The notion of the human embryo is not immutable. Various scientific and technological breakthroughs in reproductive biology have compelled us to revisit the definition of the human embryo during the past 2 decades. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, oocyte haploidisation and, more recently, human stem cell-derived embryo models have challenged this scientific term, which has both ethical and legal repercussions. Here, we offer a legal perspective to identify a universally accepted definition of ‘embryo’ which could help to ease and unify the (...) regulation of such entities in different countries. (shrink)

Class, race and gender are three of the most salient factors in society. They determine to an important extent the opportunities we have, e.g. to access public.

This paper is concerned with the semantics of bare plural I-generics such as ‘Tigers are striped’, ‘Chickens lay eggs’, and ‘Kangaroos live in Australia’. In a series of recent papers, Bernhard Nickel has developed a comprehensive view of a certain class of bare plural I-generics, which he calls characterizing sentences :629–648, 2009. doi:10.1007/s10988-008-9049-7; Linguist Philos 33:479–512, 2010a. doi:10.1007/s10988-011-9087-4; Philos Impr 10:1–25, 2010b). Nickel’s ambitious proposal includes a detailed account of their truth-conditions, an account of certain pragmatic phenomena that they give (...) rise to, a metaphysical picture of their truth-makers in terms of mechanisms, and an epistemological story connecting characterizing sentences to such concepts as induction and explanation. This paper offers an extended critique of the central truth-conditional component of Nickel’s proposal. In a nutshell, his account has it that ‘Tigers are striped’ is true iff, for tigers, there is a way of being normal with respect to fur-pattern such that all tigers that are normal that way are striped. I begin by explaining what characterizing sentences are and distinguish several readings that are available for sentences with bare plurals in subject position. I then introduce Nickel’s account and discuss some of its predictions which, in my view, seem highly problematic. Moreover, I argue that Nickel’s principle of Homogeneity does not go together well with his proposed truth-conditions, and that his truth-conditional account violates a plausible principle about the logic of generics, a principle I call generic non-contradiction. (shrink)

Should we be allowed to refuse any involvement of artificial intelligence technology in diagnosis and treatment planning? This is the relevant question posed by Ploug and Holm in a recent article in Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. In this article, I adhere to their conclusions, but not necessarily to the rationale that supports them. First, I argue that the idea that we should recognize this right on the basis of a rational interest defence is not plausible, unless we are willing (...) to judge each patient’s ideology or religion. Instead, I consider that the right must be recognized by virtue of values such as social pluralism or individual autonomy. Second, I point out that the scope of such a right should be limited at least under three circumstances: if it is against a physician’s obligation to not cause unnecessary harm to a patient or to not provide futile treatment, in cases where the costs of implementing this right are too high, or if recognizing the right would deprive other patients of their own rights to adequate health care. (shrink)

Through a qualitative approach, we explore the perspective of 72 CEOs of companies operating in Portugal about the definition of corporate sustainability and its facilitators, and obtain four main findings. First, most CEOs equate CS with the company’s continuity/viability. Second, the relevance ascribed to different stakeholders differs considerably: while more than 50 % of CEOs cited shareholders/profits, and more than 40 % mentioned the natural environment and employees, very few mentioned customers, society, suppliers, the State, or competitors. Third, the management (...) practices considered as most important to develop CS are the organization’s strategic alignment with a long-term orientation, and developing and energizing people within a positive organizational climate characterized by trust and ethics. Fourth, the leadership characteristics and behaviors considered as most important to foster CS are scrutinizing the future and leading people through a mobilizing vision; energizing and developing employees; and leading by example. While the whole picture is largely consistent with the “sustainable strategic management” approach suggested by Stead and Stead and with recent CS integrative approaches, the great majority of CEOs who participate in the study have not embraced such integrative and coevolutive perspectives. (shrink)

LetA≤Bbe structures, and${\cal K}$a class of structures. An elementb∈BisdominatedbyArelative to${\cal K}$if for all${\bf{C}} \in {\cal K}$and all homomorphismsg,g':B → Csuch thatgandg'agree onA, we havegb=g'b. Our main theorem states that if${\cal K}$is closed under ultraproducts, thenAdominatesbrelative to${\cal K}$if and only if there is a partial functionFdefinable by a primitive positive formula in${\cal K}$such thatFB =bfor somea1,…,an∈A. Applying this result we show that a quasivariety of algebras${\cal Q}$with ann-ary near-unanimity term has surjective epimorphisms if and only if$\mathbb{S}\mathbb{P}_n \mathbb{P}_u \left$has surjective epimorphisms. It (...) follows that if${\cal F}$is a finite set of finite algebras with a common near-unanimity term, then it is decidable whether the variety generated by${\cal F}$has surjective epimorphisms. (shrink)

