Many normative political theorists have engaged in the systematic collection and/or analysis of empirical data to inform the development of their arguments over the past several decades. Yet, the approach they employ has typically not been treated as a distinctive mode of theorizing. It has been mostly overlooked in surveys of normative political theory methods and methodologies, as well as by those critics who assert that political theory is too abstracted from actual political contestation. Our aim is to unearth this (...) grounded normative theory (GNT) approach – to identify its definitive practices and highlight its potential significance. We detail four overlapping commitments characteristic of GNT. These include commitments to expanding the comprehensiveness of input for normative arguments through original empirical research and/or analysis, recursivity in the development of normative claims, attentiveness to the systematic inclusion of a range of voices and ways of knowing, and accountability to those engaged by the theorist in empirical contexts. We discuss methodological distinctions within GNT, including between more- and less-solidaristic approaches. We discuss how GNT answers calls for theorists to engage more closely with empirical political dynamics and we consider responses to possible critiques. (shrink)

The concept of unconscious knowledge is fundamental for an understanding of human thought processes and mentation in general; however, the psychological community at large is not familiar with it. This paper offers a survey of the main psychological research currently being carried out into cognitive processes, and examines pathways that can be integrated into a discipline of unconscious knowledge. It shows that the field has already a defined history and discusses some of the features that all kinds of unconscious knowledge (...) seem to share at a deeper level. With the aim of promoting further research, we discuss the main challenges which the postulation of unconscious cognition faces within the psychological community. (shrink)

This paper defends a novel account of how to determine the intrinsic value of possible worlds. Section 1 argues that a highly intuitive and widely accepted account leads to undesirable consequences. Section 2 takes the first of two steps towards a novel account by clarifying and defending a view about value-contribution that is based on some of W. D. Ross’ claims about the value of pleasure. Section 3 takes the second step by clarifying and defending a view about value-suppression that (...) is based on Ross’ claims about the interplay between prima-facie duties. Section 4 states and defends the account that I call Rossian Totalism. According to this account, the atoms of intrinsic value within a world only sometimes contribute their intrinsic value to the value of that world. (shrink)

The emergence of organic, metabolic, cognitive and cultural codes points us to the need for a new kind of explanatory causality, and a different kind of bio-logic— one dependent on, but different from, the deterministic logic derived from mechanical causality, and one which can account for the increase in semiotic freedom which is evident in the biological hierarchy. Building upon previous work (Bruni 2003), in this article I provide a stipulative definition of semiotic freedom and its relation to causality in (...) biological and cognitive systems. To do so, I will first discuss the close relation that triadic causality and semiotic freedom have to the notions of teleology and emergence, and how the latter two are interrelated in living systems. I pinpoint some of the reservations that these notions have encountered in the history of science (including evolutionary biology and cognitive science), but stress also their necessity in the study of any given biological and cognitive system. I draw a distinction between horizontal and vertical emergence in order to arrive at a notion of ‘second order emergence’ that affords us a more viable definition of semiotic freedom. I will then attempt to show that all of these concepts are of paramount importance when we come to study processes of sensing, perception andcognition at any level of a living system. Accordingly, these ideas are part of a framework-in-development to research the scale of thresholds of semiotic freedom, by assuming a top-down approach i.e., by starting from the highest levels of semiotic freedom and cognitive processes, and exploring how those processes disaggregate into lesser degrees of freedom. I thus hope to bridge the gap between those levels from above. (shrink)

¿Qué es la experiencia? ¿Cómo se constituye? Una aproximación común a estas preguntas supone que el entendimiento es un epifenómeno que emerge de la percepción sensorial. Luis Miguel Isava retoma estas interrogantes y desarrolla una propuesta muy distinta: la experiencia no se produce a partir del percibir, entendido como acto originario y no mediado, sino que tiene lugar a partir de ciertas condiciones de posibilidad de tipo formal. Para Isava este requisito funciona efectivamente como un protocolo: se trata de (...) un sistema de criterios formales que efectivamente organizan y le otorgan sentido a lo percibido y así lo «sancionan» como experiencia. Los protocolos que hacen posible la experiencia están arraigados tan profundamente en la cultura que pueden resultarnos invisibles y «naturales», pero en realidad son cambiantes. Distintas culturas, en distintos momentos históricos, fundan cada una sus experiencias en base a protocolos diferentes. Esto puede resultar evidente al momento de considerar los procesos de encuentro entre culturas disímiles que han ocurrido a lo largo de la historia. Sin embargo, Isava se enfoca en un problema menos obvio y más sugerente: ¿qué ocurre cuando en el seno de una misma cultura aparecen objetos que, bajo los protocolos vigentes, no pueden ser asimilables como experiencia? Esta posibilidad, nos muestra Isava, podemos hallarla en el arte, o más exactamente, en lo que él denomina los "artefactos culturales" de la modernidad. A partir de ejemplos concretos tomados de la poesía, la pintura, el cine y la música, Isava muestra cómo el arte puede suscitar momentos extraños, reflexivos o críticos que, al enfrentarse con los protocolos de la experiencia ya establecidos, pueden suscitar nuevas formas de estar en el mundo. (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)

