In the 1720s two Jesuit astronomers working at the court of King João V of Portugal, in Lisbon, received several instruments produced by the best makers in London, Paris and Rome. With the crucial help of the Portuguese diplomatic network contacts with academies, savants and instrument makers were established, seeking technical advice and the best astronomical instruments available at the time. It was in this context that in April 1726 a set of Latin instructions accompanying pendulum clocks made by George (...) Graham were dispatched from London to Lisbon. These unpublished instructions are now preserved in the papers of Giovanni Battista Carbone, one of these Jesuit astronomers, offering a significant window into the procedures and technical details involved in the setting, operation and transport of Graham’s astronomical clocks. In this paper, I will not only discuss this important document in the framework of Graham’s contributions to astronomy and horology, but also in the perspective of the search for accuracy. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIt is known that throughout the seventeenth century the world system proposed by Tycho Brahe assumed a preponderant position in the Iberian cosmological debate, according to many opinions the one showing the best agreement to empirical evidence. Moreover, the Tychonian model did not present the difficulties of apparent contradiction with scriptures, as the heliocentric system of Nicolaus Copernicus did, since it kept the earth fixed at the centre of the world. However, Tycho, as a Lutheran author, was targeted by the (...) Inquisition. Passages of various works of the Danish astronomer were included in the Spanish Indices of 1632, 1640 and 1707, although the formal condemnation of the Roman Inquisition never materialized. In the network of the Society of Jesus a seemingly informal censorship also circulated, apparently based on Tridentine determinations, published in 1651 in the influential work of Giambattista Riccioli Almagestum novum. In this paper I will discuss the scope, effects and limitations of the censorship of Tycho's scientific books in Portugal and Spain, through the analysis of several annotated copies, preserved manly in Iberian libraries, with a special attention to books with a well-established provenance in past Jesuit colleges. (shrink)

In this article, we will make the case for an intercultural philosophy of religion with a special focus on interculturality between Chinese and African philosophies. We will provide an overview of the kind of intercultural philosophy that has already been undertaken between the East and the South and point out that a philosophy of religion has been left out. We will then make the case for a global philosophy of religion approach and why Chinese and African philosophies of religion should (...) engage in philosophical interchanges. We will then highlight some directions for carrying out such a philosophy and explain why the problem of evil may be better addressed from an intercultural perspective. (shrink)

Recent investigations surprisingly indicate that single RNA "stem-loops" operate solely by chemical laws that act without selective forces, and in contrast, self-ligated consortia of RNA stem-loops operate by biological selection. To understand consortial RNA selection, the concept of single quasi-species and its mutant spectra as drivers of RNA variation and evolution is rethought here. Instead, we evaluate the current RNA world scenario in which consortia of cooperating RNA stem-loops are the basic players. We thus redefine quasispecies as RNA quasispecies consortia (...) and argue that it has essential behavioral motifs that are relevant to the inherent variation, evolution and diversity in biology. We propose that qs-c is an especially innovative force. We apply qs-c thinking to RNA stem-loops and evaluate how it yields altered bulges and loops in the stem-loop regions, not as errors, but as a natural capability to generate diversity. This basic competence-not error-opens a variety of combinatorial possibilities which may alter and create new biological interactions, identities and newly emerged self identity functions. Thus RNA stem-loops typically operate as cooperative modules, like members of social groups. From such qs-c of stem-loop groups we can trace a variety of RNA secondary structures such as ribozymes, viroids, viruses, mobile genetic elements as abundant infection derived agents that provide the stem-loop societies of small and long non-coding RNAs. (shrink)

