This article analyzes efforts in Nicaragua to create ethical organizations and an ethical economy. Three societal ethea found in contemporary Nicaragua are examined: the ethos of revolution, the ethos of corruption, and the ethos of human development. The emerging ethos of human development provides the most hope for the nation's social and economic evolution. The practices of three successful economic development organizations explicitly aligned with the ethos of human development are described and evaluated: (1) a microfinance foundation (FDL), (2) a (...) federation of cooperatives (FENACOOP), and (3) a local branch of an international NGO (IO-Nicaragua). The article concludes with additional reflections on the meaning of ethical organizations and an ethical economy in the context of contemporary Nicaragua. (shrink)

The current globalization process excludes a significant part of humanity, but organizations can contribute to a more inclusive form by means of dialogue with other organizations to create economic and social value. This article explores the main leadership traits (visions, roles and virtues) necessary for this dialogue. This exploration consists of a comparison between two theoretical approaches and their illustration with two cases. The theoretical approaches compared are Responsible Leadership, a management theory focused on the contribution of business leaders to (...) create a better society as developed by Maak and Pless; and the Work of Translation, a sociological theory which stresses the need for dialogue between organizations to build an alternative to hegemonic or the so-called neo-liberal globalization as formulated by Santos. Both approaches, in what seems an unlikely pairing at first, are compared in terms of their perspectives, diagnoses of the present situation, the main task to be performed by leaders, styles of this task and leadership outcomes. The illustrative cases include a federation of co-ops in Nicaragua and an employer organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We contend that, although these economic development organizations are not private firms, the leadership characteristics of their respective leaders are highly valuable and inspiring for business leaders and multinational corporations wishing to act responsibly at the local and global levels, thus contributing to this more inclusive form of globalization. (shrink)

Antonio Argandoña, Norbert Bilbeny, Victòria Camps, Miquel Calsina, Àngel Castiñeira, Cristian Palazzi, Ferran Requejo, Raimon Ribera, Begoña Román, Ferran Sàez, Miquel Seguró, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Vallès, Rosamund Thomas Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 2012 3(3):9-16.

In this paper two deductive systems associated with relevance logic are studied from an algebraic point of view. One is defined by the familiar, Hilbert-style, formalization of R; the other one is a weak version of it, called WR, which appears as the semantic entailment of the Meyer-Routley-Fine semantics, and which has already been suggested by Wójcicki for other reasons. This weaker consequence is first defined indirectly, using R, but we prove that the first one turns out to be an (...) axiomatic extension of WR. Moreover we provide WR with a natural Gentzen calculus. It is proved that both deductive systems have the same associated class of algebras but different classes of models on these algebras. The notion of model used here is an abstract logic, that is, a closure operator on an abstract algebra; the abstract logics obtained in the case of WR are also the models, in a natural sense, of the given Gentzen calculus. (shrink)

La filosofía fue entre nosotros, durante largo tiempo, un “juego social”, en las últimas décadas se ha venido transformando en (pseudo)campo, y en la actualidad está expuesta a sucumbir a la heteronomía, decayendo a la degradada situación de “espacio de servicios”. Así la doctrina de Bourdieu esclarece el surgimiento, la situación actual, y en cierto modo también la peripecia futura de la filosofía en España. Y al mismo tiempo consigue explicar porque, en este preciso momento, es plausible el pesimista diagnóstico (...) de que el peligro de regresión a la heteronomía compromete la existencia del incipiente campo filosófico español. Simplemente ocurre que en las situaciones de crisis las percepciones de los agentes adquieren una relevancia de la que suelen carecer en etapas más apacibles. En los períodos de desilusión los agentes se vuelven lúcidos, en una palabra, porque entonces resulta más difícil “seguir el juego” que el campo les exige. Ya que tomar parte en dicho juego no es más, según Bourdieu, que una forma de ilusión. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the life of every inhabitant of the planet. During 2020 and 2021 a significant amount of work on how the pandemic is being conceptualized and communicated has been done. Most work has focused on the role of metaphor in the construal of specific cognitive frames. In this paper, we turn to a similar but different conceptualization mechanism, i.e. simile. Drawing from recent socio-cognitive and discursive empirical approaches to similes, this paper focuses (...) on “target is like source” constructions in English and Spanish containing (corona)virus either as target or source of the simile. The analysis is based on 200 examples found in the digital media during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. First, the constructions, conceptualizations and mappings are analyzed. Second, the relevant discourse features (genre type, relation to subjectivity, text location and structuring properties) are described. Finally, the cross-linguistic English-Spanish analysis shows that, despite the many coincidences in both datasets, there are different tendencies as for the use of culture-specific mappings and the genres where the similes occur in. The study aims at testing to what extent the general features characterizing similes also hold in the case of (corona)virus, both as source and as target. The corpus analysis contributes, in addition, to the emerging line of research on the use of figuration in the communication of the pandemic, as well as to the study of the discursive dimensions of similes in real settings. (shrink)