I reinforce my defense of permissivism about the rationality of doxastic attitudes on the face of a certain body of evidence against criticism published in this journal by Anantharaman. After making some conceptual clarifications, I manage to show that at least one of my original arguments pro-permissivism is left unscathed by Anantharaman's points.

The emergence of organic, metabolic, cognitive and cultural codes points us to the need for a new kind of explanatory causality, and a different kind of bio-logic— one dependent on, but different from, the deterministic logic derived from mechanical causality, and one which can account for the increase in semiotic freedom which is evident in the biological hierarchy. Building upon previous work (Bruni 2003), in this article I provide a stipulative definition of semiotic freedom and its relation to causality in (...) biological and cognitive systems. To do so, I will first discuss the close relation that triadic causality and semiotic freedom have to the notions of teleology and emergence, and how the latter two are interrelated in living systems. I pinpoint some of the reservations that these notions have encountered in the history of science (including evolutionary biology and cognitive science), but stress also their necessity in the study of any given biological and cognitive system. I draw a distinction between horizontal and vertical emergence in order to arrive at a notion of ‘second order emergence’ that affords us a more viable definition of semiotic freedom. I will then attempt to show that all of these concepts are of paramount importance when we come to study processes of sensing, perception andcognition at any level of a living system. Accordingly, these ideas are part of a framework-in-development to research the scale of thresholds of semiotic freedom, by assuming a top-down approach i.e., by starting from the highest levels of semiotic freedom and cognitive processes, and exploring how those processes disaggregate into lesser degrees of freedom. I thus hope to bridge the gap between those levels from above. (shrink)