Este artículo examina la concepción del espacio infinito y del tiempo en Hasdai Crescas, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola y Giordano Bruno. Si la presencia de Crescas es explícita en el _Examen vanitatis_ (1520) de Pico, su recepción por Bruno, que nunca lo menciona, fue postulada por Harry A. Wolfson en 1929. Más recientemente, David Harari y Mauro Zonta han afirmado el papel intermediario de un autor judío desconocido. Sin embargo, una comparación de la crítica de Aristóteles efectuada por Crescas y (...) Bruno pone de manifiesto que, excepto dos puntos, Bruno pudo alcanzar sus posiciones con independencia de Crescas, a partir de su propia lectura crítica de Aristóteles y de su conocimiento de los desarrollos de la escolástica medieval y del concepto neoplatónico del tiempo. La significativa calificación por Crescas del espacio y del tiempo como atributos de Dios en un sentido puramente metafórico, una cuestión que Pico deja a un lado, deja paso en Bruno a la calificación del espacio infinito, de la duración y también de la materia como atributos reales de Dios, que es a la vez mente e intelecto, espacio y materia, en tanto que unidad indiferente de los opuestos. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se explora la relación entre las dimensiones proposicional y no proposicional de la creencia religiosa para mostrar que la última dirige el proceso de justificación y representa su límite. Se defiende que la no proposicional también tiene valor cognitivo, porque constituye una suerte de elección epistémica preteórica que no es exclusiva de la fe religiosa. Se explora la noción de ambigüedad religiosa, tanto a nivel intelectual como experiencial, y se sostiene que la relación entre la dimensión proposicional y la (...) no-proposicional de la fe está mediada por la función directiva de las presuposiciones metafísicas instauradas por la experiencia religiosa. ABSTRACT The article explores the relation between the propositional and non-propositional dimensions of religious belief in order to show that the latter guides the process of justification and represents its limit. It argues that the non-propositional dimension also has cognitive value because it constitutes a sort of pre-theoretical epistemic election that does not pertain exclusively to religious faith. The article also delves into the notion of religious ambiguity, both in its intellectual and experiential interpretations, and argues that the relationship between the propositional and the non-propositional dimensions of faith is mediated by the guiding role of the metaphysical presuppositions established by religious experience. (shrink)

Con anterioridad a la paz de Westfalia el espacio filosófico alemán había estado dominado en gran medida por la teosofía, especialmente en el ámbito protestante y en regiones como Sajonia, Silesia y Württemberg. Con la Medicina mentis de E. W. von Tschirnhaus, noble sajón de estudios universitarios en Leiden, donde entra en contacto con Spinoza y su círculo, entramos en un nuevo mundo conceptual. Bajo la apariencia de una propuesta metodológica, de corte cartesiano, de conducir la razón al descubrimiento de (...) cuanto es posible conocer por la ‘luz natural’, Tschirnhaus propone una reforma moral del sujeto humano capaz de procurarle la perfección, la felicidad y la unión con Dios, donde la impronta de Spinoza es fuerte, aunque en ningún momento son nombrados estos dos filósofos. Tras estudiar la acusación de spinozismo por Christian Thomasius y el rechazo de la imputación por Tschirnhaus, el artículo se pronuncia sobre el sentido y función de ese rechazo. (shrink)

Singer’s much-discussed replaceability argument states that non-self-conscious animals may be killed and replaced by new animals that will lead equally valuable lives. If sound, this argument can be used to justify the cycle of raising and killing animals for food. Thus, many have argued that Singer’s theory, and utilitarianism in general, while committed to this argument, offers inadequate protection to animals. However, some utilitarians reject the argument and Singer himself was rather tentative in preventing its additional application to self-conscious beings. (...) This tension, within utilitarianism, about how to best deal with the argument is the core of what I call ‘the problem of replaceability’. My main goal here is to provide a precise description of this problem. Firstly, I distinguish between the general question of replacement permissibility and the specific question of whether (a certain version of) utilitarianism implies the replaceability argument. Focusing on the specific question I set the problem apart from other known objections to utilitarianism, like the value receptacles objection and some replacement-like difficulties. I also compare two versions of the replaceability argument and advance a better one. Finally, I point out how different interpretations of the argument affect the way out of the problem. I hope this understanding of the problem offers helpful insight to possible solutions and to further investigate its importance to animal food production and animals’ moral status. (shrink)

