En este artículo, quiero examinar el juicio que el filósofo colombiano realiza de España y del mundo hispánico en su obra. De su consideración completamente negativa sobre este legado cultural, se pueden extraer dos consecuencias. Por una parte, su hispanofobia lo alejaría de la tradición reaccionaria hispanoamericana. Sin embargo, por otra parte, su identificación entre cultura española e hispanoamericana lo acercaría de nuevo –si bien con renovada complejidad– a la identidad reaccionaria canónica.

The political parties play the most influential role in our political society. An important trend in public opinion regrets this situation. But are really political parties always noxious? If they are, have not they been unavoidable for two centuries of liberal régime? Machiavelli developed for the first time a political theory that upholds that society could receive a great profit from political conflict through the maintenance of liberty. This paper deals with the peculiar meaning of this gain of liberty due (...) to political conflict in Machiavelli's Discorsi and Istorie Fiorentine. (shrink)

La bibliografía reciente sobre Maquiavelo ha insistido en el carácter republicano de su pensamiento. Por este motivo, se han dedicado muchos trabajos a conceptos maquiavelianos asociados a esta tradición intelectual: conflicto, democracia, radicalismo, participación. Esta preferencia bibliográfica ha hecho que algunos conceptos clásicos maquiavelianos hayan sido dejados de lado. En este artículo, daré una nueva interpretación del concepto de ocasión. El objetivo de mi artículo es doble. Por un lado, intentaré expandir la reflexión habitual sobre este concepto. Además de las (...) referencias clásicas contenidas en El príncipe, incluiré las reflexiones sobre este concepto en El arte de la guerra para intentar dar una imagen conjunta. En segundo lugar, quiero mostrar cómo estas nuevas reflexiones pueden alterar nuestra imagen habitual de la ocasión. En las conclusiones, intentaré reflexionar sobre los motivos de Maquiavelo para cambiar su postura sobre este concepto. (shrink)

Fernando de Córdoba es uno de los grandes pensadores españoles del siglo XV. lamentablemente su figura no ha alcanzado la atención debida entre los estudiosos dedicados al pensamiento español, lo que ha hecho que tan sólo se disponga de una edición moderna de uno de sus escritos y ninguna traducción al castellano. los méritos de su pensamiento –ya sólo la participación en la polémica entre Platón y Aristóteles a favor del primero con su Laudibus Platonis– exigen que este vacío de (...) bibliografía primaria sea remediado. Como paso preliminar, se presenta este artículo en el que se repasan todas las aportaciones que, a lo largo de ya casi ciento cincuenta años, se han hecho sobre este autor. A pesar de su más bien escasa influencia, este examen bibliográfico muestra cómo la misma obra de Fernando de Córdoba ha sido interpretada de acuerdo a criterios externos y a debates más amplios, en los que la postura de Córdoba aparecía prejuzgada sin tener en cuenta lo transmitido en sus textos. Precisamente, el objetivo de este artículo como propedéutica para un estudio más pormenorizado de sus obras –especialmente de De iure medios exigendi fructus quos vulgo annatos dicunt et romani pontificis in temporalibus potestate– consistirá en diferenciar las aportaciones sólidas de aquellas que utilizan a Córdoba de modo interesado. (shrink)

In this article, I will try to explain the influence of Francesco Bausi’s works in the Machiavellian studies written in Spanish. First, I will show the particular characteristics of this influence. This has to do with the complex imagen of Bausi’s Machiavelli for Spanish historians of philosophy and political philosophers. Second, I will write about the description of Machiavelli contained in Bausi’s novel Scandalo Machiavelli, published in 2014. It is a paradox that this scholar has published a more defined portrait (...) of Machiavelli in a fictious tale rather than in his scholarly writtings. (shrink)

The bibliographical reception on Machiavelli during the Siglo de Oro was usually limited to the Discourses and the Art of War . In this article, I argue that this consideration is not correct, because in Pedro Mexía‘s Silva de varia lección is contained a version of the biography of the Italian militar. Despite the arrangements introduced by Mexía, the version offered, except for being shorter, is sustantially identical to Machiavelli‘s work.

This article focuses on the relation of two varieties of history of philosophy and the concept of research. In this paper are distinguished two different prototypes of research in the frame of history of philosophy, the intensive and the extensive. In the first part is claimed that the hybrid character of the concept of history of philosophy, on the one hand, and the relation with the canon, on the other hand, determine these forms research. Then, the main features of the (...) intensive and the extensive researches are explained and it is showed that all practices of research in the field of history of philosophy depend on this two prototypes. Finally some conclusions are provided in order to consider a much balanced relation between historical research and philosophical activity. (shrink)

Se examina una cuestión fundamental y poco estudiada de la teología política: la relación entre la defensa de la inmortalidad del alma y el mantenimiento del orden público. Se realiza un recorrido histórico por autores como Pietro Pomponazzi y Tomás Moro, que aceptan motivos políticos para defenderla, y David Hume, quien considera que no existe ningún motivo político para mantener dicha relación. Por último, se analizan los argumentos esgrimidos para mostrar que su eficacia está condicionada por la situación histórica.

