El Tratado de metodología de las Ciencias Sociales de Narciso Pizarro ofrece una visión coherente del campo de las ciencias sociales contemporáneas, cuya división en disciplinas, especialidades y subespecialidades hace difícil al estudioso de cualquiera de ellas el entender las conexiones existentes entre todas. Porque la lógica propia del desarrollo de las ciencias sociales en el mundo académico impulsa diferencias terminológicas que ocultan la homogeneidad conceptual, pero que sirven para establecer las lindes de cotos privados del saber. Sobrepasar esas (...) diferencias implica analizar los conceptos fundamentales de las ciencias sociales, tanto desde el punto de vista de la coherencia o sistematicidad del conjunto como desde el de la evolución histórica de los esquemas conceptuales. Por ello, la exposición del conjunto es inseparable de una crítica -en el sentido epistemológico del término- de los fundamentos de cada una de las disciplinas, desarrollada a lo largo de veinticinco años de trabajo. (shrink)

En un libro de lógica de 1794, Salomon Maimon presentó una nueva tabla de categorías que debía sustituir la que Kant incluyó en su Crítica de la razón pura. Sostengo que esto es la última fase en la evolución de algunos aspectos fundamentales de su postura epistemológica. A partir de una comprensión general de su teoría, voy trazando el desarrollo de su pensamiento sobre las categorías desde su primera obra en alemán, la Filosofía trascendental de 1789, hasta su mencionada Lógica. (...) Lo divido en cuatro partes. En las dos primeras, describo la posición de Maimon como solidaria con el paradigma kantiano según el cual las categorías dependen de las formas lógicas del juicio. En la tercera, explico la inversión de este paradigma que Maimon acomete en su comentario a las Categorías de Aristóteles. En la última parte, expongo que la nueva tabla de categorías refleja una mejora general de su teoría del conocimiento. Por último, exhorto a ampliar la comprensión de alguna noción clave de su filosofía para propiciar una lectura más productiva. (shrink)

In spite of the fact that the Z.F. universe is not well-ordered, it behaves in some respects like the ordinals. It is possible to define on it the usual operations of addition, multiplication and exponentiation, which enjoy similar properties to those on the ordinals. Further when restricted to the ordinals, the operations coincide, so that ordinal arithmetic can be regarded as a restriction of the universe arithmetic. But more than that, rank which retracts the universe of sets onto the ordinals (...) is a homomorphism between the universe arithmetical structure 〈V,+,·,exp〉 and the ordinal arithmetical structure 〈Ord, +, ·,exp〉. (shrink)

Small GTPases in the Rho family act as major nodes with functions beyond cytoskeletal rearrangements shaping the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo during development. These small GTPases are key signal transducers that integrate diverse developmental signals to produce a coordinated response in the cell. In C. elegans, the best studied members of these highly conserved Rho family small GTPases, RHO‐1/RhoA, CED‐10/Rac, and CDC‐42, are crucial in several cellular processes dealing with cytoskeletal reorganization. In this review, we update the functions described for the (...) Rho family small GTPases in spindle orientation and cell division, engulfment, and cellular movements during C. elegans embryogenesis, focusing on the Rho subfamily Rac.Please also see the video abstract here. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractNowadays, in the Internet databases era, certain knowledge is being progressively lost. This knowledge, which we feel is essential and should be acquired through education, is the understanding of how the pioneer researchers faced major questions in their field and made their discoveries.

Romanization implies, from a religious point of view, a Roman interpretation of indigenous deities by means of a syncretic process. The clearest example is to be found in the indigenous gods of ways, whose existence is known to us through numerous epigraphs and who are assimilated to Roman Lares Viales. Their numbers increase on Asturian soil daily (Tineo, Allande, Lugo de Llanera...) despite the fact that the monuments do not count with «foculi» (holes) for offer deposits.

Any complete account of morality should be able to account for its characteristic normativity; we show that enactivism is able to do so while doing justice to the situated and interactive nature of morality. Moral normativity primarily arises in interpersonal interaction and is characterized by agents’ possibility of irrevocably changing each other’s autonomies, that is, the possibility of harming or expanding each other’s autonomy. We defend that moral normativity, as opposed to social and other forms of normativity, regulates and, in (...) some cases, constitutes this very possibility. Agents are thus morally responsible for caring about their own and others’ autonomies in interaction. In our conception, moral normativity is embodied, situated, and deeply affective, and is constituted in social practices and maintained in interaction. We identify at least two necessary conditions for moral normativity to arise as a social practice. The first is our embodied constitution as living beings who are precarious and therefore vulnerable and in need of interaction with others and with the environment. The second is our sociolinguistic nature, which allows us to exponentially expand our possibilities for action and normatively distinguish among them. We finish by drawing a distinction between moral character and the moral content of interactions, which allows us to universally recognize the ethical dimensions of all human interaction while doing justice to the situated character of morals. (shrink)