Rawls and Schmitt are often discussed in the literature as if their conceptions of the political had nothing in common, or even referred to entirely different phenomena. In this essay, I show how these conceptions share a common space of reasons, traceable back to the idea of public reason and its development since the Middle Ages. By analysing the idea of public reason in Rawls and in Schmitt, as well as its relation to their theories of political representation, I show (...) in what way Schmitt's concept of the political cannot be divorced from an idea of justice, while, conversely, Rawls' conception of justice cannot be divorced from a theory of the political. In that way this paper thematizes the internal relation that each theory establishes between justice and power, deliberation and decision, and consensus and disagreement. (shrink)

We worry about becoming non-existent, but not about coming into being. But both events are similarly bad according to Deprivationism; hence, it seems that we should display symmetric attitudes towards both. This entails the implausible conclusion that we should display negative attitudes towards the time of our birth. In a series of articles Brueckner and Fischer offered one of the most prominent attempts to block this conclusion by appealing to a temporal bias towards future pleasures. Inspired by Yi’s criticism of (...) their view, we argue that there is an appropriate sense of deprivation in which late birth can deprive of future pleasures. Hence, Brueckner and Fischer’s Temporal Bias does not explain the attitudinal asymmetry. In addition, to make sure that one picks out the appropriate sense of deprivation, we offer a restriction, the Historical Condition, that prevents us from considering that every value one would otherwise have is value that one was deprived of due to one’s actual birth/death. Finally, we present a novel account for the attitudinal asymmetry that relies on what we call ‘Interests Proximity Bias’. (shrink)

El artículo analiza las ideas filosóficas de Lisandro de la Torre, dirigente político y destacado legislador argentino de vasta trayectoria pública entre 1890 y 1937, a partir de algunas conferencias y escritos de sus últimos años. En el enfoque de su cosmovisión se toman en cuenta, por un lado, la relación entre filosofía, ciencia y religión, y, por otro, la concepción antropológica, mostrando la influencia de perspectivas filosóficas como el panteísmo y el positivismo. El estudio somete a crítica la desvinculación (...) entre política y filosofía que hacía el propio de la Torre. Antes bien, concluye en que ambas esferas se encuentran conectadas y constituyen una raíz fundante del pensamiento latorrista.The article analyses Lisandro de la Torre's philosophical ideas. He was an important Argentinian politician, who had an active public life, mainly, as a legislator, between 1890 and 1937. The study is based upon some lectures and writings from his last years. His cosmological view is examined through the relation among philosophy, science and religion, on one hand, and through his anthropological account, on the other hand. The influence of pantheism and positivism is pointed out in both perspectives. It is criticised de la Torre's claim about politics as an anti-philosophical activity by arguing that philosophy and politics may be considered as foundations of his thought. (shrink)

BackgroundSome persons conceived with donor gametes react negatively when they found their birth via donor conception. They request access to information about and seek to communicate with the donor. However, some countries mandate donor anonymity. Other countries allow donor-conceived persons to access donor information, but they can only use this access if their parents have disclosed donor conception to them. We investigated a thorny issue of donor conception: whether donor conception should be shifted from an anonymous basis to a non-anonymous (...) basis.MethodsWe review the issues and concerns regarding donor conception. We then consider the impact of direct-to-consumer genetic testing on donor conception, as well as the influence of donor conception on offspring’s identity and the potential of different types of donors. To discuss the future policy of donor conception, the policies on the anonymity of gamete donors were investigated using publicly-available documents in 15 countries.ResultsThe aim of mandating donor anonymity is to protect the privacy of the donor and intended parents. However, the diffusion of direct-to-consumer genetic testing may make it impossible to maintain anonymity. Birth via donor conception shapes the offspring’s identity, and the donor may further influence the development of offspring’s identity through communications. It remains important to disclose donor conception to donor-conceived offspring and to provide them with donor information. However, that information might be insufficient for some donor-conceived persons. Here are benefits to having open-identity donors and known donors. Such donors can make an agreement with the parents regarding future communication with the offspring, although both sides should respect privacy. Subsequent counseling for all parties involved can result in better tripartite communication agreements.ConclusionsIn sum, ethical and practical issues that complicate donor anonymity are driving a shift to non-anonymous donor conception, in which all parties come to a communication agreement. To pave the way for such a donor conception system, transitional measures can be put into place. For countries that already adopted non-anonymous donor conception, ensuring the communication agreements is important to protect the rights of parents, donor, and offspring. (shrink)

