Las respuestas de la Ética a los grandes retos del nuevo humanismo: la manipulación genética, el uso de la technología, la bioética y la ética ecológica, la ética política, los derechos de los animales, la sostenibilidad y el sistema económico globalizado.--Back cover.

This paper is an outline of some ways that lead us to think about the necessity of memory, inherent to the experience of the present. We will work around three thematic lines within the field of philosophy of history: first, the relation between the past and our present; second, the problem of the personal disposition of the subject of historical knowledge and his inevitable belonging to the present at the level of action; and the sense of a possible historical experience (...) where the individual and the collective intersect each other, in relation to the question of establishing whether it is appropriate to make an exhaustive remembrance of those who died because of the armed conflict in Colombia. With this purpose, we will point out to a series of elements drawn from Benjamin’s philosophy of memory so as to rehearse some possible connections with the philosophies of forgetfulness, remembrance and memory proposed by Nietzsche and Bergson. Thus, we seek to establish the reality of the past that is based on the virtual existence of recollection and, from there, to determine the ability of the latter to be updated in the form of vital forces, committed to making a future. (shrink)

In this historical article, Newton da Costa discusses Francisco Miró Quesada’s philosophical ideas about logic. He discusses the topics of reason, logic, and action in Miró Quesada’s work, and in the final section he offers his critical view. In particular, he disagrees with Miró Quesada’s stance on the historicity of reason, for whom “reason is essentially absolute”, whereas for da Costa it “is being constructed in the course of history”. Da Costa concludes by emphasizing the importance of Miró Quesada’s theory (...) of logic and reason, despite it still being incomplete. -/- Historical article by Newton da Costa, annotated and translated by J. C. Cifuentes and L. F. Bartolo Alegre. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:diacritics 30.1 (2000) 49-77 [Access article in PDF] The Time of the King Gift and Exchange in Zorrilla's Don Juan Tenorio Joan Ramon Resina There is something paradoxical about José Zorrilla's revision of the Don Juan legend, a certain contradiction between the play's structure and the logic of the action. The character of the protagonist, the form and implications of Don Juan's salvation, the strategies and temporality of seduction, (...) even the play's generic status--all come under the law of self-cancellation. And so does the historical time in which the play is set: the time of absolute monarchy. The proportionality between terrestrial and eschatological time, organic to the play's Golden Age precursor, 1 is strangely neutralized in Zorrilla's work through an expanding temporality without equivalent in the afterlife; and the same is true of the king's dramatic role through his removal from the scene, which he regulates nonetheless as deus ex machina of the social edifice.A nineteenth-century reader, Francesc Pi i Margall, remarked that "Zorrilla hace a Don Juan escéptico o creyente según lo van exigiendo las peripecias de su drama, y merced a esa indeterminación del carácter, le pone repetidamente en contradicción consigo mismo" (Zorrilla makes Don Juan a skeptic or a believer depending on the drama's events, and by virtue of this indeterminacy, he brings his character repeatedly into contradiction with himself) [204]. This indeterminacy affects not only the libertine's relation to religion but also the doctrinal coherence of the play, which has been the object of debate [see Mazzeo; Abrams; Wang; Romero]. Others, curiously, detect a contradiction between the play's sound theological conception and the author, who "quizá no sabe apenas nada de teología" (perhaps knows next to nothing about theology) [Alberich 16]. Yet not only Don Juan's piety but also his seductions appear self-annulling. For Luis Fernández Cifuentes, Zorrilla's most original and thus most revealing decision is "presentar el acto de seducción engañosa en el momento mismo en que deja de serlo: la carta con que comienza el drama participa de una tradición que también cancela. En el curso de la obra, es y no es un instrumento de seducción; sin cambiar de palabras, es a la vez falsa y verdadera... " (to present the act of deceitful seduction at the very moment in which it stops being deceitful: the letter with which the play starts participates in a tradition which it also cancels. Throughout the play the letter is and is not a tool of seduction; its words are at once true and false...) [83]. In the same line of structural contradictions must be included the play's temporality, which runs counter to the causal logic of the action. As Gustavo Pérez Firmat points out: "In Juan's verses normal temporal and causal sequence collapses, for future events are always catching up and outstripping the present, as if time were circular and past, present, and future travelled the circle at different speeds" [7]. Even the play's representativeness as a privileged [End Page 49] instance of Spanish romanticism has been flatly denied in light of its inconsistencies with the patterns of that movement [Gies, "José Zorrilla"]. 2 But perhaps the most telling contradiction is the one between the play's undiminished popularity for almost a century and its author's sedulous efforts to undermine its prestige. 3Author's second thoughts? A repentant artist in ascetic revulsion against mundane acclaim? It seems reasonable to assume a link between the play's popularity and the contradictions to which it gives expression. Thus, taking at face value the tired notion that Don Juan presents a fundamentally Spanish profile, 4 I will inquire whether the play's manifest contradictions are culturally efficient. 5 To this end, I will need to consider a possible incongruity between nineteenth-century forms of consciousness and the objective historical conditions. Joaquín Casalduero already pointed out a discrepancy between historical changes and... (shrink)

