This paper will investigate one of the main critiques of Rawlsian thought that emerged in the aftermath of the publication of A Theory of Justice in 1971, namely the communitarian critique by Michael Sandel. According to Sandel, Rawls starts from a radically disembodied subject, a unity of the self, from a human subject as a sovereign agent of choice, a creature whose ends are chosen rather than given. In Sandel's view, the original position is not a contract, but the realization (...) of an intersubjective being.Against Sandel's reading, this paper will argue that the parties in the original position are not the affirmation of a liberal, individualized subject, because they are neither thought of as real persons nor as future persons, just as they do not represent who people really are or their true selfs. The idea is that justice as fairness is based on a normative conception of citizens as free and equal moral persons but does not presuppose any metaphysical conception of person. Thus, it will be argued that from the later works of A Theory of Justice – with the change in the Rawlsian perspective of people, highlighting the two moral powers (rationality and reasonableness), and the idea of full autonomy (belonging to the citizens of the well-ordered society) – the communitarian critiques of Rawls' thought fall definitively to the ground. (shrink)

Nesse trabalho se investigará as críticas apresentadas por Gerald Allan Cohen ao princípio da diferença afirmado pelo filósofo estadunidense John Rawls. Cohen alega que o princípio da diferença permite desigualdades exorbitantes e que essas desigualdades minariam o ethos de solidariedade pressuposto por Rawls. Contra as críticas de Cohen, se salientará o fato de que os princípios de justiça como equidade devem ser lidos em conjunto (leitura holística) e, portanto, as desigualdades permitidas pelo princípio da diferença são muito menores do que (...) acreditava Cohen, uma vez que se precisa também assegurar a igual liberdade, a igualdade equitativa de oportunidades e o valor equitativo das liberdades políticas. Assim, para se assegurar o funcionamento dos princípios em conjunto, se argumentará que o escopo do princípio é muito mais restrito do que julgava Cohen. Sublinha-se que no pensamento rawlsiano não é necessário um crescimento econômico constante, sendo que o princípio da diferença não deve ser visto como um princípio mercadológico, sobre o qual seu objetivo não é ser um mero princípio de reparação, mas um princípio que afirme a reciprocidade entre os concidadãos de uma sociedade democrática. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar o conceito de Egoísmo de Schopenhauer elaborado na obra “O mundo como Vontade e como Representação”, ligando-o à defesa da necessidade da instituição de um Estado Civil como é realizado por Hobbes no Leviatã. De onde se parte do pressuposto que egoísmo seria o ponto de partida das ações dos indivíduos, o que em um Estado de Natureza, sem um poder comum a todos, levaria os homens a uma situação de “guerra de todos contra (...) todos”, por isso a necessidade da instituição do Estado Civil. Por meio dos conceitos expostos por Schopenhauer e Hobbes em suas obras, será feita uma análise de até que ponto se pode levar essa afirmação como verdadeira, assim como ligar os pontos em comum das duas teorias acerca das ações morais dos homens, sem deixar de lado as diferenças conceituais e práticas das teorias de Hobbes e Schopenhauer. (shrink)

John Rawls é um dos filósofos políticos mais proeminentes do século XX. A partir da publicação em 1971 da obra Uma Teoria da Justiça, o filósofo estadunidense se tornou mundialmente famoso nos meios políticos e acadêmicos. Contudo, um ponto que sempre suscitou um enorme debate é naquilo que dizia respeito aos regimes econômicos apoiados e defendidos pelo autor. Esse ponto só foi esclarecido quando Rawls publicou em 2001, portanto 30 anos depois de sua principal obra, o livro Justiça como equidade: (...) uma reformulação. Na obra de 2001, Rawls se coloca abertamente contrário ao estado de bem-estar social e defensor da democracia de cidadãos-proprietários e do socialismo (democrático) liberal. Nesse trabalho, além de apresentar o modo pelo qual Rawls chega aos regimes econômicos consonantes com a justiça como equidade, deseja-se investigar a relação da democracia no local de trabalho com os regimes econômicos rawlsianos. Assim, argumenta-se que Rawls não pode ser visto como exigindo a democracia no local de trabalho, apesar de que seus regimes podem ser consonantes com tal prática. (shrink)

