Argumentamos en contra de dos intentos contemporáneos por rehabilitar el pirronismo debido a su incapacidad para resolver la clásica objeción de inmoralidad. Proponemos dos diferentes lecturas de la objeción: una débil, según la cual los pirrónicos son inmorales dado que sus actos mismos lo son —lo que constituye un cargo empírico—, y otra fuerte, donde la inmoralidad del pirrónico proviene del hecho de que, por diseño, no puede exhibir ningún tipo de competencia moral, lo que constituye un cargo conceptual. Concluyo (...) que ambos intentos fracasan debido a que se atienen el sentido débil de la objeción, pero no el fuerte. (shrink)

The following discussion with philosopher and political scientist Wendy Brown seeks to apply her provocative and indispensable ideas to recent political events and problems, in particular focusing on her work in Undoing the Demos and returning briefly to consider Politics Out of History in today’s context. The questions were collectively authored and the interview itself was conducted by Sebastian Raza via Skype on 23 May 2017. We would like to thank Wendy Brown for the generous contribution of her time and (...) for answering the questions so directly and clearly. (shrink)

El presente artículo propone una lectura paralela de dos narconovelas colombianas recientes: El ruido de las cosas al caer (2011) de Juan Gabriel Vásquez y El cielo a tiros (2018) de Jorge Franco. El objetivo del análisis consiste en identificar las convergencias entre ambas obras e interpretarlas a la luz de la evolución del paradigma narco vigente en la narrativa colombiana de los años 1990 y 2000.

In this chapter, we discuss a selection of current views of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). We focus on the different predictions they make, in particular with respect to the role of prefrontal cortex (PFC) during visual experiences, which is an area of critical interest and some source of contention. Our discussion of these views focuses on the level of functional anatomy, rather than at the neuronal circuitry level. We take this approach because we currently understand more about experimental (...) evidence at this coarse level and because these results are appropriate for arbitrating between current theoretical frameworks. We discuss the Two-Visual-Systems Hypothesis (Milner & Goodale 1995; 2006), Local Recurrency (Lamme 2010; Lamme 2006), Higher Order (Lau 2008; Lau & Rosenthal 2011) and Global Workspace theories (Baars 1997; Baars 2005; Dehaene & Naccache 2001; Dehaene 2014). Despite the apparent stark differences between conscious and unconscious perceptual processing, available evidence suggests that their neural substrates must be largely shared. This indicates that the difference in neural activity between conscious and unconscious perceptual processing is likely to be subtle and highly specialized. We argue that current experimental evidence about the involvement of specific activity in prefrontal cortex supports the higher order neural theory of consciousness. In consequence, imaging techniques that focus only on marked differences between conscious and unconscious level of activity are likely to be insensitive to the relevant neural activity patterns that underlie conscious experiences. Finally, it follows from the evidence we discuss that the functional advantages of conscious over unconscious perceptual processing may be more limited than commonly thought. (shrink)

En el Santiago del siglo XVIII, los ajustes urbanísticos y sociales emanados de las autoridades se tradujeron en prácticas y representaciones, institucionales y de las otras, que involucraron a todos los habitantes de la ciudad. La actuación decidida de algunos alcaldes, como los de Aguas y los de Barrio, implicó el acomodo de voluntades e intereses, y también el enfrentamiento violento de cuerpos y de subjetividades, los que han quedado registrados en los pleitos por injuria seguidos en tribunales de primera (...) y de última instancia. El análisis comparado de dos casos puntuales, con el auxilio de preguntas y miradas propias de las ciencias sociales, enriquece el conocimiento de la dinámica vida cotidiana en la capital del reino durante el último siglo colonial. (shrink)

When a circular coin is rotated in depth, is there any sense in which it comes to resemble an ellipse? While this question is at the center of a rich and divided philosophical tradition (with some scholars answering affirmatively and some negatively), Morales et al. (2020, 2021) took an empirical approach, reporting 10 experiments whose results favor such perspectival similarity. Recently, Burge and Burge (2022) offered a vigorous critique of this work, objecting to its approach and conclusions on both philosophical (...) and empirical grounds. Here, we answer these objections on both fronts. We show that Burge and Burge’s critique rests on misunderstandings of Morales et al.’s claims; of the relation between the data and conclusions; and of the philosophical context in which the work appears. Specifically, Burge and Burge attribute to us a much stronger (and stranger) view than we hold, involving the introduction of “a new entity” located “in some intermediate position(s) between the distal shape and the retinal image.” We do not hold this view. Indeed, once properly understood, most of Burge and Burge’s objections favor Morales et al.’s claims rather than oppose them. Finally, we discuss several questions that remain unanswered, and reflect on a productive path forward on these issues of foundational scientific and philosophical interest. (shrink)