Daniel Bensaïd was a Marxist philosopher and author of an extensive body of works about political strategy. His writings combine a diversity of singular influences, such as Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and Che Guevara on the one hand, and Benjamin, Péguy and Blanqui on the other. In his work, religious heresies, Marranos, moles and emblematic figures of the resistance to oppression such as Joan of Arc meet with the classic figures of Marxism. The non-linear concept of time and messianic reason support (...) a strategic reading of history and an understanding of political commitment, following Goldmann’s interpretation of Pascal’s Wager as a wager of uncertain outcome. (shrink)

This is a contribution to the discussion on the role of truth degrees in manyvalued logics from the perspective of abstract algebraic logic. It starts with some thoughts on the so-called Suszko’s Thesis (that every logic is two-valued) and on the conception of semantics that underlies it, which includes the truth-preserving notion of consequence. The alternative usage of truth values in order to define logics that preserve degrees of truth is presented and discussed. Some recent works studying these in the (...) particular cases of Łukasiewicz’s many-valued logics and of logics associated with varieties of residuated lattices are also presented. Finally the extension of this paradigm to other, more general situations is discussed, highlighting the need for philosophical or applied motivations in the selection of the truth degrees, due both to the interpretation of the idea of truth degree and to some mathematical difficulties. (shrink)

A filter of a sentential logic ? is Leibniz when it is the smallest one among all the ?-filters on the same algebra having the same Leibniz congruence. This paper studies these filters and the sentential logic ?+ defined by the class of all ?-matrices whose filter is Leibniz, which is called the strong version of ?, in the context of protoalgebraic logics with theorems. Topics studied include an enhanced Correspondence Theorem, characterizations of the weak algebraizability of ?+ and of (...) the explicit definability of Leibniz filters, and several theorems of transfer of metalogical properties from ? to ?+. For finitely equivalential logics stronger results are obtained. Besides the general theory, the paper examines the examples of modal logics, quantum logics and Łukasiewicz's finitely-valued logics. One finds that in some cases the existence of a weak and a strong version of a logic corresponds to well-known situations in the literature, such as the local and the global consequences for normal modal logics; while in others these constructions give an independent interest to the study of other lesser-known logics, such as the lattice-based many-valued logics. (shrink)

ukasiewicz''s four-valued modal logic is surveyed and analyzed, together with ukasiewicz''s motivations to develop it. A faithful interpretation of it in classical (non-modal) two-valued logic is presented, and some consequences are drawn concerning its classification and its algebraic behaviour. Some counter-intuitive aspects of this logic are discussed in the light of the presented results, ukasiewicz''s own texts, and related literature.

Łukasiewicz’s infinite-valued logic is commonly defined as the set of formulas that take the value 1 under all evaluations in the Łukasiewicz algebra on the unit real interval. In the literature a deductive system axiomatized in a Hilbert style was associated to it, and was later shown to be semantically defined from Łukasiewicz algebra by using a “truth-preserving” scheme. This deductive system is algebraizable, non-selfextensional and does not satisfy the deduction theorem. In addition, there exists no Gentzen calculus fully adequate (...) for it. Another presentation of the same deductive system can be obtained from a substructural Gentzen calculus. In this paper we use the framework of abstract algebraic logic to study a different deductive system which uses the aforementioned algebra under a scheme of “preservation of degrees of truth”. We characterize the resulting deductive system in a natural way by using the lattice filters of Wajsberg algebras, and also by using a structural Gentzen calculus, which is shown to be fully adequate for it. This logic is an interesting example for the general theory: it is selfextensional, non-protoalgebraic, and satisfies a “graded” deduction theorem. Moreover, the Gentzen system is algebraizable. The first deductive system mentioned turns out to be the extension of the second by the rule of Modus Ponens. (shrink)