Se examina una cuestión fundamental y poco estudiada de la teología política: la relación entre la defensa de la inmortalidad del alma y el mantenimiento del orden público. Se realiza un recorrido histórico por autores como Pietro Pomponazzi y Tomás Moro, que aceptan motivos políticos para defenderla, y David Hume, quien considera que no existe ningún motivo político para mantener dicha relación. Por último, se analizan los argumentos esgrimidos para mostrar que su eficacia está condicionada por la situación histórica. The (...) paper examines a fundamental and little studied issue of political theology: the relationship between the defense of the immortality of the soul and the preservation of public order. It carries out a historical survey of authors such as Pietro Pomponazzi and Thomas More, who resort to political reasons in order to defend it, and David Hume, who feels that there are no political grounds to support such a relationship. Finally, the article analyzes the arguments proposed to show that its efficacy is conditioned by the historical situation. Neste artigo, examina-se uma questão fundamental e pouco estudada da teologia política: a relação entre a defesa da imortalidade da alma e a manutenção da ordem pública. Realiza-se um percorrido histórico por autores como Pietro Pomponazzi e Tomás Moro, que aceitam motivos políticos para defender a imortalidade da alma, e David Hume, que considera não existir nenhum motivo político para manter essa relação. Por último, analisam-se os argumentos discutidos para mostrar que sua eficácia está condicionada pela situação histórica. (shrink)

Reseña del libro: Miguel Saralegui, The Politics of Time. Introduction to Carl Schmitt’sPolitical Thought, Cantabria University Press, Santander, 2021, 273 pp.

When reasoning about dependence relations, philosophers often rely on gradualist assumptions, according to which abrupt changes in a phenomenon of interest can result only from abrupt changes in the low-level phenomena on which it depends. These assumptions, while strictly correct if the dependence relation in question can be expressed by continuous dynamical equations, should be handled with care: very often the descriptively relevant property of a dynamical system connecting high- and low-level phenomena is not its instantaneous behaviour but its stable (...) fixed points (those in the vicinity of which it spends most of the time, after comparatively short transitory periods), and stable fixed points can change abruptly as a result of infinitesimal changes of the low-level phenomenon. We illustrate this potential gradualist trap by showing that Chalmers’ fading qualia argument falls into it. (shrink)

v. 1. Propedêutica filosófia. v. 2. Ontognoseologia juridica.

A presente obra trata, de forma inigualável, das preliminares ao estudo da teoria tridimensional do direito, examinando a Filosofia e a Ciência do Direito, as dimensões da experiência jurídica, a posição do tridimensionalismo jurídico concreto, a dialética de complementaridade, o personalismo e o historicismo axiológico, as estruturas e os modelos do Direito no processo cultural e a visão integral do mundo jurídico.

This comic, serious inquiry into the nature of art takes its technical vocabulary from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It is ridiculous to think of poems, paintings, or films as distinct from other things in the world, including people. Talking about art should be contiguous with talking about other relevant matters.

pt. 1. The form of the state : on beginnings -- pt. 2. Machiavelli's theory of history : modes of encounter between action and time -- pt. 3. The event of the republic : the return to beginnings.

Representations are not only used in our folk-psychological explanations of behaviour, but are also fruitfully postulated, for example, in cognitive science. The mainstream view in cognitive science maintains that our mind is a representational system. This popular view requires an understanding of the nature of the entities they are postulating. Teleosemantic theories face this challenge, unpacking the normativity in the relation of representation by appealing to the teleological function of the representing state. It has been argued that, if intentionality is (...) to be explained in teleological terms, then the function of a state cannot depend on its phylogenetical history, given the metaphysical possibility of a duplicate of an intentional being that lacks an evolutionary history. In this paper, I present a method to produce, according to our current knowledge in genetic engineering, human-like individuals who are not the product of natural selection in the required sense. This variation will be used to shed light on the main replies that have been offered in the literature to the Swampman thought experiment. I argue that these replies are not satisfactory: representations should better not depend on natural selection. I conclude that a non-etiological notion of function is to be preferred for characterizing the relation of representation. (shrink)

The well-known distinction between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness has moved away from the conceptual domain into the empirical one, and the debate now is focused on whether the neural mechanisms of cognitive access are constitutive of the neural correlate of phenomenal consciousness. In this paper, I want to analyze the consequences that a negative reply to this question has for the cognitive phenomenology thesis – roughly the claim that there is a “proprietary” phenomenology of thoughts. If the mechanisms responsible (...) for cognitive access can be disentangled from the mechanisms that give rise to phenomenology in the case of perception and emotion, then the same disentanglement is to be expected in the case of thoughts. This, in turn, presents, as I argue, a challenge to the cognitive phenomenology thesis: either there are thoughts with cognitive phenomenology we lack cognitive access to or there are good reasons to doubt that there is such a thing as cognitive phenomenology. I discuss a... (shrink)

