En nuestro ensayo proponemos estudiar la importancia de no sucumbir al desánimo moral, tanto en la filosofía de Kant como en la de Aranguren. En este sentido, el pensamiento de Kant sobre la esperanza -su filosofía moral y de la historia- nos permitirá comprender las razones por las que cabe hablar, en la filosofía de Aranguren, de un _giro hacia Kant_. La esperanza en un futuro mejor se convertirá, para ambos, en la clave de bóveda del compromiso moral. Analizar cómo (...) Aranguren y Kant se enfrentan a la desmoralización, y sus implicaciones filosóficas, constituye el objeto principal de nuestro trabajo. (shrink)

Se han cumplido cincuenta años desde la publicación de Teoría de la Justicia. Sin duda, la obra de J. Rawls marcó un hito fundamental en la historia del pensamiento político del siglo XX. Nuestro trabajo se pregunta hasta qué punto la justicia como imparcialidad sigue siendo una referencia fundamental en el pensamiento político actual. Para ello abordamos la propuesta de M.C. Nussbaum. Nos planteamos si el enfoque de las capacidades de Nussbaum es realmente una continuación o supone una verdadera ruptura (...) con la propuesta de Rawls. Y a partir de las objeciones de Nussbaum a Rawls, nos interrogamos por el presente y el futuro de una obra que, a nuestro juicio, después de medio siglo, parece tener todos los ingredientes necesarios para ser verdaderamente un clásico del pensamiento político. (shrink)

El cosmopolitismo es uno de los elementos fundamentales de la concepción de la justicia defendida por M.C. Nussbaum. Esta sería una de las tesis esenciales del presente ensayo. El enfoque de las capacidades (EC) defendido por ella pretende ser una alternativa a las modernas teorías del contrato. Para Nussbaum, dignidad, capacidades humanas y recursos materiales son indesligables. Del mismo modo, la perspectiva cosmopolita es una exigencia inexcusable en la teoría de la justicia de Nussbaum. En este artículo tratamos de rastrear (...) los distintos ingredientes de esta, sus raíces en el cosmopolitismo estoico, y también su discusión con él para afrontar los desafíos que plantea la justicia global en el presente, con una perspectiva de futuro. (shrink)

La intención de este artículo es destacar la importancia de Cervantes en Aranguren. El filósofo español interpreta el pensamiento del Quijote centrándose en la relevancia del héroe y su importancia para la moral, como una referencia crítica y ejemplar en tiempos de crisis y desánimo como los de Cervantes y los nuestros.

¿Cómo pueden las emociones favorecer una sociedad democrática más justa y estable? El propósito de este artículo es destacar la importancia de las emociones en el pensamiento de M. C. Nussbaum, y cómo pueden contribuir, en el contexto del liberalismo político, a reforzar y dar estabilidad a la democracia. Todo ello parece exigir, según Nussbaum, integrar el papel de las emociones en el proyecto educativo de la sociedad, para superar el modelo de justicia centrado en el beneficio mutuo, ampliándolo con (...) otro, cuyo centro de gravedad serían las capacidades y el desarrollo humano. Y en tal sentido, es necesario preguntarse por el papel que han de jugar las humanidades, para dar viabilidad y continuidad a tal proyecto.How can emotions enable a fairer and more stable democratic society? The aim of this essay is to emphasize the importance of emotions in M.C. Nussbaum’s thought and how can they contribute to reinforce democracy and provide it with stability to in the context of political liberalism. All of this seems to require, according to Nussbaum, the integration of the role of emotions in society’s educational project, so as to go beyond the model of justice focused on the mutual benefit, widening it with another, whose centre of gravity would be the capacities and the human development. In this sense, it is necessary to ask ourselves about the role Humanities should play, so as to provide such a project with feasibility and continuity. (shrink)