Igwebuike is a traditional knowledge system undergirded by the metaphysical assumption that the world is a totality of interconnected and interrelated entities.1–4 African scholars in West Africa often invoke igwebuike to make sense of African ethical, social and political perspectives that are grounded in the theory of Afro-communitarianism. Afro-communitarianism is primarily a socioethical theory that is concerned with the articulation of the moral relationship between the individual and the community. The term igwebuike is derived from the Igbo root words igwe (...) (number), bu (is) and ike (strength). Thus, the term igwebuike translates as ‘number is strength’.3 4 As an ethical theory, igwebuike espouses the ontological relatedness of the variety of entities in the world and the moral relatedness of all humans by virtue of their common possession of life, with the accompanying human capacity for feeling and thinking. Resultantly, it prescribes solidarity, companionship and identification with others as virtues that promote human flourishing. The reverence for life and humanness explicitly forbids actions that diminish this superlative and irreplaceable quality.5 This concept can be helpful in offering a conceptual framework for making healthcare more …. (shrink)

In this paper I investigate how Nietzsche’s approaches to the physiology of art become operative in the last year of his philosophical production to consummate the critique of modern décadence. Through intoxication, transfiguration, and increased power, the physiology of art could reveal new ways to express the values of ascendant life as opposed to decadential movements. I question, finally, whether the will to power is a satisfactory criterion for the artistic affirmation and transfiguration of existence.

Seen from the point of view of evaluation conditions, a usual way to obtain a connexive logic is to take a well-known negation, for example, Boolean negation or de Morgan negation, and then assign special properties to the conditional to validate Aristotle’s and Boethius’ Theses. Nonetheless, another theoretical possibility is to have the extensional or the material conditional and then assign special properties to the negation to validate the theses. In this paper we examine that possibility, not sufficiently explored in (...) the connexive literature yet.We offer a characterization of connexive negation disentangled from the cancellation account of negation, a previous attempt to define connexivity on top of a distinctive negation. We also discuss an ancient view on connexive logics, according to which a valid implication is one where the negation of the consequent is incompatible with the antecedent, and discuss the role of our idea of connexive negation for this kind of view. (shrink)

Philosophical discussions on cognition (ranging from computational and representational approaches to the 4E fra-mework), on the one hand, and those on sound and auditory per-ception, on the other, have hitherto remained apart. In this paper, the author addresses the concept of “auditory cognition”. While committing to the conceptual analysis of the latter, the author in-troduces the discussion of modality-specif ic approaches. Since the contributions made so far in the domain of the philosophy of sound and auditory perception are prone to (...) favor computational-repre-sentational approaches —e.g., the perceptual coherence model (Méndez-Martínez, 2022)—, the exploration of 4E possibilities will lay down a series of questions aimed to encourage future developers from that viewpoint. In that sense, the author explores conceptual entailments and connections between the genealogy of theories within the philosophy of sound and auditory perception, and the hypothesis of the extended cognition (EX). (shrink)

In this paper I propose an explanation for the impulsivity displayed by some of our emotional experiences. I begin by looking for such an account in the psychological and philosophical literatures. After expressing doubts regarding some approaches’ resources to account for the phenomenon at issue, I outline an account of emotional impulsivity by focusing on (1) its independence from judgment and deliberation; (2) its felt strength; and (3) its relationship to action. Following the intuition that there is a strong connection (...) between the possession of skills and the ability to entertain certain representational states, I propose that the impulsivity of some emotional experiences can be explained by their characteristic inseparability from sets of sensorimotor skills. (shrink)

In her new article in the American Journal of Bioethics, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby (2024) provides at least three reasons that support her argument that the concept of personhood must be abandoned...

