From the most prominent thinkers in Latin American philosophy, literature, politics, and social science comes a challenge to conventional theories of globalization. The contributors to this volume imagine a discourse in which revolution requires no temporalized march of progress or takeovers of state power but instead aims at local control and the material conditions for human dignity.

Estoy seguro que la comunidad filosófica de habla española celebrará la publicación de este libro de la Dra. Angélica Rodríguez Ortiz, pues se trata de una argumentación muy bien hilvanada a favor de la idea de que la moral tiene una naturaleza biopragmática. El texto es el resultado de su tesis doctoral, en cuya defensa oral estuve presente como sinodal externo. La principal tesis que la autora defiende, decíamos, es que la moralidad es posible gracias a la naturaleza de nuestra (...) mente, y a que poseemos un lenguaje. En palabras de Wittgenstein, diríamos que el juego del lenguaje moral tiene una base biológica, ya que compartimos una historia natural y un fundamento social, en tanto que la competencia lingüística supone la existencia de una comunidad de hablantes. Dicho de otra manera, nuestra constitución neurofisiológica es uno de los pilares sobre los que descansa la moralidad; el otro es el lenguaje, el cual fija los significados de nuestras palabras, es decir, su uso correcto e incorrecto. (shrink)

Exploramos la discusión que propone Jacques Derrida acerca de las delimitaciones entre lo humano y lo no humano, para controvertir la excepcionalidad antropocéntrica y la figura del sujeto que le corresponde, esta última definida por la posibilidad de auto posicionarse en contraste con lo no humano y lo animal. Se muestra que en la filosofía derridiana la animalidad y la escritura despliegan figuras de la alteridad radical que problematizan los límites que definen lo humano y las características que se señalan (...) como lo propio y esencial del “hombre”, ya que, al estar regida por lo indecidible, la escritura es una mediación que contamina con su reiteracción y exterioridad. Esto es posible gracias a que la dinámica de la escritura en tanto que traza remite más allá de lo humano y de lo viviente, hacia lo técnico y artefactual. Lo que permite entrar en el debate de los posthumanismos, para confrontar dos posiciones que niegan a la filosofía derridiana lograr una crítica radical al humanismo y a las figuras de la subjetividad que implica. (shrink)

Este número de la revista Disertaciones se presenta como un homenaje en memoria del profesor Jairo Urrea Henao. Nuestra portada lo presenta sentado en las inmediaciones del espacio de arte y memoria “Fragmentos” del Museo Nacional en Bogotá, un contra-monumento a la memoria de las victimas del conflicto en Colombia. Agradecemos a María Teresa Cruz Restrepo por su gentileza al aportarnos la fotografía que ella misma tomara de su compañero de vida. Incluso en diciembre del año 2020 contamos con la (...) compañía de Jairo. Gracias a las mediaciones tecnológicas que el contexto de pandemia había impuesto, su voz circulaba entre estudiantes y docentes del Programa de filosofía y de la Universidad del Quindío. A los cuales dedicó comprometida y tenazmente largos años de su enseñanza y de su comprensión del quehacer filosófico. (shrink)

Los instrumentos curriculares suelen ser objeto de luchas políticas; están atravesados por opciones, renuncias y escogencias. No son nunca neutros. Estas páginas quieren ser una contribución a la urgente tarea de revisión curricular desde una perspectiva intercultural. En este artículo se presenta el currículo como “un camino” en el que las personas ‘aprendientes’ pueden encontrarse, dialogar y aprender gracias a su diversidad, y en el que es posible promover el diálogo de saberes y culturas. No se trata solamente de prestar (...) atención a la diversidad cultural (lo cual sería ya un paso importante), sino de convertir los procesos educativos en un espacio para la convivencia en la diversidad y para la justicia cultural. (shrink)

"CAMINOS DEL PENSAR DE NUESTRA AMÉRICA se integra con 27 ensayos, cuyos autores escriben en torno a siete materias principales: Eticidad y educación; Circunstancialidad y liberación; Literatura y expresión; Movimientos sociales ¿antiguos y modernos?; Epistemologías actuales en América Latina; Tecnología ecología y ciencia, y cierra con Temas en el tintero en América Latina, todos ellos con un objetivo común: la historia de las ideas. Gracias al trabajo metodológico y guía del doctor Mario Magallón Anaya fue posible conjuntar temas diversos entrelazando (...) ideas; este libro es resultado de sesiones de análisis en las que distintas generaciones convergieron desde sus disciplinas para pensar a nuestro mundo en estas primeras dos décadas del siglo XXI."--Back cover. (shrink)

