RESUMEN: Abir-Am ha criticado la visión estándar de que la Fundación Rockefeller (FR) jugó un papel central en el surgimiento de la biología molecular durante la década de 1960. En su opinión, la FR aceleró la molecularización de las ciencias de la vida, pero no intervino de manera directa en el surgimiento de la biología molecular como disciplina. Aquí sostengo que esta crítica tiene consecuencias mayores a las que sospechó su autora y muestro que la tesis de la centralidad de (...) la FR en el desarrollo de la biología molecular no se puede desmantelar sin alterar también la visión de la biologia molecular como una disciplina orientada a la resolución de problemas predefinidos.ABSTRACT: Abir-Am has critiqued the standard view that the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) played a central role in the development of molecular biology during the 1960s. In her view, the RF accelerated the molecularization of the life sciences, but it did not directly contribute to building molecular biology’s disciplinary identity. Here I argue that Abir-Am’s critique has more consequences than she envisioned, and I show that the thesis of the centrality of the RF cannot be dismantled without also altering the view of molecular biology as a field oriented towards the solution of predefined problems. (shrink)

In this special issue we explore practices of scientific inquiry into human populations in Latin America in order to generate new insights into the complex historical and sociopolitical dynamics that have made certain human groups integral to the production of scientific knowledge in and about the region. In important contributions, other scholars have shown that the science of human difference is racist and all too often has been a mediator of development ideologies. To further unpack these arguments we focus attention (...) on the complex interaction between scientists and the populations they study. We explore cases from across the fields of evolutionary biology, demography, epidemiology... (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper analyzes the research strategies of three different cases in the study of human genetics in Mexico – the work of Rubén Lisker in the 1960s, INMEGEN's mapping of Mexican genomic diversity between 2004 and 2009, and the analysis of Native American variation by Andrés Moreno and his colleagues in contemporary research. We make a distinction between an approach that incorporates multiple disciplinary resources into sampling design and interpretation (unpacking), from one that privileges pragmatic considerations over more robust multidisciplinary (...) analysis (flattening). These choices have consequences for social, demographic, and biomedical practices, and also for accounts of genetic variation in human populations. While the former strategyunpacksfine-grained genetic variation – favoring precision and realism, the latter tends toflattenindividual differences and historical depth in lieu of generalization. (shrink)

"Who knows how much longer it will be, but others have crossed over to the US, and have found a job, and have even sent for their families. I am not the only one crossing, I am number 57 out of 72, but we do not walk together, all 72—that would call too much attention to us. We walk at a good pace, each one with their thoughts, we walk from sun to sun without stopping almost; others have done it." (...) These are the words of renowned writer Elena Poniatowska on 72migrantes.com, a virtual altar honoring the 72 migrants massacred in a ranch in San Fernando, a municipality in the border state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, in August 2010. Attempting to recreate the thoughts of unidentified victim number 57 on his trek towards the... (shrink)

Although the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary biological sciences has been addressed by philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science, the different ways in which engineering concepts and methods have been applied in biology have been somewhat neglected. We examine - using the mechanistic philosophy of science as an analytic springboard - the transfer of network methods from engineering to biology through the cases of two biology laboratories operating at the California Institute of Technology. The two laboratories study gene regulatory networks, but (...) in remarkably different ways. The research strategy of the Davidson lab fits squarely into the traditional mechanist philosophy in its aim to decompose and reconstruct, in detail, gene regulatory networks of a chosen model organism. In contrast, the Elowitz lab constructs minimal models that do not attempt to represent any particular naturally evolved genetic circuits. Instead, it studies the principles of gene regulation through a template-based approach that is applicable to any kinds of networks, whether biological or not. We call for the mechanists to consider whether the latter approach can be accommodated by the mechanistic approach, and what kinds of modifications it would imply for the mechanistic paradigm of explanation, if it were to address modelling more generally. (shrink)

