El objetivo de este documento es presentar una aproximación a las disertaciones desarrolladas en el contexto colombiano que abordan, en sus marcos de referencia, asuntos relacionados al enfoque socio político de la educación matemática, en la idea de identificar por donde ha transitado la comunidad en este tipo de ejercicios académicos. Para ello, se tuvieron en cuenta 61 disertaciones desarrolladas en el periodo 2011-2021, en tres universidades colombianas con reconocimiento por el desarrollo de trabajos académicos e investigativos en torno al (...) estudio del enfoque socio político. Metodológicamente la revisión de las disertaciones se hizo teniendo en cuenta las fases propuestas por Valero y Planas (2016). La revisión preliminar permitió identificar siete categorías: i) montaje de escenarios de aprendizaje desde la Educación Matemática Crítica —EMC—, ii) tensiones y obstáculos que vivencia el profesor cuando desarrolla prácticas pedagógicas; iii) procesos de evaluación desde prácticas sociales fundamentadas en la EMC; iv) estudio de asuntos teóricos diversos desde la EMC; v) ambientes de modelación matemática, desde perspectivas sociocríticas; vi) asuntos sobre la Etnomatemática y el giro decolonial; y vii) revisiones documentales. Circunstancia que nos permite reconocer abordajes investigativos desde enfoques socio políticos que se están desarrollando en las disertaciones. Identificando reflexiones sobre prácticas pedagógicas desde la creación de escenarios de aprendizaje o de ambientes de modelación matemática; reflexiones de carácter teórico sobre pensamiento crítico, formación en valores democráticos; relación entre el micro y macro contexto en clase de matemáticas; reconocimiento y estudio de las tensiones que experimenta el profesor cuando decide salir de su zona de confort. Si bien, se reconocen elementos desde los enfoques socio políticos que aún no han sido explorados, relacionados por ejemplo con cuestiones de raza, identidad, cuestiones de género y justicia social, entre otras; resulta importante resaltar el trabajo que se viene realizando en distintas universidades colombianas en la búsqueda de ahondar en investigaciones que vinculen las matemáticas con asuntos sociales, económicos, políticos y culturales desde un trabajo colaborativo entre escuela y universidad. (shrink)

Modalities of Evil during National Socialism Resumen: Considerando que los diversos actos y atrocidades perpetrados por el nacionalsocialismo no pueden reducirse a una única teoría, a una única causa o a una única raíz, el presente artículo se propone analizar las diferentes expresiones que el mal adoptó durante el III Reich. Para ello, analizaremos los términos arendtianos de “banalidad del mal” y “mal radical”; presentaremos nuestra propuesta de lo que hemos denominado “espontaneidad del mal”; expondremos el mal que se veían (...) obligados a realizar los prisioneros de los campos de concentración; y, finalmente, atenderemos tanto a la complicidad activa como pasiva por parte del pueblo alemán. Palabras clave: banalidad del mal, complicidad, espontaneidad del mal, mal concentracionario, mal radical.: Considering that several acts and atrocities perpetrated by National Socialism cannot be reduced to a singular theory, to a singular cause nor to a singular root, the purpose of this essay is to analyze the different expressions that evil adopted in the Third Reich. In order to do that, we will analyse the Arendtian terms “banality of evil” and “radical evil”; we will introduce the term “spontaneity of evil”; we will show the evil that prisoners of concentration camps were forced to perform; and, finally, we will pay as much attention to active as to passive collusion carried out by German people. Keywords: banality of evil, collusion, spontaneity of evil, concentracionary evil, radical evil. (shrink)

Desde su juventud, Hitler experimentó el anhelo interno de convertirse en un renombrado artista, tanto en su Austria natal como en la Alemania a la que sentía pertenecer. Si bien la Escuela de Bellas Artes de Viena frustró, por dos veces, su sueño en el terreno de las artes plásticas, la política le brindó la oportunidad de hacerlo realidad; y, una vez convertido en Führer de todos los alemanes, se concibió a sí mismo como el gran artista que debía regenerar (...) y dar forma a una nueva Alemania. A través de este ensayo, trataré de presentar los principales trazos de la estética con que el nacionalsocialismo recubrió al iii Reich. Una estética que fue más allá del plano artístico, configurando toda una sociedad, un modelo político y una forma de pensamiento, a partir de su pretensión de dominio, su afán de eternidad y su deseo de hacer de la comunidad alemana una auténtica obra de arte. (shrink)

