El primer día que llegué a mi trabajo, una prisión, no sabía qué me iba a encontrar. Pensaba que tras los muros, las rejas y aquella enorme alambrad habría criminales y monstruos dispuestos a cualquier cosa. Sin embargo, cuando atravesé la puerta me encontré jardines, magníficos dibujos en la pared y personas al otro lado. Sí, personas comos las que te encuentras en tu vida diaria. No llevaban pendientes, ni tatuajes, ni un cuchillo en la mano. Me saludaban cordialmente y (...) se dirigían a mí de usted. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to clarify Kierkegaard’s concept of demonic despair (and demonic evil) and to show its relevance for discussions of the guise of the good thesis (i.e. that in f-ing intentionally, we take f-ing to be good). Contemporary discussions of diabolic evil often emphasise the phenomena of despair and acedia as apparent counter-examples to the guise of the good. I contend that Kierkegaard’s analysis of despair is relevant to these discussions, because it reconciles demonic (extreme) despair (...) and acedia with the guise of the good. In The Sickness unto Death, Kierkegaard provides an influential, systematic account of despair that relates evil, despair, and acedia to each other. Michelle Kosch argues that this account goes beyond Kierkegaard’s German predecessors by introducing a concept of diabolic evil and despair. By contrast, the present paper argues that Kierkegaard takes diabolic evil to be impossible, although he offers a rich analysis of the demonic that resembles diabolic agency. Still, Kierkegaard’s analysis rests on ontological assumptions about the nature of the good that belong to a Platonico-Christian tradition that is controversial today. (shrink)

Resumen Proponer una ontología de lo político implica preguntarse por la relación que se establece entre ontología e historia. Si ambos términos se presentan como opuestos y excluyentes entre sí, entonces tendríamos que aceptar la posibilidad de que lo político pueda concebirse con plena autonomía de un contexto histórico determinado. Aquí, por el contrario, se trata de pensar una ontología de lo político que mantenga con la historia una relación distinta o, en otras palabras, una ontología política materialista. Para abordar (...) esta problemática partimos de la obra de Nicos Poulantzas, para dar cuenta con ella de las dificultades que enfrentaba un marxismo en crisis a la hora de pensar la autonomía de la política. El posmarxismo enfrenta estos dilemas y elabora algunas respuestas sobre la relación entre ontología e historia. Para exponer lo que muchos de estos desarrollos comparten, recurrimos a la interpretación de Oliver Marchart sobre lo que él denomina el pensamiento político posfundacional (Cf. Lefort, Badiou, Laclau, Rancière). Luego recurrimos a los postulados de Gilles Deleuze, porque con ellos podemos desplazar de otra forma la tradicional antinomia entre ontología e historia. Entonces, asumiendo que el Ser de lo político es un ser que siempre se dice de la diferencia, nos abocamos a analizar críticamente las teorizaciones de Ernesto Laclau sobre la política y su forma hegemónica. Finalmente, la relación que propone Benjamín Arditi entre espectro y populismo permite pensar nuevas relaciones entre la ontología y la historia, lo político y la diferencia, dinamizando los conceptos. (shrink)

This article tries to make sense of the concept of the highest good (eternal bliss) in Søren Kierkegaard by comparing it to the analysis of the highest good found in Immanuel Kant. The comparison with Kant’s more systematic analysis helps us clarify the meaning and importance of the concept in Kierkegaard as well as to shed new light on the conceptual relation between Kant and Kierkegaard. The article argues that the concept of the highest good is of systematic importance in (...) Kierkegaard, although previous research has tended to overlook this, no doubt due to Kierkegaard’s cryptic use of the concept. It is argued that Kierkegaard’s concept of the highest good is much closer to Kant’s than what previous research has indicated. In particular, Kant and Kierkegaard see the highest good not only as comprising of virtue and happiness (bliss), but also as being the Kingdom of God. (shrink)

This article presents a critical discursive analysis around the concept of menstrual health in a series of texts published in book format and in social networks in the last five years (2019-2023) by different activists and menstrual educators in Argentina. In a reading itinerary that goes from the singular to the collective, I identify the configuration of an experiential episteme that redefines the menstruating body as informational and multidimensional, which enables that, in addition to a physiological dimension, its role in (...) different social, political, cultural, environmental and economic contexts is vindicated. I place these examples in the context of the neoliberal precariousness that installs the therapeutic-managerial culture as a moral imperative, while at the same time it challenges certain subjectivities with relative privilege —white, urban, trained and educated women— to dispute and strain meanings. (shrink)

