1. Two Approaches to the EarthIn several postwar texts, the earth increasingly receives attention from Carl Schmitt.1 In The Nomos of the Earth, the most important of these texts, he refers to Friedrich Hölderlin, a much earlier, very different author, who also considers the subject of the earth. Even though the positions of both are, ultimately, quite similar, they maintain significant terminological differences. Schmitt and Hölderlin both employ the word “nomos,” but in very different ways. Hölderlin regards “nomos” as “law” (...) in the sense of “positive” norm or “Gesez.”2 This use of “nomos” as “Gesez” differs from a second notion of law as the meaning operating at the basis of what Hölderlin calls the “sphere.” The sphere is a meaningful whole in which man originally exists. Law is here the very relations of the sphere as a meaningful whole. Hölderlin calls it the law in a “negative” sense.3 This second notion of law by Hölderlin (negative law or law as the meaning at the basis of the sphere) coincides precisely with the Schmittian idea of “nomos” as an “order of meaning [Sinnreich],”4 what he also calls the law in an “ontonomous and existential” sense.5 The first use of law as “nomos” or “Gesez” by Hölderlin coincides with Schmitt’s use of “Gesetz”: of law as “positive” law. (shrink)

La libertad tiene un valor sistemático fundamental en la filosofía de Kant. En la filosofía práctica, ella es condición de la acción en sentido eminente. Tanto en la _Fundamentación de la metafísica de las costumbres_, cuanto en la _Crítica de la razón práctica_, Kant intenta probar la libertad. La argumentación en ambas obras es distinta. El presente trabajo hace foco especialmente en la justificación de la segunda _Crítica_. En ella, Kant plantea que de la libertad sabemos gracias al hecho de (...) la consciencia moral o de una ley que vincula al sujeto incondicionadamente. Se intentará mostrar, a partir de una consideración de los textos de Kant, las obras de algunos intérpretes, así como en una reflexión sistemática, que la libertad, y el hecho de la consciencia moral, requieren de un acceso a la espontaneidad práctica por parte del sujeto, asunto que Kant deja sugerido en algunos pasajes. (shrink)

Friedrich Hölderlin argued that consciousness requires division and unity. Consciousness emerges through the fundamental distancing of the subject from its surroundings, without which the subject-object distinction would collapse and both objectivity and consciousness would be lost. Nevertheless, insofar as conscious knowledge is unitary, division demands a ground for unity. Hölderlin calls this ground ‘Being [Seyn].’ However, once Being is affirmed, the question of how it is accessed arises. Hölderlin’s scholars disagreed on this issue. This disagreement gave rise to two camps: (...) those who deny that Hölderlin accepts the idea of direct access to Being and believe that he proves Being through an act of reflection (Henrich); and those who argue that for Hölderlin, ‘Being’ is directly accessed. Those who hold the latter position can be further divided into those who conceive of this direct access as knowledge (Frank) and those who argue that this access does not have a cognoscitive character, but rather an aesthetic one (Waibel). This article considers these positions and shows that the direct apprehension of ‘Being’ is part of Hölderlin’s argument aimed at solving a fundamental problem; an argument that differs both from the postulate of access to Being as knowledge of transcendence and from the affirmation of a purely aesthetic mode of access. (shrink)

Friedrich Schleiermacher is among the philosophers who influenced Karoline von Günderrode's thought. Although this influence is relevant, it has received little attention. Both authors agree on distinguishing “spirit” and “body” or “the inner and the outer” in similar terms. However, there was a significant difference between them. In Schleiermacher's works that Günderrode considered (On Religion and Soliloquies), he conceives of the relationship as one in which the world or outer depends on the spirit or inner. For Günderrode, this relationship is (...) polar, as “spirit” and “world” form part of an original totality. This difference from the philosopher influences the issue that both raised of access to the “primordial ground.” For Schleiermacher, the world depends on spirit; the issue of access to that foundation is circumscribed to access to the spiritual dimension. In contrast, for Günderrode, “spirit” and “body” are poles of a previous original totality. Hence, access to the primordial ground does not coincide with the spirit's access to itself. Instead, access to unity is both spiritual and corporeal. Günderrode's differences from Schleiermacher are based on an argument we attempt to elucidate and evaluate in this article. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo pretendo mostrar que el pensamiento de Carl Schmitt tiene un carácter marcadamente filosófico. Más precisamente: que en la base de él se halla una teoría de la comprensión. Esa teoría de la comprensión tiene la particularidad de que se desarrolla a partir de una teoría de la comprensión jurídica, pero se extiende, en su obra, a la comprensión en general.

