The ob jec ti ve of this ar ti cle is two-fold. On the one hand it is a ten ta ti ve re cons truc tion of the theo re ti cal struc tu re of neo li be ra lism, poin ting out that this theory has litt le ex pla na tory ca pa city, and it is ba si cally a po li ti cal Pro ject of a uto pian ca rác..

El tema monográfico de este número es el de la mirada desde el descentramiento, desde lugares y espacios que no son los habituales, que se sitúan en los márgenes. Se presentan fragmentos de visiones de los excluídos, de los marginados y “condenados de la tierra”; así como pensamientos y formas de acción rebeldes que rechazan toda forma de coerción social. Otros están escritos desde la “anormalidad”; desde los estigmatizados por su condición física o el carácter de su labor. Se hacen (...) presentes.. (shrink)

En el primer número, iniciamos el análisis de diversas temáticas que siendo relativamente delimitadas y específicas, están relacionadas entre sí: universidad y sociedad; el debate sobre el conocimiento científico; el análisis de la sociedad contemporánea; el estudio de la modernización neoliberal en América Latina; la búsqueda de nuevas alternativas y propuestas en el ámbito social, y de nuevas formas de desarrollo; las concepciones educacionales; la teoría psicológica; las transformaciones y..

A través de un viaje histórico sobre el rol del Estado y la sociedad civil, el autor postula que las organizaciones y los movimientos sociales en el Estado postautoritario, debido a la radical modernización neoliberal de y un sistema político de democracia tutelada no tienen espacio social para tener una voz política. El Estado las acepta constreñidas a determinadas funciones, pero no estimula ni favorece su desarrollo autónomo. Frente a esto, las organizaciones deben optar entre someterse a dicho rol, o (...) buscar un desarrollo autónomo con todos las dificultades y riesgos que ello implica. (shrink)

Sostiene el autor que las privatizaciones continúan siendo un tema central de la política latinoamericana, y que los mismos argumentos sobre su eficiencia y necesidad se repiten en todos sus países. Denuncia esto como una dependencia de las elites gobernantes latinoamericanas a “los requerimientos de la globalización”, y agrega que este no es sólo un tema ideológico, pues las privatizaciones permiten comprar a bajo precio empresas de alta rentabilidad. Analiza luego la historia de la irrupción en Chile de las privatizaciones, (...) y sus consecuencias para la economía nacional, argumentando que éstas constituyeron un instrumento fundamental del cambio de manos del poder tras el golpe de Estado de 1973, y que desde 1990 han sido una de las principales bases de lo que define como una democracia neoliberal. (shrink)

Indudablemente, Franz Hinkelammert es uno de los investigadores sociales más importantes de América Latina. Esto se manifiesta no sólo en la difusión de su obra, la publicación de sus libros en Europa y en nuestro continente, sino también en el creciente reconocimiento de sus aportes por importantes investigadores, científicos sociales, teólogos críticos y filósofos latinoamericanos. Es así, por ejemplo, que Enrique Dussel, Leonardo Boeff, Raúl Fornet-Betancourt, Gustavo Gutierrez y otros des..

Este ensayo busca mostrar la relevancia teórica, política y ética de la contribución realizada por Franz Hinkelammert a la crítica a la teoría neoliberal. Para ello, parte recorriendo algunos aspectos de la situación intelectual de los ochenta cuando el neoliberalismo fue introducido en América Latina, a continuación ofrece una caracterización general de la crítica latinoamericana al neoliberalismo, y finalmente expone algunos de los temas centrales de la contribución de Hinkelammert a dicha crítica, destacando que el centro de su refutación al (...) neoliberalismo está referida a su teoría económica. Destaca el artículo que los neoliberales han sacralizado el mercado confiriéndole los mismos atributos que la teología cristiana confiere a Dios, y que paradójicamente lo central a esta ideología es su radical antihumanismo, y su carácter de totalitarismo mercantil. (shrink)

Frente a la escasa presencia del tema del estado de derecho en el pensamiento crítico latinoamericano en contraste a los de revolución, cambio social, emancipación, justicia social, democracia y derechos humanos, el autor propone la importancia de este tema en tanto la invocación al estado de derecho ha sido el mito cuasi-religioso conservador en América Latina que ha justificado la represión e incluso los golpes de estado. Por ello el artículo recoge la teoría política de Hayek, de quien sólo se (...) había enfatizado el aspecto del cambio de las concepciones económicas, escamoteando su influencia en el ámbito jurídico-político y en el de la teoría democrática. Tras ello recorre la crítica de Hinkelammert al pensamiento neoliberal. (shrink)