The Nacional Socialist totalitarian project unleashed an unprecedented savagery in Europe, giving raise to the largest war to have taken place in our history and to a never before seen systematic genocide. In opposition to those who consider this way of savagery as something purely irrational, the truth is that Nazism’s savagery was product of a “rational” project which would have its roots in the period of the Enlightenment. The cruel and inhuman murder of millions of people was the result (...) of a perfectly planned, systematic, and rational act, supported in a bureaucracy which made easier the creation of a series of psychological barriers by perpetrators and whose traces were intended to be erased from history. From this point of view, National Socialism showed that Reason by itself does not save the world from savagery. (shrink)

El propósito de este trabajo es realizar una radiografía general de las publicaciones sobre el sector vitivinícola es España. Ello ha compuesto un corpus de trabajo que abarca las publicaciones desde el año 2000 hasta el año 2021. Gracias a esta revisión teórica se han podido establecer las principales corrientes de estudios vinculadas al sector vitivinícola en España en cinco grandes grupos: Denominaciones de Origen Protegidas, Enoturismo, Desarrollo del territorio, Marketing, y Nuevas Tecnologías, que dan forma a los resultados de (...) este trabajo. (shrink)

La Psicología de la Sustentabilidad (PS) estudia las problemáticas hídricas considerando la relación entre disponibilidad per cápita y consumo de agua. A partir de conceptos tales como; densidad poblacional, infraestructura hídrica y provisión de agua plantea tres estilos de vida relativos al almacenamiento de agua, la reparación de fugas y el consumo hídrico. La PS advierte que las relaciones causales entre las problemáticas hídricas y los estilos de vida son relevantes si se considera el Desarrollo Local Sustentable más que regional (...) y global. A medida que las problemáticas hídricas se intensifican, procesos actitudinales y de austeridad prevalecen sobre el dispendio de agua. En contraste, las situaciones hídricas en equilibrio con el consumo residencial facilitan el dispendio. La discusión alusiva a las problemáticas hídricas y los estilos de vida permitirá construir un sistema tarifario de consumo y delimitar las políticas públicas que se requerirán en el marco de la crisis de abastecimiento y distribución que se espera en los próximos años. (shrink)

Este trabajo analiza las implicancias de la relación comprensión lectora y resolución de problemas en matemática por medio de un análisis detallado de la formulación lingüística de problemas matemáticos y su resolución en un manual de apoyo docente elaborado para este propósito. De esta forma, se detallan diferentes enunciados de problemas en matemáticas para analizar desde su estructura verbal -conforme a una complejidad creciente e integrada- a fin de exponer su impacto enlas posibilidades de resolución por parte de los estudiantes (...) universitarios de primeraño en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la UC Temuco. (shrink)

Symbiosis plays a fundamental role in contemporary biology, as well as in recent thinking in philosophy of biology. The discovery of the importance and universality of symbiotic associations has brought new light to old debates in the field, including issues about the concept of biological individuality. An important aspect of these debates has been the formulation of the hologenome concept of evolution, the notion that holobionts are units of natural selection in evolution. This review examines the philosophical assumptions that underlie (...) recent proposal of the hologenome concept of evolution, and traces those debates back in time to their historical origins, to the moment when the connection between the topics of symbiosis and biological individuality first caught the attention of biologists. The review is divided in two parts. The first part explores the historical origins of the connection between the notion of symbiosis and the concept of biological individuality, and emphasizes the role of A. de Bary, R. Pound, A. Schneider and C. Merezhkowsky in framing the debate. The second part examines the hologenome concept of evolution and explores four parallelisms between contemporary debates and the debates presented in the first part of the essay, arguing that the different debates raised by the hologenome concept were already present in the literature. I suggest that the novelty of the hologenome concept of evolution lies in the wider appreciation of the importance of symbiosis for maintaining life on Earth as we know it. Finally, I conclude by suggesting the importance of exploring the connections among contemporary biology, philosophy of biology and history of biology in order to gain a better understanding of contemporary biology. (shrink)

This paper addresses the topic of determinism in contemporary microbiome research. I distinguish two types of deterministic claims about the microbiome, and I show evidence that both types of claims are present in the contemporary literature. First, the idea that the host genetics determines the composition of the microbiome which I call “host-microbiome determinism”. Second, the idea that the genetics of the holobiont (the individual unit composed by a host plus its microbiome) determines the expression of certain phenotypic traits, which (...) I call “microbiome-phenotype determinism”. Drawing on the stability of traits conception of individuality (Suárez in Hist Philos Life Sci 42:11, 2020) I argue that none of these deterministic hypotheses is grounded on our current knowledge of how the holobiont is transgenerationally assembled, nor how it expresses its phenotypic traits. (shrink)