There are many ways in which a speaker can confuse their audience. In this paper, I will focus on one such way, namely, a way of talking that seems to manifest a cross-level kind of cognitive dissonance on the part of the speaker. The goal of the paper is to explain why such ways of talking sound so twisted. The explanation is two-pronged, since their twisted nature may come either from the very mental states that the speaker thereby makes manifest, (...) or from how the speaker chooses to express themselves (even if there is nothing wrong with their mental states). So-called ‘Moore-paradoxical’ utterances are but one example of the phenomenon, and the explanation of what is wrong about them is subsumed under a more general explanation here—one that captures also the twisted-ness of utterances whereby questions are raised or intentions expressed. (shrink)

This article explores the tensions between different conceptions of “citizenship.” On the one hand, we point out the virtues and limitations of cosmopolitan citizenship in the terms in which Seyla Benhabib understands it in The Right of Others…; on the other hand, we delve into another notion of citizenship, namely, the localist, in a version that could be at odds with some cosmopolitan values, that is, localism as understood by some Mexican autonomous communities, particularly the Zapatistas. Although Benhabib’s cosmopolitan federalism (...) is inclusive in spirit, it is conceived within a preponderantly global perspective and ends up being asymmetrical. While her proposal has some positive aspects, it faces some difficulties in the case of Mexican autonomous communities. In this article, we shall introduce the notion of democratic confederalism as a form of sociopolitical organization that seeks to strengthen the self-organization of social actors and to recognize the practice of citizenship in the terms in which autonomous communities exercise it. We propose that democratic confederalism could be an alternative for decreasing tensions between global citizenship and the idea of citizenship within autonomous communities. (shrink)

Corruption is a serious problem in Mexico and the available information regarding the levels of academic dishonesty in Mexico is not very encouraging. Academic integrity is essential in any teaching-learning process focussed on achieving the highest standards of excellence and learning. Promoting and experiencing academic integrity within the university context has a twofold purpose: to achieve the necessary learnings and skills to appropriately perform a specific profession and to develop an ethical perspective which leads to correct decision making. The objective (...) of this study is to explore the relationship between academic integrity and ethical behaviour, particularly workplace behaviour. The study adopts a quantitative, hypothetical and deductive approach. A questionnaire was applied to 1203 college students to gather information regarding the frequency in which they undertake acts of dishonesty in different environments and in regards to the severity they assign to each type of infraction. The results reflect that students who report committing acts against academic integrity also report being involved in dishonest activities in other contexts, and that students who consider academic breaches less serious, report being engaged in academic misconduct more frequently in different contexts. In view of these results, it is unavoidable to reflect on the role that educational institutions and businesses can adopt in the development of programmes to promote a culture of academic integrity which: design educational experiences to foster learning, better prepare students to fully meet their academic obligations, highlight the benefits of doing so, prevent the severity and consequences of dishonest actions, discourage cheating and establish clear and efficient processes to sanction those students who are found responsible for academic breaches. (shrink)

It has been claimed that contracting connectivesContracting connective are conditionalsConditional. Our modest aim here is to show that the conditional-like features of a contracting connectiveContracting connective depend on the defining features of the conditionalConditional in a particular logic, yes, but they also depend on the underlying notion of logical consequence and the structure of the collection of truth values. More concretely, we will show that under P-consequenceP-consequence and suitable satisfiability conditions for the conditionalConditional, conjunctionsConjunction are contracting connectivesContracting connective for some (...) logics without thereby being conditional-ish. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente artículo consiste en analizar la relación Dewey-Honneth con el propósito de profundizar en la comprensión de la idea de > y evidenciar algunos puntos de encuentro que, en el ámbito de la filosofía social, se dan entre la tradición pragmatista y la teoría crítica de la sociedad representadas por John Dewey y Axel Honneth. Se considera la existencia de cierto aire de familia en el entendimiento de Honneth sobre la idea > con relación a las consideraciones (...) del pragmatismo, especialmente las elaboradas por C. S. Peirce y Dewey, en lo que respecta al análisis de la relación entre teoría y praxis. La tesis que se defiende afirma que para Dewey y Honneth, existe una prioridad metodológica de la experiencia para la comprensión de la moralidad en el contexto de la reconstrucción normativa de la misma; dicha prioridad entiende que la fuente de normatividad se constituye en el análisis de las prácticas sociales individuales y colectivas, de cómo se relacionan los individuos y los grupos con las instituciones vigentes, y de la incidencia recíproca de las mismas en su interacción con el ambiente social, económico, político y cultural. (shrink)