La influencia perniciosa que el populismo tiene sobre numerosas construcciones, tiene a extenderse también al cosmopolitismo. En el terreno fértil de posmodernidad relativista y de narrativas contrahegemónicas, hay que deshacer dicotomías artificialmente construidas y fácilmente manipulables. En este trabajo se justificará por qué el populismo es una amenaza para la construcción cosmopolita y se reflejarán los aspectos que separan al populismo del proyecto cosmopolita. A partir de uno de los subtipos del populismo, el punitivo, se examinará la problemática que suscita (...) su aplicación a dos de las vertientes del identitarismo como son las cuestiones relativas al género (sexo) y a la idiosincrasia nacional (frente a “los otros”). Se justificará cómo el cosmopolitismo, lejos de negar tales cuestiones identitarias, lo que hace es trabajar con ellas de forma distinta. (shrink)

Many of Søren Kierkegaard's most controversial and influential ideas are more relevant than ever to contemporary debates on ethics, philosophy of religion and selfhood. Kierkegaard develops an original argument according to which wholeheartedness requires both moral and religious commitment. In this book, Roe Fremstedal provides a compelling reconstruction of how Kierkegaard develops wholeheartedness in the context of his views on moral psychology, meta-ethics and the ethics of religious belief. He shows that Kierkegaard's influential account of despair, selfhood, ethics and religion (...) belongs to a larger intellectual context in which German philosophers such as Kant and Fichte play crucial roles. Moreover, Fremstedal makes a solid case for the controversial claim that religion supports ethics, instead of contradicting it. His book offers a novel and comprehensive reading of Kierkegaard, drawing on important sources that are little known. (shrink)

This article provides a critical assessment of Habermas’s recent work on religion and its role in the public sphere by comparing it to Kant’s phi-losophy of religion on the one hand and that of Kierkegaard on the other. It is argued that although Habermas is in many ways a Kantian, he diverges from Kant when it comes to religion, by taking a position which comes closer to the Kierkegaardian view that religiousness belongs to private faith rather than philosophy. This has (...) implications not just for the conception of religion but also for the very roles of communication, validity, rationality, and philosophy. (shrink)

Across the European research area and beyond, efforts are being mobilized to align research and innovation processes and products with societal values and needs, and to create mechanisms for inclusive priority setting and knowledge production. A central concern is how to foster a culture of “Responsible Research and Innovation” (RRI) among scientists and engineers. This paper focuses on RRI teaching at higher education institutions. On the basis of interviews and reviews of academic and policy documents, it highlights the generic aspects (...) of teaching aimed at invoking a sense of care and societal obligation, and provides a set of exemplary cases of RRI-related teaching. It argues that the Aristotelian concept of phronesis can capture core properties of the objectives of RRI-related teaching activities. Teaching should nurture the students’ capacity in terms of practical wisdom, practical ethics, or administrative ability in order to enable them to act virtuously and responsibly in contexts which are often characterized by uncertainty, contention, and controversy. (shrink)

As critical research has revealed, climate change scepticism and inaction are not about science but ideas, and specifically the ideas that conform our worldview. Drawing on key theoretical approaches to climate change denial from the social sciences and humanities, this paper discusses the ideological dimension and, more especially, the anthropocentric denial underlying our failure to respond to climate change. We argue that the speciesist anthropocentrism inherent in the current dominant ethics is what prevents humanity from reacting to the main human-induced (...) drivers of global warming. Encouraged to do so by current mainstream ethics, humans overpopulate the planet, grow at the expense of other species, and indulge in cruel, unhealthy and unsustainable practices. We counterpose this ethics against the egalitarian, non-speciesist approach of the animal ethics movement, positing that it represents the next radical reflexive movement and could be used to break the climate deadlock. Animal ethics allows links with inegalitarianism and privilege that may help address climate contrarianism and climate inaction much more effectively. (shrink)

This paper aims to inspect the political potential of Kant’s grounding of hope and its content breaks down in three parts. First, I give an account of Kant’s approach to right and hope as a rule for our judgments and actions, shedding light over the shift that Kant’s notion of the Highest Good undergoes from a theological framework to a political one, which makes of individuals the main feature of action. Second, I focus on the intergenerational exercise of imagination inasmuch (...) as it foreshadows the material and symbolic needs of the forthcoming generations, highlighting the key role it plays for addressing the political agency of hope. Moreover, I focus on the capacity of this kind of imagination to resist against the devices and (mis-)informative tendencies that lead human imagination to collapse as the headquarters of critical mental activity. Third, I address the epistemic framework that seems more adequate to continue drawing to hope as a promising tool to build up subjects conscious of the shortcomings of the world and the society they are embedded in. Finally, I display some concluding remarks about the interaction between material structures and culture of emotions as a key issue stemming from this enquiry of Kant’s conceptual legacy about hope. (shrink)

