In Lukács: Praxis and the Absolute, Daniel Andrés López reassembles Lukács’s philosophy of praxis on a Hegelian basis, as a conceptual-historical totality, both defending him and proposing an unprecedented, immanent critique that raises problems for Marxian philosophy as a whole.

European integration has increased to encompass security-related policies. One such policy is defense industry policy, which traditionally has been a national concern rooted in defense and security policy. Efforts have been made since the 1990s to create a European defense industry market. However, there have been different ideas of how this goal should be achieved or which model for state—industry relations the market should rest on. Using Sweden to illustrate the development, this article argues that for the Europeanization of defense (...) industry policy, marketization has played a vital role. Building on official documents and interviews, the article analyzes the efforts to create a European defense industry market, marketization of Swedish defense industry policy, and the increased interaction between Swedish and European defense industry policy processes. The analysis also shows domestic challenges that the processes of Europeanization and marketization have brought about. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Paragrana Jahrgang: 23 Heft: 2 Seiten: 176-184.

En el presente artículo nos proponemos abordar la dimensión crecientemente política en los más de treinta años de producción teórica de Judith Butler, entendiendo a Butler como unx teóricx políticx por derecho propio (Chambers y Carver, 2008) que desarrolla su propia concepción de política radical (Moya Lloyd, 2009). Aunque el foco suele estar puesto en el “giro ético” de Butler a partir de sus desarrollos sobre precariedad, sostendremos que hay un giro previo en la obra butleriana a partir de su (...) concepto de universalidad-por-venir: un “giro político” o “giro hacia lo político” a través del cual cierta diferencia ontológica entre lo político y la política ingresa en las tesis butlerianas. ¿En qué medida se puede afirmar que Judith Butler es unx políticx radical? Consideramos que sus críticas a la universalidad como trascendentalización de contenidos históricos y contingentes llevan a la teoría butleriana a un impasse en el que rechaza lo que su política requiere y que solo logra superar a su pesar: introduciendo la precari/e/dad, aquella condición socio-ontológica de apertura constitutiva, como su propio cuasi trascendental. (shrink)

In the article, I seek to analyse the notion of “resistance” in Judith Butler’s work, to examine how the author has deepen her own theory and reflexions. I begin with the concept of “performative subversion”, fundamental in her first works, and then I connect performativity and precarity to finally develop a performative theory of assembly. This article aims at rethinking ways of resistance that radicalise and pluralise democracy, in the meaning that Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe gave to the concept (...) of “radical and plural democracy”. (shrink)

In most domains of human life, we are willing to accept that there are experts with greater knowledge and competencies that distinguish them from non-experts or laypeople. Despite this fact, the very recognition of expertise curiously becomes more controversial in the case of “moral experts”. Do moral experts exist? And, if they indeed do, are there ethical reasons for us to follow their advice? Likewise, can emerging technological developments broaden our very concept of moral expertise? In this article, we begin (...) by arguing that the objections that have tried to deny the existence (and convenience) of moral expertise are unsatisfactory. After that, we show that people have ethical reasons to ask for a piece of moral advice in daily life situations. Then, we argue that some Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems can play an increasing role in human morality by becoming moral experts. Some AI-based moral assistants can qualify as artificial moral experts and we would have good ethical reasons to use them. (shrink)

