El artículo ilustra la utilización del _case method_ a través de una investigación socio-educativa reciente donde se traza una analogía entre el caso de los exploradores de L. Fuller con la situación vital marcada por la pandemia. A tal efecto, pasa revista a cuestiones radicales que se desataron ante la urgencia de un problema cardinal de supervivencia y de salud pública que dejó todo lo demás (derecho, convenciones, moralidad, libertades) en la sombra y plantea algunos dilemas ético-jurídicos desencadenados bajo ciertas (...) situaciones consideradas de emergencia extrema donde la supervivencia de todos está en juego. Frente a la trampa hobbesiana de un supuesto estado de naturaleza por el cual es justificable cualquier tipo de ataque preventivo o violencia, en el artículo se trata de argumentar, al hilo de las respuestas dadas al caso jurídico de Fuller, nuevas formas de entender la comunidad, el pacto social, lo público y lo político. (shrink)

Este artículo se plantea un recorrido temático preciso de las principales contribuciones de Concepción Arenal en tres niveles principales de análisis: i) en el ámbito de la reforma del código penal, cuyo propósito correccionalista ofrece una visión social de la pena que busca reinsertar al delincuente; ii) en el ámbito social, conciliando y armonizando las reivindicaciones obreras con las ideas tradicionalistas; iii) y en el ámbito educativo, para ayudar a los más débiles, a los condenados por la justicia y los (...) marginados por la sociedad, entre los que incluía a la mujer. Una lucha que se libra en varios frentes, respetando siempre la estrecha relación del ámbito jurídico con el aspecto educativo, pues Concepción Arenal, al igual que los krausistas, consideraba que toda reforma debía partir de una reforma ética e interior del hombre. (shrink)

In this article we present a dissertation on the limits of law and morality, a topic of supreme importance for the Philosophy of Law and the real cape horn or the storms of Science and Legal Philosophy, where so many systems, when trying to overcome it and perhaps save the previous ones, have been shipwrecked. Our aim is to expose the historical development of this relationship from ancient, medieval and modern age, to give an account of how the Krausist legal (...) philosophy was interwoven in this context and how it has given answers that have left interesting results of great validity in the field of legal philosophy. Finally, we expose some of the topics that the philosophy of law opened to the juridical discussions of its time, and which were enormously original and precursors of what still is being debated today in the areas of Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy. (shrink)

This study presents some of the contributions to the process of the constructing Europe since the illustrated ideas of the German philosopher Krause that were promoted and represented by eminent Spanish Krausist legal experts, such as Francisco Giner de los Ríos. His conception of Europe and European civilisation contains theories that, despite being surprising and openly opposed at the time, have today become part of the global heritage of modern day legal philosophy and our social aspirations. We firstly study how (...) the development of the Krausist legal philosophy contributed to the political development of Spain and how this ius-philosophical thinking had a modernising influence on Spanish legal philosophy and science. Secondly, we delve deeper into the basic principles of Krausist legal-sociological theory that have had a major influence on Europeanisation, reviewing its most ardent criticism of the European imperial nationalism doctrine. (shrink)

El presente artículo trata de ofrecer un análisis detenido de las similitudes y diferencias que pueden establecerse entre el concepto de soberanía que formulan F. Giner y F. Suárez. En primer lugar, analizaremos los matices que presenta el concepto de corpus mysticum a fin de ahondar en el fondo democrático que implica esta idea. En segundo lugar, trataremos de dar cuenta de este fenómeno de recuperación del legado de los iusnaturalistas clásicos hispanos que fue llevado a cabo, paradójicamente, no desde (...) quienes se presentaban como tradicionalistas, sino desde las premisas reformadoras y liberales krausistas, lo cual auspició una lectura renovadora, en clave esencialmente igualitaria y democrática, de sus doctrinas. Por último, ahondaremos en su empeño común por revalorizar el papel social y democrático de las instituciones políticas tradicionales hispanas, cuya lectura nos devuelve un paisaje políticamente pluralista y democrático. (shrink)