Bourrat and Griffiths :33, 2018) have recently argued that most of the evidence presented by holobiont defenders to support the thesis that holobionts are evolutionary individuals is not to the point and is not even adequate to discriminate multispecies evolutionary individuals from other multispecies assemblages that would not be considered evolutionary individuals by most holobiont defenders. They further argue that an adequate criterion to distinguish the two categories is fitness alignment, presenting the notion of fitness boundedness as a criterion that (...) allows divorcing true multispecies evolutionary individuals from other multispecies assemblages and provides an adequate criterion to single out genuine evolutionary multispecies assemblages. A consequence of their criterion is that holobionts, as conventionally defined by hologenome defenders, are not evolutionary individuals except in very rare cases, and for very specific host-symbiont associations. This paper is a critical response to Bourrat and Griffiths’ arguments and a defence of the arguments presented by holobiont defenders. Drawing upon the case of the hologenomic basis of the evolution of sanguivory in vampire bats, I argue that Bourrat and Griffiths overlook some aspects of the biological nature of the microbiome that justifies the thesis that holobionts are evolutionarily different to other multispecies assemblages. I argue that the hologenome theory of evolution should not define the hologenome as a collection of genomes, but as the sum of the host genome plus some traits of the microbiome which together constitute an evolutionary individual, a conception I refer to as the stability of traits conception of the hologenome. Based on that conception I argue that the evidence presented by holobiont defenders is to the point, and supports the thesis that holobionts are evolutionary individuals. In this sense, the paper offers an account of the holobiont that aims to foster a dialogue between hologenome advocates and hologenome critics. (shrink)

Philippe Huneman has recently questioned the widespread application of mechanistic models of scientific explanation based on the existence of structural explanations, i.e. explanations that account for the phenomenon to be explained in virtue of the mathematical properties of the system where the phenomenon obtains, rather than in terms of the mechanisms that causally produce the phenomenon. Structural explanations are very diverse, including cases like explanations in terms of bowtie structures, in terms of the topological properties of the system, or in (...) terms of equilibrium. The role of mathematics in bowtie structured systems and in topologically constrained systems has recently been examined in different papers. However, the specific role that mathematical properties play in equilibrium explanations requires further examination, as different authors defend different interpretations, some of them closer to the new-mechanistic approach than to the structural model advocated by Huneman. In this paper, we cover this gap by investigating the explanatory role that mathematics play in Blaser and Kirschner’s nested equilibrium model of the stability of persistent long-term human-microbe associations. We argue that their model is explanatory because: i) it provides a mathematical structure in the form of a set of differential equations that together satisfy an ESS; ii) that the nested nature of the ESSs makes the explanation of host-microbe persistent associations robust to any perturbation; iii) that this is so because the properties of the ESS directly mirror the properties of the biological system in a non-causal way. The combination of these three theses make equilibrium explanations look more similar to structural explanations than to causal-mechanistic explanation. (shrink)

The hologenome concept of evolution is a hypothesis about the evolution of animals and plants. It asserts that the evolution of animals and plants was partially triggered by their interactions with their symbiotic microbiomes. In that vein, the hologenome concept posits that the holobiont (animal host + symbionts of the microbiome) is a unit of selection. -/- The hologenome concept has been severely criticized on the basis that selection on holobionts would only be possible if there were a tight transgenerational (...) host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection. As our current evidence suggests that this is not the case for most of the symbiont species that compose the microbiome of animals and plants, the opportunity for holobiont selection is very low in relation to the opportunity for selection on each of the species that compose the host microbiome. Therefore, holobiont selection will always be disrupted ‘from below’, by selection on each of the species that compose the microbiome. -/- This thesis constitutes a conceptual effort to defend philosophically the hologenome concept. I argue that the criticism according to which holobiont selection requires tight transgenerational host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection is grounded on a metaphysical view of the world according to which the biological hierarchy needs to be nested, such that each new level of selection includes every entity from below. Applied to hologenomes, it entails that the hologenome is a collection of genomes, and selection of hologenomes is assumed to entail cospeciation of the host with the species that constitute its microbiome. -/- Against that interpretation, I propose the ‘stability of traits’ account, according to which hologenome evolution is the result of the action of natural selection in a non-nested hierarchical world. In that vein, hologenome evolution does not entail cospeciation, and thus it does not require tight transgenerational host-genotype-to-symbiont-genotype connection. By embracing a multilevel selection perspective, I argue that hologenome evolution results from the simultaneous action of natural selection on each of the lineages that compose the microbiome, and on the assemblage composed by the host genome plus the functional traits of its microbiome. Hologenome selection occurs when the evolution of the traits of the microbiome result from their effects on the fitness of the host, and it can take the form of multilevel selection 1, or multilevel selection 2. In both cases, hologenome selection entails the evolution of microbiome traits, as well as evolution of the host genome, rather than cospeciation of lineages. (shrink)