El presente artículo se sostiene que la teoría neoliberal pretende ser una interpretación verdadera de la realidad humana y social, pero a su vez contiene una utopía -en el sentido de un proyecto irrealizable, aún cuando todos estuvieran de acuerdo en intentar ponerlo en práctica; todo esto en un contexto intelectual donde tiene significativa presencia la tesis del fin de los metarelatos y de las utopías. Paradójicamente, postula el autor, la teoría neoliberal cumple las funciones de una ideología y una (...) utopía, y hasta intenta responder a las principales preguntas sobre el hombre, la libertad, el sentido de la vida humana, la sociedad y sus instituciones. El artículo recorre su historia y presenta las teorías críticas a este pensamiento, y concluye mostrando el carácter político de la utopía neoliberal. (shrink)

Este libro es una singular combinación de amplitud de visiones, profundidad de análisis, precisión en los argumentos y sincronización con temas y problemas de la contingencia. El texto se desarrolla entre márgenes amplios, desde la crítica de ideas y el análisis filosófico a la comprensión de un fenómeno histórico y la lectura del presente. Consta de tres partes, precedidas de unas «consideraciones preliminares» y cerradas con un epílogo, y un apéndice sobre el “caso” Pinochet. El texto permi..

La presente edición de la revista Polis tiene como tema central la(s) ciencia(s), la(s) tecnología(s) y la producción colectiva de saber(es). El desarrollo científico en nuestros países, llegados tardíamente a la revolución industrial, de frustrada y asimétrica industrialización, es claramente insuficiente y aún no han logrado incorporarse a la nueva revolución científico-tecnológica. Simultáneamente, nuestras sociedades se encuentran en un proceso de profundas transformaciones en su sistema..

Nuestra universidad inicia la publicación de su revista Polis. Su nombre deriva de una tradición de pensamiento clásico para la cual la ciudad, y en este caso, la sociedad chilena en conjunto, es el horizonte de nuestra acción como universidad. El hombre es un ser de la ciudad, un ciudadano, decía Aristóteles, significando con ello que comparte su vida con sus connacionales. Y esto implica, que nada de lo que suceda en su ciudad le pueda ser ajeno; y por ello (...) es que no podemos declararnos ind.. (shrink)

“Resistir significa en primer lugar rechazar. Hoy, la insurgencia consiste en ese rechazo que no tiene nada de negativo, que es un acto indispensable, vital “ V. F.Hace ya seis años, en 1997, dos importantes editoriales publicaron en Barcelona, México y Buenos Aires, una traducción al español de El horror económico, y tres años después apareció en nuestra lengua Una extraña dictadura, ambos de la destacada ensayista y novelista francesa Vivianne Forrester. Estas obras se convirtieron en éxit..

The studies show a positive and direct relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of the students. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze the psychological processes that affect these relationships. For this reason, the purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of academic integration on the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of Chilean university students. The participants were a total of 580 students from a university in northern Chile, (...) 359 women and 221 men. The mediation analysis was performed by structural equations modeling, using the maximum likelihood method and the bootstrapping procedure with 10,000 iterations. The results indicated that academic integration partially mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of the students. Therefore, the basic psychological needs satisfaction had an indirect effect on the intrinsic motivation of the students through academic integration. It is concluded that the academic integration constitutes a psychological process that promotes the development of intrinsic motivation for learning. The practical implications are discussed along with the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research. (shrink)

The relevance of inner speech for human psychology, especially for higher-order cognitive functions, is widely recognized. However, the study of the phenomenology of inner speech, that is, what it is like for a subject to experience internally speaking his/her voice, has received much less attention. This study explores the subjective experience of inner speech through empathy for pain paradigm. To this end, an experimental phenomenological method was implemented. Sixteen healthy subjects were exposed to videos of sportswomen/sportsmen having physical accidents practicing (...) extreme sports. Immediately after the exposure to the stimuli, a phenomenological interview was conducted to gather data about bodily sensations, emotions, motivations, and inner speech of watching other people’s accidents. Participant’s inner speech expresses concern about the consequences the accident could generate to the sportswomen/sportsmen or about the participants themselves. Simultaneously, participants’ inner speech happened with negative emotional feelings, many sensations distributed throughout their bodies, and a felt knowledge coming from a meaningful but pre-reflective and pre-verbal bodily dimension. Our findings show that inner speech in empathy is not merely a psycholinguistic process or high-order cognitive function, but rather it is a complex experience that occurs deeply related to meaningful emotions, bodily sensations, and an implicit, somatically felt knowledge. (shrink)

