The ontological question goes way back to Plato. In his Teetetus he already searched for the answer to question of “how is it possible that when a man stares at something he would not see anything anyway”. Quine is the author of a doctrine on ontology, “On what there is”. His work follows the path of medieval authors such as William of Ockham, who proposed the methodology that came to be known as Okcham's razor. The excessive proliferation of entities is (...) known as “Plato's beard”. Quine, among others, has shaved Plato's beard searching for logical and scientific simplicity. (shrink)

Los debates sobre el conocimiento, la realidad y la verdad han estado en el centro de la discusión filosófica desde hace décadas. El advenimiento de la Teoría Evolucionista del Conocimiento le ha revestido, no solo de hipótesis interesantes sobre los procesos que subyacen a las capacidades cognitivas en la tarea de conocer el mundo, sino que ha traído consigo nuevos problemas. En este artículo se intenta ofrecer una perspectiva naturalizada del problema del conocimiento, adentrándonos en los debates suscitados desde el (...) realismo y los conceptos de verdad y error a la hora de determinar si el éxito biológico está íntimamente relacionado o no con ambos conceptos, no solo en la especie humana sino también en otras especies animales. (shrink)

Nowadays global inequalities in access to vaccines seem to be a growing problem. Intellectual Property Rights have been playing an important role both in causing and worsening them. Firstly,...

“There’s no need for DNA tests to prove that One Hundred Years of Solitude is Don Quixote’s heir.” G. Rabassa This paper is a personal attempt to relate the concept of language games as portrayed by the Austrian Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein with the literary magic of Gabriel García Márquez. The topic came up to me after reading an essay of the Colombian writer Carlos Patiño Roselli. His exposition on the language games in Wittgenstein triggered a series ofassociations in me that (...) made me see spoken language as the actor that plays the leading role in both authors. In order to address this topic I will first summarize Wittgenstein’s notion of language-games, on one hand, and then I will remind us of what we commonly understand under “magical realism” in GGM; then, I will propose a free interpretation of §103 in PhU relating it to Melquiades’ return from death to live in a story he tells in some papyrus. And now, “Back to the rough ground!”. (shrink)

La epistemología bayesiana tiene como concepto capital la condicionalización simple. Para comprender de buena forma cómo opera esta regla, se debe dar cuenta de la concepción subjetiva de la probabilidad. Sobre la base de lo anterior es posible esclarecer alcances y límites de la condicionalización simple. En general, cuando esta regla enfrenta una dificultad se hacen esfuerzos por resolver dicha particular cuestión, pero no es usual encontrar propuestas unificadas con la intención de resolver varias de las complicaciones subyacentes al bayesianismo (...) ortodoxo. Por lo mismo, el propósito de esta investigación es justamente proponer aquello: un marco bayesiano ampliado que tendrá por objeto solucionar más de una cuestión particular. Más específicamente, el problema de la incorregibilidad, el problema del surgimiento del cero, el problema de la evidencia antigua y el problema de las teorías nuevas. Lo anterior se logrará adicionando al bayesianismo ortodoxo dos cuestiones, a saber, la condicionalización épsilon y una reconstrucción racional. Palabras clave: Probabilidad Subjetiva, Grados de Creencia, Dogmatismo Bayesiano, Evidencia Antigua, Nuevas Teorías. (shrink)

Rooted in a reasoned understanding of what it is to be a human being in community, Catholic social principles are accessible to a pluralistic, even secular, audience. Instead of being used separately in an ad hoc manner, these principles can be applied as a single analytical framework in examining ethical questions. Doing so allows the manifold dimensions of social problems to surface. The paper applies this framework on the issue of whether currency markets ought to be taxed in order to (...) deter speculation. (shrink)

Who Comes After the Subject offers the most comprehensive overview to date of contemporary French thinking on the question of the "subject." Nineteen philosophers and critics offer diverse perspectives on the subject as it has manifested itself in our modern discourses: the subject of philosophy, of the State, of history, of psychoanalysis. Each contribution asks What has become of the subject? or What has the subject become? in the wake of its critiques and deconstructions .