La obra editada por Mario López, Carlos Eduardo Martínez y Óscar Useche constituye una aproximación al conocimiento de los procesos de construcción de paz desarrollados por distintas comunidades en el planeta y de los abordajes teóricos sobre el tema centrados en las nuevas formas de convivencia que surgen gracias a la fuerza de lo comunitario. Se trata de una compilación de dieciséis artículos elaborados por investigadores provenientes de enfoques diversos quienes presentan una reflexión so..

From very early on, Western philosophers have been obsessed with the understanding of a relatively few works of philosophy which have played a ...

Most social scientists and philosophers claim that sociology and philosophy are disjoint fields of inquiry. Some have wondered how to trace the precise boundary between them. Mario Bunge argues that the two fields are so entangled with one another that no demarcation is possible or, indeed, desirable. In fact, sociological research has demonstrably philosophical pre-suppositions. In turn, some findings of sociology are bound to correct or enrich the philosophical theories that deal with the world, our knowledge of it, or the (...) ways of acting upon it. While Bunge's thesis would hardly have shocked Mill, Marx, Durkheim, or Weber, it is alien to the current sociological mainstream and dominant philosophical schools. Bunge demonstrates that philosophical problematics arise in social science research. A fertile philosophy of social science unearths critical presuppositions, analyzes key concepts, refines effective research strategies, crafts coherent and realistic syntheses, and identifies important new problems. Bunge examines Marx's and Durkheim's thesis that social facts are as objective as physical facts; the so-called Thomas theorem that refutes the behaviorist thesis that social agents react to social stimuli rather than to the way we perceive them; and Merton's thesis on the ethos of basic science which shows that science and morality are intertwined. He considers selected philosophical problems raised by contemporary social studies and argues forcefully against tolerance of shabby work in academic social science and philosophy alike. (shrink)

El objetivo de esta contribución es detallar el proceso para realizar un estudio sobre la población de un municipio que permita la elaboración de un diagnóstico sociológico. Para ello, se identificarán variables demográficas, económicas, sociales y de participación pública. El proceso permite alcanzar la información mínima y necesaria para el desarrollo de la primera fase de un proyecto enfocado hacia la planificación de políticas públicas: la fase de diagnóstico sociológico. El estudio de dichos elementos estructurales permite obtener resultados detallados de (...) la población y confeccionar las tesis fundamentales sobre las necesidades y problemáticas sociales que se presentan. (shrink)

This fascinating exploration of the great discoveries of history's most important mathematicians seeks an answer to the eternal question: Does mathematics hold the key to understanding the mysteries of the physical world?

It is generally argued that if the wave-function in the de Broglie–Bohm theory is a physical field, it must be a field in configuration space. Nevertheless, it is possible to interpret the wave-function as a multi-field in three-dimensional space. This approach hasn’t received the attention yet it really deserves. The aim of this paper is threefold: first, we show that the wave-function is naturally and straightforwardly construed as a multi-field; second, we show why this interpretation is superior to other interpretations (...) discussed in the literature; third, we clarify common misconceptions. (shrink)

