According to a recent philosophical claim, “works of fiction are thought experiments” (Elgin 2007: 47), though there are relevant differences, as the role of spoilers shows—they can ruin a novel but improve the understanding we can gain through a thought experiment. In the present article I will analyze the role of spoilers and argue for a more differentiated perspective on the relation between literature and thought experiments. I will start with a short discussion of different perspectives on thought experiments and (...) argue that the mental-model view and the conception of games of make-believe are most promising for developing the present analogy. Then I will assess the similarities and differences between thought experiments and other works of fiction. I will focus on the role of spoilers and, more generally, on the foretaste context, of which they are part. This context guides readers of literary works of art to draw their attention to the literary and aesthetic quality of the text. In the case of thought experiments, on the other hand, it (i) prompts them to accept the presence of fictional elements in worldly-cognitive works and (ii) draws their attention towards cognitively relevant elements of the story. A discussion of Borges’ Pierre Menard in the last part will show that literary works of art become thought experiments if they are embedded in an appropriate foretaste context. Spoilers, thus, unveil that even works which—due to their length or plenty of detail—usually are not considered thought experiments, can perform similar cognitive functions. (shrink)

En este artículo se presenta una visión panorámica de la situación actual del judaísmo así como de los principales problemas y desafíos que afronta en la actualidad. De manera especial se reflexiona sobre el concepto de identidad judía, pues son muchas y diferentes las respuestas a las preguntas ¿quién es judío? y ¿qué significa ser judío?

AEl artículo analiza la revista Diáspora(s) (La Habana, 1997-2002) desde el punto de vista de su programa estético y político. Poniendo énfasis en el aspecto más concretamente material de la publicación (su forma de realización, distribución y circulación), propone una lectura del mensaje estético implícito en decisiones editoriales tales como el uso de los términos “proyecto”, “documentos” o “vanguardia”. El objetivo es mostrar, tanto a partir del análisis conceptual como del diseño y las cubiertas, la coherencia de la política visual (...) y editorial de Diáspora(s) con su manifiesto programa “antilírico” y su fuerte discusión con la ideología del Estado. La puesta en contexto de Diáspora(s) resulta fundamental para comprender la potencia política de este proyecto en el marco de la Cuba postsoviética. (shrink)

Thought experiments are fictional narratives that widen our cognitive horizons both in the sciences and in philosophy. In the present paper we argue that they can perform this function by bringing one’s perspective into view. Despite being traditionally conceived as devices that transmit true propositions to their readers, thought experiments are also particularly apt to express a specific theoretical perspective through the use of imagination. We suggest that this is a significant epistemic feature that is often overlooked in the debate. (...) After presenting our analysis of thought experiments (Section 2) and of the role that imagination plays in them (Section 3), we revisit Galileo Galilei’s use of imaginary cases in light of our account (Section 4). We show that the main aims of Galileo’s thought experiments are to highlight how different perspectives endorsed by fictional characters affect imagination and to invite readers to actively engage in perspectives that are different from their own. This results in a clash of perspectives which plays a crucial epistemic role (Section 5). Readers of thought experiments do not passively absorb information, but critically assess the other’s perspective. In the final part of the paper, we individuate different ways in which readers can react to thought experiments. (shrink)

The Compendium of Grammar of the Hebrew Language (CGH) is arguably Spinoza's least known work. The CGH appears as an annex at the very end of the first volume, and with an independent pagination from the rest of the volume. Spinoza expresses twice in CGH the need to write a grammar of the Hebrew language, and not of the language of Scripture, as presumably all earlier grammarians of Hebrew had done. According to Jelles, the CGH comprised two parts: one on (...) “etymology,” and one on syntax. Spinoza discusses the Masoretic system of signs that indicates the vocalization, intonation, punctuation, and cantillation of the biblical text. The main question that scholars have pondered regarding CGH is its relation to Spinoza's philosophy. The affirmation that all Hebrew words are basically nouns has led some scholars to posit a relationship between Spinoza's monistic ontology and his self‐professed noun‐based grammar of Hebrew. (shrink)

Feminists, like members of other oppressed groups, are likely to embrace many aspects of Albert Memmi’s profound analysis of domination and oppression. Even though feminists can find common cause with Memmi in many respects, nevertheless they are likely to find themselves at odds with what Memmi says and does not say about women.  .

