Reseña del libro: Amparo de Jesús Zárate Cuello y Orietta Ivonne Beltrán Casas. Del diagnóstico preimplantatorio al niño medicamento en Colombia: una mirada en torno a la eugenesia positiva. Legislación comparada con el ordenamiento jurídico español. Bogotá: Editorial Neogranadina, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18359/9789585103122.

Cet article a déjà paru en espagnol dans la revue Política y Sociedad, 1997, nº 25, p. 185-203. On trouvera une copie de sa version originale dans le fichier ci-joint. Nous remercions Amparo Lasén de nous avoir autorisé à le reproduire ici. L'alternance rythmique est la manière d'apparaître la plus élémentaire du temps. Le rythme constitue « la première technique ou manière de maîtriser ou d'apprivoiser le temps », celui-ci étant continu et infini. En tant que variation d'intensité, alternance (...) de temps (...) - Sociologie – Nouvel article. (shrink)

En este artículo se realiza una reflexión y una revisión, desde el ámbito de las ciencias básicas y del bioderecho, sobre los aspectos biológicos y genéticos de la homosexualidad, y sobre el impacto que tiene en la familia el acceso a las técnicas de reproducción asistida por parte de las parejas del mismo sexo. Lo anterior nos lleva al desarrollo de conceptos como la “violencia prenatal”, el derecho de los niños a crecer en el seno de una familia con una (...) imagen paterna y materna, al igual que las implicaciones que estos conceptos tienen a la luz del orden jurídico colombiano. (shrink)

Digital photography is contributing to the renegotiation of the public and private divide and to the transformation of privacy and intimacy, especially with the convergence of digital cameras, mobile phones, and web sites. This convergence contributes to the redefinition of public and private and to the transformation of their boundaries, which have always been subject to historical and geographical change. Taking pictures or filming videos of strangers in public places and showing them in webs like Flickr or YouTube, or making (...) self-portraits available to strangers in instant messenger, social network sites, or photo blogs are becoming a current practice for a growing number of Internet users. Both are examples of the intertwining of online and offline practices, experiences, and meanings that challenge the traditional concepts of the public and the private. Uses of digital images play a role in the way people perform being a stranger and in the way they relate to strangers, online and offline. The mere claims about the privatization of the public space or the public disclosure of intimacy do not account for all these practices, situations, and attitudes, as they are not a simple translation of behaviors and codes from one realm to the other. (shrink)

The received view holds that there is a significant divide between full-blown representational states and so called ‘detectors’, which are mechanisms set off by specific stimuli that trigger a particular effect. The main goal of this paper is to defend the idea that many detectors are genuine representations, a view that I call ‘Strong Liberal Representationalism’. More precisely, I argue that ascribing semantic properties to them contributes to an explanation of behavior, guides research in useful ways and can accommodate misrepresentation.

Informational theories of semantic content have been recently gaining prominence in the debate on the notion of mental representation. In this paper we examine new-wave informational theories which have a special focus on cognitive science. In particular, we argue that these theories face four important difficulties: they do not fully solve the problem of error, fall prey to the wrong distality attribution problem, have serious difficulties accounting for ambiguous and redundant representations and fail to deliver a metasemantic theory of representation. (...) Furthermore, we argue that these difficulties derive from their exclusive reliance on the notion of information, so we suggest that pure informational accounts should be complemented with functional approaches. (shrink)

The debate on the notion of function has been historically dominated by dispositional and etiological accounts, but recently a third contender has gained prominence: the organizational account. This original theory of function is intended to offer an alternative account based on the notion of self-maintaining system. However, there is a set of cases where organizational accounts seem to generate counterintuitive results. These cases involve cross-generational traits, that is, traits that do not contribute in any relevant way to the self-maintenance of (...) the organism carrying them, but instead have very important effects on organisms that belong to the next generation. We argue that any plausible solution to the problem of cross-generational traits shows that the organizational account just is a version of the etiological theory and, furthermore, that it does not provide any substantive advantage over standard etiological theories of function. (shrink)

