This article presents a case that former President of the United States Donald Trump was a tyrant-like leader in the mold of the tyrant in Plato’s Republic. While he does not perfectly embody the tyrant as presented in the Republic, he captures its core feature. Like the tyrant, Trump is driven by unregulated desires that reflect what Plato describes as an extreme freedom that underlies and threatens democratic regimes. Extreme freedom is manifested in Trump’s disregard for social and legal norms, (...) which mirrors the lawlessness of the tyrant. The people, in turn, interpret that posture as a mark of authenticity. Understanding Trump’s appeal in the United States helps alert friends of democracy to the possible rise of tyrant-like figures. In closing, and as a way of remedying the harm done by the tyrannical soul, the article recommends that society help temper tyrant-like passions in the people through a rededication to civic equality. (shrink)

The “hijacking” and “drug instrumentalization” models of psychoactive drug use predict opposite outcomes in terms of adaptive behavior and fitness benefits. Which is the range of applicability of each model? To answer this question, we need more data than those reported by studies focusing on medical, psychiatric, and legal problems in addicted users. An evolutionary analysis requires a much wider focus.

La filosofía helenística es producto de un curso impartido en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM por Alfonso Reyes, quien a su gran formación filosófica unía extraordinaria sapiencia del mundo griego. El libro se divide en tres partes que comprenden desde la filosofía alejandrina hasta el periodo ético y religioso de los griegos, con lo que se completa el cuadro de la filosofía helenística.

Una aproximación a la concepción viquiana del Derecho Romano que, desde la "soledad" vivida por el filósofo napolitano, asume como modo original de afrontar el derecho una poética jurídica y la búsqueda de una lengua articulada universal .An approach to Vico's conception of Roman Law that, from the "loneliness" of the napolitan philosopher, assumes juridical poetics as an original way of facing law, and the search of an articulated universal language.

This paper has two sections: first, I am going to analyze two criteria to differentiate between argumentation and formal demonstration. According to Perelman (Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca, 1989) argumentation is based on persuasion, and that is the reason why argumentation is polysemic, ambiguous; on the other hand, it is said that argumentation depends on the additional information that someone gives to us, while demonstration does not depend to the additional information. I will show that no criteria invoked to justify the disctintion (...) between demostration and argumentation is kept. In the second section I will show that persuasion is not necessarily associated to the speech act of argumentation, in the same way that the atempt of convincing is not necessarily associated with the act of asserting something. Thus, someone cannot use persuasion to define the argumentative exercise. (shrink)

This study contributes to the emerging literature on the negative effects over consumption that social media users may develop as a consequence of being engaged on social media platforms. The authors tested materialism’s direct and indirect impacts on compulsive, conspicuous, and impulsive buying, adding two novel mediators: attitudes toward social media content and social media intensity. The study uses a convenience sample of 400 Thai social media users analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the well-established positive relationships between (...) materialism and each of the three-negative consumption behaviors also in the social media domain. A novel finding showed the important role played by SMI which was found to be a strong predictor of each of the three negative consumption behaviors and it was also found to significantly mediate the relationship between materialism and the three-negative consumption behaviors. An additional contribution of the study was found on the role of attitudes which, contrary to what is commonly believed, were often not significant in predicting any negative behavior. (shrink)

Tras la caída del positivismo -- Mitología, cristianismo y ciencia moderna.

La filosofía helenística es producto de un curso impartido en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM por Alfonso Reyes, quien a su gran formación filosófica unía extraordinaria sapiencia del mundo griego. El libro se divide en tres partes que comprenden desde la filosofía alejandrina hasta el periodo ético y religioso de los griegos, con lo que se completa el cuadro de la filosofía helenística.

What ethical framework should be used as a basis for teaching business ethics? Should business ethics be taught by ethicists in a separate course, by business faculty in business courses, or perhaps by both? These are some of the issues this paper will address. The paper begins with a review of the literature concerning approaches to teaching business ethics. Next, some ethical frameworks for teaching business ethics are considered. Finally, the paper proposes that students should apply their own personal values (...) to business ethical issues in the classroom, thus providing future business leaders with a process for resolving ethical dilemmas. (shrink)

Riassunto : Questo articolo propone un confronto tra la teoria mente-corpo di Henri Bergson e gli ultimi sviluppi della filosofia della mente e, più specificamente, con il cosiddetto “esternalismo”. Lo scopo è duplice. In primo luogo, si vuole sostenere che l’opera del filosofo francese ha anticipato i principali punti teorici dell’esternalismo: la teoria della percezione di Bergson, infatti, ha molti e rilevanti tratti in comune con la cosiddetta 4E Cognition, che finora non sono stati adeguatamente riconosciuti. In secondo luogo, l’articolo (...) intende anche mostrare come il quadro ontologico in cui Bergson colloca la propria interpretazione dell’esperienza cosciente, possa fungere da utile riferimento per il modello esternalista, al fine di sistematizzare i dati sperimentali entro un orizzonte teorico coerente. La teoria della "percezione pura" di Bergson, infatti, supera il modello correlazionista dell’esperienza, rilevando come quest’ultima, allo stato puro, si collochi nelle cose stesse, a un livello di realtà che precede la divaricazione dell’esperienza tra soggetto e oggetto, livello che deve essere pensato come l’origine impersonale della coscienza soggettiva. Parole chiave: Esternalismo; Percezione; Azione; Problema mente/corpo The mind/body problem in Henri Bergson e the externalism in philosophy of mind. Towards an ontological model: In this article we contrast Henri Bergson’s mind-body theory with the latest developments in Philosophy of Mind, more specifically, in so-called “Externalism”. This paper has two specific aims. First, we argue that the work of this French philosopher anticipated the main theoretical concepts of Externalism. Indeed, Bergson’s theory of perception shares many important features, which have not been adequately recognized until now, with so-called 4E Cognition. Second, we show how Bergson’s basic ontology, which frames his interpretation of conscious experience, could offer a coherent theoretical framework to systematize experimental data in an externalist model. Bergson’s theory of “pure perception” goes beyond correlation, showing that our experience, in its purest state, takes place within things themselves, at a level of reality that precedes the bifurcation of experience into a subject and an object. This undivided level of reality can be considered the impersonal origin of subjective consciousness. Keywords: Externalism; Perception; Action; Mind/Body Problem. (shrink)