Este texto se escribió y se publicó como parte de las celebraciones del 80 aniversario del Departamento de Filosofía de la Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México.

The representational nature of human cognition and thought in general has been a source of controversies. This is particularly so in the context of studies of unconscious cognition, in which representations tend to be ontologically and structurally segregated with regard to their conscious status. However, it appears evolutionarily and developmentally unwarranted to posit such segregations, as,otherwise, artifact structures and ontologies must be concocted to explain them from the viewpoint of the human cognitive architecture. Here, from a by-and-large Classical cognitivist viewpoint, (...) I show why this segregation is wrong, and elaborate on the need to postulate an ontological and structural continuity between unconscious and conscious representations. Specifically, I hypothesize that this continuity is to be found in the symbolic-based interplay between the syntax and the semantics of thought, and I propose a model of human information processing characterized by the integration of syntactic and semantic representations. (shrink)

The traditional model of human cognition (TMHC) postulates an ontological and/or structural gap between conscious and unconscious mental representations. By and large, it sees higher-level mental processes as commonly conceptual or symbolic in nature and therefore conscious, whereas unconscious, lower-level representations are conceived as non-conceptual or sub-symbolic. However, experimental evidence belies this model, suggesting that higher-level mental processes can be, and often are, carried out in a wholly unconscious way and/or without conceptual representations, and that these can be processed unconsciously. (...) This entails that the TMHC, as well as the theories on mental representation it motivates and that in turn support it, is wrong. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be (...) preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Las edificaciones con valor patrimonial son un testimonio excepcional del progreso de una comunidad y representan ejemplos innegables de la transferencia de conocimientos a lo largo de las generaciones. Es inevitable caminar por centro consolidado de Pasaje y no reconocer el legado cultural de muchas edificaciones. Sin embargo, también resulta fácil observar las alteraciones erróneas que sea han realizado a estas edificaciones con el objetivo de responder a las “nuevas exigencias” de la actualidad. La conservación de los bienes patrimoniales resulta (...) necesaria para la preservación de la integridad e identidad de la ciudad. La presente investigación posibilita entender el nivel de susceptibilidad que presentan las edificaciones consideradas como bienes patrimoniales, debido a que estás viviendas poseen un valor cultural. El objetivo de la investigación es el de identificar la susceptibilidad sísmica a las que están expuestas, para esto se utilizaron métodos de matrices de evaluación sísmica para medir el nivel de susceptibilidad en las edificaciones patrimoniales. (shrink)

In this comprehensive collection of essays, most of which appear for the first time, eminent scholars from many disciplines—philosophy, economics, sociology, political science, demography, theology, history, and social psychology—examine the causes, nature, and consequences of present-day consumption patterns in the United States and throughout the world.

Análisis historiográfico del relato de las vicisitudes del alfaquí Ṭālūt, elaborado por Ibn al-Qūṭiyya y reproducido por numerosas fuentes andalusíes y orientales. De dicho análisis se desprende que la supuesta versión amplia de la crónica de Ibn al-Qūṭiyya nunca existió y que la coincidencia entre varias obras en presentar una versión extensa del relato es debida a su común dependencia de un subarquetipo que amplificó retóricamente el texto original de Ibn al- Qūṭiyya.