Naturalistic theories of representation seek to specify the conditions that must be met for an entity to represent another entity. Although these approaches have been relatively successful in certain areas, such as communication theory or genetics, many doubt that they can be employed to naturalize complex cognitive representations. In this essay I identify some of the difficulties for developing a teleosemantic theory of cognitive representations and provide a strategy for accommodating them: to look into models of signaling in evolutionary game (...) theory. I show how these models can be used to formulate teleosemantics and expand it in new directions. (shrink)

Vico delineó desde la "fantasia" la forma de aproximación al fenómeno estético y al hecho artístico, y de él procede, en gran parte, el actual revival de la hermenéutica en diversos campos del pensamiento, de la crítica y de las artes. El presente trabajo indaga dos aspectos importantes en la cultura de los siglos XVII y XVIII: en primer lugar la reflexión y discusión sobre los principios estéticos, enfatizados en la querelle des anciens et des modernes ; y en segundo (...) lugar, el descubrimiento del sentimiento y el rescate de la imaginación.Vico laid out from the notion of "fantasia" the way to be approached to the aesthetic phenomena and to the artistical fact. A great deal of the present revival of hermeneutics within the great variety of fields such as literary criticism, arts or general thought may be traced back to his foremost contributions. This paper focuses on two important aspects within the XVII and XVIII century cultural frame: one, the reflections and debates about the aesthetic principles as they were purported in the querelle des anciens et des modernes ; and the other, the finding of sentiment and the rescue of imagination. (shrink)

The idea that only complex brains can possess genuine representations is an important element in mainstream philosophical thinking. An alternative view, which I label ‘liberal representationalism’, holds that we should accept the existence of many more full-blown representations, from activity in retinal ganglion cells to the neural states produced by innate releasing mechanisms in cognitively unsophisticated organisms. A promising way of supporting liberal representationalism is to show it to be a consequence of our best naturalistic theories of representation. However, several (...) philosophers and scientists have recently argued against this strategy. In the paper I counter these objections in defense of liberal representationalism. (shrink)

Se busca aclarar el tratamiento de Adam Smith al llamado problema de la "suerte moral". Como la posición no es evidente ni simple, se muestra que la tesis afirma la existencia de la suerte moral consecuencial con base en el recurso al espectador imparcial. Para ello, se pone de relieve el sentido metódico de su proceder, y se analizan ciertas cuestiones claves, como el carácter de la apelación a la naturaleza y de las justificaciones teleológicas. Se distinguen cuatro momentos estructurales (...) y se alega que solo en el último se decide su posición. This article seeks to clarify Adam Smith's treatment of the so called "moral luck" problem. While Smith's position is not simple or evident, the articles shows that Smith's thesis affirms the existence of consequential moral luck based on the impartial spectator. It does so by highlighting the methodic meaning of his procedure and analyzing certain key issues, such as the character the appeal to nature and the teleological justifications. Four structural moments are distinguished and it is argued that only in the latter is his position decided. (shrink)

Se busca aclarar el tratamiento de Adam Smith al llamado problema de la “suerte moral”. Como la posición no es evidente ni simple, se muestra que la tesis afirma la existencia de la suerte moral consecuencial con base en el recurso al espectador imparcial. Para ello, se pone de relieve el sentido metódico de su proceder, y se ana-lizan ciertas cuestiones claves, como el carácter de la apelación a la naturaleza y de las justificaciones teleológicas. Se distinguen cuatro momentos estructurales (...) (cons-tatación de la paradoja, explicación, justificación social y decisión de la cuestión a partir del espectador imparcial) y se alega que solo en el último se decide su posición. (shrink)

The goal of this essay is to put forward an original theory of artifact function, which takes on board the results of the debate on the notion of biological function and also accommodates the distinctive aspects of artifacts. More precisely, the paper develops and defends the Dual-Aspect Theory, which is a monist account according to which an artifact’s function depends on intentional and reproductive aspects. It is argued that this approach meets a set of theoretical and meta-theoretical desiderata and is (...) superior to alternative views. (shrink)

The indeterminacy problem is one of the most prominent objections against naturalistic theories of content. In this essay I present this difficulty and argue that extant accounts are unable to solve it. Then, I develop a particular version of teleosemantics, which I call ’explanation-based teleosemantics’, and show how this outstanding problem can be addressed within the framework of a powerful naturalistic theory.