Machine generated contents note: I. METAPHYSICS -- 1. How Do Realism, Materialism, and Dialectics Fare in Contemporary Science? -- 2. New Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous -- 3. Energy: Between Physics and Metaphysics -- 4. The Revival of Causality -- 5. Emergence and the Mind -- 6 SCIENTIFIC REALISM -- 6. The Status of Concepts -- 7. Popper's Unworldly World 3 --II. METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE -- 8. On Method in the Philosophy of Science -- 9. Induction in Science (...) -- 10. The GST Challenge to the Classical Philosophies of Science -- 11. The Power and Limits of Reduction -- 12. Thinking in Metaphors --III. PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS -- 13. Moderate Mathematical Fictionism -- 14. The Gap between Mathematics and Reality -- 15. Two Faces and Three Masks of Probability --IV. PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS -- 16. Physical Relativity and Philosophy -- 17. Hidden Variables, Separability, and Realism -- 18. Schrodinger's Cat Is Dead --V. PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY -- 19. From Mindless Neuroscience and Brainless Psychology to Neuropsychology -- 20. Explaining Creativity -- VI. PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE -- 21. Analytic Philosophy of Society and Social Science: -- The Systemic Approach as an Alternative to Holism and Individualism -- 22. Rational Choice Theory: A Critical Look at Its Foundations -- 23. Realism and Antirealism in Social Science --VII. PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY -- 24. The Nature of Applied Science and Technology -- 25. The Technology-Science-Philosophy Triangle in Its Social Context -- 26. The Technologies in Philosophy --VIII. MORAL PHILOSOPHY -- 27. A New Look at Moral Realism -- 28. Rights Imply Duties --IX. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY -- 29. Morality Is the Basis of Legal and Political Legitimacy -- 30. Technoholodemocracy: An Alternative to -- Capitalism and Socialism -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects. (shrink)

Predictivists use the no miracle argument to argue that “novel” predictions are decisive evidence for theories, while mere accommodation of “old” data cannot confirm to a significant degree. But deductivists claim that since confirmation is a logical theory-data relationship, predicted data cannot confirm more than merely deduced data, and cite historical cases in which known data confirmed theories quite strongly. On the other hand, the advantage of prediction over accommodation is needed by scientific realists to resist Laudan’s criticisms of the (...) no miracle argument. So, if the deductivists are right, the most powerful argument for realism collapses. There seems to be an inescapable contradiction between these prima facie plausible arguments of predictivists and deductivists; but this puzzle can be solved by understanding what exactly counts as novelty, if novel predictions must support the no miracle argument, i.e., if they must be explainable only by the truth of theories. Taking my cues from the use-novelty tradition, I argue that (1) the predicted data must not be used essentially in building the theory or choosing the auxiliary assumptions. This is possible if the theory and its auxiliary assumptions are plausible independently of the predicted data, and I analyze the consequences of this requirement in terms of best explanation of diverse bodies of data. Moreover, the predicted data must be (2) a priori improbable, and (3) heterogeneous to the essentially used data. My proposed notion of novelty, therefore, is not historical, but functional. Hence, deductivists are right that confirmation is independent of time and of historical contingencies such as if the theorist knew a datum, used it, or intended to accommodate it. Predictivists, however, are right that not all consequences confirm equally, and confirmation is not purely a logical theory-data relation, as it crucially involves background epistemic conditions and the notion of best explanation. Conditions (1)–(3) make the difference between prediction and accommodation, and account for the confirming power of theoretical virtues such as non ad-hocness, non-fudging, non-overfitting, independence and consilience. I thus show that functional novelty (a) avoids the deductivist objections to predictivism, (b) is a gradual notion, in accordance with the common intuition that confirmation comes in degrees, and (c) supports the no miracle argument, so vindicating scientific realism. (shrink)

En el presente conjunto de poemas, provenientes del libro titulado Vispoiesis, Pliegos de la visión n° 96 (2019), Restrepo se presenta como un operador visual que conjuga acabadamente la vocación experimental y conceptual. Encabalgado sobre preocupaciones políticas diversas, con cada una de sus piezas consigue persuadirnos de que es posible la práctica de una poesía visual que se imbrique profundamente con el contexto y que se arriesgue en un posicionamiento crítico, algo que se impone casi como una urgencia en una (...) realidad que exige el compromiso de todo poeta y artista en la construcción de nuevos horizontes y sentidos. (shrink)

And how are the answers to these questions affected by the Black and Latino experience in the United States"-From the Preface This collection of new essays explores the relation between race and ethnicity and its social and political ...

