La caricatura de Garzón, que aparece en el periódico El Espectador con el título de Cartones, es una caricatura filosófica, un dibujo del alma humana, en contraste con la de su contemporáneo Osuna que es la clásica caricatura política. Garzón prescinde, en general, de las palabras y critica con humor seco la insensatez. Adopta en sus dibujos del alma una posición ética que repudia el espíritu mercantil de nuestra época. El hombrecillo protagonista de sus dibujos recuerda los hombres grises, creados (...) por Michael Ende, en su novela Momo. En el maletín los hombrecillos de Garzón llevan el tiempo, pero también, como en una caja de Pandora, portan muchos otros de los pseudovalores que los humanos empleamos para autodestruirnos. Sin embargo, en ese mismo maletín muchos hombres llevan la esperanza. La obra de Garzón nos plantea tres desafíos: (I) el problema de la percepción, con la cual vemos y oímos solamente lo que podemos y queremos ver y oir, poniendo en jaque la objetividad; (II) el problema del lenguaje, que resuelve dejando el texto implícito, como Nicolás Gómez Dávila, invitándonos a escribir nuestros propios escolios; (III) el problema del instante y de nuestra inevitable relación con el tiempo, cuyo planteamiento nos deja entrever jirones de Heidegger y de Ende, cuando él dice, al comentar su propia obra que “conocemos desde donde estamos”. Garzón, de muchos de sus Cartones, ha hecho grabados, duplicando en esta forma la energía creadora de su obra periodística, dándose y dándonos un placer estético redoblado con genial generosidad. (shrink)

El día 27 de febrero de 2013 se llevó a cabo en la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana el homenaje académico en honor de la vida y trayectoria intelectual del profesor Guillermo Hoyos Vásquez. Su reciente deceso, el 5 de enero de 2013, y sus contribuciones a la academia colombiana fueron las razones para que amigos, alumnos y compañeros de trabajo dedicaran toda una jornada a recordar las anécdotas y enseñanzas del profesor Hoyos. Como resultado de ese evento, la Vicerrectoría Académica y (...) la Vicerrectoría de Investigación de la Universidad Javeriana se han unido en este proyecto editorial que recoge las intervenciones que se realizaron en este homenaje, con el fin de llevar a un público más amplio una de las vidas y obras intelectuales que han marcado a una generación de científicos sociales y filósofos colombianos. (shrink)

Available in English for the first time, this much-anticipated translation of Enrique Dussel's _Ethics of Liberation_ marks a milestone in ethical discourse. Dussel is one of the world's foremost philosophers. This treatise, originally published in 1998, is his masterwork and a cornerstone of the philosophy of liberation, which he helped to found and develop. Throughout his career, Dussel has sought to open a space for articulating new possibilities for humanity out of, and in light of, the suffering, dignity, and creative (...) drive of those who have been excluded from Western Modernity and neoliberal rationalism. Grounded in engagement with the oppressed, his thinking has figured prominently in philosophy, political theory, and liberation movements around the world. In _Ethics of Liberation_, Dussel provides a comprehensive world history of ethics, demonstrating that our most fundamental moral and ethical traditions did not emerge in ancient Greece and develop through modern European and North American thought. The obscured and ignored origins of Modernity lie outside the Western tradition. _Ethics of Liberation_ is a monumental rethinking of the history, origins, and aims of ethics. It is a critical reorientation of ethical theory. (shrink)

The beginning of university life can be a stressful event for students. The close social relationships that they can experience can have positive effects on their well-being. The objective of this paper is to estimate the effect of perceived social support on the changes of the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being of Chilean university students during the transition from the first to the second academic year. Overall, 205 students participated with an average age of 19.14 years, evaluated during their first academic (...) year and the succeeding one. For the evaluation of perceived social support, the Spanish version of the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire “MSPSS” was used, and PERMA-profiler was used to measure hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Changes through the time of hedonic well-being and social support and the correlations between the variables were analyzed. Changes in the perception of social support were analyzed according to four categories of hedonic well-being. The prediction of social support for eudaimonic well-being was evaluated. Results indicated that the perception of students’ social support did not change over time. Statistically significant differences were found in hedonic well-being scores in the two measurements, being significantly higher in the first measurement than in the second one. More than 50% of the participants presented a positive balance of affections. The perception of social support is associated with the two types of well-being. Students who had a high balance of affections had a greater perception of general social support than the groups of positive evolution of affections and a low balance of affections. In the case of the friends and family support dimensions, the perception in the high-balance group of affections concerning the low-scale group is greater. Improving the perception of social support increases the eudaimonic well-being of university students. The perception of support that students had during the beginning of their university life benefits their general well-being, which contributes to their mental health. (shrink)

