Researchers have iterated that the future of synthetic biology and biotechnology lies in novel consumer applications of crossing biology with engineering. However, if the new biology’s future is to be sustainable, early and serious efforts must be made towards social sustainability. Therefore, the crux of new applications of synthetic biology and biotechnology is public understanding and acceptance. The RASVaccine is a novel recombinant design not found in nature that re-engineers a common bacteria to produce a strong immune response in humans. (...) Synthesis of the RASVaccine has the potential to improve public health as an inexpensive, non-injectable product. But how can scientists move forward to create a dialogue of creating a ‘common sense’ of this new technology in order to promote social sustainability? This paper delves into public issues raised around these novel technologies and uses the RASVaccine as an example of meeting the public with a common sense of its possibilities and limitations. (shrink)

Researchers have iterated that the future of synthetic biology and biotechnology lies in novel consumer applications of crossing biology with engineering. However, if the new biology’s future is to be sustainable, early and serious efforts must be made towards social sustainability. Therefore, the crux of new applications of synthetic biology and biotechnology is public understanding and acceptance. The RASVaccine is a novel recombinant design not found in nature that re-engineers a common bacteria to produce a strong immune response in humans. (...) Synthesis of the RASVaccine has the potential to improve public health as an inexpensive, non-injectable product. But how can scientists move forward to create a dialogue of creating a ‘common sense’ of this new technology in order to promote social sustainability? This paper delves into public issues raised around these novel technologies and uses the RASVaccine as an example of meeting the public with a common sense of its possibilities and limitations. (shrink)

El artículo tiene como objetivo presentar la caracterización de la educación en el área de la filosofía en el departamento de Norte de Santander, en Colombia, a través de la respuesta a la pregunta ¿cómo los profesores los colegios de la zona Pamplona enseñan filosofía en el Norte de Santander?, desde un método de investigación mixto. Estos resultados parciales de investigación en la zona Pamplona solo se enfocan en las generalidades del quehacer filosófico dentro del aparato investigativo desarrollado (...) en 33 colegios de la región nortesantandereana. Con ellos se pretende abarcar el diseño del perfil docente de filosofía actual en la región, el cual sigue el orden de edad, género, título obtenido en pregrado, cuáles estudios de posgrado ha cursado, el estatuto docente al que pertenece, si es un docente nombrado o provisional, si ha hecho el ejercicio de publicación de textos, y la motivación para la escritura y publicación. La principal conclusión de esta investigación es que se debe fortalecer la enseñanza de la filosofía en los colegios del Norte de Santander, a través de diferentes estrategias que parten de la academia como la formación en un perfil profesional en filosofía, la creación de posgrados en esta temática, además de alimentar la importancia de la cultura investigativa como proceso de mejora de la enseñanza filosófica. (shrink)

Given one conception of biological individuality (evolutionary, physiological, etc.), can a holobiont – that is the host + its symbiotic (mutualistic, commensalist and parasitic) microbiome – be simultaneously a biological individual and an ecological community? Herein, we support this possibility by arguing that the notion of biological individuality is part‐dependent. In our account, the individuality of a biological ensemble should not only be determined by the conception of biological individuality in use, but also by the biological characteristics of the part (...) of the ensemble under investigation. In the specific case of holobionts, evaluations of their individuality should be made either host‐relative or microbe‐relative. We support the claim that biological individuality is part‐dependent by drawing upon recent empirical evidence regarding the physiology of hosts and microbes, and the recent characterization of the ‘demibiont’. Our account shows that contemporary disagreements about the individuality of the holobiont derive from an incorrect understanding of the ontology of biological individuality. We show that collaboration between philosophers and biologists can be very fruitful in attempts to solve some contemporary biological debates. (shrink)

Suppose that it was possible to teletransport. The teletransporter would destroy your old brain and body and construct an identical brain and body at a new location. Would you survive teletransportation? Many people think that teletransportation would kill you. On their view, the person that emerges from the teletransporter would be a replica of you, but it wouldn't be you. In contrast, I argue that there's no relevant difference between teletransportation and ordinary survival. So, if you survive ordinary life, then (...) you survive teletransportation. Yet my argument may also show that we have little prudential reason to care about our survival in general. (shrink)