The Coal Seam Gas extraction industry is developing rapidly within the Surat Basin in southern Queensland, Australia, with licenses already approved for tenements covering more than 24,000 km2. Much of this land is used for a broad range of agricultural purposes and the need for coexistence between the farm and gas industries has been the source of much conflict. Whilst much research has been undertaken into the environmental and economic impacts of CSG, little research has looked into the issues of (...) coexistence between farmers and the CSG industry in the shared space that is a farm business, a home and a resource extraction network. We conducted three workshops with farmers from across a broad region undergoing CSG development to explore farmers’ perceptions of some of the issues arising from large scale land use change. Workshops explored the importance of place identity and landscape aesthetics for farmers, farmers’ acceptance and coping with change, and possible benefits from off-farm income. We found that farmers believed that place identity was not well understood by CSG staff from non-rural backgrounds and that farmers struggled to explain some concerns because of the different way they interpreted their landscape. Furthermore, high staff turnover, and the extensive use of contractors also impacted on communications. These factors were the cause of much frustration and farmers felt that this has led to severe impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Farmers felt that a change in culture within the CSG companies will be required if engagement with farmers is to improve and that efforts to employ local people in these communications was helping this. The workshops also identified a range of issues perceived by farmers arising from increased traffic volumes, impacts to mental health and wellbeing, place identity and loss of water resources for farmers. Finally, it was suggested that scientists and agricultural industry groups will need to work closely with farmers to develop understanding of these emerging issues and to develop solutions that are timely and relevant. (shrink)

In this article, the manuscript of Codex Madrid I, Leonardo da Vinci's workshop drawings collection, is reviewed and the main mechanisms that appear in the aforesaid codex are analysed. It begins with a short reference to Leonardo da Vinci works and, subsequently, Leonardo's manuscripts and Codex Madrid I, in particular, are placed in their historical context. After analysing the historical scope of Codex Madrid I, a compilation of the 100 main drawings of the manuscript is made, composing nine Mechanisms Drawings (...) Boxes. Each Mechanisms Drawings Box is a collage made up of 10 to 14 drawings of mechanical elements that appear in Codex Madrid I, with a brief description of each drawing. This compilation illustrates the wide range of mechanical elements and simple mechanisms of Codex Madrid I, forming, as a whole, a complete treatise on mechanisms, understanding mechanisms as basic elements of machines. (shrink)

We support the development of non-reductive cognitive science and the naturalization of phenomenology for this purpose, and we agree that the ‘relational turn’ defended by Gallagher is a necessary step in this direction. However, we believe that certain aspects of his relational concept of nature need clarification. In particular, Gallagher does not say whether or how teleology, affect, and other value-related properties of life and mind can be naturalized within this framework. In this paper, we argue that (1) given the (...) phenomenological standards recognized by Gallagher, his commitment to a naturalized phenomenology should entail a commitment to a naturalized concept of value; and (2) the kind of ‘relational nature’ described by Gallagher in his paper is insufficient for this purpose. (shrink)