This paper analyses the activities of five organizations shaping the debate over the global governance of genome editing in order to assess current approaches to public engagement (PE). We compare the recommendations of each group with its own practices. All recommend broad engagement with the general public, but their practices vary from expert-driven models dominated by scientists, experts, and civil society groups to citizen deliberation-driven models that feature bidirectional consultation with local citizens, as well as hybrid models that combine elements (...) of both approaches. Only one group practices PE that seeks community perspectives to advance equity. In most cases, PE does little more than record already well-known views held by the most vocal groups, and thus is unlikely to produce more just or equitable processes or policy outcomes. Our exploration of the strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities of current forms of PE suggests a need to rethink both “public” and “engagement.”. (shrink)

En este artículo estudiaremos el vínculo entre las instituciones y el populismo mediante una experiencia concreta: la Asignación Universal por Hijo en la Argentina. Para ello, vamos a dividir el artículo en tres partes. Primero, desarrollaremos un tipo de abordaje metodológico específico: el procedimiento coyuntural recogido por Mouffe para pensar el actual momento populista. Segundo, explicitaremos el debate teórico alrededor del vínculo entre instituciones y populismo y las dificultades que existen para pensar esta relación. Tercero, partiremos del caso concreto de (...) la AUH, con objeto de mostrar sus tres momentos constitutivos: el surgimiento de la demanda popular, su apropiación y tramitación por parte del gobierno y la transformación de la demanda en un derecho. Finalmente, señalaremos, a partir del caso estudiado, cómo la conflictividad rupturista de la institucionalidad populista puede ayudarnos a pensar, transnacionalmente, una lógica alternativa al neoliberalismo.This article aims to study the relationship between institutional policies and populism analyzing the Universal Assignment for Child (AUH) in Argentina. To achieve this objective we will divide the paper in three sections. Firstly, we will think the populist moment in this particular setting as a method of interpretation. Secondly, we will follow the theoretical debates about institutions and populism explaining the difficulty to think this relationship. Third, from the concrete case of AUH, in order to show the constitutive moments: the emergence of popular demand, its appropriation and processing by the government and the transformation of demand into a right. Finally, we will show how the rupturist conflict of populist institutionalism helps us conceive a transnational alternative to global neoliberalism. (shrink)

Inauguration speech at chair number 18 of the Brasilian Academy of Philosophy.

This chapter aims to establish a philosophical discussion about the epistemological conditions of “observation”, from the cybersemiotic transdisciplinary view of knowing. For this purpose, the discussion will be divided into three parts, each one of them with the intention of outlining a conceptual critique that later allows a pertinent justification of the observation from a transcendental semiotics. This work is based on a problem: it seeks to show that a the cybersemiotic point of view, to consider on a foundationalist stance, (...) fails to overcome the epistemological contradictions involved in the contemporary critique of modern philosophy. Hence, the objective on this work is to propose as an alternative the teleological and nominalist attitude of transcendental semiotics, and also as an epistemological principle that allows overcoming problems of the foundationalist. Then, in a first moment, we will seek to establish a critique of the phenomenology of observation from the pragmatic point of view, developed by N. R. Hanson and Richard Rorty. In this direction, the contradictions involved in the definition of knowledge will be shown from the phenomenological and phenomenological positions. In general terms, the epistemological problems found in the foundations of knowledge based on observation will be exposed: specifically, the problem of the empirical basis and perception and the question of the mind as an inner space. Then, in a second moment, a characterization of the “observation” and the “observable fact” will be made from the cybersemiotic point of view. In this sense, these concepts will be described from the peircean semiosis, starting from the theoretical link proposed by Søren Brier. Hence, when considering the observation within the sphere of significance, the approaches will show a non-phenomenological characterization of knowledge and, from there, the overcoming of pragmatic critiques towards phenomenology. The closing will allow circumscribing knowledge from a communicative, semiotic and autopoietic approach. Finally, and as a contribution to the state of the discussion, the present chapter will make a defense of the cybersemiotic phenomenology of observation but considering the pragmatic conditions of knowledge from a transcendental semiotics perspective. In this sense, the transcendental concepts of truth-consensus and fin-ideal will be used to develop a relevant theoretical field that allows a transcendental justification of the communicative-intersubjective nature of knowledge postulated by cybersemiotics. (shrink)