Arguably the most foundational principle in perception research is that our experience of the world goes beyond the retinal image; we perceive the distal environment itself, not the proximal stimulation it causes. Shape may be the paradigm case of such “unconscious inference”: When a coin is rotated in depth, we infer the circular object it truly is, discarding the perspectival ellipse projected on our eyes. But is this really the fate of such perspectival shapes? Or does a tilted coin retain (...) an elliptical appearance even when we know it’s circular? This question has generated heated debate from Locke and Hume to the present; but whereas extant arguments rely primarily on introspection, this problem is also open to empirical test. If tilted coins bear a representational similarity to elliptical objects, then a circular coin should, when rotated, impair search for a distal ellipse. Here, nine experiments demonstrate that this is so, suggesting that perspectival shapes persist in the mind far longer than traditionally assumed. Subjects saw search arrays of three-dimensional “coins,” and simply had to locate a distally elliptical coin. Surprisingly, rotated circular coins slowed search for elliptical targets, even when subjects clearly knew the rotated coins were circular. This pattern arose with static and dynamic cues, couldn’t be explained by strategic responding or unfamiliarity, generalized across shape classes, and occurred even with sustained viewing. Finally, these effects extended beyond artificial displays to real-world objects viewed in naturalistic, full-cue conditions. We conclude that objects have a remarkably persistent dual character: their objective shape “out there,” and their perspectival shape “from here.”. (shrink)

Consciousness and confidence seem intimately related. Accordingly, some researchers use confidence ratings as a measure of, or proxy for, consciousness. Rosenthal discusses the potential connections between the two, and rejects confidence as a valid measure of consciousness. He argues that there are better alternatives to get at conscious experiences such as direct subjective reports of awareness (i.e. subjects’ reports of perceiving something or of the degree of visibility of a stimulus). In this chapter, we offer a different perspective. Confidence ratings (...) in general, and metacognitive measures in particular, may offer important advantages over subjective ratings. The arguments we offer here are supported by empirical, practical and socio-strategic considerations. However, we do not suggest consciousness and confidence are interchangeable. We recognize the limitations of confidence ratings in some experimental designs and for some research questions. Nevertheless, we also address a potential conceptual link between consciousness and confidence that stems from Rosenthal’s very own work on mental quality space theory. (shrink)

El ensayo parte de la premisa que el método científico funciona como un dispositivo de generación de verdades articuladas con estrategias de ejercicio del poder. Los argumentos desarrollados giran en torno a una crítica de la supremacía de la ciencia formal en el quehacer científico social y el uso ..

En la siguiente exposición se propone un comentario de la obra del filósofo cubano Pablo Guadarrama González, denominada Pensamiento filosófico latinoamericano. Humanismo, método e historia. La perspectiva humanista que es postulada contiene una serie de precisiones que son analizadas en sus implicaciones teóricas y prácticas. Asimismo, se extiende su estudio de las ideas filosóficas a distintos momentos del desarrollo particular seguido en América Latina, al igual que está acompañada esta tarea historiográfica de consideraciones metodológicas que resultan significativas. Desde el conjunto (...) de temas planteados por el autor se retoman sus aportes en relación a debates que se inscriben en el cruce disciplinario de la filosofía y la historia de las ideas, que se ubican inicialmente en el contexto latinoamericano pero aspiran a una proyección con alcances universales. We comment the Cuban philosopher Pablo Guadarrama González’s Latin American philosophical thinking. Humanism, method and history. The humanistic perspective posited therein contains some assumptions that we analyze in their theoretical and practical implications. Furthermore, we extend his study of philosophical ideas to different moments of Latin America’s particular development, being this historiographic task accompanied by significant methodological considerations. Of all the themes posed by this author, we take his contributions to the debates raised in the interdisciplinary intersection of philosophy and the history of ideas, initially located in a Latin American context but with universal projection. (shrink)

La participación - entendida como la influencia e intervención de la ciudadanía en asuntos públicos y en el sistema político- requiere de mayores capacidades de acción y posicionamiento. Por lo tanto, el estudio del poder al interior de la sociedad civil es un tema central, más aun entendiendo el contexto actual de movimientos sociales y fenómenos que establecen una nueva relación entre sociedad civil y Estado. De esta forma, el siguiente artículo indaga en distintas perspectivas teóricas estableciendo la “paradoja del (...) poder”, a través de la cual la organización y coordinación de la comunidad en asociaciones, provee mayores capacidades de acción y empoderamiento de la colectividad (mayor participación); a la vez que puede generar la elitización y concentración del poder en un grupo dirigencial que no represente la totalidad de los intereses de la comunidad (menor participación). (shrink)

The evaluation of study habits as determinant factors in academic performance is a concern for educational agents because they determine the academic opportunities of students. However, a problem encountered is the accessibility of valid and reliable instruments to evaluate study habits from the students' point of view. In this sense, this paper analyzes the internal structure, reliability, and rating of the study habits perception questionnaire. The results and the practical contribution to the educational community in guiding intervention to improve students' (...) academic opportunities are discussed. (shrink)

This book challenges the traditional idea that religions can be understood primarily as texts to be interpreted, decoded, or translated. In More Than Belief, Manuel A. Vásquez argues for a new way of studying religions, one that sees them as dynamic material and historical expressions of the practices of embodied individuals who are embedded in social fields and ecological networks. He sketches the outlines of this approach through a focus on body, practices, and space. In order to highlight the (...) centrality of these dimensions of religious experience and performance, Vásquez recovers materialist currents within religious studies that have been consistently ignored or denigrated. Drawing on state-of-the-art work in fields as diverse as anthropology, sociology, philosophy, critical theory, environmental studies, cognitive psychology, and the neurosciences, Vásquez offers a groundbreaking new way of looking at religion. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Identity Identity of Latin American Philosophy Four Approaches History of the Controversy Conclusion References Further Reading.

