This conceptual paper explores and compares the ethical dimension of Islamic and so-called ethical banks. The investigation is made in two succeeding steps. First, an individual analysis as regards the respective level of correspondence between ethical principles and business practice. For the latter, a time-based perspective is adopted. Second, a side-by-side comparison of their overall “ethical coherence gap”. The results show that this gap is wider in the case of Islamic banks. The final part of the paper draws up three (...) different scenarios for future development of these financial institutions where their ethical coherence is enhanced. (shrink)

The biblical source mentions on three occasions the nautical journeys of Solomon, king of Judah and Israel, and Hiram of Tyre to Ophir in search of riches. Throughout the study, we point out that the mention of the journeys constitutes a theological construction, composed between the twilight of the 6th century BC and the first half of the 5th century BC, to magnify, in contrast with the nautical failure of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, the figure of Solomon as the prototype (...) of the ideal monarch to whom pagan nations, represented by the Phoenicians, render servitude,. The later biblical tradition, manifested by the Greek, Latin and Arabic translation, will continue to magnify the figure of the monarch, placing the location of Ophir on an increasingly more distant horizon. (shrink)

Jean Paul Sarte, Franz Kafka i Milan Kundera: tres mirades diferents sobre la realitat, tres percepcions del món que participen d'un mateix rerafons filosòfic, d'una mateixa sensibilitat: l'absurd. Tres obres que neixen, creixen i maduren sota l'eclipsi de Déu, en l'atmosfera de la buidor més penetrant i la negació radical del sentit. L'ésser és estantís, feble, pura representació, i la vida humana una comèdia tragicòmica que comença per casualitat i s'acaba també per pura casualitat. Però l'home ha de viure, i (...) si el món no té sentit, caldrà forjar-lo amb les pròpies mans, caldrà projectar una idea per la qual valgui la pena viure i morir (Kierkegaard). Tres iniciatives, tres expectatives, que es configuren sota l'escola de l'absurd i la mort de Déu (Nietzsche). Davant d'aquesta concepció del món marcada pel desencís i l'angoixa hi ha la metafísica de la plenitud de l'ésser (sant Tomàs d'Aquino), que descriu l'univers com un dinamisme perfectiu que té una direccionalitat pròpia, una causa primera i un fi darrer. La lògica del sentit versus la lògica de la buidor. (shrink)

What are financial institutions' social responsibilities in developing countries? On the one hand, these institutions share the generic responsibilities of all human organizations and business enterprises. However, their specific social responsibility is the performance of the social function of financial intermediaries, which, in the case of emerging countries, consists mainly of contributing to economic growth and solving the problem of poverty. This paper describes a number of technical-economic and moral problems that take us to a consideration of the performance of (...) banking operations in microfinancing, with special reference to Latin America. The paper also provides a series of recommendations that, in addition to contributing to solving the development and poverty problems in emerging countries, help define financial institutions' social responsibility in such countries. (shrink)

What are financial institutions' social responsibilities in developing countries? On the one hand, these institutions share the generic responsibilities of all human organizations and business enterprises. However, their specific social responsibility is the performance of the social function of financial intermediaries, which, in the case of emerging countries, consists mainly of contributing to economic growth and solving the problem of poverty. This paper describes a number of technical‐economic and moral problems that take us to a consideration of the performance of (...) banking operations in microfinancing, with special reference to Latin America. The paper also provides a series of recommendations that, in addition to contributing to solving the development and poverty problems in emerging countries, help define financial institutions' social responsibility in such countries. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss some of the best practices of financial industry, in three emerging economies: Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The main thesis is that, notwithstanding the importance of certain specific deficiencies, such as an inadequate regulatory context or the lack of financial education among the population, the main factor that explains the low banking levels in emerging and developing economies, affecting mostly lower-income segments, is the use of inefficient financial service distribution models. In (...) connection with this thesis, we will try to show that traditional financial institutions, both in developing countries and in the advanced economies have a special social responsibility to help create an efficient financial system that makes saving and borrowing instruments available to the greatest possible number of citizens. (shrink)

The expression ψυχαγωγεῖ Σωκράτης used by Aristophanes in Birds has been interpreted in different ways. However, the fact that the comediographer compares the action of invoking the souls of the dead to Odysseus, ὥσπερ Οὑδυσσεύς, suggests that book 11 of the Odyssey was the model that inspired the scene. Many platonic passages from Protagoras, Republic, Gorgias, Phaedo and Apology explain which could have been the cause of the aristophanic parody: Socrates’ propensity to mention Odysseus in his descriptions of what is (...) awaiting for the souls in Hades after the death. (shrink)

El trabajo parte de la distinción teórica entre nación en sentido jurídico-político y nación en sentido histórico-cultural. Sobre esa base, se trata de averiguar cuál es el concepto de nación que utiliza la Constitución española. Del análisis jurídico-constitucional efectuado, se concluye que la palabra nación se utiliza en el sentido jurídico-político y se equipara a pueblo, a patria, a España o a Estado, aunque cabe hacer la distinción entre nación-constituyente y nación-constituida para encontrar el significado preciso de todos estos términos. (...) En cambio, el concepto de nación en sentido histórico-cultural es utilizado parcialmente en la Constitución —si nos fundamos en la voluntad del constituyente— bajo el término nacionalidades o regiones, aunque limitando las aspiraciones de éstas —por ello decimos parcialmente— al derecho a la autonomía y no al derecho a la soberanía. (shrink)

Globalisation has given rise to a new field of debate due to the growing mobility of the workers and the consequent cultural diversity inside companies. In this sense, a complex world like ours demands a review of the professional profile which should include the so called intercultural competences as a structuring element of companies’ policy and strategic plan. Subsequently it is suggested that, as the intercultural competences affect the cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects, they actually imply a transformation of the (...) person’s identity. (shrink)