We aim to develop a take on the meaning of works of art that builds on Dennett’s view on the nature of intentionality, namely, that the intentionality exhibited by mental phenomena is not original, but derived. Regarding the meaning of works of art, theories that hold that the meaning is determined by the intentions of the author when creating the work are considered intentionalist. Adopting the view of derived intentionality implies that it is no longer possible to maintain that the (...) semantic content of a work of art is closely linked to the creative act that gave rise to it; accordingly, intentionalist theories should be, broadly speaking, abandoned. However, we claim that one aspect of intentionalist theories is accurate and, moreover, compatible with the perspective on intentionality we adopt: The fact that part of the meaning of a work of art is given by the interpretations that arise when it is assumed that the work was produced by an agent with the purpose of transmitting something. We call this interpretative strategy the work-of-art stance and argue that it should be understood as a subtype of the intentional stance. According to our proposal, this interpretive strategy is part of a view that tries to explain the meaning of works of art as partially indeterminate, relative to a history (and not to a foundational origin) and dependent on interpretive attribution. En este artículo elaboramos una propuesta sobre el significado de las obras de arte que se apoya en la perspectiva de Dennett acerca de la naturaleza de la intencionalidad de los fenómenos mentales. De acuerdo a ella, la intencionalidad que estos exhiben no es original, sino derivada. Adoptar la perspectiva de la intencionalidad derivada implica que ya no será posible sostener que el significado de una obra de arte esté vinculado al acto creativo que le dio origen o que esté determinado por las intenciones que tuvo su autor al crearlas, como han sostenido las teorías intencionalistas. Ahora bien, creemos que hay un aspecto de estas que no es incompatible con la perspectiva de intencionalidad derivada. Se trata del hecho de que parte del significado de la obra de arte está dado por las interpretaciones que surgen sólo cuando se asume que la misma fue producida por un agente con el propósito de transmitir algo. Llamaremos a esta estrategia interpretativa actitud de la obra de arte y defenderemos que debe ser entendida como un subtipo de la actitud intencional. Esta estrategia interpretativa forma parte de una propuesta que intenta explicar el significado de las obras de arte como siendo parcialmente indeterminado, relativo a una historia y dependiente de la atribución interpretativa. (shrink)

La actitud del diseño es una estrategia interpretativa propuesta por Dennett, que consiste en tratar al sistema, cuyo “comportamiento” se quiere predecir, bajo el supuesto de que sus partes cumplen funciones que obedecen a un diseño satisfactorio. Sin embargo, estudios recientes sobre atribución funcional en artefactos técnicos consideran que la actitud del diseño supone una estrategia inadecuada para entender qué hace un artefacto técnico. En particular, dos críticas han ganado visibilidad. Por una parte, Vermaas et al. (2013) señalan una inconsistencia (...) en la propuesta dennettiana de la actitud del diseño: las intenciones del diseñador a veces desempeñan un papel en la interpretación de los artefactos y a veces no lo hacen, sin tener finalmente una intuición clara sobre su rol. Por otra parte, Vaesen y Van Amerongen (2008) sostienen que la actitud del diseño admite dos interpretaciones, una descriptiva y una normativa, y que ambas son implausibles. No obstante, en este trabajo argumentamos que estas críticas son rebatibles y que el problema reside en que ambas acusaciones, i.e. inconsistencia e implausibilidad, suponen una interpretación incorrecta de la posición de Dennett. The design attitude is an interpretive strategy proposed by Dennett, which consists of treating the system, whose “behavior” is to be predicted, under the assumption that its parts fulfill functions that accomplish a satisfactory design. Recent studies on technical artifacts' functional attribution claim that the design attitude is an inadequate strategy to elicit what a technical artifact does. In particular, two criticisms have gained visibility. On the one hand, Vermas et al (2013) remark an inconsistency in Dennett’s design stance. The very designer's intentions sometimes play a role in the interpretation of artifacts and sometimes they don´t, without finally having a clear intuition about their role. On the other hand, Vaesen and Van Amerongen (2008) argue that the design stance admits two interpretations, a descriptive and a normative one and that both are implausible. However, we argue that these criticisms miss the point given that both accusations, i.e. of inconsistency and of implausibility, result from a wrong interpretation of Dennett's position. (shrink)

