Resumen: En este artículo se hará, en primer lugar, una breve revisión de las diferentes interpretaciones del escepticismo de Michel de Montaigne; en segundo lugar, una tentativa de unificación de dichas interpretaciones -utilizando la del profesor F. Brahami como referente heurístico- a partir de los rasgos más generales presentes en el escepticismo del bordolés; y, en tercer lugar, se identificarán estos rasgos en la obra Notas de Nicolás Gómez Dávila, que para los autores es un texto escéptico de corte montaigniano.: (...) In this article we will do, in the first place, a brief review of the different interpretations on Michel de Montaigne's skepticism. In the second place, we will try to unify these interpretations -with the one of Professor Brahami as heuristic reference-, considering the more general traits of his skepticism. Thirdly, we will try to identify these traits in the work Notas of Nicolás Gómez Dávila that, in our opinion, is a skeptical montaignian text. (shrink)

RESUMEN El artículo responde algunas críticas planteadas por Ignacio Ávila a mi interpretación de la epistemología davidsoniana. Presento argumentos en contra de: a) que sea necesario distinguir entre representaciones epistemológicamente “peligrosas”e “inofensivas”; b) que el empirismo mínimo sea un tipo de realismo directo; c) que mi uso de la expresión “evidencia distal” y el interés por la teoría de la correspondencia sean asuntos ajenos a Davidson. Finalmente, sostengo que la triangulación es un elemento fundamental de la epistemología davidsoniana, pues permite (...) sortear la ansiedad realista manteniéndose en una postura no representacionalista. ABSTRACT In this article, I respond to some of Ignacio Ávila's criticisms of my interpretation of Davidson’s epistemology. I argue against: a) the need to distinguish between epistemologically “dangerous” and “harmless” representations; b) the idea that minimal empiricism is a kind of direct realism; and c) the claim that my usage of the expression “distal evidence” and interest in the theory of correspondence are issues that do not pertain to Davidson. Finally, I claim that triangulation is a key element in Davidsonian epistemology since it allows us to deal with the realist anxiety while maintaining a non-representationalist viewpoint. (shrink)

Se presenta la obra de Vicente Raga Rosaleny sobre el escepticismo de Montaigne. Con el fin de resaltar la importancia de esta investigación, para el público hispanohablante, se hace una breve relación de los apartados acerca de Montaigne en algunas historias de la filosofía al uso, los cuales se caracterizan por su exigüidad y la reiteración de lugares comunes, sin ningún espíritu crítico; y, también, se muestra la suerte de los Ensayos en español, los cuales han estado signados por la (...) censura. Es en este escenario: de ausencias, lugares comunes y de tenue recepción y censura, que se debe valorar y acoger con la mayor fruición esta publicación. (shrink)

This paper intends to provide a short assessment on how Marx and Weber approached social inequality. The assessment is conducted using evolutionary rationality. Even though Marx and Weber had seemingly contrasting approaches, I argue that in reality both are complementary and can be better understood using Darwinian evolutionary theory or “Universal Darwinism” as the locus in which the two rationalities described formation processes based on competition for the survival of social forces and the crafting of adaptive and advantageous strategies that (...) allow for the synchronic and diachronic reproduction of social groups. (shrink)

Resulta evidente la actual proliferación de títulos con el Holocausto como telón de fondo; basta con echar un vistazo a las estanterías de las librerías, las cuales acogen multitud de volúmenes que encierran en sus páginas este triste capítulo de la historia. El acercamiento a dicho tema se ha planteado desde distintos enfoques desde el siglo XX -literario, histórico e historiográfico, psicológico, filosófico, etc.-, de ahí que haya sido estudiado en la escuela a partir de multitud de propuestas en materias (...) como Educación Ético-Cívica, Geografía e Historia, Lengua Castellana y Literatura, etc. A raíz de la relación entre historia, ficción y realidad, tan en boga en la actualidad debido al éxito de obras basadas en historias reales, surge un debate que ocasiona una reflexión sobre la imagen que ofrecen estos libros. Este puede ser llevado al aula para discurrir acerca de los límites entre la historia y la literatura, a la vez que se fomentan valores y se superan prejuicios con el fin de que no se repita un episodio similar. (shrink)

In this introduction to the new edition of Durkheim and Mauss's Primitive Classification, I flesh out Durkheim and Mauss’s account of the acquisition of the concept of class, and I argue that their account steers a middle course between traditional strands of rationalism and empiricism.

