‘Plant neurobiology’ has emerged in recent years as a multidisciplinary endeavor carried out mainly by steady collaboration within the plant sciences. The field proposes a particular approach to the study of plant intelligence by putting forward an integrated view of plant signaling and adaptive behavior. Its objective is to account for the way plants perceive and act in a purposeful manner. But it is not only the plant sciences that constitute plant neurobiology. Resources from philosophy and cognitive science are central (...) to such an interdisciplinary project, if plant neurobiology is to maintain its target well-focused. This manifesto outlines a road map for the establishment and development of a new subject—the Philosophy of Plant Neurobiology—, a new field of research emerging at the intersection of the philosophy of cognitive science and plant neurobiology. The discipline is herewith presented, introducing challenges and novel lines of engagement with the empirical investigation, and providing an explanatory framework and guiding principles that will hopefully ease the integration of research on the quest for plant intelligence. (shrink)

‘Plant neurobiology’ has emerged in recent years as a multidisciplinary endeavor carried out mainly by steady collaboration within the plant sciences. The field proposes a particular approach to the study of plant intelligence by putting forward an integrated view of plant signaling and adaptive behavior. Its objective is to account for the way plants perceive and act in a purposeful manner. But it is not only the plant sciences that constitute plant neurobiology. Resources from philosophy and cognitive science are central (...) to such an interdisciplinary project, if plant neurobiology is to maintain its target well-focused. This manifesto outlines a road map for the establishment and development of a new subject—the Philosophy of Plant Neurobiology—, a new field of research emerging at the intersection of the philosophy of cognitive science and plant neurobiology. The discipline is herewith presented, introducing challenges and novel lines of engagement with the empirical investigation, and providing an explanatory framework and guiding principles that will hopefully ease the integration of research on the quest for plant intelligence. (shrink)

El artículo pretender mostrar y analizar las formas de acción colectiva de la Asociación de Trabajadores Campesinos del Carare (ATCC), en cuanto actor social y político de la región del Magdalena Medio colombiano. Las lógicas de acción desarrolladas nos conducen a señalar a la organización campesina como una forma de potenciar la dimensión política de los colectivos al ser constructores de procesos de democratización de la territorialidad regional. La dinámica campesina propuesta incluye a los distintos actores armados del conflicto, los (...) cuales han impuesto históricamente lógicas de exclusión y muerte sobre la población civil. Y esta inclusión se basa en la necesidad de la convivencia con todos los constituyentes sociales en un proyecto político de largo aliento. (shrink)

According to F. Adams [this journal, vol. 68, 2018] cognition cannot be realized in plants or bacteria. In his view, plants and bacteria respond to the here-and-now in a hardwired, inflexible manner, and are therefore incapable of cognitive activity. This article takes issue with the pursuit of plant cognition from the perspective of an empirically informed philosophy of plant neurobiology. As we argue, empirical evidence shows, contra Adams, that plant behavior is in many ways analogous to animal behavior. This renders (...) plants suitable to be described as cognitive agents in a non-metaphorical way. Sections two to four review the arguments offered by Adams in light of scientific evidence on plant adaptive behavior, decision-making, anticipation, as well as learning and memory. Section five introduces the ‘phyto-nervous’ system of plants. To conclude, section six resituates the quest for plant cognition into a broader approach in cognitive science, as represented by enactive and ecological schools of thought. Overall, we aim to motivate the idea that plants may be considered genuine cognitive agents. Our hope is to help propel public awareness and discussion of plant intelligence once appropriately stripped of anthropocentric preconceptions of the sort that Adams' position appears to exemplify. (shrink)

One can read the history of kitsch and the history of kitsch theories by accentuating either everyday aesthetics (knickknacks) or pseudo art/bad art. The authors have divided their introduction to the topic by accentuating first everyday aesthetics (this part includes a detailed history of kitsch research) and then art—especially the wave of contemporary art that has lately been knocking on the doors of kitsch. Three historical stages of kitsch are discussed. The first stage discusses the topic and gives (e.g., bad, (...) sentimental art and interior design) negative attention only. This phase ends with Clement Greenberg’s essay “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” (1939). The second wave discusses kitsch in a curious manner, mainly around the 1960s. And the contemporary stage of the discussion is often positive (starting from the 1990s). In the part where contemporary art is analyzed, art’s kitschy side is traced historically to the Dutch art market of the seventeenth century. But today’s art world, which is strongly invaded by kitsch, gains the main attention. How did kitsch become so central to contemporary art? What forms has it taken there? (shrink)

In this short epilogue, Barragán and Ryynänen discuss the possibility of using kitsch and kitsch theories horizons for interpreting contemporaneity in various ways. The main spearhead of the critical notes is aimed at academic culture, which Barragán and Ryynänen claim to have become “kitschified” in a sense.

