The aim of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the application of the specific rules of nanotechnology incorporated in Regulation No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products. It has been ten years since the European Commission had issued its proposal to start the co-decision procedure to create Regulation 1223 of 2009. Although it has been praised for noting the regulatory difference of nanomaterials over the rest of the chemicals, (...) what has been the efficacy of the standard? It is concluded that despite what it meant, the regulation has encountered technical obstacles, thus rendering the objectives relating to nanotechnology that were proposed from the European Commission unfulfilled. This finding is inferred through legal dogmatic methodologies and the identification of nanomaterials that have not been expressly approved. Nevertheless, products incorporating nanomaterials still circulate in the European market. The precepts about nanotechnology in the regulation should be reviewed because technical inconsistencies should be avoided in future regulations or applicable regulations in contexts other than Europe. Such inconsistencies exist with respect to the high level of protection of human health that should be ensured and the provisions intended to protect consumer safety. For instance, the catalog of nanomaterials in circulation does not indicate the materials that have been approved or their toxicological profiles. To date, no comparison studies have been presented between the expectations and legislative objectives set as embodied in the regulation and debated in the European Parliament involving the actual efficacy of this regulation. (shrink)

William Norris Clarke, S.J., one of the leading Thomist scholars in the United States, came to the Philippines recently and delivered a series of lectures in the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Santo Tomas on various philosophical topics inspired by the thought of St. Thomas. Fr. Clarke is now a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Fordham University. He was co-founder and editor (l961-85) of the International Philosophical Quarterly and is the author of some 60 articles, plus the (...) following books: The Philosophical Approach to God, The Universe as Journey, Person and Being, Explorations in Metaphysics: Being—God—Person, and The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics (Fall, 2000).He continues to fulfill his mission of propagating the thoughts of St. Thomas—-the “creative retrieval of St. Thomas,” as he puts it—-in and out of the U.S.An brief excerpt from this interview was originally published in Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture1/3, 1997. (shrink)

A growing number of recreational races are being held in different locations, drawing many local and visiting runners. This study examined the relationships between quality, value, satisfaction, and loyalty among runners in a recreational race and examines potential differences in relationships between these constructs based on the runners’ experience. The participants were 985 runners with a mean age of 40.74±9.41years. Validated, reliable ad hoc instruments were used. A multi-group analysis was performed to ascertain the existence of relationships between the constructs (...) and differences in the relationships between the different study groups. The results show that quality is a direct antecedent of value and satisfaction. Value is directly related to satisfaction and indirectly related to loyalty. Satisfaction is related to the loyalty of participants in the race. Differences in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty were dependent upon the runners’ experience. Loyalty to a race depends primarily on satisfaction and is modified by the runners’ experience. (shrink)

Human reproductive cloning has become the most palpable example of the globalization of science. Throughout the world, events and conjectures in the media, such as the birth and death in the United Kingdom of the cloned sheep Dolly and projects to clone human beings by Korean scientists, by members of the Canadian-based Raelian cult, and by the Italian physician Antinori in an undisclosed country, have galvanized the political will of individual countries to ban human reproductive cloning.Yet, international attempts to harmonize (...) policies in the area of biomedical ethics and human research, such as the 1997 Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, and most recently, the United Nations’ efforts to adopt an international convention against human reproductive cloning, have been insufficient to trigger a substantial global policy design process on issues relating to these new technologies. (shrink)

This article examines the impact of gender on the relative economic success of microentrepreneurs, their contributions to family income, and the impact of gender ideology and income on household decision making. The concept of economic success is problematized by examining how these businesses, even those of limited assets and income generation, offer women increased autonomy in household budgetary matters and decision making. The analysis draws on data from a representative survey of 201 male and female microentrepreneurs in the Dominican Republic. (...) The findings show that household decision making is influenced by variations in economic power but that gender ideologies structure the direction and extent of this influence, reflected in distinct “gender thresholds,” or the point at which income contributions start to matter. (shrink)

We investigate the interaction between the product of invariant types and domination–equivalence. We present a theory where the latter is not a congruence with respect to the former, provide sufficient conditions for it to be, and study the resulting quotient when it is.

We compute the domination monoid in the theory of dense meet‐trees. In order to show that this monoid is well‐defined, we prove weak binarity of and, more generally, of certain expansions of it by binary relations on sets of open cones, a special case being the theory from [7]. We then describe the domination monoids of such expansions in terms of those of the expanding relations.

