We argue that it is fundamentally impossible to recover information about quantum superpositions when a quantum system has interacted with a sufficiently large number of degrees of freedom of the environment. This is due to the fact that gravity imposes fundamental limitations on how accurate measurements can be. This leads to the notion of undecidability: there is no way to tell, due to fundamental limitations, if a quantum system evolved unitarily or suffered wavefunction collapse. This in turn provides a solution (...) to the problem of outcomes in quantum measurement by providing a sharp criterion for defining when an event has taken place. We analyze in detail in examples two situations in which in principle one could recover information about quantum coherence: a) “revivals” of coherence in the interaction of a system with the measurement apparatus and the environment and b) the measurement of global observables of the system plus apparatus plus environment. We show in the examples that the fundamental limitations due to gravity and quantum mechanics in measurement prevent both revivals from occurring and the measurement of global observables. It can therefore be argued that the emerging picture provides a complete resolution to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. (shrink)

We show that a new interpretation of quantum mechanics, in which the notion of event is defined without reference to measurement or observers, allows to construct a quantum general ontology based on systems, states and events. Unlike the Copenhagen interpretation, it does not resort to elements of a classical ontology. The quantum ontology in turn allows us to recognize that a typical behavior of quantum systems exhibits strong emergence and ontological non-reducibility. Such phenomena are not exceptional but natural, and are (...) rooted in the basic mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. (shrink)

We make a first attempt to axiomatically formulate the Montevideo interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this interpretation environmental decoherence is supplemented with loss of coherence due to the use of realistic clocks to measure time to solve the measurement problem. The resulting formulation is framed entirely in terms of quantum objects without having to invoke the existence of measurable classical quantities like the time in ordinary quantum mechanics. The formulation eliminates any privileged role to the measurement process giving an objective (...) definition of when an event occurs in a system. (shrink)

The use of real clocks and measuring rods in quantum mechanics implies a natural loss of unitarity in the description of the theory. We briefly review this point and then discuss the implications it has for the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. The intrinsic loss of coherence allows to circumvent some of the usual objections to the measurement process as due to environmental decoherence.

We argue that it is fundamentally impossible to recover information about quantum superpositions when a quantum system has interacted with a sufficiently large number of degrees of freedom of the environment. This is due to the fact that gravity imposes fundamental limitations on how accurate measurements can be. This leads to the notion of undecidability: there is no way to tell, due to fundamental limitations, if a quantum system evolved unitarily or suffered wavefunction collapse. This in turn provides a solution (...) to the problem of outcomes in quantum measurement by providing a sharp criterion for defining when an event has taken place. We analyze in detail in examples two situations in which in principle one could recover information about quantum coherence: (a) “revivals” of coherence in the interaction of a system with the measurement apparatus and the environment and (b) the measurement of global observables of the system plus apparatus plus environment. We show in the examples that the fundamental limitations due to gravity and quantum mechanics in measurement prevent both revivals from occurring and the measurement of global observables. It can therefore be argued that the emerging picture provides a complete resolution to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. (shrink)

We outline three principles that should guide us in the construction of a theory of canonical quantum gravity: diffeomorphism invariance, implementing the proper dynamics and related constraint algebra, local Lorentz invariance. We illustrate each of them with its role in model calculations in loop quantum gravity.

Populist representation is the process by which a body or set of bodies become the signifier of a powerful act of political transgression of the social order. We call this specific type of representative linkage ‘synecdochal representation’. In it, the leader’s body performs three key functions: it mirrors certain popular traits that are characterized as ‘low’, it displays marks of exceptionality, and it appropriates symbols of institutional power. These tasks are performed through particular ways of acting, dressing, talking, eating, and (...) the like, in public. Social media has become a key locus for bodily self-presentation because it is used to create the appearance of intimacy and spontaneity through the distribution of ‘candid’ pictures and videos. This paper will analyze how the self-presentation of populist and non-populist leaders are established through Twitter, what images they choose to disseminate, and how they are re-signified by the audience. To do so, we will focus on the two Latin American politicians: Cristina Fernández (with a populist style) and Mauricio Macri (with a technocratic one). (shrink)