Cómo pueden las emociones favorecer una sociedad democrática más justa y estable? En tal sentido, es necesario preguntarse por el papel que han de jugar las Humanidades, para dar viabilidad y continuidad a tal proyecto. El presente artículo se cen-tra en el análisis de dos tragedias de Sófocles, Áyax y Filoctetes. A través de sus obras, Sófocles propone una revisión crítica de la moral agonal del héroe. Es preciso desplazar la mirada desde el campo de batalla a la pólis. Por (...) ello se necesita un nuevo ciudadano, y repensar conceptos como los de venganza, crueldad, honor, justicia, compasión. Las trage-dias cumplen así una función doble: cuestionar la moral tradicional, revisando el presente, y modificar las emociones y pensamientos de los espectadores. A través de sus tragedias, Sófocles nos propondrá un humanismo cívico, donde la libertad y la responsabilidad han de ejercerse en un contexto de interacciones personales, sabiendo que es imposible tener todo bajo control. Por ello, irremediablemente surgirán conflictos trágicos, que habrá que abordar desde su complejidad, apelando a la moderación y a la prudencia, desde la plena conciencia de nuestra humana finitud y vulnerabilidad. (shrink)

La primera parte del presente estudio (J.M. Panea) aborda el pensamiento de Giambattista Vico en torno a conceptos como utopía, historia y deber; y muestra cómo Vico nos abre a una concepción trágica de la acción. La segunda parte (F.H. Llano) pretende realizar, desde un marco iusfilosófico, un análisis introspectivo que ponga de manifiesto los principales hitos y fundamentos del pensamiento jurídico viquiano, destacando en particular aquellos aspectos que, por su incidencia en la actual Teoría del Derecho, presentan un (...) mayor interés científico. (shrink)

Precariousness is a concept which fundamentally refers to a lack of means. Thereafter, its nature is protean: it appears in multifarious aspects. But all of them share concepts such as scarcity, weakness, frailty, or vulnerability. At the political level, if we talk about democracy, or about the crisis of democracy, it would also be necessary to uncover, from its root, a process of progressive precarization of political life, with huge consequences for citizenry. My view is that these problems would, in (...) turn, stem from a deeper cause, which could be summarized under the following formula: democracy without citizens. (shrink)

El objeto de este artículo es examinar las relaciones entre ‘utilidad’, universalidad’, ‘razón’ y ‘sentimientos de humanidad’ en el contexto de la filosofía moral de D. Hume. No hay utilidad per se; sostenemos que no podemos entender la utilidad humeana sin hablar de los ‘sentimientos de humanidad’.

RESUMENEl objetivo de este artículo es analizar las relaciones entre Moral y Política en el pensamiento de Hobbes. En nuestra opinión, Hobbes no fue un pesimista antropológico, sino un buen conocedor del hombre y de sus posibilidades, Por ello, fue un decidido defensor de la razón práctica, cuyo concepto se construye sin perder de vista a los otros, tanto en la acción moral como en la política.PALABRAS CLAVEHOBBES-MORAL-POLÍTICA-RAZÓN PRÁCTICAABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to examine the relation between morals and (...) polithics in the thought of Thomas Hobbes. My point is that Hoobes was not an anthropological pessimist, buy a deep thinker of man and his possibilities. Therefore, he was a etermined defender of practical reason, the concepto f wich is baed upon the experience of human interaction, both moral and political.KEYWORDSHOBBES- MORALS-POLITICS-PRACTICAL, REASON. (shrink)

El presente ensayo aborda el problema filosófico de la muerte en Antonio Machado, tanto en su poesía como en su prosa. No compartimos la tesis de que Machado arribó a la filosofía al decaer como poeta. La inquietud filosófica de Machado le acompaña desde sus primeros poemas. Y el tema de la muerte es un buen ejemplo. Analizaremos principalmente su poesía, estableciendo conexiones con su pensamiento filosófico en prosa. Por todo ello, no nos extrañará el feliz encuentro con la filosofía (...) de Heidegger en los años treinta. Igualmente, Unamuno nos servirá para comprender el pensamiento filosófico de Machado, estableciendo entre ambos una comparación en torno al tema que nos ocupa. (shrink)