Examining previous discussions on how to construe the concepts of gender and race, we advocate what we call strategic conceptual engineering. This is the employment of a (possibly novel) concept for specific epistemic or social aims, concomitant with the openness to use a different concept (e.g., of race) for other purposes. We illustrate this approach by sketching three distinct concepts of gender and arguing that all of them are needed, as they answer to different social aims. The first concept serves (...) the aim of identifying and explaining gender-based discrimination. It is similar to Haslanger’s well-known account, except that rather than offering a definition of ‘woman’ we focus on ‘gender’ as one among several axes of discrimination. The second concept of gender is to assign legal rights and social recognitions, and thus is to be trans-inclusive. We argue that this cannot be achieved by previously suggested concepts that include substantial gender-related psychological features, such as awareness of social expectations. Instead, our concept counts someone as being of a certain gender solely based on the person’s self-identification with this gender. The third concept of gender serves the aim of personal empowerment by means of one’s gender identity. In this context, substantial psychological features and awareness of one’s social situation are involved. While previous accounts of concepts have focused on their role in determining extensions, we point to contexts where a concept’s role in explanation and moral reasoning can be more important. (shrink)

We study the monoid of global invariant types modulo domination-equivalence in the context of o-minimal theories. We reduce its computation to the problem of proving that it is generated by classes...

En el presente trabajo analizamos el tratamiento que hace Isidoro de Sevilla, la más ilustre figura de la cultura hispanovisigoda, que ejerció un notabilísimo influjo durante todo el medievo a lo largo y ancho de la cristiandad, del problema de la pobreza y la injusticia social. En los dos primeros epígrafes estudiamos sus consideraciones teóricas para entender y concebir el problema, y en el tercero nos detenemos en sus tres propuestas prácticas para afrontar –y, quizá, vencer– el mal que representan (...) la pobreza y la injusticia social: justicia, comunidad y, sobre todo, caridad. En un cuarto apartado recogemos las principales conclusiones y, como refuerzo y complemento a lo estudiado, ofrecemos al lector unos breves himnos de la liturgia hispana altomedieval –testigos del mismo espíritu que movió al obispo de Sevilla– que ahondan en la idea central de la propuesta isidoriana: que solo el aumento y ejercicio de la caridad, amor Dei et proximi, puede vencer el mal de la pobreza y la injusticia social, porque solo el amor vence siempre. (shrink)

El presente texto constituye, por un lado, una continuación de una aproximación materialista al concepto de “raza” a partir de los Cuadernos negros de Heidegger, la cual nos llevó, luego de reconocer su carácter análogo a la “corporalidad”, a pensarla no como una determinación naturalista o biológica, sino como la posibilidad de un “mestizaje ontológico”. Por otro lado, “sexo”, “estirpe” y “estilo” hacen alusión a la polisemia del concepto de “Geschlecht” como una figura de lo que hemos llamado la ambigüedad (...) fenomenológica del eros en términos de una “prohibición y transgresión arquitectónicas”. Ello se traducirá, por un lado, en la prioridad del “estilo” como reunión del decir poético en lo impronunciado del poema, y no, como propondremos, en la “excripción” de una “transposición metonímica”, y, por otro lado, en el silenciamiento por Heidegger de la figura del “incesto” en la poesía de Trakl. (shrink)

¿Cómo hacer un resumen de un escrito que problematiza el propio concepto de «sumilla»? En primer lugar, señalamos el carácter problemático de la sumilla, entendida como la pretensión de traer a presencia la ponencia y al mismo tiempo de postergarla. En segundo lugar, mostramos cómo en el proceder dialógico platónico acontece dicho carácter problemático de la presencia (eîdos) en términos del continuado fracaso respecto de todo intento de fijación del ser del ente, es decir, de su constante postergación. Más aún, (...) afirmamos que la pretensión meta-dialógica del diálogo platónico, es decir, de dar cuenta de aquello que en el diálogo mismo acontece, tiene lugar en términos de una toma de distancia respecto de su propio carácter escrito. En tercer lugar, escenificamos dicho carácter meta-dialógico mediante un tramo del Parménides, en el cual dicha toma de distancia asume la forma de la historia del robo del escrito de Zenón, lo cual quiere expresar que el eîdos no tiene lugar sino en su propio ausentarse. Y es que, en efecto, esto no habrá sido sino un resumen si remitimos al resumere latino, es decir, al re-asumir, a su vez reasunción del analambánein griego. Es precisamente dicho analambánein el que Platón liga con la anámnesis, es decir, con la reminiscencia, la cual a su vez remite a una ausencia constituyente. (shrink)

