So You Think You're Human? confronts these problems from a historical perspective, showing how our current understanding of what it means to be human has been ...

The discovery that the DNA of chimpanzees and humans is incredibly similar, sharing 98% of the same code, suggests that there is very little different--or special--about the human animal. Likewise, advances in artificial intelligence mean that humans no longer have exclusive access to reason, consciousness and imagination. Indeed, the harder we cling to the concept of humanity, the more slippery it becomes. But if it breaks down altogether, what will this mean for human values, human rights, and the defense of (...) human dignity? In a book of breathtaking range, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto takes us on an enlightening journey through the history of humankind, a narrative tour de force that challenges our most fundamental belief--that we are, and have always been, human. Humankind confronts the problem from a historical perspective, showing how our current understanding of what it means to be human has been shaken by new discoveries from science and philosophy. The author shows how our concept of humankind has changed over time, tracing its faltering expansion to its present limits and arguing that these limits are neither fixed or scientifically verifiable. Controversially, he proposes that we have further to go in developing our concept of humankind and that we need to rethink it as a matter of urgency. One of the most imaginative historians writing today, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto here combines astonishing breadth with passionate and exciting storytelling. For the intellectually curious, for those interested in history, philosophy, science and culture, and for anyone who has ever wondered about what makes us human, Humankind offers an exhilarating new perspective. (shrink)

You think you're human. But what does that mean? How can humanity be defined? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto takes us on an enlightening and provocative journey through the history of humankind to reveal the challenges to our most fundamental belief - that we are, and have always been, human. Fernandez-Armesto investigates advances in artificial intelligence and genetics, and asks what these mean for the future of human values, human rights, and the defence of human dignity. The book illustrates how our concept of (...) humankind has changed over time and how our current understanding of this has been shaken by new challenges from science and philosophy. (shrink)

Este artículo pretende mostrar que el discurso de la justicia global, tal y como se ha presentado en la tradición de la teoría política liberal, se encuentra poco capacitado para ofrecer respuestas satisfactorias frente al problema de la desigualdad global. Esta tesis se sustenta en la sujeción de dicha tradición al marco socioeconómico capitalista como un presupuesto y en su optimismo frente al discurso de los derechos, que limita, más que fortalece, sus posibilidades de proporcionar soluciones estructurales. Para desarrollar este (...) trabajo se ha hecho uso del análisis de contenido de carácter cualitativo de textos; al ser una investigación de carácter teórico, se da prioridad a las fuentes documentales. (shrink)

La denominada 'estrategia del explanandum dual' ha sido utilizada en el pasado para enfrentar problemas de distinta clase, entre los que se cuentan el debate 'explicación vs. comprensión' y el problema de cómo las razones pueden explicar la conducta. Esta estrategia puede ser descripta someramente como un intento de resolver la rivalidad explicativa entre dos explicaciones por medio de la división del explanandum. En este artículo se analiza el uso que Ausonio Marras ha hecho de ella. Este autor ha sostenido (...) que su utilización permite enfrentar el problema de la ineficacia causal de las propiedades mentales, problema que ha representado una seria amenaza en las últimas dos décadas para el programa del materialismo no reduccionista. Se intentará mostrar que la estrategia sugerida no puede ser exitosa frente a este problema a menos que pueda proveerse de una explicación exitosa de cómo las propiedades mentales pueden mantener su eficacia causal completa, y que la respuesta que se ofrece no satisface esta exigencia. The dual explanandum strategy' has been used in the past to contend some quite different problems, including the 'explanation vs. understanding' debate and the problem of how reasons can explain behavior. This strategy can be roughly described as an intent to solve the explanatory rivalry between two explanations by means of the division of the explanandum. In this paper I want to analyze the use of this strategy by Ausonio Marras, who has claimed that it allows us to face the problem of causal inefficacy of mental properties. This problem has arisen in the last two decades in the context of non reductive materialism and has become a serious menace to this program. I try to show that this strategy can not work out this problem unless it can be provided with a successful account of the way that mental properties can keep their complete causal efficacy, and the answer he offers does not satisfy this demand. (shrink)