In “Being Judgement Possibility,” Hölderlin posits that the division between subject and object produced in conscious knowledge requires admitting a being as the ground of that knowledge’s unity. Commentators argue over the way to access such being according to Hölderlin. For Dieter Henrich, being is a presupposition recognized reflexively. Manfred Frank, by contrast, maintains that Hölderlin grants direct access to it in an “intellectual intuition.” This article addresses the respective interpretations of both authors. It shows that Frank’s interpretation is closer (...) to the textual evidence than Henrich’s interpretation. Frank’s interpretation also allows one to explain better the way in which the division between subject and object avoids leading to dispersal. Finally, this article considers the insufficiency of Frank’s interpretation so as to clarify an issue that he himself advances in the course of his argument: how the I manages to distinguish itself in the sphere of intuitable objects. (shrink)

Carl Schmitt, one of the most influential legal and political thinkers of the twentieth century, is known chiefly for his work on international law, sovereignty, and his doctrine of political exception. This book argues that greater prominence should be given to his early work in legal studies. Schmitt himself repeatedly identified as a jurist, and Hugo E. Herrera demonstrates how for Schmitt, law plays a key role as an intermediary between ideal, conceptual theory and the messiness and complexity (...) of practical, concrete situations. Law is concerned precisely with balancing the extremes of theory and reality, and in this respect, Schmitt associates it with philosophical thinking broadly as being able to understand and explain the tensions in human experience. Reviewing and analyzing prevailing interpretations of Schmitt by Jacques Derrida, Heinrich Meier, and others, Herrera argues that the importance of Schmitt's legal framework is both significant and overlooked. (shrink)

Resumen: En este artículo pretendo probar que en el pensamiento de Francisco Antonio Encina existe una reflexión acerca de la comprensión. Esa reflexión, a diferencia de lo que han sostenido algunos autores, tiene un talante filosófico, en el sentido de que en ella se exponen pertinentemente los polos entre los que se realiza la comprensión, los extremos hacia los que puede inclinarse la actividad comprensiva y las condiciones básicas que ha de reunir una comprensión de los asuntos humanos calificable como (...) pertinente, adecuada o correcta.: In this article, I intend to prove that at the foundation of Francisco Antonio Encina’s thought there is a reflection on human understanding. This reflection, unlike what some authors have argued, has a philosophical scope. In it are exposed, in a relevant manner: the poles between which understanding is made; the extremes toward which comprehensive activity can lean; and the basic conditions that must be met by an understanding of human affairs that can be qualified as pertinent, adequate or correct. (shrink)

RESUMEN En este trabajo intento determinar, a partir de textos escogidos de todas las épocas de la producción teórica de Carl Schmitt, de qué manera este autor entiende la comprensión jurídica y de qué manera este modo de comprensión tiene alcances generales para la comprensión práctica. En la medida en que el derecho tematiza las condiciones y los polos de la comprensión, la posición del jurista se distancia tanto de la inclinación hacia el polo ideal, que Schmitt identifica con la (...) racionalidad tecnológica, cuanto de la inclinación hacia el polo real, que Schmitt liga a ciertas formas del romanticismo y el pensamiento teológico. RESUMO Neste artigo, tento determinar, a partir de textos selecionados de todos os períodos da produção teórica de Carl Schmitt, como esse autor entende a compreensão jurídica e como esse modo de compreensão tem alcance geral para a compreensão prática. Na medida em que o direito estuda as condições e os polos de compreensão, a posição do jurista distancia-se da inclinação para o polo ideal, que Schmitt identifica com a racionalidade tecnológica, bem como da inclinação para o polo real, que Schmitt conecta com certas formas de romantismo e pensamento teológico. (shrink)

De acordo com as interpretações mais conhecidas (por exemplo, Hofmann, Strauss, Löwith ou Kuhn), o pensamento jurídico e político de Carl Schmitt mantém distância de Aristóteles. Este artigo tem a intenção de mostrar que a concepção de direito de Schmitt, apesar de ser desenvolvida em um contexto diferente, contém semelhanças significativas com o entendimento de direito em Aristóteles. Para mostrar essa proximidade, considera-se especialmente a noção de totalidade presente no conceito aristotélico de polis, que implica que a unidade política é (...) o principal modo de se realizar o direito. According to mostly known interpretations (e.g.: Hofman, Strauss, Löwith or Kuhn), the legal and political thought of Carl Schmitt keeps distance from Aristotle's. This article intends to show that Schmitt's concept of law, despite developed in a different context, holds significant likelihood with Aristotle's comprehension of law. With the Purpose of building this proximity, the notion of entirety present in the Aristotelic concept of polis implies that political unit is the main way to accomplish law. (shrink)