Dennett elabora una concepción del “yo” entendido como un centro de gravedad narrativo. Uno de los obstáculos principales para valorar esta propuesta radica en que resulta dificultoso entender cuál es la naturaleza del concepto dennettiano de “yo”: concretamente, cuáles son los compromisos ontológicos y epistemológicos que cabe atribuir al fenómeno en cuestión. En este artículo defendemos que el mejor modo de realizar una reconstrucción interpretativa de su noción de “yo” es apelando a la distinción elaborada por Reichenbach entre tres clases (...) de entidades, Concreta,a e Illata, y entendiendo a los centros de gravedad narrativos como un caso de Abstracta reichenbachiano. Sostenemos que resulta pertinente e iluminador entender los centros de gravedad narrativos como Abstracta en el sentido de Reichenbach, apoyándonos en que: i) aunque no la aplica directamente al problema de la naturaleza del “yo”, Dennett sí emplea la distinción de Reichenbach en otras partes de su obra; ii) Dennett traza explícitamente una analogía del “yo” con los centros de gravedad que son, justamente, uno de sus ejemplos de Abstracta; iii) este modo de entender al “yo” permite dar sentido y entender mejor ciertos aspectos de la teoría narrativista dennettiana. Además de permitirnos clarificar las metáforas empleadas por Dennett en la elaboración de su teoría narrativa, dicha elucidación conceptual permite comprender mejor la distinción entre las tres clases de psicología intencional trazada por Dennett y es útil para sugerir a cuál de estos tres tipos pertenece el concepto de “yo”. Dennett's theory of personal identity argues that the “self” is no more than a center of narrative gravity. One of the main hurdles to assessing this proposal lies in the fact that it is difficult to understand what the nature of Dennett's concept of "self" is; specifically, what are the ontological and epistemological commitments that can be attributed to the phenomenon in question. In this article, we claim that the best way to make an interpretative reconstruction of his notion of "self" is appealing to the distinction elaborated by Reichenbach between three classes of entities, Concreta, Abstracta, and Illata, and understanding the narrative centers of gravity as a case of Reichenbachian Abstracta. We defend that understanding the narrative centers of gravity as Abstracta in the sense of Reichenbach is pertinent and illuminating given that: i) although he does not apply it directly to the problem of the nature of the "self", Dennett does use Reichenbach's distinction in other parts of his work; ii) Dennett explicitly draws an analogy of the "self" with the centers of gravity that are, precisely, one of his examples of Abstracta; iii) this way of understanding the "self" allows us to give sense and better understand certain aspects of Dennett’s narrative theory. Besides allowing us to clarify the metaphors used by Dennett in the elaboration of his narrative theory, such conceptual elucidation allows us to better understand the distinction between the three classes of intentional psychology drawn by Dennett (1987) and is useful in suggesting to which of these three types the concept of "self" belongs. (shrink)

Most philosophers would agree that loving one’s romantic partner (i.e., being in love) is, in principle, a good thing. That is, romantic love can be valuable. It seems plausible that most would then think that the process leading to being in love—i.e. falling in love—can be valuable too. Surprisingly, that is not the case: among philosophers, falling in love has a bad reputation. Whereas philosophy of love has started to depart from traditional (and often unwarranted or false) tropes surrounding romantic (...) life, this tendency has not yet reached the analysis of falling in love. The phenomenon continues to be looked at mostly through a compendium of generalisations taken as metaphysical truths—the view of falling in love being akin to “losing one’s mind” or “not being able to think about anything else”. Here, I analyse some of these generalisations to show that although they may reflect some experiences of what falling in love feels like, they wrongly reduce falling in love to two related, but distinct, phenomena: limerence and infatuation. My aim is to refine the current terminology to lay the foundations for a neutral view of falling in love. (shrink)

This book tells the story of the Scientific Buddha, "born" in Europe in the 1800s but commonly confused with the Buddha born in India 2,500 years ago. The Scientific Buddha was sent into battle against Christian missionaries, who were proclaiming across Asia that Buddhism was a form of superstition. He proved the missionaries wrong, teaching a dharma that was in harmony with modern science. And so his influence continues. Today his teaching of "mindfulness" is heralded as the cure for all (...) manner of maladies, from depression to high blood pressure.In this potent critique, a well-known chronicler of the West's encounter with Buddhism demonstrates how the Scientific Buddha's teachings deviate in crucial ways from those of the far older Buddha of ancient India. Donald Lopez shows that the Western focus on the Scientific Buddha threatens to bleach Buddhism of its vibrancy, complexity, and power, even as the superficial focus on "mindfulness" turns Buddhism into merely the latest self-help movement. The Scientific Buddha has served his purpose, Lopez argues. It is now time for him to pass into nirvana. This is not to say, however, that the teachings of the ancient Buddha must be dismissed as mere cultural artifacts. They continue to present a meaningful challenge, even to our modern world. (shrink)