Auschwitz es el lugar donde la Filosofía tropieza. En Auschwitz pierde sus cimientos la Modernidad, porque el discurso moderno no puede referir el mundo de Auschwitz. Por eso Auschwitz es un acontecimiento. Mas es preciso decir la verdad de lo ocurrido si no queremos quedar suspendidos indefinidamente en mitad de la nada, expresándonos como fantasmas en un discurso sin fundamento. Tenemos que bajar a los infiernos; no podemos seguir invocando los valores ilustrados dando la espalda al acontecimiento que los pone (...) en evidencia. Debemos conocer los hechos que demuelen nuestra escritura: volver al lugar del crimen, al origen del trauma, volver a Auschwitz. No para condenarlo por enésima vez, sino para comprenderlo. No basta con la condena. (shrink)

Durkheim's underdeveloped notion of fatalism is the keystone for a bridge between two conceptual categories central to Marxian and Durkheimian theory: alienation and anomie. Durkheim does not necessarily disagree with Marx that excessive regulation can be socially damaging but chooses to highlight the effects of under-regulation. A Durkheimian critique of overregulation becomes possible if we turn away from anomie and toward Durkheim's idea of fatalism—a concept that I will argue here is unexpectedly consistent with Marx's notion of alienation. We can (...) infer that Durkheim presents us with a notion of an “optimal” human condition that exists between anomie and fatalism. The structure of modern societies, it will be argued, is characterized not just by excessive control leading to alienation or by a lack of integrative restraint leading to anomie but also by active efforts to optimally regulate social life. (shrink)

Durkheim's underdeveloped notion of fatalism is the keystone for a bridge between two conceptual categories central to Marxian and Durkheimian theory: alienation and anomie. Durkheim does not necessarily disagree with Marx that excessive regulation can be socially damaging but chooses to highlight the effects of under- regulation. A Durkheimian critique of overregulation becomes possible if we turn away from anomie and toward Durkheim's idea of fatalism-a concept that I will argue here is unexpectedly consistent with Marx's notion of alienation. We (...) can infer that Durkheim presents us with a notion of an "optimal" human condition that exists between anomie and fatalism. The structure of modern societies, it will be argued, is characterized not just by excessive control leading to alienation or by a lack of integrative restraint leading to anomie but also by active efforts to optimally regulate social life. (shrink)

A new wave of thinkers from across different disciplines within the analytical tradition in philosophy has recently focused on critical, societal challenges, such as the silencing and questioning of the credibility of oppressed groups, the political polarization that threatens the good functioning of democratic societies across the globe, or the moral and political significance of gender, race, or sexual orientation. Appealing to both well-established and younger international scholars, this volume delves into some of the most relevant problems and discussions within (...) the area, bringing together for the first time different essays within what we deem to be a “political turn in analytic philosophy.” This political turn consists of putting different conceptual and theoretical tools from epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics at the service of social and political change. The aim is to ensure a better understanding of some of the key features of our social environments in an attempt to achieve a more just and equal society. (shrink)

According to Chandra Mohanty, there is no apolitical academy; academic and scholarly practices are in themselves political, insofar as they are inscribed in power and validation relations, which answer to and have effects upon the patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist structures to which they belong. In the case of philosophical writing, this means that the forms that regulate writing, that is, what determines how one must write in different contexts, are expressive of the power structures within philosophical academia. These power structures (...) are upheld through time because of, among many other factors, the rendering invisible of the diversity of places of enunciation belonging to those who write and think in philosophy, and of the universalization of the privileges associated with said places of enunciation. In this article, I propose a way of writing letters that appeals to grammatical persons and their relation to the authors of the texts. Through this writing practice it is possible to make explicit the places of enunciation from which we write philosophy. This enables, first, making visible the privileges and oppressions of those writing philosophy; and second, generating small spaces of resistance and transformation of the oppressive power relations within the philosophical academy. (shrink)

How do we know our current states of mind--what we want, and believe in? Jordi Fernández proposes a new theory of self-knowledge, challenging the traditional view that it is a matter of introspection. He argues that we know what we believe and desire by 'looking outward', towards the states of affairs which those beliefs and desires are about.

RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho é indicar como a exploração estilística de Margaret Cavendish responde às particularidades do conceito de natureza dela, por exemplo, a tese de que a natureza é uma matéria viva, infinita, mutável e heterogênea. Primeiramente, mostrarei o modo pelo qual a autora está presente em seus escritos, como ela escreve de uma perspectiva de primeira pessoa sobre sua própria experiência e de quem ela é. Resumirei brevemente sua biografia e o contexto no qual ela praticou filosofia. (...) Dado que suas escolhas de estilo são bastante numerosas, apresentarei somente algumas poucas, entre as peculiaridades estilísticas dela. Em segundo lugar, desenvolverei uma visão geral do seu conceito de natureza, ao contrário do proposto pelas teorias mecanicistas de seu tempo. Esclarecerei que tal conceito é expresso adequadamente pela diversidade estilística à qual Cavendish se volta em suas investigações. ABSTRACT This paper aims at indicating how Margaret Cavendish's stylistic exploration answer to the particularities of her concept of nature, i.e. the thesis that nature is live, infinite, changing and heterogeneous matter. I will first show the way in which the author is present in her writings, as she writes from a first person perspective about her own experience and from who she is. I will briefly summarise her biography and the context in which she practiced philosophy. Given that her stylistic choices are quite numerous, I will only present a few of her stylistic particularities. Secondly, I will develop the general outline of her concept of nature, as opposed to the one proposed by the mechanistic theories of her time. I will make it clear that said concept is adequately expressed in the stylistic diversity to which Cavendish turns in her investigations. (shrink)

El articulo analiza experiencias de corporeidad de mujeres excombatientes de las FARC-EP, a partir de una investigación sociocrítica, fenomenológica y feminista, que implementó estrategias dialógicas, participativas, contextualizadas y problematizadoras. Los resultados describen los órdenes discursivos insurgentes en torno a la igualdad, los procesos de socialización que moldean cuerpos militantes y a la vez los controlan desde lo normativo; frente a estos últimos se vislumbran prácticas de fuga que evidencian las tensiones entre el orden insurgente y el de la vida civil. (...) Se concluye que el grupo armado moldea una subjetividad que combina elementos de las construcciones de género del contexto campesino de origen y referentes ideológicos y prácticos del contexto bélico que se esfuerza por configurar cuerpos fuertes y disciplinados. (shrink)

Abraham Maslow’s needs theory is one of the most influential motivation theories in management and organizational behavior. What are its anthropological and ethical presuppositions? Are they consistent with sound business philosophy and ethics? This paper analyzes and assesses the anthropological and ethical underpinnings of Maslow’s needs theory from a personalistic framework, and concludes that they are flawed. Built on materialistic naturalism, the theory’s “humanistic” claims are subverted by its reductionist, individualistic approach to the human being, which ends up in a (...) needs-based ethics that understands goodness, virtue, and rights in instinctual, subjectivistic, and relativistic terms. Its moral imperative, “Be yourself!,” is either the materialistic fiat of genetic drives or the voluntaristic command of unbridled will. Significant implications for business educators, managers, and organizations are discussed, along with recommendations. Managerial theories and approaches that reduce personality to individuality are inconsistent with proper anthropological and ethical business principles. Adopting those individualistic theories may ultimately undermine organizational effectiveness, and the very essence of business as human activity and of management as human calling. Instead, personalistic anthropology and virtue ethics, rooted in Aristotelian–Thomistic thought, soundly account for properly human nature and the good life. Business educators and practitioners are encouraged to embrace this integral, truly humanistic framework for motivation, and management theory and practice. (shrink)

In 2014, an international group of scholars from various fields analysed the “societal dimensions” of synthetic biology in an interdisciplinary summer school. Here, we report and discuss the biologists’ observations on the general perception of synthetic biology by non-biologists who took part in this event. Most attendees mainly associated synthetic biology with contributions from the best-known public figures of the field, rarely mentioning other scientists. Media extrapolations of those contributions appeared to have created unrealistic expectations and irrelevant fears that were (...) widely disconnected from the current research in synthetic biology. Another observation was that when debating developments in synthetic biology, semantics strongly mattered: depending on the terms used to present an application of synthetic biology, attendees reacted in radically different ways. For example, using the term “GMOs” rather than the term “genetic engineering” led to very different reactions. Stimulating debates also happened with participants having unanticipated points of view, for instance biocentrist ethicists who argued that engineered microbes should not be used for human purposes. Another communication challenge emerged from the connotations and inaccuracies surrounding the word “life”, which impaired constructive debates, thus leading to misconceptions about the abilities of scientists to engineer or even create living organisms. Finally, it appeared that synthetic biologists tend to overestimate the knowledge of non-biologists, further affecting communication. The motivation and ability of synthetic biologists to communicate their work outside their research field needs to be fostered, notably towards policymakers who need a more accurate and technical understanding of the field to make informed decisions. Interdisciplinary events gathering scholars working in and around synthetic biology are an effective tool in addressing those issues. (shrink)