Resumen El articulo propone una lectura de El can de Kant y del modo como están en juego la filosofía y la literatura a la luz del problema de la relación entre identidad y diferencia, tal como está abordada en el criticismo kantiano. Se concentra en dos modos en los que esa relación y tensión entre identidad y diferencia se expresa y es considerada: la unidad conceptual y la multiplicidad sensible; la identidad del yo y la temporalidad.This article proposes a (...) reading of Kant’s Dog and the way that philosophy and literature are at stake in this book under the light of the problem of the relationship between identity and difference as addressed in Kantian criticism. It focuses on two particular ways that this relationship and tension between identity and difference is expressed and considered in Kant’s Can: a) conceptual unity and sensible multiplicity; b) the identity of the self and temporality. (shrink)

Para nadie debe ser tan difícil reconocer que Chile transita por un período de profunda incertidumbre respecto de su destino. Los resultados del pasado 4 de septiembre del año 2022 y 7 de mayo del 2023 son tan erráticos respecto de los anteriores que pareciera que el curso de nuestra política nacional no estuviese gobernado por ningún principio discernible. Al intentar explicarlos, los apasionados culpan a los excesos de la izquierda y otros, al sabotaje de la derecha. Pero esta clase (...) de posturas que intentan reducir el problema a una sola causa autoevidente no permiten ponderar ningún significado posible de lo que ocurrió. Lo mismo aplica para aquellas descripciones de escenarios líquidos donde la multiplicidad de causas se vuelven ininteligibles, diluyendo cualquier explicación como si se tratara de agua escurriendo entre los dedos. Bajo tales condiciones, es imposible afirmar que nos encontramos perdidos o no, pues carecemos de un norte, una dirección, un estándar por el cual evaluar las acciones individuales y colectivas. Y esta situación no solo es aplicable para quienes han intentado ofrecer explicaciones cultas al problema, pues tanto la anomia cada vez más extendida en la población como la confusión de la élite son evidencia de que todos carecemos de una adecuada apreciación del significado de los eventos que han transcurrido durante los últimos años. (shrink)

Resumen:Para nadie debe ser tan difícil reconocer que Chile transita por un período de profunda incertidumbre respecto de su destino. Los resultados del pasado 4 de septiembre del año 2022 y 7 de mayo del 2023 son tan erráticos respecto de los anteriores que pareciera que el curso de nuestra política nacional no estuviese gobernado por ningún principio discernible. Al intentar explicarlos, los apasionados culpan a los excesos de la izquierda y otros, al sabotaje de la derecha. Pero esta clase (...) de posturas que intentan reducir el problema a una sola causa autoevidente no permiten ponderar ningún significado posible de lo que ocurrió. Lo mismo aplica para aquellas descripciones de escenarios líquidos donde la multiplicidad de causas se vuelven ininteligibles, diluyendo cualquier explicación como si se tratara de agua escurriendo entre los dedos. Bajo tales condiciones, es imposible afirmar que nos encontramos perdidos o no, pues carecemos de un norte, una dirección, un estándar por el cual evaluar las acciones individuales y colectivas. Y esta situación no solo es aplicable para quienes han intentado ofrecer explicaciones cultas al problema, pues tanto la anomia cada vez más extendida en la población como la confusión de la élite son evidencia de que todos carecemos de una adecuada apreciación del significado de los eventos que han transcurrido durante los últimos años. (shrink)

The present paper seeks, from the political realism of Hinkelammert and the politics of the liberation of Dussel, to identify the initial limits that delineate the framework of political action. The political action framework delimits the space of empirical possibility. For it, the definition of politics is adopted as “art of the possible”, explicitly accepted by Hinkelammert and developed implicitly by Dussel. Three limits are identified that outline the framework of political action: 1) the natural environment as a condition of (...) existence of living corporality, 2) the satisfaction of physical needs as a condition to preserve living corporality, 3) intersubjective experiences as a condition to maintain the human life. Propose these limits allows to establish the bases of the utopia of the political realism of Hinkelammert and of the politics of the liberation of Dussel. (shrink)

Neste artigo, o autor procura explicar os aspectos centrais dos argumentos de Ockham acerca da natureza dos universais, dando atenção à análise das propriedades semânticas de significação e suposição, como foram expostas porOckham na Primeira Parte da sua Summa logicas.Depois de apresentar a doutrina do conhecimento intuitivo e abstrativo, o autor discute as criticas de Ockham ao realismo e o seu modo especifico de conceber universais.

