Cacao cultivation is one of the most important livelihoods for rural households in Colombia, where it is promoted as a substitute for the illegal cultivation of coca. To strengthen Colombian cacao farming, it is important to understand the livelihood strategies associated with cacao cultivation and the impact of these different strategies on the well-being of Colombian rural households. We analyzed the impact of cacao cultivation on the livelihood strategies and well-being of rural households in western Colombia. Research with 92 rural (...) cacao-growing households produced a typology of household livelihood strategies derived from their approach to cacao production. Indicators of each household capital and level of well-being were identified for each type of households. Correlations between the capitals and the capitals of greater importance in shaping the well-being of rural households were analyzed. Three types of rural households were identified: Cacao Farmers, Diversified Farmers with Cacao, and New Cacao Farmers. Cacao farmers have the highest capitals endowments and level of well-being, followed by Diversified Farmers with Cacao, and New Cacao Farmers. The conditions of cacao cultivation in rural households result in differentiated access to resources from capitals; households with better development of the crop have consolidated greater well-being where human capital has been its major driving factor. Success of the cacao crop and its relationship with well-being of rural households depends on the convergence of different capital resources. Thus, institutional efforts to strengthen the cacao sector in Colombia must go beyond investment to establish new hectares and consider aspects such as: Strengthening the skills and knowledge of producers to improve crop management practices, Promoting the participation of household members in associations, Stimulating sensitivity to the rooting and sustainable management of the crop, and Promoting processes of technification and adaptation of the infrastructure of fermenters and dryers, which will make it possible to guarantee an adequate quality of the cacao bean. (shrink)

This study aimed to investigate whether the ordinal judgments of high math-anxious and low math-anxious individuals differ. Two groups of 20 participants with extreme scores on the Shortened Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale had to decide whether a triplet of numbers was presented in ascending order. Triplets could contain one-digit or two-digit numbers and be formed by consecutive numbers, numbers with a constant distance of two or three or numbers with variable distances between them. All these triplets were also presented unordered: (...) sequence order in these trials could be broken at the second or third number. A reverse distance effect of equal size was found in both anxiety groups. However, HMA participants made more judgment errors than their LMA peers when they judged one-digit counting ordered triplets. This effect was related to worse performance of HMA individuals on a symmetry span test and might be related to group differences on working memory. Importantly, HMAs were less accurate than LMA participants at rejecting unordered D2 sequences. This result is interpreted in terms of worse cognitive flexibility in HMA individuals. (shrink)

The use of images in education has received little attention despite the dual role of images in school textbooks, one aimed at the acquisition of knowledge and the other at the transmission of attitudes, values and norms, that constitute a valuable source of historical, educational and communicative research. We will study, through the analysis of content, the characteristics of the catechisms, the legislation of the time related to the publication of school textbooks, the presence of images, types, the didactic function (...) and the transmission of social models and ideology. The research suggests that the images of school catechisms are not simply reflections of a reality that facilitates the learning of the contents taught in schools, but that they also become an effective tool in the transformation of the values and ideological thinking of the social context in which they are produced. (shrink)

Salud reproductiva, legislación y opciones de maternidad brings together articles by fourteen Spanish scholars of law, philosophy, psychology, bioethics, and aesthetics that focus on a central and pressing issue within feminist thought: traditional conceptions of motherhood and how they shape people’s understanding of reproduction, reproductive choices, and women’s agency. The volume includes essays with diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. The organizing thesis is that a fruitful investigation of the issues surrounding reproduction and particularly abortion must challenge the fixed and mistaken (...) set of understandings that have historically been... (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)

Many faces of consciousness -- Ethics, religion, and the identity of self -- States of mind -- Why hearts don't love and brains don't pump -- EEG : a window on the mind -- Dynamic patterns as shadows of thought -- Networks, waves, and resonant binding -- The limits of science : What do we really know? -- Modern physics, cosmology, and consciousness -- The weird behavior of quantum systems -- Ontological interpretations of quantum mechanics -- Does the brain create (...) the mind? (shrink)

