Are there truly fundamental entities in nature? Or are the things that we regard as fundamental in our theories – for example space, time or the masses of elementary particles – merely awaiting a derivation from a new, yet to be discovered theory based on elements that are more fundamental? This was the central question posed in the 2018 FQXi essay competition, which drew more than 200 entries from professional physicists, philosophers, and other scholars. This volume presents enhanced versions of (...) the fifteen award-winning essays, giving a spectrum of views and insights on this fascinating topic. From a prescription for “when to stop digging” to the case for strong emergence, the reader will find here a plethora of stimulating and challenging ideas - presented in a largely non-technical manner - on which to sharpen their understanding of the language of physics and even the nature of reality. (shrink)

This collection of prize-winning essays addresses the controversial question of how meaning and goals can emerge in a physical world governed by mathematical laws. What are the prerequisites for a system to have goals? What makes a physical process into a signal? Does eliminating the homunculus solve the problem? The three first-prize winners, Larissa Albantakis, Carlo Rovelli and Jochen Szangolies tackle exactly these challenges, while many other aspects feature in the other award winning contributions. All contributions are accessible to non-specialists. (...) These seventeen stimulating and often entertaining essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning entries to the FQXi essay competition in 2017.The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources. (shrink)

The fourteen award-winning essays in this volume discuss a range of novel ideas and controversial topics that could decisively influence the course of human life on Earth. Their authors address, in accessible language, issues as diverse as: enabling our social systems to learn; research in biological engineering and artificial intelligence; mending and enhancing minds; improving the way we do, and teach, science; living in the here and now; and the value of play. The essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning (...) entries submitted to the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) essay competition in 2014. FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources. (shrink)

Cosmological boundary conditions for particles and fields are often discussed as a Cauchy problem, in which configurations and conjugate momenta are specified on an “initial” time slice. But this is not the only way to specify boundary conditions, and indeed in action-principle formulations we often specify configurations at two times and consider trajectories joining them. Here, we consider a classical system of particles interacting with short range two body interactions, with boundary conditions on the particles’ positions for an initial and (...) a final time. For a large number of particles that are randomly arranged into a dilute gas, we find that a typical system trajectory will spontaneously collapse into a small region of space, close to the maximum density that is obtainable, before expanding out again. If generalizeable, this has important implications for the cosmological arrow of time, potentially allowing a scenario in which both boundary conditions are generic and also a low-entropy state “initial” state of the universe naturally occurs. (shrink)

There is a paradox in the standard model of cosmology. How can matter in the early universe have been in thermal equilibrium, indicating maximum entropy, but the initial state also have been low entropy (the “past hypothesis"), so as to underpin the second law of thermodynamics? The problem has been highly contested, with the only consensus being that gravity plays a role in the story, but with the exact mechanism undecided. In this paper, we construct a well-defined mechanical model to (...) study this paradox. We show how it reproduces the salient features of standard big-bang cosmology with surprising success, and we use it to produce novel results on the statistical mechanics of a gas in an expanding universe. We conclude with a discussion of potential uses of the model, including the explicit computation of the time-dependent coarse-grained entropies needed to investigate the past hypothesis. (shrink)

In the past several years, observational entropy has been developed as both a quantum generalization of Boltzmann entropy, and as a rather general framework to encompass classical and quantum equilibrium and non-equilibrium coarse-grained entropy. In this paper we review the construction, interpretation, most important properties, and some applications of this framework. The treatment is self-contained and relatively pedagogical, aimed at a broad class of researchers.