El presente trabajo se propone recuperar las nociones de biopolítica y debiopoder en cuanto origen y fundamento de los actuales constructos de lapsicopolítica y del psicopoder. El tiempo pandémico, que obligó a recuperarlos postulados de la sociedad disciplinaria, contribuyó a expandir el universodigital y tecnológico, configurando unos poderosos instrumentos que yano solo se sirven del control sobre el cuerpo sino también –y principalmente–de la mente. Los efectos de este psicopoder smart se dejan notar en losindividuos, configurando una situación de servidumbre (...) voluntaria y prereflexivaen la mayor parte de los casos. La búsqueda de soluciones para superartal estadio de servidumbre es uno de los grandes retos que, en la sociedadtecnológica, tiene el jurista en general, y el filósofo del Derecho enparticular, intentando aunar racionalidad y ética. (shrink)

El presente estudio se basa en las colecciones de los manuscritos árabes que se conservan actualmente en España. Para ello se hace un análisis de las colecciones existentes. A continuación se lleva a cabo un estudio de los catálogos e inventarios aparecidos, desde los primeros en el siglo XVI hasta la actualidad, deteniéndose en los más destacados. La segunda parte del estudio se centra en la técnica del análisis documental, que engloba los trabajos de catalogación y descripción bibliográfica. Se repasa (...) la normativa vigente, para terminar con reflexiones personales de los datos que deben aparecer en los catálogos y cómo deben aparecer. (shrink)

The present paper discusses the academic job market for candidates with a Norwegian Ph.D. in philosophy. It proceeds by responding to an earlier article by Tom Andreassen (2017) that criticizes my 2017 article on the academic job market. Andreassen argues that my 2017 comparison of different Ph.D. programs does not do justice to the Norwegian MA. In this response, I defend my previous claims about the difficult academic job market and argue that these claims do not depend on controversial assumptions (...) about the Ph.D. or MA education. (shrink)

Es un placer para nosotros, flamantes nuevos editores de la sección multilingüe de la EJPAP, estrenar esta sección con el dossier monográfico “Jane Addams en español.” El monográfico ha conseguido la hazaña de poder unir por primera vez textos de las todavía pocas personas que escriben en lengua castellana y que están familiarizadas con la obra de Jane Addams (1860-1935). El desconocimiento de la vida y obra de Jane Addams entre el público hispanohablante no se debe, de ningún modo, al (...) hecho... (shrink)

The combination of increased availability of large amounts of fine-grained human behavioral data and advances in machine learning is presiding over a growing reliance on algorithms to address complex societal problems. Algorithmic decision-making processes might lead to more objective and thus potentially fairer decisions than those made by humans who may be influenced by greed, prejudice, fatigue, or hunger. However, algorithmic decision-making has been criticized for its potential to enhance discrimination, information and power asymmetry, and opacity. In this paper, we (...) provide an overview of available technical solutions to enhance fairness, accountability, and transparency in algorithmic decision-making. We also highlight the criticality and urgency to engage multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and citizens to co-develop, deploy, and evaluate in the real-world algorithmic decision-making processes designed to maximize fairness and transparency. In doing so, we describe the Open Algortihms project as a step towards realizing the vision of a world where data and algorithms are used as lenses and levers in support of democracy and development. (shrink)

The outsourcing of clinical trials to Latin America by the transnational innovative pharmaceutical industry began about twenty years ago. Using archival information and field work in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru, the authors discuss the regulatory contexts and the ethical dimensions of human experimentation in the region. More than 80% of all clinical trials in the region take place in these countries, and the European Medicines Agency has defined them as priority countries in Latin America. The authors raise (...) questions about the quality of data obtained from the trials and the violation of human rights during their implementation. Their findings are presented in this volume, the first in-depth analysis of clinical trials in the region.. (shrink)