Desde la publicación de El contrato social, en 1752, la concepción roussoniana de la democracia ha sido, de diversos modos, interpretada y cuestionada. Este artículo tiene una orientación hermenéutica: busca contribuir a esclarecerla y demostrar que las interpretaciones conservadoras que la identifican con el pensamiento autoritario e incluso totalitario no corresponden al sentido de los textos. Asimismo, se explicitan sus diferencias con las concepciones políticas de Hobbes y Locke. Podría decirse que Rousseau abre el espacio para el surgimiento de nuevas (...) formas de pensamiento, respecto al liberalismo clásico y la Ilustración francesa. Fundó el pensamiento crítico sobre la sociedad moderna y planteó, lúcidamente, el problema de la fragmentación social y la necesidad de superarlo potenciando la dimensión comunitaria de la sociedad, mediante la constitución de un nuevo orden político y un nuevo proyecto educativo. Fundó, con ello, una nueva tradición democrática diferente a la de Locke: la concepción participativa de la democracia, basada en el principio de la soberanía popular, la cual ha alcanzado un importante desarrollo en nuestro tiempo. (shrink)

ResumenEl estudio de las prácticas materiales de una sociedad requiere considerar los tipos de enmarcamiento epistemológico en que se desarrollan y sus efectos sobre éstas. Los modos de categorizar y distinguir y los modos organizar y agrupar son parte del enmarcamiento de las prácticas que este texto aborda. En particular, explora conceptualmente los modos de organización de conjuntos basados en la distinción agregativa entre lo singular y lo plural y los modos de organización enfocados en el efecto compositivo de la (...) diferencia entre molécula y masa. El ejercicio conceptual propone que ambos modos de organización sean empleados en conjunto, habilitando describir fenómenos de agregación y composición integrados sincrónica y diacrónicamente en la organización material de lo social.Palabras clave: agregación; composición; distinción; organización; prácticas materiales. (shrink)

El artículo presenta una crítica teórica a las principales interpretaciones de la identidad cultural latinoamericana. A partir del debate teórico sobre el concepto de identidad cultural, se describen los principales argumentos de cada tesis y luego se plantea un análisis crítico de sus fundamentos c..

El presente artículo busca una posible explicación al fenómeno de rupturas en los partidos políticos chilenos en el debilitamiento de la convención colaborativa en las élites partidarias. Se considera el supuesto de que la conformación de élites partidarias corresponde a una forma de operación de los liderazgos dentro de un marco colaborativo que son los partidos. Como forma de verificar este planteamiento se analizaron tres casos de desagregaciones partidarias entre los años 2007 a 2009.

El artículo analiza las condiciones de validez del testimonio en ciencias sociales. Sus potencialidades centrales son el constituir un campo de exploración e investigación de acercamiento a la subjetividad, especialmente a la de los sectores populares. Ello ha permitido incorporar sus discursos y representaciones en las ciencias sociales. Sin embargo, dicha incorporación se ha realizado bajo una perspectiva empirista, según la cual el testimonio es una representación inmediata, directa de los sujetos, lo que oculta la mediación del testimonio a través (...) del cientista social, particularmente a través de la entrevista. Por ende, la idea del testimonio como una ¿voz de los sin voz¿ oculta el diálogo entre investigador-sujetos, que podría ser potenciado en un tipo de investigación hermenéutica en la que el investigador ya no ostentaría el monopolio de la interpretación. (shrink)

Tras señalar que la actual política indígena divide a la sociedad chilena en posiciones antagónicas, el artículo plantea una mirada de superación quienes la ven como una amenaza al orden institucional y a la unidad de la nación chilena, y quienes la consideran meras modificaciones cosméticas al modelo etnocida del Estado chileno. Se señala que los compromisos del Pacto de Nueva Imperial tienen niveles parciales de cumplimiento que dejan a Chile por debajo en estas materias en el concierto latinoamericano, lo (...) que ha llevado a que la relación entre el gobierno y la CONADI con el movimiento indígena está atravesada por contradicciones y conflictos difíciles de solucionar. (shrink)

El presente texto desarrolla el concepto de operación como una forma específica de acción colectiva, se la considera como una movilización organizada de recursos acotados a objetivos y tiempos determinados. En el análisis de la Falange Nacional chilena es posible distinguir, entre los periodos temprano y tardío de su vida como organización, la manera como van funcionando y produciendo efectos, por lo menos dos tipos de operaciones, caracterizadas una como doctrinaria y la otra como pragmática. Los principales efectos de la (...) performance de estos tipos se ubican en la concepción e implementación del modelo orgánico del partido y la figura vincular del agente político o adscriptor asociado a dicho modelo. (shrink)

