this book is intended as an aid for thinking through viable alternatives to the current state of democracy with regard to its ethical foundations and the moral knowledge implicit in or assumed by the way we perceive and understand democracy. (...) It is intended to stimulate reflection and discussion on the basis that, by addressing what we understand as democracy, we can inevitably influence the reality known as democracy. Democracy’s evident regression in today’s world makes this all too apparent: it has become a hostage to all kinds of autocracies and technopopulisms, which are supported to a greater or lesser extent by the current algorithmic revolution. (shrink)

Este artículo se propone confrontar el concepto de opinión pública con la realidad y las expectativas de una sociedad digitalizada para analizar si la actual colonización algorítmica exige un nuevo cambio estructural de la opinión pública o más bien la retirada de este concepto. Los datos y metadatos masivos se han vuelto un arma de doble filo para la sociedad democrática digitalmente hiperconectada. Mientras que, por un lado, el increíble potencial que atesora el _big data_ y sus diferentes técnicas y (...) tecnologías de explotación de los datos y metadatos lo convierten en un producto codiciado por sistema de instituciones que componen tanto el estado como la sociedad civil; por otro, los altos impactos negativos que su uso instrumental e irresponsable está produciendo y puede llegar a producir, hacen del _big data_ una herramienta controvertida y altamente criticada por alejarnos de cualquier intento de construir una ciudadanía digital. Si bien la democracia algorítmica no se apoya solo en la opinión pública, el objetivo es mostrar la incompatibilidad entre opinión pública artificial y democracia. Nuestro hilo conductor es el concepto habermasiano de opinión pública, puesto que será precisamente la fuerza de la sociedad civil, a través del diseño en su seno de espacios de participación, de donde podemos extraer el potencial necesario para enfrentarnos a la actual colonización algorítmica, para recuperar una deliberación autónoma y crítica sin la cual no existe opinión pública alguna y, por tanto, tampoco democracia. (shrink)

El egoísmo constituye uno de los aspectos fundamentales de la teoría económica tradicional. Propuesto y desarrollado durante la revolución marginalista y convertido en axioma por la escuela neoclásica, la natural propensión del agente económico a maximizar su propio interés otorga robustez y consistencia a la teoría mediante la reducción de toda la realidad comportamental del agente económico. El objetivo del presente estudio es tratar de mostrar las implicaciones éticas y afectivas para una teoría axiomatizada con pretensiones de consistencia y completitud (...) como la desarrollada y defendida por la teoría económica tradicional. (shrink)

RESUMEN Actualmente, la convergencia de tres ámbitos de aplicación tecnológica -Big Data, Inteligencia Artificial e Internet de las Cosas- permite hiperconectivizar, algoritmizar y dataficar los distintos ámbitos de actividad humana para optimizar sus procesos productivos, comunicativos, asistenciales y/o relacionales, y, con ello, aumentar su eficiencia, eficacia y sostenibilidad. El éxito cosechado en sectores como el industrial o el retail y las enormes expectativas que abre su implementación en otros como el político o el asistencial, empero, ha extendido la idea de (...) que incluso es posible discernir mejor qué es lo justo y bueno a través del análisis y procesamiento algorítmico de datos masivos sobre lo moral procedentes de los individuos hiperconectados. Sin embargo, este enfoque dataficado de ética alberga dudas razonables respecto a su viabilidad, posibilidad y eficacia. Pero, sobre todo, produce inquietud su aceptación y puesta en marcha acrítica por las importantes anomalías que produce en el mundo de la vida, especialmente en la concreción y perdurabilidad del saber moral. Este estudio pretende mostrar los retos, límites y consecuencias que subyacen a la dataficación del ámbito moral. ABSTRACT The convergence of three areas of technological application - Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things - means the diferent area of human activity can be hyperconnected, algorithmised and datafied to optimise processes involving production, communication, healthcare and relationships. The aim is to increase their efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. The success achieved in sectors like industry and retail and the huge expectations aroused by the implementation of this technology in other areas, such as politics and healthcare, have encouraged the idea that it might even be possible to find a better way of working out what is good and fair in the algorithmic analysis and processing of Big Data concerning morality drawn from hyperconnected individuals. There are reasonable doubts, however, concerning the possibility, viability and effectiveness of this datafied approach to ethics. Above all, a critical acceptance and implementation of it raises concerns about the considerable anomalies it causes in the world of life, particularly in the accumulation and durability of moral knowledge. This study attempts to show the challenges, limits and consequences under lying the datafication of morality. (shrink)