If quantum mechanics is correct and there is a finite upper bound for the speed of causal influences (e.g., the speed of light), then quantum mechanics is complete (i.e., it does not admit a more detailed description in terms of hidden variables). Here I show that the conclusion holds if we replace the assumption of bounded velocity by the assumption that there is a finite upper bound to the memory a finite physical system can store (e.g., the Holevo bound). On (...) the way to this conclusion I first show that, although the quantum violation of an inequality valid for any non-contextual model can be explained with a classical contextual model, the inequality can be promoted to a Bell inequality in which, if the model is contextual, then it must be also non-local. This suggests that there is something non-classical in any contextual explanation of the individual systems, and leads us to the question of which are the minimum resources (and specifically memory) any contextual explanation should consume. (shrink)

Para Gadamer, «el ser que puede ser comprendido es lenguaje», afirmación que implicaría que toda comprensión se da en la lingüisticidad. Por otra parte, afirma que si hay lingüisticidad, hay interpretación. Ahora bien, la cuestión que queda en entredicho en su obra es si esto implica que dicha lingüisticidad es concomitante con la comprensión, es decir, si en toda comprensión hay una mediación lingüística. El presente artículo busca indagar en el análisis de la palabra poética y la filosófica, para desde (...) tal análisis ver las posibilidades de resolución de la relación entre comprensión e interpretación. (shrink)

In recent years, character traits in general and virtue-related concepts in particular have been of considerable interest to philosophers, psychological researchers, and practitioners in the business ethics field. Three approaches to character traits can be used to incorporate ethics into organizations: virtues, character strengths, and competencies. The aim of this article is to clarify the concept of character traits, or virtues, and provide a unified operational version of it for incorporation into management. To this end, we first discuss the analogy (...) among virtues, character strengths, and competencies. Then, we propose a list of moral competencies that can be implemented in competency-based human resource management. (shrink)

Schiller a été fasciné par la résistance que la beauté oppose à la conceptualisation dans l’esthétique de Kant et l’a associée à une forme de temporalité particulière : l’« arrêt » sur le beau. La thèse que je soutiens est la suivante : le fait que nous nous arrêtions à contempler le beau ouvre pour Schiller une dimension critique au sein de l’esthétique, où l’expérience de la beauté résiste à la violence qui caractérise la modernité et en même temps cet (...) arrêt favorise l’apparition d’une perspective esthétique au sein de la critique en inaugurant une temporalité d’un autre type, en dehors de l’ordre causal des événements, dans laquelle il devient possible de « jouer » librement, et donc de manière critique, avec les déterminations historiques du présent. (shrink)

Current frameworks on ethical decision-making process have some limitations. This paper argues that the consideration of moral competencies, understood as moral virtues in the workplace, can enhance our understanding of why moral character contributes to ethical decision-making. After discussing the universal nature of four moral competencies (prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance), we analyse their influence on the various stages of the ethical decision-making process. We conclude by considering the managerial implications of our findings and proposing further research.

This essay presents a possible interpretation of the concept of beauty in Kant’s Critique of Judgment, which was itself suggested by Kant in the two introductionsto the text and gained force among the Early German Romantics and Idealists, introducing an alternative point of view into the concept of beauty and the role it plays in the relationship between reason and sensibility, man and world. Through the analysis of the four moments of the Analytic of the Beautiful, beauty will manifest itself (...) as the realm in which a special encounter between human freedom and nature takes place. Therefore, and as an alternative to some traditional interpretations of Kant’s aesthetic investigation, which understand Kant’s judgment of taste exclusively on the basis of its subjective conditions, the judgment of beauty will present itself also in the relationship it establishes with the objects of nature. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene como tarea principal señalar algunos aspectos que hacen pertinente a la hermenéutica dentro del marco de la discusión política, defendiéndola de los ataques que se le han propugnado sobre todo desde una fi losofía de la conciencia crítica como la de Habermas, Adorno y algunos de sus seguidores. Se mostrará, a partir de Gadamer, cómo la hermenéutica responde a dichas críticas en el marco de su propuesta de la comprensión como tarea fundamental y como espacio político (...) primordial. Frente a una fi losofía que apela a la necesidad de una “toma de distancia” como punto de partida de la crítica, único lugar de una verdadera fi losofía y acción políticas, la hermenéutica de Gadamer presenta una alternativa que vale la pena ser rescatada: es en el diá-logo, en el espacio compartido de la comprensión, más que en la crítica, donde el hombre des-encubre las posibilidades de lo que es, donde se da la apertura de su libertad, y, por consiguiente, donde se desenvuelve, en la acción, antes que en la refl exión, el espacio de lo político. (shrink)