En el presente artículo se ofrece un panorama de los estudios educativos que se ocupan de la conciencia histórica. El recorrido que se propone es uno entre varios posibles y se centra específicamente en los aportes a las investigaciones en Didáctica de la Historia de las últimas décadas. En esta selección de trabajos europeos y americanos (vista desde América del Sur) destaca la preocupación por clarificar los factores que influyen en la conciencia histórica y los mecanismos para su construcción. También (...) el rol que todavía puede cumplir la escuela en la elaboración de narrativas que vinculen pasado – presente – futuro, sin olvidar algunos problemas y obstáculos en contextos concretos. Las últimas investigaciones suponen además que las personas deben asumirse como actores que pueden modificar su realidad, por lo que la relación entre lo individual y lo colectivo es un aspecto a tener en cuenta en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje. (shrink)

Aggression, violence, and cruelty are symptoms of psychiatric illness. They reflect abnormalities in the regulation of the stress and emotion circuitries. The functioning of these circuitries depends upon the interaction between genetics and environment. Abuse and neglect during infancy, as well as maternal stress and poor quality of maternal care, are some of the causes that produce these types of abnormal behavior. Research on the neurobiological bases of emotion regulation will allow the detection of the population at risk.

I introduce a new version of Moral Error Theory, which I call Type-B Moral Error Theory. According to a Type-B theorist there are no facts of the kind required for there to be morality in stricto sensu, but there can be irreducible ‘normative’ properties which she deems, strictly speaking, to be morally irrelevant. She accepts that there are instrumental all things considered oughts, and categorical pro tanto oughts, but denies that there are categorical all things considered oughts on pain of (...) requiring ‘queer’ facts to obtain. I detail the most central motivation of this version of the theory against its more traditional rival, according to which there are no irreducible normative properties at all. The motivation is that it, unlike its rival, can successfully be defended against the notorious charge of self-defeat. (shrink)

En este artículo se plantea una lectura de la historia de la verdad en Foucault a partir de la importancia progresiva que le concedió el autor en sus últimas producciones a la relación entre los procesos de veridicción y el estudio de la ética. El estatuto y el rol de la ética en la obra de Foucault, dependiente de un cierto análisis de la parrhesía, hace posible una interpretación de esa historia de la verdad de un modo que se escapa (...) a la noción de poder atribuida generalmente a Foucault: aquella que no permite pensar positivamente la autonomía de los sujetos. (shrink)

El texto presenta un estudio sobre Juán Amós Comenio (1592-1670) como clásico del pensamiento educativo, el hilo conductor ha consistido en tener presente el carácter sociocultural de la educación, es decir, en no perder de vista una verdad elemental: las aportaciones en el ámbito educativo, trátese de discursos, de prácticas, o bien de ambos, aún cuando pudieran presentarse ante nuestros ojos con cierto grado de abstracción, son elaboraciones que proceden de personas concretas que viven coordenadas de tiempo y espacio precisas (...) y que por ende, se vuelven comprensibles con mayor profundidad y plenitud en la medida que uno se aproxima a la forma en que vivió esta persona. Este libro constituye un proyecto de investigación más amplio, pero prioritariamente aborda aspectos de las atmósferas del siglo XVII propias de la Europa protestante que marcan la vida de Comenio b) algunas tradiciones y legados que sustentan su proyecto educativo. (shrink)

First published in 1973, Sir Anthony Kenny’s classic introduction to Wittgenstein was widely praised for offering a lucid and historically informed account of the philosopher’s core concerns. Kenny's study is also remarkable for demonstrating the continuity between Wittgenstein’s early and late writings. Focusing on Wittgenstein’s philosophy of mind and language, Kenny closely examines the works of the middle years. He exposes apparent conflicts and then goes on to reconcile them, providing a persuasive argument for the unity of Wittgenstein’s thought. (...) This revised edition includes an extensive new introduction in which Kenny outlines developments in Wittgenstein scholarship since the book was first published and assesses Wittgenstein’s influence in the latter part of the twentieth century. (shrink)

Sir Anthony Kenny's engaging new multi-volume history of Western philosophy now advances into the modern era. The Rise of Modern Philosophy captures the fascinating story of the emergence, from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, of the great ideas and intellectual systems that shaped modern thought. Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers and helps us gain an understanding of their famous works. The great minds we meet include Rene Descartes, traditionally (...) seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; continental thinkers such as Spinoza, Liebniz, and Hegel; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. Kenny first tells the story of modern philosophy chronologically: his lively, accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to this wonderfully creative period. Kenny then backtracks to look closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God. The book also features many intriguing and beautiful illustrations which evoke the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in the evolution of modern thought will find this a book a treasure. (shrink)