BackgroundDiagnosis and treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinomas cause anxiety and depression. Additionally, these patients suffer hormonal alterations that are associated with psychological symptoms. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a psycho-oncological intervention based on counseling to reduce anxiety and depression related to the treatment in patients with DTC.MethodsA non-randomized controlled study, with two groups [experimental group, n = 37, and control group, n = 38] and baseline and posttreatment measures, was designed. Patients in the EG received a psycho-oncological (...) intervention based on counseling in addition to the standard treatment. The independent variable was the assigned group and the dependent one was the evolution of anxiety and depression, which were analyzed separately, and both were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Other relevant covariables related to the quality of life were also analyzed using Short Form-36 Health Survey and Psychological General Wellbeing Index scales.ResultsThe difference of the posttreatment-baseline variation showed a statistically significant reduction in anxiety and depression in the EG in relation to the CG. The mean of the Psychological General Wellbeing Index scales score increased significantly in the EG and decreased significantly in the CG. All the baseline and the posttreatment scores of the variables evaluated showed a statistically significant improvement in the EG vs. the CG.ConclusionThis study demonstrates significant benefits of psycho-oncological intervention based on counseling in anxiety, depression, QoL, and wellbeing of the patient with differentiated thyroid carcinomas. (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper focuses on the uses of electroencephalograms in Mexico during their introductory decade from 1940 to 1950. Following Borck, I argue that EEGs adapted to fit local circumstances and that this adjustment led to the consolidation of different ways of making science and the emergence of new objects of study and social types. I also maintain that the way EEGs were introduced into the institutional networks of Mexico entangled them in discussions about the objective and juridical definitions of social (...) groups, thereby preempting concerns about their technical and epistemic limitations. This ultimately enabled the use of EEGs as normative machines and dispositifs. To this end, the paper follows the arrival of EEGs and the creation of institutional networks then analyzes the extent to which the styles of thinking behind the uses of EEGs and attempts to reify a notion of normal electrical brain behavior—particularly by applying EEGs to a community of Otomí Indians—correlated with the difficulties of defining the socio-anthropological notions that articulated legal and disciplinary projects of the time. Finally, it unveils the shortcomings of alternative attempts to define a brain model and to resist the production of ontological determinations. (shrink)

This paper proposes a teaching alternative that can encourage the ethical reflective sensibility among students of social entrepreneurship. It does so by exploring the possibility of using religious parables as narratives that can be analysed from Ricoeur’s hermeneutics to provoke and encourage ethical discussions in social entrepreneurship courses. To illustrate this argument, the paper makes use of a parable from the New Testament as an example of a religious narrative that can be used to prompt discussions about social entrepreneurs’ ethical (...) dilemmas. The paper adds to the limited works that consider the teaching of ethics within social entrepreneurship education. It also advances studies that seek alternative strategies to teaching ethics in business contexts, making these strategies discernible for discussion within the broader business and management literature. (shrink)

This article shows how the little-known work Denkbewegungen (MS 183), sheds new light upon Wittgenstein’s view of religion in general and Christianity and Kierkegaard in particular. While earlier interpretations stress the fact that Denkbewegungen is a diary and therefore favour a biographical reading, the thematic and historical approach used here reveals the influence that Kierkegaard’s Fragments and Postscript has on Wittgenstein’s analysis of religion. Both Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein are concerned with the presuppositions of religion and especially the question of whether (...) these presuppositions are something that we ourselves possess (immanent religion) or whether they have to be given or revealed (transcendent religion). This article focuses on transcendent religion itself as well as the question of primacy between transcendent and immanent religion. The article shows that Wittgenstein supports a claim that entails that both the religious language-game and the religious way of living hold a unique position as regards to the primacy of religion. The article also shows that Wittgenstein’s attitude towards Christianity, especially as found in Denkbewegungen, is equivocal. (shrink)

Indigenous psychologies are informed by their cosmogonies and cosmologies, philosophies, spirituality and religions, traditions and customs, and knowledge and praxis systems. This paper reviews some conceptions of consciousness, psyche, spirit, mental and physical health, relations to all Earth Beings (human and nonhuman), ancestors, nature, and altered states of consciousness among the Nahua and Maya of Mexico. Colonization has threatened these rich legacies by imposing the conquerors' cosmologies. However, these Indigenous communities continue to use plants, mushrooms, and some animals to generate (...) altered states of consciousness, enacting sacred rituals and healing. The conclusion recommends learning from these knowledge and praxes systems and their related consciousness and spiritual states to expand the emergence of decolonial psychology that may offer alternatives to address the challenges of our time. (shrink)