A internet nos joga imagens que chegam de mau jeito. No Facebook, pode-se deparar com um carro vermelho, parecendo esportivo, e olhando melhor, vê-se que é um carro sem capota, rasgado num desastre, com cinco passageiros decapitados. Mas boas coisas também chegam de forma inesperada. Achei uma relíquia, um filme de 1936/37, sem áudio, com duração de 14 minutos, gravado por Benjamin Abrahão, retratando Lampião, o Rei do Cangaço em carne e osso. Hoje é Cult, mas naquela época os cangaceiros (...) barbarizaram por todo o nordeste, exceto Piauí e Maranhão. Ver a sua rotina, de há 84 anos, foi despir um mito. (shrink)

Quando alguém está se comportando de maneira inadequada, usando drogas, cometendo crimes, a família explica o fato, garantindo não ser defeito de caráter, mas o resultado da convivência com más companhias, estas sim, causadoras do mal. Muitos defenderão o lado bom do transgressor. E não será apenas sua mãe. Claro que a boa influência existe forte e algumas pessoas dirão que se decidiram estudar ou seguir determinada profissão por incentivo de alguém. Muitos começaram a fumar para copiar personagens de filmes (...) ou de novelas, sem contar que a televisão tinha pelo menos um comercial de cigarro em cada intervalo. (shrink)

El presente artículo defiende que las nociones de epojé y de modificación de neutralidad, a pesar de su aparente semejanza, deben mantenerse radicalmente diferenciadas. La razón de fondo es que ambas surgen en el seno de operaciones de la conciencia que son metodológica y jerárquicamente distintas. Para tal efecto, haré una descripción de sus funciones y estructura, de modo que se hagan visibles tanto sus respectivas esferas de aplicación como el alcance operativo de sus procedimientos.

In this paper we consider whether a pragmatics of semantic content can be a useful approach to legal interpretation. More broadly speaking, since a pragmatic conception of meaning is a component of inferential semantics, we consider whether an inferentialist approach to legal interpretation can be useful in dealing with some problems of this important aspect of law. In other words, we ask whether Legal Inferentialism is a suitable conception for legal interpretation. In Section 1 we briefly consider the semantics/pragmatics debate (...) in contemporary philosophy of language and in relation to legal interpretation. In Section 2 we discuss the relations between a pragmatics of semantic content and an inferentialist conception of content. In Section 3 we consider how Inferentialism can be applied to legal interpretation. Finally, in Section 4 we consider some possible advantages and drawbacks of Inferentialism applied to legal interpretation and adjudication. (shrink)

Many studies have attempted to assess the relative effects of different vectors of a disease on animal populations. To this end, three measures have been proposed: Vectorial efficiency, Vectorial capacity and recently Vectorial effectiveness (or Vectorial impact). In this study we relate these measures to derive some of their properties emphasising in the vectorial impact for its importance in both, population performance of parasites and the proportion of the prevalence of one parasite due to a given vector. We applied the (...) quantitative expressions advanced in this study to a simple Chilean example with one parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi), two vectors (Triatoma infestans and Mepraia spinolai) and one animal population (humans: Chagas's disease). (shrink)

A primeira fotografia conhecida foi capturada na França em 1826, por Joseph Nicéphore Niépce em chapas da Kodak. Fotografar é imprimir imagens numa face sensível, sob efeito da luz. A formalidade e a sisudez eram tradição no momento do retrato, assim, a língua de fora na foto icônica de Albert Einstein, feita aos 72 anos em 14 de abril de 1951, mostra como tudo foi mudando em relação a essa arte.

Como é difícil para você não apenas ouvir a verdade, mas ter de degluti-la, digeri-la e incorporá-la ao seu dia a dia. Não apenas a verdade do outro lhe incomoda, mas sua própria verdade, que costuma ficar oculta em locais obscuros da mente. [...].

We remark that the A Contrario Argument is an ambiguous technique of justification of judicial decisions. We distinguish two uses and versions of it, strong and weak, taking as example the normative sentence “Underprivileged citizens are permitted to apply for State benefit”. According to the strong version, only underprivileged citizens are permitted to apply for State benefit, so stateless persons are not. According to the weak, the law does not regulate the position of underprivileged stateless persons in this respect. We (...) propose an inferential analysis of the two uses along the lines of the scorekeeping practice as described by Robert Brandom, and try to point out what are the ontological assumptions of the two. We conclude that the strong version is justified if and only if there is a relevant incompatibility between the regulated subject and the present case. (shrink)

