In logical geometry, Aristotelian diagrams are studied in a precise and systematic way. Although there has recently been a good amount of progress in logical geometry, it is still unknown which underlying mathematical framework is best suited for formalizing the study of these diagrams. Hence, in this paper, the main aim is to formulate such a framework, using the powerful language of category theory. We build multiple categories, which all have Aristotelian diagrams as their objects, while having different kinds of (...) morphisms between these diagrams. The categories developed here are assessed according to their ability to generalize previous work from logical geometry as well as their interesting category-theoretical properties. According to these evaluations, the most promising category has as its morphisms those functions on fragments that increase in informativity on both the opposition and implication relations. Focusing on this category can significantly increase the effectiveness of further research in logical geometry. (shrink)

The range and types of performance metrics has recently proliferated in academic settings, with bibliometric indicators being particularly visible examples. One field that has traditionally been hospitable towards such indicators is biomedicine. Here the relative merits of bibliometrics are widely discussed, with debates often portraying them as heroes or villains. Despite a plethora of controversies, one of the most widely used indicators in this field is said to be the Journal Impact Factor. In this article we argue that much of (...) the current debates around researchers’ uses of the JIF in biomedicine can be classed as ‘folk theories’: explanatory accounts told among a community that seldom get systematically checked. Such accounts rarely disclose how knowledge production itself becomes more-or-less consolidated around the JIF. Using ethnographic materials from different research sites in Dutch University Medical Centers, this article sheds new empirical and theoretical light on how performance metrics variously shape biomedical research on the ‘shop floor.’ Our detailed analysis underscores a need for further research into the constitutive effects of evaluative metrics. (shrink)

BackgroundDoctors and the Sri Lanka Medical Association recognise the importance of do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions and disclosure; however, few previous studies exist examining these practices in Sri Lanka. Resuscitation decisions have seen significant changes in the UK in recent years, with a legal imperative for clear communication and a move to understand patients’ preferred outcomes before recommending clinical guidance.MethodsParticipants from two Sri Lankan hospitals were selected purposively to represent a range of specialties and seniorities for semi-structured interview.ResultsFifteen participants (...) of varying seniorities were recruited. Practice of do not resuscitate and informing patients is highly variable; there is no definitive guidance published on best practice of these issues in Sri Lanka. Participants felt that inpatients were generally not aware of their medical conditions or treatments. With the poor social and palliative care service provision in Sri Lanka comes... (shrink)

Warum existiert uberhaupt etwas, warum existiert gerade unsere Welt? Wofur soll sich der Mensch in ihr engagieren, wie soll er seinen Charakter bilden? Mit begrifflicher Prazision wird gepruft, was Leibnizens Philosophie zur Behandlung dieser unabweisbaren Fragen auch heute noch beitragen kann. Da Leibniz die Antworten letztlich aus einer Theologia Naturalis gewinnt, steht sein Gottesbegriff im Zentrum der Untersuchung. Dieser wird in seinen vielfaltigen Bezugen und Funktionen innerhalb Leibniz' System detailliert erlautert. Ergebnis ist eine kritische integrale Gesamtdarstellung der Leibnizschen Philosophie; sie (...) bietet neben einer originellen und argumentativ dichten, gleichermaaen texttreuen wie sachorientierten Interpretation von Ontologie, Psychologie, Ethik, Logik, Erkenntnis-, Wissenschafts- und Rationalitatstheorie auch eine Wurdigung der Grundzuge von Natur-, Geschichts- und Staatsphilosophie. (Franz Steiner 1996). (shrink)

O utopianismo científico de Neurath é a proposta para que as ciências sociais se envolvam na elaboração, desenvolvimento e comparação de cenários contrafactuais, as ‘utopias’. Tais cenários podem ser entendidos como peças centrais de experimentos de pensamento científicos, isto é, em exercícios da imaginação que não apenas promovem a revisão conceitual, mas também estimulam a criatividade para lidar com problemas vivenciados, já que utopias são esforços para imaginar como o futuro poderia ser. Ademais, experimentos de pensamento utópicos podem oferecer conhecimento (...) científico para informar debates e decisões políticas, contribuindo para formatar a sociedade. Este ensaio reconstrói um evento histórico como um exemplo da metodologia utopianista de Neurath. No final dos anos 1970 e início dos anos 1980, uma comissão científica e política designada pelo parlamento da Alemanha Ocidental inventou e comparou quatro cenários para políticas energético-econômicas futuras. Conclusões da comissão informaram decisões políticas que puseram a Alemanha Ocidental (e depois reunificada) em um caminho para se tornar uma potência industrial verde. Uma parte fundamental do trabalho da comissão envolveu um apelo à imaginação, permitindo a caracterização sob a metodologia de Neurath. (shrink)

