Fact-checking agencies assess and score the truthfulness of politicians’ claims to foster their electoral accountability. Fact-checking is sometimes presented as a quasi-scientific activity, based on reproducible verification protocols that would guarantee an unbiased assessment. We will study these verification protocols and discuss under which conditions fact-checking could achieve effective reproducibility. Through an analysis of the methodological norms in verification protocols, we will argue that achieving reproducible fact-checking may not help much in rendering politicians accountable. Political fact-checkers do not deliver either (...) reproducibility or accountability today, and there are reasons to think that traditional quality journalism may serve liberal democracies better. (shrink)

South Africa shared with the world the warning of a new strain of SARS-CoV2, Omicron, in November 2021. As a result, many high-income countries (HICs) instituted complete travel bans on persons leaving South Africa and other neighbouring countries. These bans were unnecessary from a scientific standpoint, and they ran counter to the International Health Regulations. In short, South Africa was penalized for sharing data. Data sharing during pandemics is commonly justified by appeals to solidarity. In this paper, we argue that (...) solidarity is, at best, an aspirational ideal to work toward but that it cannot ground an obligation to share data. Instead, low-and-middle income countries (LIMCs) should be guided by the principle of reciprocity, which states that we ought to return good for good received. Reciprocity is necessarily a conditional principle. LMICs, we argue, should only share data during future pandemics on the condition that HICs provide enforceable assurances that the benefits of data sharing will be equitably distributed and that LMICs won’t be penalized for sharing information. (shrink)

Este artículo examina la recepción de la cultura clásica en la prosa de Gabriela Mistral. Frente a la retórica y la idealización academicistas, Mistral busca la Antigüedad viva en los poetas y los pueblos mediterráneos, y reivindica para América la herencia grecolatina del humanismo cristiano This paper examines the reception of Classical culture in Gabriela Mistral's prose writings. Faced with the rhetoric and idealized vision of academicism, Mistral seeks Antiquity living in poets and Mediterranean peoples, and she vindicates for America (...) the Greco-Latin heritage of Christian humanism. (shrink)

It is generally agreed that one of the key differences between ancient skepticism and modern and contemporary skepticism is that the ancient skeptic does not call into question the existence of the external world, but only our ability to know the properties or qualities of external objects. In this paper, I argue that in Sextus Empiricus's attack on the Epicurean criterion of truth one finds evidence that the ancient Pyrrhonist also suspends judgment about the existence of external objects.

Este libro es un homenaje a la trayectoria intelectual y académica de la profesora María Teresa López de la Vieja, Catedrática emérita de la Universidad de Salamanca. En él se trazan algunos de los caminos que, con su obra, nos invita a transitar. El volumen recoge contribuciones de colegas de varias nacionalidades y procedentes de diversos ámbitos de reflexión que le son afines: la filosofía moral y política, la literatura, la teoría de la argumentación, los estudios feministas, las éticas aplicadas, (...) la bioética. Los capítulos que componen este libro dan voz a varias generaciones de investigadoras e investigadores que han acompañado y acompañan su andadura académica y que aquí dialogan con ella haciendo propias sus preocupaciones intelectuales. Con su participación contribuyen al justo reconocimiento de su dedicación a la labor docente e investigadora. (shrink)

El trabajo que presentamos tiene dos objetivos principales: primeramente, conocer las principales características estructurales y funcionales del funduq; en segundo lugar, observar la evolución tanto estructural como funcional que estos espacios sufrieron dentro y fuera del territorio islámico. Para ello utilizaremos la información arqueológica disponible que se complementará con algunos datos provenientes de la documentación escrita. Así conoceremos el funduq clásico, un edificio de planta cuadrada o rectangular, con patio central y uno o varios pisos, dedicados el inferior a cuadras (...) y almacenes y los superiores a alojamiento de los viajeros/mercaderes. De este edificio encontraremos dos variaciones. Por una parte, el fondaco, un espacio arrendado o donado por las autoridades musulmanas a las comunidades cristianas de mercaderes que cumplía con todas las necesidades de estos últimos (religiosas, sociales y económicas). Y por otra, la alhóndiga, una institución con unas funciones específicas de almacenamiento y recogida de impuestos de determinadas mercancías. (shrink)

