Two aspects of cognitive coupling, as brought forward in the Extended Mind Hypothesis, are discussed in this paper: how shall the functional coupling between the organism and some entity in his environment be spelled out in detail? What are the paradigmatic external entities to enter into that coupling? These two related questions are best answered in the light of an aetiological variety of functionalist argument that adds historical depth to the “active externalism” promoted by Clark and Chalmers and helps to (...) counter some of the core criticisms levelled against this view. Under additional reference to conceptual parallels between the Extended Mind Hypothesis and a set of heterodox theories in biology—environmental constructivism, niche construction, developmental systems theory—an argument for the grounding of environmentally extended cognitive traits in evolved biological functions is developed. In a spirit that seeks to integrate extended functionalism with views from cognitive integration and complementarity, it is argued that instances of environmental coupling should be understood as being constitutive to cognitive functions in either of two distinct ways. It is further argued that the historically and systematically prior environmental counterparts in that coupling are features of the natural environment. Language and linguistically imbued artefacts are likely to have descended from more basic relations that have an extension over the environment. (shrink)

A large part of technological advances, especially in the field of industry, have been focused on the optimization of productive processes. However, the detection of anomalies has turned out to be a great challenge in fields like industry, medicine or stock markets. The present work addresses anomaly detection on a control level plant. We propose the application of different intelligent techniques, which allow to obtain one-class classifiers using real data taken from the correct plant operation. The performance of each classifier (...) is assessed and validated with real created faults, achieving successful overall results. (shrink)

Nowadays, the quality standards of higher education institutions pay special attention to the performance and evaluation of the students. Then, having a complete academic record of each student, such as number of attempts, average grade and so on, plays a key role. In this context, the existence of missing data, which can happen for different reasons, leads to affect adversely interesting future analysis. Therefore, the use of imputation techniques is presented as a helpful tool to estimate the value of missing (...) data. This work deals with the academic records of engineering students, in which imputation techniques are applied. More specifically, it is assessed and compared to the performance of the multivariate imputation by chained equations methodology, the adaptive assignation algorithm based on multivariate adaptive regression splines and a hybridization based on self-organisation maps with Mahalanobis distances and AAA algorithm. The results show that proposed methods obtain successfully results regardless the number of missing values, in general terms. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between naturalism and morality and to assess their compatibility. Naturalism is defined as respect for science, for its methods and results. From this respect for science, one can infer two distinct philosophical naturalisms: the methodological and the metaphysical. The relationship between these forms of naturalism and morality depends on the correct conception of morality. This paper differentiates between objectively realistic conception and all other conceptions and argues that while other conceptions (...) can easily fit morality into a naturalistic worldview, objectively realistic conception faces theoretical challenges, including the challenge of explaining how moral facts and concepts play an explanatory role and the challenge of bridging the is/ought gap. The paper focuses on Railton's ethical naturalism as a prominent naturalistic theory of morality and evaluates its ability to overcome these challenges. The conclusion is that, so long as we consider a theory like Railton's, naturalism and realistically conceived morality are incompatible. (shrink)

Literatura como pensamiento trágico -- Dostoievski y los escorzos lacerados del alma -- Elogio trágico del reflejo. Sobre la nostalgia antropológica de la identidad -- El desdoblamiento trágico como diálogo hermenéutico del alma consigo misma -- La fisiología nietzscheana de la danza, o sobre el magisterio de Zorba el griego -- El retorno falso de la muerte en la distopía estética de la nueva carne -- La expiación corporal de Nietzsche en el arte actual -- La raíz antropológica de lo (...) sagrado en el arte contemporáneo. (shrink)