The Cuban government has undertaken the task of transforming insect pest and weed management from conventional to organic and more sustainable approaches on a nationwide basis. This paper addresses past programs and current major areas of research and implementation as well as provides examples of programs in insect and weed management. Topics covered include the newly constructed network of Centers for the Reproduction of Entomophages and Entomopathogens (CREEs), which provide the infrastructure for the implementation of biological control on state, cooperative, (...) and private farm operations. CREE programs include the mass rearing and release of Trichogramma spp. to manage insect pests of cassava, tobacco, sugarcane, and improved pasture. The entomopathogens, Bacillus thuringiensis, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Verticillium lecanii, are being mass produced in the CREEs and applied to control a number of key insect pests. A traditional method employed by peasant farmers of using the predatory ant Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius) in the biological control of sweetpotato and banana insect pests has been further developed and implemented. Efforts are underway to rear nematode species that attack insect pests and identify plant extracts with insecticidal qualities as potential management tools. Weed management has moved away from dependence on herbicides and toward alternative techniques that include weed suppression based on rotation schemes, limited use of selective herbicides, and new tillage equipment and practices. (shrink)

in Oct-14-1998 ordinance INDESP-IO4 established the federal software certification and verification requirements for gaming machines in Brazil. The authors present the rationale behind these criteria, whose basic principles can find applications in several other software authentication applications.

We study active set methods for optimization problems in Block Angular Form (BAF). We begin by reviewing some standard basis factorizations, including Saunders' orthogonal factorization and updates for the simplex method that do not impose any restriction on the pivot sequence and maintain the basis factorization structured in BAF throughout the algorithm. We then suggest orthogonal factorization and updating procedures that allow coarse grain parallelization, pivot updates local to the affected blocks, and independent block reinversion. A simple parallel environment appropriate (...) to the description and complexity analysis of test procedures is defined in Section 5. The factorization and updating procedures are presented in Sections 6 and 7. Our update procedure outperforms conventional Updating procedures even in a purely sequential environment. (shrink)

This book presents a conceptual mapping of supererogation in the analytic moral philosophical tradition. It first asks whether supererogation can be conceptualised in the absence of obligation or duty and then makes the case that it can be. It does so by enlisting the resources of the continental tradition, specifically using the work of Emmanuel Levinas and his notion of infinite responsibility. In so doing the book contributes to the ongoing efforts to create a common ethical terminology between the analytic (...) and continental traditions within moral philosophy. Supererogatory actions are praiseworthy actions that go ‘beyond duty’, and yet are not blameworthy when not performed. In responding to this paradox, moral philosophy either brackets or attempts a reductionism of supererogation. Supererogation is epitomised in the paradigmatic figures of the saint and hero. Yet, most would agree that emulating these figures is too morally demanding. We rightly ask: where does moral obligation end? Is it even possible, or desirable to demarcate such a boundary? Besides the important theoretical issues these questions raise, they also speak to practical ethical dilemmas in the contemporary milieu, as they concern the global wealthy’s responsibility to the poor and the challenges of development aid work. (shrink)