Reseña de ""El último romántico. El pensamiento de Mario Góngora" de Hugo E. Herrera.

En el texto se hace hincapié en los tenebrosos elementos sacrificiales que le ha acarreado al movimiento estudiantil perteneciente a la combativa Escuela Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa, situada en el Estado mexicano de Guerrero, dominado por el narcotráfico y un gobierno municipal que actúa en complicidad con este último. Se trata de un establecimiento que, además de formar maestros populares, se halla enrolado en las luchas sociales y políticas. A fines de 2014 fueron reprimidos brutalmente y objeto de desaparición forzosa (...) unos 43 alumnos de esa Escuela, lo cual dio lugar a una ininterrumpida protesta civil con muy diversos ribetes internos y mundiales cuyas múltiples expresiones procuran explicitarse en el trabajo. Por otra parte, se incursiona en el trasfondo ideológico que viene acompañando el devenir institucional mexicano bajo el manto del neoliberalismo -al cual el autor ha optado por reconceptuar como neuroliberalismo en distintos ensayos suyos y en colaboración. Conjuntamente, se enfoca la problemática en cuestión desde un ángulo doctrinario y existencial específico: el del necropoder y el pensamiento crítico. Entre los referentes bibliográficos principales pueden citarse desde Foucault y Mbembe a Holloway y González Casanova. The paper deals with the engagement of mexican student movement in Ayotzinapa Rural College and the repressive way that the local goverment and the narco-maffia fought against those students, with the disappearance and destruction of their bodies and cadavers, around september 2014. The case has an enormous influence in world and local public opinion, with different movilizations and artistic expressions that have a very critical reading of Mexican treatment in the field of Human Rights. Mexican and international neoliberalism, as well as bio and necropolitics, has been specially analyzed with the auxiliary tool of critical thinking. Between the theoretical authors that are close involved in these approaches, we can find Michel Foucault, Achille Mbembe, John Holloway and Pablo González Casanova. (shrink)

The analysis, research and interpretation of the concept of identity in Latin America is far from over. In this article an outline of new proposals that are being formulated in relation to this important theme is presented. Also new thoughts on identity are found to be “oriented towards an und..

En ocasión del fallecimiento de Arturo Andrés Roig queremos sumarnos a la larga serie de homenajes que ha recibido. Para ello, reproducimos aquí tres memoriales dedicados al maestro por filósofos americanos.

The article approaches Salomon Maimon’s reinterpretation of the notions of the thing in itself and the given within the framework of criticism. For Maimon they do not refer to a transcendence that is directly unattainable by knowledge. In this attempt, he tries to explain the given on the basis of the action of constitutive understanding. With this, he triggers the passage from transcendental Kantian philosophy to the idealism of Fichte. Nonetheless, his position faces the subsequent problem of explaining how the (...) constitution of the given from understanding (infinite) can become compatible with the criticism it takes on. On affirming that an uncognoscible item is the basis of knowledge, namely, infinite understanding, he set aside the explanation of knowledge in terms of what is revealed in it and in doing so would be resorting to external uncognoscible conditions. (shrink)

En este artículo se analiza el comentario de Maimon al intento kantiano de vincular sensibilidad y entendimiento. En la Crítica de la razón pura, Kant distingue dos facultades de conocimiento, que deben ser unidas para que el conocimiento objetivo sea posible. Maimon cuestiona que la vinculación sea realizable. Luego de exponer el punto de partida kantiano, se analizan los argumentos maimonianos, planteando dificultades sistemáticas que afectarían al intento de vinculación kantiano.