In this paper we intend to present some medieval foundations, especially Franciscan, of the revitalized civic republicanism of the 20th century. There is an unjustified leap from Rome to the Renaissance that has its origin in the forgetfulness and simplistic view that Hanna Arendt has of medieval thought and Aristotelianism, caused by the historiographic criteria of her time. For this we will show some characteristics of the thought of this new republicanism in order to present the central ideas of four (...) Franciscan authors: Francesc Eiximenis, Bonaventure, Duns Scotus and Alfonso de Castro. First we will try to show the continuity that exists between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. With this historical approach we intend to analyze that the legitimate aspiration of this new republicanism is distorted and limited if it leaves aside medieval contributions that help to understand more fully the republican pretension the republican pretension that, without rejecting the autonomy of the individual or the sense of community, highlights the interactive nature of social life and instigates him to persevere in the pursuit of the common good. (shrink)

In this paper, I defend the view that the requested euthanasia of adults is morally permissible and should be legalised; I use an argument from analogy which compares physician-assisted euthanasia with morally less ambiguous and, in my opinion, an acceptable instance of mercy killing. I also respond to several objections that either try to prove that the instance of mercy killing is not acceptable, or that there is a fundamental difference between these two cases of killing. Furthermore, in the remainder (...) of the paper I defend the moral permissibility and legalisation of euthanasia against several objections that appeared in local disputes on this issue, based on the concepts of the limits of freedom, the slippery slope, and the needlessness of euthanasia. (shrink)

Two popular, yet highly controversial concepts of non-human agency from two different fields of knowledge are compared in this essay: the theory of the Selfish Gene, introduced into neo-Darwinian evolutionary biology by Richard Dawkins, and Actor-Network Theory, as brought forward in Science & Technology Studies by Bruno Latour. It is argued that the two theories, despite all apparent differences, share key motifs and motivations when they try to forward knowledge in their respective fields by adopting a vocabulary that aims at (...) metaphorical redescriptions of the origins of intentionality – in both senses: as purposefulness of action and as meaning. (shrink)

Conminado por su deseo apetitivo de mirar unos cadáveres en descomposición, Leoncio no puede resistir y, encolerizado, cede a la tentación (República 439e-440a). El episodio pretende mostrar que la impulsividad y el apetito constituyen dos partes distintas del alma. La pregunta es: si no hay intervención de la racionalidad, ¿según qué parámetro el thymós considera que mirar los cadáveres es algo que no se debe hacer? Si, como creen algunos especialistas, el thymós actúa según un marco axiológico aportado por lo (...) logistikón, entonces Leoncio sería un incontinente. En el presente artículo intentaremos mostrar, apelando a diversos pasajes de los libros VIII y IX de la República, que Leoncio no es un incontinente, sino que la parte impulsiva del alma no se opone al apetito según parámetros vinculados con la racionalidad, sino propios. Forced by his appetitive desire to look at some corpses, Leontius can not resist and, furiously, yields to the temptation and looks at them (Republic 439e-440a). The episode tries to show that the spirited and the appetitive are two different parts of the soul. If there is no intervention of rationality, the question is: according to which parameter the thymós considers that looking at the corpses is something that must not be done? If, like some scholars believe, thymós is guided by values given by the logistikón, then Leontius would be an incontinent agent. In this paper we shall try to show that, according to several passages of books VIII and IX of the Republic, Leontius is not an incontinent agent since the spirited part of his soul challenges the appetitive part not because of rational principles but because the values it defends on itself. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone en primer lugar explicitar el rol fundamental que la reflexión de Merleau-Ponty otorga a los otros sujetos corporales como copartícipes en mi percepción del mundo. Avanzando más allá de esta figura primaria de la alteridad relativa a una comunidad intercorporal anónima, las secciones segunda y tercera pretenderán reconocer el lugar que corresponde en esta filosofía a otras figuras fundadas y derivadas, tales como la del conflicto y la alternancia de los roles del sujeto y el sujeto (...) objetivado y, por último, la de un posible vínculo de reconocimiento recíproco entre sujetos personales, únicos y singulares. In the first place, this paper intends to elucidate the fundamental role that Merleau-Ponty's reflection grants to other corporeal subjects as copartners in my perception of the world. Moving beyond this primary figure of alterity, that of an intercorporeal anonymous community, the second and third sections will aim to recognize the place that this philosophy grants to other founded and secondary figures, such as the conflict and alternation of the roles of the subject and the objectified subject, and finally, a possible relationship of reciprocal recognition between personal, unique and singular subjects. (shrink)

