Es dentro del marco de la fenomenología de Husserl donde Heidegger lleva a cabo su propuesta filosófica, que implica una “destrucción” o “desmontaje” de los conceptos de la tradición, comenzando por los de la fenomenología de su maestro, y una construcción de su propio proyecto filosófico, basado en una analítica de la existencia.La “destrucción” es prácticamente elevada por Heidegger al rango de método filosófico, en paralelo pero en sentido contrario a la epoché, el método fenomenológico de Husserl. Esta diferencia de (...) método, respecto a una común consideración de la intencionalidad de la conciencia, separa los proyectos fenomenológicos del Husserl de Ideen I y del Heidegger de Sein und Zeit: eidético u ontológico. A partir de su método destructivo Heidegger radicalizará las nociones de la fenomenología de Husserl.Within the framework of the phenomenology of Husserl, Heidegger carries out a double philosophical proposal: the “destruction” or “dismantling” of the concepts from the tradition, beginning with those ones of the phenomenology of his teacher, and the construction of his own philosophical project, based on an analysis of the existence.The “destruction” is practically considered by Heidegger as a philosophical method, which is developed in parallel but in a contrary direction to the phenomenological method of Husserl: the epoché. This methodological difference, applied to the intentionality of the consciousness, that the two philosophers consider, separates the phenomenological projects of Husserl in Ideen I and Heidegger in Sein und Zeit: eidetic or ontological. So and from his destructive method Heidegger is going to radicalize the main notions of the phenomenology of Husserl. (shrink)

The event of the pandemic that started in 2020 fed an affective phenomenon known as pandemic fatigue, medically near to “chronic fatigue syndrome”. Psychologi- cal explanation of the phenomenon provides a first approach that is enriched with phenomenological description and analysis of it as existential feeling in the present. This term stresses the bodily reference of the kind of existential moods displayed by Heidegger and contributes to a better description of the fatigue phenomenon relying on Levinas’ study. Present and profound (...) fatigue is therefore shown as a feeling of tiredness that ties existence to a no-being-possible or no-being-able for oneself to do what it was possible before, i.e. in the pre-pandemic past. Besides the description, phenomenological analysis of the bond between profound boredom —as studied by Heidegger— and pandemic existential fatigue stresses different levels in the ontological understanding of this last one and its harmful feature. (shrink)

The study of emotional phenomena such as Sympathy and Compassion opens a path to the reflection on the possibility of Intersubjectivity. Scheler’s Phenomenology of Feelings, moving away from others phenomenological analyses on the Empathy and the Understanding of the Others as others Ego, presents Sympathy Phenomena as basic ways in which the Interpersonal Link is constituted. At the same time, this constitution sends back to a radical intersubjective encounter in the spatiality in between the psychophysical corporalities. Compassion is this kind (...) of fundamental intersubjective encounter, which one was sharp analyzed by Schopenhauer, even if he did it within the frame of a Metaphysics of Will. An overlap between Schopenhauer and Scheler thoughts over human life of human beings gives the clue for a reflection on how the phenomenon of Sympathy between persons takes place in the intersubjective space laid bare in the compassionate link in psychophysical and corporal life. (shrink)

La idealización del diálogo es un gesto característico no sólo del pensamiento filosófico contemporáneo, sino también de las ciencias humanas y de los procedimientos de intervención pedagógica, terapéutica y organizacional. En este artículo revisaremos críticamente ese mito fundacional del diálogo socrático, mediante un análisis conversacional de los movimientos y las funciones discursivas que en él se desarrollan. Además, exploraremos la evolución moderna del género del diálogo filosófico.