Resumo Plotino é um pensador estranho para o filósofo contemporâneo: nas suas Enéadas, ele discute experiência mística e prática filosófica como se fosse uma mesma coisa. De fato, no pensamento plotiniano, o ápice da vida filosófica é a contemplação mística: não pensamento irracional, mas uma forma supra-racional de consciência que é alcançada pela prática ascética e pelo procedimento dialético. Este artigo tenta entender o que é a experiência mística em Plotino. Na verdade, uma leitura atenta dos textos das Enéadas que (...) tratam do assunto mostram que não existe apenas um, mas dois tipos de contemplação mística supra-racional: a experiência da alma humana unida ao Intelecto divino e a experiência da alma humana unida ao Um, o princípio supremo da realidade de acordo com a filosofia plotiniana. Ambos são tipos de intuição intelectual interior, mas, se a experiência mística do Intelecto é a contemplação da totalidade do mundo inteligível, a contemplação do Um é a intuição da identidade pura, além de toda a diferença. Palavras-chave: Plotino; Neoplatonismo; Mística.Plotinus is a strange scholar to the contemporary philosopher: in his Enneads, he discusses mystical experience and philosophical practice as if they were the same thing. Indeed, according to his thoughts, the summit of philosophical life is mystical contemplation: not irrational thinking, but a supra-rational form of consciousness achieved through ascetic practice and dialectical procedure. This paper attempts to understand the mystical experience in Plotinus. In fact, a close reading of the texts of the Enneads on the subject demonstrates that there are not only one, but two kinds of supra-rational mystical contemplation: the experience of the human soul united to the divine Intellect and the experience of the human soul united to the One, the supreme principle of reality according to Plotinus's philosophy. Both are kinds of interior intellectual intuition, but if the mystical experience of the Intellect is the contemplation of the whole of the intelligible world, the contemplation of the One is the intuition of pure identity, beyond all difference. Key words: Plotinus; Neo-Platonism; Mysticism. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda un breve análisis de los textos Aprendizaje o el libro de los placeres y La pasión según G. H. ambos de Clarice Lispector. Se pretende resaltar la importancia del lenguaje narrativo a través de los personajes que sobresalen en la obra de Lispector, tomando como punto de referencia el análisis teórico de la narrativa clásica.

Análisis del trabajo de la escritora francesa Anaïs Nin, a quien se le ha conocido en el medio literario internacional principalmente por la pureza expresiva y profundidad de sus Diarios, documento único por el sincero trazo de cada una de sus páginas.

1. La experiencia de lo cotidiano [se] nos brinda siempre con anomalías, incongruencias, contradicciones. Y, cuando intentamos explicarlas, explicaciones a primera vista razonables acaban por revelarse insatisfactorias después de un examen más cuidadoso. La naturaleza de las cosas y de los acontecimientos no nos parece fácilmente inteligible. Las opiniones y los puntos de vista de los hombres son difícilmente conciliables o, incluso, unos con otros inconsistentes. Consensos quizá emergentes se muestran provisionales y precarios. Quien siente la necesidad de pensar con (...) un espíritu más crítico e intenta comprender mejor, esa diversidad toda lo desconcierta. (shrink)