The study of these fundamental questions, which were in part already addressed in a first monographic section dedicated to Ḥasdai Crescas in the last issue of this journal, is expanded in its perspective and scope by the articles contained in this second dossier.

RESUMEN La presente reflexión tiene como punto de partida la noción de antropotécnica desarrollada por el filósofo Peter Sloterdijk. El autor asume que los humanos somos seres ejercitantes en tanto día a día ejecutamos una serie de rutinas diarias que nos permiten modelar nuestra existencia. En dicho proceso nos encontramos con instituciones sociales que orientan tales ejercicios antropotécnicos. A partir de una caracterización exhaustiva del planteamiento de Sloterdijk, proponemos la noción de antropotécnica negativa, como envés de la antropotécnica, para referirnos (...) a una comprensión alternativa de las ejercitaciones contraindicadas que se realizan en oposición a valores legitimados e idealizados cutralmente sobre cómo modelar la existencia. Concluimos que la antropotécnica negativa puede ser un recurso analítico para aproximarnos a la mala ejercitación como fenómeno histórico y a la potencia existencial de algunas vidas que se expresan privilegiadamente como negatividad, abyección o marginalidad. ABSTRACT This analysis uses the notion of anthropotechnics developed by the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk as its starting point. The author assumes that humans are exercising beings in that day by day we carry out a series of diary routines that allow us to shape our existence. Within this process, we encounter social institutions that guide those anthropotechnics exercises. From an exhaustive characterization of Sloterdijk's approach, we propose the notion of negative anthropotechnics (as the inverse of anthropotechnics) to refer to an alternative understanding of the counterindicated exercises that are performed in opposition to legitimized and idealized values of how to shape existence. We conclude that negative anthropotechnics can be an analytical resource to approach malpractice as a historical phenomenon and to the existential potency of some lives that are expressed as privileged negativity, abjection, or marginality. (shrink)

In clinical research, informed consent is both a legal document and mechanism for respecting the dignity of participating subjects and protecting their rights and wellbeing. It should include information on the purpose of the research, its justification, and the risks and the benefits involved, so as to enable a subject to decide to participate voluntarily. Because it is the researcher’s duty to ensure protection of the life, health, dignity, integrity, right to self-determination, privacy and confidentiality of the subjects who take (...) part in a study, the researcher must establish a permanent dialogue with them to assess the risks and safety inherent in their participation. This condition becomes a dynamic process that neither begins nor ends when informed consent is signed. It goes beyond legality and becomes a question of ethics and legitimacy. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article reconstructs Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge’s critical theory by articulating some of the key concepts of History and Obstinacy, their second collaboration. The objective is to detail the grounds of their critical theory and to show how it acquires its normative character. To this aim, in a first step, I reconstruct the basis of the anthropology developed by Negt and Kluge. This anthropology allows them to argue that subjects-insofar as they are creative beings-possess ‘obstinacy’, which they (...) understand as an intrinsic and material power to resist oppression. Following this, I discuss the concept of ‘primitive accumulation’, which is used by Negt and Kluge to expose the relation between capitalism and obstinacy. Finally, I clarify the way Negt and Kluge appeal to the concept of ‘human nature’ in order to show how their theory derives its normative character. To do so, I rely on Christoph Menke’s work on ‘inner nature’. (shrink)