This paper argues that the “long 1970s” (1969–1983) is an important though often overlooked period in the development of a rich landscape in the research of metabolism, development, and evolution. The period is marked by: shrinking public funding of basic science, shifting research agendas in molecular biology, the incorporation of new phenomena and experimental tools from previous biological research at the molecular level, and the development of recombinant DNA techniques. Research was reoriented towards eukaryotic cells and development, and in particular (...) towards “giant” RNA processing and transcription. We will here focus on three different models of developmental regulation published in that period: the two models of eukaryotic genetic regulation at the transcriptional level that were developed by Georgii P. Georgiev on the one hand, and by Roy Britten and Eric Davidson on the other; and the model of genetic sufficiency and evolution of regulatory genes proposed by Emile Zuckerkandl. These three cases illustrate the range of exploratory hypotheses that characterised the challenging landscape of gene regulation in the 1970s, a period that in hindsight can be labelled as transitional, between the biology at the laboratory bench of the preceding period, and the biology of genetic engineering and intensive data-driven research that followed. (shrink)

The truth of a statement depends on the world in two ways: what the statement says is true if the world is as the statement says it is; on the other hand, what the expressions in the statement mean depends on what the world is like (for instance, on what conventions are in place). Each of these two kinds of dependence of truth on the world corresponds to one of the dimensions on the two-dimensional semantic framework, developed in the 1970’ (...) in the work of Evans, Kaplan, Kripke and Stalnaker. The introduction provides a systematic overview of the framework, the ideas of its earlier originators, recent developments and criticism. Finally, it gives a brief overview over the contributions to the volume. (shrink)

What place, if any, does love have in Kantian ethics? This chapter is divided into three parts. First, I discuss Kant’s own account of moral versus non-moral love as found throughout his various writings and show how this closely parallels his account of moral versus non-moral friendship. Second, I discuss contemporary Kantian accounts of both friendship and love, highlighting how they go beyond, and in some ways seem to significantly improve upon, Kant’s own views via their appeal to Kant’s Formula (...) of Humanity. Lastly, I discuss the overall merits of what I call ‘Kantian moral love’. I argue that while Kantian moral love might rightly identify, from the moral point of view, how we ought to act and think when loving other people, it fails to provide a complete account of love, crucially leaving out certain key elements from the wide range of loving relationships we find ourselves in, especially romantic love. That is, while Kantian moral love might successfully identify a morally ideal way to love other people, it falls short of capturing the full essence of love—mainly because love is not simply a moral affair but also a matter of the heart. (shrink)

This review note surveys some important aspects of a recent publication by Amos Edelheit, A Philosopher at the Crossroads: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Encounter with Scholastic Philosophy. While focus over the last decades has been placed on Pico’s thought in relation to Jewish Kabbalah and mysticism, Edelheit hopes to emphasize the importance of the scholastic tradition (or, rather, the pluriform and various tradition of late medieval and Renaissance scholasticism) in Pico’s thought, and the ways in which this intellectual context places (...) this unique Renaissance thinker at a sort of ‘crossroads’. Beyond providing a brief overview of the three main parts of the text, this note examines more closely Edelheit’s study of Pico’s 900 Theses and the methodological approach which involves a reconstruction of the dialectical context for each thesis. The Latin scholastics are real conversational partners for Pico: he is versed in the 13th-century scholastic sources, is certainly familiar with contemporaneous scholastic thought, and is able to employ scholastic methods and terminology within his wider philosophical project. While scholastic philosophy was very much alive at the end of the fifteenth century, Pico’s new and inclusive approach to philosophy and the history of philosophy, never eschewing the Latin masters, departs from both scholastic and humanist trends. (shrink)

Old age is not normally associated with innovativeness and technical prowess. To the contrary, when treating age as a distinct category, policy makers, innovation scholars, and companies typically regard younger people as drivers of innovation, and the early adoption of new technology. In this paper, we critically investigate this link between age, ineptness, and technology adoption using a case study of the diffusion of electric bikes in the Netherlands. We demonstrate how, during the first wave of e-bike acceptance, old age (...) was constructed as an arena in which important learning processes took place, and where older persons became early adopters of e-bikes. Theoretically, this paper speaks critically to the prolific literature on innovation diffusion and its treatment of adopter categories as generic concepts. Using age as a central dimension, our research highlights the situated and constructed nature of adopter categories, and thus challenges age-based assumptions about innovation and technology use by younger and older persons. These insights about what we term the rejuvenation of e-bikes help us rectify existing biases of older persons as an inherently problematic group of technology users. (shrink)

I argue racial injustice undermines the reliability of news source reports in the information domain of racial injustice. I argue that this in turn undermines subjects’ doxastic justification in inferences they base on these news sources in the racial injustice information domain. I explain that racial injustice does this undermining through the effect of racial prejudice on news organizations’ members and the effect of society's racially unjust structure on non-dominant racial group-controlled news sources.