Este libro examina algunos de los momentos más significativos y brillantes del legado jurídico-social de Don Francisco Giner, y pone de relieve, a través de su exposición programática, cuáles son los rasgos decisivos de su pensamiento que dan cuenta de la magnitud y el sentido de su labor, comparándolos con el pasado y con el futuro ideológico, brindando así, no sólo un cuadro del sistema, sino también del lugar destacado que le corresponde en la historia general de la filosofía jurídica (...) y social. Bajo la influencia del legado de Don Francisco Giner de los Ríos, y transcurridos cien años después de su muerte, encontramos su inspiración en casi toda la literatura jurídica y política en lengua castellana, tal y como se muestra expresamente en el aprecio que por su pensamiento procesaron algunos de los más destacados renovadores de la educación y el derecho a finales del siglo XIX y a comienzos del XX; un influjo general sin el cual no se comprendería el progreso de la ciencia educativa y del Derecho en España, ni acaso se explicarían no pocas esenciales manifestaciones de nuestra política positiva. Esta obra aborda las principales líneas maestras de su doctrina jurídico y social, imprescindibles para comprender la profunda y subyugante influencia que ejerció la robusta huella de la obra gineriana, y desvela qué potencial práctico del pensamiento moral y jurídico de Giner, aún no agotado históricamente, puede encontrar su realización en el derecho y educación actuales. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to reflect and comment on certain scenes from Stanley Kramer’s film Judgment at Nuremberg based in the Case Method methodology used in university lessons to teach Law and Ethics. The judgement which this film addresses is extraordinary, being one in which judges themselves were judged by other judges; as such, it presents a perfect example through which to think about the social responsibility of the legal profession with respect to the application of Law and (...) what relationship this has to broader moral and ethical considerations of the value of human rights. (shrink)

Este estudio está consagrado a puntualizar las líneas generales de la traslación, recepción y asimilación de la filosofía del derecho de K. Ch. F. Krause (1781 -1832) y de G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) en la España del siglo XIX. Nuestro objetivo es hacer un examen crítico de algunas de las razones –históricas, sociológicas, religiosas, filosóficas y materiales– que explican por qué fue acogida con preferencia la filosofía de Krause en lugar de la filosofía hegeliana. Asimismo, se pasa lista a (...) las críticas y censuras que se dieron en el choque del hegelismo/krausismo con la realidad ideológica y sociocultural hispánica decimonónica. Por último, se analizan algunos testimonios de krausistas acerca de los motivos que se suelen argüir para justificar la superioridad de la doctrina de Krause por su afinidad filosófica y espiritual con la sensibilidad religiosa tradicional de la cultura española y sus méritos como filosofía práctica. (shrink)

There are multiple and diverse voices of jurists who have expressed their fear of the unrestricted power of law enforcement and have announced the crisis of the formalist sense of Law. The widespread reaction against the abstract and formalist character of the positivist theory of law manifested itself as the Krausist philosophy of law and was backed by the philosophy of Krause, Schelling, Hegel and the most recent Natural Law theories that seek to establish substantial criteria for moral action. This (...) distrust was caused by the heteronomy of modest and obedient civil servants of the judicial order that rely on political balance of power in which nothing depends on the human bottom of institutions. Let us consider briefly the impressive analyses performed by different thinkers on this issue, which they considered characteristic of their era, but that continues to constitute a difficulty that challenges contemporary society. (shrink)

There are multiple and diverse voices of jurists who have expressed their fear of the unrestricted power of law enforcement and have announced the crisis of the formalist sense of Law. The widespread reaction against the abstract and formalist character of the positivist theory of law manifested itself as the Krausist philosophy of law and was backed by the philosophy of Krause, Schelling, Hegel and the most recent Natural Law theories that seek to establish substantial criteria for moral action. This (...) distrust was caused by the heteronomy of modest and obedient civil servants of the judicial order that rely on political balance of power in which nothing depends on the human bottom of institutions. Let us consider briefly the impressive analyses performed by different thinkers on this issue, which they considered characteristic of their era, but that continues to constitute a difficulty that challenges contemporary society. (shrink)

