This study investigates the effects on organization’s financial performances of, first, the extent to which the organizations are involved in controversial business activities, and second, their level of social performance. These companies can be considered non-socially responsible given the harmful nature of the activities they are involved in. Managers of these companies may still have incentives to pursue socially responsible actions if they believe that engaging on those actions will help them to achieve legitimacy and improve investors’ perception about them. (...) We develop a comprehensive methodology to investigate these corporate social performance (CSP)-related effects in a complex but specific setting. To this end, we analyze a sample of 202 US firms for the period 2005–2008 using a novel method in this area: partial least squares. Our results indicate that, contrary to the general findings in prior literature, companies involved in controversial business activities which engage in CSP do not directly reduce the negative perception that stakeholders have about them. Instead, we found evidence of a positive mediation effect of CSP on financial market-based performance through innovation. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with moral experimentalism, which I describe as the stance according to which moral inquiry is grounded not in objective foundations nor in our subjective inclinations but in our active encounter with things and events and in our communicative interactions with others. The notion of moral inquiry as grounded in objective foundations and that as based on subjective inclinations have traditionally been conceived of not as two independent possibilities but as the two poles of a dramatic Either/Or (...) that has profoundly conditioned, and still does, our perception of and approach to disagreements and conflicts. When the pragmatists, particularly Dewey, advanced the idea of an experimental approach to moral issues, they put it forward as an alternative to these extreme positions and, therefore, as a way out of what they perceived, I think correctly, as a false and pernicious dichotomy. The paper is divided into three parts: In the first section, I set the theoretical foundation of experimentalism as conceived of by the American pragmatists, in particular Peirce and Dewey. In the second part, and drawing mainly on Dewey’s Logic, I explore the procedural implications derived from the application of experimentalism to practice. In the third section, I consider the particularities of the application of experimentalism to the realm of ethics. As I argue, experimentalism is not only a promising approach to moral problems but perhaps the only effective remedy for the increasingly irrational attitudes with which they are today addressed. (shrink)

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare and epidemiology undoubtedly has many benefits for the population. However, due to its environmental impact, the use of AI can produce social inequalities and long-term environmental damages that may not be thoroughly contemplated. In this paper, we propose to consider the impacts of AI applications in medical care from the One Health paradigm and long-term global health. From health and environmental justice, rather than settling for a short and fleeting green honeymoon between (...) health and sustainability caused by AI, it should aim for a lasting marriage. To this end, we conclude by proposing that, in the upcoming years, it could be valuable and necessary to promote more interconnected health, call for environmental cost transparency, and increase green responsibility. (shrink)

Trataremos los diseños más icónicos “hechos en España” durante la década del boom de los años ochenta. Son numerosas las publicaciones que se hacen eco de ellos, no obstante, nuestra aportación radica en ponerlos en relación con el diseño internacional de esa misma década tomando como referencia los diseños premiados en los Premios Delta del diseño español y la colección del MoMA (disponible online), puesto que es un referente en cuanto a que fue uno de los primeros museos de arte (...) contemporáneo que musealizó objetos de diseño y valoró su componente estético, su funcionalidad y su innovación tecnológica. (shrink)

This article studies the origin and continuity of the identity of the entities inscribed in a distributed ledger. Specifically, it focuses on the differences between the identities of the entities that exist in a distributed ledger and those of the entities that exist outside the ledger but must be represented in the ledger in order to interact with it. It suggests that a distributed ledger that contains representations of entities that exist outside the ledger can yield a continuum of interconnected (...) existing and past identities that is constantly redefined to represent new conceptual entities. This continuum can be understood as a metasortal—or a sortal of sortals—that resembles the mathematical structure of a set of sets. Further, the article presents the dilemma that arises when representing the identities of entities in a distributed ledger, and it draws an analogy between this dilemma and Russell's Paradox. (shrink)