El problema de investigación es que la metafísica de la praxis humana se confunde con la metafísica de la acción humana, pero la primera tiene rasgos específicos y la segunda es general. Ambas metafísicas no están separadas, una forma parte de la otra. El objetivo del artículo, por tanto, es determinar las particularidades de la metafísica de la praxis humana a partir del sujeto de la praxis que delinea Hinkelammert. El método empleado consta de tres partes. Primera; identificación de los (...) sujetos que se forman en el trayecto que siguen los seres humanos para mantener su vida en la sociedad. El sujeto natural, vivo, cognoscente, trascendental, necesitado, con necesidades concretas y social emprende procesos como sujeto actuante, creador de leyes, productor, práctico y de la praxis. Segunda; descripción de las imaginaciones o ilusiones al activar su lado trascendental en cada una de estas fases. Hace una trascendencia general y varias parciales. Hinkelammert afirma que la trascendencia general —en tanto imaginación— corresponde al Reino Mesiánico de Pablo de Tarso: una Tierra con igualdad humana absoluta, sin muerte y sin leyes. Tercera; definición de las características del sujeto de la praxis. Los resultados indican que este sujeto se desenvuelve —en los procesos de su vida— con factibilidad trascendental. La factibilidad está sustentada en imaginaciones. El sujeto de la acción no necesariamente proyecta imaginaciones. La metafísica de la praxis humana tiene sus bases, en consecuencia, en la factibilidad trascendental. La metafísica de la acción humana puede contener ilusiones que anulen dicha factibilidad. La construcción de las sociedades mejor posible, en conclusión, requiere de la factibilidad trascendental. (shrink)

En el artículo se hacen aproximaciones a los enunciados utópicos de una economía para la vida y se determinan las relaciones que establecen los sujetos con las utopías. En el método de análisis se detectan las trascendencias que realizan los sujetos durante el desarrollo del proceso económico. Los resultados señalan que el enunciado utópico general de una economía para la vida es “la vida en la Tierra es vida eterna y plena” (trascendencia general). Los sujetos proyectan cuatro enunciados utópicos específicos (...) (trascendencias parciales) en dicha perspectiva económica, uno de ellos centrado en la satisfacción total de las necesidades físico-biológicas mediante el consumo óptimo de bienes. De este enunciado, que se encuentra inmerso en el campo económico, se derivan otros diez enunciados (trascendencias subparciales) vinculados, a partir de una economía para la vida, con el pleno empleo, con la factibilidad económica y técnica en las producciones y con el ingreso de los sujetos. Las utopías se distorsionan cuando entran al cuadro de la ilusión trascendental; en contraste, obtienen sentido en relación con la vida humana cuando se basan en imaginaciones. (shrink)

One of the problems in post-Kantian discussions is the way in which the self procures access to itself. Kant rejects intellectual intuition in human knowledge. Nonetheless, he supposes an access of the self to itself as subject in all conscious knowledge. It is then fitting to ask how this access can occur. Because, if the self is to be taken precisely as subject, in other words as an activity that knows objects, this knowledge of the self should be of a (...) different kind to that in which all the objects already constituted by that activity are known. Fichte or Schelling are usually taken to be the first to have addressed and tried to solve this problem. But Salomon Maimon had already done so in 1789 and had proposed a solution based on intellectual intuition. The aim of this article is to reconstruct Maimon’s arguments, evaluate his proposal, and specifically show that his attempt is the first in which the Kantian problem is addressed and a solution put forward. (shrink)

En este artículo describiremos la vitalidad del sistema fonológico del mapudungun hablado por escolares pewenches de la Provincia del Biobío, VIII Región. Específicamente, nos hemos propuesto: a) Determinar los fonos/fonemas, y su fonotaxis, que se relevan como indicadores de vitalidad, b) Identificar las transferencias fonético-fonológicas presentes en la fonología del pewenche hablado por estos escolares y c) Interpretar las transferencias encontradas en términos del grado de vitalidad de la fonología de la lengua. La muestra está conformada por un grupo de (...) 20 escolares bilingües de entre 12 y 15 años de edad, que se encuentran cursando 7° y 8° año básico en escuelas rurales pertenecientes a dos comunidades pewenches del valle del Queuco, en la comuna de Alto Biobío. Para la recolección del material fonológico, se aplicó a los participantes una lista léxica de 65 ítems, material que se complementó con la narración oral en mapudungun de un cuento. Según nuestros datos, hemos podido constatar la existencia de una serie de rasgos fónicos en el mapudungun hablado por los escolares pewenches que obedece a la influencia de las estructuras fonológicas del castellano. Sin embargo, el grado y la difusión de los fenómenos de transferencia se desarrollan de manera heterogénea en ambas comunidades en estudio, debido, entre otros factores, a la intensidad del contacto. In this article we will describe the vitality of the phonological system Mapudungun spoken by Pewenche schoolchildren from the Biobío province, VIII Region. We intend: a) To determine the phones/phonemes, and their phonotactics, which are revealed as vitality markers. b) To identify the phonetic-phonological transferences which are present in the Pewenche spoken by these schoolchildren, and, c) To interpret the transferences found in terms of the degree of the language phonological vitality. The sample is composed of 20 bilingual schoolchildren from 12 to 15 years old, who are in 7th and 8th grade in rural primary schools belonging to two Pehuenche comunities from Valle del Queuco, in the city of Alto Biobío. To collect the phonological material, we applied a 64-item lexical list, which was complemented with the oral narration of a tale in Mapudungun. According to our data, we have been able to verify the existence of a series of phonic features in the Mapudungun spoken by Pewenche schoolchildren, which originate because of the influence of the Spanish phonological structure. However, the degree and spread of the transference phenomena develop in a heterogeneous way in both of the studied communities. due to the contact intensity, among other possible factors. (shrink)