This review analyzes the book of the young historian and philosopher Carlos Arturo López Jiménez, El terreno común de la escritura highlighting his method to understand the practice of writing philosophy in Colombia between 1892 and 1910. In that sense, more than a criticism of this book, it is an invitation to read it carefully to distance oneself form the limits imposed by professional philosophers who, as judges, judge the past and the very existence of philosophy in Colombia and by (...) extension in Latin America. (shrink)

Introduction: Traditionally, empathy has been studied from two main perspectives: the theory-theory approach and the simulation theory approach. These theories claim that social emotions are fundamentally constituted by mind states in the brain. In contrast, classical phenomenology and recent research based on enactive theories consider empathy as the basic process of contacting others’ emotional experiences through direct bodily perception and sensation. Objective: This study aims to enrich knowledge of the empathic experience of pain by using an experimental phenomenological method. Method: (...) Implementing an experimental paradigm used in affective neuroscience, we exposed 28 healthy adults to a video of sportspersons suffering physical accidents while practicing extreme sports. Immediately after watching the video, each participant underwent a phenomenological interview to gather data on embodied, multi-layered dimensions (bodily sensations, emotions, and motivations) and temporal aspects of empathic experience. We also performed quantitative analyses of the phenomenological categories. Results: Experiential access to the other person’s painful experience involves four main-themes. Bodily resonance: participants felt a multiplicity of bodily, affective, and kinesthetic sensations. Attentional focus: some participants centered their attention more on their own personal discomfort and sensations of rejection, while others on the pain and suffering experienced by the sportspersons. Kinesthetic motivation: some participants experienced the feeling in their bodies to avoid or escape from watching the video, while others experienced the need to help the sportspersons avoid suffering any injury while practicing extreme sports. Temporality of experience: participants witnessed temporal fluctuations in their experiences, bringing intensity changes in their bodily resonance, attentional focus, and kinesthetic motivation. Finally, two experiential structures were found: one structure is self-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the participant’s own experience of seeing the sportsperson suffering, and self-protective kinesthetic motivation; the other structure is other-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the sportsperson, and prosocial kinesthetic motivation to help them. Discussion: We show how phenomenological data may contribute to comprehending empathy for pain in social neuroscience. In addition, we address the phenomenological aspect of the enactive approach to the three dimensions of embodiment of human consciousness, especially the intersubjective dimension. Also, based on our results, we suggest an extension of the enactive theory for non-interactive social experience. (shrink)

Enseñan los estudiosos del Talmud que los Profetas no profetizan en contra de algo que acontecerá de modo inexorable. Por el contrario lo hacen en contra de algo que sucederá si no somos capaces de rectificar el rumbo de nuestras vidas. Rectificar el rumbo mientras sea posible, recuperar la realidad, recuperar la vida de todos como condición indispensable de posibilidad y racionalidad de cualquier forma de existencia social, es el llamado secularmente profético que formula Franz Hinkelammert ..

Este artículo discute algunas ideas centrales del neoliberalismo de Hayek. En su libro Mercado y sociedad. La utopía política de Friedrich Hayek, Jorge Vergara cuestiona el estatus teórico del discurso hayekiano, destacando su carácter utópico. Supera así la recepción corriente, ideológica y económica, de este autor. Este supuesto carácter utópico sugiere una simetría del pensamiento de Hayek con Marx, en tanto ambos comparten un mismo horizonte de comprensión, una misma episteme. La concepción de la razón y del sujeto (...) –una razón producida y un sujeto interactivo igualmente no constituido–, además de la importancia decisiva que ambos le asignan al sistema de mercado, son rasgos destacados de esa copertenencia epistémica. ¿Hasta qué punto dicha simetría puede hacerse extensiva a la política? A este respecto, se plantea una diferencia sustantiva entre Hayek y las utopías del siglo XX. (shrink)