BackgroundUmbilical cord banks are a central component, as umbilical cord tissue providers, in both medical treatment and scientific research with stem cells. But, whereas the creation of umbilical cord banks is seen as successful practice, it is perceived as a risky style of play by others. This article examines and discusses the ethical, medical and legal considerations that arise from the operation of umbilical cord banks in Mexico.DiscussionA number of experts have stated that the use of umbilical cord goes beyond (...) the mere utilization of human tissues for the purpose of treatment. This tissue is also used in research studies: genetic studies, studies to evaluate the effectiveness of new antibiotics, studies to identify new proteins, etc. Meanwhile, others claim that the law and other norms for the functioning of cord banks are not consistent and are poorly defined. Some of these critics point out that the confidentiality of donor information is handled differently in different places. The fact that private cord banks offer their services as "biological insurance" in order to obtain informed consent by promising the parents that the tissue that will be stored insures the health of their child in the future raises the issue of whether the consent is freely given or given under coercion. Another consideration that must be made in relation to privately owned cord banks has to do with the ownership of the stored umbilical cord.SummaryConflicts between moral principles and economic interests (non-moral principles) cause dilemmas in the clinical practice of umbilical cord blood storage and use especially in privately owned banks. This article presents a reflection and some of the guidelines that must be followed by umbilical cord banks in order to deal with these conflicts. This reflection is based on the fundamental notions of ethics and public health and seeks to be a contribution towards the improvement of umbilical cord banks' performance. (shrink)

The subject of this paper is to deep in the way that Guzmán planned to make effective social participation in an authoritarian context like Pinochet's Chile (1973-1990). We will see how Guzmán considered civil participation as an essential requirement in order to get a modern democracy which would be opened in Chile after the military dictatorship. He supported this idea through the concepts of subsidiarity State and liberal economy policy.

Transhumanism is a challenging movement that invites us to rethink what defines humanity, including what we value and regret the most about our existence. Vulnerability is a key concept that require thorough philosophical scrutiny concerning transhumanist proposals. Vulnerability can refer to a universal condition of human life or, rather, to the specific exposure to certain harms due to particular situations. Even if we are all vulnerable in the first sense, there are also different sources and levels of vulnerability depending on (...) concrete social circumstances. Recently, Michael Hauskeller argued about a fundamental incompatibility between transhumanism and vulnerability. He understands vulnerability as an existential category, linked to woundability and mortality. This idea is akin to ontological vulnerability, but it does not notice some important features of social vulnerability. On the other side, transhumanism is a complex and non-homogeneous movement. Here we distinguish between a strong and a weak version of transhumanism. We will propose that the salience of vulnerability is only diminished in the radical one, while a moderate version can reconcile vulnerability with human enhancement. Thus, vulnerability, a concept that has recently gained much importance as an anthropological category in contemporary ethics, is not necessarily at odds with any transhumanist project. (shrink)

The author outlines a spiritually oriented model of cosmic education inspired by Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The description of the general principles of this Nondual Vedantic Cosmic Education (NVCE) will be preceded by a brief review of the writings of two Indian authors, Vivekananda and Aurobindo, who led the revitalisation of nondual vedantic philosophy. In order to utilize the nondual vedantic spiritual wisdom as a curriculum substrate for teaching/learning processes in classrooms, the NVCE model uses some core ideas from Ken Wilber’s (...) Integral Theory, which can serve as an interface theory between nondual vedantic philosophy and this new conception of cosmic education. NVCE will be organized around three main curriculum realms: a) “Purifying the mind”, b) “Controlling the Mind” and c) “Expanding the Mind”. These three curriculum realms are shown to respectively correspond with three processes in Wilber’s Integral Theory, such as a) Show Up, b) Wake Up and c) Grow Up), and also with the four classical yogas mentioned in the wisdom traditions of Hinduism: a) Bakhti Yoga and Karma Yoga, b) Raja Yoga and c) Jnana Yoga. The author holds that this world has no future unless spirituality becomes the substrate of educational processes. In NVCE, which is a proposal to raise the educational building from spiritual pillars, to educate is to guide others and ourselves on the path that leads to the nondual experience. From the nondual vedantic perspective, cosmic education is the path through which human beings progressively dissolve their limited individualities into the nature of God. (shrink)

Para algunos la empatía es “el centro del universo moral”, mientras que para otros juega un papel secundario o, en todo caso, éticamente poco fiable. Acudiendo tanto a sus precursores filosóficos –como Hume y Smith–, como a sus investigadores contemporáneos en el campo de la psicología – como Hoffman y Batson–, este artículo elabora una defensa ponderada del papel de la empatía en la motivación, el desarrollo y el juicio morales, reconociendo sus limitaciones.