In contrast to individualistic explanations of social injustice that appeal to implicit attitudes, structural explanations are unintuitive: they appeal to entities that lack clear ontological status, and the explanatory mechanism is similarly unclear. This makes structural explanations unappealing. The present work proposes a structural explanation of one type of injustice that happens in conversations, discursive injustice. This proposal meets two goals. First, it satisfactorily accounts for the specific features of this particular kind of injustice; and second, it articulates a structural (...) explanation that overcomes their unattractiveness. The main idea is that discursive injustice is not the result of biased interlocutors, but of problematic discursive norms. (shrink)

En este artículo, nos proponemos considerar el modo en el cual el alma individual es capaz de recorrer el camino al que Proclo invita según su ciencia teológica sobre la base de los diálogos de Platón y en polémica con la tradición que integra, tomando por caso la figura de Plotino. Para ello, analizaremos, en primer lugar, el carácter múltiple y uno del alma entendida en términos generales al interior de su esquema metafísico según algunos pasajes del capítulo 6 del (...) libro III de la Teología Platónica y algunas proposiciones pertinentes de los Elementos de Teología; en segundo lugar, el caso de la tripartición del alma individual que Proclo defiende en la Disertación VII del Comentario a la República; y, finalmente, intentaremos vincular esta concepción unimúltiple del alma con la afirmación de que ella posee la capacidad de alcanzar la hénosis. (shrink)

In Leibniz’s New Essays stands out, within many important topics, his doctrine of innate ideas, which supposes the division between sense knowledge and innate knowledge and implies the distinction between truths of reason and truths of fact. That doctrine is particularly relevant for Leibniz’s philosophy, but implicitly entails the epistemological difference between belief, on one hand, and certainty, on the other. In this paper I outline, according to my interpretation, how Leibniz explains that humans can have certainty about innate ideas. (...) This topic is important because if Leibniz demonstrates the possibility of having certainty of those ideas, then, it is feasible to believe in its existence. However, if his explanation is unsatisfactory his metaphysical doctrine would be seriously weakened and, at the same time, both skepticism and Locke’s empiricist doctrine would be reinforced. (shrink)

Hinge epistemology is a family of views that offers a novel approach to avoiding skeptical conclusions about the possibility of a posteriori justification of our empirical beliefs. They claim that at the basis of our empirical beliefs lie certain commitments whose rational status is not determined by our evidence. These are called hinge commitments. Prominent hinge epistemologists have claimed that hinge commitments are either rational or arational but yet not beliefs. I argue that such views are subject to decisive objections. (...) I then offer what I consider to be the best version of hinge epistemology. On this view, hinge commitments are best understood as arational beliefs that contingently inform our worldview. I call this view the Arational Beliefs View. (shrink)

En este trabajo analizaremos algunos de los argumentos que Plotino ofrece en su tratado II, 1 (Sobre el Cielo, el 40 en el orden cronológico) para sostener la eternidad del mundo sin que esto signifique, a sus ojos, un distanciamiento de las enseñanzas del Timeo platónico. Nos concentraremos en las objeciones que Plotino formula en el primer capítulo del tratado a dos argumentos que defienden la eternidad del cosmos e intentaremos mostrar que, aunque es posible hallar estos dos argumentos en (...) el Timeo, no es hacia este diálogo a donde Plotino dirige sus críticas. En efecto, sostenemos que es importante tener en cuenta las perspectivas divergentes a este respecto de Ático y de Aristóteles puesto que podrían contribuir, por una parte, a iluminar el modo según el cual Plotino reelabora la filosofía platónica y, por otra, a poner de manifiesto los supuestos metafísicos que subyacen a su postulación de la eternidad del mundo. In this paper we analyze some of the arguments Plotinus offers in his treatise II, 1 (On Heaven, 40 in chronological order) to defend the eternity of the world without implying, in his eyes, a departure from the teachings of Plato’s Timaeus. We will focus on the objections Plotinus presents in the first chapter of his treatise to two arguments in favor of the eternity of the cosmos and we will try to show that, although we may find these two arguments in the Timaeus, the dialogue is not the aim of Plotinus’s criticism. We argue that it is important to take into account the divergent views of Atticus and Aristotle in this regard, because they could contribute, first, to illuminate how Plotinus reelaborates the Platonic philosophy and, second, to highlight the metaphysical assumptions underlying his postulation of the eternity of the world. (shrink)