Context is crucial in analyzing parliamentary debate, a field which has recently attracted attention from various perspectives. However, not many contributions focus on specific linguistic markers that shape and are simultaneously influenced by the context of production. The present article aims to partially fill in this gap by analyzing the demonstratives used in parliamentary debates and highlighting how they contribute to activating different aspects of context. After summarizing the features of parliamentary debate as a genre and the importance and complexity (...) of context considered as a subjective and dynamic mental construct, the pragmatic functions of demonstratives are presented and the most frequent uses occurring in two debates in the Catalan Parliament are illustrated, namely text deictic and discourse-context demonstratives. The analysis shows the discourse significance of the latter, which corresponds to noun phrases such as this Parliament, referring to the members of parliament as a body, or this statement, referring to the document under discussion. These uses of a proximal demonstrative pointing to the shared context of communication clearly differ from text deictics. They are similar to but also different from both situational demonstratives, which point to the perceived context, and recognitional demonstratives, which point to the shared knowledge between the participants, the penultimate. The overall analysis not only enriches the description of parliamentary debates, but it also contributes to a more complete description of the various uses of demonstratives and to a better understanding of the complexity and dynamicity of context in this genre. (shrink)

A definition and some inaccurate cross-references in the paper A Survey of Abstract Algebraic Logic, which might confuse some readers, are clarified and corrected; a short discussion of the main one is included. We also update a dozen of bibliographic references.

This paper contains a joint study of two sentential logics that combine a many-valued character, namely tetravalence, with a modal character; one of them is normal and the other one quasinormal. The method is to study their algebraic counterparts and their abstract models with the tools of Abstract Algebraic Logic, and particularly with those of Brown and Suszko's theory of abstract logics as recently developed by Font and Jansana in their "A General Algebraic Semantics for Sentential Logics". The logics studied (...) here arise from the algebraic and lattice-theoretical properties we review of Tetravalent Modal Algebras, a class of algebras studied mainly by Loureiro, and also by Figallo, Landini and Ziliani, at the suggestion of the late Antonio Monteiro. (shrink)

In this paper we consider the structure of the class FGModS of full generalized models of a deductive system S from a universal-algebraic point of view, and the structure of the set of all the full generalized models of S on a fixed algebra A from the lattice-theoretical point of view; this set is represented by the lattice FACSs A of all algebraic closed-set systems C on A such that (A, C) ε FGModS. We relate some properties of these structures (...) with tipically logical properties of the sentential logic S. The main algebraic properties we consider are the closure of FGModS under substructures and under reduced products, and the property that for any A the lattice FACSs A is a complete sublattice of the lattice of all algebraic closed-set systems over A. The logical properties are the existence of a fully adequate Gentzen system for S, the Local Deduction Theorem and the Deduction Theorem for S. Some of the results are established for arbitrary deductive systems, while some are found to hold only for deductive systems in more restricted classes like the protoalgebraic or the weakly algebraizable ones. The paper ends with a section on examples and counterexamples. (shrink)

The “representation problem” in abstract algebraic logic is that of finding necessary and sufficient conditions for a structure, on a well defined abstract framework, to have the following property: that for every structural closure operator on it, every structural embedding of the expanded lattice of its closed sets into that of the closed sets of another structural closure operator on another similar structure is induced by a structural transformer between the base structures. This question arose from Blok and Jónsson abstract (...) analysis of one of Blok and Pigozzis’s characterizations of algebraizable logics. The problem, which was later on reformulated independently by Gil-Férez and by Galatos and Tsinakis, was solved by Galatos and Tsinakis in the more abstract framework of the category of modules over a complete residuated lattice, and by Galatos and Gil-Férez in the even more abstract setting of modules over a quantaloid. We solve the representation problem in Blok and Jónsson’s original context of M-sets, where M is a monoid, and characterise the corresponding M-sets both in categorical terms and in terms of their inner structure, using the notions of a graded M-set and a generalized variable introduced by Gil-Férez. (shrink)

The Intimate Resistance is a keen, deeply beautiful reflection on the human condition. The author explains howwe ourselves can warm, protect and guide those around us.

En la gran producció filosòfica d’Eusebi Colomer, s’hi poden distingir tres grans centres d’interès particularment destacats. En primer lloc, la seva dedicació a l’estudi del pensament de Ramon Llull i de Nicolau de Cusa. La seva tesi doctoral va mostrar les influències lul·lianes en l’obra de Nicolau de Cusa a partir de les anotacions autògrafes en què el jove Nicolau es feia ressò de les coses que més li interessaven de Llull. El segon gran centre d’interès el van constituir, naturalment, (...) els grans corrents de la filosofia alemanya moderna i contemporània. Des dels anys d’estudiant s’havia familiaritzat particularment amb l’idealisme, la fenomenologia i la filosofia de l’existència. Finalment, el seu tercer centre d’interès va ser el diàleg filosòfico-teològic. Colomer lamentava profundament el divorci produït entre la filosofia i la teologia. Adaptant una coneguda formulació de Kant, pensava que la teologia sense filosofia és cega, però que la filosofia sense teologia és buida. Format en la tradició metafísica espiritualista i defensor de l’humanisme cristià, Colomer es trobava, però, a les antípodes de qualsevol sectarisme o dogmatisme. La seva formació, el seu tarannà i, segurament, els seus enormes coneixements de la història de la filosofia, li havien conferit una gran capacitat per al diàleg. Ell no veia el diàleg com un recurs o com una tàctica, sinó com un element constitutiu de l’ésser humà. \n. (shrink)