En cada época y en cada civilización existen problemas socialmente importantes que son objeto de especial atención. Son hechos que, por su ámbito de extensión o por su gravedad, tienen una gran resonancia. Es lo que en las últimas décadas ocurre con las adicciones, que constituyen uno de los trastornos emblemáticos de nuestra sociedad.

The theme of the other (autrui) in Deleuze is confused with the double task of articulating a new perspective of the sense while questioning the traditional image of thought. This opens up ground from which to analyze this theme in the work of Deleuze which although is systematically visible in Différence et répétition (1968) and Logique du sens (1969) some elements of are discernable in Proust et les signes (1964). This study addresses the idea that the territory of the other (...) is the sense as identified in these three texts. Further ideas will also be introduced that center on the face and the manner in which it reformulates ties to sense. As suggested in Deleuze, a type of thinking is installed in the opening to the other, however not necessarily entering into the registry of morality nor of knowledge. (shrink)

The Turing Machine presents itself as the very landmark and initial design of digital automata present in all modern general-purpose digital computers and whose design on computable numbers implies deeply ontological as well as epistemological foundations for today’s computers. These lines of work attempt to briefly analyze the fundamental epistemological problem that rose in the late 19th and early 20th century whereby “machine cognition” emerges. The epistemological roots addressed in the TM and notably in its “Halting Problem” uncovers the tension (...) between determinism and uncertainty, regarded here as the primal and inherent features of machine cognition. Resumen La Máquina de Turing se presenta como el hito y el diseño inicial de un autómata digital presente en todas las computadoras digitales modernas de propósito general y cuyo diseño en números computables establece bases profundamente ontológicas y epistemológicas para las computadoras de hoy. Estas líneas de trabajo intentan analizar brevemente el problema epistemológico fundamental que surgió a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX mediante el cual emerge la “cognición de la máquina”. Las raíces epistemológicas que se abordan en la TM y, en particular, en su “Problema de detención” ponen al descubierto la tensión entre el determinismo y la incertidumbre, consideradas aquí, como las características primordiales e inherentes de la cognición de la máquina. (shrink)

Ortega y Gasset’s old lament that no one had so far attempted a rigorous phenomenology of pain no longer holds since the appearance of Christian Grüny’s recent monograph Zerstörte Erfahrung. Eine Phänomenologie des Schmerzes. Grüny argues for the use of phenomenological categories from Merleau-Ponty in order to understand physical pain as a “blocked escape-movement” , concluding that corporeal suffering makes impossible both a clean distinction and a pure identification between the lived body and the physical body that I am. In (...) my paper, I would like to suggest some improvements to Grüny’s approach through the utilization of the category of self-affection, as the material phenomenology of Michel Henry has developed it. In addition to the radical immanence in which hyle, noesis, and noema are unified into a “carnal cogito,” however, I argue that it is necessary to describe the painful self-affection not only in terms of any sensitive excess whatever , as Grüny posits, but also in terms of a mutation of the sensitive excess into the intra-tactile sphere of sensibility. Thus I endorse the Husserlian insight that makes tactility the primordial structure of sensibility. (shrink)

El feedback correctivo escrito ha demostrado ser efectivo para el tratamiento de ciertas estructuras gramaticales ; sin embargo, persisten factores que dificultan realizar conclusiones categóricas al respecto. Algunos de estos corresponden al tipo de las formas que se benefician de un tratamiento como este, a los distintos contextos de aprendizaje investigados, a los diversos niveles de competencia lingüística de los participantes, entre otros. La presente investigación estudia dos estrategias de FCE indirecto; a saber, indirecto con indicación y localización e indirecto (...) con indicación, localización y explicación metalingüística, en el tratamiento de la forma comparativa de adjetivos en inglés a nivel escolar. Los objetivos son examinar la efectividad del FCE y robustecer la evidencia empírica en contextos de aprendizaje que han sido insuficientemente indagados. Este primer acercamiento constituye una aproximación inédita que contribuye al fortalecimiento y al aumento de la evidencia empírica existente en el ámbito del FCE. La muestra del estudio correspondió a 24 estudiantes de 8° año de enseñanza primaria con un nivel básico de competencia lingüística en el idioma inglés como lengua extranjera. Los resultados muestran que ambos tipos de feeback promueven el uso preciso de la forma estudiada pero el FCE indirecto con indicación y localización del error es el que consigue mayores logros que se mantienen en el tiempo. Estos antecedentes sugieren una acción facilitadora del FCE en el tratamiento de la forma gramatical apuntada. (shrink)

