As members of the fetal surgery advisory board at a large tertiary care center, we read with great interest Hendriks’ et al. target article proposing a new ethical framework for fetal therap...

With the arrival of the nineteenth century, a process of change guided the treatment of three basic elements in the development of mathematics: rigour, the arithmetization and the clarification of the concept of function, categorised as the most important tool in the development of the mathematical analysis. In this paper we will show how several prominent mathematicians contributed greatly to the development of these basic elements that allowed the solid underpinning of mathematics and the consideration of mathematics as an axiomatic (...) way of thinking in which anyone can deduce valid conclusions from certain types of premises. This nineteenth century stage shares, possibly with the Heroic Age of Ancient Greece, the most revolutionary period in all history of mathematics. (shrink)

The importance of mathematics in the context of the scientific and technological development of humanity is determined by the possibility of creating mathematical models of the objects studied under the different branches of Science and Technology. The arithmetisation process that took place during the nineteenth century consisted of the quest to discover a new mathematical reality in which the validity of logic would stand as something essential and central. Nevertheless, in contrast to this process, the development of mathematical analysis within (...) a framework that largely involves intuition and geometry is a fact that cannot go unnoticed amongst the mathematics community, as we shall show in this paper through the research made by Bernhard Riemann on complex variables. (shrink)

The paper contains a detailed discussion of the concepts of reflection and expressivity and attempts to exhibit their central role in the Herderian philosophy of language as well as their character as a leading thread throughout Herder’s theories of culture and history. Herder’s idea of a wide ..

El artículo analiza el proyecto del ferrocarril como un dispositivo de dominación de la naturaleza en la Costa Rica de finales del siglo XIX. En este sentido, se retoman algunos discursos, prácticas y experiencias, a manera de red, que muestran que la concepción, construcción y consolidación de la línea férrea que conectó San José, capital del país, con Limón, principal puerto de exportaciones e importaciones, constituyó una iniciativa de captura de los recursos del Litoral Caribe. Para esto, se retoman informes (...) técnicos, mensajes presidenciales, fotografías de infraestructuras y crónicas de viaje con la intención de resaltar los esfuerzos por doblegar una naturaleza hostil y convertirla en una naturaleza explotable, atravesable, disfrutable y administrable. (shrink)