Este escrito apunta a mostrar el camino histórico seguido por el conocimiento liberal y por la Universidad en la tradición educativa anglosajona. En este contexto de ideas, el campo de estudio ha sido limitado a los siguientes temas: primero, precisar, en términos generales, qué es la educación liberal y qué elementos componen su syllabus; segundo, describir las características esenciales que definen esta tradición educativa en el mundo anglosajón, principalmente en Inglaterra y en los Estados Unidos; y tercero, mostrar en qué (...) consiste la superioridad cualitativa de este tipo de educación. (shrink)

We study some operations that may be defined using the minimum operator in the context of a Heyting algebra. Our motivation comes from the fact that 1) already known compatible operations, such as the successor by Kuznetsov, the minimum dense by Smetanich and the operation G by Gabbay may be defined in this way, though almost never explicitly noted in the literature; 2) defining operations in this way is equivalent, from a logical point of view, to two clauses, one corresponding (...) to an introduction rule and the other to an elimination rule, thus providing a manageable way to deal with these operations. Our main result is negative: all operations that arise turn out to be Heyting terms or the mentioned already known operations or operations interdefinable with them. However, it should be noted that some of the operations that arise may exist even if the known operations do not. We also study the extension of Priestley duality to Heyting algebras enriched with the new operations. (shrink)

In the present paper, we return to one of the main theses we already defended concerning the role of the tarskian truth notion within the semantic approach (CARNIER, 2022). As it was argued, this truth notion proves to be insufficient to be applied to scientific theories as they are conceived by this approach, i.e., as extralinguistic entities, because it is a property of sentences and because the tarskian truth of a sentence doesn't necessarily mean the world is as it describes, (...) which results in the fact that other truth conceptions more appropriate need to be articulated within the several members of the semanticist family, in order to characterize the relationship between theory and phenomenon. Our argument in this regard was based in a case study applied to constructive empiricism and quasi-realism, but in this paper we extend our analysis to structuralism, assuming and endorsing the position according to which this proposal may be considered a member of the semantic approach. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar algunos de los documentos normativo-institucionales que regulan los valores éticos que identifican la conducta de los servidores públicos de México, Chile y Colombia, con el fin de conocer sus similitudes y diferencias, para lo cual utilizaremos el método comparado; desde luego, sin profundizar en éste con todo su rigor, dadas las características propias de este ensayo. Los tres países heredaron los valores de los padres del Contrato Social, sin embargo, estos han sido histórica, (...) política, social y culturalmente cuestionados por muchos motivos, en especial, por la enorme infuencia de la doctrina neoliberal. (shrink)

This study situates Henry Havelock Ellis’s sexological research within the nineteenth-century evolutionary debates, especially the discussion over sexual selection’s applicability to humanity. For example, Ellis’s monograph on sexual behavior, _Sexual Inversion_ (1897), treated inborn homosexuality as a natural variation of evolutionary mechanisms. This book was situated within a longer study of human sexuality in relation to evolutionary selection. His later works dealt even more directly with Charles Darwin’s concept of selection, such as _Sexual Selection in Man_ (1905). Through _Sexual Selection (...) in Man_, Ellis asserted that sexual attraction stemmed from a physical cause rather than an innate aesthetic sense. I argue that Ellis’s best-known historical publications, including his work on sexual inversion, were intended to intervene in the contemporary evolutionary debates. This analysis also identifies a specific point where evolutionary theory informed the foundation of sexology as a scientific discipline. (shrink)

CONTENIDO: Vestigios protodemocráticos en la Edad Media tardía: Marsilio de Papua, Nicolás de Cusa / Matthias Vollet / - La concepción normativa de la democracia: un aporte neokantiano / Rodolfo Arango / - El concepto de lo político y la razón pública en Schmit y Rawls / Miguel Vatter / - Democracia y liberación pública / Cristina Lafont / - La democracia desde la teoría de las emociones / Viviana Quintero / - Ontología y democracia en spinoza y Negri (...) / Amalia Rey / - Reconocimiento y redistribución: el rol de un teoría crítica de la democracia / Nicolás Espejo / - La contribución de Haberman a la crítica de la tecnocratización de la democracia / Luis Javier Orjuela / - Libertad, derecho y democracia: aspectos teóricos y pragmáticos, con énfasis en la competencia / Joachim Lege / - Democracia representativa y democracia deliberativa: reflexiones a partir de la situación peruana reciente / David Sobrevilla. (shrink)