The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of past traumatic war experiences on preadolescents in the Gaza Strip, which could be useful for psychological intervention with current and future child victims. Participants were 521 preadolescents from United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, aged 11 and 13 years old. Sections I to IV from Iraqi Version-Arabic of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to assess trauma experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress (...) Disorder (PTSD). The results show that the preadolescents in the Gaza Strip witnessed the destruction of their homes and the murder of family members and friends. A quarter of the individuals assessed either suffered torture or witnessed others undergoing it, including sexual assaults. Almost half of them experienced a lack of food and clean water. The traumatic and torture experiences seriously affected preadolescents’ mental health as 26.29% met criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD. The data analysis revealed two PTSD modalities, with the severity of impact depending on whether social implications were involved. Further research is required to check whether these two modalities fit to PTSD and complex PTSD. Understanding the effects of past wars on preadolescents in Gaza and distinguishing between different PTSD types could enhance comprehension of the impacts of current attacks on child victims. It can also aid in determining the type of intervention needed to minimize the impact on the mental health of Palestinian youth, enhancing their resilience through psychological and social support. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Con un índice de contenidos muy amplio: un prólogo, una introducción, varios capítulos, una gran lista de bibliografía y un índice onomástico, Delia Manzanero nos proporciona una obra de lectura obligatoria para los estudiosos del krausismo en general, del español en particular pero, sobre todo, de una figura como la de Francisco Giner de los Ríos. Se trata del primero de dos volúmenes sobre dicho tema, aunque en el prólogo se adelanta el título del segundo número de la (...) serie: Filosofía del derecho de Giner y su ideal de Europa, por lo que seguramente pronto se encontrará a nuestra disposición. Ante la incertidumbre de cómo será dicha obra no puedo sino recomendar la lectura de la presente, tanto por su rigor como por su claridad. Inexcusablemente debemos aludir al Grupo de Investigación sobre Liberalismo, Krausismo y Masonería de la Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid, por ser el lugar en el que ha surgido... (shrink)

Organizational restructuring involving mass layoffs is an integral part of the corporate strategic landscape. While aimed at increasing a company’s efficiency and profitability, it often falls short of desired objectives, partly due to negative consequences for remaining employees, the so-called “survivors”. As workforce reductions may jeopardize a company’s legitimacy, we develop a model that links the change in post-restructuring employee productivity to the factors that help mitigate legitimacy issues. By using a comprehensive and innovative dataset of restructuring announcements reported by (...) European companies over the post-crisis period, we analyze the moderating effect of the restructuring extent on the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and economic justification as legitimacy tools in counterbalancing the negative effects of job reduction measures. Our findings reveal that in reactive layoffs, induced by financial difficulties, initially high levels of CSR help lessen negative effects of restructuring on employee productivity in low-extent restructuring events; while in high-extent restructuring events employee productivity is supported by continuing investments in CSR. We provide evidence that both the level and dynamics of CSR practices play a significant role, and their effect on employee performance is conditional on the restructuring context. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to explore the view that some ontological disputes are “metalinguistic negotiations”, and to make sense of the significance of these controversies in a way that is still compatible with a broadly deflationist approach. I start by considering the view advocated by Eli Hirsch to the effect that some ontological disputes are verbal. I take the Endurantism–Perdurantusm dispute as a case-study and argue that, while it can be conceded that the dispute is verbal at the (...) object-level, this does not rule out the possibility of a non-verbal disagreement at the metalinguistic level. I then explore the metalinguistic dispute hypothesis by seeing how it can be defended from a first objection playing on the idea of inter-translatability, as well as a second objection raising the question of equal theoretical virtues. (shrink)

Pluralism is relevant to conceptual engineering in many ways. First of all, we face the issue of pluralism when trying to characterise the very object(s) of conceptual engineering. Is it just concepts? Could concepts be pluralistically conceived for the purposes of conceptual engineering? Or rather, is it concepts and other representational devices as well? Second, one may wonder whether concepts have only one function in our mental life (representation) or, rather, a plurality of functions (including non-representational ones). Third, it is (...) a contended question whether conceptual engineering projects should pursue only one set of values and goals (epistemic ones) or, rather, a variety of values and goals, including non-epistemic ones. Finally, the engineering of a concept may result in a form of “local” conceptual pluralism, which gives rise to its own ontological and semantic challenges. Having explored the various ways in which pluralism becomes important for conceptual engineers, this contribution presents and summarizes the articles published in this special issue. (shrink)

