The birth of bioethics in Spain—and the rest of Europe—has not necessarily been a replication of what happened in North America, despite the arguments made by a number of mainstream American authors. From a European perspective, this thesis looks incomplete at best, if not entirely erroneous. Let us see why.

The historical stages through which Latin American society has passed are at least four: the first, dominated by a particular sort of ethic I have termed the “ethic of the gift;” then the period of conquest, in which the prevalent ethic was one of war and subjection by force, which I call the “ethic of despotism;” followed by the colonial age, in which a new ethical model of “paternalism” emerged; and finally the stage of the “ethic of autonomy,” which began (...) with the independence movements of the 18th and 19th centuries and is far from ended. Independence was won by the criollos from European domination with very little participation by the Indian population. The latter was left out of the democratic process and saw itself relegated to a worse situation than in the centuries of colonial rule, for it was no longer protected by the paternalism of the Laws of the Indies of 1542. This is the reason for the division of the Latin American society of the last century into two quite different social strata: one bourgeois, which has assimilated the liberal revolution, and enjoys a health care quite similar to that available in any other Western country and hence faces the same bioethical problems as any developed Western society; the other a very poor stratum, without any economic or social power and hence unable to exercise its civil rights, such as the rights to life and to humane treatment. In this population sector, which is numerically the larger, the major bioethical problems are those of justice and the distribution of scarce resources. The study of Latin American medical ethics can earn for these subjects, whose deplorable condition has been essentially ignored in the bioethics of the first-world countries, the importance they merit. (shrink)

O texto analisa a presença da família Sousa na literatura nobiliárquica portuguesa nos anos imediatamente posteriores à Restauração. Trata-se de ver a permeabilidade de certos valores nobiliárquicos na configuração da memória de um apelido e a sua implicação com a dimensão política da família Sousa. Em Portugal, o peso do genealógico foi um ponto essencial na configuração de uma definição-tipo de nobreza. Por isso a proliferação, desde a baixa Idade Média, de textos sobre famílias à sombra do Nobiliário do conde (...) D. Pedro foi uma das constantes. Esta fecunda e prolífera produção permite-nos perceber as variantes discursivas em torno da honra, da virtude e da preeminência nobiliárquica em Portugal e contextualizar a nobreza portuguesa no espaço ibérico e europeu, pois comprovamos a presença constante de valores transversais a todas as nobrezas católicas do continente. Além disso, a conjuntura de 1640 soma um novo elemento de interpretação como é o da ideia de fidelidade ao novo projecto monárquico encabeçado pelos Braganças. Partindo da análise das formas do discurso em torno da nobreza, este trabalho de História cultural, e do mesmo modo social, é uma mostra evidente do papel que o escrito teve na modernidade no momento de estabelecer formas de comunicação dos valores sociais dominantes. (shrink)

En este artículo se propone, desde lo que Husserl concibió como Fenomenología Empírica, desarrollar — en el marco de la Inteligencia Artificial— una Epistemología Empírica. Para tal efecto se muestra cómo al ser traducida una estructura lógica la descripción fenomenológica de la 'esencia' de un dilema moral, es posible su representación en una plataforma computacional que use 'motor de inferencia'. Tal representación permitirá evidenciar cómo se hace uso, al solucionar los dilemas morales, de 'estructuras de autoengaño'. Con esto, la subjetividad (...) es llevada a los límites de lo que es representable y gracias a ello, se conquista para la reflexión la esencia de la subjetividad. (shrink)

Recent discussions of this issue have centered on the definition of the of philosophy in American public life and the ways of increasing philosophy's influence in the public arena.' This emphasis is prompted by the fact philosophers are worried about the future of the profession. After a tremendous expansion in the sixties, there has been a steady decline in the number college-teaching positions open to newly graduated philosophers. The market is bloated and Ph.D.'s in philosophy have increasing difficulty securing permanent (...) jobs. The American Philosophical Association has tried to address this situation in various ways and discussions of the state and future of the profession, once rare, are becoming common. I am quite sure that part of the motivation for this panel involved these reasons. Today, however, I am not going to address the issue of jobs, or the ways which we can increase the influence of philosophy. Rather, I am going concentrate on only two questions: First, Does philosophy have a place contemporary American public life? Second, Should philosophy have a place American public life? Because my answer to the first question is going to be negative, I am also going to discuss some of the reasons why I believe philosophy does not play a role in American public life. (shrink)