Philosophical hermeneutics has become an unavoidable reference in the field throughout the twentieth century but has seldom been extended to draw conclusions in the area of political theory. Two intellectuals that have contributed to such a project are Charles Taylor and Gianni Vattimo, although they exhibit some important differences in key aspects of this enterprise, both at the level of the conceptual premises and at that of the prescribed policies and objectives. Here I examine these thinkers’ notion of tradition – (...) an essential feature of hermeneutical theories – its ontological underpinnings, and the place each of them assign to it in sociopolitical decision-making, especially in the context of multicultural societies. In the end, I argue for the superiority of Taylor’s model of understanding and employing tradition in current political and moral debates. (shrink)

Ontic Structural Realism, as pivotal position in philosophy of science and metaphysics, defends the idea that the world is ultimately constituted of real physical structures. French (2014) regards physical symmetries as the foundational structure of a world without objects. On the other hand, Ladyman and Ross (2007) hold that the world is essentially made of non-redundant informational structure. I argue in this paper that these two positions are by no means incompatible, for instance by interpreting French’s physical symmetries as real (...) structures both encompassing and compressing every piece of information (Kolmogorov complexity) within the world. (shrink)

The facts and inferences exposed in this writing, and the arguments that support it, allow us to conclude that the «extension of the mind», opened during the evolutionary process, since always and today accelerated by the work of human intervention, in no case authorizes us to consider that the «extension of mind» has changed human nature, as we have always known it. Therefore, there is no justification to speak of transhumanism, as if a new man, a «transhuman», had appeared at (...) the moment of the Singularity, whose nature had undergone substantial changes in relation to the usual human nature. For this reason, we consider that we should continue speaking of an «extensive humanism». No more. (shrink)

Se busca rastrear la imagen que Platón tiene de Heráclito y articularla con la estructura argumentativa del Cratilo, para comprender las necesidades textuales a las que responde la doctrina del flujo perpetuo, es decir, la discusión sobre la corrección (ὀρθότης) del nombre. Gracias a la inclusión del testimonio heraclíteo, resulta posible rastrear la presunta consolidación de la tesis sobre los nombres primarios y los secundarios como el eje de la separación entre dos planos de realidad (uno estable y uno móvil) (...) y de la teoría de las Ideas -es decir, como la base de la epistemología platónica presente en los diálogos de madurez-. The article seeks to trace the image Plato has of Heraclitus and connect it with the argumentative structure of the Cratylus in order to understand the textual needs that give rise to the doctrine of perpetual flux, that is, the discussion regarding the correctness (ὀρθότης) of names. The inclusion of Heraclitus's testimony makes it possible to trace the alleged consolidation of the thesis regarding primary and secondary names as the axis of separation between two levels of reality (one stable, the other, changing) and the theory of Ideas -that is, as the basis of Plato's epistemology as set forth in the late dialogues-. (shrink)

Juan Huarte de San Juan (1529–88) was a physician of the Spanish Renaissance. He wrote the Examen de Ingenios para las Ciencias, translated as The Trial of Men’s Wits (1989[1575–94]), a book that has been acknowledged as a precursor of educational psychology, organizational psychology, behaviorism, neuropsychology and psychiatry. Huarte suggested that before beginning a course of study, students’ intellectual capabilities (i.e. ingenio) should be matched up with the professional studies that best suit their aptitudes. His book had a great impact (...) in Europe from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century. The influence of the Trial spread throughout many areas including philosophy, politics, linguistics and literature. Although there has been a growing interest in Huarte’s work in recent years, biographical studies have been rare; as a result, the information about Huarte’s life is currently incomplete, scattered and sometimes inaccurate. This study presents a systematic archival research on Spanish original sources. We present a reconstruction of Huarte’s life-story based on 32 original documents (1549–c.1650), some of them first discovered during the present survey. Documents are described according to the General International Standard of Archival Description, ISAD(G). The documents uncovered allow for a reappraisal of Huarte’s biography. (shrink)

Given current studies in moral psychology and following recent cases of wrong behaviour occurred in elite sporting events ? e.g. the racist chants scandals in the English Premier League or the events following Mourinho's poke in the eye scandal ? I shall analyse the extent to which supporters' brain make-up is determining them to behave in an ?unfair way?. Yet this paper is not just a work on descriptive ethics, but a normative ethics work. Therefore, once I have developed the (...) ?psycho-biological account of sports supporters?, I shall explore whether or not a more virtuous account of sports supporting can be drawn. In order to fulfil this normative task I shall appeal to the concept of ?fair play?. The common view of fair play defines it as ?the act of abiding by the rules?. However, my account of fair play is more complex and it is based on the moral principle of respecting others. This is the reason why fair play is not just something related to athletes but to supporters as well. To conclude, I shall sketch the boundaries of fair-play-based supporting behaviour in order to propose some policies or strategies that can help us to promote a ?healthy? and virtuous behaviour among fans. (shrink)