This article focuses on Stuart Hall’s reading of Louis Althusser’s main theoretical works. Since the early 1970s, Hall has undertaken a critical confrontation with Althusser’s ‘structural Marxism’, rescuing those useful concepts to think cultural difference and identity, without failing to criticize his ‘superstructuralist’ interpretation of Marx. However, what Hall will retain as Althusser’s most important contribution is, above all, his theory of ideology. In this context, I follow an idea formulated by Hall that could be read as summarizing the theoretical (...) and political scope of Althusser’s contribution to Cultural Studies: ‘he enabled me to live in and with difference’. By complicating classical interpretations schemes in the Marxist tradition, Hall’s Althusser may be read as a ‘thinker of difference’ who opens up a whole research program to reconsider class conflicts as traversed (or ‘overdetermined’) by gender, racial or colonial conflicts. (shrink)

Both patients and clinicians frequently report problems around communicating and assessing pain. Patients express dissatisfaction with their doctors and doctors often find exchanges with chronic pain patients difficult and frustrating. This chapter thus asks how we could improve pain communication and thereby enhance outcomes for chronic pain patients. We argue that improving matters will require a better appreciation of the complex meaning of pain terms and of the variability and flexibility in how individuals think about pain. We start by examining (...) the various accounts of the meaning of pain terms that have been suggested within philosophy and suggest that, while each of the accounts captures something important about our use of pain terms, none is completely satisfactory. We propose that pain terms should be viewed as communicating complex meanings, which may change across different communicative contexts, and this in turn suggests that we should view our ordinary thought about pain as similarly complex. We then sketch what a view taking seriously this variability in meaning and thought might look like, which we call the “polyeidic” view. According to this view, individuals tacitly occupy divergent stances across a range of different dimensions of pain, with one agent, for instance, thinking of pain in a much more “bodycentric” kind of way, while another thinks of pain in a much more "mindcentric” way. The polyeidic view attempts to expand the multidimensionality recognised in, e.g., biopsychosocial models in two directions: first, it holds that the standard triumvirate— dividing sensory/cognitive/affective factors— needs to be enriched in order to capture important distinctions within the social and psychological dimensions. Second, the polyeidic view attempts to explain (at least in part) why modulation of experience by these social and psychological factors is possible in the first place. It does so by arguing that because the folk concept of pain is complex, different weightings of the different parts of the concept can modulate pain experience in a variety of ways. Finally, we argue that adopting a polyeidic approach to the meaning of pain would have a range of measurable clinical outcomes. (shrink)

In the present article, we consider the question of the primary elements in Plato’s Timaeus, the components of the whole universe reduced, by an extraordinarily elegant construction, to two right triangles. But how does he reconcile such a model with the infinite diversity of the universe? A large part of this study is devoted to Cornford’s explanation in his commentary of the Timaeus and its shortcomings, in order to finally propose a revised one, which we think to be entirely consistent (...) with Plato’s text. This analysis is an essential step for the understanding of the connection between the sensible world and the mathematical principles that underlies Timaeus’ cosmological account. (shrink)

In our racially unjust societies, what should white people do? In this paper, I survey answers to this question that recent work in ethics, social epistemology, and philosophy of race suggests.

Rapid advancements in machine learning techniques allow mass surveillance to be applied on larger scales and utilize more and more personal data. These developments demand reconsideration of the privacy-security dilemma, which describes the tradeoffs between national security interests and individual privacy concerns. By investigating mass surveillance techniques that use bulk data collection and machine learning algorithms, we show why these methods are unlikely to pinpoint terrorists in order to prevent attacks. The diverse characteristics of terrorist attacks—especially when considering lone-wolf terrorism—lead (...) to irregular and isolated footprints. The irregularity of data affects the accuracy of machine learning algorithms and the mass surveillance that depends on them which can be explained by three kinds of known problems encountered in machine learning theory: class imbalance, the curse of dimensionality, and spurious correlations. Proponents of mass surveillance often invoke the distinction between collecting data and metadata, in which the latter is understood as a lesser breach of privacy. Their arguments commonly overlook the ambiguity in the definitions of data and metadata and ignore the ability of machine learning techniques to infer the former from the latter. Given the sparsity of datasets used for machine learning in counterterrorism and the privacy risks attendant with bulk data collection, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders should critically re-evaluate the likelihood of success of the algorithms and the collection of data on which they depend. (shrink)