Street’s (Philos Stud 127(1):109–166, 2006) Darwinian Dilemma purports to show that evolutionary considerations are in tension with realist theories of value, which include moral realism. According to this argument, moral realism can only be defended by assuming an implausible tracking relation between moral attitudes and moral facts. In this essay, I argue that this tracking relation is not as implausible as most people have assumed by showing that the three main objections against it are flawed. Since this is a key (...) premise in the reasoning, I conclude that the Darwinian Dilemma against moral realism can be resisted. (shrink)

Deception has recently received a significant amount of attention. One of main reasons is that it lies at the intersection of various areas of research, such as the evolution of cooperation, animal communication, ethics or epistemology. This essay focuses on the biological approach to deception and argues that standard definitions put forward by most biologists and philosophers are inadequate. We provide a functional account of deception which solves the problems of extant accounts in virtue of two characteristics: deceptive states have (...) the function of causing a misinformative states and they do not necessarily provide direct benefits to the deceivers and losses to the targets. (shrink)

Vico no sólo reabre en la modernidad la contienda por la verdad, sino que emerge de nuevo en el discurso actual de la posmodernidad recordándonos la muerte del precario concepto insular del hombre centrado en la razón científica, de una racionalidad incompleta. Existe una deuda de la modernidad hacia la epistemología genética y la hermenéutica de la Scienza Nuova: que considera la poesia un modo de acceso a la verdad y aprecia en las ficciones poéticas el caracter de verdades. Esta (...) cuestión resulta determinante para apreciar la polérnica abierta entre modernidad y posmodernidad centrada en un replanteamiento dilucidador de la razón. En la búsqueda de una fundarnentación de la razón desde ella misma, la razón poética abre nuevas perspectivas y reconocidas posibilidades.Vico does not only reopen in the Modernity the dispute for the truth, but emerges again in today's discourse of the Postmodernism, reminding us of the dearth of the precarious insular concept of man centered in the scientific reason, of an incomplete rationality. There is a debt of Modernity towards the genetic epistemology and the hermeneutic of the New science that considers poetry a way of access to the truth and recognizes in poetical fictions the nature of truths. This subject becomes decisive to appreciate the open controversy betwen Modernity and Postmodernism, centered in an explanatory restatement of the reason. In the search of a foundation of the reason from itself the poetical reason opens new perspectlves and acknowledged possibilities. (shrink)

One of the main tenets of current teleosemantic theories is that simple representations are Pushmi-Pullyu states, i.e. they carry descriptive and imperative content at the same time. In the paper I present an argument that shows that if we add this claim to the core tenets of teleosemantics, then (1) it entails that, necessarily, all representations are Pushmi-Pullyu states and (2) it undermines one of the main motivations for the Pushmi-Pullyu account.

The goal of this essay is to assess the Selected-Effects Etiological Theory of biological function, according to which a trait has a function F if and only if it has been selected for F. First, I argue that this approach should be understood as describing the paradigm case of functions, rather than as establishing necessary and sufficient conditions for function possession. I contend that, interpreted in this way, the selected-effects approach can explain two central properties of functions and can satisfactorily (...) address some recent counterexamples. This reading, however, shows that there is only a partial overlap between biological functions and selected effects, so the former cannot be reduced to the latter. Finally, I maintain that this result is still compatible with a naturalistic theory of function that appeals to some evolutionary process. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss a recent theory on functions called Organizational Account. This theory seeks to provide a new definition of function that overcomes the distinction between etiological and dispositional accounts and that could be used in biology as well as in technology. I present a definition of function that I think captures the intuitions of Organizational Accounts and consider several objections.

