The present article is the first of a trilogy of papers, devoted to analysing the influence of semantic Platonism on contemporary philosophy of language. In the present article, I lay out the discussion by contrasting semantic Platonism with two other views of linguistic meaning: the socio-environmental conception of meaning and semantic anti-representationalism. Then, I identify six points in which the impregnation of semantic theory with Platonism can be particularly felt, resulting in shortcomings and inaccuracies of various kinds. These points are (...) the following: the limitations of regarding logico-philosophical analysis as the only working methodology; the tendency to avoid investigating a number of aspects of linguistic meaning; the recurring confusion between sentences, statements, and propositions; the weakness of transcendent assumptions about meaning; the weakness of meaning assumptions adopted on the basis of pure intuition; and inconsistencies caused by some over-eager attempts to escape semantic Platonism. (shrink)

The present article is the second part of a trilogy of papers, devoted to analysing the influence of semantic Platonism on contemporary philosophy of language. In Part I (Picazo 2021), the discussion was set out by examining a number of typical traces of Platonism in semantic theory since Frege. In a subsequent paper that shall be published elsewere, additional illustrations of such traces will be provided, taken from a collection of classic texts in the philosophy of language, also from Frege (...) onwards (Baghramian 1998). Then, the present paper is devoted to providing yet additional illustrations of those traces, but this time taken from a collection of recent commissioned essays on the subject: the book Prospects for Meaning, edited by Richard Schantz in 2012. We shall, thus, describe a considerable number of examples in which the influence of semantic Platonism on these essays can be felt. Prominent among these examples are the adhesion to pseudo-Platonism in the form of semantic mentalism; the typical limitations of avoidant and trivializing semantic accounts; the confinement to logico-philosophical analysis as the only methodology for semantic research; the excesses committed by some radical semantic anti-representationalists and some radical semantic biologists; and the adhesion to hardcore semantic Platonism itself. (shrink)

Two objections are raised against Oliver and Smiley’s analysis of the collective–distributive opposition in their 2016 book: They take it as a basic premise that the collective reading of ‘baked a cake’ corresponds to a predicate different from its distributive reading, and the same applies to all predicate expressions that admit both a collective and a distributive interpretation. At the same time, however, they argue that inflectional forms of the same lexeme reveal a univocity that should be preserved in a (...) formal representation of English. These two assumptions sit uneasily. In developing their analysis, Oliver and Smiley come to the conclusion that even a singular predication such as ‘Tom baked a cake’ must be regarded as ambiguous between a collective and a distributive reading. This is so artificial that it hardly makes sense, and yet there seems to be no way out of the difficulty unless we are prepared to give up the basic premise just mentioned. (shrink)

Se presenta una versión de la teoría crítica de la justicia que se estructura en el programa de fundamentación de la ética del discurso, tomando el principio de responsabilidad, introducido por K. O. Apel, como guía normativa para la intervención en las sociedades reales. Esta guía que se especifica en la condición de sujetos de diálogo, permite identificar y desarrollar los elementos constitutivos de la teoría. Las capacidades, como métrica de justicia, y un principio suficientarista, que trabaja conjuntamente con el (...) de diferencia, son elementos que pretenden asegurar la condición de sujetos de diálogo. (shrink)