Pritchard sostiene que la condición de habilidad y la condición de seguridad le imponen demandas independientes al conocimiento, i.e., que la satisfacción de una no implica la satisfacción de la otra y que, por lo tanto, ninguna de ellas es suficiente por sí misma para ofrecer una caracterización adecuada de esta noción. Argumento, por el contrario, que no hay buenas razones para pensar que la condición de seguridad es insuficiente. Empleando algunos conceptos de Greco y Pritchard y Kallestrup para caracterizar (...) a las habilidades cognitivas y el caso del mentiroso consistente de Lackey, argumento que TEMP, el caso clave de Pritchard para mostrar que puede haber seguridad sin habilidad, no funciona porque el proceso cognitivo relevante constituye una realización legítima, aunque anómala, de una habilidad. Pritchard maintains that the ability and the safety conditions impose independent demands on knowledge, i.e., that satisfying only one of them is not sufficient to acquire knowledge. I argue that there are no good reasons to suppose that the safety condition is not sufficient. I claim that TEMP, the key case proposed by Pritchard to show that there can be safety without ability, fails because therelevant cognitive process constitutes a legitimate, although anomalous, realization of a cognitive ability. (shrink)

En la conferencia “Las lógicas y las cosas”, Alberto Moretti sostiene que los enfoques que se centran en el fenómeno de la interpretación para dar cuenta del problema del significado adolecen de un problema, a saber, no admiten las condiciones trascendentales que posibilitan la significatividad. Así, en el contexto de la interpretación, el hecho de distinguir a otros como hablantes es la posibilidad de distinguir a otros como objetos relacionados en el mundo. Esta distinción es posible porque los principios lógicos (...) específicos exponen la estructura básica para el discurso y el pensamiento pero también, la estructura elemental del mundo o realidad. En otras palabras, los principios lógicos que estructuran nuestro lenguaje son también principios de las cosas. Este argumento puede ser considerado un argumento trascendental por establecer, a través del señalamiento de ciertas condiciones necesarias, la íntima conexión lenguaje-mundo que da cuenta de la significatividad, y por insinuarse como una respuesta al problema del mundo externo. Me propongo discutir el alcance de este argumento a partir de la idea de la autonomía del lenguaje que Wittgenstein desarrolla en Sobre la Certeza, la cual conlleva una estrategia disolutoria alternativa frente al desafío escéptico. Para dar cuenta de dicha estrategia, me centraré en la distinción entre proposiciones lógicas y empíricas. También analizaré la distinción mostrar-decir que, en su relación con la noción de “formas de vida”, permite iluminar aspectos de su enfoque praxiológico sobre el lenguaje. Así, defenderé un enfoque que no omite, sino que rechaza, la posibilidad de un punto de vista externo, tanto para dar cuenta del lenguaje como para responder al escéptico. (shrink)

La preocupación por los modos de producción del discurso filosófico como inseparable de la práctica filosófica ha sido un rasgo distintivo del período helenístico, y desde nuestra perspectiva, adopta un rasgo novedoso en el escepticismo antiguo. El pirronismo incluye en su propuesta el tratamiento crítico sobre la tendencia aseverativa propia del lenguaje como fuente productora de dogmatismos. De esta manera, la terapéutica escéptica debe operar también sobre las propias expresiones y los tipos de escritura que adopta el pirrónico. Wittgenstein parece (...) cercano a algunas de estas preocupaciones en la medida en que las formas de expresar y escribir deben reflejar el enfoque no-teórico en el que se practica la filosofía - asociado a una reflexión filosófica sobre el lenguaje. Atendiendo a ciertos aspectos de la orientación pirrónica como clave de lectura, estudiaremos las reflexiones de Wittgenstein sobre sus propios escritos como quedan exhibidas en sus prólogos. Concern about modes of production of philosophical discourse as inseparable from philosophical practice has been a distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period and, from our perspective, it adopts a new feature in ancient skepticism. Pyrrhonism includes, in its proposal, the critical treatment on assertive trend inherent to language as a source of dogmatism. Thus, the skeptical therapeutic must also operate on the expressions and types of writing pyrrhonics use. Wittgenstein seems close to some of these concerns in the sense that the ways of expressing and writing should reflect the non-theoretical approach in which philosophy is practised -associated to a philosophical reflection on language. Regarding certain aspects of the Pyrrhonian orientation as a reading key, we will study Wittgenstein's reflections on his own writings as are exhibited in his prologues. (shrink)