ResumenEn este trabajo presento brevemente algunos de los argumentos que han puesto en duda aquella tesis según la cual el hecho de percibir las cosas como siendo de determinada manera depende del repertorio de conceptos que uno posee. Los autores de esos argumentos consideran que la percepción es más bien un modo no conceptual de representar el mundo. Mi propósito será mostrar que el debate entre ambas posturas ha puesto de manifiesto una serie de dificultades para las cuales no parece (...) que los defensores de la tesis conceptualista sean capaces de ofrecer una solución satisfactoria.Palabras clavePercepción, creencia, contenido no conceptual, justificaciónAbstract In this paper I briefly present some of the arguments which raised doubt about the thesis according to which perceiving things as being in a given way depends on the background concepts one possess. The authors of these arguments consider that perception is a nonconceptual way of representing the world. My purpose will be to show that the discussion between both views has put forward several difficulties for which defenders of the conceptualist thesis seem to be unable to offer a satisfactory solution.KeywordsPerception, belief, nonconceptual content, justification. (shrink)

Philosophers and cognitive scientists reassess systematicity in the post-connectionist era, offering perspectives from ecological psychology, embodied and distributed cognition, enactivism, and other methodologies.

Introduction The act of caring in nursing requires previous deliberation and decision, however this perception only arises when an ethical problem emerges. Objective: Identify ethical problems of nurses action in the area of beginning of human life Method: Exploratory and descriptive method, with a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, who were submitted to content analysis. The sample was constituted by 26 nurses. Results 18 categories of problem areas and 56 ethical problems in early human life were (...) identified. The results obtained are very diverse, including areas such as termination of pregnancy, informed consent or maintaining privacy. However, other problem areas also emerge and numerous new subcategories/ethical problems, including: dealing with miscarriage, extreme situations, minors’ pregnancy, serious malformations detected at birth, consent regarding care during childbirth, Non- identification of a ethical problem, nurse social recognition and non-involvement of the person in labour. Conclusion Nurses face different ethical problems that impact their lives. We intend to contribute in helping to make decisions in this field, which the outset is of hope and joy, but which hides, behind this evidence, countless situations of suffering for everyone involved. The identification of ethical problems in this field, it is the first step to reflect about theme and helping decision-making for nurses that are taking care in this area of beginning of human life, when confronted whit the same type of ethical problems. (shrink)

O artigo objetiva discutir alguns problemas avançados em determinação social do pensamento a partir das contribuições deixadas por J. Chasin tendo em vista a profícua fundamentação em Marx e Lukács. Tais problemas selecionados são apresentados assumindo como fio condutor as possibilidades da pesquisa científica de objetos ideológicos.

An asymmetry between the demands at the computational and algorithmic levels of description furnishes the illusion that the abstract profile at the computational level can be multiply realized, and that something is actually being shared at the algorithmic one. A disembodied rendering of the situation lays the stress upon the different ways in which an algorithm can be implemented. However, from an embodied approach, things look rather different. The relevant pairing, I shall argue, is not between implementation and algorithm, but (...) rather between algorithm and computation. The autonomy of psychology is a result of the failure to appreciate this point. (shrink)

Transition experienced by trans people shakes Social Sciences conven-tional understanding of time and space as static analytical units based on tradi-tional biological and physical axioms. Overcoming sexual binarism entails also questioning time and space as isolated elements to become, instead, entangled realities. Departing from trans studies and Halberstam´s concepts of queer temporalities and space as theoretical framework, this papers lines up the indi-vidual story of a trans man with physical disability and ASD with social “trans-formations”, by linking the exposition of (...) the body with the transgression of heteronormative cis time, to be replaced, gradually by trans temporality and new ways of cohabitating spaces. (shrink)