El presente trabajo examina la invectiva ciceroniana contra P. Clodio en De haruspicum responso, tomando como categoría central de análisis el concepto de stuprum, entendido inicialmente como deshonor resultante de una práctica sexual que mancilla la dignidad del individuo. Analizaremos el uso del léxico asociado al concepto de extralimitación en tanto elemento constitutivo de la estrategia argumentativa de Cicerón. Argumentaremos que una lectura del discurso en conexión con las descripciones disponibles de las celebraciones del Festival de la Bona Dea permite (...) suponer que Cicerón intenta representar a Clodio como ‘excéntrico’, en tanto individuo que no pertenece a la categoría del vir ni, por extensión, a la clase política. This paper examines the ciceronian invective against P. Clodius in De haruspicum responso, taking into consideration the concept of sturpum meaning the loss of honour as a result of a sexual practice which demeans the integrity of the individual. We will analyse the lexicon associated to the concept of extralimitation as a constitutive element to Cicero’s argumentative strategy. We will argue that a reading of this speech in relation to extant descriptions of the celebration of the Bona Dea Festival reveals that Cicero attempted to represent Clodius as an outsider, someone who does not behave like a vir and true member of the political elite. (shrink)

Why does social injustice exist? What role, if any, do implicit biases play in the perpetuation of social inequalities? Individualistic approaches to these questions explain social injustice as the result of individuals’ preferences, beliefs, and choices. For example, they explain racial injustice as the result of individuals acting on racial stereotypes and prejudices. In contrast, structural approaches explain social injustice in terms of beyond-the-individual features, including laws, institutions, city layouts, and social norms. Often these two approaches are seen as competitors. (...) Framing them as competitors suggests that only one approach can win and that the loser offers worse explanations of injustice. In this essay, we explore each approach and compare them. Using implicit bias as an example, we argue that the relationship between individualistic and structural approaches is more complicated than it may first seem. Moreover, we contend that each approach has its place in analyses of injustice and raise the possibility that they can work together—synergistically—to produce deeper explanations of social injustice. If so, the approaches may be complementary, rather than competing. (shrink)

This paper’s main contention is that some basically methodological developments in science which are apparently distant and unrelated can be seen as part of a sequential story. Focusing on general inferential and epistemological matters, the paper links occurrences separated by both in time and space, by formal and representational issues rather than social or disciplinary links. It focuses on a few limited aspects of several cognitive practices in medical and biological contexts separated by geography, disciplines and decades, but connected by (...) long term transdisciplinary representational and inferential structures and constraints. The paper intends to show a given set of knowledge claims based on organizing statistically empirical data can be seen to have been underpinned by a previous, more familiar, and probably more natural, narrative handling of similar evidence. To achieve that this paper moves from medicine in France in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century to the second half of the nineteenth century in England among gentleman naturalists, following its subject: the shift from narrative depiction of hereditary transmission of physical peculiarities to posterior statistical articulations of the same phenomena. Some early defenders of heredity as an important causal presence in the understanding of life adopted singular narratives, in the form of case stories from medical and natural history traditions, to flesh out a special kind of causality peculiar to heredity. This work tries to reconstruct historically the rationale that drove the use of such narratives. It then shows that when this rationale was methodologically challenged, its basic narrative and probabilistic underpinings were transferred to the statistical quantificational tools that took their place. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza algunos interesantes momentos en la recepción feminista del pensamiento de Hannah Arendt. Al igual que respecto a otros clásicos y clásicas del pensamiento contemporáneo —Beauvoir, Foucault o Habermas, por poner sólo tres ejemplos— nos hemos encontrado con una nutrida historia de encuentros y desencuentros. Tras una primera valoración negativa del pensamiento arendtiano, por parte de las teóricas feministas de la segunda ola, el juicio, posteriormente, se matizará y el estudio de la riqueza conceptual de la autora y (...) de su potencia filosófica —su novedosa concepción de la política, su apuesta por la narratividad y el juicio, su definición de la libertad en conexión con la noción de natalidad, …— harán que se desate un interesante juego de apropiaciones y reapropiaciones, de lecturas e interpretaciones, que, incluso, en el caso de Linda Zerilli, propondrá la posibilidad de pensar un feminismo adjetivado como arendtiano. Al hilo de esta reconstrucción histórico-crítica, hemos enhebrado nuestra propia estimación de la recepción feminista de la obra de Arendt en el contexto de los debates políticos feministas de las últimas décadas. La controvertida filósofa política se ha convertido, en suma, en un referente insoslayable en el decurso de la teoría feminista contemporánea. (shrink)