_El deshabitado _(Grijalbo, 2016) puede estudiarse como un testimonio novelado, porque es un relato complejo y sobrecogedor en primera persona, escrito por el poeta Javier Sicilia, quien se representa como protagonista y testigo de las terribles causas sociales de la muerte de su hijo Juanelo, y de las consecuencias que tuvo sobre Sicilia ese fatídico hecho. En la lectura, asistimos al recuento del duelo del escritor y a la rememoración de la posterior fundación del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia (...) y Dignidad, manifestación civil contra la llamada Guerra contra el Narco gubernamental en México entre 2006 y 2012. Hecho social y memoria íntima se funden en el libro analizado. La hipótesis de esta investigación es que se pueden reconocer elementos retóricos y técnicos usados para construir un _testimonio de lo inefable. _¿Cómo logra Sicilia la fusión entre técnica lírica y testimonio, para configurar un punto equilibrado entre lo afectivo, lo artístico y lo mnemónico? ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones estéticas de este singular ejercicio literario? En la medida que el autor del corpus de estudio se afirma como un testigo-memorialista que revisa un momento álgido de la historia mexicana, la narración, obviamente, se convierte en un testimonio-memoria de primera mano del periodo. Asimismo, la conciencia histórica, pero sobre todo la conciencia literaria y la _sospecha de la palabra _al (d)escribir tanto su dolor como padre como la posición sociológica de Sicilia, permiten problematizar las relaciones entre escritura y violencia, entre arte y tiempo presente. Tales fueron los objetivos aquí. (shrink)

Because of its appeal to the imagination, the intellect, the affections, and the will, literature has an invaluable role in the applied ethics education of business professionals and college students. This essay reaps ethics and ethical leadership insights from King Lear, while relishing its aesthetic value. By its side, core concepts underlying a proper understanding of applied ethics and hence ethical leadership are emphasized; particularly, the elements of human nature, moral agency and responsibility, the difference between morality and ethics, and (...) an overview of virtue ethics and key intellectual and moral virtues. Stressing the connection between literature and moral philosophy, this essay shows how poetry can engagingly and compellingly transmit ethical concepts and values in leadership education. (shrink)

v. 1. El tiempo histórico de Mario Hernández Sánchez-Barba -- v. 2. Generaciones y mentalidades. Estudios de teoría de la Historia.

The integration of personalism into business ethics has been recently studied. Research has also been conducted on humanistic management approaches. The conceptual relationship between personalism and humanism , however, has not been fully addressed. This article furthers that research by arguing that a true humanistic management is personalistic. Moreover, it claims that personalism is promising as a sound philosophical foundation for business ethics. Insights from Jacques Maritain’s work are discussed in support of these conclusions. Of particular interest is his distinction (...) between human person and individual based on a realistic metaphysics that, in turn, grounds human dignity and the natural law as the philosophical basis for human rights, personal virtues, and a common good defined in terms of properly human ends. Although Maritain is widely regarded as one of the foremost twentieth century personalist philosophers, his contribution has not been sufficiently considered in the business ethics and humanistic management literature. Important implications of Maritainian personalism for business ethics as philosophical study and as practical professional pursuit are discussed. (shrink)

Se espera que una revista científica cumpla la función de dar a conocer resultados de investigación, difundir escritos y nuevas ideas y, ahora más que antes, abrir espacios para un fructífero intercambio entre instituciones, bajo el lema de “internacionalización del conocimiento”. En honor a su compromiso como revista académica de filosofía, el presente número de Aoristo - International Journal of Phenomenology, Hermeneutics and Metaphysics, cumple con las tres misiones antes mencionadas, haciendo énfasis en la última.

De uma revista científica espera-se que cumpra a função de divulgar resultados de pesquisas, difundir trabalhos e novas ideias e, agora mais do que antes, franquear espaço para o frutífero intercâmbio entre instituições, sob o lema da internacionalização dos saberes. Honrando seu compromisso de periódico acadêmico de filosofia, o presente número de Aoristo - International Journal of Phenomenology, Hermeneutics and Metaphysics, atende às três mencionadas missões, fazendo ênfase na última.