En este artículo pretendo probar que en el pensamiento de Francisco Antonio Encina existe una reflexión sobre la comprensión. Esa reflexión, a diferencia de lo que han sostenido algunos autores, tiene un talante filosófico, en el sentido de que en ella se exponen pertinentemente los polos entre los que se realiza la comprensión, los extremos hacia los que puede inclinarse la actividad comprensiva y las condiciones básicas que ha de reunir una comprensión de los asuntos humanos calificable como pertinente, adecuada (...) o correcta. (shrink)

"El éxito de Maquiavelo se manifiesta de forma clara en su virulenta influencia en el pensamiento político español de la segunda mitad del siglo XVI y primera mitad del siglo XVII. No es nada sorprendente que en aquellas centurias fuese leído y muy conocido en la Península, pues la política española estaba muy vinculada a Italia. Asimismo, la influencia del maquiavelismo llega hasta la actualidad y cubre prácticamente todo el mundo latinoamericano. Este volumen, por primera vez, ofrece un panorama más (...) amplio de la influencia de la teoría política del florentino tanto en España como en América. Los capítulos de este volumen han sido elaborados por especialistas académicos de uno y otro lado del mundo hispano. En el fondo, lo que este libro alienta es la idea de que cualquier comprensión teórica en español en la actualidad debe pasar por una reflexión en sentido global euroamericano."--P. [4] of cover. (shrink)

The recent drastic development of agriculture, together with the growing societal interest in agricultural practices and their consequences, pose a challenge to agricultural science. There is a need for rethinking the general methodology of agricultural research. This paper takes some steps towards developing a systemic research methodology that can meet this challenge – a general self-reflexive methodology that forms a basis for doing holistic or (with a better term) wholeness-oriented research and provides appropriate criteria of scientific quality.From a philosophy of (...) research perspective,science is seen as an interactive learning process with both a cognitive and a social communicative aspect. This means, first of all,that science plays a role in the world that it studies. A science that influences its own subject area, such as agricultural science, is named a systemic science. From this perspective, there is a need to reconsider the role of values in science. Science is not objective in the sense of being value-free.Values play, and ought to play, an important role in science – not only in form of constitutive values such as the norms of good science, but also in the form of contextual values that enter into the very process of science. This goes against the traditional criterion of objectivity. Therefore, reflexive objectivity is suggested as a new criterion for doing good science, along with the criterion of relevance. Reflexive objectivity implies that the communication of science must include the cognitive context, which comprises the societal,intentional, and observational context. Ina ccordance with this, the learning process of systemic research is shown as a self-reflexive cycle that incorporates both an involved actor stance and a detached observer stance. The observer stance forms the basis for scientific communication.To this point, a unitary view of science as a learning process is employed. A second important perspective for a systemic research methodology is the relation between the actual,different, and often quite separate kinds of science. Cross-disciplinary research is hampered by the idea that reductive science is more objective, and hence more scientific, than the less reductive sciences of complex subject areas – and by the opposite idea that reductive science is necessarily reductionistic. Taking reflexive objectivity as a demarcator of good science, an inclusive framework of science can be established. The framework does not take the established division between natural, social, and human science as a primary distinction of science.The major distinction is made between the empirical and normative aspects of science,corresponding to two key cognitive interests.Two general methodological dimensions, the degree of reduction of the research world and the degree of involvement in the research world, are shown to span this framework. The framework can form a basis for transdisciplinary work by way of showing the relation between more and less reductive kinds of science and between more detached and more involved kinds of science and exposing the abilities and limitations attendant on these methodological differences. (shrink)