En este trabajo realizo un examen crítico del reciente libro de Silvana Gabriela Di Camillo sobre la crítica de Aristóteles a la teoría platónica de las Ideas. El libro de Di Camillo es un trabajo muy serio cuya lectura recomiendo ampliamente. Sin embargo, considero que cuatro de las principales tesis que la autora defiende tienen varias dificultades y mi objetivo aquí es presentar argumentos detallados en contra de ellas: la interpretación de la distinción entre argumentos más y menos rigurosos del (...) tratado Sobre las Ideas; la tesis de que la separación es el blanco esencial de las críticas aristotélicas a las Ideas; la interpretación de las opciones que Platón tiene para responder al argumento del tercer hombre, y la tesis de que la separación de las Ideas debe entenderse como homonimia. In this paper I examine Silvana Gabriela Di Camillo's recent book on Aristotle's criticisms of Plato's theory of Ideas. Di Camillo's book is a very serious work that I highly recommend. Nevertheless, I consider that four of the main theses that the author defends face several difficulties and my aim here is to offer detailed arguments against them: the interpretation of the distinction between more and less accurate arguments of the treatise On Ideas; the thesis that separation is the essential target of Aristotle's criticisms against Plato's Ideas; the interpretation of the options available to Plato to reply to the third man argument; and the thesis that the separation of Ideas should be understood as homonymy. (shrink)

Este artículo examina la doctrina del Idealismo Trascendental de Kant en relación con el Problema del Mundo Externo, abordándola desde la perspectiva de la Filosofía de la Percepción. La investigación propone que hay argumentos sólidos para evaluar la doctrina kantiana bajo estos criterios y sugiere que, al hacerlo, se desprende que el Idealismo Trascendental no puede ser clasificado como una postura idealista que niegue la existencia de objetos o propiedades extramentales. Este análisis aporta una comprensión más profunda del alcance y (...) las implicaciones del Idealismo Trascendental de Kant en el contexto de la filosofía de la percepción, contribuyendo así al debate académico sobre la naturaleza del conocimiento y la realidad. (shrink)

A ciência experimental se concentra de forma peculiar, embora não exclusiva, no exame dos componentes materiais presentes na natureza e em suas relações quantitativas. Esta abordagem tem sido extremamente bem-sucedida, mesmo que haja lacunas e perplexidades a serem superadas, que, por sinal, também fazem parte do modus operandi da investigação experimental. Entretanto, se esta investigação é necessária para compreender a totalidade da natureza, ela já não é suficiente, o que é também corroborado por um sentimento de incompletude presente nas teorias. (...) Assim, existem razões justificáveis para se investigar a presença de uma estrutura não conceptualizável apenas em termos quantitativos chamada Realidade Velada pelo físico Bernard d'Espagnat, que pode ser assimilada à composição transcendental clássica de ser e essência, desde que este último elemento da composição, a essência, seja equivalente à estrutura forma-matéria, ou estrutura hilemórfica (aqui, matéria deve ser assimilada à matéria prima). Ora, a existência de tal estrutura reposicionaria a filosofia da natureza como conhecimento complementar ao da ciência experimental no sentido de que ele daria uma contribuição metafísica qualitativa relevante à pesquisa do que está além do limiar essencialmente quantitativo, conquanto necessário, oferecido pelas ciências da natureza. (shrink)

Nineteenth-century investigations of the deep sea provide a case study for black box science. Naturalists were forced to theorize about a space for which they had no direct sensory observations. This study traces the emergence of bathymetry and deep-sea biology and then analyzes how men of science dealt with the uncertainty associated with their black box practices. I argue that these investigators created multiple types of black boxes based on their uncertainties and that these black boxes did not operate equivalently. (...) Consequently, scholars should be aware of the different categories of black boxes when they describe scientific practices. (shrink)