This volume has 41 chapters written to honor the 100th birthday of Mario Bunge. It celebrates the work of this influential Argentine/Canadian physicist and philosopher. Contributions show the value of Bunge’s science-informed philosophy and his systematic approach to philosophical problems. The chapters explore the exceptionally wide spectrum of Bunge’s contributions to: metaphysics, methodology and philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of physics, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of social science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of technology, moral philosophy, social and political (...) philosophy, medical philosophy, and education. The contributors include scholars from 16 countries. Bunge combines ontological realism with epistemological fallibilism. He believes that science provides the best and most warranted knowledge of the natural and social world, and that such knowledge is the only sound basis for moral decision making and social and political reform. Bunge argues for the unity of knowledge. In his eyes, science and philosophy constitute a fruitful and necessary partnership. Readers will discover the wisdom of this approach and will gain insight into the utility of cross-disciplinary scholarship. This anthology will appeal to researchers, students, and teachers in philosophy of science, social science, and liberal education programmes. 1. Introduction Section I. An Academic Vocation Section II. Philosophy Section III. Physics and Philosophy of Physics Section IV. Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind Section V. Sociology and Social Theory Section VI. Ethics and Political Philosophy Section VII. Biology and Philosophy of Biology Section VIII. Mathematics Section IX. Education Section X. Varia Section XI. Bibliography. (shrink)

El tema central de esta tesis de maestría en filosofía de la ciencia es el de la naturaleza de la persistencia a través del tiempo, en el contexto de nuestras mejores teorías físicas acerca del espacio-tiempo. Este problema involucra uno de los conceptos centrales en nuestra comprensión científica del mundo físico, a saber, el concepto de tiempo. La forma usual en que se plantea el problema de la persistencia involucra ciertas nociones que están conectadas con la física, pero estos supuestos (...) rara vez suelen ser formulados de manera explícita, empero, extrapolar las disputas filosóficas en torno a la naturaleza de la persistencia al contexto de espacios newtonianos, galileanos y relativistas (minkowski) no es una tarea trivial. Estos espacios son algunos de los espacios fundamentales donde ocurre la dinámica de los objetos físicos en física clásica. -/- En esta investigación he perseguido diferentes objetivos que vinculan el problema de la persistencia, las diferentes tesis que buscan resolver el problema y las estructuras espacio-temporales postuladas nuestras mejores teorías físicas: -/- 1. Articular el problema de la persistencia, así como varios supuestos de metafísica y filosofía de la ciencia indispensables para plantear la discusión, así como para formular mi solución. 2. Introducir a detalle las diversas estructuras-espacio temporales que, en nuestras mejores teorías de física, albergan a los objetos materiales persistentes. 3. Introducir herramientas formales que permitan analizar la relación de todo-parte en contextos temporales (mereología), así como las propiedades formales de la relación de ubicación que mantienen los objetos materiales con las regiones espacio-temporales. 4. Reformular las posiciones, con estas herramientas, en las estructuras espacio-temporales previamente mencionadas. 5. Ofrecer una serie de argumentos que favorecen lo que más adelante caracterizo como “perdurantismo de ubicación”, desde dos posiciones metafísicas: el unitismo, la tesis de que el tiempo y el espacio son aspectos de una sustancia más fundamental, el espacio-tiempo y el supersustantivismo, la tesis de que el espacio-tiempo y sus propiedades son suficientes para dar soporte a una ontología realista en el caso de nuestras mejores teorías físicas. -/- De esos cinco puntos me ocupo, en ese orden, en los cinco capítulos de esta investigación, con el capítulo V siendo mi contribución original a la literatura especializada sobre el tema. En los primeros capítulos (I, II) el enfoque es en presentar una serie de posiciones y asunciones estructurales en filosofía y física. En los capítulos intermedios (III, IV), hay también una presentación de posiciones filosóficas dominantes en la literatura (Balashov, 2010; Gibson y Pooley, 2006; Gilmore, 2008, 2014; Calosi y Fano, 2015; Saucedo, 2011) que acompañan a una discusión de elementos formales de mereología y postulados estructurales de las teorías naturalizadas de persistencia a través del tiempo. El capítulo V, que es mi contribución original a la discusión filosófica, integra todo lo discutido en los capítulos anteriores en una serie de argumentos que presento en favor del perdurantismo de ubicación. (shrink)

“The First Person” is the paper where G. E. M. Anscombe supports the thesis that “I” is not a referring word. Mainly I deal with her argument against the indexical view of “I” from the scenario of the “A” user, who refers to himself as the person who is under the special observation of the “A” user. On the one hand, I put forward that a use of “A” might have a guaranteed reference in a semantic sense: a referential use (...) of “A” as a definite description guarantees the one reference to oneself. On the other hand, the indexical view is left untouched: the reference of “A” is not fixed by the self-reference rule, and thus “I” and “A” are not indistinguishable referring words. Also I explore the idea that unlike “A”, “I” has a guaranteed reference in an epistemic sense, being immune to error through misidentification. (shrink)