How are “interesting” research problems identified and made durable by academic researchers, particularly in situations defined by multiple evaluation principles? Building on two case studies of research groups working on rare diseases in academic biomedicine, we explore how group leaders arrange their groups to encompass research problems that latch onto distinct evaluation principles by dividing and combining work into “basic-oriented” and “clinical-oriented” spheres of inquiry. Following recent developments in the sociology of valuation comparing academics to capitalist entrepreneurs in pursuit of (...) varying kinds of worth, we argue that the metaphor of the portfolio is helpful in analyzing how group leaders manage these different research lines as “alternative investment options” from which they were variously hoping to capitalize. We argue portfolio development is a useful concept for exploring how group leaders fashion “entrepreneurial” practices to manage and exploit tensions between multiple matrices of valuation and conclude with suggestions for how this vocabulary can further extend analysis of epistemic capitalism within science and technology studies. (shrink)

This paper examines the systematic connections between Fink and Fichte. For this purpose, three points are emphasized. The text that is mainly referred to is the VI. Cartesian Meditation. The first point concerns the notion of “construction”, which ismethodologically central to the genuine mode of knowledge of transcendental idealism; secondly, a consideration will be given to the extent to which “reflection of reflection” provides crucial insights for the basic position of phenomenological transcendental idealism; and third, in a concluding consideration of (...) the status of transcendental idealism, several points will be made which should allow us to grasp “transcendental idealism” in Kant, Fichte, Husserl, and Fink as precisely as possible. These considerations make it their task to contribute to counteract the indeterminacy of this concept within this entire tradition. (shrink)

In this article, we offer a detailed study of two important episodes in the early history of high-energy physics, namely the development of the Chew and the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models. Our study reveals that both models resulted from the combination of an old Hamiltonian, which had been introduced by earlier researchers, and two new approximation methods developed by Chew and by Nambu and Jona-Lasinio. These new approximation methods, furthermore, were the key component behind the models’ success. We take this historical investigation (...) to support two philosophical theses about the manner in which scientific modelling operates in high-energy physics. Both of these theses run counter to a view that is commonly accepted among philosophers of science: the view that all approximations can be embedded within an equivalent idealized system, and that whatever role the former might play in scientific modelling is therefore parasitic on the much more substantial work performed by the latter. Our first thesis, which we call “Distinctness,” states that approximation methods constitute an independent category of theoretical output from idealized systems. We thus believe that approximations and idealized systems constitute two independent types of objects, both of which are essential to the practice of modelling. Our second, more radical thesis is called “Content Determination.” Our claim here is that approximation methods can in fact be essential to assigning determinate physical content to the idealized systems with which they jointly operate. As we show, this is due to the fact that quantum field theory allows for a very thin characterization of idealized systems only, making the use of approximations necessary to supply additional content. We conclude the paper with a few reflections about the manner in which our two theses can be used to articulate David Kaiser’s views on the “vanishing of scientific theory” in physics after WWII. (shrink)

ResumenEn la ética del discurso, Habermas afirma que la solidaridad es el reverso de la moralidad. Sin embargo, en 2013 rechaza esta tesis y ahora es vista como un concepto ético-político. Según Andrew Pierce, el giro post-secular de Habermas explica este cambio, pues él se habría vuelto escéptico hacia la razón secular. Habermas ha tratado de encontrar un recurso en la religión en lugar de la moralidad para sustentar la solidaridad. Pierce afirma que este movimiento es innecesario. En cierta medida, (...) Pierce tiene razón: Habermas no debería haber rechazado la tesis del reverso, en el sentido de que todavía la moral tiene una relación con la solidaridad. Sin embargo, el argumento de Pierce no es totalmente satisfactorio, en la medida en que existen buenas razones para proporcionar una revisión de la tesis. Basándose en estudios recientes sobre post-secularismo, el artículo desarrolla una noción de moralidad que puede tener la solidaridad como su reverso.Palabras clave: Habermas; solidaridad; post-secular; moralidad. (shrink)

Is it ethical or not to enhance the characteristics and capacities of human beings, making use of technological incorporations in their biology? This article presents arguments from both position pros and cons, about technological incorporations in human bodies. The denaturalization of technologically enhanced humans is discussed; A discussion is raised about the impact of these technologies on the population inequality; We present a contrast between whether the research is for treatment or enhancement purposes. Some of the repercussions on a society (...) of humans are analyzed, both hyper connected and technologically enhanced. Some of the future challenges that societies with technologically enhanced humans must face are presented. In conclusion, the development of technologies, within a regulatory and normative framework, to enhancing the characteristics and capacities of human beings is ethical. Because technologically enhanced humans are part of the NBIC convergence, and the NBIC convergence will generate new knowledge that will surely be used to develop clean and safe energy sources, preventive medical treatments that will eliminate diseases such as cancer and HIV, and design strategies to the conservation and decontamination of the planet. (shrink)