When a circular coin is rotated in depth, is there any sense in which it comes to resemble an ellipse? While this question is at the center of a rich and divided philosophical tradition (with some scholars answering affirmatively and some negatively), Morales et al. (2020, 2021) took an empirical approach, reporting 10 experiments whose results favor such perspectival similarity. Recently, Burge and Burge (2022) offered a vigorous critique of this work, objecting to its approach and conclusions on both philosophical (...) and empirical grounds. Here, we answer these objections on both fronts. We show that Burge and Burge’s critique rests on misunderstandings of Morales et al.’s claims; of the relation between the data and conclusions; and of the philosophical context in which the work appears. Specifically, Burge and Burge attribute to us a much stronger (and stranger) view than we hold, involving the introduction of “a new entity” located “in some intermediate position(s) between the distal shape and the retinal image.” We do not hold this view. Indeed, once properly understood, most of Burge and Burge’s objections favor Morales et al.’s claims rather than oppose them. Finally, we discuss several questions that remain unanswered, and reflect on a productive path forward on these issues of foundational scientific and philosophical interest. (shrink)

Our pains can be more or less intense, our mental imagery can be more or less vivid, our perceptual experiences can be more or less striking. These degrees of intensity of conscious experiences are all manifestations of a phenomenal property I call mental strength. In this article, I argue that mental strength is a domain-general phenomenal magnitude; in other words, it is a phenomenal quantity shared by all conscious experiences that explains their degree of felt intensity. Mental strength has been (...) largely overlooked in favor of mental states’ type, representational contents, domain-specific phenomenology, or processes such as attention. Considering mental strength in our reflections about the mind illuminates debates about the relation of representational contents and phenomenal character, and it also helps address questions about the structure and functions of consciousness. Mental strength provides a unifying construct to model what is shared in the phenomenology of different types of conscious experiences. (shrink)

This article examines Aristotle's views concerning the possibility of friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. The suggestion that he denies this possibility is rejected. I reassess the textual evidence adduced by scholars in support of this reading, while adding new material for discussion. Central to the traditional reading is the assumption that animals, in Aristotle's view, cannot be friends in virtue of their cognitive limitations. I argue that Aristotle's account of animal cognition is perfectly consistent with the possibility of (...) friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. (shrink)

Journal of Political Philosophy, EarlyView.

The concept of shared mental models refers to the shared understanding among team members about how they should behave in different situations. This article aimed to develop a new shared mental model measure, specifically designed for the refereeing context. A cross-sectional study was conducted with three samples: national and regional football referees (n = 133), national football referees and assistant referees and national futsal referees (n = 277), and national futsal referees (n = 60). The proposed version of the Referee (...) Shared Mental Models Measure (RSMMM) has 13 items that are reflected on a single factor structure. The RSMMM presented good validity evidence both based on the internal structure and based on relations to other variables (presenting positive associations with team work engagement, team adaptive performance, and team effectiveness). Such promising psychometric properties point to an optimistic outlook regarding its use to measure shared mental models in futsal and football referee teams. -/- . (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to present a revision of international versions of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and to describe the psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the UWES-9 developed simultaneously for Brazil and Portugal, the validity evidence related with the internal structure, namely, Dimensionality, measurement invariance between Brazil and Portugal, and Reliability of the scores. This is the first UWES version developed simultaneously for both countries, and it is an important instrument for understanding employees' work engagement (...) in the organizations, allowing human resources departments to better use workforces, especially when they are migrants. A total of 524 Brazilian workers and 522 Portuguese workers participated in the study. Confirmatory Factor Analysis, group comparisons, and Reliability estimates were used. The use of workers who were primarily professionals or administrative support, according to ISCO-08, reinforced the need to collect data on other professional occupations. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable fit for the UWES-9 original three-factor solution, and a second-order factor structure has been proposed that presented an acceptable fit. Full-scale invariance was obtained between the Portuguese and Brazilian samples, both for the original three-factor first-order and second-order models. Data revealed that Portuguese and Brazilian workers didn't show statistically significant differences in the work engagement dimensions. This version allows for direct comparisons of means and, consequently, for performance of comparative and cross-cultural studies between these two countries. (shrink)

During the last few years, burnout has gained more and more attention for its strong connection with job performance, absenteeism, and presenteeism. It is a psychological phenomenon that depends on occupation, also presenting differences between sexes. However, to properly compare the burnout levels of different groups, a psychometric instrument with adequate validity evidence should be selected (i.e., with measurement invariance). This paper aims to describe the psychometric properties of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) version adapted for workers from Brazil and (...) Portugal, and to compare burnout across countries and sexes. OLBI's validity evidence based on the internal structure (dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance), and validity evidence based on relationships with other variables (work engagement) are described. Additionally, it aims presents a revision of different OLBI's versions—since this is the first version of the instrument developed simultaneously for both countries—it is an important instrument for understanding burnout between sexes in organizations. Data were used from 1,172 employees across two independent samples, one from Portugal and the other from Brazil, 65 percent being female. Regarding the OLBI internal structure, a reduced version (15 items) was obtained. The high correlation between disengagement and exhaustion, suggested the existence of a second-order latent factor, burnout, which presented measurement invariance for country and sex. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Portuguese OLBI version presented good goodness-of-fit indices and good internal consistency values. No statistically significant differences were found in burnout between sexes or countries. OLBI also showed psychometric properties that make it a promising and freely available instrument to measure and compare burnout levels of Portuguese and Brazilian employees. (shrink)