Conceptual engineering projects have been criticized for creating discontinuities of subject-matter and, as a result, discontinuities in inquiries: call this the Change of Subject objection. In this paper, I explore a way of dealing with the objection that clarifies its scope and eventually downplays it. First, two strategies aimed at saving subject-continuity are examined and found wanting: Herman Cappelen’s appeal to topics, and the account in terms of concept function. Second, the idea is introduced that one can begin an object-level (...) inquiry either with a ‘semantically conservative’ approach, whereby semantic change is not permitted, or with a ‘semantically progressive’ approach, whereby semantic change is permitted. This distinction helps one significantly downplay the Change of Subject objection. (shrink)

One reason to think that names have a predicate-type semantic value is that they naturally occur in count-noun positions: ‘The Michaels in my building both lost their keys’; ‘I know one incredibly sharp Cecil and one that's incredibly dull’. Predicativism is the view that names uniformly occur as predicates. Predicativism flies in the face of the widely accepted view that names in argument position are referential, whether that be Millian Referentialism, direct-reference theories, or even Fregean Descriptivism. But names are predicates (...) in all of their occurrences; they are predicates that are true of their bearers. When a name appears as a bare singular in argument position, it really occupies the predicate position of what in this essay is called a denuded definite description: a definite description with an unpronounced definite article. Sloat provided good evidence for this. The definite article is sometimes pronounced with names in the singular: ‘The Ivan we all love doesn't feel well’. Sloat proposed a disjunctive generalization of when the definite article must be pronounced with a singular name. This essay shows that by slightly revising Sloat's generalization, we arrive at a simple, nondisjunctive, syntactic rule that governs the overt appearance of the definite article with singular names. But Ivan does not necessarily bear the name ‘Ivan’, so one might worry that the sentence “Ivan might not have had ‘Ivan’ as a name” would incorrectly be predicted false. This essay shows that Predicativism does not have this consequence by showing that incomplete definite descriptions in general and incomplete denuded descriptions, such as ‘Øthe Ivan’, in particular are rigid designators. (shrink)

It is common to criticize a debate by alleging that it is a “merely verbal dispute.” But how conclusive would an argument based on such allegations be? This article takes the material‐composition debate as a case study and argues that the merely verbal dispute objection is less decisive than one might expect. While assessing the dialectical effectiveness of the mere‐verbality move, the article also tries to mark some progress in the philosophical understanding and appreciation of the phenomenon itself of merely (...) verbal disputes. Its contribution consists in shedding light on a distinction between the “faultlessness” and “faultiness” of a merely verbal dispute. (shrink)

A report of a person's desire can be true even if its embedded clause underspecifies the content of the desire that makes the report true. It is true that Fiona wants to catch a fish even if she has no desire that is satisfied if she catches a poisoned minnow. Her desire is satisfied only if she catches an edible, meal-sized fish. The content of her desire is more specific than the propositional content of the embedded clause in our true (...) report of her desires. Standard semantic accounts of belief reports require, however, that the embedded clause of a true belief report specify precisely the content of the belief that makes it true. Such accounts of belief reports therefore face what I call "the problem of underspecification" if they are extended to desire reports. Such standard accounts are sometimes refined by requiring that a belief report can be true not only if its subject has a belief with precisely the propositional content specified by its embedded clause, but also only if its subject grasps that content in a particular way. Such refinements do not, however, help to address the problem of underspecification for desire reports. (shrink)

I argue that, contrary to widespread philosophical opinion, phenomenal indiscriminability is transitive. For if it were not transitive, we would be precluded from accepting the truisms that if two things look the same then the way they look is the same and that if two things look the same then if one looks red, so does the other. Nevertheless, it has seemed obvious to many philosophers (e.g. Goodman, Armstrong and Dummett) that phenomenal indiscriminability is not transitive; and, moreover, that this (...) non-transitivity is straightforwardly revealed to us in experience. I show this thought to be wrong. All inferences from the character of our experience to the non-transitivity of indiscriminability involve either a misunderstanding of continuity, a mistaken interpretation of the idea that we have limited powers of discrimination, or tendentious claims about what our experience is really like; or such inferences are based on inadequately supported premisses, which though individually plausible are jointly implausible. (shrink)

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language provides a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the field, charting its key ideas and movements, and addressing contemporary research and enduring questions in the philosophy of language.