Mi propósito en este texto es hacer una reflexión de la lectura que Martin Heidegger propone del eterno retorno basándome en la obra que le dedica al autor de dicho pensamiento: Nietzsche. Señalaré los modos de llegar a las interpretaciones cosmológica y antropológica que Heidegger propone, mostrando, a la vez, sus problemas. De esta última interpretación mostraré dos vertientes. Así pues, intentaré depurar el camino entre las diversas interpretaciones del eterno retorno propuestas por Heidegger hasta llegar a una interpretación más (...) clara y coherente. Es decir, intentaré encontrar una respuesta a la pregunta por el fundamento del eterno retorno y a la pregunta por la particular relación que tiene el eterno retorno con el tiempo y la voluntad de poder, relaciones que explicarían de un mejor modo la vinculación del lugar del eterno retorno en la obra de Nietzsche, a partir del pensamiento de Heidegger. (shrink)

Kant's contribution to modern Protestant theology is as unmistakable as it is controversial. The authors of this volume are investigating a new perspective on the work of theology and the effects of Kant's philosophy of religion concentrated on biblical hermeneutics and dogmatic theology.

Research into the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) has blossomed, due to the advent of new and increasingly sophisticated brain research tools. Neuroimaging has uncovered a variety of brain processes that relate to conscious perception, obtained in a range of experimental paradigms. But methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography do not always afford inference on the functional role these brain processes play in conscious vision. Such empirical NCCs could reflect neural prerequisites, neural consequences, or neural substrates of (...) a conscious experience. Here, we take a closer look at the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques in this context. We discuss and review how NIBS methodology can enlighten our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying conscious vision by disentangling the empirical NCCs. (shrink)

RESUMO Ainda que Tomás de Aquino não usasse o termo intencionalidade frequentemente, ele tem uma teoria que explica como nós, enquanto sujeitos, nos referimos intencionalmente aos objetos. Nossa referência funciona quando há uma "identidade formal" entre a forma no ato de percepção ou conhecimento do sujeito e a forma do objeto. Na literatura secundária, "identidade formal" é muitas vezes o nome usado para chamar essa teoria. Nosso artigo visa o fato de que, em Tomás, a tese da identidade formal não (...) é só epistemológica, mas ela exige uma base metafísico-ontológica. O resultado da nossa investigação é que, segundo a tese da identidade formal, a referência epistêmica aos objetos funciona de maneira direta, mas por meio disso ela não produz uma variedade de objetos imanentes ou intencionais na ontologia. ABSTRACT Even if Thomas Aquinas did not use the term intentionality often, He has a theory that explains how we, as subjects, intentionally refer to objects. Our reference works when there is a "formal identity" between the form in the act of perception or subject knowledge and the form of the object. In secondary literature, "formal identity" is the name used to refer to that theory. Our article aims at the fact that, in Thomas's writings, the formal identity thesis is not only epistemological, but requires a metaphysical-ontological basis. The result of our investigation is that, according to the formal identity thesis, the epistemic reference to objects works on a direct way, but by means of that it does not produce a variety of immanent or intentional objects within ontology. (shrink)

Analizamos las relaciones no siempre presentes entre deportes, barrios y políticas públicas en Chile en el marco de las vinculaciones entre Estado y sociedad civil en la que el barrio y los clubes deportivos, pese a su gran presencia y aporte a la sociabilidad, han estado ausentes. Hasta antes del golpe de Estado de 1973, la sociedad civil tenía una gran fortaleza, y muchas de sus instituciones, como los clubes deportivos, gozaban de buena salud institucional y sobre todo de autonomía. (...) El colapso institucional del año 1973 quebró las confianzas y tras un proceso muy largo, las instituciones deportivas volvieron a reconfigurarse. Las políticas neoliberales también alcanzaron al mundo del deporte. El Estado subsidiario, a través de proyectos concursables, presta ayuda al desarrollo de estas instituciones de base. (shrink)