El Foro Global de Bioética en Investigación (GFBR por sus siglas en inglés) se reunió el 3 y 4 de noviembre en Buenos Aires, Argentina, con el objetivo de discutir la ética de la investigación con mujeres embarazadas. El GFBR es una plataforma mundial que congrega a actores clave con el objetivo de promover la investigación realizada de manera ética, fortalecer la ética de la investigación en salud, particularmente en países de ingresos bajos y medios, y promover colaboración entre países (...) del norte y del sur.a Los participantes en el GFBR provenientes de Latinoamérica incluyeron a eticistas, investigadores, miembros de comités de ética y representantes de autoridades sanitarias provenientes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panamá, Perú, Nicaragua y la República Dominicana. Una legítima preocupación por la protección de las mujeres embarazadas y sus embriones o fetos ha llevado a la mayoría de los países de la Región de las Américas a limitar la realización de estudios con mujeres embarazadas exclusivamente a aquellos estudios específicos sobre el embarazo, y a requerir la exclusión sistemática de las mujeres embarazadas o de las mujeres que quedan embarazadas en el curso del estudio. Ciertamente, a lo largo de la historia de la ética de la investigación, se ha creído erróneamente que proteger a una población es sinónimo de excluirla de los estudios. Se sabe ahora que proceder así implica exponer a riesgos mucho mayores a la población que se busca proteger. El embarazo implica cambios fisiológicos sustantivos e impacta profundamente la manera como el cuerpo metaboliza los medicamentos. Sin embargo, por evitar hacer investigación con mujeres embarazadas, no se ha producido la evidencia científica necesaria para tomar decisiones sobre tratamientos e intervenciones preventivas con dosis eficaces y seguras para ellas y sus embriones o fetos. A manera de ilustración, en el 2001 había en los Estados Unidos apenas más de una docena de medicamentos aprobados para uso en el embarazo (1) y en el 2011 la Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aprobó por primera vez en 15 años un medicamento para su uso en el embarazo (2). Como consecuencia de no haber producido la evidencia necesaria, se pone en riesgo la salud de las mujeres embarazadas cada vez que se les da atención médica. Las mujeres embarazadas se enferman y las mujeres enfermas se embarazan, y no se sabe si los medicamentos que se les da son eficaces o siquiera seguros para ellas y sus embriones o fetos. (shrink)

Inicialmente, o texto indaga sobre o significado do exercício do filósofo social; pretende também localizar as origens do debate moderno sobre ‘subjetividade’ no pensamento filosófico e social. As idéias norteadoras de Kant, se situam na confluência e na disjunção entre razão (conhecimento) e subjetividade (moral). A partir dessa referência, o debate entre alguns pensadores considerados como pós-modernos (Badiou e Zizek), por um lado, e por outro Castoriadis que recusa esta nomenclatura, vão derivando idéias novas sobre ‘sujeito’ e ‘verdade’. Esse debate (...) não é sem conseqüências para a teoria sociológica que assume para si o desafio de introduzir a categoria de ‘sujeito’ em seus cânones (Touraine). As reflexões de Stengers servem também para questionar e aproximar as práticas da produção do conhecimento e dos discursos científicos. Finalmente, restam desafios para se pensar teorias e práticas sócio-ambientais à luz desses conceitos apresentados ao longo do texto. (shrink)

El siguiente informe pericial se basa en la experiencia de investigación de los firmantes en relación a las exhumaciones de fosas comunes de la Guerra Civil y la postguerra, y al conocido como “movimiento para la recuperación de la memoria histórica” que están teniendo lugar en España desde el año 2000, que ha enfatizado sus demandas sobre la suerte de los desaparecidos y ha puesto en marcha un ciclo de exhumaciones de fosas comunes derivadas de la Guerra Civil y la (...) dictadura. En este peritaje se usan las exhumaciones del siglo XXI como indicadores de la persistencia en el tiempo de las políticas y culturas del miedo instaladas en la sociedad española durante la Guerra Civil y la dictadura, más allá de las profundas transformaciones políticas e institucionales acaecidas en el país tras la muerte de Francisco Franco. Fue presentado como parte de la documentación de la demanda de Fausto Canales contra España el 15 de septiembre de 2012 en el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos. (shrink)