First, this article summarizes the way Jan Patocˇka thinks and updates the classic theme of philosophy as care for the soul. Then goes on to show Jacques Derrida’s significant and unexpected interest in the Czech thinker, and the manner as sharp and respectful as he reads it. Derrida argues that the core of Patocˇka’s approach, under the term “responsibility”, coincides in some sense with that of Emmanuel Levinas; nucleus that has to do, in both authors, with the essence of “religion”.

The centenary of the birth of Ludwig Wittgenstein provided an opportunity for recovering some of the great Wittgensteinian subjects, for re-examining them and for discussing their implications and relevance. This volume is the result of the interchange that took place in Girona among well-known scholars of Wittgenstein's work in different countries. The eleven contributions are organized into three main subjects: on Wittgenstein's method, on knowledge and meaning, on language and use. This volume is not only the result of the different (...) and mature reflexions of its authors, but in two cases it has also unfortunately become their last contribution to the subject. (shrink)

The centenary of the birth of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) provided an opportunity for recovering some of the great Wittgensteinian subjects, for re-examining them and for discussing their implications and relevance. This volume is the result of the interchange that took place in Girona (Spain) among well-known scholars of Wittgenstein's work in different countries. The eleven contributions are organized into three main subjects: on Wittgenstein's method (B. McGuinness, E. Tugendhat and J.M. Terricabras), on knowledge and meaning (G.E.M. Anscombe, R. Bambrough, N. (...) Malcolm, and P.T. Geach), on language and use (D. Pears, E.v. Savigny, J. Bouveresse and J. Ferrater Mora). This volume is not only the result of the different and mature reflexions of its authors, but in two cases (Malcolm and Ferrater Mora) it has also unfortunately become their last contribution to the subject. (shrink)

Quins són els valors que regeixen la nostra vida? I per què vivim amb aquests valors i no amb uns altres? «Els valors van cap a on anem nosaltres perquè van amb nosaltres. ¬I mentre fem camí o mentre el busquem, els valors ens alimenten», diu el filòsof.

This paper has a very limited scope: it just presents some eIements which may introduce us into a wider investigation on vague predicates. Thus, webegin by pointing out our general conception of Iogic (as a descriptive science of linguistic phenomena). After that, we build up our approach by considering characteristic functions and by trying to make useful the model of logical extension which applies to classical quantifiers.

This paper reviews the impact of Rasiowa's well-known book on the evolution of algebraic logic during the last thirty or forty years. It starts with some comments on the importance and influence of this book, highlighting some of the reasons for this influence, and some of its key points, mathematically speaking, concerning the general theory of algebraic logic, a theory nowadays called Abstract Algebraic Logic. Then, a consideration of the diverse ways in which these key points can be generalized allows (...) us to survey some issues in the development of the field in the last twenty to thirty years. The last part of the paper reviews some recent lines of research that in some way transcend Rasiowa's approach. I hope in this way to give the reader a general view of Rasiowa's key position in the evolution of Algebraic Logic during the twentieth century. (shrink)

Bensaïd’s interest in Marranism is part of his broader interest in Jewish mysticism, read in a profane and secularised way, and of his search for new theoretical paths with which to renew revolutionary Marxist theory. ‘Marrano’ refers to the Spanish–Portuguese Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity in the fifteenth century and who were suspected of judaising in secret. The term has been increasingly used by many authors, including Bensaïd, in a broad sense, often as a metaphor that goes beyond (...) the study of actual Marranos to acquire a broader meaning. Bensaïd uses Marranism to think about some aspects of political strategy and, at the same time, strategically uses Marranism to approach certain debates. The Marrano is the metaphorical and metonymic figure through which he tries to think a new internationalism that simultaneously transcends both an abstract universalism that legitimates inequalities and oppression and an anti-universalist communitarian withdrawal. (shrink)