The texts of the Bible treasure a high amount of theatrical potential. Thus, the book of Job constituted the basis of the Theatrum Mundi . Nevertheless, the Jewish and Christian conception of the world and history, despite its tragedies and Passions, is far removed from Greek tragedy. The figure of Job constitutes a contrast to the tragic in King Lear . An exorcistic formula from the Bible appears in Hamlet, Macbeth, and in plays of the Faustian theme –El mágico prodigioso (...) and Marlowe’s and Goethe’s Fausts –, as well as, surprisingly, in Don Quixote and in many other plays where the devil appears on stage. OscarWilde’s Salome finds inspiration in the language of Song of Songs and of apocalyptic prophecies. Rituality and sacredness are common to the Bible and theatre in the quest for representation of the invisible through the visible. (shrink)

This Handbook presents what world and regional religions teach about economic morality. It also compares the major religions, especially the Abrahamic faiths, in their positions on various social, business, and policy themes, such as feminism, competition, and the ecology, among others. The concluding chapter is an analytical synthesis that presents and explains the patterns that emerge from the various religions in this Handbook. Readers will find a remarkable convergence in religions’ teachings on economic morality, despite their wide differences in dogma, (...) ecclesial structures, and social practices. This confluence can be traced to similarities in the underlying anthropologies and cosmologies of these faiths. Readers will also discover that these religions’ economic teachings are the antithesis of contemporary market ethos, policy, and praxis. This Handbook underscores a symbiosis between religion and economic life as they mutually enrich each other. On the one hand, religion improves the efficiency and efficacy of economic life by lowering the frictional and monitoring costs of market operations. Virtuous market participants internalize norms of good economic conduct and behave accordingly. On the other hand, socio-economic life offers manifold enticements, comforts, and overindulgences that paradoxically push devout adherents to invest themselves even further in their beliefs. Socio-economic life provides an opportunity for religions to build strong faith communities and for believers to reify their religion in their economic conduct. This Handbook presents the richness, nuances, and rationale of religions and their economic ethics based on their vision of a natural and divine order. It shows that they share far more in common than whatever divides them, at least when it comes to economic morality. (shrink)

The work of Gloria Anzaldúa has not typically been read in concert with utopian studies. Much of her writing, however, offers a rich resource for utopian critique. This is a significant omission given that much of Latin@ speculative fiction has been deemed inherently utopic. Latin@futurism is a field of inquiry by which to focus on the utopian as a broader category of visionary, speculative forms. Anzaldúa draws on techniques of defamiliarization to usher a change of consciousness in the reader, exemplified (...) by her theories of conocimiento, el cenote, and nepantla. This article discusses Anzaldúa's theory of el cenote as a powerful heterotopic space of renewal and transformation in Yuri Herrera's novel Signs Preceding the End of the World. Anzaldúa's theories of conocimiento and nepantla flesh out culminating aspects of borderlands dreaming in the novel that connect to a discourse of apocalypse and its relationship to historical renewal and social justice. (shrink)

Since the very beginnings of Philosophy, the multifaceted problem of time has constituted one of the central concerns of philosophers and other thinkers. From pre-Socratic speculation to Platonic metaphysics, from St. Augustine to the medieval theologians, meditation upon time was unceasing, and the issue became yet more acute with the development of modern philosophy following Descartes One might summarize the slow evolution of Western thought in this area as follows: time began in Greek philosophy as a property of the world, (...) was later referred basically to human beings, and in the twentieth century has recovered its cosmic nature thanks to contemporary physics .It is of course beyond the reach of a single article to tackle the problem of time in its entirety. Here, I shall concentrate on a single very specific aspect: the definition of the past and the question of whether the past has any explicative value. It is largely on the answer to this question that the possibility of maintaining the coherent identity of history as a branch of knowledge depends. (shrink)

Este texto busca traçar algumas relações iniciais entre a ascensão das sociedades de controle, conforme notado por Deleuze, e as mudanças nas relações econômicas e políticas nas sociedades mundiais na contemporaneidade, com especial atenção ao processo ocorrido no Brasil.