Online Public Shaming is a form of norm enforcement that involves collectively imposing reputational costs on a person for having a certain kind of moral character. OPS actions aim to disqualify her from public discussion and certain normal human relations. We argue that this constitutes an informal collective punishment that it is presumptively wrong to impose on others. OPS functions as a form of ostracism that fails to show equal basic respect to its targets. Additionally, in seeking to mobilise unconstrained (...) collective power with potentially serious punitive consequences, OPS is incompatible with due process values. (shrink)

The work of Emmanuel Levinas has been both abundantly recognized and criticized in moral philosophy. This Janus-faced attitude is also present in ecological theories, which find fertile ground in Levinas’ thought without being able to explain its apparent anthropocentrism. Opposing hermeneutical paths tend to focus either on otherness as an absolute alterity, implying a potentially unlimited responsibility for all alterities, or on otherness as a re-foundation of humanism, leading to the conclusion that responsibility is unlimited only among humans. Here I (...) seek to disentangle Levinas from these two extreme interpretations, first by reviewing ecological readings of his philosophy, in both the Francophone and Anglophone spheres, and second by analyzing specific Levinasian terms that might be particularly helpful for a non-anthropocentric or deep ecology. The main results of this investigation are a distinction between the ethics of responsibility and the ethics of vulnerability, an explanation of Levinasian compulsory or methodological humanism, and a schematic model of sensibility as enjoyment/vulnerability capable of supporting deep ecology without the traditional notions of free will, rights, or values. (shrink)

I argue racial injustice undermines the reliability of news source reports in the information domain of racial injustice. I argue that this in turn undermines subjects’ doxastic justification in inferences they base on these news sources in the racial injustice information domain. I explain that racial injustice does this undermining through the effect of racial prejudice on news organizations’ members and the effect of society's racially unjust structure on non-dominant racial group-controlled news sources.

O presente trabalho objetiva demonstrar uma experiência em contexto de educação online em um curso superior de tecnologia no qual um modelo de avaliação formativa, com foco em competências, foi efetivamente modelado e utilizado. Para o seu desenvolvimento, foram consideradas as proposições de Pereira et al. (2009), sobre as metacompetências essenciais a serem desenvolvidas em estudantes na contemporaneidade, e Pereira et al. (2015) sobre uma cultura de avaliação baseada em competências.

Education is a fundamental pillar in human development, and its evolution throughout history has been influenced by a variety of factors, including imaginative culture and human nature. In this study, we explore how educational methods have evolved in response to the interaction between these two aspects. We look at how human creativity, imagination, and adaptation have influenced the way we teach and learn, from early forms of knowledge transmission to more contemporary approaches focused on active student engagement and the development (...) of practical skills. Our research is based on a comprehensive review of the academic literature in the fields of education, evolutionary psychology, cultural anthropology, and imagination studies. We explore how societies have used imagination as a tool to transmit knowledge and values, as well as to foster creativity and individual expression. We also examine how adaptive aspects of human nature, such as the ability to learn collaboratively and adapt to changing environments, have influenced the way educational methods are designed. Our results show a clear evolution in educational methods over time, from approaches focused on the one-way transmission of knowledge to more interactive and participatory models that encourage exploration and discovery. We identify common patterns in the way societies have used imagination and adaptation to promote learning and socialization and discuss the implications of these findings for contemporary education. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between imaginative culture, human nature, and education. It provides a solid foundation for the design of educational methods that harness the innate creativity and adaptability of human beings and offers guidance for educators and policymakers on how to promote meaningful and lasting learning in today's world. (shrink)

Das Ziel dieses Beitrages ist es, zu zeigen, wie das cartesianische Cogito ,der Boden der modernen Philosophie, das im Begriff des denkenden Subjekts – einem Schlüsselbegriff des westlichen Denkens – seinen Ursprung hat, von einer ganz bestimmten Methode, deren Legitimation in der Geschichte wurzelt, abhängig ist. Anders ausgedrückt, der Begriff des Subjekts, dessen grundlegendes Merkmal die Denktätigkeit ist, und der die Geschichte, eben weil er Begriff ist, hinnehmen muss, ist durch die Geschichte bedingt – durch eine Geschichte, die sich weniger (...) im Begriff selbst als in der ihn ermöglichenden Methode ausdrückt. Eine genaue genealogische Studie dieserMethode würde eine äußerst gründliche Arbeit erfordern; was wir hier viel-mehr unternehmen wollen ist lediglich, die von Descartes benutzten methodologischen Werkzeuge zu erforschen, die für die Formulierung des Begriffs Res Cogitans (die nach Kants Kritik zum „Subjekt“ wurde) vonnöten waren. Ein Werkzeug spielt laut der hier verteidigten Annahme eine besonders grundlegende Rolle in der benannten Diskussion um Res Cogitans : der Traum Descartes. (shrink)