There are two possible realist defense strategies against the pessimistic meta-induction and Laudan’s meta-modus tollens: the selective strategy, claiming that discarded theories are partially true, and the discontinuity strategy, denying that pessimism about past theories can be extended to current ones. A radical version of discontinuity realism is proposed by Gerald Doppelt: rather than discriminating between true and false components within theories, he holds that superseded theories cannot be shown to be even partially true, while present best theories are demonstrably (...) completely true. I argue that this position, running counter both the cumulativity of science and fallibilism, is untenable; it cannot account for the success of past theories, nor for the failures of current theories, and rather than shutting the door to the pessimistic historical objections it opens it wide. The best strategy, instead, joins the selective idea there was both some truth and some falsity in discarded theories, like in current ones, with the moderate discontinuity idea that the truth rate in present best theories is much greater than in past ones. (shrink)

This chapter contains section titled: Who Counts as Latino? What Are the Aims of Affirmative Action? Why Should There Be Affirmative Action for Latinos? Affirmative Action for Latinos.

I want to combine two hitherto largely independent research projects, scientific understanding and mechanistic explanations. Understanding is not only achieved by answering why-questions, that is, by providing scientific explanations, but also by answering what-questions, that is, by providing what I call scientific descriptions. Based on this distinction, I develop three forms of understanding: understanding-what, understanding-why, and understanding-how. I argue that understanding-how is a particularly deep form of understanding, because it is based on mechanistic explanations, which answer why something happens in (...) virtue of what it is made of. I apply the three forms of understanding to two case studies: first, to the historical development of thermodynamics and, second, to the differences between the Clausius and the Boltzmann entropy in explaining thermodynamic processes. (shrink)

Deployment Realism resists Laudan’s and Lyons’ objections to the “No Miracle Argument” by arguing that a hypothesis is most probably true when it is deployed essentially in a novel prediction. However, Lyons criticized Psillos’ criterion of essentiality, maintaining that Deployment Realism should be committed to all the actually deployed assumptions. But since many actually deployed assumptions proved false, he concludes that the No Miracle Argument and Deployment Realism fail. I reply that the essentiality condition is required by Occam’s razor. In (...) fact, there is a simpler formulation of essentiality which escapes Lyons’ criticisms and rescues the No Miracle Argument and Deployment Realism from their purported historical counterexamples: a hypothesis is essential when it has no proper parts (in Yablo’s sense) sufficient to derive the same prediction. Although essentiality so conceived cannot be detected prospectively, this is just natural, and it is not a problem but an advantage for Deployment Realism. (shrink)

The ontological models framework distinguishes ψ-ontic from ψ-epistemic wave- functions. It is, in general, quite straightforward to categorize the wave-function of a certain quantum theory. Nevertheless, there has been a debate about the ontological status of the wave-function in the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics: is it ψ-epistemic and incomplete or ψ-ontic and complete? I will argue that the wave- function in this interpretation is best regarded as ψ-ontic and incomplete.

This chapter contains section titled: Philosophical Canons The Place of Latino Philosophy in the Canon Reasons for the Exclusion of Latino Philosophy from the Canon Philosophical Canons and Philosophical Traditions Philosophical Canons in the United States Latino Philosophy and the Western Philosophical Tradition Incorporating Latino Philosophy into the Philosophical Canon Latin America, Globalization, and the Future of Latino Philosophy Latino Philosophy and the Canon.

This chapter contains section titled: The View of Latino Philosophy in Latin America Reasons for the Disparaging View of Latino Philosophers among Latinos Role of, and Approach to, the History of Philosophy.

This chapter contains section titled: Circularity and Demarcation Objections Individuation Clarified Back to Circularity and Demarcation Individuation of Latino Ethne Individuation of Latinos.

This chapter contains section titled: Two Dilemmas Four Basic Questions about Identity The Familial—Historical View of Latino Identities Ethnicity and Nationality Latino Identities.

This chapter contains section titled: Latinos and the Politics of Ethnic Names Names, Sense, and Reference Politics and Names.

This chapter contains section titled: Linguistic Rights for Latinos Pogge's Argument for English—first A Worrisome Suspicion Language Priority in the Education of Latino Children.

This chapter contains section titled: General Philosophical Goals The American Philosophical Community General Consequences and Effects on Latinos Economic Survival and Intellectual Flourishing.

This chapter contains section titled: Our Philosophy The Problem of Latino Philosophy Historiographical Characterizations of Philosophy Latino Conceptions of Latino Philosophy Latino Philosophy as Ethnic Philosophy Latino Philosophy and “Scientific” Philosophy Universalism, Culturalism, and Critical Philosophy Revisited American Philosophy Latino and American Philosophy.