Juan Luis Vives reflexionó sobre el tema de la pobreza como un problema de justicia personal y social. El abandono en el que vivían los pobres, cuyo número iba en aumento en pleno siglo XVI, plantea no sólo problemas de orden social, sino también moral y religioso. Reflexionar sobre dicho asunto le ofrece a Vives la oportunidad para realizar una fuerte crítica, no sólo de aquellos que detentan el poder político y religioso, sino también para exigir un cambio de actitud, (...) en el plano individual e institucional, y una reflexión sobre la propia esencia del cristianismo. Por todo ello, Vives ofrece no sólo un conjunto de medidas concretas para tratar de afrontar dicho problema, sino también un amplio abanico de razones morales y religiosas, con las que será muy difícil poder negar nuestra responsabilidad para con los pobres, a la vez que nos exhorta a que hagamos frente común contra la pobreza. (shrink)

Nos proponemos en este artículo analizar la lectura foucaultiana del Edipo Rey. Foucault se centra fundamentalmente en la relación entre saber y poder. Su lectura nos ofrece una interesante concepción simbólica de la verdad, cuyo desvelamiento seguiría las pautas de lo que Foucault llama “ley de las mitades”. El modo y los tiempos en que aparecen los diferentes fragmentos de la verdad, serán el centro de gravedad de su interpretación, esencialmente política. Proponemos, no obstante, ir un poco más allá de (...) tan sugerente enfoque, reflexionando sobre las diferentes voces y perspectivas del texto, y preguntándonos, más allá del mero alcance político de la obra, por la voz del poeta, su posible significado filosófico, no sólo para los ciudadanos de su tiempo, sino también para nosotros. (shrink)

Background The Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 expressed concern that some health-related studies undertaken in the Region were not subjected to any form of ethics review. In 2003, the study reported in this paper was conducted to determine which Member country did not have a national research ethics committee (REC) with a view to guiding the WHO Regional Office in developing practical strategies for supporting those countries. Methods This is a descriptive study. The (...) questionnaire was prepared and sent by diplomatic pouch to all the 46 Member States in the WHO African Region, through the WHO country representatives, for facilitation and follow up. The data were entered in Excel spreadsheet and subsequently exported to STATA for analysis. A Chi-Squared test (χ 2) for independence was undertaken to test the relationship between presence/absence of Research Ethics Committee (REC) and selected individual socioeconomic and health variables. Results The main findings were as follows: the response rate was 61% (28/46); 64% (18/28) confirmed the existence of RECs; 36% (10/28) of the respondent countries did not have a REC (although 80% of them reported that they had in place an ad hoc ethical review mechanism); 85% (22/26) of the countries that responded to this question indicated that ethical approval of research proposals was, in principle, required; and although 59% of the countries that had a REC expected it to meet every month, only 44% of them reported that the REC actually met on a monthly basis. In the Chi-Squared test, only the average population in the group of countries with a REC was statistically different (at 5% level of significance) from that of the group of countries without a REC. Conclusion In the current era of globalized biomedical research, good ethics stewardship demands that every country, irrespective of its level of economic development, should have in place a functional research ethics review system in order to protect the dignity, integrity and safety of its citizens who participate in research. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda el antiguo problema de la diferencia entre filosofía y poesía partiendo de una interpretación del arte narrativo personificado por Ulises en la Odisea. Una lectura del episodio de las Sirenas permite reconstruir la trama de voces diversas que compone el relato homérico y comprender la significación de esta estructura polifónica en el imaginario odiseico. Frente a la neta oposición entre autofonía y alofonía que propone la filosofía platónica, la poesía homérica implica una idea de heterofonía que apunta (...) más allá de una lógica binaria y sugiere la irreductibilidad de la voz poética a un juego entre extremos contrarios. La heterofonía consiste más bien en una voz figural que crea la «lógica difusa» del mundo ficcional mediante la neutralización de las diferencias entre sujetos enunciativos. (shrink)