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.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:WAS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS A PLATONIST? FORTY YEARS AGO, few students would have called St. Thomas Aquinas a Platonist. At that time he was almost universally recognized as a brilliant exponent of medieval Aristotelianism. In fact, St. Thomas was considered by many to be a " pure " Aristotelian. This position was aptly expl'essed by Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy : Aquinas, unlike his predecessors, had (...) a really competent knowledge of Aristotle. His friend William of Moerheke provided him with translations from Greek, and he himself wrote commentaries. Until his time, men's notions of Aristotle had been obscured by Neoplatonic accretions. He, however, followed the genuine Aristotle, and disliked Platonism, even as it appears in Saint Augustine. He succeeded in persuading the Church that Aristotle's system was to be preferred to Plato's as the basis of Christian philosophy, and that Mohammedans and Christian Averroists had misinterpreted Aristotle.1 Russell, however, although correct in saying that St. Thomas "had a really competent knowledge of Aristotle," neither knew how his philosophy was different from that which had come before nor had any idea of the extent to which the overpowering influence of Neoplatonism had been elt by almost all medieval thinkers, including St. Thomas. Concerning St. Thomas's Aristotelianism, Wayne Hankey has observed the following: Indeed one might say that his Aristotelianism should be seen within the context of his Neoplatonism. Certainly he generally reads Aristotle through Neoplatonic spectacles, but more significant is that the movement toward a more positive view of Aristotle is a feature of the later Neoplatonism and especially of its Christian 1 Bertrand Russell, A. History of Western Philosophy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1945), p. 453. 209 210 LUIS CORTEST adherents. Nor is it exclusively a feature of the Iamblichan tradition ; for Porphyry's view of the first principle is closer to Aristotle's than are the positions of either Plotinus or Iamblichus and his followers, and he is responsible for the assimilation of Aristotle's logic into Neoplatonism after Plotinus's critique. It is perhaps enough to mention that Porphyry, Boethius, and the Arabs provide the main western medieval sources for the knowledge of Aristotle until the time of St. Thomas.2 On the surface, it would seem that Russell, never an admirer of Thomistic philosophy, was neither accurate nor objective in his evalu::tion of St. Thomas's Platonism. This judgment of Russell's position, however, might perhaps be too severe. It must be remembered that modern Neoplatonic studies were only in their infancy when Russell's text was first published in 1945. Actually, this scholarship dates, for the most part, from the time of Dodd's edition of Proclus's Elements of Theology in 1933.3 In fact, only in recent years have these studies been cultivated by an impressive number of scholars. Even in the early years of Neoplatonic scholarship, however, there were a few works devoted to St. Thomas Aquinas and Platonism. In 1939, Cornelio Fab:m published his important study, La nozione metafisica di partecipazione secondo S. Tommaso d'Aquino in Milan. This work not only stressed the importance of the Platonic doctrine of participation in the works of St. Thomas, but also considered the Thomistic corpus in terms of medieval Neoplatonism. Along with Fabro's works, many others soon appeared focusing on the Platonic side of St. Thomas, including those of L. B. Geiger,4 Joseph Santeler,5 and Arthur Little.6 Some concluding remarks f:mm Little's 2 Wayne Hankey, ".Aquinas' First Principle: Being or Unity?" Dionysius, IV (1980), 147-148. a Eric Robertson Dodds, Proclus. The Elements of Theology (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1933). 4 L. B. Geiger, La Participation dans la Philosophie de S. Thomas d'Aquin (Paris: Vrin, 1942). 5 Joseph Santeler, Der Platonismus in der l!Jrkenntnislehre des Heiligen Thomas von Aquin (Innsbruck: F. Rauch, 1939). s.Arthur Little, The Platonic Heritage of Thomism (Dublin: Golden Eagles Books, 1950). WAS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS A PLATONIST( 211 book, The Platonic Heritage of Thomism, are indicative of the scholarship from this period in Thomistic studies: Whether wittingly or unwittingly he [St. Thomas] taught a Platonic doctrine rejected by Aristotle when he taught... (shrink)

El artículo propone una defensa conceptual de una concepción liberal y democrática de la educación. Por cuanto la principal función de la educación del individuo consiste en su socialización y la existencia de individuos educados es la garantía mínima de un proceso social creativo y rico, el desarrollo de la democracia está íntimamente ligado al desarrollo de la educación en general y al de la educación ciudadana en particular. Por esa razón el político, en un sistema democrático, debe ser un (...) pedagogo. La reflexión, eminentemente conceptual, termina con la presentación de un ejemplo de la historia política reciente de Colombia. (shrink)

Our proposal is that there exists already a method in Husserl’s Logische Untersuchungen. Nevertheless, this method is operative, but not thematized. We characterize it as follows: analytic, descriptive, pure, reductive, intuitive, reflexive, variational and functional. Concerning Logische Untersuchungen, analysis of significations fulfills a strategic role of mediation between mathesis universalis’ analysis and phenomenology’s analysis. Finally, one of the leading features of Husserlian method is reflexion considered as anábasis of pneuma.

Se muestra como las tesis de la filosofía de la historia de Benjamin, permiten que pensemos la historia y la acción política en forma distinta a como han sido concebidas en la historiografía y la política tradicional. Así mismo, en contra de lo que podría sugerir una lectura inicial de la tesis, lo que Benjamin denomina como la acción política revolucionaria, necesitaría de una acción desligada de la violencia para poder romper con el continuo de la historia. Por último, señalamos (...) como los límites de pensar la política desvinculada de la noción del progreso histórico, permite que ésta pueda contribuir al reconocimiento de las víctimas y olvidados de la historia. (shrink)

To explain globalization of the Mexicandairy production more precisely, globalization indairy systems worldwide and within Mexico ispresented, using an intensive dairy operation in theregion of La Laguna (North Mexico), and a traditionaldairy operation in Los Altos de Jalisco (West Mexico)as examples. The focus is on the economic aspects ofregionalization, and how it relates to theglobalization process. In this context, the process ofregionalization of the North American dairy systemsand their relationships with the local systems in LaLaguna and Los Altos de Jalisco (...) are presented. Themain thesis in this paper is whether globalization hasacted as a factor to help homogenize the dairy systemsin terms of economic, political, and culturalprocesses affected by world tendencies as well aslocal trends. (shrink)