This article examines Wittgenstein’s philosophical reflection on philosophy: its method, its scope, and its relationship with other knowledge as central elements of the philosophical proposal the author developed in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Therefore, my proposal is to rehearse a metaphilosophical reading of Wittgenstein’s remarks about philosophy in TLP focusing, on the one hand, on his reflections on philosophy as an activity and not as a theory; on the other hand, on his categorical differentiation established between philosophical elucidations and scientific explanations. This (...) proposal differs from the readings that interpret it is through the construction of a theory of meaning -or logical doctrine- that one can distinguish philosophical nonsense and see the world correctly. It also differs from Tractatus’s non-theoretical or quietist readings which understand philosophical elucidations as exclusively negative or critical nonsense. My aim is to highlight a positive aspect of philosophical elucidations that I will call performative. From my metaphilosophical reading, not only does the activity of clarification work as a critical sieve that separates what makes sense from what does not –with no theory; but it also makes a modification -a transformation- in the one who establishes it. These performative aspects imply emphasizing that there is a change in the way we see the world but also in the way we ‘see’ language, meaning, logic, science, philosophy, life, etc. Thus, the refusal to elaborate a theory or to offer scientific explanations does not turn the philosophical elucidations in TLP into a mode of self-destructive attack on all kinds of philosophy. On the contrary, these elucidations are part of the defense of a particular way of practicing it. (shrink)

El objetivo del trabajo es analizar dos conductas médicas opuestas en la vida prenatal de los niños con trisomía 18: el aborto y los cuidados paliativos perinatales. Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica en PubMed a partir de los términos “trisomy 18”, “abortion” y “palliative care”. Actualmente, están cambiando las conductas médicas dirigidas a los niños nacidos con trisomía 18, debido a que ya no se la considera una enfermedad incompatible con la vida. Este cambio de paradigma en la conducta médica (...) posnatal debería reflejarse en la conducta prenatal, para ofrecer a los padres alternativas distintas al aborto. Los cuidados paliativos fetales y perinatales constituyen una respuesta ética válida para el tratamiento de niños con trisomía 18. (shrink)

In the last few years, several philosophers have highlighted the social dimension of imagination. In this paper I argue that thought experiments prompt social uses of imaginings if we understand them as props in games of make-believe. In prescribing to imagine stories that develop through fictional narratives, authors of thought experiments prompt their readers to engage in the same imaginative project—at least in its salient aspects—and to endorse their conclusions. Contributions on this topic focus on cases where coordination across imaginers (...) is immediately successful. However, this is not the end of the story. I draw attention to situations where this is not the case, as the practice of thought experimentation often proceeds through criticism, rejections, and amendments. I focus on cases where imaginers do not endorse the conclusion proposed by the author of a thought experiment and either (i) fully reject the principles of generation, (ii) draw different fictional truths from the same principles, or (iii) amend the principles. Although cases of imaginative disharmony are usually dismissed as failures, I acknowledge them as fruitful steps in the cognitive advancement achievable by thought experiments. Cooperative imaginers challenge the rules of the game in meaningful ways, which leads to enhancing fictional scenarios and framing them through different perspectives. (shrink)

This essay gives an account of epistemic deference for agents with imprecise credences. I look at the two main imprecise deference principles in the literature, known as Identity Reflection and Pointwise Reflection (Moss, 2021). I show that Pointwise Reflection is strictly weaker than Identity Reflection, and argue that, if you are certain you will update by conditionalisation, you should defer to your future self according to Identity Reflection. Then I give a more general justification for Pointwise and Identity Reflection from (...) the assumption that you defer to someone whenever you consider their doxastic state to be better than yours, in the sense of leading to better decision-making. (shrink)

