En este documento se discuten las recientes tendencias de la epistemología (entendida como teoría de la ciencia y de la investigación), desde un punto de vista explicativo que las considera como variaciones observacionales que aparecen en un cierto lapso, pero que son generadas por marcos subyacentes de carácter ahistórico y preteórico, llamados “enfoques epistemológicos”, de modo isomórfico a las conocidas diferencias entre estructuras “superficial” y “profunda” o entre “type” y “token”, etc. Dentro de esta presuposición hipotética, alejada de una descripción (...) meramente narrativa o histórica, y dentro de algunos otros criterios, en la primera parte se caracteriza una referencia esencial, el período entre 1920 y 1990, como clave para entender las variaciones y tendencias en los últimos 16 años de desarrollo de la epistemología. En la segunda parte se discuten y explican esas tendencias recientes. En la última sección se hace énfasis en una visión más general y profunda que tiene que ver con la aplicabilidad de la epistemología a la práctica cotidiana de la investigación. (shrink)

En estas páginas se reúnen tres trabajos elaborados en diferentes fechas, pero estrechamente interrelacionados bajo la intención global de aportar algunos elementos a la evaluación de las opciones metodológicas y epistemológicas en el campo de la investigación en Ciencias Sociales. Esos tres escritos nacen de la preocupación por los riesgos a que se ven expuestos los procesos de producción de conocimientos en el área social, sobre todo si consideramos que, dadas ciertas circunstancias del debate epistemológico actual, casi a diario aparecen (...) ofertas bajo la con?signa del nuevo paradigma o del paradigma emergente. Ante estas ofertas suele ocurrir que unos se muestran entusiasmados y otros incrédulos, pero muy pocos, relativamente, se dedican a evaluarlas. Así, sin evaluar las distintas opciones, la investigación social podría llegar a extremos de li?bertinaje académico, inoperancia y descrédito, incumpliendo de ese modo con el delicado compromiso que tienen los investigadores -tesistas, tuto?res y profesores- con respecto a las necesidades de la sociedad actual. En general, el supuesto inicial más importante aquí es que no pode?mos asumir ciegamente una determinada oferta metodológica y epistemo?lógica, por atractiva que parezca, si previamente no la sometemos a una crítica dura, desinteresada y honesta. Bajo esos términos, tomando en cuenta el predominio y la creciente influencia que han llegado a ejercer las propuestas del «paradigma emergente» sobre noveles investigadores sin que éstos dispongan de un cuerpo amplio de contrargumentaciones y señalamientos divergentes, los trabajos aquí presentados se orientan a deslindar aspectos que parecen significativos para una crítica severa y puntual. Esto es aun más urgente si consideramos que, apartando el caso de muchos investigadores respetables y serios que trabajan bajo la óptica del paradigma emergente, recientemente han pululado las posiciones anárqui?cas y descabelladas que también se declaran bajo esa misma óptica. Y, según parece, es aquí donde late un importante peligro para la investiga?ción social. Esperamos que de los trabajos aquí recogidos puedan también deducirse esas diferencias. (shrink)

This essay argues that neo-sophism is used in social science language as a way to hidden weak arguments. If sophism was used in Antiquity, neo-sophism is the contemporary use of rhetorical arguments in order to present some ideas in the social sciences. It describes the structure of this kind of th..

Mary Gentile’s Giving Voice to Values presents an approach to ethics training based on the idea that most people would like to provide input in times of ethical conflict using their own values. She maintains that people recognize the lapses in organizational ethical judgment and behavior, but they do not have the courage to step up and voice their values to prevent the misconduct. Gentile has developed a successful initiative and following based on encouraging students and employees to learn how (...) to engage in communication or action to express their values within an organization’s formal and informal value system. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the Giving Voice to Values approach to empowering the individual to take action to deal with lapses in organizational ethics. We examine the role of Giving Voice to Values in business ethics education, considerations for implementing GVV, and recommendations for business educators and corporate ethics officers. We conclude that while GVV is an effective tool, it is not a comprehensive or holistic approach to ethics education and organizational ethics programs. (shrink)