This paper aims to propose a version of the description theory of reference –for short, descriptivism– on natural kind terms. This version is grounded on some proposals of descriptivists, such as Searle and Strawson, about proper names, which will be extended to natural kind terms. According to Searle and Strawson the reference of a proper name is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that speakers associate with the name, but among the sorts of descriptions admitted by these authors (...) are those in which the average speaker defers the reference of a term to other speakers. In this regard, descriptivism can accept Putnam’s thesis of the division of linguistic labour and claim that some of the descriptions associated by non-experts have the function of deferring the reference of natural kind terms to their reference in the use by experts. Thus, descriptivism can maintain that the reference of a natural kind term is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that experts concerning a natural kind associate with the term. I will argue that this version of descriptivism, which grants more weight to social links than to historical links, can explain better than Kripke’s theory the reference of the use of natural kind terms by the average speaker. (shrink)

Šiame straipsnyje pateikiu naują prieštaravimą Chalmerso kertiniam argumentui prieš „B tipo“ fizikalistų privilegijuotą strategiją pagrindžiant aiškinimo spragą („fenomenalių sąvokų strategija“). Aš konkrečiai teigiu, kad antrasis kertinio argumento dėmuo neteisingai interpretuoja, kodėl zombiai negali patekti į mūsų episteminę situaciją sąmonės atžvilgiu. Zombiams negali būti būdingos tokios mentalinės būklės, kurias turime mes. Jeigu visi mūsų psichologiniai atributai yra būtina mūsų episteminės situacijos sąlyga, tai zombiai negali pasitarnauti kaip antrasis dilemos dėmuo. Kalbėdamas apie kontekstą, aš visų pirma trumpai aptariu susijusį argumentą, nukreiptą prieš (...) fizikalizmą, kurį taip pat naudojo D. Chalmersas – „suvokiamumo argumentą“. Aš akcentuoju kai kuriuos svarbiausius iššūkius šiam argumentui, kartu pateikdamas ir papildomų kritikos elementų. Galiausiai, glaustai panagrinėjęs panprotopsichizmą, aš svarstau, kas mūsų lauktų, jei priimtume Chalmerso argumentus. Prieinu išvadą, kad fenomenaliųjų konceptų strategija yra patikimas paaiškinimas, kodėl zombių suvokiamumas veikiausiai nereiškia jų metafizinės galimybės. (shrink)

The relevance of scientific knowledge for science and technology policy and regulation has led to a growing debate about the role of values. This article contributes to the clarification of what specific functions cognitive and noncognitive values adopt in knowledge generation and decisions, and what consequences the operation of values has for policy making and regulation. For our analysis, we differentiate between three different types of decision approaches, each of which shows a particular constellation of cognitive and noncognitive values. Our (...) objectives are to present a structured analysis of the varying functions that different kinds of values can adopt, as well as the value-related tensions and trade-offs they give rise to. We argue that the operation of noncognitive values in scientific knowledge generation, policy, and regulatory decision making can be understood as an enabling factor, rather than a limiting one. (shrink)

In the predominant pedagogical frameworks of our days, rationalist, voluntarist or sentimentalist reductionisms are seen, from which it is about educating people regardless of their Origin and the singular and unrepeatable originality with which they have been given to existence. Faced with this anthropocentric confinement, Sensitive Education arises so that every person, regardless of their culture and creed, remains sensitive to their Origin and captures their own originality, which in the end is what they must accept and try to manifest (...) with education. When educational systems are not sensitive to the original, they develop falsehood. With the aim of consolidating the validity of the pedagogical-anthropological foundation of Sensitive Education, this study seeks to show how Edith Stein’s argument explains Sensitive Education, although Stein, after her conversion, uses explicitly Christian terminology. Stein’s direct terms serve to describe Education Sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but for those who do not start from a Christian worldview, Education Sensitive to Origin can be a more non-denominational way of approaching the Original. To achieve this objective, an analytical-synthetic methodology has been followed in which essential features of Sensitive Education are proposed and in a hermeneutic manner, arguments are extracted from the writings of Edith Stein that offer support for these essential features. In conclusion, it is sufficiently shown that Edith Stein’s thought provides a pedagogical foundation to Sensitive Education. (shrink)