Explaining agency is a significant challenge for those who are interested in the sciences of the mind, and non-representationalists are no exception to this. Even though both ecological psychologists and enactivists agree that agency is to be explained by focusing on the relation between the organism and the environment, they have approached it by focusing on different aspects of the organism-environment relation. In this paper, I offer a suggestion for a radical embodied account of agency that combines ecological psychology with (...) recent trends in enactive cognitive science. According to this proposal, while enactivism focuses primarily on describing how our acquired sensorimotor schemes and habits mutually equilibrate, affecting our tendency to act upon some affordances instead of others, ecological psychology focuses on studying how perceptual information contributes to the actualization of the sensorimotor schemes and habits without mediating representations, inferences, and computations. The paper concludes by briefly exploring how this ecological-enactive theory of agency can account for how socio-cultural norms shape human agency. (shrink)

En Los Cuatro Acuerdos, un éxito de ventas en todo el mundo, don Miguel Ruiz revelaba cómo el proceso de educación, o «domesticación», nos hace olvidar nuestra sabiduría innata. A lo largo de la vida establecemos muchos acuerdos que van en nuestra contra y nos causan un sufrimiento innecesario. Los Cuatro Acuerdos nos ayudan a romper estos acuerdos limitadores y a substituirlos por otros que nos aportan libertad, felicidad y amor. Ahora don Miguel Ruiz, junto con su hijo (...) don Jose Ruiz, nos ofrece una nueva perspectiva de Los Cuatro Acuerdos y un acuerdo nuevo y poderoso para transformar nuestra vida en nuestro cielo personal: el quinto acuerdo. El Quinto Acuerdo nos permite adquirir una conciencia más profunda del poder del yo verdadero y recuperar la autenticidad con la que nacimos. En esta absorbente continuación del libro que ha cambiado la vida de millones de personas de todo el mundo, se nos recuerda el mejor regalo que podemos hacernos: la libertad de ser quienes realmente somos. Más sobre el libro Imagínate llevando una vida totalmente nueva: una vida en la que eres libre de ser quien realmente eres. Ya no te riges por lo que los demás piensan de ti. Imagínate viviendo sin juzgarte a ti mismo ni juzgar a los demás, sin temer ser juzgado. Te aceptas tal como eres y aceptas a los demás tal como son. Imagínate viviendo sin estar en conflicto contigo ni con la gente. Te respetas a ti mismo y a los demás, y a cambio ellos te respetan a ti. Imagínate viviendo sin miedo a expresarte ni a explorar la vida. Vives sin temor, sin culparte, sin avergonzarte, sin arrepentirte. Imagínate que te encanta ser como eres. Te gusta tu cuerpo tal como es, te gustan tus emociones tal como son. Imagínate siendo tú mismo. Eres feliz y disfrutas verdaderamente de tu vida. ¡Imagínate viviendo con esta clase de libertad personal! Esta manera de vivir es completamente posible. Otros lo han conseguido y tú también lo harás. Sólo necesitas hacer de los Cinco Acuerdos tu estilo de vida y pronto vivirás tu sueño personal del cielo. (shrink)

The traditional approach in cognitive sciences holds that cognition is a matter of manipulating abstract symbols followingcertain rules. According to this view, the body is merely an input/output device, which allows the computationalsystem—the brain—to acquire new input data by means of the senses and to act in the environment following its com-mands. In opposition to this classical view, defenders of embodied cognition (EC) stress the relevance of the body inwhich the cognitive agent is embedded in their explanation of cognitive processes. (...) From a representationalist frameworkregarding our conscious experience, in this article, I will offer a novel argument in favor of EC and show that cognitionconstitutively—and no merely causally—depends upon body activity beyond that in the brain. In particular, I will arguethat in order to solve the problem derived from the empirical evidence in favor of the possibility of shifted spectrum,representationalist should endorse the view that experiences concern its subject: the content of experience isde se.Ishow that this claim perfectly matches the phenomenological observation and helps explaining the subjective characterof the experience. Furthermore, I argue that entertaining this kind of representation constitutively depends on bodilyactivity. Consequently, insofar as cognition depends on consciousness, it is embodied. (shrink)

Presents advice on how to gain personal freedom by following the wisdom of the Toltecs.

A strikingly original work, Friends of Interpretable Objects re-anchors aesthetics in the object of attention even as it redefines the practice, processes, ...

Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry, we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. Considerations of the morality of computer games seldom go beyond intermittent portrayals of them in the mass media as training devices for teenage serial killers. In this first scholarly exploration of the subject, Miguel Sicart addresses broader issues about the ethics of games, the ethics of playing the games, and the ethical responsibilities of game designers. He argues (...) that computer games are ethical objects, that computer game players are ethical agents, and that the ethics of computer games should be seen as a complex network of responsibilities and moral duties. Players should not be considered passive amoral creatures; they reflect, relate, and create with ethical minds. The games they play are ethical systems, with rules that create gameworlds with values at play. Drawing on concepts from philosophy and game studies, Sicart proposes a framework for analyzing the ethics of computer games as both designed objects and player experiences. After presenting his core theoretical arguments and offering a general theory for understanding computer game ethics, Sicart offers case studies examining single-player games, multiplayer games, and online gameworlds from an ethical perspective. He explores issues raised by unethical content in computer games and its possible effect on players and offers a synthesis of design theory and ethics that could be used as both analytical tool and inspiration in the creation of ethical gameplay. (shrink)

This article states that research in skill acquisitionand executionhas underestimated the relevance of some features of attention. We present and theoretically discuss two essential features of attention that have been systematically overlooked in the research of skill acquisitionandexecution. First, attention alters the appearance of the perceived stimuli in an essential way; and second, attention plays a fundamental role in action, being crucial for solving the so called ’many-many problem’, that is to say, the problem of generating a coherent behavior byselecting (...) between many inputs and many potential outputs. We discuss the importance of these features for skill acquisition in sport. We also suggest empirical ways to assess the precise impact of taking them into consideration and at the same time we propose important implications for training derived from the ideas discussed in the paper. (shrink)

Many philosophers and scientists have argued that the difference between phenomenally conscious states and other kind of states lies in the implicit self-awareness that conscious states have. Higher-Order Representationalist theories, attempt to explain such a self-awareness by means of a higher-order representation. Consciousness relies on our capacity to represent our own mental states, consciousness depends on our Theory of Mind. Such an ability can, at least conceptually, be decomposed into another two: mindreading and metacognition. In this paper I will argue (...) that consciousness cannot depend on mindreading. The tenability of HOR theories depends, therefore, on the relation between mindreading and metacognition. I analyze several views on such a relation and argue that none of them seem to be a plausible option for HOR theories. (shrink)

Why computer games can be ethical, how players use their ethical values in gameplay, and the implications for game design.

The non-transitivity of the relation looks the same as has been used to argue that the relation has the same phenomenal character as is non-transitive—a result that jeopardizes certain theories of consciousness. In this paper, I argue against this conclusion while granting the premise by dissociating lookings and phenomenology; an idea that some might find counter-intuitive. However, such an intuition is left unsupported once phenomenology and cognitive access are distinguished from each other; a distinction that is conceptually and empirically grounded.

Alleged self-evidence aside, conceivability arguments are one of the main reasons in favor of the claim that there is a Hard Problem. These arguments depend on the appealing Kripkean intuition that there is no difference between appearances and reality in the case of consciousness. I will argue that this intuition rests on overlooking a distinction between cognitive access and consciousness, which has received recently important empirical support. I will show that there are good reasons to believe that the intuition is (...) misguided—at least on the reading that the conceivability arguments require—and hence that the arguments are unsupported. This, in turn, alleviates the Hard Problem but leaves us with what I think is a not easy problem. (shrink)

The paper engages Christopher Boorse’s Bio-Statistical Theory. In its current form, BST runs into a significant challenge. For BST to account for its central tenet—that lower-level part-dysfunction is sufficient for higher-level pathology—it must provide criteria for how to decide which lower-level parts are the ones to be analyzed for health or pathology. As BST is a naturalistic theory, such choices must be based solely on naturalistic considerations. An argument is provided to show that, if BST is to be preserved, such (...) parthood choices are based on non-naturalistic considerations. We demonstrate that even when parthood choices are based on the best way to preserve BST, there are counterintuitive results which bring the central tenet of BST into question. (shrink)

Jane Austen normally avoids discussing appearance throughout her works. Persuasion constitutes the exception to the rule, as the story focuses on the premature aging experienced by her protagonist, Anne Elliot, seemingly due to disappointed love. Much has been written about Anne’s “loss of bloom,” but never from the perspective of psychoneuroimmunology, the field that researches the interrelation between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems. In this paper, we adopt a perspective of psychoneuroimmunology to argue that Austen established a (...) connection between psychological distress, specifically lovesickness, and the development of early senescence signs, and vice versa, since the recovery of love is associated with happiness and physical glow. From a gender perspective, we discuss how Austen brightly reflected these interrelationships through the story of Anne, when the latest psychoneuroimmunological research has actually shown that women age earlier than men as a consequence of psychological turmoil. (shrink)