“Our Tyrannies. Tocqueville on Democratic Despotism”. Although thelexicon of “tyranny” and “despotism” is subject to historical changes in meaning,we still keep on using those terms to refer to some types of illegitimate, unjust orindecent political regimes. So does Tocqueville, when he describes the new waysof despotism emerging from modern democratic revolution. In this article, weexplore the uses of “tyranny” and “despotism” in Tocqueville’s thought, and wealso try to discover the concrete models or social prototypes which could inspireTocqueville’s prognosis concerning a (...) tutelary democratic despotism. (shrink)

The debate over judicial review of legislation is profuse. But differences are often due to the lack of a common methodology. This article discusses the proper way to evaluate judicial review and confronts central challenges raised against it. It develops the two main models that can be used for analyzing the intersection between democracy and constitutional decision-making and shows that judicial oversight may not be rejected, regardless of how we interpret that connection. The article discusses in detail the model developed (...) by Jeremy Waldron. A nice attempt to answer methodological questions, Waldron's model wrongly tips the balance against judicial review. Its excessive level of abstraction and idealization renders it inoperable. Few systems meet its standards, and those that do pay a high price: they contradict the concept of democratic legitimacy that underlies the model. Paradoxically, a system with judicial review may end up being more legitimate than one without it. (shrink)

En este artículo se pretende problematizar la noción de injusticia testimonial, mediante una reconstrucción históricofilosófica de algunos usos contemporáneos del testimonio. La literatura sobre el testimonio en el siglo XX no siempre considera la discusión filosófica acerca del significado epistémico del testimonio, pese a que ambos asuntos podrían articularse mejor si el testimonio se comprende desde sus usos históricos recientes, y si la interpretación de los testimonios históricos se sostiene en una concepción adecuada del dispositivo discursivo de la testificación. Se (...) realizó un análisis filosófico del discurso testimonial y una revisión histórica de sus usos en dos contextos testimoniales: los testimonios del Holocausto y la literatura del testimonio latinoamericana. Como resultado de esta reconstrucción históricofilosófica sugerimos ampliar la noción de injusticia testimonial para que, además del desconocimiento o rechazo de la palabra ajena, incorpore el enrarecimiento de la testificación que cabe reconocer en cierto paradigma contemporáneo expresivista de la memoria testimonial.AbstractIn this article we try to problematize the notion of testimonial injustice, through a historical-philosophical reconstruction of some contemporary uses of testimony. The literature on testimony in the twentieth century does not always consider the philosophical discussion of the epistemic meaning of testimony, although both issues could be articulated better if testimony is understood from its recent historical uses, and the interpretation of historic testimony is held on an adequate conception of the discursive device of witnessing. We conducted a philosophical analysis of testimonial discourse and a historical review of its use in two testimonial contexts: Holocaust Testimonies and Latin American literature of testimony. As a result of this historical-philosophical reconstruction, we suggest to expand the notion of testimonial injustice so that, apart from disregard or rejection of the word of others, it incorporates the rarefaction of witnessing, which can be recognized in a certain expressivist contemporary paradigm of testimonial memory. (shrink)

Se presenta una aplicación de la paradoja de Newcomb a la disyuntiva evangélica de la elección entre Dios y el Dinero. Se concluye que la elección simultánea de Dios y el Dinero es debida, o bien a la creencia en la predestinación divina, o bien a una falta de fe en el Evangelio.

El desarrollo del discernimiento crítico moderno es inseparable de la introducción de signos de puntuación que permitieron distinguir niveles de discurso, distanciarse de lo enunciado y marcar las actitudes subjetivas implicadas en la enunciación. Este estudio pretende establecer los rendimientos retóricos y diferencias estilísticas de la puntuación en la obra de Nietzsche y compararlos con dos referentes del discurso crítico de la modernidad: Kant y Marx. Se realizó un análisis de las frecuencias de los signos de puntuación modales, y de (...) aquellos que secuencian y distinguen niveles de discurso en la obra de Nietzsche y en algunos escritos de Kant y Marx. Los resultados suscitan una discusión sobre el papel privilegiado de los paréntesis en Kant, de las comillas en Marx y de los guiones en Nietzsche. (shrink)