En este trabajo se analizan las cláusulas de liquidez constitucional (CLC), tal como han sido caracterizadas por José María Sauca. Sobre los rasgos estructurales, se sostiene, primero, que es difícil reconducir los ejemplos de CLC a un solo modelo, por cuanto, una vez introducida la distinción entre reglas prescriptivas y constitutivas, caben seis posibles reconstrucciones; segundo, que el principio de prevalencia, lejos de suponer que no hay contradicciones entre las normas que puedan emanar de las CLC y la normativa constitucional, (...) las presuponen; tercero, que mantener que las CLC implican una transferencia de soberanía solo puede obedecer a un uso ambiguo del término “soberanía”. Por lo que hace a las funciones, y en contra de lo sostenido por Sauca, se muestra que las CLC pueden conducir a mutaciones constitucionales y es factible considerarlas mecanismos de última palabra. (shrink)

The shortcomings of Merleau-Ponty’s crucial concept of “institution” led him into a turning point where the way out he selected was actually much inferior, as regards the prospects of fulfillment that were latent in his thought, to the alternative path he did not take.

Thinking the Visual, Visualizing the Thought. A perceptual and Political Model of VisionMerleau-Ponty’s program of perceptivizing thought has depoliticizing effects that, though he does not recognize them, undermine his understanding of politics. These anti-political consequences, moreover, bring out the internal difficulties of his anti-intellectualist starting point. There are three areas in which Merleau-Ponty gave a thorough application, though with unequal success, of his perception-based model: the presentation of his own thought, in which his program of picturalization had a striking success; (...) the explanation of the historical process, in which his visualization model was only partly effective; and access to other people’s thought, in which his perceptivist views encountered an undeniable failure. Merleau-Ponty’s successive approaches to other people’s thought show, by two distinct paths, and beyond his own intentions, an unforeseen political defect. His perceptive model proves incompatible with his political ideas when it is applied in depth, and it thus breaks apart the cohesion of his thought. From a larger perspective, it disrupts reflective approaches to politics since it damages their conceptual bases. This article shows successively that Merleau-Ponty laid out a perceptive model of universal scope; that he applied it to several areas, including politics; that this model proves politically deficient when it serves to remove the autochthonous sources of sense; that these depoliticizing effects become more acute when Merleau-Ponty employs the perceptive model to elucidate other people’s thought; and that its frustration in this area not only devalues his political reflections, but also signals that the perceptive model simply prevents a “thinking of the political.”Pensare il visuale, visualizzare il pensiero.Un modello percettivo e politico della visioneIl programma di percettivizzazione del pensiero intrapreso da Merleau-Ponty comporta effetti spoliticizzanti che sconfessano nascostamente la sua comprensione della politica. Tali conseguenze antipolitiche mettono altresì in rilievo le difficoltà intrinseche alla sua posizione anti-intellettualista. Vi sono tre ambiti nei quali Merleau-Ponty, con diverso successo, ha applicato il suo modello percettivo : la presentazione del suo stesso pensiero, nella quale questo programma di pittoricizzazione incontra un successo trionfale; la chiarificazione del processo storico, dove tale modello “visualeˮ non è efficace che in parte; infine l’accesso al pensiero di altri autori, terreno sul quale questa prospettiva percettivista subisce uno scacco innegabile. Molti tentativi merleaupontiani di approcciare il pensiero di altri autori attestano in vario modo un imprevisto deficit politico. Il modello percettivo di Merleau-Ponty si rivela in altri termini incompatibile con le sue idee politiche, nel momento in cui viene applicato in profondità, e in ultima analisi mette a dura prova la coerenza del suo pensiero. In una prospettiva più ampia, esso ostacola un approccio riflessivo alla politica poiché ne degrada le stesse basi concettuali. Il nostro articolo mostra quindi che Merleau-Ponty ha articolato un modello percettivo di portata universale; che l’ha applicato a svariati ambiti d’indagine, tra cui la politica; che quel modello si rivela deficitario quando viene utilizzato per attingere a specifiche fonti di senso; che tali effetti spoliticizzanti si acuiscono nel momento in cui Merleau-Ponty adotta il modello percettivo per illuminare il pensiero di altri autori; che, per concludere, la sua incongruenza con questo peculiare ambito di riflessione non solo impoverisce le sue riflessioni politiche, ma attesta che in linea generale il modello percettivo sbarra la strada a un qualsiasi «pensiero del politico». (shrink)

Argues that Merleau-Ponty’s thought grounds itself on “non-coincidence” or, as he puts it, on “divergence or écart”, “non-transparence” or “non-adequacy”, since neither perception nor knowledge, in his view, actually conveys the things perceived or known. Reality comes up drenched in transcendence, and likewise thought has to span the “uncanny distance” that severs the subject from itself and every object from its own identity. Thus appear groundless an array of received views on the “reversibility” ascribed by Merleau-Ponty to the doublet “distance (...) vs. immediacy”. (shrink)