La mistica, come l’essere, si può dire in molti modi diversi e questi modi non possono essere presi in considerazione in maniera sistematica. Accostando autori non considerati mistici in senso proprio, si intende fornire qualche spunto di riflessione, mostrando come aspetti tradizionalmente considerati mistici, si possano trovare nei più diversi ambiti: scienza, filosofia, poesia, politica. Se questo livello del pensiero è indispensabile per non cedere alle pretese tiranniche della ragione analitica, è opportuno in ogni caso evitare di farne un mondo (...) a parte che si nutre della propria diversità e del proprio orgoglio. Mysticism, as well as being, can be said in many different ways and these ways cannot be taken into account in a systematic way. By comparing authors not considered mystical in the proper sense, we intend to provide some ideas for reflection, showing how aspects traditionally considered mystical can be found in the most diverse contexts: science, philosophy, poetry, politics. If this level of thought is indispensable in order not to submit to the tyrannical claims of analytical reason, it is necessary in any case to avoid making it a separate world that is nourished by its own diversity and pride. (shrink)

Comment écrire sur Bataille sans s’épargner et se mettre soi-même hors jeu sinon en entrant dans le jeu de ce qu’on appellera, en un sens majeur, la parodie ? Dans ce retour, dans cet éternel retour des pensées et des mots – dans cette déconstruction créatrice qu’est la réécriture – Bataille n’y entra-t-il pas lui même en écrivant sur Nietzsche ?

It has long been a standard practice for the natural sciences to classify things. Thus, it is no wonder that, for two and a half millennia, philosophers have been reflecting on classifications, from Plato and Aristotle to contemporary philosophy of science. Some of the results of these reflections will be presented in this chapter. I will start by discussing a parody of a classification, namely: the purportedly ancient Chinese classification of animals described by Jorge Luis Borges. I will show (...) that many of the mistakes that account for the comic features of this parody appear in real-life scientific databases as well. As examples of the latter, I will discuss the terminology database of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the United States, the NCI Thesaurus. (shrink)

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)

It has long been a standard practice for the natural sciences to classify things. Thus, it is no wonder that, for two and a half millennia, philosophers have been reflecting on classifications, from Plato and Aristotle to contemporary philosophy of science. Some of the results of these reflections will be presented in this chapter. I will start by discussing a parody of a classification, namely: the purportedly ancient Chinese classification of animals described by Jorge Luis Borges. I will show (...) that many of the mistakes that account for the comic features of this parody appear in real-life scientific databases as well. As examples of the latter, I will discuss the terminology database of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the United States, the NCI Thesaurus. (shrink)

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)

Recent investigations surprisingly indicate that single RNA "stem-loops" operate solely by chemical laws that act without selective forces, and in contrast, self-ligated consortia of RNA stem-loops operate by biological selection. To understand consortial RNA selection, the concept of single quasi-species and its mutant spectra as drivers of RNA variation and evolution is rethought here. Instead, we evaluate the current RNA world scenario in which consortia of cooperating RNA stem-loops are the basic players. We thus redefine quasispecies as RNA quasispecies consortia (...) and argue that it has essential behavioral motifs that are relevant to the inherent variation, evolution and diversity in biology. We propose that qs-c is an especially innovative force. We apply qs-c thinking to RNA stem-loops and evaluate how it yields altered bulges and loops in the stem-loop regions, not as errors, but as a natural capability to generate diversity. This basic competence-not error-opens a variety of combinatorial possibilities which may alter and create new biological interactions, identities and newly emerged self identity functions. Thus RNA stem-loops typically operate as cooperative modules, like members of social groups. From such qs-c of stem-loop groups we can trace a variety of RNA secondary structures such as ribozymes, viroids, viruses, mobile genetic elements as abundant infection derived agents that provide the stem-loop societies of small and long non-coding RNAs. (shrink)

Deux appréciations différentes peuvent être portées quant à l'in­fluence de la cosmologie moderne sur l'héliolâtrie tradition­nelle. Selon la première, la cosmologie moderne a valorisé le Soleil en lui accordant une position cosmologique conforme à son incontestable importance physique, astronomique et sym­bolique. Selon la seconde au contraire, en conduisant au dé­senchantement du monde, elle a mis fin à l'héliolâtrie an­tique. Ces appréciations, apparemment con­tra­dic­toires, contiennent chacune une part de vérité, dans la mesure où la cosmologie moderne se décompose en trois étapes (...) presque simul­tanées, mais aux conséquences bien différentes : 1°) le passage du géocentrisme à l'héliocentrisme, qui opère un renforcement de la symbolique solaire : 2°) la suppression de la bipartition entre monde sublunaire et monde céleste, qui au contraire vient infir­mer la perfec­tion et l'excellence traditionnellement reconnues à l'astre du jour ; et enfin 3°) le passage du monde clos à l'uni­vers infini, qui parachève la désacralisation du Soleil précédem­ment entamée. Cet article est con­sacré à la deuxième de ces trois étapes. Il met notam­ment en évi­dence, d'une part, que le Soleil, maintenant qu'il est connu comme couvert de taches, symbo­lise non plus la divinité, mais l'imperfection inévitable du monde et du genre humain et, d'autre part, que si sa désigna­tion traditionnelle comme étant «l'omnivoyant» reste de mise, c'est dorénavant au sein d'usages comiques et irrévérencieux. –– There are two possible points of view with regards to how modern cosmology has influenced the traditional heliocentric system. The first would say that modern cosmology has given a greater importance to the sun by giving her a place in the universe which is equal to her undeniable physical, astrono­mical and symbolic value. Another possible point of view would be that when the symbolic value of the earth was diminished, the sun suffered the same fate. Both of these two, apparently contradictory, points of view are true in their own way, insofar as modern cosmology can be divided into three stages which although simultaneous, have very different effects. 1) Passing from a geocentric to a heliocentric system strengthened the symbolic value of the sun. 2) However, this movement caused what had been a clear distinction between the sublunary world and the heavens to be lost. This distinction had upheld the excellence of the day star. 3) Finally the world which had been finite and well defined became infinite. The third stage was the final blow in the devaluation of the sun. This article deals with the second of these three stages: that, on the one hand, the sun is covered with marks and can no longer be seen as symbolising divinity but only inevitable imperfection, which reflects the world and mankind itself. On the other hand, if the sun was “all seeing”, this vision is now at best a comic parody, if not strictly irreverent. (shrink)