In this paper, we study the so-called ‘Mathematical part’ of Plato’s Theaetetus. Its subject concerns the incommensurability of certain magnitudes, in modern terms the question of the rationality or irrationality of the square roots of integers. As the most ancient text on the subject, and on Greek mathematics and mathematicians as well, its historical importance is enormous. Its interpretation presents a certain degree of difficulty because of the intertwined fields that play a role in it : philosophy, history and mathematics. (...) But conversely, correctly understood, it provides clues on both the question of the origins of the irrationals in Greek mathematics and some points concerning Plato’s thought. Taking into account the historical context and the philosophical background generally forgotten in mathematical analyses, we get a new interpretation of this text which, far from being a tribute to some mathematicians, is a radical criticism of their ways of thinking. And the mathematical lesson, far from being a tribute to some future mathematical achievements, ends on an aporia, in accordance with the whole dialogue. (shrink)

Introduction -- Matter, form of cognition, form of sensibility, form of understanding, time and space -- Sensibility, imagination, understanding, pure a priori concepts of the understanding or categories, schemata, answering the question Quid Juris, answering the question Quid Facti, doubts about the latter -- Ideas of the understanding, ideas of reason, etc. -- Subject and predicate. the determinable and the determination -- Thing, possible, necessary, ground, consequence, etc. -- Identity, difference, opposition, reality, logical, and transcendental negation -- Magnitude, alteration, change, (...) etc. -- Truth, subjective, objective, logical, metaphysical -- On the I, materialism, idealism, dualism, etc. -- Short overview of the whole work -- My ontology -- On symbolic cognition and philosophical language. (shrink)

Extraits de la Source de vie de Salomon ibn-Gebirol.--Ibn-Gebirol, ses écrits et sa philosophie.--Des principaux philosophes arabes et de leurs doctrines.--Esquisse historique de la philosophie chez les Juìfs.--Appendice.--Texte hébreu des extraits de la Source de vie (2 p.l., 36 numb. l. at end).

Neste artigo mostra-se os resultados de uma busca em bases de dados internacionais sobre a teoria do agir comunicativo de Habermas na área da Administração de Organizações. A teoria de Habermas foi desenvolvida após a sua guinada linguística, de ruptura com a filosofia da consciência e a metafísica em 1981. Nela os usos da linguagem são modos de expressão e representação, mas também modo de construção de vínculos sociais. A partir desta teoria, Habermas desenvolve a ideia de discurso como agir (...) comunicativo orientado para o entendimento, e elabora uma ética do discurso e uma política deliberativa. A entrada da obra de Habermas na Administração antecede a sua guinada linguística, e deve ser destacado o uso da sua tese "Mudança estrutural da esfera pública". Neste artigo quer-se destacar as relações estabelecidas entre a filosofia da linguagem e a Administração, tanto em acordos teóricos quanto práticos. Entre os aspectos teóricos destaca-se os estudos teóricos do conhecimento, incluindo a epistemologia. Entre os aspectos práticos estão as questões da filosofia prática, a ética e a política. Quer-se assim apresentar o potencial da filosofia de Habermas para pesquisa e trabalho na Administração de Organizações. (shrink)

History is familiar with great scientific traditions which have been substantial, effective, cumulative and progressive.* At the level of great eras of civilization, extensive and not episodic phenomena, very ancient Chinese science, Greek science and Arab science are objects of investigation for historical erudition, but also for the scientific historian and the philosopher of sciences. Many of the elements of these systems were the source of “modern science”, as it is called, or are integral parts ol’ this system of knowledge (...) and practice which has been constructed over a little more than three centuries. Diachronically, the “scientific revolution” of the classical age in Europe does not signify a total break with what preceded it: Chinese astronomy, Arab algebra and the hospital organization of the Islamic world were used, even if the ideology of scientists when they wrote their own history, particularly from the 19th century onward, tends to make of modern science a purely European phenomenon. (shrink)

El trabajo desea mostrar la especial relación que se entabla entre el pensamiento de heidegger y la metafísica. En tal sentido se propone la tentativa de dotar de un nuevo fundamento a la metafísica a través de la analítica existenciaria emprendida en El Ser en el Tiempo. Siguiendo esta misma obra señala cómo un análisis original del tiempo aunado a la revisión crítica (de-construcción) de la Historia de la Metafísica -tarea te será asumida ulteriormente- concluyen 1 un "abandono" del pensamiento (...) fundacional y por tanto en una "renuncia" a la metafísica. Ella empero no ha de ser rechazada sino más bien plenamente asumida ·y sobrepasada- comprendiéndola dentro del pensamiento que medita la Historia del ser como auténtico nihilismo, es decir como la "época" necesaria en la que el Ser en proceso de su desocultación se dispensa tanto retirada. (shrink)