As a tenacious and rigorous reader of the Cartesian corpus, Merleau-Ponty payed special attention to its ambiguities. On the one hand, the intellectualism of the Cartesian theory of perception (Dioptrique) goes along with a mechanistic physiology (Traité de l’Homme) and also with the substantial dualism of the first Méditations Métaphysiques. On the other, Descartes always insisted on hylomorphism, composition, permixtio and even substantial union. Thereby, the human body becomes endowed with such peculiar properties as its inner binding, indivisibility and a (...) biological self-interest, instilling a certain teleology into a part of extension. (shrink)

En las últimas décadas, la tendencia a pensar la estética a partir del carácter autónomo de su objeto ha sido dominante en la discusión filosófica alemana. Sin embargo, la crítica a la estética de la autonomía ha cobrado recientemente un nuevo aliento. Uno de los intentos más ambiciosos por destronar la centralidad de este paradigma en la estética actual corresponde al filósofo Georg W. Bertram. El propósito de este artículo es reconstruir la teoría estética de Bertram y exponer cómo ella (...) se inserta en la disciplina estética. Paralelamente, se mostrarán algunas dificultades de la revitalización de una ontología del arte basada en la continuidad entre praxis artística y vida cotidiana. (shrink)

Alan M. Turing’s last published work and some posthumously published manuscripts were dedicated to the development of his theory of organic pattern formation. In “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” (1952), he provided an elaborated mathematical formulation of the theory of the origins of biological form that had been first proposed by Sir D’Arcy Wendworth Thompson in On Growth and Form (1917/1942). While arguably his most mathematically detailed and his systematically most ambitious effort, Turing’s morphogenetical writings also form the most thematically (...) self-contained and least philosophically explored part of his work. We dedicate our inquiry to the reasons and the implications of Turing’s choice of biological topic and viewpoint. We will probe for possible factors in Turing’s choice that go beyond availability and acquaintance with On Growth and Form. On these grounds, we will explore how and to what extent his theory of morphogenesis actually ties in with his concept of mechanistic computation. Notably, Thompson’s pioneering work in biological ‘structuralism’ was organicist in outlook and explicitly critical of the Darwinian approaches that were popular with Turing’s cyberneticist contemporaries—and partly used by Turing himself in his proto-connectionist models of learning. Resolving this apparent dichotomy, we demonstrate how Turing’s quest for mechanistic explanations of how organisation emerges in nature leaves room for a non-mechanist view of nature. (shrink)

La historia de la filosofía redescubierta a través del singular prisma de la fenomenología del cuerpo no se presenta ya como la historia de las grandes ideas, sino de algunas pequeñas preguntas: una historia de los restos, las sombras y los márgenes de la filosofía. Merleau-Ponty saca a la luz fragmentos de esa otra historia sirviéndose de un único procedimiento cuya práctica constante no parece expresar tanto un método como una obsesión, cuando insiste en formular a los filósofos del pasado (...) la misma pequeña pregunta con la que interpelaba a su amigo Althusser mientras discutían por la madrugada: "Pero usted también tiene un cuerpo, ¿no es así?". Cada filosofía, señala Merleau-Ponty, es una elección filosófica, pero "por más que los filósofos escojan, su elección siempre está acompañada, como al margen, de la sospecha de lo que han dejado de lado". Ese margen acompaña a cada filósofo como su propia sombra. Esta obra explora las distintas aproximaciones de Merleau-Ponty a ciertas obras canónicas de la historia de la filosofía. Acompañar el diálogo de su fenomenología con las célebres teorías del conocimiento de Aristóteles, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Bergson o Husserl significa simultáneamente esbozar una historia de las filosofías del cuerpo y el sentir. Esteban A. García es Doctor en Filosofía por la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Se desempeña como Profesor de Gnoseología en la misma universidad y como Investigador Independiente en el Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina). Es autor de los libros Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Filosofía, corporalidad y percepción (2012); Percepción y lectura en la filosofía de Simone Weil (2015) y de numerosas publicaciones en las áreas de fenomenología, filosofía francesa contemporánea y filosofía moderna. (shrink)