El compatibilismo afirma que el libre albedrío es compatible con el determinismo. Para el «compatibilismo de las bifurcaciones» pertenece a la esencia de la libertad «poder actuar de otra manera», mientras que para el «compatibilismo de la fontalidad» resulta decisiva la ultimidad del agente como fuente de control. Ahora bien, dadas dos partículas con entrelazamiento EPR, la medición de una variable en una de ellas determina instantáneamente el valor de dicha variable en la otra. Experimentos recientes hacen finalmente insostenibles explicaciones (...) basadas en variables ocultas locales: o la naturaleza está ónticamente indeterminada o bien está determinada de modo global. El primer caso es incompatible con los dos compatibilismos y el segundo es incompatible con el «poder actuar de otra manera». Además, implicaría la existencia de variables ocultas no locales como fuente última de determinación, con longitudes de correlación típicas mayores que las del cuerpo humano: la acción no podría originarse en su interior. El compatibilismo, por tanto, debe ser rechazado. (shrink)

En este artículo, intentaré explicar que los programadores de televisión no realizan su trabajo de una forma aleatoria y mucho menos que "los que programan no piensan". Como en cualquier sector laboral, en la televisión, en base a un estudio riguroso del escenario que día a día presentan las cadenas, los programadores colocan sus productos/programas de tal modo que tu cadena sea la más competitiva posible.

La crítica horkheimeriana a la Ilustración muestra el proceso mediante el cual se desencadena la desmitificación del mundo por vía de un "acto de dominio" de la razón. Allí, el hombre perdió para la razón su posibilidad de autocrítica, haciendo que esta deviniera en razón instrumental. Desde sus comienzos, la Ilustración, en calidad de mito, mutiló la razón y, por encima de la búsqueda de la verdad -verdad teórica y verdad moral-, aconteció una "renuncia al sentido" donde el sueño de (...) la racionalidad ilustrada quedó reducido a la "instrumentalización". Esta dialéctica no solo devela la crisis irreversible de la razón, sino que deja vigente, en la discusión de la teoría crítica, la idea de una "patología social de la razón", a partir de la cual puede proponerse la reivindicación de un "horizonte normativo"; dejando entrever en el escenario de la discusión ética la falta de racionalidad de las sociedades. Horkheimerian's critique of the Enlightenment, shows the process whereby the demystification of the world is triggered by way of an "an act of sovereignty" of reason. There the man lost for reason his possibility of self-criticism, causing it to be in instrumental reason. Since its inception, the Enlightenment, as myth, mutilated reason, over the pursuit of truth -theoretical truth and moral truth-, there was a renounce to sense. The dream of Enlightenment rationality was reduced to the 'instrumentalization'. This dialectic not only reveals the irreversible crisis of reason, but leaves in place, in the discussion of critical theory, the idea of the 'social pathology of reason', from which a "normative horizon" can be proposed, hinting at the scene of the ethical discussion the lack of rationality of societies. (shrink)

Se discuten varias concepciones con respecto al carácter normativo de la filosofía de la ciencia. De entre éstas, se aboga por una forma de naturalismo comprometido con la necesidad de discutir los valores (epistémicos o no) de la ciencia. El ejemplo de la "ciencia reguladora" ilustra esa necesidad.

By themselves, mesencephalic subcortical mechanisms provide a preattentive kind of consciousness, related to stimulus-related, short-latency dopamine release triggered by collicular input. Elaborate forms of consciousness, containing identifiable objects (visual, auditory, tactile, or chemical), imply longer-lasting phenomena that depend on the activation of prosencephalic networks. Nevertheless, the maintenance of these higher-level networks strongly depends on long-lasting mesencephalic dopamine release. (Published Online May 1 2007).

These are some of the topics discussed in this book, both theoretically and with reference to concrete cases.