Philosophers of science typically focus on the epistemic performance of scientific models when evaluating them. Analysing the effects that models may have on the world has typically been the purview of sociologists of science. We argue that the reactive (or “performative”) effects of models should also figure in model evaluations by philosophers of science. We provide a detailed analysis of how models in financial economics created the impetus for the growing importance of the phenomenon of “passive investing” in financial markets. (...) Considering this case motivates the position that we call contextualism about model evaluation, or _model contextualism_ for short. Model contextualism encompasses standard analyses of the epistemic performance of the model, but also includes their reactive aspects. It entails identifying the _epistemic and contextual import of the model_, the ways in which a model can engender change in the world (which we call the _channels of transmission_), and the _interactions between the epistemic and reactive import of a model_. (shrink)

This paper presents a reading of Metaphysics Z.10–11 according to which both chapters outline two main definienda: forms and material substances or compounds, each of which is governed by its own peculiar constraints. Forms include formal parts alone; furthermore, they are the main definable items and enjoy the strictest possible unity. However, this does not preclude Aristotle from upgrading material compounds to the status of definable items in their own right. Z.10 explains this contention by making the compound’s sensible functional (...) matter dependent on its form. This dependence affords the resulting compound an unusually tight form-matter relationship, strong enough to ensure its definability, despite falling short of the highest kind of unity that only forms display. (shrink)

Darwin’s theory is often illustrated with depictions of different finch beaks or with lined-up skeletons displaying subtle bone-structure changes throughout evolutionary history. In The Deep Histor...

There is widespread agreement that an adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy and a major goal in science education. However, we still do not know many specific details regarding how students and teachers learn particular aspects of NOS and what are the most important feature traits of instruction. In this context, the main objective of this review is to analyze articles from nine main science education journals that consider the teaching of (...) NOS to K-12 students, pre-service, and in-service science teachers in search of patterns in teaching and learning NOS. After reviewing 52 studies in nine journals that included data regarding participants’ views of NOS before and after an intervention, the main findings were as follows: (1) some aspects of NOS (empirical basis, observation and inference, and creativity) are easier to learn than others (tentativeness, theory and law, and social and cultural embeddedness), and subjective aspects of NOS and “the scientific method” seemed to be difficult for participants to understand; (2) the interventions most frequently lasted 5 to 8 weeks for students, one semester for pre-service teachers, and 1 year for experienced teachers; and (3) most of the interventions incorporated both decontextualized and contextualized activities. Given the substantial diversity in the methods and intervention designs used and the variables studied, it was not possible to infer a pattern of more-effective NOS teaching strategies from the reviewed studies. Future investigation should focus on (a) disentangling whether a difference exists between the easy and difficult aspects of learning NOS and formulating a theoretical explanation for distinguishing the two types of aspects and (b) assessing the effectiveness of different kinds of courses (e.g., history of science, NOS or informal) and strategies (e.g., hands-on vs. drama activities; SSI vs. HOS). (shrink)

In the seventh and most recent edition of their classic book, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Tom Beauchamp and James Childress define a virtue as a character trait that is “socially valuable and reliably present” and a moral virtue as such a trait that is also both “dispositional” and “morally valuable”. The virtues that they single out as “focal” within biomedical ethics are compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, integrity, and conscientiousness. Not all is well in their treatment of virtue. Beauchamp and Childress seem (...) to worry that an ethical theory in which virtues are fundamental will neglect duties, rights, and societal needs. Further, they insist that there is no reason to think that, within ethical theory, one family of ethical concepts is the most important, nor that one theoretical approach is correct, or even superior to others. I will try to show, that there are strong reasons to see language, concepts, and matters of virtue as fundamental within normative ethical theory, both generally and in such specialized subareas as medical ethics. These reasons reveal themselves when we analyze concepts at the core of the alternative approaches to theorizing ethics that Beauchamp and Childress identify. (shrink)