¿Llegarán los ordenadores a sustituir a los seres humanos? Lo que hasta hace unas décadas parecía una pregunta de ciencia-ficción, es ahora defendido con seriedad por algunos especialistas en inteligencia artificial. El presente articulo dibuja las más importantes líneas de investigación en este campo y las posiciones más relevantes respecto de la relación hombre-maquina pensante. La conclusión que propone el autor supone una decidida apuesta por un humanismo en el que quepa integrar el desarrollo tecnológico sin perder de vista sus (...) innegables implicaciones éticas. (shrink)

RESUMENEn primer lugar, se analiza la teoría clásica, tal como la formuló Aristóteles, de los seres humanos como animales racionales. En segundo lugar, se presenta la caracterización del hombre como no animal e irracional que ofrece Martinho da Vila. En tercer lugar, se consideran las tesis freudianas sobre la mezcla de racionalidad e irracionalidad en los humanos. En cuarto lugar, se señalan algunos puntos de vista recientes, debidos a Simon así como a la psicología y neurociencia actuales, sobre la limitación (...) de la razón humana y su relación con las emociones. Finalmente se argumenta que ni Aristóteles ni Martinho da Vila describen bien la condición humana.PALABRAS CLAVERACIONALIDAD-CONDICIÓN HUMANA-ARISTÓTELES-FREUDABSTRACTFistly the classical theory, as put forward by Aristotle, about the human beings as rational animals is analysed. Secondly the description of man as no animal and irrational offered by Martnho da Vila is presented. Thirly the Freudian thseses on the mixture os rational and irrational aspects in humans are considered. Forurthly some recent points of view, by Simon and the current psychology and neurosciencie, about the limitation of human reason and irs relation with emotions are pointed out. Lastly it is argued that neithert Aristotle nor Martinho da Vila decribe well the human nature.KEYWORDSRATIONALITY-HUMAN NATURE-ARISTOTLE-FREUD. (shrink)

Después de una breve caracterización de las ciencias cognitivas, se destaca la existencia de dos enfoques erróneos en filosofía del conocimiento apostando por el enfoque propio de las ciencias cognitivas, donde el sujeto de cognición es procesador de información y tanto puede ser un humano como una máquina o un animal. En segundo lugar se caracteriza el sujeto cognitivo como un sistema físico de símbolos, de acuerdo con la tesis de Allen Newell y Herbert Simon, comentando y ejemplificando tal tesis. (...) Y finalmente se distingue entre diversos grados de cognición en sentido amplio, tanto en animales como en máquinas, así como se destaca la cognición en sentido propio o cognición inteligente, que comprende las operaciones de concebir, juzgar y razonar. (shrink)

Veinte años de Contrastes (y aún antes)Twenty Years of Contrastes (and even Before)PASCUAL MARTÍNEZ-FREIREDirector de Contrastes. Revista Internacional de Filosofía.

Whereas Wittgenstein rejected the existence of any private language, Fodor defends the existence of the language of thought, which is private in the sense of inner. A comparison is developed between Wittgenstein's and Fodor's ideas about this issue. Likewise a survey of Fodor's language of thought is made pointing out some shortcomings.

RESUMENTras analizar sucintamente las conseciencias científicas y filosóficas de la identidad mente-cerebro, se señalan argumentos a favor y en contra de mantener el debate mente.cerebro. En particular se consideran las nuevas técnicas de exploración del cerebro como argumento en contra de tal debate. las deficiencias e insuficiencias de tales técnicas aconsejan mantener el debate mente-cerebro y no asumir el materialismo. PALABRAS CLAVEMENTE-CEREBRO - EXPLORACIÓN DEL CEREBRO- RMF-TEPABSTRACTAfcter a brief analysis of the scientific and philosophical consequences of the mind-brain identify thesis, (...) arguments for and against the maintenance of the mind.brain debate are pointed out. Particularly the recent techniques to explore the brain are considered as an argument against this maintenance. the shortcomings and lacks found in theses techniques recommend the maintenance of the mind.brain debate and not to assume materialism.KEYWORDSMIND-BRAIN - BRAIN IMAGING- FMR- PET. (shrink)

Hilden and Gammelgaard's comments on the evaluation and application of statistical trials and on informed consent lead to the same conclusion that there are special circumstances when clinical trials are performed in emergency situations.The decision to comment on the work that H&G responded to was motivated by the wish to manifest the need to reach a consensus on modifying the conditions in which clinical trials should be performed in special circumstances.One unquestionable fact must first be addressed: clinical trials are necessary (...) for acquiring new knowledge and consequent improvements in health care services. At the same time, patient participation should be encouraged under conditions that respect patients' decision making capability.Are these conditions being met at present? An answer to this is given below. (shrink)