Partiendo de la comprensión de Heidegger en torno a los pensadores del inicio desplegada en los cuatros cursos de principios de los años cuarenta del siglo XX, querríamos mostrar la lectura de Heidegger de los pensadores del inicio en contraste con la de Gadamer en torno a los «presocráticos» mostrada en El inicio de la Filosofía occidental. Estudiaremos para ello la palabra Anfang en uno y otro autor contextualizando sus aproximaciones hermenéuticas a los textos griegos. Finalmente prestaremos atención a la (...) interpretación del poema de Parménides de Elea en El Inicio de la Filosofía occidental. Además de una diversa comprensión del final de la filosofía y la tarea del pensar, se nos irá revelando cómo Heidegger despliega indicaciones en torno a la articulación del pensar y la palabra en los pensadores del inicio, mientras Gadamer hace referencias al «valor poético» del poema de Parménides. Tras recorrer los diversos fragmentos transmitidos del poema, concluiremos señalando cómo la cuestión del ser y la verdad interpretada por Gadamer en Parménides remite a la pregunta por el carácter unitario —o al problema del continuo— de la presencia o aparecer que dice «ser», henologicamiente incomprensible sin atender a los cruces ἀλήθεια y φύσις. (shrink)

This article answer what could be the distinction that the Stoics established between philosophy and the kata philosophian logos, according to the report by D.L., VII, 39-41. In this place I distance from the scholars who consider that the distinction is ontological, this is, that the kata philosophian logos refers to the discursive presentation of Stoic dogmas, whose nature is incorporeal, while the philosophy refers to a disposition of the soul, whose nature is corporeal. I rather propose that both are (...) dispositiones or states of the rational part of the soul and that the difference is in the degree of perfection that they have accomplished. (shrink)

Cet article montre que Fichte développe une originelle conception du langage dans ses Discours à la Nation allemande d’où il ressort non seulement le besoin de retraduire des concepts philosophiques dans un langage populaire comme aussi celui de formuler un langage plus malléable pour la philosophie en tant que telle. Afin d’explorer cette hypothèse, notre propos suivra les étapes suivantes : (i) nous analyserons la conception fichtéenne du rapport entre popularisation et flexibilisation du langage, ce qui nous permettra (ii) d’explorer (...) les raisons systématiques du rapprochement entre langue philosophique et langue populaire et (iii) de saisir précisément la compréhension du rôle philosophique du langage qui en découle. (shrink)

Desde la didáctica de la Historia, el análisis de los libros de texto es una de las líneas de investigación más arraigadas en los últimos años. Este trabajo analiza la forma en que se ha enseñado la Transición democrática a través de libros de texto de Bachillerato correspondientes a la asignatura de Historia de España, de diferentes editoriales, tanto confesionales como laicas.