Este artículo busca el reconocimiento del trabajo de los educadores de adultos y sus luchas desde el fin de la dictadura hasta la actualidad para asentar las bases de la educación de adultos.Con una metodología cualitativa de corte exploratorio, basada en entrevistas en profundidad a los profesionales que estuvieron involucrados, este artículo describe los orígenes, las dificultades encontradas y los procesos llevados a cabo en la creación y reconocimiento oficial del centro de educación de adultos Joan Carles I, situado en (...) el barrio de La Mariola de Lleida, que tiene una idiosincrasia propia. (shrink)

La idealización del diálogo es un gesto característico no sólo del pensamiento filosófico contemporáneo, sino también de las ciencias humanas y de los procedimientos de intervención pedagógica, terapéutica y organizacional. En este artículo revisaremos críticamente ese mito fundacional del diálogo socrático, mediante un análisis conversacional de los movimientos y las funciones discursivas que en él se desarrollan. Además, exploraremos la evolución moderna del género del diálogo filosófico.

Aunque no siempre se incluye entre sus influencias intelectuales, hay un notorio platonismo en la reflexión filosófica de Oakeshott, atribuible al influjo del neohegelianismo británico. Sin embargo, a través de sus ensayos, Oakeshott no dejará de pronunciarse críticamente sobre los presupuestos racionalistas e intelectualistas de la concepción política platónica. En este artículo, se explora la ambivalente relación de Oakeshott con el platonismo, tal como se reconoce en la particular reinterpretación de la alegoría de la caverna contenida en On human conduct. (...) En el regreso a la caverna, nuestra interpretación de Oakeshott no solo reconoce un cuestionamiento de las pretensiones del racionalista en política, sino también una invitación a explorar la reunión de los distintos modos de la imaginación humana y una defensa de la relevancia de “la voz de la poesía en la conversación de la humanidad”. (shrink)

En este artículo se explora la respuesta filosófica de Michael Oakeshott a la fragmentación de los modos de experiencia en la modernidad y a la pluralidad idiomática que presupone la moderna moralidad de la individualidad. Más allá de la consagración postmoderna de la diferencia y de la nostalgia de las cosmovisiones jerárquicas pre-modernas, Oakeshott ofrece una reconstrucción filosófica específicamente moderna de una moralidad reflexiva y autónoma, sustentada en el reconocimiento de las consideraciones prácticas incorporadas en nuestros idiomas tradicionales de comportamiento. (...) Se trata de una moralidad adverbial que nos invita a ejercer un pensamiento adverbial sobre las condiciones contingentes de nuestra actividad y nuestra comprensión. (shrink)

El concepto de “pueblo” ha llegado a ser central en nuestro vocabulario político y para nuestro sentido de agencia colectiva; de hecho, “pueblo” es una palabra clave para concebir la constitución de los sujetos políticos modernos. Este artículo explora los medios de inscripción del significante “pueblo” a través del sistema hegeliano, e intenta articular esas formas de diferenciación y totalización que exponen la ambigüedad de este concepto en la concepción hegeliana: se refiere a formas de vida ética, pero también a (...) la comunidad política; se relaciona con la soberanía autorizada del Estado, pero también con la muchedumbre igualitaria. Para mostrar el sentido del “pueblo” en el pensamiento político hegeliano, este artículo interpreta los roles narrativos del significante, a través de la tragicomedia hegeliana que relata la alienación y reapropiación del Espíritu. (shrink)