Alfred North Whitehead has never gone out of print, but for a time he was decidedly out of fashion in the English-speaking world. In a splendid work that serves as both introduction and erudite commentary, Isabelle Stengersâe"one of todayâe(tm)s leading philosophers of scienceâe"goes straight to the beating heart of Whiteheadâe(tm)s thought. The product of thirty yearsâe(tm) engagement with the mathematician-philosopherâe(tm)s entire canon, this volume establishes Whitehead as a daring thinker on par with Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Michel Foucault. Reading (...) the texts in broadly chronological order while highlighting major works, Stengers deftly unpacks Whiteheadâe(tm)s often complicated language, explaining the seismic shifts in his thinking and showing how he called into question all that philosophers had considered settled after Descartes and Kant. She demonstrates that the implications of Whiteheadâe(tm)s philosophical theories and specialized knowledge of the various sciences come yoked with his innovative, revisionist take on God. Whiteheadâe(tm)s God exists within a specific epistemological realm created by a radically complex and often highly mathematical language. âeoeTo think with Whitehead today,âe Stengers writes, âeoemeans to sign on in advance to an adventure that will leave none of the terms we normally use as they were.âe. (shrink)

Introduction to mind and brain -- The science and philosophy of mind -- A brief look into brain structure and function -- States of mind -- Signatures of consciousness -- Rhythms of the brain -- Brain synchrony, coherence, and resonance -- Networks of the brain -- Introduction to the hard problem -- Multiscale speculations on the hard problem -- Glossary.

This article reformulates Stephan Helmreich´s the ¨microbiomisation of race¨ as the historiality of otherness in the foundations of human microbiome science. Through the lens of my ethnographic fieldwork of a transnational community of microbiome scientists that conducted a landmark human microbiome research on indigenous microbes and its affiliated and first personalised microbiome initiative, the American Gut Project, I follow and trace the key actors, experimental systems and onto-epistemic claims in the emergence of human microbiome science a decade ago. In doing (...) so, I show the links between the reinscription of race, comparative research on the microbial genetic variation of human populations and the remining of bioprospected data for personalised medicine. In these unpredictable research movements, the microbiome of non-Western peoples and territories is much more than a side project or a specific approach within the field: it constitutes the nucleus of its experimental system, opening towards subsequent and cumulative research processes and knowledge production in human microbiome science. The article demonstrates that while human microbiome science is articulated upon the microbial ‘makeup’ of non-wester(nised) communities, societies, and locales, its results and therapeutics are only applicable to medical conditions affecting rich nations (i.e., inflammatory, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases). My reformulation of ¨microbiomisation of race¨ as the condition of possibility of human microbiome science reveals that its individual dimension is sustained by microbial DNA data from human populations through bioprospecting practices and gains meaning through personalised medicine initiatives, informal online networks of pseudoscientific and commodified microbial-related evidence. (shrink)

This book offers a comprehensive presentation of the Pratyabhij philosophy (elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries by Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta) by showing how its main concepts arose from the confrontation of aiva religious dogmas ...

Despite recent research showing that children rapidly interpret human action in terms of intention, a long tradition of empirical research on moral development and recent conceptual analyses of the deontic domain suggest that children do not apply their understanding of intention to the deontic domain. However, two experiments are described showing that children do make that connection. Preschool children heard stories in which a protagonist was obliged to meet a particular condition if an action was to be taken (e.g. obliged (...) to wear a coat if playing outside). When shown four pictures depicting each possible combination of: (1) the protagonist either performing the action or not, and (2) deliberately or accidentally failing to meet the obligation, children appropriately identified the protagonist as naughty when he or she was depicted as deliberately not meeting the obligation while performing the action. The findings proved to be robust across two different cultural settings. Implications for research on children’s developing theory of mind and their understanding of deontic concepts are discussed. (shrink)

Prenatal and preimplantation testing technologies have offered unprecedented access to information about the genetic and congenital makeup of our prospective progeny. Future developments such as preconception testing, non-intrusive prenatal testing and more extensive preimplantation testing promise to increase that access further still. The result may be greater reproductive choice, but it also increases the burden on women and men to avail themselves of these technologies in order to avoid having a child with a disability. The overwhelming question for legislators has (...) been whether and, if so, how to regulate the use of these technologies in the face of compelling but seemingly contradictory claims about the advancement of reproductive choice and the dangers of eugenic or discriminatory effects. This book examines the evolution of this legislative oversight across a number of jurisdictions and explores the tensions and ambiguities that inform these laws. (shrink)