Se presenta una versión de la teoría crítica de la justicia que se estructura en el programa de fundamentación de la ética del discurso, tomando el principio de responsabilidad, introducido por K. O. Apel, como guía normativa para la intervención en las sociedades reales. Esta guía que se especifica en la condición de sujetos de diálogo, permite identificar y desarrollar los elementos constitutivos de la teoría. Las capacidades, como métrica de justicia, y un principio suficientarista, que trabaja conjuntamente con el (...) de diferencia, son elementos que pretenden asegurar la condición de sujetos de diálogo. The article presents a version of the critical theory of justice structured on the basis of the grounding program for discourse ethics, taking the principle of responsibility introduced by K. O. Apel, as a normative guide for intervention in real-world societies. This guide, which is specified in the condition of subjects of dialogue, makes it possible to identify and develop the theory’s constitutive elements. Capacities, as a metric of justice, and a sufficientarian principle that works jointly with that of difference are the elements that aim to ensure the condition of subjects of dialogue. Apresenta-se uma versão da teoria da crítica da justiça que se estrutura no programa de fundamentação da ética do discurso, tomando o princípio de responsabilidade, introduzido por K. O. Apel, como guia normativo para a intervenção nas sociedades reais. Esse guia, que se especifica na condição de sujeitos de diálogo, permite identificar e desenvolver os elementos constitutivos da teoria. As capacidades, como métrica de justiça, e um princípio suficientarista, que trabalha conjuntamente com o de diferença, são elementos que pretendem garantir a condição de sujeitos de diálogo. (shrink)

Resehna do livro O IMPÉRIO DO DIREITO de FRANZ NEUMANN.

Una vez que el foco de la reflexión pasa de las teorías ideales a la aplicación de la justicia social, centrada en las instituciones de las sociedades democráticas, se requiere prestar especial atención a los estilos de vida. Estos tienen una alta incidencia en cómo la justicia es realizada y afectan tanto a la desigualdad económica como a la disponibilidad de los recursos naturales. En nuestras sociedades es posible establecer restricciones a los estilos de vida, especialmente en aquellos casos en (...) que, por el efecto de algunas dinámicas sociales, aquellos se desacoplan de las concepciones del bien. Se defiende que, en tales casos, la base normativa que permite exigir el respeto a los estilos de vida se disuelve y por ello es posible justificar su restricción. (shrink)

The capacity to take part in dialogues and justify one's positions constitutes the normative core of critical social justice. Ensuring this capacity to every citizen is the main objective of justice, which requires transforming social structures and relations as well as counteracting the effects of capitalist dynamics.

Hans-Georg Gadamer é bem conhecido por sua abordagem compreensivista quanto aos problemas tradicionais da metafísica e filosofia em geral. Seu posicionamento teórico e crítico aproximam sua obra da tradição compreensivista iniciada em fins do século XIX e levada adiante a partir do início do século XX. Nesse trabalho, proponho uma breve discussão acerca de uma de suas comunicações nos anos 1960 em que o autor procura refletir e elucidar a situação da filosofia naquele contexto específico. Fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial, (...) industrialização endêmica e o progresso vertiginoso da técnica e da ciência podem ser apontados como fatores decisivos para a compreensão das características políticas, sociais e econômicas daquela época em particular. Intitulando sua comunicação “A posição da filosofia na sociedade”, Gadamer defende uma postura radicalmente diferente daqueles que se aproximam de visões de mundo totalizantes que poderiam ser justificadas a partir do ponto de vista da tradição hegeliana e, por outro lado, da postura subserviente, acrítica e iludida do que o autor chama de “philosophy of science”, herança da tradição positivista. Mesmo apresentados tendo-se em mente os problemas específicos daquele contexto, os argumentos de Gadamer podem ser utilizados como uma ferramenta razoável para a compreensão de nossos próprios problemas, especialmente quando a tarefa é discutir e compreender criticamente a posição da Filosofia em nossa cultura. Procuro refletir sobre essa comunicação de Gadamer ajustando o foco para a relevância dele para a compreensão da situação da Filosofia no contexto cultural e acadêmico brasileiro. (shrink)

