This study is an attempt to show that demonstration was conceived by medieval commentators as an instrument for advancing knowledge of the world. Although the theory of demonstration is not a “logic of discovery”, its specific aim would be to describe the characteristics that should have a discourse to be able to express the causal articulation of things belonging to the same genre. From the analysis of some texts by Thomas Aquinas on the distinction between knowledge propter quid and knowledge (...) quia, it will be shown that the causal articulation represents the very novelty which is supposed to be acquired by a demonstrative syllogism. This conclusion will be confirmed by the analysis of some texts of the al-Ghazālī’s Logica which seem to reveal presuppositions of the writings of Latin commentators like Thomas Aquinas. (shrink)

José Antonio Valdivia Fuenzalida | Résumé : Pendant le xiiie siècle, plusieurs auteurs scolastiques ont adopté des théories aristotéliciennes pour expliquer la connaissance humaine. Ces théories supposent que l’homme est capable d’acquérir la science en se servant de ses forces naturelles. Notre âme est capable de saisir l’essence des choses en obtenant une connaissance certaine à leur propos. Pourtant, un bon nombre de ces auteurs estimaient que, même en admettant les théories mentionnées, on ne saurait se passer de l’assistance (...) de Dieu afin d’expliquer l’acquisition des connaissances scientifiques. Cet article s’interroge sur les raisons qui ont conduit lesdits auteurs à adopter une telle position. L’analyse de certains textes de saint Bonaventure permet de comprendre ce que la doctrine de l’illumination divine veut expliquer, à savoir : que nous pouvons obtenir de la certitude malgré le fait que les choses créées ne possèdent qu’une « nécessité conditionnelle ». En effet, même l’essence des choses créées n’aurait pas le degré minimum de nécessité qui est requis pour fonder la certitude absolue présupposée dans le concept médiéval de scientia. |: During the 13th century, several scholastic authors adopted Aristotelian theories to explain human knowledge. These theories assume that man is capable of acquiring science by using his natural powers. Our soul is able to grasp the essence of things by obtaining a knowledge that is certain about them. Yet, many of these authors believed that even admitting those theories, God’s assistance could not be dispensed with in order to explain the acquisition of scientific knowledge. This paper examines the reasons that led these authors to such a position. The analysis of several texts by St. Bonaventure allows one to understand what the doctrine of divine illumination aims to explain : namely that we can obtain certainty in spite of the fact that created things only possess a “conditional necessity”. Indeed, even the essence of created things would not have the minimum level of necessity that is required to be the foundation of the absolute certainty presupposed in the medieval concept of Scientia. (shrink)

Ce travail propose une analyse détaillée d’un argument de Pierre de Jean Olivi utilisé dans l’article 19 de son Impugnatio quorundam articulorum Arnaldi Galliardi (1282) contre une thèse professée par Thomas d’Aquin à propos de la connaissance que l’âme humaine a d’elle-même. Le texte d’Olivi cherche à prouver que l’homme peut connaître directement des réalités immatérielles, dont son âme. Le but de cette analyse est double. D’une part, il s’agit de mettre en évidence une difficulté suscitée par la théorie thomasienne (...) de la connaissance que l’âme humaine a d’elle-même, tout du moins selon la façon dont cette théorie apparaît dans les textes disponibles ; d’autre part, de comparer l’argument et la thèse olivienne à l’interprétation que certains thomistes ont élaborée à propos de la doctrine thomasienne. Cette comparaison révèle une similitude qui suscite un questionnement critique à propos de telles interprétations. (shrink)

John Searle defiende el «realismo directo», el cual sostiene que el objeto directo de la percepción es la realidad extra-mental. En conformidad con esta teoría, no hay ningún tipo de entidad intermediaria entre el acto perceptivo y la cosa percibida, como una «representación», «semejanza» o «especie». De hecho, Searle desarrolla sistemáticamente una teoría de la percepción que despliega las posibilidades explicativas de la tesis mencionada. En el presente artículo, se comentan ciertos aspectos de esta con el propósito de compararlos con (...) teorías del conocimiento propuestas por pensadores medievales. Se intenta poner de manifiesto que la teoría de Searle no ofrece nada radicalmente nuevo y que cae en ciertos errores que pudo evitar de haber conocido los trabajos de la historiografía medieval que se ocupan de estos temas. Así, se reivindica la importancia de la historia de la filosofía. (shrink)

Bajo el presupuesto de que la gnoseología medieval es realista, este artículo examina una de sus características. A través del estudio de Tomás de Aquino Suma de Teología, I, q. 84, a. 1 y Enrique de Gante, Suma, a. 1, q. 1, se intenta mostrar cómo algunos problemas gnoseológicos son resueltos utilizando el argumento que asume que nuestras facultades cognitivas sirven para conocer la realidad tal cual es. Nos enfocamos especialmente en Enrique de Gante, por emplearlo para deslegitimar la pregunta (...) por la posibilidad del conocimiento. (shrink)

The scientific, ethical, and policy issues raised by research involving the engraftment of human neural stem cells into the brains of nonhuman primates are explored by an interdisciplinary working group in this Policy Forum. The authors consider the possibility that this research might alter the cognitive capacities of recipient great apes and monkeys, with potential significance for their moral status.