Context: The problems that are most in need of interdisciplinary collaboration are “wicked problems,” such as food crises, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development, with many relevant aspects, disagreement on what the problem is, and contradicting solutions. Such complex problems both require and challenge interdisciplinarity. Problem: The conventional methods of interdisciplinary research fall short in the case of wicked problems because they remain first-order science. Our aim is to present workable methods and research designs for doing second-order science in domains (...) where there are many different scientific knowledges on any complex problem. Method: We synthesize and elaborate a framework for second-order science in interdisciplinary research based on a number of earlier publications, experiences from large interdisciplinary research projects, and a perspectivist theory of science. Results: The second-order polyocular framework for interdisciplinary research is characterized by five principles. Second-order science of interdisciplinary research must: 1. draw on the observations of first-order perspectives, 2. address a shared dynamical object, 3. establish a shared problem, 4. rely on first-order perspectives to see themselves as perspectives, and 5. be based on other rules than first-order research. Implications: The perspectivist insights of second-order science provide a new way of understanding interdisciplinary research that leads to new polyocular methods and research designs. It also points to more reflexive ways of dealing with scientific expertise in democratic processes. The main challenge is that this is a paradigmatic shift, which demands that the involved disciplines, at least to some degree, subscribe to a perspectivist view. Constructivist content: Our perspectivist approach to science is based on the second-order cybernetics and systems theories of von Foerster, Maruyama, Maturana & Varela, and Luhmann, coupled with embodied theories of cognition and semiotics as a general theory of meaning from von Uexküll and Peirce. (shrink)

Se comparten experiencias áulicas de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argenti- na. Su objetivo es crear un instrumento para evaluar la riqueza creativa en diseño mecánico, con un método exploratorio y propositivo de validación de instrumentos y pruebas piloto sobre 156 estudiantes. Resultaron de imaginar objetos diversos, compatibles con una vista dada, y definir cinco niveles de riqueza según la canti- dad, diversidad y calidad de respuestas comparadas contra un patrón de soluciones creado por expertos. Se ensayaron cambios de duración, (...) complejidad de estímulos y presencia de soluciones preexistentes que confirmaron su potencial para investigar la creatividad en este dominio específico. (shrink)

Sustainability assessments bring together different perspectives that pertain to sustainability in order to produce overall assessments and a wealth of approaches and tools have been developed in the past decades. But two major problematics remain. The problem of integration concerns the surplus of possibilities for integration; different tools produce different assessments. The problem of implementation concerns the barrier between assessment and transformation; assessments do not lead to the expected changes in practice. This paper aims to analyze issues of complementarity in (...) sustainability assessment and transformation as a key to better handling the problems of integration and implementation. Based on a generalization of Niels Bohr’s complementarity from quantum mechanics, we have identified two forms of complementarity in sustainability assessment, observer stance complementarity and value complementarity. Unlike many other problems of sustainability assessment, complementarity is of a fundamental character connected to the very conditions for observation. Therefore complementarity cannot be overcome methodologically; only handled better or worse. Science is essential to the societal goal of sustainability, but these issues of complementarity impede the constructive role of science in the transition to more sustainable structures and practices in food systems. The agencies of sustainability assessment and transformation need to be acutely aware of the importance of different perspectives and values and the complementarities that may be connected to these differences. An improved understanding of complementarity can help to better recognize and handle issues of complementarity. These deliberations have relevance not only for sustainability assessment, but more generally for transdisciplinary research on wicked problems. (shrink)