Heinz Von Forester characterizes the objects “known” by an autopoietic system as eigen-solutions, that is, as discrete, separable, stable and composable states of the interaction of the system with its environment. Previous articles have presented the FBST, Full Bayesian Significance Test, as a mathematical formalism specifically designed to access the support for sharp statistical hypotheses, and have shown that these hypotheses correspond, from a constructivist perspective, to systemic eigen-solutions in the practice of science. In this article several issues related to (...) the role played by language in the emergence of eigen-solutions are analyzed. The last sections also explore possible connections with the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce. (shrink)

This article considers distinct ways of understanding the world, referred to in psychology as functions of consciousness or as cognitive modes, having as the scope of interest epistemology and natural sciences. Inspired by C.G. Jung’s simile of the spectrum, we consider three basic cognitive modes associated to: (R) embodied instinct, experience, and action; (G) reality perception and learning; and (B) concept abstraction, rational thinking, and language. RGB stand for the primary colors: red, green, and blue. Accordingly, a conceptual map between (...) cognitive modes and primary and secondary colors is built based on the physics and physiology of color perception and epistemological characteristics of the aforementioned cognitive modes, leading to logical relations structured as an hexagon of opposition. Finally, this model of cognitive modes is applied to the analysis and interpretation of some important episodes in the historical development of physics and technology. (shrink)

Pesquisa qualitativa : conceitos básicos -- Pesquisa qualitativa : apilcações nos estudos rurais -- Pesquisa qualitativa : apilcações nos estudos urbanos -- Pesquisa qualitativa : apilcações em outros estudos geográficos.

Mozambique has seen remarkable growth in biomedical research over the last decade. To meet a growing need, the National Committee for Bioethics in Health of Mozambique encouraged the development of ethical review processes at institutions that regularly conduct medical and social science research. In 2012, the Faculty of Medicine of University Eduardo Mondlane and the Maputo Central Hospital established a joint Institutional Committee on Bioethics for Health. This study examines the experience of the first 4 years of the CIBS FM (...) & MCH. This study provides a descriptive, retrospective analysis of research protocols submitted to and approved by the CIBS FM & MCH between March 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016, together with an analysis of the Committee’s respective reviews and actions. A total of 356 protocols were submitted for review during the period under analysis, with 309 protocols approved. Sixty-four percent were submitted by students, faculty, and researchers from UEM, mainly related to Master’s degree research. Descriptive cross-sectional studies were the most frequently reviewed research. The majority were prospective and used quantitative methodologies. The Departments of Internal Medicine at MCH and Community Health at the FM submitted the most protocols from their respective institutions, with 38 and 53% respectively. The CIBS’s average time to final approval for all protocols was 56 days, rising to 161 for the 40 protocols that required subsequent national-level review by the CNBS. Our results show that over its first 4 years, the CIBS FM & MCH has been successful in managing a constant demand for protocol review and that several broad quality improvement initiatives, such as investigator mentoring and an electronic protocol submission platform have improved efficiency in the review process and the overall quality of the protocols submitted. Beyond Maputo, long-term investments in training and ethical capacity building for CIBS across the country continue to be needed, as Mozambique develops greater capacity for research and makes progress toward improving the health of all its citizens. (shrink)

Interesante y muy bien lograda aproximación al universo teórico construido por Ricardo Guastini, filósofo del derecho italiano.