I propose that the meanings of vague expressions render the truth conditions of utterances of sentences containing them sensitive to our interests. For example, 'expensive' is analyzed as meaning 'costs a lot', which in turn is analyzed as meaning 'costs significantly greater than the norm'. Whether a difference is a significant difference depends on what our interests are. Appeal to the proposal is shown to provide an attractive resolution of the sorites paradox that is compatible with classical logic and semantics.

In this paper I argue that names are predicates when they occur in the appellation position of 'called'-predications. This includes not only proper names, but all names -- including quote-names of proper names and quote-names of other words or phrases. Thus in "You can call me Al", the proper name 'Al' is a predicate. And in "You can call me 'Al'," the quote-name of 'Al' -- namely ' 'Al' ' -- is also a predicate.

If a counterpart theorist’s understanding of the counterpart relation precludes haecceitist differences between possible worlds, as David Lewis’s does, how can he admit haecceitist possibilities, as Lewis wants to? Lewis (Philosophical Review 3–32, 1983; On the Plurality of Worlds, 1986) devised what he called a ‘cheap substitute for haecceitism,’ which would allow for haecceitist possibilities while preserving the counterpart relation as a purely qualitative one. The solution involved lifting an earlier (Journal of Philosophy 65(5):113–126, 1968; 68(7):203–211, 1971) ban on there (...) being multiple intra-world counterparts. I argue here that serious problems for ‘cheap haecceitism’ lurk very close to its surface, and they emerge when we consider the effect of using an actuality operator in our language. Among the most serious of the problems is the result that being the case in some possible world does not always suffice for possibly being the case. The result applies to any counterpart theory that employs a purely qualitative counterpart relation. The upshot is that if we are to admit haecceitist possibilities, as we should, then we must reject any purely qualitative relation as the one involved in the analysis of what might have been for an individual. (shrink)

In “Descriptions as Predicates” (Fara 2001) I argued that definite and indefinite descriptions should be given a uniform semantic treatment as predicates rather than as quantifier phrases. The aim of the current paper is to clarify and elaborate one of the arguments for the descriptions-aspredicates view, one that concerns the interaction of descriptions with adverbs of quantification.

Consider the following sentences: In every race, the colt won; In every race, John won.John Hawthorne and David Manley say that the difference between these two sentences raises a problem for Predicativism about names. According to the currently more standard version of Predicativism, a bare singular name in argument position, like ‘John’ in , is embedded in a definite description with an unpronounced definite article. The problem is supposed to be that permits a covarying reading that allows for different races (...) to have been won by different colts, while does not permit a covarying reading—it can be true only if there is a single John that won every race. But, the objection runs, if the name ‘John’ is really embedded in a definite description with an unpronounced definite article, then the two sentences are structurally parallel and should not differ with respect to covariation. Appealing to Jason Stanley's ‘Nominal Restriction’ , I show that the difference between the two sentences above not only does not raise a problem for Predicativism but also is actually predicted by it. (shrink)

Conceptual engineering projects are sometimes criticized for ‘changing the subject’. In this paper, I first discuss three strategies that have been proposed to address the change of subject objection. I notice that these strategies fail in similar ways: they all deploy a ‘loose’ notion of subject matter, while the objector can always reply deploying a ‘strict’ notion. Based on this, I then argue that at least current formulations of the change of subject objection (together with the response strategies just mentioned), (...) create an overall defective dialectic, whereby no progress can be made on either side. After considering how such defective dialectic could be (at least partly) fixed, it is concluded that current formulations of the change of subject objection may be dismissed on dialectical grounds, even though some practical lessons may still be retained from the objection. (shrink)

The current paper investigates the Romanian Uniate/ Orthodox conflict from the perspective of peace and conflict studies, making use of an interpretation of Johan Galtung’s conflict theory and his proposed analysis tools. The aims are to contribute to a more comprehensive and multilateral understanding of this conflict in a wider context than the ideological one and hopefully to suggest some of the means of attenuating the conflict.