El pathos de la democracia moderna ha sido descrito de diversos modos, aunque comúnmente en un sentido unívoco. A veces, se dice que la era de la igualdad exhibe una reflexividad y un autocontrol desapasionados; otras veces, la modernidad es retratada como un proceso de exacerbación de los deseos, o como una gran transformación de las pasiones en intereses razonables. Además, las pasiones democráticas son vistas frecuentemente como pequeños sentimientos domésticos, alienados de la esfera pública, gestionados en una intimidad clausurada, (...) y sujetos a una administración tutelar. Tocqueville —quien fue un testigo único y privilegiado de la transición del pathos aristocrático a las pasiones democráticas— nos suministra una sutil interpretación de los variados matices y los complejos vínculos que configuran los afectos modernos. En este artículo, analizamos la prognosis de Tocqueville acerca del curso del pathos democrático, pero también prestamos atención a sus temores relativos a una gestión emocional tutelar. (shrink)

Usually, the criticism of the modern foundational epistemo-logical project and the representational conception of knowledge is associated with the philosophies of Heidegger and Wittgenstein. However, in an epigone of British idealism such as Michael Oakeshott, one can also recognize a singular position against philosophical foundationalism, representational epistemology, the theory of truth as correspondence and universalist rationalism. This article aims to reconstruct Oakeshott’s philosophical inquiries into the conditions of human experience and understanding. Through the exegesis of his philosophical essays, we propose (...) an integral reading of his systematic reflection on the modalities of human knowledge, which coherently combines idealistic, skeptical, and hermeneutical motives beyond the temptations of traditional epistemology. (shrink)

El tópico de la Filosofía como aprendizaje de la muerte nos ha sido transmitido desde la Antigüedad, y ha experimentado algunos giros en el pensamiento moderno y contemporáneo. En la Filosofía contemporánea, este tópico parece interpretarse como la necesidad de enfrentar la propia muerte de la Filosofía, y actualmente ha generado un marcado giro necrológico hacia el obituario filosófico y la biografía intelectual. En este artículo nos proponemos revisar —desde una perspectiva metafilosófica estos desplazamientos de sentido de la actividad filosófica (...) y el pathos necrológico de la Filosofía actual. Desde ese punto de vista, el análisis del género de discurso del obituario filosófico nos permite interpretar las encrucijadas metafilosóficas del pensamiento contemporáneo. (shrink)

The role of rules in our normative practices constitutes a relevant philosophical problema, mainly associated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy, but to which Michael Oakeshott has also attempted to answer. Not surprisingly, some scholars have found parallels between their conceptions of human practices and rule-following. Through an exegesis of the notion and uses of the rule in Oakeshott's works, this article aims to clarify the link between rule-following and normative authorization. In this way, it will be possible to to decide the originality (...) and specificity of Oakeshott’s contribution and settle the question of the differences with the Wittgensteinian problematization of rule-following. (shrink)

El debate filosófico sobre la subjetividad moderna se ha centrado frecuentemente en la autorreflexión de los posicionamientos del sí mismo, y no se ha prestado suficiente atención a los modos discursivos de subjetivación, por ejemplo a marcadores de subjetividad como los adverbios. En este artículo se pretende establecer de qué manera los adverbios de modalidad expresan la gama de actitudes y los posicionamientos epistémicos del sujeto moderno hispanohablante. Se realizó un análisis de contenido de los usos idiomáticos entre 1500 y (...) 1950, tomando como muestra los contenidos del Corpus Diacrónico de la Real Academia Española, para establecer la frecuencia de empleo de los adverbios modales, evaluativos y evidenciales. Los resultados evidencian un incremento constante a partir del siglo XVIII en estos marcadores subjetivos de actitud, pero también permiten reconocer un tipo de subjetivación adverbial centrado en el aseguramiento epistémico, la naturalización de expectativas y ciertos desplazamientos en las evaluaciones personales. (shrink)