A “Critical Perspectives” article in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry on scientific integrity in Brazil summarizes several misconduct cases documented therein . To further reinforce the responsible conduct of research in developing countries and to fight against the unaccountability of many editors , we describe here a Mexican instance of alleged in-house plagiarism .In June 2011, we submitted a “Correspondence” note to a Nature group journal to expose what we claimed to be a breach of collegiality and inappropriate authorship in (...) a three-page mutation report just published in that journal. Our main complaints were two: the surreptitious way in which we believed that both displayed metaphases in that report had been obtained from our files by a local colleague and then published without our consent and the massive easy-on co-authorship: 14 out of 21 co-authors declared just to have “provided clinical material.” In c .. (shrink)

Dynamic Theodicy (DT) is a broad concept we bring up to designate some modern Philosophical Theology attempts to reconcile the necessary and perfect existence of God with the contingent characteristics of human life. In this paper we analyze such approaches and discuss how they have become incomprehensible because the metaphysical assumptions implicit in these explanations have lost their intrinsic relation to the natural human desire for salvation. In the first part we show Charles Hartshorne's DT-model, arising from the modal logic (...) of perfection, and the modern rational problems of this position in making infinite-necessary Being (God) and finite-contingent being (human) compatible. We note that at the heart of the contradictions in this DT account is a dialectical mode of thinking that makes it difficult to find a correct solution to this dichotomy, and to assume a human desire that could be considered related to lifelong goals. In the second part, supported by the proposal of Hans Urs von Balthasar's DT, we develop the concepts of bodily vulnerability, corporeal intentionality, and natural desire for salvation, which come from an Aristotelian-Thomistic thought. This theory is established in order to build an argument, following Alasdair MacIntyre’s ethical framework, on how to make possible the recovery of a metaphysical and anthropological desire that transcends natural aging and goes beyond death. We conclude that both human dependence and the virtues that arise naturally when human beings decide to seek the good of their transcendent condition, make it possible to recover the natural desire for salvation through divine and human love. (shrink)

En este texto se desarrollará una temática problemática y dilemática en tanto que se hará una reflexión sobre los efectos de la pandemia para las personas. Se afirmará que esta pandemia ha dejado enfermedades por tratar y curar; estas enfermedades no son solo del cuerpo; nos ha dejado entender la necesidad de cuidado de sí como un cuidado también del otro. Por esto, planear y proponer algunas virtudes que orienten dicha búsqueda de sabiduría. El texto consta de seis partes donde (...) se enmarcará la pandemia como el problema a abordar, luego se tratará el asunto de la acción humana y sus implicaciones para sí mismo y para el otro; estas acciones provienen de la autonomía y del cuidado de sí que requiere unas virtudes con las cuales se transforma a la persona y a la comunidad. (shrink)

Research on Augmented Reality in education has demonstrated that AR applications designed with diverse components boost student motivation in educational settings. However, most of the research conducted to date, does not define exactly what those components are and how these components positively affect student motivation. This study, therefore, attempts to identify some of the components that positively affect student motivation in mobile AR learning experiences to contribute to the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences for the Vocational Education (...) and Training level of education. To identify these components, a research model constructed from the literature was empirically validated with data obtained from two sources: 35 students from four VET institutes interacting with an AR application for learning for a period of 20 days, and a self-report measure obtained from the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey. We found that the following variables: use of scaffolding, real-time feedback, degree of success, time on-task and learning outcomes are positively correlated with the four dimensions of the ARCS model of motivation: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. Implications of these results are also described. (shrink)

In 1961, at the age of nineteen, Jorge J. E. Gracia escaped from the island of Cuba by passing himself off as a Catholic seminarian. He arrived in the United States with just a few spare belongings and his mother's diamond ring secured in a hole in one of his shoes. With a Diamond in My Shoe tells the story of Gracia's quest for identity--from his early years in Cuba and as a refugee in Miami to his formative role (...) in institutionalizing the field of Latin American philosophy in the US academy. Committed to integrating into Anglo America without forgetting his roots, Gracia reflects on his struggles and successes as an immigrant and academic, bringing a philosopher's eye to bear on his personal and professional development as a leading Latinx scholar. (shrink)

"Databases containing the accumulated genomic data of the research community are growing exponentially. This book contains cutting-edge insights from scholars, bioethicists and legal practitioners who work at the ever-changing intersection of law and bioinformatics"--Page 4 of cover.

'Sound Effects' collects original articles on English and American prose fiction which analyse vocal phenomena by using the psychoanalytic concept of the object voice - introduced by J. Lacan and theorised by M. Dolar - as their interpretative tool.