El fenómeno migratorio es creador de transnacionalidad. En este contexto se replantea el carácter restrictivo de la ciudadanía ligada a la mera garantía de los derechos de los individuos pertenecientes al Estado-Nación. La discusión sobre la desterritorialización de la ciudadanía está abierta y no puede desligarse de los cambios propiciados por la globalización. Sin embargo, la perspectiva de género a la que obliga el fenómeno de la feminización de las migraciones, tanto en el plano normativo como en los estudios empíricos, (...) es, hoy por hoy, marginal. Visibilizar las injusticias estructurales ligadas al género tanto en las sociedades emisoras como receptoras de inmigración es una clave para reproponer un nuevo modelo de ciudadanía, con especial incidencia en la igualdad y en los derechos sociales y económicos, coherente con el marco normativo de los derechos humanos. (shrink)

RESUMENEste artículo reconstruye el espectro de críticas feministas a la idea habermasiana de espacio público por su ceguera frente al género. joan Landes, iris Young, Seyla Benhabib y Nancy Fraser lo objetarán con distinto grado de racionalidad. El motivo de este alud de objeciones lo provocó la trudicción al inglés de la historia y critica de la opinión pública, una obra en la que se idealizaba la esera pública burguesa deudora de las ideas de igualdad y universidad. No obstante, las (...) mujeres al ser consideradas seres báicamente privados, simplemente no tenían, por definición, cabida en ella. La tesis de la que partimos es que sin acceso al reconocimiento en el ámbito público no hay posibilidad de acceso a la identidad: ser, como apunta Hannah Ardent, es aparecer públicamente. El reto consiste en incluir a las mujeres como miembros de pleno derecho de la esfera pública dejando de lado los sobreentendidos que las sitúan en los márgenes de la políticaPALABRAS CLAVEESFERA PÚBLICA- FEMINISMO-IDENTIDAD-RECONOCIMIENTOABSTRACTThis paper reviews the spectrum of feminist critiques tothe Habermasian idea of the public space, because of his negligence towards gender issues. Joan Landes, iris young, Seyla Benhabib and Nancy Fraser reject it with different degrees of radicality. At the centr of this critical interest in Habermas lies the publication in English of his The structural Transformation of the public sphere, a book where the bourgeois public sphere, heir to the ideas of equality and universitality, got idealized. Women, deemed to be private individuals, did not enter the public sphere. The paper argues that without recognition in the public sphere there is no acces to having an identity: being, as claimed by Hannah Ardent, is to be public. The rest entails the inclusion of women as equal patners in the public shere, in sprite of the claims that put them in the margins of politicsKEYWORDSPUBLIC SPHERE-FEMINISM-IDENTITY-RECOGNITION. (shrink)