We propose that human reasoning relies on an inherence heuristic, an implicit cognitive process that leads people to explain observed patterns (e.g., girls wear pink) in terms of the inherent features of their constituents (e.g., pink is an inherently feminine color). We then demonstrate how this proposed heuristic can provide a unified account for a broad set of findings spanning areas of research that might at first appear unrelated (e.g., system justification, nominal realism, is–ought errors in moral reasoning). By revealing (...) the deep commonalities among the diverse phenomena that fall under its scope, our account is able to generate new insights into these phenomena, as well as new empirical predictions. A second main goal of this paper, aside from introducing the inherence heuristic, is to articulate the proposal that the heuristic serves as a foundation for the development of psychological essentialism. More specifically, we propose that essentialism—which is the common belief that natural and social categories are underlain by hidden, causally powerful “essences”—emerges over the first few years of life as an elaboration of the earlier, and more open-ended, intuitions supplied by the inherence heuristic. In the final part of the paper, we distinguish our proposal from competing accounts (e.g., Strevens' K-laws) and clarify the relationship between the inherence heuristic and related cognitive tendencies (e.g., the correspondence bias). In sum, this paper illuminates a basic cognitive process that emerges early in life and is likely to have profound effects on many aspects of human psychology. (shrink)

This paper is an updated translation of an article published in French in the Journal Lato Sensu (I, 2014, p. 70-80). We study here the so-called 'Mathematical part' of Plato's Theaetetus. Its subject concerns the incommensurability of certain magnitudes, in modern terms the question of the rationality or irrationality of the square roots of integers. As the most ancient text on the subject, and on Greek mathematics and mathematicians as well, its historical importance is enormous. The difficulty to understand it (...) lies in the close intertwining of different fields we found in it: philosophy, history and mathematics. But conversely, correctly understood, it gives some evidences both about the question of the origins of the irrationals in Greek mathematics and some points concerning Plato's thought. Taking into account the historical context and the philosophical background generally forgotten in mathematical analyses, we get a new interpretation of this text, which far from being a tribute to some mathematicians, is a radical criticism of their ways of thinking. And the mathematical lesson, far from being a tribute to some future mathematical achievements, is ending on an aporia, in accordance with the whole dialogue. Résumé. Cet article est une traduction anglaise révisée d'un article paru en français dans la revue Lato Sensu (I, 2014, p. 70-80). (shrink)

Pour rendre compte de la première démonstration d’existence d’une grandeur irrationnelle, les historiens des sciences et les commentateurs d’Aristote se réfèrent aux textes sur l’incommensurabilité de la diagonale qui se trouvent dans les Premiers Analytiques, les plus anciens sur la question. Les preuves usuelles proposées dérivent d’un même modèle qui se trouve à la fin du livre X des Éléments d’Euclide. Le problème est que ses conclusions, passant par la représentation des fractions comme rapport de deux entiers premiers entre eux, (...) i.e. la proposition VII.22 des Éléments, ne correspondent pas aux écrits aristotéli­ciens. Dans cet article, nous proposons une nouvelle démonstration, conforme aux textes des Analytiques, fondés sur des résultats très anciens de la théorie du pair et de l’impair. Ne passant pas par la proposition VII.22, ni par aucune autre propriété établie par l’absurde, cette irrationalité apparaît comme le premier résultat que l’on ne pouvait établir par une autre méthode. L’importance de ce résultat, révélant un nouveau domaine mathématique, celui des grandeurs irrationnelles, rend compte de la centralité que cette forme de raisonnement acquiert alors, d’abord en mathématique, puis dans tout type de discours rationnel. À partir des conséquences qui suivent de cette nouvelle démonstration, on peut interpréter très simplement la leçon sur les irrationnels du passage mathématique figurant dans le Théétète de Platon (147d-148b), ce que nous ferons dans un article à paraître dans un prochain numéro. (shrink)

Do participants in shared activity have mutual obligations to do their bit? This article shows this question has no one-size-fits-all answer and offers a pluralist account of the normativity of shared agency. The first part argues obligations to do one's bit have three degrees of involvement in shared activity. Such obligations might, obviously, bolster co-participants’ resolve to act as planned (degree 1). Less obviously, there also are higher and lower degrees of involvement. Obligations to do one's bit might provide our (...) agency-pooling mechanism. When they do, we act together by virtue of satisfying them (degree 2). Conversely, some shared activities involve no obligation (degree 0). In the second part, I argue shared agency theory is best served by a non-moralistic conception of obligation, one on which co-participants’ obligations need be neither strict-performance obligations, nor directed ones. Overall, my arguments suggest that we can choose how to coordinate normatively our shared activities. (shrink)