The theory of rights is crucial as a means of relieving the tension between basic rights and democracy, and as a means of resolving the problem of allocating competence between the constitutional court and the legislature. To some theorists, no tension between basic rights and democracy exists, for the latter presupposes the former. To others, among whom I include myself, tension does exist, for basic rights, in lending protection to certain persons and groups, limit the possibilities of political decision. In (...) this connection it is important to take up the problem of the necessary conditions for realizing basic rights. One of these conditions concerns the delimiting of the scope of institutional action that is found, so to speak, in the space between the constitutional justices and the legislature, the latter as representative of the popular will. (shrink)

Este trabajo forma parte de los estudios sobre el anonimato en Platón. La cuestión del anonimato no se reduce a la desaparición del autor detrás de las palabras de los dialogantes, sino que incluye en su tematización otras aristas, dentro de las cuales puede incluirse la figura del interlocutor anónimo. En este trabajo nos ocuparemos de analizar la participación de este interlocutor anónimo en los élenchoi del Protágoras y Gorgias, con vistas a determinar la función de su incorporación en esos (...) diálogos. En los casos analizados, el interlocutor anónimo toma la palabra, por medio del pronombre indefinido “alguien”, la figura de la mayoría, o bajo la máscara de alguna profesión. (shrink)

El autor trata en este artículo la problemática de la integración de la enseñanzadel conocimiento científico-tecnológico en la educación. Se analiza la forma de responder a las demandas por una “alfabetización científico- tecnológica”, que incluya la tecnología en los currículos educativos. El estudio propone fundamentar el diseño de los programas de estudio en base a un marco general para analizar la tecnología, sintetizado mediante los conceptos: práctica social, conocimiento y artefacto, enfoque que permite comprender el “fenómeno tecnológico” y el significado (...) del concepto moderno de tecnología. Esto daría las herramientas analíticas para una organización curricular que integre ciencia y tecnología ordenada desde dos perspectivas: la estructura lógico-epistemológica propia de los distintos campos: saber científico, científico-tecnológico, tecnológico-científico y de las formas en que opera la inteligencia del alumno que aprende, lo cual permitiría en la enseñanza, conjugar las distintas posibilidadesde desarrollar mecanismos de articulación de los conocimientos. The author treats in this problematic article of the teaching integra0tion of the technologic-scientific knowledge in education. The way of answering to the demands for an “alphabetization technologic-scientific” is analyzed, in which includes the technology in the educative curriculums. The survey proposes to establish the design of the study programs based to a general setting to analyzethe technology, synthesized by way of these concepts: social practice knowledge and device, approach which allows the understanding of the “technological phenomenon” and the meaning of the modern concept of the technology. Thiswould give the analytical instruments for a curricular organization, in which includes science and technology, ordered from two perspectives: the logic-epistemology structure typical of the different fields: scientific knowledge, scientific-technologic, technologic-scientific and the ways in which the intelligence of the pupil who learns operates, in which case would permit in teaching, conjugate the different possibilities to develop mechanisms of articulation of the knowledge. (shrink)

Patients suffering from schizophrenia have an impaired meta-representation also known as Theory of Mind . Moreover, the presence of delusions or other positive symptoms of schizophrenia has been correlated to poor ToM performances. Lack of insight is a common symptom of schizophrenia and can be considered a critical manifestation of impaired ToM abilities. In particular, the present study addresses the role of perspective ToM ability in schizophrenic patients. Thirty severely delusional schizophrenic patients completely lack insight when interviewed about their delusions. (...) Seven subsequently gain insight about their mental state when perspective is shifted from the first person to third person. These data suggest that in some delusional schizophrenic patients, it may be possible to gain access to and modify their mental states. (shrink)

The idea of a probabilistic logic of inductive inference based on some form of the principle of indifference has always retained a powerful appeal. However, up to now all modifications of the principle failed. In this paper, a new formulation of such a principle is provided that avoids generating paradoxes and inconsistencies. Because of these results, the thesis that probabilities cannot be logical quantities, determined in an objective way through some form of the principle of indifference, is no longer supportable. (...) Later, the paper investigates some implications of the new principle of indifference. To conclude, a re-examination of the foundations of the so-called objective Bayesian inference is called for. (shrink)