Dans cet essai qui privilégie la joie d'une pensée insoumise plutôt que la dénonciation, Isabelle Stengers prend le relais d'Alfred North Whitehead lorsque, diagnostiquant le "déclin de la civilisation moderne", celui-ci assigna à la philosophie la tâche de "souder le sens commun avec l'imagination". Face aux prétentions à déterminer ce que nous avons le droit de savoir, elle cherche à donner force à ce que nous savons. Face aux oppositions doctrinales prédatrices qui démembrent le sens commun, elle affirme la philosophie (...) comme puissance de problématisation. Prolongeant et renouvelant les ressources proposées par Whitehead, elle fait exister tant la possibilité d'une science "civilisée" que celle, politique, de dispositifs susceptibles d'habiliter les "gens du commun" à faire valoir les questions qui les concernent. Au déclin de la civilisation a aujourd'hui succédé la débâcle : "Nous entendons déjà les grincements et les craquements sourds marquant la rupture des plaques de glace, démantibulant le sol que nous avions défini comme assuré." II s'agit désormais d'apprendre à vivre dans un monde devenu lui-même intrinsèquement problématique. D'autres voix, et notamment celles, contemporaines, de Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, David Abram ou Anna Tsing, viendront dès lors s'associer à celle de Whitehead dans l'exploration des manières de "faire commun" que demande notre époque. (shrink)

Despite recent research showing that children rapidly interpret human action in terms of intention, a long tradition of empirical research on moral development and recent conceptual analyses of the deontic domain suggest that children do not apply their understanding of intention to the deontic domain. However, two experiments are described showing that children do make that connection. Preschool children heard stories in which a protagonist was obliged to meet a particular condition if an action was to be taken (e.g. obliged (...) to wear a coat if playing outside). When shown four pictures depicting each possible combination of: (1) the protagonist either performing the action or not, and (2) deliberately or accidentally failing to meet the obligation, children appropriately identified the protagonist as naughty when he or she was depicted as deliberately not meeting the obligation while performing the action. The findings proved to be robust across two different cultural settings. Implications for research on children’s developing theory of mind and their understanding of deontic concepts are discussed. (shrink)

Un spectre hante l'Université française : celui de la déconstruction. Créé par Jacques Derrida à la fin des années 1960, ce concept est devenu, dans l'esprit des réactionnaires de tout poil, le mot-valise désignant tout ce qu'ils haïssent dans la pensée, lorsque celle-ci cherche à émanciper davantage qu'à ordonner. Dégénérescence de la culture, mépris pour les grandes œuvres, délire interprétatif, amphigouri linguistique, danger politique, confusion sexuelle, licence morale : à en croire les ennemis de la déconstruction, tout ce qui va' (...) mal dans le monde lui est imputable. Que signifie la fixation frénétique d'une frange d'intellectuels sur tout ce qui peut ressembler à une pensée différente, inventive et fondamentalement démocratique? Que cela signifie-t-il, si ce n'est la volonté de policer la pensée et ses institutions, pour mieux, ensuite, policer les corps? Telle est l'interrogation qui a présidé au colloque "Qui a peur de la déconstruction?", qui s'est tenu à l'École normale supérieure et à la Sorbonne en janvier 2023. En voici les actes."--Cover page 4. (shrink)

Stengers recovers the idea of 'common sense' as a meeting place-a commons-where opposed ideas of science and humanistic inquiry can engage one another and help to move society forward. Her reconciliation of science and philosophy is especially urgent today-when climate disaster looms all around us, when the values of what we thought of as civilization and modernity are discredited, and when expertise of any kind is under attack.