We prove that a combinatorial consequence of the negation of the PCF conjecture for intervals, involving free subsets relative to set mappings, is not implied by even the strongest known large cardinal axiom.

Sustainable development is often framed as a social issue to which corporations should pay attention because it offers both opportunities and challenges. Through the use of institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, we shed some light on why, more than 20 years after sustainable development was first introduced, we see neither the adoption of this business model as dominant nor its converse, that is the total abandonment of the model as unworkable and unprofitable. We focus on multinational (...) corporations (MNCs) because they were among the organizations first called to take action. In order to illustrate the institutional pressures MNCs face and their strategic response to these pressures, we analysed four major oil and gas multinationals subject to similar sustainable development pressures – climate change, biodiversity, renewable energy development and social investment. We argue that normative and coercive isomorphism does not occur at the global level because sustainable development is largely a stakeholder-driven rather than a broad social pressure. That is, host country interpretation of sustainable development pressures varies across an MNC’s subsidiary network. Based on the analysis of the four major MNCs’ annual reports from 2000 to 2005, we argue that mimetic isomorphism may occur, but since it implies the use of complex and intangible resources, mimetic processes are slow, rare and discretionary. (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)

Vous avez peut-être lu l'Enfer de Dante mais jamais son Paradis : il équivaut à vos yeux à un néant immaculé. Or le paradis dantesque est bien plus différencié et violent que son enfer. Béatrice y déclare au poète : " Si tu voyais mon rire, tu serais réduit en cendres ". C'est pourquoi, au fond, vous mettez le paradis à la porte : vous redoutez l'exigence de sa joie. Et vous vous fabriquez à la place un petit paradis artificiel, (...) rassurant... qui fait un enfer très convenable. Certes, il ne s'agit pas de fuir vers un autre monde imaginaire, ni de régresser vers ce paradis terrestre dont la Genèse nous dit qu'il est définitivement perdu. A la notion d'un au-delà, vous opposez à bon droit la requête de vivre hic et nunc. Mais vous n'arrivez jamais à être vraiment ici, maintenant. C'est là que le vrai paradis révèle son paradoxe et se défend contre ses parodies : il n'est pas évasion vers un ailleurs, mais la grâce déchirante d'être présent à tous et à chacun, dans une ouverture symphonique, une créativité chorale. Ce livre vous invite à un itinéraire à travers la philosophie, la théologie et les arts - de Nietzsche à Bonnefoy de Baudelaire au Bernin, de Sade à Mozart - afin d'approcher ce que le paradis a de plus terrible et de plus beau : la béance de sa béatitude. Oh! il ne s'agit pas de vous consoler, non, mais de vous convoquer à cette joie qui doit vous faire perdre toute contenance - comme un clown - et détruire en vous tout contentement - comme un fleuve, lequel n'est lui-même que de se recevoir et de s'offrir sans fin... (shrink)

[...] This paper aims, first of all, to recall the main features of hyle in Ideas I, both in its relation to the noema and as critical correction of the concept of sensation. It deals, secondly, with some conflicts arising from Husserl’s parallel characterizations of temporal datum, sensation fields, and hyletic background. In third place, it outlines two central directions in genetic analysis, which allow the hyle to expand to a more complex notion involving temporal- material syntheses whose flow is (...) governed by kinaesthesis (Genesis I), all of which shows a sedimented history due to the institution of habitualities (Genesis II). Finally, the conclusions advance some topics that should be considered in this connection from the standpoint of genetic phenomenology. (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.

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)

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)

Norman et al. reported that participants exposed in succession to two artificial grammars could be able to learn implicitly about them, and could apply their knowledge strategically to select which string corresponds to one of these two grammars. In this commentary, I identify an artifact that could account for the learning obtained not only in this study, but also in some previous studies using the same procedures. I claim that more methodological control is needed before jumping to conclusions on the (...) kind of strategic control that could be achieved unconsciously. (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)

In the article it is pretended to prepare the conceptual field for the correct use of the attribution of freedom. It is defended the importance to consider the complementarity of freedom of action and freedom of the will and it is argued for a non-metaphysical conception of adscription of freedom. The adequate use of the attribution of freedom is social and normative. This means additionally that the freedom is not a presupposition of the moral responsibility and the authorship, but on (...) the contrary the moral responsibility and the authorship are presuppositions of the attribution of freedom. (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".