Since its beginnings, the conceptualisation of social responsibility has taken many forms, some of them related to philanthropy, patronage, strategy or business marketing among others. This paper defends the thesis that economic organization needs to manage those communicative goods, such as trust, reputation or reciprocity, evolved in the right development of their business activity and, therefore, on economic profit maximization. But for this, economic organization should implement a social responsibility to live up to expectations at stake; that is, to take (...) into account the ethical dimension that underlies it. (shrink)

Resumen: La confianza que la sociedad deposita en la investigación científica es un elemento fundamental del desarrollo de esta actividad. No obstante, los constantes casos de mala praxis por nepotismo, conflicto de interés, malversación de caudales públicos, plagio, apropiación indebida de ideas, dopaje financiero, fake news, falsificación, adulteración y/o fabricación de datos, entre otras muchas cosas, ha generado un aumento de la desconfianza hacia los procesos de generación de conocimiento y sus resultados. Desde una ética dialógica y cordial, este estudio (...) ofrece orientaciones para el diseño de una ética de la investigación en el marco de las éticas aplicadas que ayude a erradicar y controlar las malas prácticas en este ámbito. Abstract: The trust that society places in scientific research is a fundamental element in the development of this activity. However, the constant cases of malpractice due to nepotism, conflict of interest, misuse of public funds, plagiarism, misappropriation of ideas, financial doping, fake news, falsification, adulteration and/or fabrication of data, among many other things, has generated an increase in mistrust towards knowledge generation processes and their results. From a dialogic and cordial ethic, this study proposes guidelines for the design of a research ethics within the framework of applied ethics that helps to eradicate and control bad practices in this area. (shrink)

Los comportamientos económicos no muestran una única fuente motivacional: el autointerés. Son más bien el resultado de múltiples causas, entre las cuales destacan los sentimientos prosociales y los principios y valores morales. Tales evidencias han permitido pensar en la posibilidad de encontrar un modelo económico alternativo, más humano, eficaz y beneficioso para todas las partes afectadas por la actividad. El objetivo de este trabajo es proponer desde una perspectiva civil -como la desarrollada por Stefano Zamagni- y cordial -como la desarrollada (...) por Adela Cortina- orientaciones para el diseño de una economía a la altura de aquello que el momento histórico exige, a través de instituciones, organizaciones y empresas que incluyan en sus diseños aspectos tan importantes como la compasión, el cuidado, la reciprocidad, el compromiso y la participación activa y comprometida de la sociedad civil. Economic behavior do not show a single motivational source: self-interest. They are rather the result of multiple causes, among which prosocial sentiments and principles and moral values. Such evidence has let himself think about the possibility of finding a more humane, effective and beneficial for all parties affected by the activity alternative economic model. The aim of this paper is to propose from a civil perspective, as developed by Stefano Zamagni, and cordial, as developed by Adela Cortina, guidelines for the design of an economy at the height of what the historical moment demands through institutions, organizations and companies to include in their designs such important aspects as compassion, care, reciprocity, commitment and active and committed participation of civil society. (shrink)

Durante las últimas décadas, la capacidad reciprocadora de los seres humanos ha despertado el interés de politólogos, sociólogos y economistas por sus efectos positivos en el desarrollo de los diferentes ámbitos de actividad humana. Se trata de un comportamiento que permite la emergencia de diversas formas de cooperación entre dos o más personas para la satisfacción de objetivos compartidos y altamente beneficiosos para todas las partes en relación. Sin embargo, tal y como muestran diversos estudios, tras la emergencia y potenciación (...) de la reciprocidad subyace una dimensión ética y emocional. En este sentido, el objetivo de este estudio es proponer una posible reconstrucción de las condiciones de posibilidad de la reciprocidad. (shrink)