Scholarship on ancient Pyrrhonism has made tremendous advances over the past three decades, thanks especially to the careful reexamination of Sextus Empiricus’ extant corpus. Building on this momentum, the authors of the eight essays collected here examine some of the most vexed and intriguing exegetical and philosophical questions posed by Sextus’ presentation of this form of skepticism. The essays explore in a new light the skeptical interpretation of Plato, the differences between Pyrrhonism and Cyrenaicism, the Pyrrhonist’s stance on ordinary life, (...) religion, language, and ethics, Sextus’ discussion of our access to our own mental states, and the relationship between Pyrrhonism and epistemic internalism and externalism. These new essays represent a substantial contribution to the advancement of scholarship on Pyrrhonian skepticism. (shrink)

Growing evidence in recent years has led to an agreement on the importance and benefits that inclusive education has for students with special educational needs (SEN). However, the extension and universalization of an inclusive approach will also be enhanced with more evidence on the benefits that inclusion has for all students, including those without SEN. Based on the existing knowledge that learning interactions among diverse students are a key component of educational inclusion, the aim of this study is to identify (...) the impact on students without SEN of being educated with students with SEN in shared, inclusive, interactive learning environments. Data were collected in three schools using a qualitative approach with a communicative orientation. Semistructured interviews were held with teachers as well as community volunteers participating in the schools. Further, focus groups were conducted with students and teachers. The results show that students without SEN benefit from participating in interactive learning activities with peers with SEN in different ways: (1) they learn to respect others, accept differences, and acknowledge different abilities, thereby creating opportunities for new friendships to develop; (2) they learn about abilities related to helping others participate and learn, to be patient and to gain the satisfaction in helping others learn and behave better; and (3) they benefit from the cognitive effort required to explain themselves and from the contributions of peers with SEN from which they can learn. (shrink)

En este conciso estudio se explicará la concepción de la luz que encontramos en Francisco Suárez. Si bien distinta, y por cierto distante, de las teorías modernas (corpuscular y ondulatoria), encontramos en Suárez un corpus de principios, de base y raigambre aristotélica, que dan cuenta de una mecánica del todo exótica para nuestra men- talidad, pero abundante y enriquecida en contenido lógico y filosófico: la filosofía natural de Francisco Suárez está basada, en términos generales, en los conceptos de virtud, necesidad, (...) esfera de acción y energía en el sentido originario de esta palabra. Para sorpresa del lector mínimamente aficionado a estos temas, encontraremos en la física de Suárez explicaciones por momentos mucho más naturales, más claras y más satisfactorias sobre la propagación de la luz y sobre la acción a distancia de lo que han propuesto hasta hoy las teorías en vigencia. Francisco Suárez, desde ya, queda excluido del proyecto de Galileo y de Francis Bacon; no ofrece ni persigue resultados mate- máticos, sino un conocimiento ontológico del Universo y una interesante mecánica esencialista. (shrink)

Several scholars familiar with Sextus Empiricus’s Pyrrhonism who have attentively read his Against the Ethicists have gotten the impression that something strange is going on in this book. For, at variance with the ‘official’ Pyrrhonian attitude of universal suspension of judgment, a number of passages of Against the Ethicists seem to ascribe to the Pyrrhonist both a type of negative dogmatism and a form of realism, which together amount to what may be called ‘moderate ethical realism’. The purpose of this (...) paper is to determine whether Sextus does embrace such a position in Against the Ethicists. (shrink)