In response to the difficult social, economic and political problems that Colombia faces, such as inequality, discrimination, weak civil society—fuelled by illegality and drug trafficking—the Colombian Ministry of Education has embarked on an ambitious citizenship education program, with the hope of strengthening the role of education by establishing alternative solutions. This innovative program attempts to counteract Colombians' recourse to violence as a means of solving the country's endemic problems by developing the competencies of students, teachers and other participants in education. (...) The competencies include sound reasoning, care for others, communication skills, reflection on action, knowledge and active participation in classroom, school and community matters. This six-and-a-half-year-old project has started to create an educational system that takes into account many of the elements and relationships fundamental to the socio-political and moral behaviour of all involved. The paper indicates the horizons that this program opens up and discusses some of the problematic aspects that still need to be addressed for the program to be sustainable. (shrink)

Ethical issues about children’s rights in respect of matters concerning resource allocation or treatment opportunities are now a matter for public consumption and concern. Alongside this exists a long-frustrated desire by children’s nurses to promote children’s health. Long-held assumptions about the legal and moral status of children within the health care system in this country are now rightly scrutinized and challenged. Those of us who claim to represent children now possess an opportunity to exploit public attention for the benefit of (...) these children. This article will explore selected major relevant legal and moral concepts that relate to children with the aim of making transparent some of the important and often confusing information available. It is anticipated that debates about the legal and ethical status of children may be stimulated and fuelled from the following discussion. It is strongly recommended that entering into dialogue with families and children about their perceived needs will go a long way towards advancing thoughtful nursing care of individual children, their families and the general population. (shrink)

Si Michel Henry ha reclamado para su filosofía el título de “fenomenología material”, ello se debe a un intento por desentrañar la “substancia fenomenológica invisible” del aparecer en tanto la inmediación patética en la cual la vida se experimenta a sí misma. Si dicho auto-aparecer de la vida consiste en la “unidad no tautológica” del “sufrir” en tanto la pasividad originaria a sí mismo y el “gozo” en tanto la efectuación en la que el sentirse se lleva a cabo, proponemos (...) reinterpretar dicha unidad a partir de una “estructura antinómica”. Así, si el sufrimiento designa la excedencia de la pasividad originaria en tanto “imposibilidad”, el gozo debe ser entendido en tanto la excedencia de una “transpasibilidad”. Dicho sobrepasamiento tiene como consecuencia el que la “hiper-potencia” se traduzca en una “hiper-contingencia” en un doble sentido. Por un lado, como la contingencia de todo pretendido “estar-en-posesión-de-sí”, incluido el del fenomenólogo mismo, es decir, como la “transgresión” de su propia arquitectónica. Por otro lado, si dicha contingencia aspira a sobrepasar todo “monismo ontológico”, entonces solo puede tener lugar en tanto “con-tagio”, es decir, en tanto una sobreabundancia de “con-tactos”. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractThe culture of chefs from the world's best restaurants is substituted by new trends paradigmatically epitomized by the TV program Masterchef. The authors feel that a similar transformation affects modern research. Recent scientific policies constrict the design of research grants with the aim of short-term maximization of the monetary value generated by the researcher.

En este artículo revisamos la relación que se establece entre la democracia y el proyecto socialista. Debido a que las democracias actuales son predominantemente representativas de tradición liberal, también analizamos su ideal central: la libertad, en relación con el valor más importante de toda propuesta socialista: la igualdad. Nos referimos a la propuesta de Cornelius Castoriadis de un proyecto de autonomía personal y colectiva que entiende la libertad y la igualdad como propósitos políticos, por lo que la verdadera democracia se (...) identificaría con el socialismo. Palabras clave: Democracia; socialismo; libertad; igualdad; autonomía. Democracy and Socialism? An approach to Cornelius Castoriadis’ proposalIn this paper we review the relation between democracy and the socialist project. Since current democracies are predominantly representative and liberal, we also analyze their central ideal, namely, freedom, in connection with the most important value of every socialist proposal, namely, equality. We will refer to Cornelius Castoriadis’ proposal, centered on a project of personal and collective autonomy that recognizes both freedom and equality as political purposes, whereby true democracy would be identified with socialism. Keywords: Democracy; socialism; freedom; equality; autonomy. (shrink)