El desarrollo acelerado de la ciencia y la técnica ha proporcionado nuevos conocimientos, entre ellos los relacionados con la biología molecular y celular y particularmente con el descubrimiento del factor de crecimiento epidérmico y su capacidad para estimular la formación de tejido de granulación y acelerar la reepitelización en las úlceras del pie diabético. Los Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología constituyen un campo caracterizado por la heterogeneidad de tendencias que han ido configurando un enfoque más integral, interdisciplinario (...) y responsable de la reflexión sobre la actividad científico-tecnológica. El artículo tiene como objetivo fundamentar el impacto social del Heberprot-P como fruto de una Tecnociencia, mediante un análisis teórico del tema. The quick development of science and technology has provided new knowledge about different matters, such as those related with the molecular and cellular biology and particularly with the discovery of the factor of epidermal growth and its capacity to stimulate the formation of granulation tissue and to accelerate the re-epithelisation in ulcers of diabetic foot. The Social Studies of Science and Technology constitute a field characterized by heterogeneity of tendencies that have been giving shape to a more integral and interdisciplinary focus responsible for the reflection on the scientific-technological activity. This article is aimed at basing the social impact of Heberprot-P as a result of a technoscience, by means of a theoretical analysis on the topic. (shrink)

Background The Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 expressed concern that some health-related studies undertaken in the Region were not subjected to any form of ethics review. In 2003, the study reported in this paper was conducted to determine which Member country did not have a national research ethics committee (REC) with a view to guiding the WHO Regional Office in developing practical strategies for supporting those countries. Methods This is a descriptive study. The (...) questionnaire was prepared and sent by diplomatic pouch to all the 46 Member States in the WHO African Region, through the WHO country representatives, for facilitation and follow up. The data were entered in Excel spreadsheet and subsequently exported to STATA for analysis. A Chi-Squared test (χ 2) for independence was undertaken to test the relationship between presence/absence of Research Ethics Committee (REC) and selected individual socioeconomic and health variables. Results The main findings were as follows: the response rate was 61% (28/46); 64% (18/28) confirmed the existence of RECs; 36% (10/28) of the respondent countries did not have a REC (although 80% of them reported that they had in place an ad hoc ethical review mechanism); 85% (22/26) of the countries that responded to this question indicated that ethical approval of research proposals was, in principle, required; and although 59% of the countries that had a REC expected it to meet every month, only 44% of them reported that the REC actually met on a monthly basis. In the Chi-Squared test, only the average population in the group of countries with a REC was statistically different (at 5% level of significance) from that of the group of countries without a REC. Conclusion In the current era of globalized biomedical research, good ethics stewardship demands that every country, irrespective of its level of economic development, should have in place a functional research ethics review system in order to protect the dignity, integrity and safety of its citizens who participate in research. (shrink)