Estudio preliminar. I. La era de Darwin. II. Las coordenadas españolas de la polémica darwinista. III. Algunos datos sobre la introducción del darwinismo en España. IV. Breve historia de la controversia ideológica. V. Implicaciones filosóficas e ideológicas del darwinismo. Nota sobre los textos. ANTOLOGÍA DE TEXTOS. I. Un debate largo y virulento. I.1. Defensores. I.2. Adversarios. I.3. Posturas conciliadoras. II. Tres acontecimientos polémicos. II.1. El drawinismo en Granada. II.2. El I Congreso Católico Español. II.3. El cementerio del nacimiento de Darwin. (...) III. Darwinismo social. IV. Darwinismo y socialismo. IV.1. Anarquismo. IV.2. Socialismo marxista. V. La muerte de Darwin en la Prensa. V.1. Prensa católico-tradicional. V.2. Prensa liberal. V.3. Prensa obrera. Bibliografía y cronología del darwinismo en España [1859-1900]. (shrink)

Esse texto propõe a hipótese da “máquina s’imaginante” como sendo o constructo fundamental da teoria da imaginação de Spinoza e pretende justificar certa leitura que permita tal denominação. Para tanto, parte-se da noção de _contemplari externè_ para, em seguida, explanar a noção interpretativa de _simul desconcertante_, a qual desempenha importante papel a fim de forjar a noção de _centramento em si_, noção que permite captar os efeitos de interioridade e exterioridade relativas ao indivíduo humano e cujo engendramento faz a natureza (...) das coisas ser apreendida teleologicamente. A partir do _centramento em si _são examinadas e interpretadas categorias relevantes da imaginação, sendo a mais importante delas a _concatenatio_. Por fim, são indicados alguns desdobramentos da hipótese de leitura proposta. (shrink)

Political fact-checkers evaluate the truthfulness of politicians’ claims. This paper contributes to an emerging scholarly debate on whether fact-checkers treat political parties differently in a systematic manner depending on their ideology (bias). We first examine the available approaches to analyze bias and then present a new approach in two steps. First, we propose a logistic regression model to analyze the outcomes of fact-checks and calculate how likely each political party will obtain a truth score. We test our model with a (...) sample of fact-checks from Newtral, a major Spanish fact-checker. Our model would signal bias under two assumptions: a) all political parties are on average equally accurate in their statements; b) the verification method gives precise instructions and is implemented systematically. We investigate this second assumption with a series of interviews with Newtral fact-checkers. We show that standard verification protocols are so loosely implemented that fact-checks reflect a set of journalistic decisions, rather than a bias in the statistical sense. We call for a more rigorous definition of verification methods as a pre-requisite for an unbiased assessment of politician’s claims. (shrink)

The Pyrrhonian skeptic’s stance, as described by Sextus Empiricus, is in good part defined by his suspending judgment or belief about all the matters he has so far investigated. Most interpreters of Pyrrhonism maintain that it is a mistake to understand this form of skepticism in terms of doubt because suspension as conceived of by the Pyrrhonist is markedly different from the state of doubt. In this article, I expound the reasons that have been offered in support of that prevailing (...) view and assess their strength. (shrink)

As an instrument for participatory technology development, Scenario-Based Design offers significant potential for an early inclusion of future users. Over the course of a 3-year research project, this method was examined as a procedure for participatory technology development. Methods and instruments aimed at achieving a potential user’s participation, and the resulting cooperation of heterogeneous social groups can be seen as translation tools. Their purpose is to act as translators between different social fields and the specific knowledge associated with them. These (...) translation capabilities and participatory methods should result in the best possible convergence of different orientations and purposes. In this paper, attempting to achieve the best possible convergence is described as a dilemma of alignment. Several approaches will be used to describe the dynamic of the alignment dilemma within the above-mentioned project. The reconstruction follows one question that is proposed as a heuristic pattern to meet the requirements of an accurate analysis of holistic participatory methods: Who or what has to adjust to whom or what, why, when, and in which way? The main conclusions include the finding that the alignment dilemma is not equally balanced, that the agency of epistemic objects within the process has to be captured, and that it is easy for translation—provided primarily by core instruments of the participatory method used—to begin to overwrite the needs and purposes of one social group with the interests and orientations of another. (shrink)