A wide array of species throughout the animal kingdom has shown the ability to distinguish between quantities. Aside from being important for optimal foraging decisions, this ability seems to also be of great relevance in group-living animals as it allows them to inform their decisions regarding engagement in between-group conflicts based on the size of competing groups. However, it is often unclear whether these animals rely on numerical information alone to make these decisions or whether they employ other cues that (...) may covary with the differences in quantity. In this study we used a touch screen paradigm to investigate the quantity discrimination abilities of two closely related group-living species, wolves and dogs, using a simultaneous visual presentation paradigm. Both species were able to successfully distinguish between stimuli of different quantities up to 32 items and ratios up to 0.80, and their results were in accordance with Weber's law (which predicts worse performances at higher ratios). However, our controls showed that both wolves and dogs may have used continuous, non-numerical cues, such as size and shape of the stimuli, in conjunction with the numerical information to solve this task. In line with this possibility, dogs' performance greatly exceeded that which they had shown in other numerical competence paradigms. We discuss the implications these results may have on these species' underlying biases and numerical capabilities, as well as how our paradigm may have affected the animals' ability to solve the task. (shrink)

Este trabajo constituye una primera aproximación a la teoría del origen en común tal como aparece en On the Origin of Species, de Charles Darwin. Luego de exponer las diferencias entre esta teoría y la teoría de la selección natural y la teoría de la evolución, se presentan algunos debates en torno a la determinación de homologías, el vocabulario de la teoría y su ley fundamental. Finalmente, se discute la TOC-teoricidad de los términos involucrados y los candidatos a especializaciones de (...) TOC. (shrink)

En este trabajo discutimos la extensión de la influencia que el pensamiento de Richard Owen tuvo sobre el de Charles Darwin. Además, se intentará mostrar lo heterogéneo de tal influencia, que va desde teorías específicas a giros retóricos. Esta influencia es en muchos casos subestimada, dando la sensación de que la novedad darwiniana consistió únicamente en mirar con ojos desprejuiciados lo que los otros no habían visto. Esta visión resulta injusta con Owen, y también con el esfuerzo conceptual llevado adelante (...) por Darwin con las piezas brindadas por sus precursores. Finalmente, este es un caso interesante para entender el tipo de novedad aportada por las revoluciones científicas y el modo sofisticado en que tal novedad se sustenta sobre el trabajo de los enfoques previos. (shrink)

Resumen: La capacidad unificadora de una teoría científica es un rasgo usualmente contemplado a la hora de evaluar su adecuación. Kitcher ha elucidado satisfactoriamente tal noción mediante su enfoque de los patrones explicativos. Sin embargo, su perspectiva adolece de ciertas carencias. Concretamente, sostendremos que el requisito de rigurosidad de los patrones para evaluar la capacidad unificadora debe ser repensado, pues atenta contra la heterogeneidad característica de las diferentes aplicaciones de teorías unificadoras. A su vez, mostraremos cómo estas dificultades bien pueden (...) ser subsanadas desde el marco del estructuralismo metateórico sin por ello resignar ninguna de las acertadas intuiciones de Kitcher. -/- Palabras clave: Explicación, Kitcher, estructuralismo metateórico, unificación, unificación espuria. -/- Abstract: Kitcher has satisfactorily explicated unification using his particular approach to scientific explanation. However, we believe that his perspective has certain problems, which have been inherited by more recent approaches to the topic. Specifically, the requirement of stringency of patterns that Kitcher proposes to determine the unifying power of an explanatory pattern undermines the typical and peculiar heterogeneity we can find in different applications of unifying theories. We will show how this topic can be better addressed by the perspective built by metatheoretical structuralism without sacrificing any of Kitcher’s correct intuitions. -/- Keywords: Explanation, Kitcher, metatheoretical structuralism, spurious unification, unification. (shrink)

A given explanatory theory T falls into circular reasoning if the only way to determine its explanandum is through the application of T. To find an underlying theory T′ that determines T′s explanandum helps us save T from this accusation of circularity. We follow the structuralist view of theories in presenting and dealing with this issue, by applying it to particular theories. More specifically, we focus on the relationship between the Darwinian theory of common ancestry and the determination of homologies.