Political philosophy in the last decades has turned away from universal narratives of progress, on grounds that these narratives produce exclusion and justify domination. However, the universal values that underlie emancipatory political projects seem to presuppose universal history, which explains its persistence in some contemporary political philosophers committed to such projects. In order to find a response to the paradox according to which universal history is inherently exclusionary and yet necessary to uphold universal values, I examine the contrast between Adorno’s (...) and Lyotard’s perspectives on the problem of writing history ‘after Auschwitz’. For both philosophers, Auschwitz interrupts our fundamental normative and cognitive values, because any attempt to identify the meaning of the camps by means of these values misunderstands the suffering that took place in them. Yet this interruption produces a feeling that calls for the institution of new universal normative values. For Adorno, this value is a purely negative command to act in such a way that Auschwitz does not repeat itself. For Lyotard, by contrast, it is the demand to invent new idioms that make it possible to find meaning in Auschwitz. (shrink)

Are properties universal or particular? According to Universalism, properties are universals because there is a certain fundamental tie that makes properties capable of being shareable by more than one thing. On the opposing side, Particularism is the view that properties are particulars due to the existence of a fundamental tie that makes properties incapable of being shared. My aim in this paper is to critically examine the connections between the notions of the fundamental tie and universality and particularity. I argue, (...) first, that universality and particularity can characterize a property if and only if there is a universalist or a particularist fundamental tie, and, second, that it is unclear that these should be the fundamental ties that connect ordinary and scientific properties to their respective bearers. Then I develop an alternative approach to properties and the fundamental tie, which is neutralist because it dispenses with universality and particularity as features of properties, and naturalist because it naturalizes the possession of properties by replacing metaphysical fundamental ties with a scientific one, in particular, a physical process. I show how this approach improves our understanding of properties and instantiation. (shrink)

En este trabajo propongo realizar un recorrido acerca de la utilización del concepto de mito en la obra de Carlos Astrada. En primer lugar analizaré sus obras tempranas en donde el filósofo encuentra en la Revolución Rusa la expresión del mito de la humanidad que ha emergido para llevar a ésta hacia su plenitud. Luego tomaré en consideración su obra El Mito Gaucho, la cual constituye una interpretación del Martín Fierro como expresión del mito de los argentinos. Seguidamente me referiré (...) a las obras en donde Astrada amplía su proyección hacia toda Latinoamérica buscando las raíces mitológicas en las culturas arcaicas de nuestro continente. Finalmente daré cuenta de la relación que establece entre mito y utopía en sus últimos escritos. In this work I propose to show the utilization of the concept of myth in the Carlos Astrada´s work. First, I will analyze his early works where the philosopher finds in the Russian Revolution the expression of the humanity´s myth. Later, I will take in consideration his work El Mito Gaucho, which constitutes an interpretation of Martín Fierro as expression of the argentinien´s myth. Continuously, I will refer to the works in where Astrada extends his projection towards the whole Latin America looking for the mythological roots in the archaic cultures of our continent. Finally I will show the relation that he establishes between myth and Utopia in his last writings. (shrink)

In an effort to restrict seed piracy in the global agricultural market, Monsanto intends to implement some form of genetic use restriction technology. Regarding such intentions, many activist groups adamantly contend that Monsanto will be acting immorally if GURTs, specifically Terminator Technology, are implemented in the global agricultural market. They argue that the potential implementation of TT is immoral because it threatens to infringe upon the rights of resource-poor farmers by denying them the ability to save the seed derived from (...) their harvests. While there may be ways that the implementation of TT can be construed as wrong, I narrowly argue that Monsanto will not be wrongfully infringing upon the basic rights of resource-poor farmers if it actually implements TT. Moreover, as long as Monsanto takes the appropriate measures to minimize the possible negative effects that TT may have on resource-poor farmers, and allows these farmers to make an autonomous choice to use seed that contains this technology, Monsanto's possible implementation of TT cannot be accurately considered to instantiate an immoral violation of basic rights. (shrink)