Mendelovici (forthcoming) has recently argued that (1) tracking theories of mental representation (including teleosemantics) are incompatible with the possibility of reliable misrepresentation and that (2) this is an important difficulty for them. Furthermore, she argues that this problem commits teleosemantics to an unjustified a priori rejection of color eliminativism. In this paper I argue that (1) teleosemantics can accommodate most cases of reliable misrepresentation, (2) those cases the theory fails to account for are not objectionable and (3) teleosemantics is not (...) committed to any problematic view on the color realism-antirealism debate. (shrink)

Although the definition of ‘signal’ has been controversial for some time within the life sciences, current approaches seem to be converging toward a common analysis. This powerful framework can satisfactorily accommodate many cases of signaling and captures some of its main features. This paper argues, however, that there is a central feature of signals that so far has been largely overlooked: its special causal role. More precisely, I argue that a distinctive feature of signals is that they are minimal causes. (...) I explain this notion, suggest some strategies for identifying its instances and defend its relevance by means of conceptual and empirical considerations. (shrink)

There has recently been an explosion of formal models of signalling, which have been developed to learn about different aspects of meaning. This paper discusses whether that success can also be used to provide an original naturalistic theory of meaning in terms of information or some related notion. In particular, it argues that, although these models can teach us a lot about different aspects of content, at the moment they fail to support the idea that meaning just is some kind (...) of information. As an alternative, I suggest a more modest approach to the relationship between informational notions used in models and semantic properties in the natural world. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene lugar a partir de un estudio de caso autoetnográfico basado en experiencia de acoso laboral de la autora en una universidad española. El objetivo central del trabajo es examinar, desde un abordaje de ética aplicada, la compleja trama de poder en la que emergen y se desarrollan prácticas de violencia y acoso laboral en instituciones académicas y universitarias. Frente a los dispositivos que facilitan la perpetuación de estas prácticas de violencia y exclusión, así como su naturalización, (...) el artículo propone revisitarlas a la luz de los criterios de las éticas organizacionales y los liderazgos morales, en aras de enriquecer las herramientas ya existentes en distintas universidades para detectar acoso y promover éticas colectivas. El artículo argumenta la necesidad de potenciar las estrategias multimodales contra el acoso laboral en la academia, a fin de que realmente sean efectivas y no parte de protocolos meramente formales. Finalmente, se propone apelar a una profunda crítica desde la ética filosófica en torno a los discursos y prácticas de acoso laboral académico y universitario, para erradicar las violencias no sólo en estas instituciones sino en cualquier ámbito de la vida social. ABSTRACT This article arises from an autoethnographic case study based on the author’s experience of harassment at work in a Spanish university. The main objective is to examine from an approach of applied ethics, the complex web of power in which emerge and develop practices of violence and harassment in academic and university institutions. Against the dispositive that facilitate the perpetuation of these practices of violence and exclusion, as well as their naturalization; the article proposes to revisit them in the light of the criteria of organizational ethics and moral leaderships, to enrich the tools already existing in different universities to detect mobbing and promote collective ethics of others. The article shows and argues the need to strengthen and radicalize the multimodal strategies to eradicate mobbing in the academy and the university so that they are effective and not part of merely formal protocols. Finally, it proposes to appeal to a deep criticism from the philosophy and ethics around the speeches and practices of academic and university mobbing to eradicate violence not only in these institutions but in any area of social life. (shrink)

Se muestran los resultados de una investigación sobre la utilidad didáctica del paisaje sonoro y visual que se desarrolla en la Facultad de Magisterio de la Universidad de Valencia. Siguiendo una metodología mixta con cuestionarios cualitativos y cuantitativos se analiza la concepción que los futuros profesores tienen del paisaje agrario y sus posibilidades como recurso educativo. La muestra ha estado formada por 146 profesores en formación del Grado de Maestro en Primaria. Los resultados muestran que el paisaje sonoro y visual (...) mejora la comprensión de los fenómenos naturales desde una aproximación interdisciplinar y favorece el desarrollo competencial del profesorado. (shrink)

Ethological theories usually attribute semantic content to animal signals. To account for this fact, many biologists and philosophers appeal to some version of teleosemantics. However, this picture has recently came under attack: while mainstream teleosemantics assumes that representational systems must cooperate, some biologists and philosophers argue that in certain cases signaling can evolve within systems lacking common interest. In this paper I defend the standard view from this objection.