While philosophers of mind have been arguing over the status of mental representations in cognitive science, cognitive scientists have been quietly engaged in studying perception, action, and cognition without explaining them in terms of mental representation. In this book, Anthony Chemero describes this nonrepresentational approach, puts it in historical and conceptual context, and applies it to traditional problems in the philosophy of mind. Radical embodied cognitive science is a direct descendant of the American naturalist psychology of William James and (...) John Dewey, and follows them in viewing perception and cognition to be understandable only in terms of action in the environment. Chemero argues that cognition should be described in terms of agent-environment dynamics rather than in terms of computation and representation. After outlining this orientation to cognition, Chemero proposes a methodology: dynamical systems theory, which would explain things dynamically and without reference to representation. He also advances a background theory: Gibsonian ecological psychology, "shored up" and clarified. Chemero then looks at some traditional philosophical problems through the lens of radical embodied cognitive science and concludes that the comparative ease with which it resolves these problems, combined with its empirical promise, makes this approach to cognitive science a rewarding one. "Jerry Fodor is my favorite philosopher," Chemero writes in his preface, adding, "I think that Jerry Fodor is wrong about nearly everything." With this book, Chemero explains nonrepresentational, dynamical, ecological cognitive science as clearly and as rigorously as Jerry Fodor explained computational cognitive science in his classic work The Language of Thought. (shrink)

What is the relationship between contemporary intellectual culture and the European Enlightenment it claims to reject? In Consequences of Enlightenment, Anthony Cascardi revisits the arguments advanced in Horkheimer and Adorno's seminal work Dialectic of Enlightenment. Cascardi argues against the view that postmodern culture has rejected Enlightenment beliefs and explores instead the continuities contemporary theory shares with Kant's failed ambition to bring the project of Enlightenment to completion. He explores the link between aesthetics and politics in thinkers as diverse as (...) Habermas, Derrida, Arendt, Nietzsche, Hegel, and Wittgenstein in order to reverse the tendency to see works of art simply in terms of the worldly practices among which they are situated. (shrink)

Shaftesbury's Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times was published in 1711. It ranges widely over ethics, aesthetics, religion, the arts (painting, literature, architecture, gardening), and ancient and modern history, and aims at nothing less than a new ideal of the gentleman. Together with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Addison and Steele's Spectator, it is a text of fundamental importance for understanding the thought and culture of Enlightenment Europe. This volume presents a new edition of the text together with an (...) introduction, explanatory notes and a guide to further reading. (shrink)

Buying and selling are the most natural activities common to human beings. In a society where profit overrides personal dignity and human rights, many people see market as a virtue-free zone. They do not believe that one can buy and sell without dishonest gains. Consequently, they are ready to do anything in the name of business: manufacturing and selling fake and substandard goods and services for originals. Today, markets are flooded with fake medical drugs, fake foods, fake drinks/water, fake motor (...) parts and fake building materials. Thus market exhibits exploitative and negative impacts on customer satisfaction. Its impact on human life and property leads to increased deaths because of poisoning, building collapses and even increased road accidents. Such market transaction lacks mutual benefit which is its telos. This paper seeks to establish that market is not a virtue-free zone. It has moral standards of excellence internal to it. (shrink)

El autor sostiene que la importancia de abordar el concepto de paradigma desde la teología surge tanto desde el objetivo cristiano de actuar en la construcción del Reino anunciado por Jesús, como a partir de que “la mayoría de los problemas no pueden resolverse al nivel en que vienen planteados” –axioma del que no se escapa la ciencia teológica. A partir de ello, postula reflexionar sobre los inicios de paradigmas a lo largo de la historia de la teología; por qué (...) los teólogos y el magisterio los han adoptado, y por qué se cambiaron en determinadas épocas. (shrink)

This concise, authoritative encyclopedia from one of the world's most renowned theologians explores all the major themes in the philosophy of religion.