RESUMENEl tratamiento que el arte más vanguardista ha dado a la relación con lo cotidiano, rompiendo las fronteras entre arte y vida, ha tenido una influencia palpable en nuestros comportamientos actuales a la luz de los medios, especialmente televisión e internet. Hoy, nuestra relación con lo cotidiano en gran medida se teje en el mundo internet, que constituye un espacio de socialización y configuración de la identidad. Los valores presentes en la forma de relacionarnos con lo cotidiano han ido experimentando (...) cambios que hoy se dirían ambivalentes: gesto vital-artístico y parte del dispositivo neoliberal de la transparencia. El recorrido por esta relación, poniendo en un mismo escenario voces de procedencias diversas, nos conduce hasta el planteamiento no exento de controversias de nuestra identidad y nuestra vida como una creación artística.PALABRAS CLAVESOCIALIZACIÓN, MEDIOS, ARTISTAS DE LA VIDA, AUTODETERMINACIÓN, BÚSQUEDA-CONTROLABSTRACTThe way in which the most vanguardist art has approached the relation with everyday life, breaking the barriers between art and life, has had a tangible influence on our current behaviour in lights of Mass Media, especially television and Internet. Nowadays, our relationship with day-to-day life develops, to a great extent, in the Internet world, which constitutes a space for socialization and profiling our identity. The values that accompany the way in which we establish the link with everyday life have been undergoing changes that nowadays could be considered as ambivalent: vital artistic gesture and a part of neoliberal mechanism of transparency. The overview of this relation, including voices from various sources, leads us to a conclusion, not at all devoid of controversies, regarding our identity and our life as an artistic creationKEYWORDSSOCIALIZATION, MEDIA, ARTISTS OF LIFE, SELF-DETERNINATION, A SEARCH-CONTROL. (shrink)

Observational studies have suggested that some nonhuman primates’ cooperative behavior may rely on their capacity to share goals and understand the role of their partners. Experimental studies have tried to find evidence for this under controlled conditions, investigating aspects like the degree of organization in different primate species and the individuals’ capacity to recognize and choose good partners, switch roles with them, and care about their outcomes. Often, the results have been mixed. Partly, this is because of the methodological difficulties (...) inherent to empirical research. In this paper, I offer a critical, methodological review of the experimental studies done in the last years on nonhuman primates’ cooperation, I discuss their findings, and suggest possible solutions to some of the procedural problems. Hopefully, this will contribute to improve the design of future studies and therefore our knowledge about the evolutionary history of cooperation. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments are proliferating at an astonishing rate. Unsurprisingly, the number of meaningful studies addressing the social impacts of AI applications in several fields has been remarkable. More recently, several contributions have started exploring the ecological impacts of AI. Machine learning systems do not have a neutral environmental cost, so it is important to unravel the ecological footprint of these techno-scientific developments. In this chapter, we discuss the sustainability of AI from environmental ethics approaches. We examine the moral (...) trade-offs that AI may cause in different moral dimensions and analyse prominent conflicts that may arise from human and more-than-human-centred concerns. (shrink)

Ensayo sobre la contraposición rostro/máscara, donde por 'rostro' se entiende aquello que singulariza a cada ser humano, aquello que hace visible su ser único y valioso, mientras que por 'máscara' se hace alusión a aquello que oculta esa singularidad, aquello que lo remite a una categoría, a un este..