In the present study, we have demonstrated hysteresis phenomena in the excitability of single, enzymatically dissociated guinea pig ventricular myocytes. Membrane potentials were recorded with patch pipettes in the whole-cell current clamp configuration. Repetitive stimulation with depolarizing current pulses of constant cycle length and duration but varying strength led to predictable excitation (1:l) and non-excitation (1:0) patterns depending on current strength. In addition, transition between patterns depended on the direction of current intensity change and stable hysteresis loops were obtained in (...) stimulus:response pattern vs. current intensity plots in 14 cells. Increase of pulse duration and decrease of stimulation rate contributed to a reduction in hysteresis loop areas. Changes in amplitude and shape of the subthreshold responses during the transitions from one stable pattern to the other, suggested that activity led to an increase in membrane resistance, particularly in the voltage domain between resting potential, and threshold. Therefore, we modelled the dynamic behaviour of the single cells as a function of diastolic membrane resistance, using previously published analytical solutions. Numerical iteration of the analytical model equations closely reproduced the experimental hysteresis loops in both qualitative and quantitative ways. In particular, the effect of stimulation frequency on the model was similar to the experimental findings. The overall study suggests that the excitability pattern of guinea pig ventricular myocytes accounts for hysteresis and bistabilities when current intensity is allowed to fluctuate around threshold levels. (shrink)

La primera parte de este artículo expone la interpretación praxeológica del concepto noológico de “acto”. En la segunda, se muestra la crítica que Antonio González Fernández hace de esta. Su objeción consiste en que los actos no pueden ser considerados cosas reales, sino solo el surgir de estas. A partir de dicha observación a la noología, González Fernández no solo da surgimiento a su praxeología (también conocida como hiparqueología), sino que su sistema filosófico comienza a ser cuestionado por no explicar (...) qué son, en el mundo de los hechos, los actos, más allá de la suposición de que ellos están ahí a pesar de ser invisibles. En la tercera y última sección se presentan algunas hipótesis para procurar solucionar ciertas objeciones al concepto praxeológico de “acto”, tales como el anteriormente mencionado y las aparentes circularidades y posibles contradicciones que hay al interior del sistema praxeológico. (shrink)

En este artículo se aborda la cuestión de si la democracia es o no compatible con la perspectiva que, según opinión generalizada, constituye la base de la cultura china: el confucianismo. Una perspectiva que es analizada tanto desde su marco contextual como en sí misma, cotejándola con el concepto de democracia. El resultado de todo ello lleva a la conclusión de que la democracia es ajena al confucianismo y por ello a la cultura china. Sin embargo, la democracia no es (...) necesariamente incompatible con tal perspectiva hasta el punto de que cabría imaginar una síntesis entre ambas. (shrink)

En este artículo se analiza el status histórico de la caída del muro de Berlín, considerado, en su momento, el suceso que marcaba el colapso del comunismo y, con él, el “fin a la Historia”. Al efecto se examina tanto lo que supuso la construcción del muro cuanto su caída, dentro del proceso de deconstrucción de límites y fronteras que, al parecer, define nuestra especie. El análisis llega a la conclusión de que, si bien se trató de un suceso trascendental (...) que, junto a otros factores, abrió paso a un mundo “glocalizado”, no supuso ciertamente el “fin de la Historia”. (shrink)

Tal y como reza la cita de la Apología platónica que encabeza estas líneas, ya el propio Sócrates habría advertido a sus jueces de que no le iban a tomar en serio al pensar que hablaba de forma irónica, en broma. Pues bien, en este trabajo de tesis doctoral, defenderemos que, hoy por hoy, esa advertencia sigue vigente; que sigue siendo necesario tomar a Sócrates en serio, pensar que no habló irónicamente y todo ello asumiendo expresamente los postulados de la (...) hermenéutica gadameriana. Unos postulados a los que nos referimos en el apartado inicial: “Introducción y cuestiones metodológicas” y según los cuales cabe conocer, desde nuestro propio horizonte de praxis, lo que la tradición nos dice en su sentido propio y diferente, si bien hemos de ser conscientes de la posible aplicación de prejuicios no percibidos, ocultos, que pueden volvernos sordos a eso que la tradición nos dice. (shrink)

Antígona es uno de los más grandes y conocidos personajes de la tragedia griega, y ha merecido la mayor atención por parte de la posteridad. Otros personajes de la tragedia homónima de Sófocles no han merecido, sin embargo, la misma atención. Algo especialmente llamativo en lo que se refiere al de Ismena, la hermana de Antígona, quien se enfrenta con el mismo problema que ésta, pudiendo, por tanto, convertirse en protagonista junto con ella. Así las cosas, en las páginas que (...) siguen no analizaremos todos los personajes, todas las concepciones de la justicia, incluidas en la tragedia de Sófocles, sino sólo las representadas por Antígona e Ismena, y ello desde nuestro horizonte de praxis. (shrink)

