Gregory Bateson is well known for defining information by stating “In fact what we mean by information – the elementary unit of information – is a difference which makes a difference…” This conceptual perspective has the merit of simplicity and generality. Simplicity, in addressing the complexity of information. Generality, in seeking applicability to any and every field of human experience. The purpose of this paper is to focus the applicability of this conceptual approach by Bateson and use it to perform (...) a calculation of taking the difference between two grey-level digital images that are shifted one relative to the other. The digital images take the place of the field of view that a human being would have access through her sense of vision at two different spatial/temporal instances. The results show that it is possible to highlight the edges of the objects under scrutiny, as well as to highlight other differences within the object. Bateson’s “difference that makes a difference” would seem to provide a first step in the elusive meaning making process of humans. (shrink)

Este trabajo pretende demostrar que, en la filosofía de Bruno, la vicisitud universal es la explicación metafísica del devenir cósmico y su constitutiva movilidad. La materia infinita del universo es una unidad vital al amparo de la ley de la mutación cíclica, cuya consecuencia ineludible es la armonía de los contrarios. El destino del hombre es hallar la verdad subyacente en el ritmo vícisitudinario de lo real, y para ello deberá alcanzar la sabiduría y transcenderla por el amor heroico.

A summation of the work of one of the most influential and provocative interpreters of science, it aims at saving what is good and valuable in modernity and ...

En este artículo se revisan los avances, los desafíos y las particularidades de la ciencia abierta en la investigación cualitativa. En particular se analiza la apertura de datos porque tiene menor avance en comparación con la publicación en repositorios y revistas de acceso libre. Se revisan los criterios de validez en la investigación cualitativa en ciencias sociales, para identificar algunos elementos que fomenten la apertura de datos, ya que, mientras se plantee como una vía para replicar resultados de investigación, tendrá (...) poco eco en la comunidad que practica la investigación cualitativa. Sin embargo, el artículo muestra que el compartir datos puede fortalecer las estrategias de verificación cualitativa y preservar el conocimiento, las experiencias, las historias y los contextos cotidianos de las personas participantes. (shrink)

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adolescents. People who have this disorder are characterized by presenting difficulties in the processes of sustained attention, being very active, and having poor control of their impulses. Despite the high prevalence of this disorder and the existence of various tests used for its diagnosis, few data are available regarding the usefulness and diagnostic validity of these tools. Given the difficulties that these subjects present in executive functions, (...) the aim of this study was to evaluate whether the Neuropsychological Assessment of Executive Functions battery for Children allows to establish specific profiles of executive performance for people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The sample was made up of 197 participants of both sexes, aged between 6 and 12 years age. A nonexperimental design was followed, using a comparative descriptive study method. The results indicated that the scales of phonological fluency, color path, rings, and interference are the most associated with the diagnosis of ADHD, providing data on inhibition, mental flexibility, sustained and selective attention, planning, verbal fluency, and working memory, among others. The practical implication of these results is in line with providing support in the clinical diagnosis that is carried out in children’s mental health units. In addition, the ENFEN tool can be valued as a suitable psychometric instrument in the psychoeducational field, helping professionals in a school environment to be more aware of the areas of cognitive development in which a student diagnosed with ADHD will have more difficulties and, in doing so, providing more adjusted and effective psychopedagogical measures when it comes to supporting students in their adaptation to the school environment. (shrink)

From the book: What is to be done with political ecology? Nothing. What is to be done? Political ecology!