Advances in medicine are closely linked to clinical research, but certain study procedures may be in conflict with the fundamental principles of ethics and codes of conduct in medicine. Following an analysis of two studies involving treatments for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), the admissibility of continuing a study was questioned after the initial results for two types of treatment showed that one was significantly better than the other. Also considered doubtful was the information provided to patients with the object of (...) obtaining their informed consent. (shrink)

En un artículo anterior expusimos el marco cristológico donde trata la Escolástica la ciencia humana de Jesucristo. Al asumir el Verbo la naturaleza humana de Jesús para llevar a cabo la redención, implica la consideración de la constitución ontológica del Hijo de Dios. Esto se analiza en la cuestión de la unión hipostática. La postura de la Escuela Franciscana arranca de Alejandro de Hales ante las tres opiniones que Pedro Lombardo transmite en las Sentencias. Por otra parte, esta cuestión conduce (...) al análisis de la esencia y propiedades de dicha naturaleza asumida. Con esto se contemplan, no sólo las cualidades naturales, por lo general situadas en el alma de Cristo, sino también los defectos aducidos en el estudio sobre la pasión y muerte de Cristo, centro de la aislada soteriología medieval. (shrink)

Revisiting the history of relativity Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11016-010-9466-4 Authors Lewis Pyenson, Department of History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5242, USA Sean F. Johnston, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow, Rutherford-McCowan Building, Dumfries, Glasgow, Scotland G2 0RB, UK Alberto A. Martínez, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station B7000, Austin, TX 78712-0220, USA Richard Staley, Department of the History of Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 226 Bradley Memorial Building, 1225 Linden Drive, Madison, (...) WI 53706-1528, USA Journal Metascience Online ISSN 1467-9981 Print ISSN 0815-0796 Journal Volume Volume 20 Journal Issue Volume 20, Number 1. (shrink)

The scientific study of consciousness emerged as an organized field of research only a few decades ago. As empirical results have begun to enhance our understanding of consciousness, it is important to find out whether other factors, such as funding for consciousness research and status of consciousness scientists, provide a suitable environment for the field to grow and develop sustainably. We conducted an online survey on people’s views regarding various aspects of the scientific study of consciousness as a field of (...) research. 249 participants completed the survey, among which 80% were in academia, and around 40% were experts in consciousness research. Topics covered include the progress made by the field, funding for consciousness research, job opportunities for consciousness researchers, and the scientific rigor of the work done by researchers in the field. The majority of respondents (78%) indicated that scientific research on consciousness has been making progress. However, most participants perceived obtaining funding and getting a job in the field of consciousness research as more difficult than in other subfields of neuroscience. Overall, work done in consciousness research was perceived to be less rigorous than other neuroscience subfields, but this perceived lack of rigor was not related to the perceived difficulty in finding jobs and obtaining funding. Lastly, we found that, overall, the global workspace theory was perceived to be the most promising (around 28%), while most non-expert researchers (around 22% of non-experts) found the integrated information theory (IIT) most promising. We believe the survey results provide an interesting picture of current opinions from scientists and researchers about the progresses made and the challenges faced by consciousness research as an independent field. They will inspire collective reflection on the future directions regarding funding and job opportunities for the field. (shrink)

Despite the salient experience of encoding threatening events, these memories are prone to distortions and often non-veridical from encoding to recall. Further, threat has been shown to preferentially disrupt the binding of event details and enhance goal-relevant information. While extensive work has characterised distinctive features of emotional memory, research has not fully explored the influence threat has on temporal memory, a process putatively supported by the binding of event details into a temporal context. Two primary competing hypotheses have been proposed; (...) that threat can impair or enhance temporal memory. We analysed two datasets to assess temporal memory for an in-person haunted house experience. In study 1, we examined the temporal structure of memory by characterising memory contiguity in free recall as a function of individual levels of heart rate as a proxy of threat. In study 2, we replicated marginal findings of threat-related increases in memory contiguity found in study 1. We extended these findings by showing threat-related increases in recency discriminations, an explicit test of temporal memory. Together, these findings demonstrate that threat enhances temporal memory regarding free recall structure and during explicit memory judgments. (shrink)