This paper intends to show that the experience of the illicit (Unrecht) plays in Hegel's theory of punishment the fundamental role of turning ".

This article addresses the question raised by the Anthropocene of rethinking the concept of autonomy which, in the conditions of the new geological epoch, is subject to a crisis of legitimation. It explores the ‘strong hypothesis’ according to which nature is a necessary condition of our qualitative experience of the world and a constitutive relation of autonomy defined as the self-realisation of individual identity. With this aim in mind, the article attempts to rethink the concept of recognition in order to (...) conceive a recognising attitude of nature in the form of love of nature as a form of adequate recognition. Rethinking recognition can serve as foundation of an ‘objective’ theory of autonomy, that is, a theory that explains how nature can be defined as a condition and constitutive relation of autonomy. The article, therefore, proposes to reformulate the concept of autonomy as the self-realisation of an ecological or environmental identity in the form of the self-realisation of an ecological ethos, that is, an attitude of respect and care for nature. This enquiry, ultimately, is a contribution to the task of rethinking the basis of our conceptions of autonomy and freedom in the Anthropocene, so that the idea of autonomy can legitimately constitute the central value of the social transformation that is needed to face the ecological crisis. (shrink)

The meanings of utterances and thoughts are commonly regarded in philosophical semantics as abstract objects, called «propositions», which account for how different utterances and thoughts can be synonymous and which constitute the primary truth-bearers. I argue that meanings are instead natural properties that play causal roles in the world, that the kind of «One over Many» thinking underlying the characterization of shared meanings as abstract objects is misguided and that utterances and thoughts having truth-values in virtue of their meanings does (...) not entail that meanings themselves are truth-bearers. (shrink)

The objective structured clinical examination is a method for assessment clinical competencies and skills. However, there is a need to improve its design in psychology programs. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the different scenario's presentation order with different complexity/difficulty on the autonomic stress response of undergraduate students undergoing a Psychology OSCE. A total of 32 students of Psychology Bachelor's Degree were randomly selected and assigned to two OSCE scenarios of different complexity. While undergoing the (...) scenarios, participants heart rate variability was analyzed as an indicator of participant's stress autonomic response. Results indicate that the order of presentation of different complexity/difficulty scenarios affects the autonomic stress response of undergraduate Psychology students undergoing an OSCE. Students who underwent the high-complexity scenario first, reported significantly higher autonomic stress response than students who began the OSCE with the low-complexity scenario. Highly complex or difficult scenarios require good executive functions or cognitive control, very sensitive to autonomic stress responses. Therefore, OSCE design will benefit from placing easy scenarios first. (shrink)