El presente texto examina la relación entre las valoraciones de la normalización filosófica en Colombia y el intento particular del filósofo Germán Marquínez Argote de realizar una historia de la filosofía colonial en clave latinoamericanista. Ello, para dar algunas luces sobre la continuidad de la filosofía latinoamericana en Colombia respecto del proceso local de normalización filosófica, siguiendo así algunas de las conclusiones de la historia de las prácticas de escritura. Esta continuidad no debe entenderse como una suerte de secuencialidad histórica, (...) de modo que la filosofía latinoamericana fuera la sucesora de la filosofía "normalizada". Por el contrario, se ha de entender como una reincidencia en los modos de valorar, que aparentemente estarían en contraposición según la comprensión de la primera como filosofía regionalista y de la segunda como universalista. En este sentido, el artículo comporta tres momentos. De manera introductoria se contextualiza el escenario filosófico local y latinoamericano, mostrando la presunta oposición entre latinoamericanistas y normalizadores. Luego, se expone cómo Marquínez Argote articula el proyecto latinoamericanista en Colombia y cómo pretendería estar valorativamente contrapuesto a la normalización. Finalmente, se evidencia, mediante un análisis narrativo de los textos que Marquínez Argote realiza sobre la filosofía en la Colonia, cómo reitera los valores de los normalizadores. Esto permite concluir la tesis central del artículo: la continuidad valorativa entre latinoamericanistas y normalizadores, en contraste con su frecuentemente asumida contradicción. (shrink)

In this essay I examine the possibilities of approaching the phenomenon of memory from the point of view of space. Drawing on Edward Casey’s Getting Back into Place and on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s analyses of the spatialized lived body, I attempt to show in what way memory can be said to belong to places. My inquiry ends with a discussion of Paul Ricoeur’s proposals on the narrative dimension of human space, which, I argue, allows us to consider why a building or (...) a city may be said to produce a sensed duration by and through inscribing it in the durability of their materials and, at the same time, in human histories. (shrink)

Desde hace poco más de 250 años, y como consecuencia de la revolución industrial, la compleja y competitiva humanidad trastoca las condiciones de la biosfera de tal manera que, en nuestros días, por todas partes suenan las alarmas respecto a la destrucción de la vida: el aire y el agua se contaminan, el suelo se cubre de venenos, los océanos de plásticos y ni siquiera los lejanos e inhóspitos polos de la tierra escapan a la degradación. No sólo los científicos (...) se ocupan de reflexionar sobre tales asuntos, también los humanistas lo hacen. Al interior de la filosofía se ha venido configurando un ámbito de reflexión específico: la Ecosofía. En este ensayo revisaremos cuatro de sus versiones. (shrink)

Com este conjunto de treze artigos introdutórios, pretende-se apontar e, parcialmente, preencher uma lacuna significativa nos estudos sobre a Filosofia em Portugal e no Brasil. Com efeito, uma investigação bibliográfica tornará facilmente manifesto que a Filosofia do Conhecimento, enquanto tal, com os seus problemas específicos e as suas categorias próprias, não tem figurado, com uma assiduidade à medida da sua representatividade, na agenda daqueles que se dedicam à interpretação das proposta...

Given the evidence available today, we know that the later Middle Ages knew strong forms of idealism. However, Plato alone will not do to explain some of its features. Aristotle was the most important philosophical authority in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but until now no one dared explore in his thought the roots of this idealism because of the dogma of realism surrounding him. I challenge this dogma, showing that the Stagirite contained in his thought the roots of idealist (...) aspects that will be developed, namely by Dietrich of Freiberg and Eckhart of Hochheim, into a fully idealist epistemology. (shrink)

The essays in this volume investigate the norms of reason--the standards which contribute to determining whether beliefs, inferences, and actions are rational. Nine philosophers and two psychologists discuss what kinds of things these norms are, how they can be situated within the natural world, and what role they play in the psychological explanation of belief and action. Current work in the theory of rationality is subject to very diverse influences ranging from experimental and theoretical psychology, through philosophy of logic and (...) language, to metaethics and the theory of practical reasoning; this range is well represented here. (shrink)