La novela ha sido consagrada como una de las “técnicas de experiencia vicaria” fundamentales, que adiestran nuestra habilidad para ponernos en la piel de otras personas. No han sido pocos los que han visto un claro efecto moral en esa permanente exploración de la alteridad. El artículo repasa los argumentos de los entusiastas de esa idea, los que creen que leer novelas nos hace más empáticos y solidarios; de los moderados, quienes consideran que ayuda ante todo a ejercitar nuestro juicio (...) moral, y de los escépticos, que apenas encuentran ningún fin moral en ese hábito. Revisa a continuación algunas complejidades del desarrollo moral, que hacen improbable una fácil conexión, y termina distinguiendo los modos en que la lectura de novelas sí puede contribuir a cultivar la humanidad que hay en nosotros y a ahondar en el humanitarismo. (shrink)

En este artículo pretendemos dar cuenta del desenvolvimiento que tuvo la filosofía moderno-contemporánea y el llamado pensamiento postmetafísico, a partir de Edmund Husserl. Alrededor las categorías fenomenológicas de método y de sentido enunciamos un gesto de apertura a la filosofía contemporánea la cual asume distintos matices que pretenden que la actividad filosófica vaya más allá de sí misma.

Sovereignty was not only a theory for the proper law of a State but a way of taking away the autonomy of the prophetic spirit and subject to the dialectics of state and government interests. Sovereignty implies that there is no force that operates outside the power capable of regenerating and bring salvation to a people corrupt. Sovereignty involves the creation of a mirage, the manifestation of the free spirit of the people is a product or invention of state power. (...) The homogenization and depersonalization of the people is the result of the struggle to gain freedom and equality, but the intent for this freedom and equality does not entail the collapse of imperial force. (shrink)

Tafalla, Marta.Ecoanimal: Una estética plurisensorial ecologista y animalistaMadrid: Plaza y Valdés Editores. Dilemata, 362 p.ISBN 978-84-17121-20-4.

Las dificultades del partido Demócrata durante el período de gobierno de George Bush, han hecho visibles carencias importantes en el modelo tradicional de la comprensión política. La noción de racionalidad vinculada a este implica una valoración excesiva de la verdad como condición de la obtención de un poder. Consecuentemente, se comenten errores en la identificación de las relaciones de dominación implícitas en un debate político, y no funcionan las estrategias críticas con las que se enfrenta al adversario. Analizamos los supuestos (...) generales de este modelo, destacamos su presencia histórica y presentamos una de las formas en que se estarían replanteando los objetivos generales del discurso político actual. (shrink)

In this interview, James L. McClelland responds to questions regarding connectionist models of cognition, a theory inspired by information processing in the brain. McClelland explains the distinction between symbolic and non-symbolic processing for a better understanding of mental processes. He argues that connectionist models can perform the computations which we know the brain can perform. In addition, he responds to several general questions on the perspectives of computational models of cognition.

La Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas aprobó la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos el 10 de diciembre de 1948, su artículo 26 reconocía el derecho a la educación de todas las personas, la gratuidad y obligatoriedad en los niveles elementales. La igualdad de oportunidades en el acceso a los estudios superiores, el derecho de los padres a escoger el tipo de educación de sus hijos y concretaba el objetivo de la misma como el pleno desarrollo de la personalidad (...) humana y el fortalecimiento del respeto a los derechos humanos y a las libertades fundamentales. Esta Declaración fue el punto de partida de la Comisión constitucional del Congreso de los Diputados encargada de elaborar la Constitución de 1978, para desarrollar el artículo sobre el derecho a la educación. (shrink)

La filosofía, como "toma de posición razonada respecto a la totalidad de lo real", constituye todavía hoy, en la modernidad tardía, quizás no un saber propiamente dicho, pero sí, en todo caso, una "sabiduría buscada" ; una sabiduría que se constituye por relación a la razón y que no renuncia a abordar las cuestiones últimas, fundamentales y metafísicas. El filósofo resulta, pues, guardián de una tradición de inquietudes y problemas intelectuales hondamente humanos que no deben ser acallados. Para ellos la (...) ciencia no tiene una adecuada solución, pero permanecen ahí incitando al pensamiento e invitando a superar toda concepción positivista de la razón. ¿Cómo hacer compatible la pervivencia actuante de esa tradición y el irrenunciable criticismo que hacia la misma mantiene, por razones sobradamente justificadas, la racionalidad ilustrada? He aquí quizá una de las tareas más difíciles, pero también más estimulantes, que tiene ante sí la filosofía actual. (shrink)