ArgumentIn 1895 when the Lumière brothers unveiled their cinematographic camera, many scientists were elated. Scientists hoped that the machine would fulfill a desire that had driven research for nearly half a century: that of capturing the world in its own image. But their elation was surprisingly short-lived, and many researchers quickly distanced themselves from the new medium. The cinematographic camera was soon split into two machines, one for recording and one for projecting, enabling it to further escape from the laboratory. (...) The philosopher Henri Bergson joined scientists, such as Etienne-Jules Marey, who found problems with the new cinematographic order. Those who had worked to make the dream come true found that their efforts had been subverted. This essay focuses on the desire to build a cinematographic camera, with the purpose of elucidating how dreams and reality mix in the development of science and technology. It is about desired machines and their often unexpected results. The interplay between what “is” (the technical), what “ought” (the ethical), and what “could” be (the fantastical) drives scientific research. (shrink)

Interpretation without Truth is the result of thirty years of research that Pierluigi Chiassoni has devoted to legal interpretation and legal reasoning. More generally, the book represents one of t...

It is well known that experts’ opinion and testimony take on a decisive weight in judicial fact-finding, raising issues and perplexities that have long been under scholarly scrutiny. In this paper I argue that expert’s opinions have a much wider impact on legal decision-making. In particular, they may generate a problem that I will call ‘the opacity of law’. A legal text, such as a statute or regulation, becomes opaque if a legal authority is not able to grasp its full (...) linguistic content but is nevertheless in a position to use it, thanks to an expert’ opinion, in legal decision-making. When this occurs, not only do experts contribute to fact-finding but also to determining the content of the law. In the paper I analyse the linguistic and cognitive sources of this phenomenon, its characteristics and troublesome consequences, and the different kinds of opacity that may affect legal decision-making. (shrink)

Este artículo busca establecer en primer lugar una doble distinción: de un lado, entre fantasía y conciencia de imagen; y, por el otro, entre fantasía y conciencia estética, ambas a partir de los trabajos de Edmund Husserl. Las dos series de distinciones se encuentran ligadas una con otra por el especial estatuto fenomenológico que Husserl concede a la imagen, el cual debe ser también sometido a aclaración. El artículo propone tres conclusiones: que la así llamada “conciencia estética” no es resultado (...) de ninguna “epojé”; que la experiencia de la imagen entremezcla percepción y fantasía; y que esta conciencia estética exige como contrapolo a un sujeto que habita en la irrealidad del “como si”. (shrink)

El presente artículo desarrolla un análisis crítico de papel metodológico que desempeña la libre fantasía en Ideas I. Haciendo visible la estrecha relación entre las modalizaciones de conciencia y la estructura noético-noemática de los actos intencionales, se demostrará la necesaria complementariedad de los métodos de las reducciones eidética y fenomenológica para el proyecto de Husserl de una crítica fenomenológica del conocimiento. Con ello se busca poner de relieve que el rendimiento de la fantasía tuvo un impacto metodológico decisivo para la (...) conversión trascendental de la fenomenología. (shrink)

This paper deals with one of the first attempts to measure simple reactions in humans. The Swiss astronomer Adolph Hirsch investigated personal differences in the speed of sensory transmission in order to achieve accuracy in astronomy. His controversial results, however, started an intense debate among both physiologists and astronomers who disagreed on the nature of these differences. Were they due to different eyes or brains, or to differences in skill and education? Furthermore, they debated how to eliminate them. Some, for (...) example, wanted to eliminate the observer, and prescribed the use of new technologies like the electro-chronograph or photography, while others believed in discipline and education. By debating the nature of these differences, astronomers and physiologists sketched both different conceptions of ‘man’ and different paths to objectivity. These diverse conceptions, moreover, were tied to current nineteenth-century debates, such as the benefits or disadvantages of railroads, telegraphy and the standardization of time and longitudes. By focusing on the debates surrounding the speed of sensory transmission, this paper reevaluates the history of astronomy, physiology and experimental psychology. Furthermore, in investigating astronomy's relation to the human sciences, it uncovers profound connections in the traditionally separate histories of objectivity and the body.L'heure sera distribuée dans les maisons,comme l'eau ou le gaz.Adolph Hirsch. (shrink)

El presente trabajo aborda los procesos de construcción social histórica de los “intelectuales indígenas”, en una de las etapas más relevantes y complejas para los movimientos étnicos en América Latina: redemocratización, apertura de los mercados y alta participación de las bases en procesos de movilización. De este modo, la presente proposición desarrolla dos grandes puntos de análisis: por un lado, la definición y autodefinición que hace de sí un “intelectual indígena”; y por otro lado, las problemáticas que enfrenta este etnointelectual (...) en un entramado semántico cientificista y occidental. This paper studies the processes of historical social construction of “indigenous intellectuals”, one of the most important and complex stages for ethnic movements in Latin America: redemocratization, the opening of markets and high participation of the grassroots mobilization processes. Thus, this proposition develops a two-point analysis: firstly, the definition and selfdefinition which is made by an indigenous intellectual and, on the other hand, the problems facing this etnointellectual in a scientific and Western semantic framework. (shrink)