Este estudio reflexionar pretende críticamente sobre la posibilidad de un enfoque dataficado, hiperconectado y algoritmizado de clarificación, fundamentación y aplicación de lo moral: la hiperética artificial. Para ello, se mostrará la ética como un saber práctico que, preocupado por la racionalización de los comportamientos libres, ha encontrado en el diálogo entre afectados el criterio de moralidad desde el cual poder criticar tanto el conocimiento como el comportamiento. Posteriormente, se profundizará en la etificación, el intento de establecer procesos de transformación de (...) la realidad social y moral en datos y metadatos computables en línea. Después, se expondrá cómo los modelos matemáticos artificialmente inteligentes están colonizando progresiva e implacablemente los procesos de racionalización con arreglo a sentido, produciendo falta de sentido, anomia y psicopatologías en las democracias maduras. Finalmente, se reflexionará críticamente sobre el diseño, aplicación y uso de algoritmos de inteligencia artificial como instrumento para establecer qué es justo y felicitante para una sociedad digitalmente hiperconectada. (shrink)

RESUMEN La ciencia económica preponderante descuidó el estudio de la cooperación humana. Esto se debe a que hay una contradicción entre ser seres racionales con propensión a maximizar el bienestar, por un lado, y la posibilidad de concretar objetivos de beneficio común e implementar procesos relacionales no coercitivos, por el otro lado. Sin embargo, la economía experimental se ha preocupado por hallar explicación a la actitud de reciprocidad que muestran los agentes en distintos juegos de estrategia, ya que posibilita concretar (...) acciones colectivas en las que subyace una intencionalidad compartida que permite cumplir objetivos mutuamente dispuestos. Se busca mostrar cuándo y por qué los seres humanos empiezan a relacionarse con sus semejantes y cuál es el fundamento normativo que logra orientar estos comportamientos. ABSTRACT The prevailing economic science has neglected the study of human cooperation. This is due to the existing contradiction between rational beings who seek to maximize wellbeing, on the one hand, and the possibility of materializing objectives for the common good and implementing relational, non-coercive processes, on the other-hand. However, experimental economics has endeavored to find an explanation for the attitude of reciprocity displayed by agents in different strategy games, given that it facilitates collective actions marked by an underlying shared intentionality that makes it possible to achieve mutually established goals. The article seeks to show when and why human beings start relating to their peers and to identify the normative basis that guides these behaviors. (shrink)

Combining ethics and economics has become one of the greatest challenges of our times. Today’s economic globalisation processes increasingly demand more respect for the universal-isable rights, values and principles defended by societies with a post-conventional level of moral development. The credibility and legitimacy of the activity, and therefore its correct development, depend on this respect. However, the prevailing economic theory continues to perceive moral reflection as an external question, and regards its orientations as impositions which, if followed, minimise the satisfaction (...) of maximum profits. For this reason the aim of the present paper is twofold: first, to show ethics as a constitutive activity, necessary for the economy to develop in the right way through Peter Ulrich’s integrative proposal and especially through Jesús Conill’s critical hermeneutic approach; and second, to propose guidelines for designing a system for monitoring and managing the moral climate in firms and economic organisations that can be applied and implemented in practice. (shrink)

Las democracias modernas no son perfectas. Por un lado, se ven afectados por problemas como la corrupción, el nepotismo y el populismo. Por otro lado, están moldeados por tecnologías, desde la impresión hasta la web. En los últimos años, académicos y tecnólogos han comenzado a explorar alternativas para aumentar, modificar, o mejorar la democracia. Estas incluyen propuestas teóricas y prácticas basadas en el uso de herramientas digitales, desde algoritmos que buscan maximizar la representatividad de foros deliberativos, a sistemas de datos (...) abiertos, recomendación de votos, y presupuestos participativos. Estas y otras propuestas tienen como objetivo mejorar la participación pública; reducir la vulnerabilidad de los sistemas democráticos representativos; aumentar la responsabilidad de los políticos; o simplemente ofrecer a los ciudadanos un mayor control y escrutinio de las acciones y decisiones políticas. (shrink)