This work takes a stand on whether Wallace should be regarded as co-author of the theory of natural selection alongside Darwin as he is usually considered on behalf of his alleged essential contribution to the conception of the theory. It does so from a perspective unexplored thus far: we will argue for Darwin’s priority based on a rational reconstruction of the theory of natural selection as it appears in the writings of both authors. We show that the theory does not (...) appear in exactly the same manner in the writings of each of its alleged co-discoverers: tough we find the same fundamental elements in both works, even in Darwin’s early texts, we discern a more complex unifying and ramified structure than the one we find in Wallace’s Ternate manuscript. Even when we think the badge of the “Darwin–Wallace” theory is well deserved, the unifying force of Darwin’s version has proved to be one of the keys for the ulterior success of the so-called Darwinian revolution in Biology. (shrink)

Preface to the Thematic Volume: Models and Theories in Biology.

In this contribution, we explore a little-referenced effort of Rheticus in favor of the reception of the astronomy of his teacher Copernicus in the religious circle of his time. This appears in his "Treatise on Sacred Scripture and the Motion of the Earth", a document lost for centuries, and rediscovered by Hooykaas in 1972. Here, we offer an elucidation of the main ideas of Rheticus and suggest – from the comparative study of a concrete case – that he should be (...) considered as a precursor of later similar moves, such as that of Galileo in well-known and better-studied letters. (shrink)

Con la publicación de Principios de Geología, Lyell se propuso mejorar la reputación de la Geología mediante una tregua con la religión y mediante la presentación del uniformitarianismo (término acuñado por Whewell, uno de sus críticos más respetados) como estrategia heurística. Luego de una breve e..

Reseña de: GINNOBILI, S. La teoría de la selección natural. Una exploración metacientífica. Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2018.

Francisco Ramos Mexía y su nieto José María, célebres personalidades de la historia argentina, contaban con diferentes visiones de la naturaleza. Para uno, ésta era producto de la acción de un creador inteligente; para el otro, la biodiversidad era resultado de la acción exclusiva de la evolu- ción, prominentemente impulsada por la selección natural. Este trabajo consiste en un breve análisis de estas posiciones encontradas.Francisco Ramos Mexía and one of his grandchildren, José María, who were important figures in the history (...) of Argentina, sustained different views on nature. For one of them, nature was the result of the work of an intelligent Creator; for the other, biodiversity was a result of the exclusive action of evolution, prominently driven by natural selection. This paper briefly dis- cusses these two opposing views. (shrink)

En su artículo clásico, Gould y Lewontin (1979) han esgrimido críticas no siempre claras - contra el así llamado "programa adaptacionista". Puesto que una "adaptación" en uno de los sentidos más utilizados del vocablo - refiere a un rasgo cuya fijación en una población se explica por selección natural, el encuentro de adaptaciones ha sido considerado una heurística que guía a los biólogos en la aplicación de la teoría de la evolución por selección natural, procurando extender el campo de aplicación (...) de la teoría a priori, y sin restricción alguna, al mejor estilo kuhneano. Este trabajo procura elucidar, breve, pero integralmente, las críticas contenidas en el artículo aludido, donde se reconocen objeciones de diversa índole, a saber: empíricas, metodológicas, conceptuales, y pragmáticas, aunque con solapamientos. Se evalúa el filo de algunas de ellas, y se estipula la utilidad potencial que elucidaciones conceptuales como las que se ofrecen aquí pueden tener para con la filosofía de la biología. (shrink)

Se habla de crisis en la economía, en el trabajo, en la vivienda� Crisis que se explican con datos, con números, que aparecen en los periódicos y las televisiones. Pero hay otras crisis, crisis concretas, que afectan a cada vida particular, experiencias que van más allá de los que se puede contar: Hay más cosas que hay que vivirlas, si no, no se pueden llegar a entender. Más allá de os discursos institucionalizados, son muchos los que han vivido siempre en (...) crisis, desde su nacimiento en una familia y un entorno concretos les colocó en una determinada posición social marcando profundamente sus posibilidades de promoción y los esfuerzos que tendrían que hacer para salir adelante. (shrink)