It has often been asserted that burnout is primarily linked to occupational-context factors, and only secondarily to individual-level and non-work factors. We evaluated the validity of this view by examining the links between burnout and an array of 22 work-situated, work-unrelated, dispositional, and intersecting variables. The study involved schoolteachers from three different countries: France, Spain, and Switzerland. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators. Most of our predictors were assessed based on widely used measures. In order to (...) assess sentimental accomplishment and familial accomplishment, we created two self-reported measures, namely, the Sentimental Accomplishment Inventory and the Familial Accomplishment Inventory. The SAI and the FAI both showed strong reliability and high factorial validity. Exploratory structural equation modeling bifactor analysis and Mokken scaling suggested that both instruments could be considered essentially unidimensional. The study results showed that neuroticism, job strain, skill development, security in daily life, and work–non-work conflict were consistently associated with burnout across the three samples. Sample-specific predictors of burnout included sex, age, unreasonable work tasks, weekly working hours, job autonomy, support in work life, sentimental accomplishment, leisure activities, support in personal life, and non-work–work conflict. Relative weight analysis indicated that neuroticism was the best predictor of burnout in each sample. Our findings suggest that burnout’s nomological network may not be primarily job-related. We conclude that the tendency to de-emphasize individual-level and non-work factors in burnout research is unwise. This tendency may constitute a roadblock in the development of effective interventional strategies. The implications of our findings for burnout’s conceptual status are discussed. The neuroticism-burnout link should be further examined in longitudinal studies. (shrink)

The current debate on literary cognitivism in the philosophy of fiction typically assumes that we can rigorously distinguish between fictional and factual, and focuses on the question of whether and how works of fiction can impart propositional knowledge to the reader. In this paper we suggest that this way of framing the debate may be problematic. We argue that works of fiction almost inevitably include a reference to the real world and that – contrary to what is usually assumed – (...) the exchange between fiction and reality is vivid as well as potentially fruitful. We shed a new light on these complex dynamics by building on the metaphors of trade exchange and smuggling between the two worlds. While the current debate exclusively focuses on cognitively relevant goods that “officially” cross the border through “customs”, as it were, we show that exchanges between fiction and reality run deeper. Indeed, as we show, a substantial part of the cognitive impact that we derive from fiction goes “under the table” and is “smuggled” from fiction to reality. As such, it bypasses the audience’s conscious control, which in turn explains the manipulative force that fiction can exert. Smuggling takes place when cognitively relevant contents are passed on to the reader in subliminal ways, as it happens when they imprint implicit biases or prejudices, shift perspectives or subtly modify habits or patterns of behavior. By elaborating on the metaphors of trade exchange and smuggling, we aim at presenting a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the relations between fiction and reality and on the impact that imagination has on our real-world beliefs. (shrink)

Comment on Alfandre et al, "Between Usual and Crisis Phases of a Public Health Emergency: The Mediating Role of Contingency Measures".

Se analiza la obra Emlia Oardo Bazán desde la teoría del análisis lingüístico y cómo es que su obra fue de influencia para la literatura feminista del siglo XX, sin dejar de lado el enfoque naturalista de la literatura y los ideales feminismos de la época.

This paper generalises an argument for probabilism due to Lindley [9]. I extend the argument to a number of non-classical logical settings whose truth-values, seen here as ideal aims for belief, are in the set $\{0,1\}$, and where logical consequence $\models $ is given the “no-drop” characterization. First I will show that, in each of these settings, an agent’s credence can only avoid accuracy-domination if its canonical transform is a (possibly non-classical) probability function. In other words, if an agent values (...) accuracy as the fundamental epistemic virtue, it is a necessary requirement for rationality that her credence have some probabilistic structure. Then I show that for a certain class of reasonable measures of inaccuracy, having such a probabilistic structure is sufficient to avoid accuracy-domination in these non-classical settings. (shrink)

Black Feminism and Continental Philosophy in dialogue.