La comunicación de la verdad ética pasa históricamente por modelos, pero sus propuestas se discuten cuando no favorecen la belleza ética en la persona.El estudio refleja un análisis a modelos éticos en la cultura, para proponer la importancia de enfocar la educación ética valorando los paradigmas de una ética integradora y practica en un currículo global.Se infiere por el relativismo, una dialéctica que permanece sobre las certezas éticas; sobre lo justo, lo bueno, lo verdadero; sobre lo legal y lo ético; (...) para continuar divulgándose un discurso ético no de tipo vinculante, sin despertar pasión por la verdad. (shrink)

La movilidad internacional ha demostrado contribuir muy favorablemente al desarrollo personal, académico y profesional del alumnado universitario. Conseguir que la mayor parte de los estudiantes tengan acceso a este tipo de experiencias debe de ser un objetivo prioritario para favorecer su formación integral. En el caso de las movilidades de corta duración, hacer una planificación específica a través de fórmulas de turismo creativo que permitan el máximo aprovechamiento de los intercambios interculturales puede determinar el éxito de la experiencia. La evaluación (...) del modelo propuesto sugiere la importancia de integrar este tipo de actividades a la hora de diseñar políticas eficientes. (shrink)

We argue that Anderson's (MRH) needs further development in several directions. First, a thoroughgoing criticism of the several alternatives is required. Second, the course between the Scylla of full holism and the Charybdis of structural-functional modularism must be plotted more distinctly. Third, methodologies better suited to reveal brain circuits must be brought in. Finally, the constraints that naturalistic settings provide should be considered.

The mechanism underlying action potentials is routinely used to explicate the mechanistic model of explanation in the philosophy of science. However, characterisations of action potentials often fixate on neurons, mentioning plant cells in passing or ignoring them entirely. The plant sciences are also prone to neglecting non-neuronal action potentials and their role in plant biology. This oversight is significant because plant action potentials bear instructive similarities to those generated by neurons. This paper helps correct the imbalance in representations of action (...) potentials by offering an overview of the mechanism for plant action potentials and highlighting their similarity to those in neurons. Furthermore, it affirms the role of plant action potentials in discovering the evolution and function of mechanisms of action potentials more broadly. We stress the potential of plants for producing generalisations about action potentials and the possible role of plants as experimental organisms. (shrink)

Some empirical evidence in the artificial language acquisition literature has been taken to suggest that statistical learning mechanisms are insufficient for extracting structural information from an artificial language. According to the more than one mechanism (MOM) hypothesis, at least two mechanisms are required in order to acquire language from speech: (a) a statistical mechanism for speech segmentation; and (b) an additional rule-following mechanism in order to induce grammatical regularities. In this article, we present a set of neural network studies demonstrating (...) that a single statistical mechanism can mimic the apparent discovery of structural regularities, beyond the segmentation of speech. We argue that our results undermine one argument for the MOM hypothesis. (shrink)

It remains at best controversial to claim, non-figuratively, that plants are cognitive agents. At the same time, it is taken as trivially true that many animals are cognitive agents, arguably through an implicit or explicit appeal to natural science. Yet, any given definition of cognition implicates at least some further processes, such as perception, action, memory, and learning, which must be observed either behaviorally, psychologically, neuronally, or otherwise physiologically. Crucially, however, for such observations to be intelligible, they must be counted (...) as evidence for some model. These models in turn point to homologies of physiology and behavior that facilitate the attribution of cognition to some non-human animals. But, if one is dealing with a model of animal cognition, it is tautological that only animals can provide evidence, and absurd to claim that plants can. The more substantive claim that, given a general model of cognition, only animals but not plants can provide evidence, must be evaluated on its merits. As evidence mounts that plants meet established criteria of cognition, from physiology to behavior, they continue to be denied entry into the cognitive club. We trace this exclusionary tendency back to Aristotle, and attempt to counter it by drawing on the philosophy of modelling and a range of findings from plant science. Our argument illustrates how a difference in degree between plant and animals is typically mistaken for a difference in kind. (shrink)

This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and the 20th century, is increasingly considered a positive term and at the heart of today’s society. Eleven distinguished authors from philosophy, cultural studies and the arts discuss a wide range of topics including beauty, fashion, kitsch in the context of mourning, bio-art, visual arts, architecture and political kitsch. In addition, the editors provide a concise theoretical introduction to the volume and the subject. The (...) role of kitsch in contemporary culture and society is innovatively explored and the volume aims not to condemn but to accept and understand why kitsch has become acceptable today. (shrink)