La inclusión económica de los vulnerables y/o excluidos del mercado constituye un elemento de insostenibilidad tanto para el mercado como para los estados, las sociedades y los agentes económicos. En sus trabajos, Adam Smith abordó esta problemática proponiendo un doble sistema recíproco de comportamiento económico: el intercambio de equivalentes, basado en el autointerés y el contrato entre las partes, y la reciprocidad inclusiva, basada en la benevolencia y la participación activa de las partes implicadas y/o afectadas. Mientras el primero se (...) mostraba como el más adecuado para establecer relaciones entre agentes económicos dentro del mercado, la segunda ofrecía la posibilidad de lograr una inclusión efectiva tanto de los vulnerables como de los excluidos. El objetivo de este trabajo será proponer una reciprocidad inclusiva de Adam Smith, desarrollada a través del reconocimiento cordial de Adela Cortina, como mecanismo de inclusión económica efectiva de los agentes económicos vulnerables y los agentes no económicos. (shrink)

Cities, such as industry or the universities, are immersed in a process of digital transformation generated by the possibility and technological convergence of the Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence and its consequences: hyperconnectivity, datafication and algorithmization. A process of transformation towards what has come to be called as Smart Cities. The aim of this paper is to show the impacts and consequences of digital connectivity, algorithmization and the datafication of urban digital society to outline possible ways of (...) resolving the underlying moral conflicts. (shrink)

The field of neuroaesthetics attempts to identify the brain processes underlying aesthetic experience, including but not limited to beauty. Previous neuroaesthetic studies have focussed largely on paintings and music, while performing arts such as dance have been less studied. Nevertheless, increasing knowledge of the neural mechanisms that represent the bodies and actions of others, and which contribute to empathy, make a neuroaesthetics of dance timely. Here, we present the first neuroscientific study of aesthetic perception in the context of the performing (...) arts. We investigated brain areas whose activity during passive viewing of dance stimuli was related to later, independent aesthetic evaluation of the same stimuli. Brain activity of six naïve male subjects was measured using fMRI, while they watched 24 dance movements, and performed an irrelevant task. In a later session, participants rated each movement along a set of established aesthetic dimensions. The ratings were used to identify brain regions that were more active when viewing moves that received high average ratings than moves that received low average ratings. This contrast revealed bilateral activity in the occipital cortices and in right premotor cortex. Our results suggest a possible role of visual and sensorimotor brain areas in an automatic aesthetic response to dance. This sensorimotor response may explain why dance is widely appreciated in so many human cultures. (shrink)

In this paper, we explore a selection of Castoriadis’ writings, paying special attention to the seminars devoted to Plato’s Statesman, and discuss his divorce from the Platonic and Platonic tradition. Castoriadis places Plato beyond a theoretical and academic interpretation: the Ancient Greece that Castoriadis claims, from his political ontology, is not a paradigm, but a “germ” of autonomy, by which understand the birth of democracy, philosophy and history in order to transform himself and society.

Este trabajo plantea el papel de la providencia y de la religión en los principales temas de la Ciencia Nueva: el mito, las primeras comunidades, la dialéctica de nobles y plebeyos, la lógica poética, etc., esbozando el proceso de cómo los hombres pasan a ser de hombres sin Dios a hombres con leyes. This paper deals with the role of both Providence and religion within the range of the main themes in the “New Science”: myth, the first human communities, the (...) dialectics between nobles and plebeians, logic, politics, etc., sketching in turn the way in which human beings became men with laws from the stage of Godlessmen. (shrink)

El trabajo analiza las razones para la acción. A partir de la distinción entre los enfoques de decisión racional y altruismo recíproco, el artículo examina sucesivamente ambos modelos, concluyendo con una breve observación sobre el poder de las profecías que se auto-cumplen. El texto argumenta que el enfoque de la decisión racional se basa en suposiciones erróneas sobre la naturaleza humana y, por consiguiente, conduce a predicciones igualmente equivocadas.

This paper argues that racism should not only be conceived as a moral concept whose main aim is to condemn severe wrongs in the domain of race. The paper advances a complementary interpretation of racism as an explanatory concept--one that plays a key role in explaining race-based social problems afflicting members of subordinate racialized groups. As an explanatory concept, the term 'racism' is used to diagnose and highlight the causes of race-related social problems. The project of diagnosing race-based social problems (...) contributes to the pragmatic anti-racist end of developing better political and policy strategies for solving these social problems. The paper defends this interpretation of racism as an explanatory concept through a critical engagement with Urquidez's moral-philosophical account of racism. (shrink)