The paper reads Kant’s notion of radical evil as anticipating and clarifying problematic aspects of what Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’. By reconstructing Arendt’s varied analyses of this notion throughout her later writings, I show that the main theoretical challenge posed by it concerns the adjudication of responsibility for evil deeds that seem to lack recognisable evil intentions. In order to clarify this issue, I turn to a canonical text in which the relationship between evil and responsibility plays a (...) central role: Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Relying on an interpretation of this writing by Arendt’s mentor Karl Jaspers published in 1935, in evident connection to National Socialism, I challenge Arendt’s own interpretation of Kant’s notion of radical evil, which, I argue, represents an antecedent, rather than a contrast, to ‘the banality of evil’. For Kant, radical evil consists in the destruction of the person’s sense of responsibility, thus producing a self-exculpatory mentality such as the one that characterised Eichmann during his trial. (shrink)

Many political theorists argue that immigration restrictions are unjust and defend broadly open borders. In this paper, I examine the implications of this view for individual conduct. In particular, I argue that the citizens of states that enforce unjust immigration restrictions have duties to disobey certain immigration laws. States conscript their citizens to help enforce immigration law by imposing legal duties on these citizens to monitor, report, and refrain from interacting with unauthorized migrants. If an ideal of open borders is (...) true, these laws are unjust. Furthermore, if citizens comply with their legal duties, they contribute to violating the rights of migrants. We are obligated to refrain from contributing to rights-violations. So, citizens are obligated to disobey immigration laws. I defend the moral requirement to disobey immigration laws against the objection that disobedience to the law is excessively risky and the objection that citizens have political obligations to obey the law. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue against the later Wittgenstein's conventionalist account of necessity. I first show that necessary propositions and grammatical rules differ in ways that make an explanation of the former in terms of the latter inadequate. I then argue that even if Wittgenstein's account were adequate, the explanation of necessity it offers would still fail to be genuinely reductive of the modal notion.

Una experiencia de Teatro en el IES Universidad Laboral. Muestra de Teatro Escolar Gijón.

Several political theorists argue that states have rights to self-determination and these rights justify immigration restrictions. Call this: the self-determination argument for immigration restrictions. In this article, I develop an objection to the self-determination argument. I argue that if it is morally permissible for states to restrict immigration because they have rights to self-determination, then it can also be morally permissible for states to deport and denationalize their own citizens. We can either accept that it is permissible for states to (...) deport and denationalize their own citizens or reject the self-determination argument. To avoid this implication, we should reject the self-determination argument. That is, we should also reject the conclusion that rights to self-determination can justify any significant immigration restrictions. (shrink)

The paper reads Kant’s notion of radical evil as anticipating and clarifying problematic aspects of what Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’. By reconstructing Arendt’s varied analyses of this notion throughout her later writings, I show that the main theoretical challenge posed by it concerns the adjudication of responsibility for evil deeds that seem to lack recognisable evil intentions. In order to clarify this issue, I turn to a canonical text in which the relationship between evil and responsibility plays a (...) central role: Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Relying on an interpretation of this writing by Arendt’s mentor Karl Jaspers published in 1935, in evident connection to National Socialism, I challenge Arendt’s own interpretation of Kant’s notion of radical evil, which, I argue, represents an antecedent, rather than a contrast, to ‘the banality of evil’. For Kant, radical evil consists in the destruction of the person’s sense of responsibility, thus producing a self-exculpatory... (shrink)

ABSTRACTPeople smugglers help transport migrants across international borders without authorization and in return for compensation. Many people object to people smuggling and believe that the smuggling of migrants is an evil trade. In this paper, I offer a qualified defense of people smuggling. In particular, I argue that people smuggling that assists refugees in escaping threats to their rights can be morally justified. I then rebut the objections that people smugglers exploit migrants, have defective motivations, and wrongly violate the law. (...) My conclusion is that people smuggling is sometimes a permissible way of helping refugees to evade unjust immigration restrictions and compelling states to bear their fair share of the global refugee population. (shrink)

In my previous paper "Has the later Wittgenstein accounted for necessity?" I argued against the conventionalist account of necessity proposed by Wittgenstein and his followers. Glock has addressed some of my objections in his paper "Necessity and Language: In Defence of Conventionalism". This brief rejoinder considers Glock's replies to three of those objections. In the course of doing so, I revisit Wittgenstein's explanation of the special status of necessary propositions, the supposedly arbitrary nature of colour-grammatical propositions, and the relation between (...) rules and modality. (shrink)