Purpose As part of an international study of knowledge of and attitudes to Snowden’s revelations about the activities of the National Security Agency/Government Communications Headquarters, this paper aims to deal with Mexico, taking its socio-cultural and political environment surrounding privacy and state surveillance into account. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was answered by 160 Mexican University students. The quantitative responses to the survey were statistically analysed as well as qualitative considerations of free text answers. Findings Snowden’s revelations have had a limited influence (...) over Mexican youngsters’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance, although there is a great awareness by Mexican young people of individual rights issues. Practical implications The study results imply a need to build a collective awareness of the importance of the right to privacy and its responsibilities, the available technological options for individuals to exert their own privacy and security and the democratic means to agree and enforce appropriate legal restrictions on state surveillance. Social implications The results of this study based indicate an urgent necessity for providing Mexican youngsters with opportunities to learn more about privacy, liberty, individual autonomy and national security. Originality/value This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden’s revelations on Mexican students’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural analyses between eight countries. (shrink)

BackgroundA combination of theoretical and practical approaches is required to learn and acquire ethical competencies in caring. Occasionally, reflection on practical action differs from theoretica...

Diferentes investigaciones han abordado el fenómeno de cómo el jugador de ajedrez alcanza un nivel alto de experticia; sin embargo, la gran mayoría se han llevado a cabo desde una perspectiva en tercera persona, es decir, sin tomar en cuenta la experiencia subjetiva del ajedrecista. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivos: 1) analizar la experticia de ajedrecistas de nivel proficiente desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, esto es, desde la experiencia subjetiva del jugador; 2) señalar los estados internos que parecen ser cognitivamente (...) relevantes en las acciones de los ajedrecistas; 3) teorizar sobre el eventual papel que juega la intuición en las acciones de los jugadores de ajedrez. Para ello se realizó un estudio exploratorio con cinco jugadores de ajedrez durante una competencia de corte nacional en México, utilizando como método la entrevista microfenomenológica propuesta por Claire Petitmengin. Los resultados indican que hay regularidades en los estados internos de los jugadores a nivel intra e interpersonal asociadas implícitamente a momentos críticos de las partidas. Lo anterior permite ofrecer una definición operacional de la intuición y afirmar que esta, en efecto, forma parte de los procesos cognitivamente relevantes de los ajedrecistas de nivel proficiente, aunque las acciones de estos aún dependen, en buena medida, de los cálculos explícitos que realizan durante los momentos críticos. (shrink)

This paper analyzes the process of perceptual recalibration (PR) in light of two cases of technologically-mediated cognition: sensory substitution and perceptual modification. We hold that PR is a very useful concept - perhaps necessary - for explaining the adaptive capacity that natural perceptive systems display as they respond to functional demands from the environment. We also survey critically related issues, such as the role of learning, training, and nervous system plasticity in the recalibrating process. Attention is given to the interaction (...) between technology and cognition, and the case of epistemic prostheses is presented as an illustration. Finally, we address the following theoretical issues: (1) the dynamic character of spatial perception; (2) the role of functional demands in perception; (3) the nature and interaction of sensory modalities. We aim to show that these issues may be addressed empirically and conceptually - hence, the usefulness of sensory-substitution and perceptual-modification studies in the analysis of perception, technologically-mediated cognition, and cognition in general. (shrink)

Aim: The presence of noise in urban environments is rarely considered a factor that causes damage to the environment. The primary generating source is transportation means, with vehicles being the ones that affect cities the most. Traffic noise has a particular influence on the quality of life of those who are exposed to it and can cause health alterations ranging from annoyance to cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to describe the relationship between the traffic noise level and the perceived annoyance (...) in the inhabitants of a city on the Northern Border of Mexico. The work carried out in a city represents the vulnerability characteristics: economic, social, and migratory of its sizable portion of the inhabitants. Due to that, it is impossible to identify precisely the number of residents as the number of vehicles in circulation.Methods: The streets and avenues with an annual average daily traffic of more than 1,000 vehicles were considered for the measurement of traffic noise. The equipment used was a vehicle gauge with non-invasive speed radar; type I integrating sound level meters, with their respective gauges and tripods. A questionnaire was applied to people living within 250 m of the streets and avenues in which the noise was measured.Results: The noise measurement found a parameter of LAeq estimated for 12 h during the day, exceeding 70 dBA. The data received from the questionnaire were statistically tested by using Pearson's correlation tests. A total number of 2,350 people were participated, of whom 1,378 were women and 972 were men. The age of participants is ranged from 18 to 75 years. The overall perception of traffic noise annoyance identified that 1,131 participants responded “Yes” as they considered the noise annoying. Participants who responded “No” as well as those who responded “Do not know” resulted in a total of 1,219 people.Conclusion: The results show that the population is desensitized to traffic noise and does not perceive it as an annoyance. The flow of vehicles and the type of vehicles are the significant factors for the propagation and increase in the traffic noise levels. Women present a considerable appreciation of traffic noise perception instead of younger people who demonstrate a higher tolerance to high-level exposure. This reflects the lack of information of the population around the noise problem and its effects. (shrink)