In a series of papers, Bence Nanay has recently put forward and defended a new theory of function, which he calls the ‘Modal Theory of Function’. In this article, I critically address this theory and argue that it fails to fulfill some key desiderata that a satisfactory theory of function must comply with. As a result, I conclude that, whatever property Nanay’s notion of function refers to, it is not the property having the function that is standardly attributed in science.

The goal of this essay is to put forward an original theory of artifact function, which takes on board the results of the debate on the notion of biological function and also accommodates the distinctive aspects of artifacts. More precisely, the paper develops and defends the Dual-Aspect Theory, which is a monist account according to which an artifact’s function depends on intentional and reproductive aspects. It is argued that this approach meets a set of theoretical and meta-theoretical desiderata and is (...) superior to alternative views. (shrink)

In this essay I introduce the question of artifactual functions in the context of the recent debate on the notion of function. I discuss some of the desiderata a satisfactory account should fulfill and compare them to the desiderata for a theory of biological functions. Finally, within this general framework, I briefly present the three papers included in this volume.

Recent research on bacteria and other microorganisms has provided interesting insights into the nature of life, cooperation, evolution, individuality or species. In this paper, I focus on the capacity of bacteria to produce molecules that are usually classified as ’signals’ and I defend two claims. First, I argue that certain interactions between bacteria should actually qualify as genuine forms of communication. Second, I use this case study to revise our general theories of signaling. Among other things, I argue that a (...) plausible requirement for a state to qualify as a signal is that it is a minimal cause. (shrink)

We explore the contribution made by oscillatory, synchronous neural activity to representation in the brain. We closely examine six prominent examples of brain function in which neural oscillations play a central role, and identify two levels of involvement that these oscillations take in the emergence of representations: enabling (when oscillations help to establish a communication channel between sender and receiver, or are causally involved in triggering a representation) and properly representational (when oscillations are a constitutive part of the representation). We (...) show that even an idealized informational sender–receiver account of representation makes the representational status of oscillations a non-trivial matter, which depends on rather minute empirical details. (shrink)

We defend the moral and legal right to secede in accordance with plebiscitary theory. Our paper has three main goals. First, by offering a schematic characterization of plebiscitary theory, the main arguments in its favour (and the main objections to them), we contribute to clarify the structure of this complex debate. Second, we stress the point that, if the moral right to secede is established, the resistance for its inclusion into positive law is unjustified. Finally, by addressing old and new (...) objections to plebiscitary theory, we hope to make a compelling case for a wider recognition of secessionist rights. (shrink)

This paper deals with the equilibria of games when the agents have multiple objectives and, therefore, their utilities cannot be represented by a single value, but by a vector containing the various dimensions of the utility. Our approach allows the incorporation of partial information about the preferences of the agents into the model, and permits the identification of the set of equilibria in accordance with this information. We also propose an additional conservative criterion which can be applied in this framework (...) in order to predict the results of interaction. The potential application of the theoretical results is shown with an analysis of a mixed oligopoly in which the agents value additional objectives other than their own benefit. These objectives are related to social welfare and to the profit of the industry. The flexibility of our approach provides a general theoretical framework for the analysis of a wide range of strategic economic models. (shrink)

In this paper I defend a teleological explanation of normativity, i. e., I argue that what an organism is supposed to do is determined by its etiological function. In particular, I present a teleological account of the normativity that arises in learning processes, and I defend it from some objections.