A partir de la constatación de la inflación lingüística del vocablo "experiencia" y de la imposibilidad-necesidad de una experiencia extrasensigle, estas páginas se aproximan a la realidad de la experiencia desde el tipo de conocimiento que procura -la intuición- y desde la metamorfosis del ego que suscita -construcción de una biografía-. Se muestra, de igual modo, cómo libertad y destino coinciden en la experiencia de sí mismo, y cómo las nupcias entre experiencia y lenguaje son indisolubles. Por último, teniendo en (...) cuenta lo que ha supuesto la introducción de la categoría "experiencia" en las ciencias teológicas, se apuntan los pilares de la experiencia cristiana y la experiencia de la gracia, haciendo ver cómo las actitudes del distanciamiento y de la inmersión son imprescindibles para poder hablar, en rigor, de una experiencia espiritual. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Acosta, José de (1539–1600) Alberdi, Juan Bautista (1810–84) Bello, Andrés (1781–1865) Bilbao, Francisco (1823–65) Bolkvar, Simón (1783–1830) Casas, Bartolomé de las (1484–1566) Caso, Antonio (1883–1946) Cruz, Sor Juana Inés de la (1651–95) da Costa, Newton Carneiro Affonso (b. 1929) Dussel, Enrique (b. 1934) Frondizi, Risieri (1910–83) Gaos, José (1900–69) González Prada, Manuel (1848–1918) Gracia, Jorge J. E. (b. 1942) Haya de la Torre, Victor Raúl (1895–1979) Hostos, Eugenio Marka de (1839–1903) Ingenieros, José (1877–1925) Korn, (...) Alejandro (1860–1936) Lastarria, José Victorino (1817–88) Lemos, Miguel (1854–1917) Mariátegui, José Carlos (1895–1930) Martk, José (1853–95) Méndez Sierra, Justo (1848–1912) Mora, José Maria Luis (1794–1850) Miró Quesada, Francisco (b. 1918) Rabossi, Eduardo (1930–2005) Ramos, Samuel (1897–1959) Rodó, José Enrique (1872–1917) Romero, Francisco (1891–1962) Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de (1499–1590) Salazar Bondy, Augusto (1925–74) Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (1811–88) Ofelia Schutte (b. 1945) Sepslveda, Juan Ginés de (ca. 1494–1573) Torretti, Roberto (b. 1930) Vasconcelos, José (1882–1959) Vaz Ferreira, Carlos (1872–1958) Villoro, Luis (b. 1922) Vitoria, Francisco de (ca. 1483–1546) Zea Aguilar, Leopoldo (1912–2004) Acknowledgment Further Reading. (shrink)

Reseña del libro publicado publicado por la Editorial Tecnos.

Vargas Guillén, Germán. Fenomenología del ser y del lenguaje. Bogotá D.C.: Alejandría Libros, 2003, 382 p.

From very early on, Western philosophers have been obsessed with the understanding of a relatively few works of philosophy which have played a ...

Advances in DNA technology and the discovery of DNA polymorphisms have permitted the creation of DNA databases of individuals for the purpose of criminal investigation.Many ethical and legal problems arise in the preparation of a DNA database, and these problems are especially important when one analyses the legal regulations on the subject.In this paper three main groups of possibilities, three systems, are analysed in relation to databases. The first system is based on a general analysis of the population; the second (...) one is based on the taking of samples for a particular list of crimes, and a third is based only on the specific analysis of each case. The advantages and disadvantages of each system are compared and controversial issues are then examined. We found the second system to be the best choice for Spain and other European countries with a similar tradition when we weighed the rights of an individual against the public's interest in the prosecution of a crime. (shrink)