The Great Palace of Constantinople has been subject to several investigations since the second half of the nineteenth century. All of them have been mostly concerned with the topographical, architectural and typological development of the imperial residence, leaving aside questions such as toponymics. This paper will deal with this issue taking into consideration the name of the complex of buildings that once was the core of the Constantinian Palace, the Daphne. Doing so, we will better understand the denomination of the (...) Palace, and shed light on the functions related to several spaces, the courtly ritual and, in short, the representation of power through architecture in an imperial context. Besides, the present enquiry will challenge some topographical assumptions on the complex. (shrink)

Resumen En el presente artículo repasaremos someramente algunos de los hitos más reseñables de la historia militar del Imperio Romano Tardío, haciendo hincapié en el papel de los bárbaros que luchaban junto a los romanos, puesto que la barbarización del ejercito romano ha sido uno de los puntos de referencia en las investigaciones acerca de la decadencia y caída del Imperio Romano. En este sentido, haremos referencia al papel integrador que tuvo el ejército romano durante buena parte de la historia (...) del Imperio Romano, y señalaremos los principales hechos que condujeron al final de dicho papel; esbozando también las desastrosas consecuencias que tuvo este hecho para el futuro del Imperio, especialmente del Occidental. Palabras clave: Bárbaros, ejército, integración, migración, godos, reclutamiento.In this article we will briefly review some of the most important milestones in the military history of the Late Roman Empire. In it we will emphasize the role of the barbarians who fought with the Romans, since the barbarización of the Roman army is one of the points of reference in the investigations about the decay and fall of the Roman Empire. In this sense, we will refer to the role played by the Roman army in the integration of foreigners during a large part of the history of the Roman Empire. In addition, we will point out the main events that led to the end of this integrating role; we will also indicate the disastrous consequences this fact had for the future of the Empire, especially for the Western part. Key words: Barbarians, army, integration, migration, goths, recruitment. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to assess the predictive capacity of some of the most relevant cognitive skills pertaining to the academic field as measured by the Spanish Primary School Aptitude Test Battery. This psychometric tool was applied to all students who were enrolled in the final year of Early Childhood Education in the public schools of the province of Alicante and a follow-up of their academic progress was carried out when they completed Primary Education. The results obtained show (...) that medium-high and high scores in Verbal Aptitude and Numerical Aptitude tests in Early Childhood Education, can predict academic success at the end of Primary Education in instrumental subjects such as: Language and Mathematics. We have determined the importance of developing pedagogical programs that stimulate the development of these skills during Early Childhood Education, while implementing support strategies during Primary Education, for those students who present underdeveloped aptitudes in these areas. In this way, school difficulties would be prevented in the instrumental subjects that provide access to other academic areas. (shrink)

This article reviews the development, challenges, and specificities of open data in qualitative research. Particularly, open data is analyzed because it is relatively less developed as compared to publication in repositories and open access journals. Validity criteria of qualitative research in the social sciences are reviewed in order to identify some of the elements that encourage data openness. As long as data openness is viewed as a way to replicate research results, it’s resonance in the community of qualitative research practitioners (...) will be limited. Nevertheless, the article shows that sharing data might strengthen qualitative verification strategies, as well as preserve the knowledge, experiences, stories, and everyday contexts of the participants. (shrink)

Mediante el recurso que Rorty emplea para argumentar que Heidegger no ha dejado el canon Platón-Kant, vamos a mostrar que el mismo Rorty no puede salir del planteamiento platónico. Para ello nuestro artículo se divide en dos partes principales. En primer lugar, sistematizaremos la inversión de Heidegger que Rorty dejó meramente apuntada en «Overcoming the Tradition: Heidegger and Dewey», rastreando los supuestos ontológicos y epistemológicos en los que el pragmatista se basó para llevar a cabo su peculiar lectura de Heidegger. (...) Después, evidenciaremos que la técnica de inversión y recontextualización que emplea Rorty con Heidegger pueden volverse contra él y no permitirle salir de la matriz platónica. (shrink)

El artículo examina el origen del proyecto rortiano de acabar con la imagen única de Platón. En su escrito autobiográfico, Trotsky las orquídeas silvestres, Rorty describe su trayectoria filosófica y presenta su alternativa a Platón como pensada desde su más pronta juventud. Sin embargo, como vamos a mostrar, el proyecto central de acabar con la imagen única de Platón no es algo que esté pensado ni se dé desde un principio en sus obras. Defendemos que, pese a lo que el (...) propio Rorty indicó en sus escritos, encontramos indicios de que no es hasta la década de los noventa que Rorty piensa en elaborar una nueva relación alternativa al léxico último de Platón. (shrink)