Este estudio presenta las evidencias psicométricas de la Escala de Aprendizajes Percibidos, basada en los elementos didácticos y pedagógicos del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de una Experiencia Curricular en formulación y ejecución de «Programas de Intervención en Psicología». Investigación instrumental-psicométrica, de enfoque cuantitativo-transversal, con recolección de datos post-EC, en 117 estudiantes universitarios. Su contraste estadístico se realizó en el entorno R para Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio y Análisis Factorial de Componentes Principales, entre otros. Los resultados indican un adecuado ajuste orientado a 5 (...) factores, ratificado en análisis paralelos. Se concluye en la conformación de un constructo robusto, fiable y válido, que explora la conciencia de los aprendizajes en materia de promoción prevención en salud, y susceptible de adaptación. (shrink)

This new edition keeps the same successful format, with each chapter providing a self-contained introduction to the topic it discusses, rewritten to include ...

I introduce a new version of Moral Error Theory, which I call Type-B Moral Error Theory. According to a Type-B theorist there are no facts of the kind required for there to be morality instricto sensu, but there can be irreducible ‘normative’ properties which she deems, strictly speaking, to be morally irrelevant. She accepts that there areinstrumentalall things considered oughts, andcategoricalpro tanto oughts (both of which she deems morally irrelevant), but denies that there arecategoricalall things considered oughts on pain of (...) requiring ‘queer’ facts to obtain. I detail the most central motivation of this version of the theory against its more traditional rival, according to which there are no irreducible normative properties at all. The motivation is that it, unlike its rival, can successfully be defended against the notorious charge of self-defeat. (shrink)

Aquinas needs no introduction as one of the greatest minds of the middle ages. Highly influential on the development of Christian doctrine, his ideas are still of fundamental philosophical importance. This new critique of his natural law theory discusses the theory's background in Aristotle and advances new interpretations of contemporary legal issues which hark back to Aquinas.

Taking a refreshingly hands-on approach to introductory ethics, A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox provides students with a set of tools to help them understand and make a constructive difference in real-life moral controversies. Thoroughly optimistic, it invites students to approach ethical issues with a reconstructive intent, making room for more and better options than the traditional "pro" and "con" positions that have grown up around tough problems like abortion and animal rights. Ideal for introductory and applied ethics courses, this unique (...) text does not treat ethics as a purely academic, historical, or theoretical subject, but as a wide-ranging and ongoing set of challenges that calls for multiple and interwoven kinds of intelligence. It covers the skills that are most vital to making real progress in ethics, including paying careful attention to the values at stake on all sides of an issue; looking for creative opportunities within difficult problems; critical-thinking skills such as defining key terms and making sure to judge similar cases alike; and learning how to engage in constructive dialogue. Instructors can readily use the experiential and applied activities inspired by this "toolbox" of practical skills to design an interactive and collaborative ethics course. Students can carry these essential skills directly from this book into such projects as campaigning for environmental awareness and staffing local homeless shelters. In addition to his own discussion, Weston includes gripping and provocative short selections from essayists, activists, and philosophers, and also cites his own students. Extensive "Exercises and Notes" sections end each chapter, and a detailed appendix offers instructors advice on how to use the Toolbox in the classroom. (shrink)

The guiding questions of this volume are: Can we have knowledge of the external world of things outside our minds?

Resumen. Este documento reconoce el sentido del liderazgo ético en las transformaciones empresariales actuales, siendo el gerente forjador de cambios transcendentales, donde el direccionamiento integral es su mayor finalidad, para lo cual, pone en practica una cultura organizacional, donde prevalece el sentido de la visión sistemática de la ética, como lo deja entrever el Modelo Spenta, cuyo eje central es el fortalecimiento de los valores éticos y la consolidación del arte de negociar, todo ello en una filosofía de buena mente (...) y buen pensamiento, de compromiso administrativo, rectitud, movilidad virtual y responsabilidad social.Palabras claves. Liderazgo ético, transformaciones empresariales, jerarquización de valores, el arte de negociar, líder gerencial, tendencias sociales, rectitud, buena mente y buen pensamiento, interconexión, globalización, movilidad virtual, responsabilidad social.. This document recognizes the sense of ethical leadership in today's business transformation, with the momentous changes smith manager, where addressing is the most comprehensive purpose for which it puts into practice an organizational culture where the prevailing sense of vision systematically of ethics, as the model suggests Spenta, whose centerpiece is the strengthening of ethical values and consolidation of the art of negotiation, all in a philosophy of good mind and good thinking, administrative commitment, honesty, virtual mobility and social responsibility.Keywords. Ethical Leadership, Business Transformation, hierarchy of values, the art of negotiation, a leading management, social trends, righteousness, good mind and good thinking, networking, globalization, virtual mobility, social responsibility. (shrink)