La dimensión ética respecto al uso de la inteligencia artificial es hoy un debate obligado en diversas áreas del conocimiento. Los beneficios de la IA en la educación son innegables, sin embargo, invitan a los educadores a una reflexión profunda respecto a los objetivos que se espera alcanzar en los aprendizajes, así como a los riesgos que este tipo de tecnología presenta. A través de una revisión bibliográfica sobre los alcances éticos en educación, se constata la existencia de diversas regulaciones (...) que, desde la perspectiva humanista, apuntan a un uso responsable, sin perder de vista que el fin último es la persona y su dignidad. La ética corre tras los avances tecnológicos, pues la reflexión sobre el uso adecuado de ellas no logra anticiparse a su rápida implementación. Unesco y el Consenso de Beijing señalan que la IA debe estar al servicio de la educación y que es crucial promover una utilización equitativa e inclusiva, transparente y responsable. Generar confianza debe ser el pilar fundamental de esta construcción ética, por ello exige que los líderes escolares y los docentes reflexionen la finalidad del uso; se promueva una adecuada capacitación; se identifiquen beneficios y riesgos y se incorpore a toda la comunidad educativa. (shrink)

In den Mittelpunkt der Schrift stellt Nicolaus Cusanus die Figur eines Laien (idiota), der – als Gegenpol zum universitär ausgebildeten Philosophen – den einfachen Ungebildeten und damit die wahre Weisheit repräsentiert, die dem Geist des Menschen und seinen Potentialen entspricht. Statt auf Bücherwissen und Autoritäten setzt er auf das eigene Philosophieren, das immer neu nach der Wahrheit fragt. Der Laie verkörpert die cusanische Philosophie in besonderem Maße: Fundamentale anthropologische, erkenntnistheoretische und metaphysische Bestimmungen des Cusanus finden sich hier in einer Gestalt (...) vereint. Aus dem Wissen heraus, dass menschliches Erkennen immer nur mutmaßend sein kann, geht es um das rechte kritische Verhältnis zu den eigenen Erkenntnismöglichkeiten. An der Figur des Laien macht Cusanus deutlich, dass dies keineswegs in einen erkenntnistheoretischen Skeptizismus führt, der die Möglichkeit sicheren Wissens von vornherein für nicht erreichbar und infolgedessen alle Erkenntnisbemühungen für überflüssig hält, sondern dass darin das unendliche und dynamische Potential des Menschen zum Ausdruck kommt, sich unermüdlich an die Wahrheit anzunähern. In der Geschichte der Erkenntnistheorie vor Kant spielt "Der Laie über den Geist" somit eine fundamentale Rolle. (shrink)

Ce livre présente les contributions aux "Journées Alain Badiou" qui se sont déroulées à Paris les 22, 23 et 24 octobre 2010. L'événement a permis la rencontre des paroles et des types de discours les plus divers autour d'Alain Badiou et de son oeuvre. Celle-ci fut analysée et discutée du point de vue de ses dimensions philosophique, logique, mathématique, politique, romanesque, théâtrale, poétique, linguistique, biographique... Le philosophe y prononça sa belle conférence : "La relation énigmatique entre philosophie et politique".

Alfred North Whitehead called Isabel Scribner Stearns the most talented female philosopher in America. Drawing on Whitehead and her other teachers, Paul Weiss, C.I. Lewis, H.H. Price, and Grace de Laguna, as well as the traditions of ancient Greek philosophy, Continental Rationalism, German Idealism, and American Pragmatism, Stearns has created an epistemologically and logically sound systematic account of the ontology of individuation and the relational genesis and endurance of individual beings.

This article analyses the sign systems or semiotic models that make up the meaning of a double face or mask drawing in the pre-Columbian rock art of Colombia, also discussing two human figures with depicted faces associated with the main picture. The sample of rock art was detected on the walls of the Chicamocha Canyon at the Mirador de Barcenas site in the Santander Department in Northeast Colombia. Its origin is attributed to the Guane chiefdom. We hold as a central (...) argument that this face and its gestures were part of a sign system or visual semiosphere that spread along the banks of the Chicamocha Canyon. However, the image shared some semiotic models and visual communication strategies with societies that inhabited areas in central Colombia located hundreds of kilometers away from the site studied. We support this claim because the forms, the use of the space in the images, and the gestures of a hieratic character appear both in the faces of the petroglyphs of the Huila Department as well as in some pre-Hispanic gold masks from the Cundinamarca region. The images of the rock art faces were analysed using a visual semiotic model based on the suggestions of the Mu group and analyses by Felix Thurleman and Jean Marie Floch. The analysis was complemented by Jacques Fontanille’s proposal for the levels of semiotic relevance, with Juri Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere employed as a key concept. (shrink)