El siguiente trabajo profundiza el acontecimiento del duelo en la filosofía de Jacques Derrida. En esta perspectiva, se comienza por el libro Glas de 1974, donde se anunciaría el duelo por la muerte del sentido. Posteriormente, se profundizará en los fantasmas derridianos y la responsabilidad con los desaparecidos. En tercer lugar, emerge la figura del don, que abre al duelo hacia la espera infinita. Finalmente, y desde la lectura derridiana de los psicoanalistas Abraham y Török, se trabajará la figura de (...) la “cripta” como falso inconsciente. Se concluye con una reflexión sobre Chile y los desaparecidos por la dictadura de Pinochet. This article focus on the event of mourning in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. It begins, accordingly, with the 1974 book Glas, where Derrida announces his mourning for the death of meaning. The article then focus on the Derridean ghosts and the responsibility towards the missing. Thirdly, the figure of gift emerges, one that opens mourning towards the infinite hold. Endly, from the Derridean lecture of phsychoanalysts Abraham and Török, the figure of “crypt” will be presented as a false inconscious. It concludes with a reflection on Chile and the missing people by Pinochet’s dictatorship. (shrink)

Previous psycholinguistic studies have suggested that English and Spanish express temporal duration through different metaphors. English tends to use the time-as-length metaphor (e.g. I have been w...

Este escrito pretende ser una aproximación epistemológica a la filosofía de Gilles Deleuze que incorpore, asimismo, el vector nietzscheano que la atraviesa bajo el doble aspecto de la inversión del platonismo y la filosofía de los valores. Es por ello que, deun lado, tiene por objeto tanto la imagen dogmática del pensamiento como el empirismo trascendental que le opone Deleuze y, del otro, laasunción deleuziana de la filosofía de los valores que acuñara Nietzsche como la única crítica verdadera. Epistemologíay axiología (...) se interpenetran en la filosofía de Gilles Deleuze, pues a ojos del pensador francés, como a los de Nietzsche, la verdad, antes de ser una verdad, es siempre la realización de un sentido o de unvalor. He tratado, por ende, de poner de manifie esto que el pensamiento filosófico sólo alcanza la necesidad que persigue desde antiguo y deja de ser el caballo de Troya de los valores en curso cuando no presupone lo que significa pensar; esto es, cuando discurre separado del sentido común y alcanza a afirmar su afuera. Y ello puesto que el gobierno del sentido común en filosofía deriva en una indeseable justificación de los valores en curso a través del ejercicio de la razón, lo que hace preciso remitir en toda ocasión la verdad a la filosofía de los val ores, que la jerarquiza o selecciona introduciendo en su seno los elementos diferenciales sentido-sinsentido y alto-bajo. (shrink)

Ritual and Myth in the International Corona-Drama. A Conversation with Jeffrey Alexander.

Axiological foundations of free speach. Belandria, Margarita y González R., Javier Voluntad, ausencias, y normas: el sustrato histórico del positivismo en el derecho. Will, absences and norms: the historical background of positivism in law. Carpintero Benítez, Francisco Nominalismo jurídico, escolástica española y tradición republicana. Juridical nominalism, spanish scholasticism and republican tradition. Casanova Guerra, Carlos El primer principio de la razón práctica en la teoría de la ley natural de John Finnis. The first principle of practical reason in John Finnis´s (...) natural law theory. Hocevar G., Mayda G. El derecho a una educación integral de calidad, ¿utopía o posibilidad?. The right to an integral education of quality: utopia or possibility?. López de Cordero, Mery La muerte de la imagen. The death of the image. Peña, Edilio Karl Jaspers: autorreflexión y "existenzerhellung". Karl jaspers: self-reflection and "existenzerhellung". Portuondo Pajón, Gladys L. Derechos humanos y positivismo moderado. Human rights and temperated positivism. Ramos Pascua, José Antonio De la libertad y sus apariencias. On liberty and its appearances. Ramis Muscato, Pompeyo Pensamiento y vida: la "guía" zambraniana. Thought and life: zambrano's "guide" Rivara Kamaji, Greta Interdisciplinares Las mujeres en la ciencia de la salud. Women in the health sciences. Alcaraz Ariza, María Ángeles Cultura arquitectónica y crisis de la contemporaneidad. Architectural culture and crisis of the contemporary. Arellano Spinetti, Leonardo Recensiones Homenaje al filósofo venezolano Alberto Rosales. Walton, Roberto Informaciones Índice acumulado. (shrink)

La inferencia ecológica intenta estimar la conducta individual desde datos agregados. En este artículo, la nueva metodología de King para tratar con la inferencia ecológica se aplicará para estimar la proporción de obreros que votaron por Perón en 1946. Se usarán los datos del censo nac..