En este texto exploraré la idea de que la práctica de la danza puede ser un método de investigación en filosofía. Propongo que no solo es posible hacer filosofía en movimiento, sino que además esta aproximación cinética al pensamiento permite poner en cuestión y transformar sesgos y paradigmas patriarcales y coloniales que han predominado en la historia de la filosofía. La danza nos permite experimentar nuestros cuerpos a través de, en y por el movimiento, en lugar de meramente hablar y (...) referirnos al cuerpo como un objeto (como cualquier otro objeto) y de conceptualizar sus propiedades generales. Mi tesis es que un cuerpo que piensa es un cuerpo en movimiento, de manera que, si queremos filosofar como una forma de rechazar los dualismos y privilegios arbitrarios, la danza es una forma interesante de hacerlo. Analizaré el concepto de lo viviente de Gilbert Simondon, a partir de una difracción basada en la experiencia de participar en un taller de danza de Marie Bardet, para mostrar que cuando la temporalidad y la topología de lo viviente se aclaran en la experiencia, es posible constatar las potencias de pensamiento de los cuerpos múltiples, ya no está en cuestión un cuerpo abstracto, sino un cuerpo vivido, feminizado, marcado por historias singulares. (shrink)

El pasaje de la _Física _ (218b21-219a) ha llevado a postular un concepto de tiempo deter minado por las condiciones perceptivas de la psyche. Se muestra cómo las condiciones de percepción son un punto de partida en la investigación: lo que es primero y más cercano a los sentidos y más conocido para los seres humanos. El punto de llegada es la conexión necesaria entre la existencia del tiempo y la del cambio. La percep ción del cambio de los durmientes (...) de Cerdeña permite determinar los elementos que componen la experiencia del tiempo y proceder a determinar aquellos que compo nen la existencia de este. (shrink)

En la historiografía nacional poco se ha estudiado el problema de la lectura y la confrontación del sentido del pasado en la historia de la revolución durante la tercera década del siglo xix. El objetivo de este artículo es reconstruir las prácticas lectoras a partir de las cuales se asumió una posición crítica y se construyó cierta opinión pública frente a la narración de los hechos del pasado republicano vinculado con los procesos de independencia en la Nueva Granada. Para ello, (...) se examina la defensa de José Fernández Madrid frente a los testimonios, narrativas y lo que llamaba la “desnaturalización de los hechos” en la naciente historia de Colombia, que se empezó a inventar después de los sucesos de Boyacá en 1819 y luego de sancionada la Constitución Política de 1821. Se quiere llamar la atención, por un lado, sobre los criterios de veracidad a los que eran sometidos los testimonios de los protagonistas de la Independencia al momento de ser confrontados con la interpretación, los documentos y las pruebas del lector; y, por otro, sobre los usos que hacían del pasado los republicanos ilustrados para justificar su “conducta política” y mantener el “buen nombre”, justo cuando se estaban inventando y legitimando los fundamentos políticos de la nueva República. En este sentido, se trata, desde el punto de vista metodológico, de avanzar en el campo de la historia de la lectura a partir de un análisis de las discusiones, defensas, comentarios y contestaciones del público lector, para legitimar su actitud crítica frente a las formas de desconocimiento suscitadas por la escritura de la historia. (shrink)

Este artículo se ocupa de la fusión entre las dominantes narrativa y crítica en Los trabajos de Persiles y Segismunda. Con base en el análisis de determinados pasajes en que tiene lugar una crítica intradiegética sobre las historias —también éstas son intradiegéticas— contadas por uno de los protagonistas (Persiles/Periandro), se busca demostrar que Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra reflexionó sobre su quehacer como escritor de ficción y que particularmente en esta obra pueden hallarse rigurosas ideas sobre lo que hoy llamamos ‘recepción’, (...) ‘proceso de lectura’, ‘crítica’. Así, si el Quijote es la obra en que se representa al lector obsesivo y los efectos de la ficción, en este trabajo se propone que el Persiles es entonces la obra en que se retrata al receptor obsesivo, el que toma distancia con respecto al relato y es, sobre todo, un crítico muy semejante al filólogo. (shrink)