The emotional connotation of words is known to affect word and sentence processing. However, the when and how of the interaction between emotion and grammar are still up for debate. In this behavioural experiment, 35 female university students read noun phrases (NPs) composed by a determiner and a noun in their L1 (Spanish), and were asked to indicate if the NPs were grammatically correct (elmasc camareromasc) or not (*lafem tornillomasc; i.e. a gender agreement task). The type of gender (arbitrary/natural), the (...) emotionality (unpleasant/neutral), and the gender class (feminine/masculine) of the nouns were manipulated. We found an overall grammaticality effect, responses being faster in grammatically correct trials than in incorrect ones. However, the effects of emotionality and gender class varied depending on gender type. For arbitrary gender, the grammaticality effect was greater in feminine nouns than in masculine nouns and independent of emotionality. For natural gender, the grammaticality effect interacted with gender class and emotionality, this effect only emerging in unpleasant stimuli for feminine nouns. Our results reveal that it is possible to find emotional effects at the behavioural level in an intrinsically grammatical task. Yet, these effects depend on gender properties like the type of gender and the gender class. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda el antiguo problema de la diferencia entre filosofía y poesía partiendo de una interpretación del arte narrativo personificado por Ulises en la Odisea. Una lectura del episodio de las Sirenas permite reconstruir la trama de voces diversas que compone el relato homérico y comprender la significación de esta estructura polifónica en el imaginario odiseico. Frente a la neta oposición entre autofonía y alofonía que propone la filosofía platónica, la poesía homérica implica una idea de heterofonía que apunta (...) más allá de una lógica binaria y sugiere la irreductibilidad de la voz poética a un juego entre extremos contrarios. La heterofonía consiste más bien en una voz figural que crea la «lógica difusa» del mundo ficcional mediante la neutralización de las diferencias entre sujetos enunciativos. (shrink)

Based on published works and unpublished materials, this article analyses how cybernetics was received by two Spanish thinkers exiled in Mexico: José Gaos (1900–1969) and Eduardo Nicol (1907–1990). This reception is particularly intriguing especially when considering the substantial presence and social impact that Norbert Wiener had in Mexican society because of his friendship with Arturo Rosenblueth. Gaos and Nicol are the first philosophers to develop a complex and original diagnosis of cybernetics in Mexico. It will be shown how the (...) exiled thinkers take on the philosophical implications of this science in the light of their respective theoretical projects, and finally, it will be defended how the critical perspective they develop is particularly significant for Mexico’s political and academic context since it illuminates some negative aspects of cybernetics that Wiener did not foresee and that had not been reported there until then. (shrink)

In this paper I will argue that when Aristotle uses the word ‘ἀρχή’ he is often referring to what we call a condition, whether necessary, sufficient or necessary and sufficient. To this end I will discuss how conditions for being, change, and knowledge, as identified by Aristotle, can be equated to ontological, physical and noetic principles, respectively.

This article argues that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. It clarifies the nature of bodily awareness, categorises the different types of body-relative information, and rejects the claim that we can have a sense of ownership of our own bodies. It explores how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and highlights the importance of certain forms of bodily awareness that share an important epistemological property with (...) canonical forms of self-consciousness such as introspection. (shrink)

It is now 25 years since Gareth Evans introduced the distinction between conceptual and nonconceptual content in The Varieties of Reference. This is a fitting time to take stock of what has become a complex and extended debate both within philosophy and at the interface between philosophy and psychology. Unfortunately, the debate has become increasingly murky as it has become increasingly ramified. Much of the contemporary discussion does not do full justice to the powerful theoretical tool originally proposed by Evans (...) and subsequently refined by theorists in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s – most effectively, I think, by Christopher Peacocke (particularly in his 1992). Even worse, significant parts of the discussion are somewhat confused. This paper makes a start on clarifying what I think ought to be the central issues in debates about nonconceptual content. I begin in §1 by pointing out how narrowly focused contemporary discussion is relative to Evans’s original discussion. We are not making as much use as we should of nonconceptual content as a tool for understanding subpersonal information processing and the complexities of its status relative to perception and thought at the personal level. In §2 I turn to what is the central focus of contemporary discussion, namely, the content of perception and identify a “master argument” for nonconceptualism based on the relation between conceptual capacities and capacities for perceptual discrimination. The aim of §3 is to clarify the relation between the claim that perception has nonconceptual content and some superficially similar claims discussed by philosophers of perception. Finally, in §4 I explain why the attention recently focused on what is sometimes called the state version of the nonconceptualist thesis seems to me to be misdirected. (shrink)

Philosophical accounts of self-deception can be divided into two broad groups – the intentionalist and the anti-intentionalist. On intentionalist models what happens in the central cases of self-deception is parallel to what happens when one person intentionally deceives another, except that deceiver and deceived are the same person. This paper offers a positive argument for intentionalism about self-deception and defends the view against standard objections.