El artículo toma su punto de partida de la idea básica del "significado moral de la existencia humana". Una idea que, podría decirse, es parte de otra de Schopenhauer (él habla de la existencia en general y no sólo de la humana). y que intenta salir a la luz, aunque de muy diferente manera, en el proyecto filosófico de la llamada "ética discursiva". A esa manera se hace referencia críticamente en la última parte del artículo. Se trata, principalmente, de una (...) defensa del valor constitutivo que la conciencia moral individual representa para la vida de la sociedad, tomando distancia respecto de un punto de vista ético racionalista. (shrink)

A Teoria do Constitucionalismo Popular representa construção dogmática de relevante importância para o estabelecimento de um novo diálogo institucional e abrandamento da atual supremacia do controle de constitucionalidade promovido pelo Poder Judiciário. A aproximação da Constituição ao povo, com a consequente atribuição da autoridade interpretativa à população, pode ser viabilizada pelo Tribunal de Contas da União, instituição ainda legitimada a realizar o controle de constitucionalidade e capaz de romper com a supremacia do "judicial review".

Several philosophers have expressed concerns with some recent uses of the term ‘cognition’. Underlying a number of these concerns are claims that cognition is only located in the brain and that no compelling case has been made to use ‘cognition’ in any way other than as a cause of behavior that is representational in nature. These concerns center on two primary misapprehensions: First, that some adherents of dynamical cognitive science think DCS implies the thesis of extended cognition and the rejection (...) of representation, and second, that cognition is mistakenly equated with behavior. We make three points in response to these claims: First, there is no thoroughly entrenched conception of cognition as distinct from behavior that is being illegitimately disregarded. Second, we present Shapiro’s exposition of dynamical systems theory as revealing a misunderstanding of the way that dynamical models are used in explanations of cognition and related phenomena. Accordingly, a proper conception of DCS’s methods facilitates an appreciation of extended cognition as a legitimate phenomenon of scientific investigation. Finally, we demonstrate that practicing cognitive scientists and psychologists are far more pluralistic in the phenomena they apply ‘cognition’ to than is suggested by some. At the heart of our disagreement with these concerned folks is that although we think it likely that some cognitive phenomena are representational, non-extended, and only in-between the ears, we also think there are good conceptual and empirical reasons to believe that many cognitive phenomena are non-representational, extended, and not confined to the brain. (shrink)

En el presente artículo proponemos un abordaje de los análisis en torno al tacto y la mano en trabajos fundamentales de Husserl y Heidegger, en un diálogo con el análisis respectivos de J. Derrida. Por la vía de una lectura que reconoce continuidades y despliegues, buscaremos demostrar que las elaboraciones prácticas del tocar desarrolladas por Derrida articulan una comprensión en cierta continuidad con aquellas elaboraciones tradicionales, en el marco de una lectura singular de los textos respectivos.

En el siguiente trabajo nos detendremos en un análisis y reconstrucción de las relaciones entre singularización y tiempo, respecto de sus especificaciones en torno al instante, a partir de una relación entre las elaboraciones de Heidegger en _Sein und Zeit_ y su curso de 1929-1930. En ese marco, nos proponemos demostrar que sus consideraciones en torno a la relación dinámica Dasein-temporeidad-singularización profundizan la comprensión de fondo en la que se articulan, a partir de un cambio de acento que permite precisar (...) con mayor claridad el concepto relacional de Dasein frente a las perspectivas subjetivistas tradicionales. De esta manera, buscamos desarrollar las relaciones entre singularización-tiempo en la obra de Heidegger y cotejar desde allí las condiciones para un marco interpretativo y recepción acorde al marco comprensivo de su obra. (shrink)

One of the potentially most significant objections to a cosmopolitan moral approach charges an essential arrogance: cosmopolitanism disdains particularist moral insights even while – in what is said to be its most coherent form – it seeks to bind all persons within global political institutions. It is argued here that adopting a form of institutional cosmopolitanism actually helps to meet this sort of objection. An appropriately configured such approach will have a conception of equal global citizenship at its core. It (...) will seek to place individuals in relations of political humility, understood not as plain deference to competing moral claims, but as concrete recognition of the equal moral status of others. It will seek to progressively empower as actual citizen equals those whose interests are often ‘arrogantly’ neglected in the current system, and to multiply mechanisms of input and challenge for them over time. (shrink)