A tendência de algumas visões naturalistas de deduzir o sentido da ação humana da sua natureza biológica conduz a naturalizar a violência como fenômeno político inexorável. A violência naturalizada leva a sociedade para a dinâmica da inexorável violência, cuja única solução é a legitimação de uma violência total. Propomos, neste ensaio, a desconstrução crítica dos determinismos naturalistas por meio da análise da ação humana e da especificidade de sua potência que se manifesta como potência criadora (Cornelius Castoriadis) e potência do (...) não (Giorgio Agamben). A potência da ação humana transcende os determinismos da sua natureza biológica, embora por eles esteja condicionada. The tendency some naturalist visions have to deduce the meaning of human action from their biological nature, leads to a naturalization of violence as an inexorable political phenomenon. Naturalized violence leads the society towards the dynamics of inexorable violence, whose only solution is legitimazing total violence. In this article we propose the critical deconstruction of naturalistic determinism by means of the analysis of human action and the specificity of its power, which is manifested as creative power (Cornelius Castoriadis) and power of no (Giorgio Agamben). The power of human action transcends the biological determinisms of its biologic nature, although the power of human action is conditioned by them. (shrink)

From the earliest days of its history, Brazil has been a favoured ‘laboratory’ for ethnic, cultural and religious hybridization. The absence or scarcity of white women and the temptations of sexual exoticism drove the Portuguese discoverers, and with them sailors from Normandy, Brittany and Poitou, to have relations with Indian women they chanced to meet, thus creating a race of coloured people, oddly called mamelucos, later cabocles (of mixed white and Indian ethnicity). Afterwards, the very substantial recourse to the Negro (...) slave trade and to manpower of African slave origin because of the requirements of the sugarcane economy (which remained predominant for a long time, especially in the Nordeste region of Bahia and Pernambuco), as well as the numerical imbalance of the sexes, characterized by a great predominance of men, popularized concubinage - all the more so because the Catholic Church was extremely reluctant to sanction interethnic unions with the sacrament of marriage. The Jesuits even recommended the despatch of white prostitutes or women condemned by common law (degredadas), for whom Brazil would furnish the opportunity for redemption, in order to avoid or reduce the number of unions of this kind. Thus, concubinage was the most common vehicle of miscegenation in Brazil. (shrink)

I argue against the interpretation of propositions as intentions and proof-objects as fulfillments proposed by Heyting and defended by Tieszen and van Atten. The idea is already a frequent target of criticisms regarding the incompatibility of Brouwer’s and Husserl’s positions, mainly by Rosado Haddock and Hill. I raise a stronger objection in this paper. My claim is that even if we grant that the incompatibility can be properly dealt with, as van Atten believes it can, two fundamental issues indicate that (...) the interpretation is unsustainable regardless: (1) it is hard to determine, without appealing to propositional intentions on pain of circularity, what intention a proof-object should be understood as a fulfillment of; (2) due to a difficult fulfillment dilemma, it is unclear, at best, what the object of an intention corresponding to a proposition is. (shrink)

This paper argues that there is a class of terms, or uses of terms, that are best accounted for by an expressivist account. We put forward two sets of criteria to distinguish between expressive and factual terms. The first set relies on the action-guiding nature of expressive language. The second set relies on the difference between one's evidence for making an expressive vs. factual statement. We then put those criteria to work to show, first, that the basic evaluative adjectives such (...) as ‘good’ have expressive as well as factual uses and, second, that many adjectives whose primary meanings are factual, such as ‘powerful’, also have expressive uses. (shrink)