I defend impact-based accounts of institutional racism against the criticism that they are over-inclusive. If having a negative impact on non-whites suffices to make an institution racist, too many institutions (including institutions whose affirmative action policies inadvertently harm its intended beneficiaries) would count as racist. To address this challenge, I consider a further necessary condition for these institutions to count as racist—they must stand in a particular relation to racist ideology. I argue that, on the impact-based model, institutions are racist (...) if they have a negative racial impact AND this impact is legitimized by racist ideology. Racist ideologies limit social criticism of and collective action against institutions that have a negative racial impact, and in so doing, lend stability to systems of racial domination. (shrink)

I address the objection that the concept of racism has become overly inflated. Critics of the conceptual inflation of “racism” argue that theories of institutional racism engage in untoward conceptual inflation insofar as they undermine our moral understanding of racial phenomena, hinder our ability to explain the causes of racial inequality, and even undercut struggles for racial justice. I develop an original account of institutional racism and show that it is immune to all three versions of the conceptual inflation challenge.

According to F. Adams [this journal, vol. 68, 2018] cognition cannot be realized in plants or bacteria. In his view, plants and bacteria respond to the here-and-now in a hardwired, inflexible manner, and are therefore incapable of cognitive activity. This article takes issue with the pursuit of plant cognition from the perspective of an empirically informed philosophy of plant neurobiology. As we argue, empirical evidence shows, contra Adams, that plant behavior is in many ways analogous to animal behavior. This renders (...) plants suitable to be described as cognitive agents in a non-metaphorical way. Sections two to four review the arguments offered by Adams in light of scientific evidence on plant adaptive behavior, decision-making, anticipation, as well as learning and memory. Section five introduces the ‘phyto-nervous’ system of plants. To conclude, section six resituates the quest for plant cognition into a broader approach in cognitive science, as represented by enactive and ecological schools of thought. Overall, we aim to motivate the idea that plants may be considered genuine cognitive agents. Our hope is to help propel public awareness and discussion of plant intelligence once appropriately stripped of anthropocentric preconceptions of the sort that Adams' position appears to exemplify. (shrink)

El objeto del siguiente texto es la exposición y el análisis de la obra de las Disputaciones Metafísicas bajo la idea de medir el alcance que el pensamiento de Francisco Suárez pueda tener en la modernidad filosófica. Para cumplir con tal objeto me centraré en un pequeño pero significativo número de cuestiones: la noción de materia y de causalidad, en relación a los requisitos que ha de cumplir el entendimiento para captar la realidad particular; la concepción de lo individual, que (...) vemos repetirse continuamente en cada asunto abordado por Suárez; y por último, la teoría de la distinción modal, sin la cual no podría entenderse el tratamiento y la solución que el filósofo propone para las dos cuestiones anteriores. (shrink)

Is Leibnizian dynamics the New Physics sought in his youth to provide a solution to the problem of body unity/composition? This question can only be answered tentatively. The thesis that I will develop in this second part is that chemical-combinatoria project is not complete without some ideas of dynamics. The idea of form, which since the early Leibniz’s philosophy is projected to give a foundation to the corpuscular theory, only reaches this objective with the theory of conspiring movements that Leibniz (...) develops as the last phase of his dynamics. Within this general objective, this second part develops three secondary issues of importance: Leibniz’s emergent and realistic position, his theory of compounds and the interpretation of the Combinatoria or Characteristica project as a science of forms. (shrink)

Chemistry and dynamics are closely related in G.W. Leibniz's thinking, from the corpuscularism of his youth to the theory of conspiracy movements that he proposes in his later years. Despite the importance of chemistry and chemical thought in Leibniz's philosophy, interpreters have not paid enough attention to this subject, especially in the recent decades. This work aims to contribute to filling this gap in Leibnizian studies. In this first part of the work I will expose the theory of matter that (...) the young Leibniz conceives under the influence of chemical corpuscularism. Leibniz uses R. Boyle's interpretation of the Aristotelian idea of form in order to give an explanation of the unity and cohesion of bodies. As opposed to the Cartesians, Leibniz puts forth the idea of a dependence between the variables of extension, movement and figure, without losing analytical clarity and with the aim of extending the explanatory power of physics to natural phenomena difficult to approach by Cartesian mechanics. (shrink)