This paper addresses the relationship between logic and phenomenology at a historical moment that precedes the big divide between analytic philosophy and phenomenology. In analysing alternative derivations of phenomenological logic, the discussion focuses on the case of two notorious neo-Kantian Mexican philosophers from the first half of the XXth century: Adalberto García de Mendoza and Francisco Larroyo. It is argued that both García de Mendoza and Larroyo made an original contribution to the discussion on the relationship between phenomenology and logic. (...) Further, this paper attempts to present a charitable portrait of both García de Mendoza and Larroyo in contrast to underrating approaches to both Mexican philosophers. In so doing, this paper adopts a historical—thought not strictly biographical— perspective. While it is true that neither García de Mendoza nor Larroyo could be considered “phenomenologists” or “Husserl scholars” according to contemporary standards it is worth noticing that they engage in the discussion of phenomenological logic. Both authors had the project of developing a grounding logic for science and, as the article argues, both attempts could be even linked. Their project, however, was unfinished. The plan of this paper is as follows. The first section addresses the problem of the relationship between logic and phenomenology. The second one focuses on García de Mendoza’s contributions. The third one elaborates on Larroyo’s Logic of Sciences. And, finally, the fourth section elaborates on these Mexican philosophers’ contributions to education, making as well further observations concerning the similarities and differences between both authors. (shrink)

This article analyzes Toole’s novel from a causal perspective, focusing on the cause-effect dynamics that make the plot advance, from the initial event at D.H. Holmes until the outcome in the Night of Joy. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies has been applied to identify a series of 47 causal events that summarize all actions with an impact on plot development. Our research shows that the causal study of the novel is a useful approach that can reinforce or modify (...) qualitative assessments of previous studies. The relevance of “Night of Joy” plot within the whole narrative and its key role in the rest of the subplots are verified in numerical terms. Besides, we have expanded and quantified the causal chains operating in the novel; and we have made sure, as well, that every subplot is essential in order to reach the final outcome (with the only exception of Dr. Talc’s story). Finally, we have formulated an alternative outline of secondary plots than the ones supported by preceding research by using numeric metrics, demonstrating that “Paradise Vendors” and “Dorian Greene”, previously considered secondary storylines, exert a high impact on Confederacy’s finale, and are, perhaps, not so secondary plots after all. (shrink)

El desafío conceptual de pensar lo político se refiere al intento – siempre, por definición, precario, frágil y destinado al fracaso- de asir un objeto intrínsecamente polisémico y que escapa a toda acción de encorsetamiento o limitación.Este artículo propondrá un código deliberado de lectura; un marco interpretativo específico para pensar lo político; entendiendo al conflicto como su categoría irremediablemente constitutiva. Con dicha finalidad, acudiremos a la obra de Nicolás Maquiavelo. Pensamiento que goza de fecundidad para pensar esta especificidad conflictiva de (...) lo político.El abordaje metodológico se desarrollará en base a una aproximación netamente teórica, a través de un ejercicio de exégesis de los textos maquiavelianos y el realce de su contemporaneidad para pensar lo político. (shrink)

In this paper we show that, when analyzed with contemporary tools in logic—such as Dunn-style semantics, Reichenbach’s three-valued logic exhibits many interesting features, and even new responses to some of the old objections to it can be attempted. Also, we establish some connections between Reichenbach’s three-valued logic and some contra-classical logics.

RESUMENDespués de los intentos de aplicación del psicoanálisis tanto al ámbito de la racionalidad científica como a las obras literarias llevados a cabo por Bachelard entre filanes de los años treinta y la década de los cuarenta, la aparición en 1957 de la peotique de l'espace inaugura un periodo de alejamiento del método psicoanalítico y de afilicación a la escuela fenomenológica. En las páginas que siguen se ofrecen algunas de las claves de esta última época, la cual supone una fecunda (...) contribución al análisis de la imagen poética. PALABRAS CLAVEBACHELARD-ESTÉTICA-FENOMENOLOGÍA-POSEÍAABSTRACTAfter the attempts to apply psycoannalysis both to scientific rationality and to literaly works made by bachelard betwerrn the end of the thirties and the forties, the publicación in 1957 of his la poethique e l'espace inaugurates a period of retrear from the psycoanalytic method and from the phenomenological school. This paper presents some of the clucs of this latest period, characterezied by a fertile contribution to the anlaysis of the poetic imageKEYWORDSBACHELARD-AESTHETICS-PHENOMENOLOGY-POETRY. (shrink)