Philosophizing the Americas establishes the field of inter-American philosophy. Bringing together contributors who work in Africana Philosophy, Afro-Caribbean philosophy, Latin American philosophy, Afro-Latin philosophy, decolonial theory, and African American philosophy, the volume examines the full range of traditions that have, separately and in conversation with each other, worked through how philosophy in both establishes itself in the Americas and engages with the world from which it emerges. The book traces a range of questions, from the history of philosophy in the (...) Americas to philosophical questions of race, feminism, racial eliminativism, creolization, epistemology, coloniality, aesthetics, and literature. The essays place an impressive range of philosophical traditions and figures into dialogue with one another: some familiar, such as José Martí, Sylvia Wynter, Martin R. Delany, José Vasconcelos, Alain Locke, as well as such less familiar thinkers as Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Hilda Hilst, and George Lamming. In each chapter, the contributors find fascinating and productive matrices of tension or convergence in works throughout the Americas. The result is an original and important contribution to knowledge that introduces readers from various disciplines to unfamiliar yet compelling ideas and considers familiar texts from novel and prescient perspectives. Philosophizing the Americas stands alone as a representation of current scholarly debates in the field of inter-American philosophy. Contributors: Stephanie Rivera Berruz, Jacoby Adeshei Carter, Nadia Celis, Tommy J. Curry, Hernando A. Estévez, Daniel Fryer, James B. Haile III, Chike Jeffers, Lee A. McBride III, Michael Monahan, Adriana Novoa, Susana Nuccetelli, Andrea J. Pitts, Dwayne A. Tunstall, and Alejandro A. Vallega. (shrink)

Sober and Wilson have recently claimed that evolutionary theory can do what neither philosophy nor experimental psychology have been able to, namely, "break the deadlock" in the egoism vs. altruism debate with an argument based on the reliability of altruistic motivation. I analyze both their reliability argument and the experimental evidence of social psychology in favor of altruism in terms of the folk-psychological "laws" and inference patterns underlying them, and conclude that they both rely on the same patterns. I expose (...) the confusions that have led Sober and Wilson to defend a reliability argument while rejecting the experimental evidence of social psychology. (shrink)

En la filosofía kantiana la explicación de los organismos, como ejemplos de diseño complejo, es un problema de difícil solución. Como entidades materiales deberían ser explicables por leyes mecánicas. Por su diseño, exigen una explicación por causas finales. Ambas explicaciones son inaceptables. Per..

It is not yet clear which response behavior requires self-regulatory effort in the moral dilemma task. Previous research has proposed that utilitarian responses require cognitive control, but subsequent studies have found inconsistencies with the empirical predictions of that hypothesis. In this paper we treat participants’ sensitivity to utilitarian gradients as a measure of performance. We confronted participants (N = 82) with a set of five dilemmas evoking a gradient of mean utilitarian responses in a 4-point scale and collected data on (...) heart rate variability and on utilitarian responses. We found positive correlations between tonic and phasic HRV and sensitivity to the utilitarian gradient in the high tonic group, but not in the low tonic group. Moreover, the low tonic group misplaced a scenario with a selfish incentive at the high end of the gradient. Results suggest that performance is represented by sensitivity correlated with HRV and accompanied with a reasonable placement of individual scenarios within the gradient. (shrink)

[v. 1]. Escritos filosóficos y políticos I -- v. 2. Escritos filosóficos y políticos II. Escritos sobre la universidad.