Scarcity acts as a mental burden that disrupts how people process information and make decisions (Mullainathan and Shafir in Scarcity: Why having too little means so much. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013; Mani et al. Science 342:976–980, 2013). In this study, we replicated Mani et al.’s (Science 342:976–980, 2013) experimental design to explore whether scarcity also taxes Colombian high school students’ mental bandwidth. In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we tested how 417 high school students from high and low socioeconomic status (SES) in Bogotá, (...) Colombia, responded to different scarcity situations. Students were first presented with hypothetical scenarios of harsh or soft scarcity. Next, participants had to solve a series of tasks that measured higher cognitive functions (i.e. Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Cognitive Reflection Task and questions to assess their Delay Discounting value) and had to explain how they would solve the scarcity situation. As opposed to Mani et al. (Science 342:976–980, 2013), we did not find that scarcity taxed individuals’ mental bandwidth, neither their cognitive nor executive functions. We found that low-SES individuals, under the harsh scarcity condition, displayed more empathic attributes than high-SES individuals. Taken together, the results of this study show the importance of replication in different cultures and environments. (shrink)

In recent decades, the expansion of economic activity has been accompanied by negative environmental impacts. In response, there have been dramatic changes worldwide in terms of an increased demand for environmentally friendly products and services. To achieve these eco-innovations, firms have sought to acquire knowledge and implement operational flexibility by cooperating with different agents such as universities through a value cocreation system that is also expected to enhance firms’ performance. Using a sample of 250 companies, the present paper examines the (...) role of cooperation with universities in the development of diverse environmental innovations and building operational flexibility and, through this, improving firm performance. Results show that firms that value cooperation with universities develop a wider range of environmental innovations and increase their sales and benefits. (shrink)

This article aims to clarify facts and contribute reasons that could lead one to consider the possibility of the existence of natural dispositions which, in that case, should be considered as ethical precursors. Given that the neuroethics proposal focuses attention and studies on the human brain in order to carry out the search of those natural dispositions, this text suggest an initial question: is it possible to go beyond the brain in that search? Or even better, before it? In this (...) regard, Baruch Spinoza proposes lines of reflection in his Ethics which appear susceptible to be taken into account and that, interestingly, connect with the recent works of the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. (shrink)

In the present paper we address the problem of optical isomerism embodied in the socalled “Hund’s paradox”, which points to the difficulty to account for chirality by means of quantum mechanics. In particular, we explain the answer to the problem proposed by the theory of decoherence. The purpose of this article is to challenge this answer on the basis of a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of decoherence, that reveals the limitations of the theory of decoherence to solve the difficulties (...) posed by optical isomerism and, in general, by quantum measurement. (shrink)