If you’ve read the first five hundred pages of this book, you’ve read most of it (we assume that ‘most’ requires more than ‘more than half’). The set of natural numbers n such that the first n pages are most of this book is nonempty. Therefore, by the least number principle, it has a least member k. What is k? We do not know. We have no idea how to find out. The obstacle is something about the term ‘most’. It (...) is recognisably the same feature as the feature of ‘heap’ that prevents us from finding an answer to the question ‘How many grains make a heap?’ and the feature of many other expressions that prevents us from finding answers to similar questions involving them. Call this feature, whatever its underlying nature, vagueness. (shrink)

Here I propose a coherent way of preserving the identity of material objects with the matter that constitutes them. The presentation is formal, and intended for RSL. An informal presentation is in preliminary draft! -/- Relative-sameness relations—such as being the same person as—are like David Lewis's "counterpart" relations in the following respects: (i) they may hold between objects that aren't identical (I propose), and (ii) there are a multiplicity of them, different ones of which may be variously invoked in different (...) contexts. They differ from counterpart relations, however, in that they are weak equivalence relations (transitive, symmetric and weakly reflexive). The likenesses to counterpart relations make them suitable for an analysis of de-re temporal and modal predications. The difference renders the resulting counterpart theory immune to standard criticisms of Lewis's Counterpart Theory (e.g., in Hazen 1979, and Fara and Williamson 2005). (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un acercamiento a la concepción griega de_ éros, _fundamentalmente en el ámbito de la mitología y de literatura, que aporte elementos para comprender su configuración semántica en la cultura antigua como fuerza, energía o potencia intensa a la vez que indeterminada. Intentaremos demostrar que el término _éros _revela una homonimia que, valiéndonos de la terminología aristotélica, podemos llamar “_pròs hén”_ (_Metafísica _IV,2)_, _es decir, que sus múltiples usos y sentidos que este recorrido nos (...) permitirá descubrir_ -_como potencia primordial, divinidad, amor, deseo, deseo por alguien, deseo de cosas-, convergen en un sentido subyacente: _éros _es una potencia de carácter ambivalente que puede propiciar la generación o la destrucción, el placer y el dolor, la armonía o el desequilibrio. (shrink)

Paradigmatic cases of ontological disputes are taken to concern whether or not certain objects exist. Some theorists, however, prefer to view ontologists as really debating about what we should mean with the term “exist” (or other cognate terms). This implies interpreting ontological disputes as metalinguistic negotiations, in keeping with a recent trend to interpret other philosophical disputes along these lines (Plunkett and Sundell. Philosopher's Imprint; 2013;13:1–37). A number of issues arise from such proposal. The first is what counts as evidence (...) that an object‐level dispute is actually a metalinguistic negotiation. The second regards the dialectical relevance of considering metalinguistic negotiation as even just a possible interpretative option. The third issue concerns whether, and why, certain object‐level disputes (and especially ontological ones) should be understood as metalinguistic negotiations. (shrink)

Draft (Version 1.1, October 2007): (PDF file) A reply to Jason Stanley’s Analysis criticism of my interest-relative view on vagueness.

The recent debate on Semantic Contextualism and Relativism has definitely brought the phenomenon of disagreement under the spotlight. Relativists have considered disagreement as a means to accomplish a defence of their own position regarding the semantics of knowledge attributions, epistemic modals, taste predicates, and so on. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, we argue that several specific notions of disagreement can be subsumed under a common “schema” which provides a unified and overarching notion of disagreement. Secondly, we avail (...) ourselves of such a unified notion of disagreement to assess the arguments devised especially by Relativists in order to criticise certain forms of Contextualism, which crucially rely on the idea that Relativism is better suited than Contextualism to capture certain intuitions of disagreement. (shrink)

The energy sector contributes approximately two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, the sector must adapt to new supply and demand networks for all future energy sources. The ongoing transformation in the European energy field is driven by the ambition of the European Union to reach the climate objectives set for 2030. The main actions are increasing renewable energy production, adapting transition fuels like natural gas to reduce emissions, improving energy efficiency across all economic sectors, prioritizing building, transportation, (...) and industry, developing Carbon Capture and Storage technologies, and ensuring universal access to clean and affordable energy. The significant changes envisaged in the energy sector to increase renewable energy production and consumption require improved integration and more use of predictive tools to support stakeholders' decision-making processes. This article presents a case study to assess the performance of predictive models based on a Feed-Forward Neural Network architecture that employ Root Mean Squared Propagation as their optimization function in terms of choosing the most appropriate activation function for this kind of data input and output. The training and testing phases of the models use data about building energy consumption. The lowest training time and Root Mean Square Error values were similar for Rectified Linear Unit and Tanh activation functions. The model with the Rectified linear Unit activation function performed best. (shrink)