El problema de la filosof a hisp nica concierne m s bien al car cter de la filosof a contempor nea en Hispanoam rica, es decir, a su ethos. "Parece como si no pudi ramos hacer filosof a en nuestro mundo hisp nico, -se ala Nicol en el prefacio- sin debatir previamente la cuesti n del car cter y estilo de lo que vamos a hacer y c mo adaptarlo al genio aut ctono y a los destinos de nuestra comunidad." (...) Tal preocupaci n es estudiada en este ensayo. (shrink)

What is childhood? This basic but not less intriguing question guides the present philosophical exercise. However, along the journey, that first question inevitably leads us to some other indispensable queries: What are we able to know about children through the way they behave? Is it ‘what’ they are indeed? If behaviours show us some things, cannot they, at the same time, hide others from us? What is it they are showing or hiding? What is at stake here? Returning to our (...) first and guiding question and paying a little more attention to it, we may realise a very important detail there, which consists in just two letters: the use of the verb be. Most of the times, we ask ‘What is childhood?’ and, a moment later, we turn away and forget what we were primarily looking for. Completely lost and without even noticing it, we eagerly begin our saga in order to produce theories and more theories about childhood. But what have become of the children themselves? Now they are nothing more than objects of our systematic and empirical scientific researches. We have been treating them as machines of behaviour and – with the help of cutting-edge technology – products of our manipulation. This way, we abandon who they are. We ignore their being. If we are truly willing to help them discover their ownmost potentiality-for-being (eigenstes Seinkönnen), that is, their possible authenticity (Eigentlichkeit), then we must face the challenge of receiving them as the Dasein they are. (shrink)

Resumen: La tolerancia es un privilegio de los poderosos. Una persona puede tolerar sólo si tiene el poder para interferir con aquello que objeta. En este artículo analizaré las circunstancias en las que alguien tiene el poder para tolerar. Argumentaré que la respuesta debe incorporar consideraciones tanto prácticas como metafísicas. Específicamente, defenderé que alguien tiene el poder para tolerar cuando sus propiedades fundan tal poder en la situación práctica en que ella se encuentra, según es caracterizada por sus intereses prácticos. (...) Al hacerlo criticaré el análisis del mencionado poder realizado por Glen Newey. (shrink)

Opinionated state of the art paper on scientific explanation. Analysis and discussion of the most relevant models and theories in the contemporary literature, namely, the deductive-nomological model, the models of inductive-statistical and statistical relevance, the pragmatic theory of why questions, the unifying theory of standard arguments, and the causal/non-causal counterfactual theory.

Este documento ofrece una propuesta desde la perspectiva de la bioética para la elaboración de un protocolo de triaje en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19. Dicha propuesta incluye recomendaciones sobre las normas procedimentales y normas sustantivas que deben regir la asignación y reasignación de recursos terapéuticos en condiciones de escasez extrema.

This article tries to delineate the proposition that to Feuerbach nature is an autonomous and independent being that comes first in comparison to the spirit. To him, material nature, that exists in its qualitative differentness, independent from thinking, is the original source, the immediate, not deductible, uncreated fundament of all real existence, that exists and consists in itself, when put vis-a-vis the spirit. Feuerbach sets nature against the spirit, for it is his understanding that nature is not a pure other (...) that only through the spirit was set as nature, but as the first source, the objective material reality that exists outside reason and is given to man by means of his senses as fundament and essence of his life. Therefore, one is dealing first with that essence (light, air, water, fire, plants, animals etc) without which man does not exist or could be thought of as existing. To Feuerbach nature is all objects and essences put together. Under this condition it is possible to conceive nature as guarantor of externality itself as if it could exist independently from us, an entity that is unaware of itself and which exists in itself and by itself; for this reason it shall not be seen as something which it is not, i.e., neither divine nor human. Nature always existed, i.e., it exists in itself and has only meaning in itself; it is itself, i.e., it has no mystical essence, it does not hide behind it any absolute being whether human, divine, transcendental or ideal. (shrink)