Lyotard’s diagnosis of a ‘postmodern condition’ has been repeatedly interpreted as a disavowal of the universal aspiration of political action and judgment. This article challenges this interpretation by showing that postmodernity involves an attempt to reconsider universality in such a way that it involves dissensus rather than consensus. I proceed by reconstructing Lyotard’s critique of the idea of consensus as a ground of political action and judgment, which in his view is based on a certain model of production of scientific (...) knowledge. Then, I analyse Lyotard’s turn to Kant’s judgment of the sublime as an alternative to a consensus-based conception of universal judgments. In the judgment of the sublime, universality stems from the disagreement between the faculties, which arouses respect for universal ideas. Analogously, political judgments stem from the disagreement between heterogeneous discourses, which produces a universal call to invent new languages that make communication possible. (shrink)

Many people think that citizenship should not be for sale. On their view, it is morally wrong for states to sell citizenship to foreigners. In this article, I challenge this view. I argue that it is in principle permissible for states to sell citizenship. I contend that, if states can permissibly deny foreigners access to citizenship in some cases, then states can permissibly give foreigners the option of buying citizenship in these cases. Furthermore, I defend the permissibility of selling citizenship (...) against the objections that selling citizenship values citizenship in the wrong way, corrupts civic norms, and unfairly discriminates against poor foreigners. I conclude by noting that, although selling citizenship is not intrinsically wrong, it could still be wrong for states to sell citizenship in practice. If existent immigration restrictions are unjust, then it may be impermissible for states to sell citizenship in the real world. (shrink)

Since the publication of Universals and Scientific Realism (Armstrong 1978a, b) until Sketch for a Systematic Metaphysics (Armstrong 2010), via Universals: An Opinionated Introduction (Armstrong 1989), a World of States of Affairs (Armstrong 1997), and Truth and Truthmakers (Armstrong 2004), David Armstrong has developed one of the most influential theories of instantiation in contemporary analytic metaphysics (see, for example, Lewis, in Aust J Phil 61(4), 343–377, 1983; Baxter in Aust J Phil, 79, 449–464, 2001; Forrest, in Aust J Phil, 83, (...) 213–228, 2006). Instantiation has been advocated by Armstrong to give a solution to what he has called the “pressing problem” of “the multiple location of property universals” (Armstrong, in Universals: An opinionated introduction. University Press, Cambridge, 1989, pp. 89–90). Here I argue that Armstrong’s theory of instantiation fails to solve the problem because it involves two kinds of instantiation to account for particulars “having” and “sharing” universals. As a viable alternative to Armstrong’s theory, I propose a theory of instantiation capable of accounting for both phenomena in a univocal way. (shrink)

In this article I defend two theses related to the ontology of the mind and the conception of explanatory levels supposed by evolutionary psychology. First, that the theory of mind adopted by this program can not remove all dualist remnant and present an acceptable picture of mind-body relationship. Second, that the difficulties presented by the ontological hypothesis, in addition to certain plausible theses on the explanatory compatibility, reduce in wide measure the attractiveness of pluralism of levels defended.

Jonathan Schaffer has provided three putative counterexamples to the transitivity of grounding, and has argued that a contrastive treatment of grounding is able to provide a resolution to them, which in turn provides some motivation for accepting such a treatment. In this article, I argue that one of these cases can easily be turned into a putative counterexample to a principle which Schaffer calls differential transitivity. Since Schaffer's proposed resolution rests on this principle, this presents a dilemma for the contrastivist: (...) either he dismisses the third case, which weakens the motivation for accepting his treatment of grounding, or else he accepts it, in which case he is faced with a counterexample to a principle that his proposed resolution to the original cases depends on. In the remainder of the article, I argue that the prima facie most promising strategy the contrastivist could take, which is to place some restriction on which contrastive facts are admissible so as to rule out the purported counterexample to differential transitivity, faces some important difficulties. Although these difficulties are not insurmountable, they do pose a substantial challenge for the contrastivist. (shrink)

States have rights to unilaterally determine their own immigration policies under international law and few international institutions regulate states’ decision-making about immigration. As a result, states have extensive discretion over immigration policy. In this paper, I argue that states should join international migration institutions that would constrain their discretion over immigration. Immigration restrictions are morally risky. When states restrict immigration, they risk unjustly harming foreigners and restricting their freedom. Furthermore, biases and epistemic defects pervasively influence states’ decision-making about immigration policy. (...) States should transfer some of their decision-making authority over immigration to more reliable institutions in order to mitigate the risks that they will unjustly restrict immigration. International institutions that include the interests of potential immigrants would be more reliable with respect to immigration policy than unilateral state decision-making. Thus, states should subject their immigration policies to international control. (shrink)