This article intends to argue that Francisco de Vitoria’s conception of the Spanish Conquest of America is based upon notions that stem from various sources of the 14th and 15th Century. One of his most important source is the Opus septipertitum de contractibus, written by the German theologian Conradus Summenhart, whom Vitoria quotes frequently. By comparing both thinkers it can be shown that Vitoria’s basic terminology concerning rights and dominion is in greatly indebted to Summenhart’s account.

Regarding the explanation of organisms as instances of complex design, Kantian philosophy faces a difficult problem: as material entities they should be explained through mechanical laws, but because of their design, they call for an explanation through final causes. Nonetheless, both explanations are unacceptable. Does Kant offer any way out? Part of his solution is that both teleology and mechanicism must apply as regulative principles. But this implies limiting mechanicism to a regulative idea, which is inconsistent with his claim that (...) newtonian mechanics are a priori valid and constitutive of natural science and its objects. I inquire into Kant’s positive doctrine on the natural explanation of organisms, combining teleology and mechanicism, and into the way this fits in his natural philosophy. (shrink)

In a unified theory of human reciprocity, the strong and weak forms are similar because neither is biologically altruistic and both require normative motivation to support cooperation. However, strong reciprocity is necessary to support cooperation in public goods games. It involves inflicting costs on defectors; and though the costs for punishers are recouped, recouping costs requires complex institutions that would not have emerged if weak reciprocity had been enough.

In his philosophical works, Aquinas spends some effort establishing why cognitive beings differ from those that are not able to have a cognitive, i.e., intentional, grasp of the exterior world. Prima facie, the matter is clear, since only those beings acquire knowledge that have the proper powers to do so. One remark, however, while discussing the nature of change in the process of visual perception, strikes the reader as particularly odd, since Aquinas states that “a ‘spiritual alteration’ occurs in virtue (...) of a species’ being received in a sense organ or in the medium in the manner of an intention.” Whereas it is not problematic to think that perceptions and thoughts are intentional, it seems peculiar to talk of the species in the medium as being received “in the manner of an intention.” While current interpretations propose that Aquinas’s account is either erroneous or in need of rectification, I would like to argue that the notion of mind-independent or non-cognitive intentions, which follows the Avicennian tradition, is rooted in a peculiar theory of sensible form. Given that the intentions in the medium make sense, it is, however, important to show that they differ from those intentions that are apprehended by cognitive powers. For this purpose, I will try to trace the underlying physics for cognitive change, showing that an account in terms of qualitative change leads one to posit a proper recipient of sensible forms, i.e., the sense powers. (shrink)

In a recent paper in this Journal, one of us argued against placing He above Be in Mendeleiev’s system of the elements. In it the goal was to dispute the notion that in Mendeleiev’s system of the elements the location of He should in fact lie above Be, which has a very similar electronic configuration, rather than above the noble gas column. That paper was based on rather old, Hartree–Fock limit studies on the strikingly limited non-additive contributions in the He3 (...) and He4 systems in contrast with the much larger non-additivity obtained for the Be3, Be4 and Be5 oligomers. In a recent benchmark multireference Averaged Quadratic Coupled Cluster results on Be2 and Be3 we showed that the delocalized non-additive contribution comprises 94 % of the binding energy of Be3. Here we use this and other pertinent information (drawn from the same paper) to conclude that He may not be associated with Be in Mendeleiev’s Table, despite their quite similar spectroscopic ground states. Furthermore, we use the new results to show that the large non-additivity implies that less than 2 % of the Be3 binding is located in each Be pair contained within the Be trimer. The rest of the interaction energy is necessarily delocalized over all three Be atoms. This might actually announce the bulk properties (i.e. “the electron gas”) that in solid-state physics explain the large electric and heat conduction for the solid Be metal. Thus, in the case of beryllium the metallic characteristics are already evident in Be3, a far cry from the monoatomic helium gas. (shrink)