I propose a deductive-nomological model for mathematical scientific explanation. In this regard, I modify Hempel’s deductive-nomological model and test it against some of the following recent paradigmatic examples of the mathematical explanation of empirical facts: the seven bridges of Königsberg, the North American synchronized cicadas, and Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonian systems. I argue that mathematical scientific explanations that invoke laws of nature are qualitative explanations, and ordinary scientific explanations that employ mathematics are quantitative explanations. I analyse the repercussions of this deductivenomological model (...) on causal explanations. (shrink)

This paper provides a detailed study of David Hilbert’s axiomatization of the theory of plane area, in the classical monograph Foundation of Geometry. On the one hand, we offer a precise contextualization of this theory by considering it against its nineteenth-century geometrical background. Specifically, we examine some crucial steps in the emergence of the modern theory of geometrical equivalence. On the other hand, we analyze from a more conceptual perspective the significance of Hilbert’s theory of area for the foundational program (...) pursued in Foundations. We argue that this theory played a fundamental role in the general attempt to provide a new independent basis for Euclidean geometry. Furthermore, we contend that our examination proves relevant for understanding the requirement of “purity of the method” in the tradition of modern synthetic geometry. (shrink)

Mi objetivo en este artículo es examinar la génesis y el desarrollo de la noción de derecho de gentes en el pensamiento de Kant. Para este propósito, reconstruyo, en un primer momento, las líneas principales del pensamiento de Gottfried Achenwall en su obra Elementa Iuris Naturae. En un segundo paso, analizo la Lección de derecho natural de 1784 en la cual Kant – sin todavía contar con su propia teoría legal de madurez – expone pero también discute de manera sumamente (...) crítica varias de las tesis de Achenwall concernientes al ius belli. Lo que pretendo con esto es mostrar en la última parte del presente artículo que muchas de las ideas de Kant en sus trabajos maduros de filosofía político-jurídica de la década de 1790 pueden rastrearse a la lección que dictó con base en el tratado de Achenwall, y que bajo esta perspectiva dichas ideas pueden ser comprendidas de mucho mejor manera. Por último, subrayo que las continuidades y las rupturas entre Achenwall y Kant revelan un profundo vínculo entre los dos autores susceptible de seguir siendo explorado. (shrink)

O problema com o qual nos defrontamos no presente texto é o da necessidade dos dualismos pulsionais freudianos, especialmente aquele apresentado em “Além do Princípio de Prazer”. Tal problema persiste como uma marca da Überbau metapsicológica freudiana e, do ponto de vista deste artigo, reivindica uma análise mais pormenorizada, no sentido de sabermos, afinal, se essa marca dualista das teorias se sustenta efetivamente, ou se, inadvertidamente, Freud possa ter criado condições para que ela pudesse ser questionada, e, nesse caso, de (...) que modo e em que sentido. (shrink)

La incertidumbre respecto del porvenir de la filosof a es un hecho nuevo en la historia, y no se debe a una crisis interna, ni a una nueva concepci n de su destino sino a que es una raz n de fuerza mayor, la cual se contrapone ciegamente a la raz n de verdad, a la que act a dando razones. la operaci n tradicional de una cr tica de la raz n tiene que instrumentarse hoy como una cr tica (...) de las dos razones. (shrink)

State of the art paper on the problem of induction: how to justify the conclusion that ‘all Fs are Gs’ from the premise that ‘all observed Fs are Gs’. The most prominent theories of contemporary philosophical literature are discussed and analysed, such as: inductivism, reliabilism, perspective of laws of nature, rationalism, falsificationism, the material theory of induction and probabilistic approaches, according to Carnap, Reichenbach and Bayesianism. In the end, we discuss the new problem of induction of Goodman, raised by the (...) grue predicate. (shrink)