Este libro nace de la experiencia docente del autor, en donde él considera que la comprensión histórica de los orígenes del cristianismo comporta la necesidad de conocer los temas elementales del pensamiento judío. Sin embargo, esta obra no pretende ser una historia de Palestina, ni una historia de los pueblos circundantes de la civilización judía, quiere más bien ilustrar, enmarcar y discutir ciertos aspectos del pensamiento judío precristiano que pueden servir para mejorar nuestra comprensi..

Thomas d’Aquin défend, contre saint Augustin, la thèse selon laquelle l’homme peut enseigner sa propre science à quelqu’un d’autre. Sa théorie sur l’enseignement de la science est développée dans la Somme de théologie, I, q. 117, a. 1 et dans les Questions disputées sur la vérité, q. 11, a. 1. À la lumière de cette doctrine, la présente étude explique pourquoi saint Thomas admet la thèse aristotélicienne du livre I de la Métaphysique selon laquelle la marque distinctive de la science (...) est qu’elle peut être enseignée. On soutient que, selon Thomas, la science peut être enseignée, d’une part, à cause de son caractère dérivatif et, d’autre part, parce qu’elle est fondée sur des principes vrais, évidents et certains. (shrink)

Frente al déficit de visión territorial a escala nacional, que devele el patrón de los conflictos ambientales vigentes en Chile, se propone la construcción de un índice sintético de vulnerabilidad social, con soporte en la unidad de análisis político-administrativa de administración local, junto a la localización de los conflictos ambientales denunciados por ONG’s. Ello posibilitará estudiar la relación espacial existente, de modo de determinar qué perfil de unidades territoriales soportan mayor carga de externalidades negativas generadas por proyectos de inversión privada. (...) Asimismo, el planteamiento adoptado posibilita cuantificar los niveles de justicia ambiental en el país. (shrink)

Recent visits to five Latin American nations indicate that some medical professionals are eager to increase the role of bioethics in their countries. Conversations with key figures there point up similarities and differences among Latin nations, and between Latin countries and the United States, in their approaches to ethics. Opportunities exist for U.S. bioethicists to help get bioethics teaching and research off the ground in Latin America.

Bioethics has become a field of new challenges for Ibero-America and the Caribbean. A seeming uniformity in the region hides a rich heterogeneous society. A brief survey of bioethical developments in different Ibero- American countries is provided as well as the bioethical problems and approaches peculiar to the region. Some of the unique features of bioethics in this region, it is suggested, could infuse new life into the U.S. and European bioethics discussion. Finally, a bibliography of Ibero-American bioethics literature is (...) provided for North American and European readers. (shrink)

The article, as part of a broader reflection on the criticism of the right to development and its impact on the modes of legal and political subjectivation of children and adolescents, questions the child's condition as a subject without speech, or a speech conditioned to criteria of maturation, dictated by the adult referential, in a field, moreover, limited to what is said to be pertinent to their manifestation. Guided by the thought of exteriority, we return to the Foucauldian debate on (...) the relation between truth and justice, in light of the monstrous unspeakability of legal and judicial practices and the ubuesco of state power. We will analyze, through the contributions of classic cynicism, supported by Foucault, and Sloterdijk, Nieheus-Pröbsting, the resistant practices - beyond language – available to children and adolescents, and rethink these power struggles in the context of human rights and the possibility of justice, through the thought of Derrida, Rancière, Butler and Foucault. Our text will develop along the following axes of analysis: 1. Contextualizing the Foucaultian debate on truth and justice and the place of the “sayable”; 2. Considering the sayability at the heart of law, childhood and monstrosity; 3. Framing the struggle between ubuesco power and cynic resistance, and 4. Speculating on our notions of “child” and the possibility of justice. (shrink)

Chinese and Greco-Roman ethics present highly articulate views on how one should live; both of these traditions remain influential in modern philosophy. The question arises how these traditions can be compared with one another. Comparative ethics is a relatively young discipline; this volume is a major contribution to the field. Fundamental questions about the nature of comparing ethics are treated in two introductory chapters, and core issues in each of the traditions are addressed: harmony, virtue, friendship, knowledge, the relation of (...) ethics to morality, relativism, emotions, being and unity, simplicity and complexity, and prediction. (shrink)