An interesting metatheoretical controversy took place during the 1980’s and 1990’s between pattern and phylogenetic cladists. What was always at stake in the discussion was not how work in systematics should be carried out, but rather how this practice should be metatheoretically interpreted. In this article, we criticize Pearson’s account of the metatheoretical factors at play in this discussion. Following him, we focus on the issue of circularity, and on the role that phylogenetic hypotheses play in the determination of “primary (...) homologies”. Pearson argues that the recognition of primary homologies cannot be achieved without recourse to previous phylogenetic knowledge, and that to claim otherwise is to state that primary homologies are observable. To show why that view would be inadequate, he appeals to Hanson’s views about theory-laden observation, alongside with a specific case study, which allegedly illustrates the more complex relation between observation and theory. We will argue that the pattern cladists’ point is better addressed by taking a quite different approach: instead of thinking in terms of observability, the topic can be tackled by paying attention to the way in which concepts are determined. We will take the notion of T-theoricity from metatheoretical structuralism and show that, once the issue is discussed with the appropriate metatheoretical framework, the alleged counterexample brought up by Pearson is not problematic at all for pattern cladism. (shrink)

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, the family name of the first author was erroneously published as ‘RoffÕ’ in the original publication. The correct representation of the first author’s family name is listed above and below.

Esta reflexión propone que las Tecnologías de Mejoramiento Humano, en el siglo XXI, se erigen en un dispositivo biopolítico de poder molecular sobre la vida del individuo y de la especie humana, el cual está vertebrado tanto por los mecanismos de Infogeneración e Infogeneración como de líneas de visibilidad, enunciación, fuerza, objetivación y subjetivación. Esta incipiente biopolítica de poder molecular que tiene por blanco de intervención los entresijos de la vitalidad y como finalidad producir artificialmente la vida, genera al (...) menos tres efectos: sobre la subjetividad, el cuerpo y la salud, suscitando, así, interrogantes importantes para la bioética y el bioderecho. En un primer momento, esbozamos las notas características del Dispositivo biopolítico de mejoramiento humano. Después, abordamos el modo en que el DBMh construye inéditas formas de subjetividad, al mismo tiempo que establece nuevas y distintas concepciones del cuerpo humano y de la salud. En la parte final se esboza un modelo de estratigrafía para leer fenómenos asociados a las TMh en el que se articula la bioética, la biopolítica y el bioderecho en un modelo de geometría variable. (shrink)

A pioneering work in the philosophy of mind, Content and Consciousness brings together the approaches of philosophers and scientists to the mind--a connection that must occur if genuine analysis of the mind is to be made. This unified approach permits the most forbiddingly mysterious mental phenomenon--consciousness--to be broken down into several distinct phenomena, and these are each given a foundation in the physical activity of the brain. This paperback edition contains a preface placing the book in the context of recent (...) work in the area. (shrink)

In this book by the award-winning author of Just Healthcare, Norman Daniels develops a comprehensive theory of justice for health that answers three key questions: what is the special moral importance of health? When are health inequalities unjust? How can we meet health needs fairly when we cannot meet them all? Daniels' theory has implications for national and global health policy: can we meet health needs fairly in ageing societies? Or protect health in the workplace while respecting individual liberty? Or (...) meet professional obligations and obligations of justice without conflict? When is an effort to reduce health disparities, or to set priorities in realising a human right to health, fair? What do richer, healthier societies owe poorer, sicker societies? Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly explores the many ways that social justice is good for the health of populations in developed and developing countries. (shrink)

In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the relation of consciousness, the will, and our intentional and voluntary actions. Wegner claims that our experience and common sense view according to which we can influence our behavior roughly the way we experience that we do it is an illusion.