Las ideas expuestas por José Eusebio Caro en su obra inconclusa intitulada Mecánica social o Teoría del movimiento humano, considerado en su naturaleza, en sus efectos y en sus causas, en 1836, recoge aspectos característicos del pensamiento de las primeras décadas del Siglo XIX, con raíces algunas de ellas en ápocas anteriores. La riqueza intelectual de la obra en mención indujo la investigación analítica, de la cual da cuenta este documento, según la siguiente pregunta de investigación: ¿Cuáles son los rasgos (...) epistemológicos predominantes en las tesis filosóficas y sociológicas de José Eusebio Caro, en su obra póstuma inconclusa intitulada Mecánica social o teoría del movimiento humano, considerado en su naturaleza, en sus efectos y en sus causas? El estudio en torno a esta obra se concentra en precisar aspectos epistemológicos de una propuesta que comparte honores con el positivismo y con el surgimiento de la teoría social cuyas tesis dan paso al surgimiento de la sociología. Esto, en un particular siglo caracterizado por la búsqueda de la originalidad ideológica y política del continente americano, que esperaba resurgir lejos de la dominación española y cerca de los teóricos franceses y de los desarrollos ideológicos de Inglaterra. (shrink)

State of the art paper on the topic realism/anti-realism. The first part of the paper elucidates the notions of existence and independence of the metaphysical characterization of the realism/anti-realism dispute. The second part of the paper presents a critical taxonomy of the most important positions and doctrines in the contemporary literature on the domains of science and mathematics: scientific realism, scientific anti-realism, constructive empiricism, structural realism, mathematical Platonism, mathematical indispensability, mathematical empiricism, intuitionism, mathematical fictionalism and second philosophy.

My aim in this paper is to examine some of the distinctive facets of human action in Spinoza’s philosophy and show their intrinsic connection with each other. By analyzing in detail how Spinoza addresses different aspects of human action in his main work, the Ethics, it is possible to notice that for him free human agency implies two interrelated features: on the one hand, the adequate knowledge of the causes that determine it, and, on the other hand, a growing capacity (...) to impact with greater power the scenarios in which it takes place. Thus, in contrast with quietist and passive readings, I show in the following that the two aforementioned characteristics are part of the Spinozian philosophical conception of agency as such. By pursuing this line of thought, it is also possible to establish a link—not always noticed in the secondary literature—with some of the central lines of thought contained in the Theological-Political Treatise. In discussing these theses, I advance the idea that the Spinozian conception of human agency involves a serious readjustment of the metaphysical vision of the agent, a change in her conduct and ethical practices, and an altogether different conception of politics and religion. (shrink)

El artículo documenta y analiza las vicisitudes en torno a la incorporación de Hilbert de su famoso axioma de completitud, en el sistema axiomático para la geometría euclídea. Esta tarea es emprendida sobre la base del material que aportan sus notas manuscritas para clases, correspondientes al período 1894–1905. Se argumenta que este análisis histórico y conceptual no sólo permite ganar claridad respecto de cómo Hilbert concibió originalmentela naturaleza y función del axioma de completitud en su versión geométrica, sino que además (...) permite disipar equívocos en cuanto a la relación de este axioma con la propiedad metalógica de completitud de un sistema axiomático, tal como fue concebida por Hilbert en esta etapa inicial.The paper reports and analyzes the vicissitudes around Hilbert’s inclusion of his famous axiom of completeness, into his axiomatic system for Euclidean geometry. This task is undertaken on the basis of his unpublished notes for lecture courses, corresponding to the period 1894–1905. It is argued that this historical and conceptual analysis not only sheds new light on how Hilbert conceived originally the nature of his geometrical axiom of completeness, but also it allows to clarify some misunderstandings regarding this axiom and the metalogical property of completeness of an axiomatic system, as it was understoodby Hilbert in this initial stage. (shrink)

Some recent literature [Hicks, M. T. and van Elswyk. P., (2015) pp. 433-443, 2015; Bhogal, H. (2017), pp. 447-460] has argued that the non-Humean conceptions of laws of nature have a same weakness as the Humean conceptions of laws of nature. That is, both conceptions face an explanatory circularity problem. The argument is as follows: the Humean and the non-Humean conceptions of laws of nature agree that the law statements are universal generalisations; thus, both conceptions are vulnerable to an explanatory (...) circularity problem between the laws of nature and their instances. In this paper, I argue that Armstrong’s necessitarian view of laws of nature is invulnerable to this explanatory circularity problem. (shrink)