This chapter addresses Immanuel Kant and the potential impasse of any philosophical account of religious experience. Various attempts within phenomenology are explored to broaden the notion of givenness and evidence beyond the parameters of object-givenness. Then, the chapter deals with a phenomenology of religious experience as an irreducible sphere of human experience, and its unique style of evidence and modalisations. For Kant, experience is limited to one mode of givenness in which objects of knowledge are actively constituted with the direct (...) implication that one cannot meaningfully speak of a religious experience. The recognition of the different quality of givenness in religious experience implicated the significant matter of religious evidence. (shrink)

This book uncovers and examines the confusion in antiquity between Aristotle's hypothetical syllogistic and Stoic logic, and offers a fresh perspective on the ...

La mayor parte de los documentos que abordan la temática del desarrollo local, tratan la noción de “lo local” a escalas en las cuales hablar sobre espacios y temas metropolitanos parece imposible e inimaginable. Por lo anterior, este trabajo pretende abrir líneas de pensamiento que busquen responder a tres interrogantes que entremezclan y relacionan los temas del desarrollo local y del fenómeno metropolitano, es decir, se pretenden esbozar las pautas de discusión que logren responder con el tiempo a las siguientes (...) cuestiones; ¿hay espacio para lo local en un contexto metropolitano?, ¿puede ser una zona metropolitana un espacio para el desarrollo local? y ¿lo local puede ser lo metropolitano? (shrink)

El artículo presenta fundamentalmente un análisis sobre el concepto de la sabiduría y la belleza, desde la experiencia teológica del pueblo de Israel plasmada en un antiguo proverbio. La belleza y la sabiduría se encuentran unidas por una experiencia teológica y no únicamente estética; y en tal experiencia se puede reconocer al hombre sabio y bello que actúa con sensatez y eticidad con los demás.

En el artículo se exponen dos asuntos básicos: primero, más amplio, la aproximación literaria desde la semántica de lo bello a algunos pasajes literarios, y, segundo, más breve, la pregunta sobre qué significa valorar desde el punto de vista estético una pieza literaria; el primero permite introducir en el tema más genérico que indica lo segundo. Se resaltan dos temas que rodean a lo bello: el terror y lo erótico, unas relaciones que buscan desarrollar desde tres textos distintos: uno contemporáneo (...) de la poesía de Pablo Neruda y dos textos antiguos tomados de la literatura sagrada de la biblia judía y cristiana; la revisión de los textos permite ver los siguientes temas que se tratan por separado: primero, la belleza que redime lo abyecto; segundo, la belleza contemplada atípicamente desde lo sórdido, y, tercero, lo bello inefable o la imagen de terror como única expresión de la fuerza devastadora del eros. (shrink)

El texto se propone un estudio comparativo entre la poesía de Safo y los versos del Cantar de los cantares, tomando como punto de referencia un manejo común de los temas. Se trata de una especulación y no de un estudio sistemático del mismo: El amor de los amantes, la vigilia nocturna y el sueño como escenario de encuentro se exponen como pilares fundamentales de esta reflexión, al tiempo que deja abierta la posibilidad de desarrollar posteriores trabajos.

El texto propone la descripción del mundo y la comprensión fundamental del evento bajo la luz de la belleza. Su tematización filosófica en el campo de la teoría estética ha ocasionado una racionalización de la belleza, contraria al acontecer mismo del fenómeno. En lugar de esta conceptualización, se propone la experiencia de la belleza como cosmos, para contrarrestar el actual horizonte de distorsión del mundo ordenado y de obstaculización de este orden por las manos humanas. Se propone, en fin, que (...) la belleza es única y sólo se opera en clave de revelación. (shrink)