El objeto de este trabajo es realizar un estudio iusfilosófico sobre la aparición de las Leyes personificadas de Atenas en el Critón de Platón. La prosopopeya de las Leyes resulta ser un aspecto central para poder comprender la obra, ya que éstas entablan un diálogo imaginario con Sócrates en el cual instalan diversos argumentos filosóficos para fundamentar la autoridad de la pólis. A los fines de identificar el valor argumentativo de este recurso en la obra, analizaré el significado del nómos (...) en la Atenas del siglo V a. C. y la naturaleza de las Leyes en el contexto general del diálogo. Se busca demostrar la importancia que tienen aquéllas para explicar la decisión de Sócrates de beber la cicuta. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se examinan de modo sistemático las críticas de Merleau-Ponty, en la Phénoménologie de la perception, a la teoría kantiana de la experiencia, atendiendo al papel de los conceptos en la conformación de la experiencia objetiva, la relación entre la sensibilidad y el entendimiento, así como la redefinición del carácter formal de la sensibilidad. Se discuten posibles objeciones a la interpretación merieau-pontiana de la teoría kantiana y se evalúa, así mismo, el alcance relativo de ciertas referencias positivas de Merleau-Ponty a (...) nociones kantianas tales como afinidad, sinopsis e imaginación. ABSTRACT The article carries out a systematic examination of Merleau-Ponty's critiques of the Kantian theory of experience, in Phénoménologie de la perception, taking into account the role of concepts in shaping objective experience, the relation between sensibility and understanding, and the redefinition of the formal nature of sensibility. It discusses possible objections to Merleau-Ponty's interpretation of Kantian theory and assesses the relative scope of some of Merleau-Ponty's positive references to Kantian notions such as affinity, synopsis, and imagination. (shrink)

We define a new topology on the space of strong types of a given theory and use it to state an omitting types theorem for countably saturated models of the theory. As an application we show that if T is a small, stable theory of finite weight such that every elementary extension of the countably saturated model is ω-saturated then every weakly saturated model is ω-saturated.

RESUMEN Este artículo dialoga con tres importantes reflexiones estéticas procedentes de la filosofía alemana contemporánea. En primer lugar, se ocupa del trabajo de Albrecht Wellmer, representante de la “segunda generación de la Teoría Crítica”; en segundo lugar, se refiere al abordaje del actual profesor de estética en Berlín, Georg W. Bertram; y, en última instancia, indaga los aportes de Juliane Rebentisch, coeditora de la nueva versión de la Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung. Si bien los planteos de estos autores presentan matices diversos, (...) todos ellos son, de uno u otro modo, herederos de un incisivo proceso de reconsideración crítica de la teoría estética de Theodor W. Adorno que viene desarrollándose desde los años setenta. La intención del artículo es reconstruir la modalidad de crítica planteada por estos tres autores y explorar a partir de ello algunas líneas de desarrollo para un estética postadorniana. ABSTRACT This work dialogues with three important reflections on aesthetics, originating in contemporary German philosophy. First, the work of Albrecht Wellmer, representative of the "second generation of the Critical Theory," is analyzed. Second, the approach of the current professor of Aesthetics in Berlin, Georg W. Bertram, and ultimately the contributions of Juliane Rebentisch, co-editor of the new version of the "Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung". While the proposals of these authors have different nuances, they are all, in one way or another, heirs of a long process of critical review of the aesthetic theory of Theodor W. Adorno in development since the seventies. (shrink)

La urgente necesidad de nuevas categorías para comprender las experiencias del presente y el pasado inmediato parece constituir un problema agobiante tanto para filósofos como para historiadores. Términos como « postmodernidad» , « postmetafísica» , « posthistoria» o «postindustrial» se agotan en su mero carácter referencial y resultan insuficien-tes para concebir además lo distinto que acaece, aquello para lo que todavía no hay nombre. El autor sostiene la tesis de que la historia inmediata contemporánea, en tanto historia globalizada, conduciría, no (...) sin consecuencias que resultan difíciles de aceptar, a la historia virtual como su formato adecuado de registro e investigación. (shrink)

This paper attempts to clarify the conceptual foundations of sovereignty in Hegel’s Philosophy of Law in order to provide an answer to this question and thus be able to evaluate the scope of contemporary sovereignty and the adequacy of its claims. As will be seen, Hegel constructs his own position in critical dialogue with Hobbes’ and Kant’s approaches, with more or less explicit references. The development of this article is divided into three parts. In the first, the Hegelian conception of (...) sovereignty is presented in the framework of his organicist understanding of the state, taking into account both its internal and external aspects. The second, analyses Hegel’s theoretical foundations of war and his position in international relations. Finally, the scope of sovereignty today is discussed in the light of Hegelian thought. (shrink)