There is growing worldwide concern that the rampant spread of digital fake news via new media technologies is detrimentally impacting Democratic elections. However, the actual influence of this recent Internet phenomenon on electoral decisions has not been directly examined. Accordingly, this study tested the effects of attention to DFN on readers’ Presidential candidate preferences via an experimental web-survey administered to a cross-sectional American sample. Results showed no main effect of exposure to DFN on participants’ candidate evaluations or vote choice. However, (...) the perceived believability of DFN about the Democratic candidate negatively mediated evaluations of that candidate—especially amongst far-right ideologues. These results suggest that DFN may at worst reinforce the partisan dispositions of mostly politically conservative Internet users, but does not cause or induce conversions in these dispositions. Overall, this study contributes novel experimental evidence, indicating that the potential electoral impact of DFN, although concerning, is strongly conditional on a reciprocal interaction between message receptibility and a pre-existing right-wing ideological orientation. The said impact is, therefore, likely narrow in scope. (shrink)

Resumen En este trabajo evaluamos el impacto que la adopción de la relatividad del movimiento tiene en la metafísica de Leibniz. En particular argumentamos que el abandono de la comprensión absolutista del mismo anula su noción juvenil de sustancia corpórea. En primer lugar analizamos cómo entiende Leibniz las nociones de cuerpo y movimiento en el periodo juvenil y defendemos que la comprensión absolutista de este último constituye una piedra angular en su primera concepción de la sustancia corpórea. En segundo lugar (...) exponemos los argumentos leibnizianos a favor de la relatividad del movimiento durante el período parisino y mostramos su repercusión en el concepto juvenil de sustancia corpórea.In this paper we evaluate the impact of Leibniz's defense of relativity of motion on his metaphysics. We argue that the abandonment of the absolutist position makes void his first notion of corporeal substance. First, we analyze Leibniz's conception of body and movement in his youth and explain how the assumption of absolute motion during these years plays a role in his notion of corporeal substance. Second, we examine his arguments in favor of relativity of motion during the Parisian period and show the repercussion on his first conception of the corporeal substance. (shrink)

The mortality rate of patients affected with oral squamous cell carcinoma has been stable in recent decades due to several factors, especially diagnostic delay, which is often associated with a late stage diagnosis and poor prognosis. The aims of this paper were to: analyze diagnostic delay in OSCC and to discuss the various psychological factors of patients with OSCC, with particular attention to the patient’s fear of receiving news regarding their health; and the professional dynamics related to the decision-making processes (...) in cases of suspected OSCC. A preliminary review of literature focusing on OSCC diagnostic delay was performed. Seven articles were included with the diagnostic delay ranging from 45 days to approximately 6 months. Patients’ fears and, to a lesser degree, the concerns of dentists, were found to be still poorly investigated. On the basis of the authors’ professional experience, the development of oral lesions of unknown origin may generate different behaviors in the decision-making processes by patients and clinicians, and fear may play a key role in the distinct steps of this process. It is crucial to increase awareness and inform patients about the onset of OSCC, and contemporaneously encourage experimental studies on patients’ fear and professional behaviors with respect to communication regarding OSCC. (shrink)

En el trabajo evaluamos el impacto que la crítica de Leibniz a los números infinitos tiene en el desarrollo de su metafísica de los cuerpos. Luego de exponer el vínculo que el filósofo alemán traza entre el cuerpo, la extensión y las cantidades infinitas en su período juvenil (1663-1672), analizamos sus reflexiones del período parisino sobre las paradojas de los números infinitos (1672-1676) y argumentamos que la defensa de la inconsistencia de tales números constituye un punto de inflexión en su (...) comprension de los cuerpos y, asimismo, marca el inicio de su ofensiva contra la res extensa.In this paper we study the impact of Leibniz’s critique of infinite numbers in his metaphysics of bodies. After presenting the relation that the German philosopher establishes in his youth between the notions of body, extension and infinite quantities (1672-1673), we analyze his thoughts on the paradoxes of the infinite numbers (1672-1676) and we claim that his defense of the inconsistency of such numbers is an inflexion point in his conception of body and mark the beginning of his offensive against the res extensa. (shrink)