Based on published works and unpublished materials, this article analyses how cybernetics was received by two Spanish thinkers exiled in Mexico: José Gaos (1900–1969) and Eduardo Nicol (1907–1990). This reception is particularly intriguing especially when considering the substantial presence and social impact that Norbert Wiener had in Mexican society because of his friendship with Arturo Rosenblueth. Gaos and Nicol are the first philosophers to develop a complex and original diagnosis of cybernetics in Mexico. It will be shown how the (...) exiled thinkers take on the philosophical implications of this science in the light of their respective theoretical projects, and finally, it will be defended how the critical perspective they develop is particularly significant for Mexico’s political and academic context since it illuminates some negative aspects of cybernetics that Wiener did not foresee and that had not been reported there until then. (shrink)

In this paper I will argue that when Aristotle uses the word ‘ἀρχή’ he is often referring to what we call a condition, whether necessary, sufficient or necessary and sufficient. To this end I will discuss how conditions for being, change, and knowledge, as identified by Aristotle, can be equated to ontological, physical and noetic principles, respectively.

This article argues that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. It clarifies the nature of bodily awareness, categorises the different types of body-relative information, and rejects the claim that we can have a sense of ownership of our own bodies. It explores how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and highlights the importance of certain forms of bodily awareness that share an important epistemological property with (...) canonical forms of self-consciousness such as introspection. (shrink)

It is now 25 years since Gareth Evans introduced the distinction between conceptual and nonconceptual content in The Varieties of Reference. This is a fitting time to take stock of what has become a complex and extended debate both within philosophy and at the interface between philosophy and psychology. Unfortunately, the debate has become increasingly murky as it has become increasingly ramified. Much of the contemporary discussion does not do full justice to the powerful theoretical tool originally proposed by Evans (...) and subsequently refined by theorists in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s – most effectively, I think, by Christopher Peacocke (particularly in his 1992). Even worse, significant parts of the discussion are somewhat confused. This paper makes a start on clarifying what I think ought to be the central issues in debates about nonconceptual content. I begin in §1 by pointing out how narrowly focused contemporary discussion is relative to Evans’s original discussion. We are not making as much use as we should of nonconceptual content as a tool for understanding subpersonal information processing and the complexities of its status relative to perception and thought at the personal level. In §2 I turn to what is the central focus of contemporary discussion, namely, the content of perception and identify a “master argument” for nonconceptualism based on the relation between conceptual capacities and capacities for perceptual discrimination. The aim of §3 is to clarify the relation between the claim that perception has nonconceptual content and some superficially similar claims discussed by philosophers of perception. Finally, in §4 I explain why the attention recently focused on what is sometimes called the state version of the nonconceptualist thesis seems to me to be misdirected. (shrink)

Philosophical accounts of self-deception can be divided into two broad groups – the intentionalist and the anti-intentionalist. On intentionalist models what happens in the central cases of self-deception is parallel to what happens when one person intentionally deceives another, except that deceiver and deceived are the same person. This paper offers a positive argument for intentionalism about self-deception and defends the view against standard objections.

Frames and framing make one dimension of a decision problem particularly salient. In the simplest case, framesprimeresponses (as in, e.g., the Asian disease paradigm, where the gain frame primes risk-aversion and the loss frame primes risk-seeking). But in more complicated situations frames can function reflectively, by making salient particular reason-giving aspects of a thing, outcome, or action. For Shakespeare's Macbeth, for example, his feudal commitments are salient in one frame, while downplayed in another in favor of his personal ambition. The (...) role of frames in reasoning can give rise torational framing effects. Macbeth can prefer fulfilling his feudal duty to murdering the king, while also preferring bravely taking the throne to fulfilling his feudal duty, knowing full well that bravely taking the throne just is murdering the king. Such patterns ofquasi-cyclicalpreferences can be correct and appropriate from the normative perspective of how one ought to reason. The paper explores three less dramatic types of rational framing effects: (1) Consciously framing and reframing long-term goals and short-term temptations can be important tools for self-control. (2) In the prototypical social interactions modeled by game theory, allowing for rational framing effects solves longstanding problems, such as the equilibrium selection problem and explaining the appeal of non-equilibrium solutions (e.g., the cooperative solution in the Prisoner's Dilemma). (3) Processes for resolving interpersonal conflicts and breaking discursive deadlock, because they involve internalizing multiple and incompatible ways of framing actions and outcomes, in effect create rational framing effects. (shrink)

Robert Kilwardby on the Human Soul examines Kilwardby’s role in conciliating Aristotelian and Augustinian views on the soul, soul-body relation, and cognition.