This project seeks to highlight the benefits of the implementation and management of the teaching digital portfolio. In today's world full of technology and tools that facilitate daily activities, education and its various processes must also embrace the digital tools available and make them the basis for any innovation and improvement process. The teaching portfolio in physics has long been the means by which teachers have organized the processes, evidence, and other results of educational work. Nowadays, all that range of (...) evidence and productions, which signify the achievement and advances in each group of students, has been able to be integrated into technology. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to prove how what is apparently a mistake made by Plutarch, wheter deliberate or not, in his reference to the arson attack of Caesar´s soldiers in Alexandria as the end of the famous Library, show us the common sense of the term “bibliotheke” from that time up to now. Coming to this conclusion has required a detailed analysis of the Library of Alexandria since its birth applying Aristotelian doctrine to its configuration not only as (...) an organized space for books but also as an imaginary reading room from which the helenistic world of relations is established. In a second approach, we focus the attention on the change occurred in this collection with the introduction of alphabetical order and, then, with the philological activity of Callimachus. As a result of his Pinakes, the platonic concept of daimon, “guide”, became the first characteristic o a philologist or librarian. Using the information ordered in the Pinakes anybody could be a librarian and find a library anywhere. The old megále bibliotheke of Alexandría remains only with the idea of the conservation of original papyrus. This is de reason of the enigmatic sentence of Plutarch announcing the end of this situation caused by the action of the fire. (shrink)

We propose a characterization of mathematical experiments in terms of a setup, a process with an outcome, and an interpretation. Using a broad notion of process, this allows us to consider arithmetic calculations and geometric constructions as components of mathematical experiments. Moreover, we argue that mathematical experiments should be considered within a broader context of an experimental research project. Finally, we present a particular case study of the genesis of a geometric construction to illustrate the experimental use of hand drawings (...) and computers in mathematical practice. (shrink)

This paper presents philosophical perspectives related to the concept of boredom from the point of view of its forms and structural modes as developed by Martin Heidegger in his lectures at the University of Freiburg during the winter semesters of 1929 and 1930. We highlight a philosophical stance often overlooked in comparison to more traditional positions in Western philosophical thought—through the proposed hermeneutic-phenomenological processes, this will allow us to interweave their philosophical images with cinematographic narratives that enrich the factual understanding (...) of modernity. For this reason, we assume boredom and its essence, “tediousness”, as the fundamental mood of our era, thus permitting other mobilities of thought that warrant a study of phenomena relating to cultural entertainment as a symptom of the modern disease that distances Dasein from meeting, questioning, and self-care. (shrink)

Metallothioneins (MTs) are ubiquitous proteins with the capacity to bind heavy metal ions (mainly Cd, Zn or Cu), and they have been found in animals, plants, eukaryotic and prokaryotic micro‐organisms. We have carried out a comparative analysis of ciliate MTs (Tetrahymena species) to well‐known MTs from other organisms, discussing their exclusive features, such as the presence of aromatic amino acid residues and almost exclusive cysteine clusters (CCC) present in cadmium‐binding metallothioneins (CdMTs), higher heavy metal‐MT stoichiometry values, and a strictly conserved (...) modular–submodular structure. Based on this last feature and an extensive gene duplication, we propose a possible model for the evolutionary history of T. thermophila MTs. We also suggest possible functions for these MTs from consideration of their differential gene expressions and discuss the potential use of these proteins and/or their gene promoters for designing molecular or whole‐cell biosensors for a fast detection of heavy metals in diverse polluted ecosystems. (shrink)

Although during the last decades the philosophy of chemistry has greatly extended its thematic scope, the main difficulties appear in the attempt to link the chemical description of atoms and molecules and the description supplied by quantum mechanics. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the difficulties that threaten the continuous conceptual link between molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics can be overcome or, at least, moderated from the perspective of BM. With this purpose, in “The quantum-mechanical challenges” section (...) the foundational incompatibility between chemical and SQM descriptions will be briefly recalled. “Bohmian mechanics” section will be devoted to explain the main features of BM. In “Empirical equivalence and underdetermination” section, the consequences of the empirical equivalence between SQM and BM will be discussed. Finally, in the Conclusion, we will stress the scope of the obtained conclusions and the philosophical difficulties that still remain even after adopting BM for foundational purposes. (shrink)