¿Es posible pensar en acciones que orienten hacia la posibilidad de emergencia de nuevos saberes? Las derivas epistémicas de las ciencias sociales nos instan hoy a la recuperación de prácticas silenciadas y sujetos olvidados y estigmatizados, con la finalidad de aproximarnos a otros modos de construcción de conocimientos. De esta manera, intentaremos visualizar su emergencia desde sus planos geográficos, epistémicos y políticos. En este sentido, la reflexión sobre la viabilidad de las formas y patrones canónicos relacionados a la producción del (...) conocimiento en tiempos de crisis, dan lugar a la realización del presente escrito. (shrink)

We review the definition of the Full Bayesian Significance Test (FBST), and summarize its main statistical and epistemological characteristics. We review also the Abstract Belief Calculus (ABC) of Darwiche and Ginsberg, and use it to analyze the FBST’s value of evidence. This analysis helps us understand the FBST properties and interpretation. The definition of value of evidence against a sharp hypothesis, in the FBST setup, was motivated by applications of Bayesian statistical reasoning to legal matters where the sharp hypotheses were (...) defendants statements, to be judged according to the Onus Probandi juridical principle. (shrink)

Centrado en el análisis de la primera de las «Cuestiones a la Metafísica de Aristóteles» de Duns Escoto, este artículo indaga el camino que sigue Duns Escoto para establecer que Dios es el objeto de la metafísica. En este lugar, Duns Escoto asume una posición novedosa con respecto al objeto de la metafísica, pues en sus obras sobre lógica, había señalado que el objeto de esta disciplina es la sustancia, y en la Ordinatio había sostenido que es el ente en (...) cuanto ente. En la primera parte, se muestra el planteamiento de la pregunta y la estructura de la referida cuestión; la segunda parte expone las objeciones de Escoto a Avicena y Averrroes y su propuesta inicial de que la sustancia es el objeto de la metafísica, correspondiente a la primera redacción de la primera de las «Cuestiones Metafísicas». Luego, la tercera parte expone cómo llega Escoto a la tesis de que Dios y el ente en cuanto ente son el objeto de la metafísica, a partir de la renovación del concepto aristotélico de ciencia. Finalmente, se pondera hasta qué punto esta ampliación significa un cambio radical en la concepción metafísica de Escoto. (shrink)

The Shannon information function (H) has been extensively used in ecology as a statistic of species diversity. Yet, the use of Shannon diversity index has also been criticized, mainly because of its ambiguous ecological interpretation and because of its relatively great sensitivity to the relative abundances of species in the community. In my opinion, the major shortcoming of the traditional perspective (on the possible relation of species diversity with information theory) is that species need for an external receiver (the scientist (...) or ecologist) to exist and transmit information. Because organisms are self-catalized replicating structures that can transmit genotypic information to offspring, it should be evident that any single species has two possible states or alternatives: to be or not to be. In other words, species have no need for an external receiver since they are their own receivers. Therefore, the amount of biological information (at the species scale) in a community with one only species would be species, and not bits as in the traditional perspective. Moreover, species diversity appears to be a monotonic increasing function of (or S) when all species are equally probable (S being species richness), and not a function of as in the traditional perspective. To avoid the noted shortcoming, we could use 2H (instead of H) for calculating species diversity and species evenness (= 2H/S). However, owing to the relatively great sensitivity of H to the relative abundances of species in the community, the value of species dominance (= 1 − 2H/S) is unreasonably high when differences between dominant and subordinate species are considerable, thereby lowering the value of species evenness and diversity. This unsatisfactory behaviour is even more evident for Simpson index and related algorithms. I propose the use of other statistics for a better analysis of community structure, their relationship being: species evenness + species dominance = 1; species diversity × species uniformity = 1; and species diversity = species richness × species evenness. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo nos proponemos trazar la distinción entre la subjetividad preteórica y el sujeto cognoscente en las lecciones tempranas de Friburgo de Martin Heidegger desde el punto de vista de la función metodológica y el carácter ontológico de la reflexión, en vistas a pensar si se puede hablar de una noción de subjetividad no egológica en el planteo heideggeriano. Entendemos por «subjetividad no egológica», el dominio subjetivo originario de la existencia humana, previo a la constitución del ego. Para (...) nuestro propósito abordamos, en una primera instancia, las nociones de discurso originario y discurso derivado para, en un segundo momento, distinguir la subjetividad preteórica de la subjetividad originaria y analizar, finalmente, si se puede hablar de la presencia de una subjetividad no egológica en Heidegger a partir del análisis del estatus metodológico y ontológico de la reflexión. (shrink)