This article discusses the importance of social interaction for the development of the representations for symbolic communication. We suggest that there is no need to distinguish between different representational systems emerging at different stages of development. Instead, we propose that representations are rich right from the beginning of a child’s life, and that they are driven mainly by acting and interacting in the physical and social world. The more variety in a child’s interactional experience, the more enriched and abstracted the (...) representations become. We review literature providing evidence for the ways in which infants’ development toward symbolic communication benefits from repeated social action and consider some implications for computational approaches. (shrink)

The adoption of the French Duty of Vigilance law has been celebrated as a milestone for advancing the transnational business and human rights regime. The law can contribute to harden corporate accountability by challenging the “separation principle” of transnational companies and by obligating companies to report on their duty of vigilance. However, the question of whether the law actually contributes to human rights and environmental protection along global supply chains requires empirically grounded research that connects processes in home and host (...) state countries. This paper contributes to such a new research agenda by linking political ecology literature and empirical insights from the Global South to research on due diligence regulations. With reference to field research data on contestations between the oil and gas company Total E&P and indigenous communities in Bolivia, I argue that the burden of proof and contestations over valid knowledge represent major obstacles when trying to establish legal liability. (shrink)

While several recent evaluation studies have shown the efficacy of parent training programs for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, manual-based training in German is still scarce. To address this gap, we developed a specific modularized training program for parents of children from preschool to pre-adolescent age with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The overarching purpose of the FETASS intervention is to enhance social communication behavior and quality of life of the child by coaching parents. As a proximal target, the FETASS training aims to (...) provide families with behavior management and communication strategies. The development of the training was influenced by published behavioral parent trainings and autism-specific interventions. The training comprises eight weekly sessions and targets families whose children have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder without intellectual and language impairments. As a preliminary pilot study, the purpose was to evaluate the acceptability of the training. Furthermore, the study aimed at initially evaluating social communication behavior, quality of life of the child, parental stress level, and parenting after training in comparison to a treatment as usual group. Exploratively, long-term effects were investigated after 6 months of training as well. In total, 57 families participated. Questionnaires about social communication behavior and quality of life of the child, parental stress, and parenting were administered at three time points. Primary outcome measures were the social communication behavior of the child and the parent’s proxy report on quality of life of the child. Secondary outcome measures were changes in parental stress and parenting behavior. Acceptability of the training was very high and we had almost no dropouts during training. Results for the primary outcome measure of social communication behavior, overall quality of life of the child, and long-term effects on social communication behavior were not significant. While long-term findings for parent stress reduction and for the quality of life of the child are promising, further research has to be done in a future randomized controlled trial. (shrink)

Terms such as open source and various modifications including open content and more generally openness have been mobilized with increasing frequency in recent years to describe many different collaborative and not-for-profit projects, products, services, and business models. Typically associated with the computer and internet industry, openness has in recent years assumed something of the status of a nascent movement. Whatever this movement is, whatever qualities it embodies and possibilities it enables, it is still in the process of its emergence. This (...) presents particular difficulties for understanding openness insofar as emergent practices are by definition not yet stabilized. This paper is an attempt to discern the nascent forms of stability already extant in the emerging world of openness. We begin with a brief history culminating in the near future. We then summarize the limited conclusions of an initial inquiry into these emerging openness practices which we have conducted in the context of an orientation for inquiry recently put forward by Paul Rabinow and Gaymon Bennett. The bulk of the paper is devoted to elaborating openness equipment in terms of the analytic and synthetic categories made available by Rabinow and Bennett's Diagnostic of Equipmental Platforms. On the basis of this inquiry we return in the final section to reflection on the Diagnostic itself in an attempt to critically delineate its positive and negative usages for our inquiry. (shrink)

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the formation of academic philosophy depended much on the engagement and research of scholars like Xiao Jiefu 萧萐父 (1924–2008). Xiao Jie...

The coronavirus pandemic has stirred interest in viruses. This has been accompanied by a proliferation of popular works trying to explain how viruses fit into the Christian worldview. In an anthropocentric perspective, viruses are easily regarded as malicious entities. This article, however, shows that a proper understanding of the biology of viruses actually adds another level of complexity to our perception of good and evil. Interestingly, this additional layer of complexity might help us solve some of the most urgent difficulties (...) in the discussion about good and evil, if we recognize the subjective nature of what we call natural evil. We need to be more nuanced not merely in our theological discussion about good and evil, but also in the way we talk about viruses. (shrink)