Throughout his career, Schelling assigns knowledge of the absolute first principle of philosophy to intellectual intuition. Schelling's doctrine of intellectual intuition raises two important questions for interpreters. First, given that his doctrine undergoes several changes before and after his identity philosophy, to what extent can he be said to “hold onto” the same “sense” of it by the 1830s, as he claims? Second, given that his doctrine of intellectual intuition restricts absolute idealism to what he calls a “science of reason”, (...) which he says cannot prove the absolute’s existence, what other doctrine does he require in order to prove this? I will answer these questions by tracing the shifts in Schelling’s doctrine of intellectual intuition from the 1790s to the 1830s and drawing out its evolving methodological role within his science of intelligibility. (shrink)

Aproximación al análisis formal de la imagen, desde un punto de vista perceptivo y organizativo en el proceso artístico personal de alumnos que cursan la asignatura de Análisis de la Imagen y la Forma de la Universidad de Zaragoza. A través de la Historia de la Imagen se apuesta por estudios prácticos que posibiliten la comprensión de los fundamentos de la comunicación visual, desde su perspectiva estética, a través de la apreciación consciente de las imágenes y las formas. El alumnado (...) abre su mente a nuevas perspectivas, interrogantes y otras líneas de investigación desde diversas áreas: culturales, sociales y artísticas. (shrink)

La palabra cultura tiene, por lo menos, un doble sentido, uno primario y otro suplementario. El primero hace referencia a habilidades básicas y el segundo a destrezas adquiridas. El presente trabajo se ocupa de la cultura en el primer sentido, de la cultura que adquirimos con sólo nacer y criarnos en un determinado medio humano, en el medio particular donde nos hacemos individuos y capacitamos como personas. Existe un derecho a la cultura propia. Los Estados amparan las culturas con las (...) que se identifican y, por lo tanto, el derecho a las mismas de las gentes individuadas y socializadas gracias a ellas, al tiempo que han podido perfectamente acometer políticas genocidas con el resto. He ahí en definitiva la razón esquizofrénica por la que un derecho tan esencial como el derecho a la cultura propia no se ha cualificado hasta hoy como derecho humano. El problema no es la falta de algún derecho que debiera añadirse, sino la articulación del conjunto de los derechos humanos y, particularmente, los de carácter individual con los colectivos. Es un problema que no se plantea con los derechos humanos en sí, sino con el actual orden internacional y su correspondiente filosofía. (shrink)

The causal characters (spacelike, lightlike, timelike) of the coordinate lines, coordinate surfaces and coordinate hypersurfaces of a coordinate system in Relativity define what is called its causal class. It is known that, in any relativistic space-time, there exist one hundred and ninety nine such causal classes. But in Newtonian physics (where only spacelike and timelike characters exist) the corresponding causal classes have not been discussed until recently. Here it is shown that, in sharp contrast with the relativistic case, in Newtonian (...) space-time the different causal classes of coordinate systems are drastically reduced to four. These causal classes admit simple geometric descriptions and physical interpretations. For example, it is shown that one can generate coordinate systems of the four causal classes by means of the sole linear synchronization group, i.e. by coordinate transformations that only change the origin of time linearly. The relativistic analogs of these examples are also considered. (shrink)

This paper argues that we should solve paradoxes for propositions (such as the Russell–Myhill paradox) in essentially the same way that we solve Russellian paradoxes for sets. That is, the standard, iterative approach to sets is extended to include properties, and then the resulting hierarchy of sets and properties is used to construct propositions. Propositions on this account are structured in the sense of mirroring the sentences that express them, and they would seem to serve the needs of philosophers of (...) language and metaphysicians who rely on such propositions. The resulting account has limitations, comparable to those faced by the iterative approach to sets, but it is argued to be in important ways preferable to others that have been proposed. (shrink)

This essay defends that mimesis is an inherently agonistic and paradoxical human practice. The divergent views on mimesis by Plato and Aristotle, as well as by Adorno and Benjamin, are the philosophical manifestation of an agonistic tension of human mimesis that is not resolved in the exclusive truth of one of the positions, but remains as a permanent possibility to create alternative paths in history.