En este trabajo se investiga el concepto de apariencia [Schein] que Kant desarrolla en la Crítica de la razón pura y textos complementarios. Se sostendrá que la propuesta crítica de Kant ha de ser comprendida en relación con la tradición metafísica previa —«metafísica dogmática»— y que el concepto de apariencia constituye un punto de anclaje privilegiado para abordar esta relación, además de situar a Kant como pensador moderno. Asimismo, se ofrece, siguiendo a G. Lebrun, una propuesta de distinción entre apariencia (...) lógica y trascendental. Finalmente se demarca el lugar de la ontología y la metafísica tras la operación crítica kantiana. (shrink)

Donald Davidson suggested that, in attempting to give meaning theories, we should proceed via giving truth theories. For the programme of truth-theoretic semantics to be successful, two tasks need to be accomplished. First, it has to be shown that natural languages are actually amendable to truth theoretic treatment. The second task is to show how we can bridge the gap between a truth theory and a genuine meaning theory. This second task is necessitated by the simple fact that truth theories (...) by themselves are too weak to satisfy the central desideratum for a meaning theory. In a recent paper, Greg Ray suggests that the goal of giving meaning theories can easily be achieved, not by supplementing the truth-theoretic apparatus, but by doing away with it altogether. In particular, he proposes that what he calls means-that theories meet all the desiderata on meaning theories, and that ‘anyone with basically Davidsonian commitments must accept the means-that approach as viable and that it has certain evident virtues’. This paper argues that theories along Ray's lines do not satisfy the central desideratum for meaning theories. Ray's belief to the contrary rests on a common misunderstanding of what this desideratum amounts to. As I indicate in the final section of the paper, there perhaps is a way of substantially amending Ray's approach in order to meet the central desideratum. However, in an ironic twist, this will require giving a full-fledged truth theory for the metalanguage, including its intensional constructions like ‘means that’ – precisely the project Ray attempted to avoid. (shrink)

Miembro de la generaci n de el Viejo Topo, Morey se ha formado en el rigor de la filosof a, de la que es catedr tico en la Universidad de Barcelona. el presente libro es una novela de corte experimental acerca de la errancia y el peregrinaje sin destino a que nos somete la paradoja de vivir o ser vividos.

1975 es el año en el que, con la publicación de Vigilar y castigar, Foucault propone un modelo de análisis microfísico del poder que viene a desplazar gravemente los análisis políticos habituales; también es éste el año en el que, en España, la muerte del dictador Franco va a acarrear cambios políticos cruciales, como es sabido. La recepción de estos análisis en nuestro país, antes que en las aulas de las facultades de Filosofía, corrió primeramente a cargo de otros grupos (...) universitarios de trabajo, y también por algunos movimientos sociales de carácter alternativo. En los encuentros de trabajo que tuvieron lugar con varios de estos grupos, las dificultades que bloqueaban la correcta inteligibilidad de su trabajo eran muy diversas. Es en este contexto que surge la figura del in/moralista, como una vía de acceso al conjunto de gestos elementales en los que su discurso se sustenta. (shrink)

Entre los textos escatológicos proféticos resalta la alusión de Isaías a la creación de “unos nuevos cielos y una nueva tierra” (65,17). Este artículo analiza exegéticamente Is 65,16b-25 desde la perspectiva literaria y teológica dentro del contexto del epílogo del libro de Isaías (cc. 65-66). Se constata que la nueva creación se presenta como la recuperación del estado de felicidad y bendición de los “orígenes”, que fue perdido a causa del pecado. El análisis subraya la relevancia del tema de la (...) alegría como clave del mensaje. (shrink)

La obra de Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) siempre suele relacionarse con la de autores ajenos a la literatura española como De Quincey, Stevenson, Whitman, Chesterton, Coleridge o Poe. Su anglofilia es bien conocida por todos. También su relación con el idioma de Goethe o con la cultura árabe y Las mil y una noches. Sin embargo, asumiendo su propia sentencia «Mi destino es la lengua castellana, el bronce de Francisco de Quevedo», rastrearemos las huellas indelebles que dejó la literatura española (...) del Barroco y de los Siglos de Oro en la obra del escritor argentino, y cómo los símbolos del siglo XVII son recuperados desde la literatura reconstructivista de Borges para continuar con una tradición y al mismo tiempo transformar su significado. (shrink)