Frames and framing make one dimension of a decision problem particularly salient. In the simplest case, framesprimeresponses (as in, e.g., the Asian disease paradigm, where the gain frame primes risk-aversion and the loss frame primes risk-seeking). But in more complicated situations frames can function reflectively, by making salient particular reason-giving aspects of a thing, outcome, or action. For Shakespeare's Macbeth, for example, his feudal commitments are salient in one frame, while downplayed in another in favor of his personal ambition. The (...) role of frames in reasoning can give rise torational framing effects. Macbeth can prefer fulfilling his feudal duty to murdering the king, while also preferring bravely taking the throne to fulfilling his feudal duty, knowing full well that bravely taking the throne just is murdering the king. Such patterns ofquasi-cyclicalpreferences can be correct and appropriate from the normative perspective of how one ought to reason. The paper explores three less dramatic types of rational framing effects: (1) Consciously framing and reframing long-term goals and short-term temptations can be important tools for self-control. (2) In the prototypical social interactions modeled by game theory, allowing for rational framing effects solves longstanding problems, such as the equilibrium selection problem and explaining the appeal of non-equilibrium solutions (e.g., the cooperative solution in the Prisoner's Dilemma). (3) Processes for resolving interpersonal conflicts and breaking discursive deadlock, because they involve internalizing multiple and incompatible ways of framing actions and outcomes, in effect create rational framing effects. (shrink)

An increasing number of studies have addressed the psychological impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the general population. Nevertheless, far less is known about the impact on specific populations such as university students, whose psychological vulnerability has been shown in previous research. This study sought to examine different indicators of mental health in university students during the Spanish lockdown; we also analyzed the main sources of stress perceived by students in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and the coping strategies adopted (...) when faced with the situation. Data was collected from 932 students through a web-based platform. Measures of anxiety, depression, irritability, and self-perceived change in mental health were administered, as well as ad hoc measures of stressors and coping strategies. Results indicated that students experienced considerable psychological problems during the confinement, with higher rates of emotional difficulties in women and undergraduate students than in men and postgraduates, respectively. Psychological distress was mainly related to several specific domains of stressors, as perceived by the participants: academic future, task overload, worsening of interpersonal conflicts, and restrictions in pleasant social contact; and far less related to the spread of the disease and its consequences for physical health. As regards coping strategies, both reframing skills and daily routines were shown to be the most effective. A path-analysis model integrating stressors, coping, and mental health revealed that coping strategies partially mediated the effect of stressors on psychological health. In general, results suggest that students’ psychological health was substantially affected by the COVID-19 situation and that the academic and relational changes were the most notable sources of stress. This study reinforces the need to monitor and promote mental health in university students to boost resilience in times of crisis. Our results on effective coping strategies may inform preventive programs aimed at helping students to deal with challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Los dilemas y desafíos metodológicos enfrentados en el trabajo de campo de una investigación doctoral durante la contingencia sanitaria por la pandemia del virus SARS-CoV-2 causante de la enfermedad covid-19, son el objeto de reflexión en este artículo. Al respecto se presenta una sistematización del proceso de indagación para construir rutas de acción ante tales desafíos. Las decisiones asumidas y ajustes emergentes al plan original de investigación contribuyeron a la recolección de los datos y aportaron nuevos aprendizajes y competencias en (...) la formación como investigadora educativa. (shrink)

John Lachs tells us in the short “Preface” to his latest book that in an earlier work, “Intermediate Man, a book I wrote some years ago,” (1981) he “presented similar ideas. But this book is significantly different from the earlier. It covers more topics and makes, I hope, a more compelling case for my analysis” (p. vii). He goes on to state that in The Cost of Comfort one can find his analysis of contemporary life a “testable form,” given over (...) to an invitation to experiment (similar to anoth... (shrink)