RESUMO Neste artigo, analiso um conjunto de seis cartões comerciais pertencentes a uma duradoura campanha de marketing da Liebig Extract of Meat Co. A análise crítica dos textos promocionais produzidos na virada do século XX oferece insights significativos sobre os mecanismos discursivos que contribuíram para a hegemonização do capitalismo burguês. Diferentemente de outras formas de publicidade, os cartões comerciais não são rapidamente descartados e esquecidos; pelo contrário, eles podem se distanciar dos produtos anunciados para se tornar parte dos discursos populares (...) de instrução em massa. Como produtos e produtores de ideologias capitalistas, os anúncios são um local privilegiado de inscrição do capitalismo e, portanto, se prestam a uma análise crítica. Minha análise mostra como os textos selecionados se baseiam e texturizam os discursos do progresso, impregnados como crenças colonialistas e desencadeando uma cadeia de ações pela qual, mesmo antes de realmente obterem os cartões, são promulgadas ações e crenças capitalistas. ABSTRACT In this paper, I analyze a set of six trading cards belonging to Liebig’s Extract of Meat Co. long-standing marketing campaign. The critical analysis of promotional texts produced at the turn of the 20th century offer meaningful insights on the discursive mechanisms that contributed to the hegemonization of bourgeois capitalism. Unlike other forms of advertising, trading cards are not rapidly discarded and forgotten; on the contrary, they can detach themselves from the advertised products to become part of popular discourses of mass instruction. As both products and producers of capitalist ideologies, ads are a privileged site of inscription of capitalism, and thus lend themselves to a critical analysis. My analysis shows how the selected texts draws on and textures the discourses of progress, inculcated as colonialist beliefs and triggering an actional chain whereby, even before they actually obtained the cards, capitalist actions and beliefs are enacted. (shrink)

Accuracy-first epistemologists argue that rational agents have probabilistically coherent credences. But why should we care, given that we can’t help being incoherent? A common answer: probabilistic coherence is an ideal to be approximated as best one can. De Bona (in: Philos Sci 84(2), 189–213, 2017) and Staffel (in: Unsettled thoughts: a theory of degrees of rationality, Oxford University Press, 2019) show how accuracy-firsters can spell out this answer by adopting an appropriate notion of approximate coherence. In this essay, I argue (...) that De Bona and Staffel’s proposal is not entirely satisfactory, because it does not show whether, or why, it’s generally better to be more rather than less approximately coherent from an accuracy-first perspective. To address this point, I give a characterisation of their notion of approximate coherence in terms of accuracy. This shows that accuracy-firsters should maintain that more approximately coherent credences are better than less approximately coherent ones _if and only if_ they accept that it’s better to miss out on less rather than more guaranteed accuracy. (shrink)

The question of the morality of abortion has long been the subject of intense, sometimes acrimonious debate. Even people within the same religious or philosophical tradition often disagree on the issue. For example, there are Christians who are “pro- choice” and there are Christians who are “pro-life.” Both sides marshal biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments in support of their positions. The substance of the abortion debate seems to reduce to one tricky question: when does personhood begin? Christian experts in various (...) fields, such as theology, biblical studies, ethics, and philosophy, have protracted disagreements over this question. In this article we will apply insights from the current literature on epistemic peer disagreement to the abortion issue. We will assume that there is only one correct answer to the abortion question. However, after making a crucial distinction between rationality as understood by internalists versus externalists, we will argue that there is more than one rational answer to the abortion question, since there is more than one rational way to weight evidence. We will conclude that, in a case of disagreement between two Christians who are epistemic peers with regards to the morality of abortion, both parties can be rational in adhering to their respective positions, but that this does not entail or even support ethical relativism. (shrink)