In this chapter we will try to show how the introduction of Darwinian evolutionary theory transformed metaphysics, and in particular, the philosophical understanding of the temporality of being. In the interests of brevity, we will focus on two particularly significant aspects of the impact of Darwinism on Latin America. We will consider, first, how the new evolutionary thought transformed past notions of temporality. Second, we will discuss the ways in which the ideas of regression and extinction, viewed as essential components (...) of the evolutionary process, problematized the nature of progress and civilization. We trace these developments in the work of three central figures of Latin American thought: José Martí, José Rodó, and Euclides da Cunha. All three of these men were extraordinarily versatile thinkers, and each has been the subject of voluminous secondary literature. But the first two, unlike some other influential figures—such as, famously, Domingo Sarmiento of Argentina—were hardly self-professed Darwinians. Still, we have chosen to discuss them because of this last fact, and not despite it. As for da Cunha, though he accepted the basic canons of the new evolutionary theory, he remained ambivalent about its application. All three struggled, each in his own way, to come to terms with the Darwinian legacy, and each found his thinking profoundly shaped by this struggle; they offer us three different, unique perspectives on the impact of Darwinism. The magnitude of the new evolutionism can only be understood if we consider the wide range of discussion it triggered in consequence of its profound philosophical impact. (shrink)

La Escolástica Tardía marca un hito en la historia del pensamiento filosófico. En este periodo se establecen las bases de un profundo proceso de transformación en la forma de observar la naturaleza a través de una minuciosa recolección de datos, experimentos y posteriores análisis. El enfoque franciscano da prioridad a aquel sentido práctico del filosofar que se funda sobre la existencia real y desembarca en la acción. Los pensadores franciscanos analizan las realidades del mundo con un dinamismo pragmático sumamente original.

Se busca aclarar el tratamiento de Adam Smith al llamado problema de la "suerte moral". Como la posición no es evidente ni simple, se muestra que la tesis afirma la existencia de la suerte moral consecuencial con base en el recurso al espectador imparcial. Para ello, se pone de relieve el sentido metódico de su proceder, y se analizan ciertas cuestiones claves, como el carácter de la apelación a la naturaleza y de las justificaciones teleológicas. Se distinguen cuatro momentos estructurales (...) y se alega que solo en el último se decide su posición. This article seeks to clarify Adam Smith's treatment of the so called "moral luck" problem. While Smith's position is not simple or evident, the articles shows that Smith's thesis affirms the existence of consequential moral luck based on the impartial spectator. It does so by highlighting the methodic meaning of his procedure and analyzing certain key issues, such as the character the appeal to nature and the teleological justifications. Four structural moments are distinguished and it is argued that only in the latter is his position decided. (shrink)

The exportation of unethical practices to low- and middle-income countries has been conceived as a prevalent practice which needs to be examined more closely. Such a practice might point towards the exploitation of vulnerable population groups. We conducted a survey among Mexican research ethics committee members to explore the issue of ethics dumping in Mexico by understanding how its existence and contributing factors and norms are perceived by these ethics committee members. We designed an exploratory survey based on a five-point (...) Likert scale, following an established, validated and published methodology. The questionnaire included both open close-ended questions. The aspects covered in the questionnaire were introductory questions on the existence of ethical issues; general perception on ethics dumping in Mexico; lack of voluntariness, undue inducement, and therapeutic misconception as exploitation risks; existence of exploitative practices; norms facilitating ethics dumping; acceptable levels of benefit to Mexico; boundaries of ethics dumping. The survey was administered to a sample of research ethics committee members from public and private Mexican hospitals in 2016. Most of the ethics committee members believed clinical trials are generally ethically sound, though almost a majority think that ethics dumping is a common occurrence and that it is a serious issue. Most agree that ethics dumping needs to be addressed. They also identified other issues such as ethical issues related to patient participation and ethics committees. Further, most committee members agree that undue inducement and therapeutic misconception affect voluntariness, and that both individuals and communities receive appropriate benefits. From the perspective of Mexican research ethics committee members, ethics dumping commonly exists in Mexican clinical trials, as well as several related issues such as ethical issues on patient participation and ethics committees, as well as voluntariness issues. Further, most members believed these issues need to be addressed. However, most were also of the opinion that clinical trials are generally ethically compliant. This points to the need for further studies on the reasons for these perspectives. (shrink)