This chapter considers the key values underlying and explaining important features of international law as a system of law. It uses that value analysis as a way of interpreting international law and of asking whether, within those values, international law can be made to serve certain 'global cosmopolitan' re-distributive aims. The chapter argues that the constraints of international law mean that it is not an appropriate medium for global re-distributive goals commonly associated with theories of societal justice. Because those features (...) and constraints are based in values that international law distinctly serves, those constraints cannot simply be ignored, overridden, or changed judicially. (shrink)

The fitting attitude analysis of value states that for objects to have value is for them to be the fitting targets of attitudes. Good objects are the fitting targets of positive attitudes, while bad objects are the fitting targets of negative attitudes. The following paper presents an argument to the effect that value and the fittingness of attitudes differ in terms of their explanations. Whereas the fittingness of attitudes is explained, inter alia, by both the properties of attitudes and those (...) of their fitting targets, the explanation of value tends to have a different content. In particular, objects have value in virtue of the features that make them valuable, and these need not involve any attitudinal properties. If this is right, then there are reasons to doubt the claim that for objects to have value is just for them to be the fitting targets of attitudes. Insofar as value is a property, it appears to be distinct from the property of objects being the fitting targets of attitudes. (shrink)

Este trabajo desarolla un análisis comparativo de ciertos temas comunes a las teorías de la percepción de Aristóteles y de Merleau-Ponty. Se sostiene que, de distintos modos y discutiendo en cada caso con diferentes doctrinas «intelectualistas», ambas teorías atribuyen a la percepción sensible capacidades complejas de discriminación, unificación y autopercatación sin mediación de funciones intelectuales. A partir de estos elementos comunes a ambas teorías es posible esbozar una consideración del cuerpo sentiente que no lo reduce a su materialidad, así como (...) una concepción de un sí mismo no restringido al pensamiento. (shrink)

El autor estudió bachillerato con los jesuitas y fue él mismo jesuita durante veinticuatro años, doce de ellos como cura obrero. Estudió Filosofía y Teología y es licenciado en Filosofía por la Complutense y Teología por Comillas. En 1982 se secularizó pero siguió militando en comunidades y organizaciones creyentes tales como Comunidades cristianas populares, Cristianos por el Socialismo, Cristianos por la paz y algunas otras. Pero después de unos años de atormentado agnosticismo abandonó la fe. Ha publicado en esta misma (...) editorial un libro con sus experiencias titulado. “Confieso que he creído: un viaje de la fe al ateísmo”. Y ahora publica “Job se alza frente a Dios” que, según él mismo dice, “es una segunda parte o complemento de aquél, mucho más basado en la exégesis bíblica y en los avances científicos”. He aquí un resumen del mismo. Toda religión (al menos las tres grandes religiones monoteístas) parte de dos axiomas fundamentales: que existe un Dios personal y que ese Dios se ha revelado. El cristianismo sostiene además que Dios no sólo se ha revelado en la Biblia (la Palabra escrita) sino sobre todo en Jesús de Nazaret (la Palabra viva). Y por supuesto esa Revelación (la llamada) parte de Dios. Él tiene la iniciativa. La fe es la respuesta a esa llamada. Pues bien: esos dos axiomas configuran las dos partes del libro. En la primera se analiza la Biblia y la figura de Jesús de Nazaret mediante la exégesis histórico crítica. La Biblia no es un libro de historia sino un libro de fe fundamentado en una exigua base histórica. Es tarea de la exégesis determinar qué hay de fe y qué de historia en cada uno de los libros. Y las investigaciones actuales dictaminan que las teofanías y los milagros no son “hechos históricos” sino productos de la fe construidos a veces muchos siglos después de los hechos narrados. Del mismo modo la figura de Cristo es construida sobre la figura histórica de Jesús de Naz... (shrink)