This article discusses the category of foreigner in the context of academia. In the first part I explore this category and its philosophical significance. A quick look at the literature reveals that this category needs more attention in analyses of dimensions of privilege and disadvantage. Foreignness has peculiarities that demarcate it from other categories of identity, and it intersects with them in complicated ways. Devoting more attention to it would enable addressing issues affecting foreigners in academia that go commonly unnoticed. (...) In the second part of the article I argue that current efforts to make academia a more inclusive environment should address the disadvantages that many foreign academics face. I focus on two senses of foreigner: working and living in a country that is not your country of origin, and being a nonnative speaker of the language in which you work. (shrink)

Love enhancement can give us as a say on whom we love and thus ‘free’ us from our brain chemistry, which is mostly out of our control. In that way, we become more autonomous in love and in our life in general, as long as love enhancement is a free, voluntary choice. So goes the argument in favour of this addition to medical interventions of relationships. In this paper, I show that proponents of love enhancement have overlooked, or at least (...) underestimated, the fact that love itself impacts people’s choices. Since this could include the choice for love or anti-love drugs, I call for a re-formulation of the underlying view on autonomy before this medical intervention is made available to the public. (shrink)

todas las esferas de la sociedad cubana, en tal sentido, la presente investigación ofrece una metodología para promover un accionar más activo y transformador de las instituciones sociales en la Educación Comunitaria desde el trabajo comunitario integrado que vincula los intereses y necesidades de la población en las tareas del desarrollo social. The existence of indifference behaviors to principles reveals the need for strengthening the educative work in all spheres of the Cuban society. In that sense, the present research provides (...) a methodology in order to promote a more active and transforming work of social institutions in the community education from the integrated community work connecting the interests and needs of the people on duties of social development. (shrink)

In the context of a public health emergency it is imperative to conduct research studies that will produce evidence rapidly while upholding ethical standards. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks highlighted the importance of devising agile processes for ethics review in emergencies, and international research ethics guidelines stress the duty to depart from standard processes for ethics review in emergency circumstances. However, before the COVID-19 pandemic it was not entirely clear what emergency procedures should look like. An additional challenge is that (...) while the same substantive ethical standards apply in emergency and non-emergency settings, deciding what these standards entail in the specific circumstances of a pandemic may be difficult. During the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges included identifying thresholds of social and scientific value, along with duties towards research participants, given the absence of therapeutic options; assessing continually changing risk–benefit profiles of studies, given rapidly emerging new evidence; developing appropriate informed consent processes, given lockdown scenarios; and even addressing the ethics of offering unproven interventions outside research settings. Additional issues raised during epidemics include devising feasible and meaningful community engagement strategies, mechanisms to ensure fairness in the distribution of the benefits that may result from research, and equitable and effective data-sharing plans that will inform pandemic response. Learning from these procedural and substantive challenges encountered in the ethics review of COVID-19 research is important for enhancing ethics preparedness for future emergencies. It can also potentially contribute to improving the ethics review of research in non-emergency circumstances. The seven cases in this chapter highlight ethical issues associated with ethics approval of multi-centre studies in pandemics, the need for careful consideration of the social and scientific value of research and challenges encountered when interventions are being transitioned from research to rollout, and issues that can arise when existing regulations and policies may limit capacities to appropriately adapt research to pandemic contexts. (shrink)

Language is a collaborative act: To communicate successfully, speakers must generate utterances that are not only semantically valid but also sensitive to the knowledge state of the listener. Such sensitivity could reflect the use of an “embedded listener model,” where speakers choose utterances on the basis of an internal model of the listener's conceptual and linguistic knowledge. In this study, we ask whether parents’ spatial descriptions incorporate an embedded listener model that reflects their children's understanding of spatial relations and spatial (...) terms. Adults described the positions of targets in spatial arrays to their children or to the adult experimenter. Arrays were designed so that targets could not be identified unless spatial relationships within the array were encoded and described. Parents of 3–4-year-old children encoded relationships in ways that were well-matched to their children's level of spatial language. These encodings differed from those of the same relationships in speech to the adult experimenter. In contrast, parents of individuals with severe spatial impairments did not show clear evidence of sensitivity to their children's level of spatial language. The results provide evidence for an embedded listener model in the domain of spatial language and indicate conditions under which the ability to model listener knowledge may be more challenging. (shrink)