My topic in this paper is social understanding. By this I mean the cognitive skills underlying social behaviour and social coordination. Normal, encultured, non-autistic and non-brain-damaged human beings are capable of an impressive degree of social coordination. We navigate the social world with a level of skill and dexterity fully comparable to that which we manifest in navigating the physical world. In neither sphere, one might think, would it be a trivial matter to identify the various competences which underly this (...) impressive level of performance. Nonetheless, at least as far as interpersonal interactions are concerned, philosophers show a rare degree of unanimity. What grounds our success in these interactions is supposed to be our common mastery of folk psychology. (shrink)

Table of Contents Acknowledgments 1 Self-Consciousness and the Body: An Interdisciplinary Introduction by Naomi Eiland, Anthony Marcel and José Luis Bermúdez 2 The Body Image and Self-Consciousness by John Campbell 3 Infants’ Understanding of People and Things: From Body Imitation to Folk Psychology by Andrew N. Meltzoff and M. Keith Moore 4 Persons, Animals, and Bodies by Paul F. Snowdon 5 An Ecological Perspective on the Origins of Self by George Butterworth 6 Objectivity, Causality, and Agency by Thomas Baldwin (...) 7 At Two with Nature: Agency and the Development of Self-World Dualism by James Russell 8 Ecological Perception and the Notion of a Nonconceptual Point of View by José Luis Bermúdez 9 Proprioception and the Body Image by Brian O’Shaughnessy 10 Awareness of One’s Own Body: An Attentional Theory of Its Nature, Development, and Brain Basis by Marcel Kinsbourne 11 Body Schema and Intentionality by Shaun Gallagher 12 Living without Touch and Peripheral Information about Body Position and Movement: Studies with Deafferented Subjects by Jonathan Cole and Jacques Paillard 13 Bodily Awareness: A Sense of Ownership by M. G. F. Martin 14 Bodily Awareness and the Self by Bill Brewer 15 Introspection and Bodily Self-Ascription by Quassim Cassam 16 Consciousness and the Self by Naomi Eilan Contributors Index. (shrink)

In Thinking without Words I develop a philosophical framework for treating some animals and human infants as genuine thinkers. This paper outlines the aspects of this account that are most relevant to those working in animal ethics. There is a range of different levels of cognitive sophistication in different animal species, in addition to limits to the types of thought available to non-linguistic creatures, and it may be important for animal ethicists to take this into account in exploring issues of (...) moral significance and the obligations that we might or might not have to non-human animals. (shrink)

In their recent book The Inessential Indexical Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever take issue with what has become close to philosophical orthodoxy – the view, most often associated with John Perry and David Lewis, that psychological explanations are essentially indexical. Cappelen and Dever claim that claims of essential indexicality are typically driven by intuitions rather than supported by arguments. They issue a challenge to supporters of essential indexicality: Produce an argument to back up the intuitions. This paper answers their challenge.

My topic in this paper is social understanding. By this I mean the cognitive skills underlying social behaviour and social coordination. Normal, encultured, non-autistic and non-brain-damaged human beings are capable of an impressive degree of social coordination. We navigate the social world with a level of skill and dexterity fully comparable to that which we manifest in navigating the physical world. In neither sphere, one might think, would it be a trivial matter to identify the various competences which underly this (...) impressive level of performance. Nonetheless, at least as far as interpersonal interactions are concerned, philosophers show a rare degree of unanimity. What grounds our success in these interactions is supposed to be our common mastery of folk psychology. (shrink)

This paper argues that, while there is a difference between personal and sub-personal explanation, claims of autonomy should be treated with scepticism. It distinguishes between horizontal and vertical explanatory relations that might hold between facts at the personal and facts at the sub-personal level. Noting that many philosophers are prepared to accept vertical explanatory relations between the two levels, I argue for the stronger claim that, in the case of at least three central personal level phenomena, the demands of explanatory (...) adequacy require postulating horizontal explanatory relations. (shrink)