En nuestros días las teorías cosmopolitas han experimentado una revitalización significativa al albur de la intensificación de las relaciones humanas que ha propiciado el fenómeno de la globalización. En las últimas décadas, particularmente desde la caída del Muro de Berlín, se ha registrado un florecimiento de las tesis cosmopolitas que aspiran a ofrecer un modelo teórico desde el que comprender y transformar la realidad en esta era de apertura y de creciente interdependencia que inaugura la globalización. En este trabajo realizamos (...) una aproximación histórica y conceptual al cosmopolitismo, abundando en las causas de su actual auge y, tras analizar los elementos que conforman el fenómeno de la globalización, que determina un tránsito desde la primera a la segunda modernidad, se formula una propuesta humanista e ilustrada de un _cosmopolitismo gradual_, una concepción realista cosmopolita que permita trascender la estatalidad mediante la implementación de formas de gobernanza multinivel. (shrink)

Ibn al-Bann1321) is the author of one of the four extant of the unfinished zq (fl. Tunis and Marrakesh ca. 1193j accessible for the computation of planetary longitudes. The present paper studies some modifications of the structure of the tables the purpose of which is to make calculations easier. The tables of the planetary and lunar equations of the centre are ' appears as a clever adapter, who displays a clear ingenuity allowing him to introduce formal modifications which give his (...) work an appearance of novelty which does not correspond to reality. (shrink)

La encíclica Laudato si´ del papa Francisco plantea el vínculo irrompible que hay entre cuestiones ambientales y cuestiones sociales y humanas, a través de la categoría de la «ecología integral» y la apuesta por la «ética del cuidado». Es un excelente ejercicio de diálogo honesto y decidido del pensamiento teológico y filosófico con las aportaciones de las ciencias naturales y sociales, para preservar la supervivencia de la humanidad. Ideas similares movieron a la bioética potteriana hace más de cuarenta años, y (...) hoy, cuando la bioética no parecer atravesar su mejor momento, esta encíclica constituye un valioso impulso para reenfocar la «bioética global» y enfatizar la necesidad del diálogo tanto interdisciplinar como intercultural/interreligioso, de los cuales nuestro mundo no puede prescindir. La injusticia y la desigualdad adoptan nuevas formas en este tiempo de interdependencia global, demandando de la ética una nueva visión social, con la ampliación del campo de la moralidad que incluya a la naturaleza y de una justicia social que alcance lo global y se piense intra e intergeneracionalmente. (shrink)

This article analyzes the role of entropy in Bayesian statistics, focusing on its use as a tool for detection, recognition and validation of eigen-solutions. “Objects as eigen-solutions” is a key metaphor of the cognitive constructivism epistemological framework developed by the philosopher Heinz von Foerster. Special attention is given to some objections to the concepts of probability, statistics and randomization posed by George Spencer-Brown, a figure of great influence in the field of radical constructivism.

We formulate the problem of permuting a matrix to block angular form as the combinatorial minimization of an objective function. We motivate the use of simulated annealing (SA) as an optimization tool. We then introduce a heuristic temperature dependent penalty function in the simulated annealing cost function, to be used instead of the real objective function being minimized. Finally we show that this temperature dependent penalty function version of simulated annealing consistently outperforms the standard simulated annealing approach, producing, with smaller (...) running times, better solutions. We believe that the use of a temperature dependent penalty function may be useful in developing SA algorithms for other combinatorial problems. -/- . (shrink)