The recent development and growth oforganic livestock farming and the relateddevelopment of national and internationalregulations has fueled discussions amongscientists and philosophers concerning theproper conceptualization of animal welfare.These discussions on livestock welfare inorganic farming draw on the conventionaldiscussions and disputes on animal welfare thatinvolve issues such as different definitions ofwelfare (clinical health, absence of suffering,sum of positive and negative experiences,etc.), the possibility for objective measuresof animal welfare, and the acceptable level ofwelfare. It seems clear that livestock welfareis a value-laden concept and (...) that animalwelfare science cannot be made independent ofquestions of values and ethics. The questioninvestigated here is whether those values thatunderpin organic farming, in particular, alsoaffect the interpretation of livestock welfare,and, if so, how. While some of the issuesraised in connection with organic farming arerelatively uncontroversial, others are not. Theintroduction of organic farming values seems tointroduce new criteria for what counts as goodanimal welfare, as well as a different ethicalbasis for making moral decisions on welfare.Organic farming embodies distinctive systemicor communitarian ethical ideas and the organicvalues are connected to a systemic conceptionof nature, of agriculture, of the farm, and ofthe animal. The new criteria of welfare arerelated to concepts such as naturalness,harmony, integrity, and care. While the organicvalues overlap with those involved in theconventional discussion of animal welfare, someof them suggest a need to set new prioritiesand to re-conceptualize animal welfare – forexample, with respect to ``naturalness,'''' inrelation to the possibilities for expression ofnatural behavior and in relation to animalintegrity as a concept for organismic harmony.The organic perspective also seems to suggest awider range of solutions to welfare problemsthan changes in farm routines or operations onthe animals. The systemic solutions include thechoice and reproduction of suitable breeds,changes in the farm structure, and changes inthe larger production and consumption system – including consumer perceptions andpreferences. But the organic values may alsocall for sacrifices of individual welfare in aconventional sense in order to advance welfarefrom the perspective of organic farming.Whether this is good or bad cannot be decidedwithout entering into an inquiry and discussionof the values and ethics involved. (shrink)

There are many different meanings of sustainability and precaution and no evident connection between the new normative concepts and the traditional moral theories. We seek an ethical basis for sustainability and precaution—a common framework that can serve as a means of resolving the conceptual ambiguities of the new normative concepts and the conflicts between new and traditional moral concepts and theories. We employ a systemic approach to analyze the past and possible future extension of ethics and establish an inclusive framework (...) of ethical extension. This framework forms the basis for what we call a systemic ethic. (shrink)

In Amerindian ontologies, hallucinations or visions, rather than being dismissed as delusions or symbolic constructs, are recognized as means of perceptual access to physical reality. Lowland South American shamans claim to be able to diagnose and treat infectious diseases, and to assess the status of wildlife resources through interactions with pathogenic agents perceived in visions. This essay examines some perceptual capabilities that shamans might be employing to explore their physical reality. The structure of the eye affords a form of microscopy (...) of retinal structures and of objects flowing within them, including cells and microbial agents during systemic infection. Lowland South American shamanic practices involve optical and physiological conditions that optimize entoptic microscopy. Images of those visions display the characteristic features of shadow formation, confirming their microscopic origin. This phenomenological access to the microscopic world and similarities with the panorama depicted by current microbiology indicate the commensurability of these forms of knowledge. (shrink)

This paper undertakes a theoretical investigation of the 'learning' aspect of science as opposed to the 'knowledge' aspect. The practical background of the paper is in agricultural systems research – an area of science that can be characterised as 'systemic' because it is involved in the development of its own subject area, agriculture. And the practical purpose of the theoretical investigation is to contribute to a more adequate understanding of science in such areas, which can form a basis for developing (...) and evaluating systemic research methods, and for determining appropriate criteria of scientific quality. Two main perspectives on science as a learning process are explored: research as the learning process of a cognitive system, and science as a social, communicational system. A simple model of a cognitive system is suggested, which integrates both semiotic and cybernetic aspects, as well as a model of self-reflective learning in research, which entails moving from an inside 'actor' stance to an outside 'observer' stance, and back. This leads to a view of scientific knowledge as inherently contextual and to the suggestion of reflexive objectivity and relevance as two related key criteria of good science. (shrink)

Context: Society is faced with “wicked” problems of environmental sustainability, which are inherently multiperspectival, and there is a need for explicitly constructivist and perspectivist theories to address them. Problem: However, different constructivist theories construe the environment in different ways. The aim of this paper is to clarify the conceptions of environment in constructivist approaches, and thereby to assist the sciences of complex systems and complex environmental problems. Method: We describe the terms used for “the environment” in von Uexküll, Maturana & (...) Varela, and Luhmann, and analyse how their conceptions of environment are connected to differences of perspective and observation. Results: We show the need to distinguish between inside and outside perspectives on the environment, and identify two very different and complementary logics of observation, the logic of distinction and the logic of representation, in the three constructivist theories. Implications: Luhmann’s theory of social systems can be a helpful perspective on the wicked environmental problems of society if we consider carefully the theory’s own blind spots: that it confines itself to systems of communication, and that it is based fully on the conception of observation as indication by means of distinction. (shrink)