El presente libro aborda la cuestión clásica de la relación entre el lenguaje y el pensamiento humanos, poniendo el foco en la hipótesis de la relatividad lingüística (RL), esto es, en la idea de que la diversidad lingüística acarrea una correlativa diversidad cognitiva. Aparte de las aportaciones filosóficas sustantivas a este debate, hay una tarea preliminar de aclaración que es ineludible (la hagan o no los filósofos), dada la complejidad del problema. Existe una tendencia a plantear las cuestiones sin muchos (...) matices, adoptando planteamientos cortantes: o se acepta la total independencia del pensamiento con respecto al lenguaje y a las lenguas, o se defiende que el pensamiento está supeditado al lenguaje o a una lengua concreta, sin dejar resquicio de autonomía al pensamiento. Frente a ello, este trabajo intenta elaborar un mapa detallado del territorio de la relatividad lingüística que refleje que hay muchas zonas intermedias habitables. Con ello no se busca sólo presentar espacios lógicos de posibles posturas, sino, ante todo, delimitar zonas de plausibilidad en dichos espacios. Eso no significa que se plantee una posición ser neutral o centrada. A lo largo de sus páginas se defiende la plausibilidad y la relevancia filosófica de al menos algunas versiones de la hipótesis relativista. Con varios matices, se sostiene que el lenguaje está involucrado de modo importante en el pensamiento humano, que la diversidad lingüística puede acarrear una significativa diversidad cognitiva o que la relación entre el lenguaje y el pensamiento es, en realidad, una interacción en la que, además de ellos, intervienen otros factores como la cultura. (shrink)

The current study analyzed the relationship between Coronavirus Awareness, mental health, and willingness to seek professional psychological help. This was made through a quantitative approach, using online questionnaires to collect data from 855 subjects. The questionnaires included the Brief Symptom Inventory to measure mental health indicators, the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale–Short Form, and the Coronavirus Awareness Scale-10. An Exploratory Factor Analysis suggests that three factors underlie the CAS-10: Coronavirus Concern, Exaggerated Perception, and Immunity Perception. Results indicate a (...) significant positive correlation between Coronavirus Concern and both general anxiety and phobic anxiety symptoms. Immunity Perception is positively related to paranoid ideation and psychotic symptoms. A Mediation Analysis determined that Coronavirus Concern has a significant positive direct effect on Openness to Seeking Psychological Treatment, while Exaggerated Perception and Immunity Perception scores have significant direct negative effects on the Value and Need in Seeking Treatment scores. Indirectly, the relationship between Coronavirus Concern and OPST is significantly mediated by anxiety symptoms. Similar results were found for the VNST subscale. There is a negative significant effect of Immunity Perception over OSPT mediated by Paranoid Ideation. However, the overall model only achieved small r2 coefficients for the OSPT and VNST scores. Comparisons in Coronavirus Awareness between sex, age, and the presence of children and older adults at home were also made. These results are discussed regarding their practical implications for mental health providers and policymakers. (shrink)

The _Physics_ is a foundational work of western philosophy, and the crucial one for understanding Aristotle's views on matter, form, essence, causation, movement, space, and time. This richly annotated, scrupulously accurate, and consistent translation makes it available to a contemporary English reader as no other does—in part because it fits together seamlessly with other closely associated works in the New Hackett Aristotle series, such as the _Metaphysics_, _De Anima_, and forthcoming _De Caelo_ and _On Coming to Be and Passing Away_. (...) Eventually the series will include all of Aristotle's works. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms indicates places where focused discussion of key notions occurs. An illuminating general Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what sort of work it is and what sorts of evidence it relies on. (shrink)

How should medical services be distributed within society? Who should pay for them? Is it right that large amounts should be spent on sophisticated technology and expensive operations, or would the resources be better employed in, for instance, less costly preventive measures? These and others are the questions addreses in this book. Norman Daniels examines some of the dilemmas thrown up by conflicting demands for medical attention, and goes on to advance a theory of justice in the distribution of health (...) care. The central argument is that health care, both preventive and acute, has a crucial effect on equality of opportunity, and that a principle guaranteeing equality of opportunity must underly the distribution of health-care services. Access to care, preventive measures, treatment of the elderly, and the obligations of doctors and medical administrations are fully discussed, and the theory is shown to underwrite various practical policies in the area. (shrink)