The concept of the Noosphere is of great importance when looking at the values underpinning the technocratic artifacts and technocracies (human physical technological objects and knowledge processes) by which Humans relate to the Geosphere through other human beings. In this sense, the Noosphere may inform geoethics as an environmental, social, and spiritual praxis and thinking aiming at ecological justice. The concept of the Noosphere represents the coexistence and coevolution of Humans and the Geosphere, overcoming the dichotomy between instrumental materialistic and (...) intrinsic ecocentric values but considering the meaning of a constitutive dimension. Thus, the Noosphere becomes a concept for reconnection with the human community, the natural world, and the Divine, and develops into an ecological mysticism that, in turn, unfolds in resistance in hope as a kind of spiritual activism. The theoretical framework is illustrated with the case study of the Terres de L’Ebre in Catalonia (Spain). (shrink)

In this paper we show that the subvarieties of BL, the variety of BL-algebras, generated by single BL-chains on [0, 1], determined by continous t-norms, are finitely axiomatizable. An algorithm to check the subsethood relation between these subvarieties is provided, as well as another procedure to effectively find the equations of each subvariety. From a logical point of view, the latter corresponds to find the axiomatization of every residuated many-valued calculus defined by a continuous t-norm and its residuum. Actually, the (...) paper proves the results for a more general class than t-norm BL-chains, the so-called regular BL-chains. (shrink)

This article aims to find out the relation between secular and atheistic spiritualties underlining the only one that seems to be able to suit the knowledge society. We analyze several texts of main classical personalities of both spiritualities, such as Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Comte Sponville, among others. Some of the essential elements of an atheistic spirituality are specifically discussed: critical spirit and rationality, centrality and sufficiency of human beings and their release from submission and exploitation, and a will without (...) limits instead of laziness. However, the main objective is to highlight that there is a culture of absolute dimension of reality beyond the religious traditions. We also intend to point out that culture, in changing societies, requires, as Corbí suggests, a new anthropology, of an animal who talks, with a dual access to reality. We also point to the existence of a new epistemology, beyond the previous mythical paradigms, allowing the merely free and symbolic use of mankind wisdoms. Finally, it is a question of survival of humankind and of its environment. (shrink)

Aquí se presenta la colección de volúmenes que recogen las ponencias y discusiones de los, hasta hoy, nueve Encuentros Internacionales organizados por el Centro de Estudio de las Tradiciones de Sabiduría de Barcelona. Un requisito principal en la realización de los Encuentros ha sido un marcado carácter interdisciplinar, interreligioso y espiritual. El objetivo general que alumbra las diferentes ediciones ha sido abordar el papel vital, para la especie y para el medio, de la cualidad humana profunda o espiritualidad en sociedades (...) de cambio continuo. Todo ello bajo la preocupación por la crisis religiosa con consecuencias sobre los valores, que se sufre en Europa, que se extiende a todos los países, a medida que se incorporan a la sociedad que vive de la innovación y el cambio continuo. A pesar de que los países de procedencia de los diferentes participantes sufren la crisis religiosa en diverso grado, gracias al intenso trabajo realizado en las diferentes ediciones, se ha conseguido aunar el interés de los participantes en torno al objetivo general. También se ha conseguido llegar a ciertos acuerdos sobre las bases teóricas desde las cuales cada uno construye sus aportaciones a los temas concretos de cada edición. Así pues, podemos decir que se ha conseguido generar un equipo estable de doce investigadores, muchos de ellos profesores universitarios de España así como de México, Costa Rica, Brasil, Colombia, que trabaja para ir construyendo una respuesta al cambio epistemológico que sufren las sociedades actuales y que crea la inadecuación de la religión. (shrink)

The framework presented by Bayefsky and Berkman is based on having clear and accurate genetic information to offer parents, for them to either decide to prepare for birth or to terminate the...

En 1935 Baltasar Samper pronunció varias conferencias sobre jazz en Barcelona. La recuperación de los textos de dichas conferencias nos sirven ahora para resaltar la dimensión didáctica del compositor en un contexto cultural marcado por el academicismo. Sin embargo, los esfuerzos de Samper por divulgar la música de jazz entre sus colegas, quienes consideraban el jazz una música estigmatizada, dará lugar a unos contenidos a la altura de los postulados del parisino Hugues Panassié. Este artículo concluye constatando la vigencia de (...) las enseñanzas samperianas sobre jazz y apuntando su continuidad en contextos didácticos actuales. (shrink)

En este trabajo se aborda una articulación filosófica acerca del lenguaje, ligada a una amplia reflexión sobre el conocimiento humano y que Cassirer vincula como principio fundamental de su inmensa obra Filosofía de las formas simbólicas . Recuperando el gran trabajo sobre el origen de las lenguas iniciado por Humboldt, a principios del siglo XIX, Cassirer propone un análisis del lenguaje que va más allá del concepto de “uso”, centrándolo en el campo estructural de una “morfología espiritual” de las lenguas.

In this paper we show that the subvarieties of BL, the variety of BL-algebras, generated by single BL-chains on [0, 1], determined by continous t-norms, are finitely axiomatizable. An algorithm to check the subsethood relation between these subvarieties is provided, as well as another procedure to effectively find the equations of each subvariety. From a logical point of view, the latter corresponds to find the axiomatization of every residuated many-valued calculus defined by a continuous t-norm and its residuum. Actually, the (...) paper proves the results for a more general class than t-norm BL-chains, the so-called regular BL-chains. (shrink)