RESUMEN Largamente desatendida o malinterpretada, la noción de caos en la filosofía de Nietzsche es una pieza constitutiva de la particular concepción del ser que este autor habría dejado apenas esbozada. El artículo se propone elaborar este concepto en la obra nietzscheana, siguiendo algunas de las metáforas que lo iluminan. Desde allí se busca plantear los rasgos centrales de una ontologia del caos, de sesgo no metafísico, que, al afirmar el carácter acontecimental de la realidad, puede verse como precursora de (...) la ontología hermenéutica contemporánea. ABSTRACT The notion of chaos, which has long been neglected or misinterpreted, is a constitutive element of a peculiar conception of being that the philosopher only had time to outline. The objective of this article is to elaborate on this concept in Nietzschean philosophy, guided by some of the metaphors that shed light on it. This serves as the basis to set forth the main characteristics of a non-metaphysical ontology of chaos that asserts the eventful nature of reality and can thus be seen as a precursor of contemporary hermeneutic ontology. (shrink)

Filosofía latinoamericana es para mí una expresión que describe un estilo de reflexión, esto es, la manera como el filósofo responde a las exigencias de su situación con los elementos que tiene 'a la mano' comprendiendo, es decir, creando proyectos. Permítanme aclarar lo que entiendo por estilo.

Este artículo se ocupa de la concepción del alma elaborada por Alejandro de Afrodisia, con especial atención a un aspecto específico que la distingue de la concepción aristotélica: la introducción de una facultad o capacidad impulsiva. En primer lugar, se considera la reformulación de la concepción jaristotélica del alma como forma del cuerpo que Alejandro lleva a cabo, en conexión con su original reconstrucción del hilemorfismo. Aquí se pone especial énfasis en el modo en el cual Alejandro (...) construye lo que puede llamarse un “modelo escalonado” de composición hilemórfica. En segundo lugar, se considera el tratamiento de la facultad impulsiva, atendiendo especialmente al rendimiento teórico que extrae Alejandro de la adopción de la noción de impulso. Por último, se considera brevemente el modelo reformulado de psicología de la acción que elabora Alejandro, para dar cuenta de la secuencia del proceso de producción del movimiento voluntario y la acción. Se trata de un modelo explicativo que deja de lado el recurso aristotélico a la estructura del silogismo práctico e incorpora, en cambio, los elementos más característicos de la concepción estoica. Ello no implica, sin embargo, el abandono de la tesis básica de la concepción aristotélica de la motivación, por oposición al intelectualismo socrático, a saber: la tesis de la primacía del deseo, en todas sus posibles formas, como factor que da cuenta del origen del movimiento voluntario y la acción. (shrink)

ArgumentThe spread of Darwinian ideas by the late nineteenth century in Argentina transformed the intellectual elites' notion of progress and civilization. While before Darwin, union, harmony, and assimilation were the ideas most commonly associated with the civilizatory process; variation, struggle, and divergence dominated the post-Darwin discussion. More importantly, unlike in Europe, in Argentina the theory not only triggered interest in the process of speciation, but also its relationship with extinction. Extinction became the benchmark of progress, and the sign of success (...) for the nation. If the country was civilizing itself, the “natural” elimination of inferior individuals, unfit for the struggle for existence, had to be proved and displayed. The origin of modernity was here associated with the existence of evolutionary waste that revealed the work of natural selection on behalf of national improvement. (shrink)

This article offers a philological commentary on the ‘Calpurnia Cycle’ present within the letters composed by Pliny the Younger, concentrating particularly on the analysis of Ep. 7.5. The author behaves like a true elegiac lover and a loving husband, since the letters that he writes to his wife Calpurnia can be set in the context of the elegiac genre, given the lexicon and motifs present in them. Calpurnia is transformed into a scripta puella not in the sense of a metaphorical (...) figure, but in the sense of ‘literary material’. The aim is to adapt the elegiac motifs to his declared intention of creating a positive image of his persona in the world and for posterity (immortalitas) through the Epistulae. Although Pliny presents himself as similis excluso amatori, albeit while innovatively setting the scene at midday, his interest is not in the typical elegiac conduct of militia or servitium amoris, which would run counter to his self-presentation as an active and politically engaged citizen; rather, his theme is the praise of the beloved and reflections upon his own importance as a poet. (shrink)