Resumen El concepto de ideología ha cumplido una importante función para explicar y criticar la reproducción y justificación de circunstancias de opresión y dominación. Sin embargo, la formulación en términos de falsa conciencia carga con la dificultad de asumir una asimetría entre quien atribuye ideología y la supuesta víctima de ella, que hace a tal perspectiva prácticamente indefendible. Para esta dificultad, propongo una formulación del concepto en términos posmetafísicos, que al estar anclada en la intersubjetividad y la procedimentalidad, cancela la (...) posibilidad de asumir un acceso privilegiado en el proceso de atribución de ideología. Tal formulación es en términos de justificación engañosa que genera el bloqueo a la justificación, es decir, el cierre del sujeto a las razones de los otros y a un reforzamiento de las adoptadas. Esto también abre el camino para que la crítica de la ideología opere en los procesos de justificación, especialmente en los espacios donde se lleva adelante la discusión pública.The concept of ideology has played an important role in explaining and criticizing the reproduction and justification of circumstances of oppression and domination. However, its formulation in terms of false consciousness has the burden of assuming an asymmetry between the one who attributes ideology and the supposed victim, which is an almost indefensible perspective. As a way to overcome this difficulty, I propose a formulation of the concept in postmetaphysical terms, which, in being anchored in intersubjectivity and proceduralism, cancels the possibility of assuming a privileged access in the ideology attribution process. Such formulation consists of a deceptive justification that generates the blockage to justification, that is, the closure of the subject to the reasons of the others and hence to a reinforcement of one’s already adopted beliefs. This formulation also opens the way for situating the critique of ideology in the processes of justification, especially in the spaces where public discussion takes place. (shrink)

stinción realizada por Dworkin entre persona y circunstancias le ha permitido fundar un fuerte criterio para delimitar aquello que debería ser compensado de aquello que no. Las críticas a esta distinción han develado una insuficiencia que me lleva a presentar un criterio más preciso para discriminar lo compensable de lo que no lo es. Tal criterio se basa en la distinción entre autonomía potencial y autonomía plena, siendo lo compensable todo aquello que le permitiría a un individuo alcanzar el estado (...) de autonomía plena. La compensación se realizaría en término de mínimos y dicho criterio oficiaría como guía para una posible extensión del mecanismo del mercado. (shrink)

RESUMEN Una vez que el foco de la reflexión pasa de las teorías ideales a la aplicación de la justicia social, centrada en las instituciones de las sociedades democráticas, se requiere prestar especial atención a los estilos de vida. Estos tienen una alta incidencia en cómo la justicia es realizada y afectan tanto a la desigualdad económica como a la disponibilidad de los recursos naturales. En nuestras sociedades es posible establecer restricciones a los estilos de vida, especialmente en aquellos casos (...) en que, por el efecto de algunas dinámicas sociales, aquellos se desacoplan de las concepciones del bien. Se defiende que, en tales casos, la base normativa que permite exigir el respeto a los estilos de vida se disuelve y por ello es posible justificar su restricción. ABSTRACT Now that the focus of reflection has shifted from ideal theories to the application of social justice, centered on the institutions of democratic societies, it is necessary to pay special attention to lifestyles, since they not only influence the realization of justice, but also have an effect on economic inequality and the availability of natural resources. In our societies, it is possible to place restrictions on lifestyles, especially in those cases in which, influenced by certain social dynamics, they disengage from conceptions of the good. The article argues that, in those cases, the normative base grounding the demand that lifestyles be respected is dissolved, thus justifying their restriction. (shrink)

Las preferencias adaptativas se generan como una respuesta adaptativa a situaciones de restricción de oportunidades, por el cual se da el ajuste de las voliciones a las posibilidades del afectado; esta adaptación se manifiesta como una tendencia a eludir la frustración que se siente al experimentar voliciones que no pueden satisfacerse.Este tipo de preferencias es altamente relevante para el diseño de políticas públicas que tienen por objeto sectores de población altamente vulnerables. El no reconocerlas puede conducir al sistemático fracaso de (...) su implementación. En este trabajo se presentará el problema en estrecha relación con el enfoque de las capacidades de Sen y el modelo de reconocimiento de Honneth, a la vez que se introducirá el concepto de capacidades colectivas como consecuencia de un ajuste intersubjetivista de la propuesta de Sen. La discusión normativa aquí presentada, por otra parte, aspira a operar como guía normativa para el diseño de políticas públicas. (shrink)

“Liberal Subject and Social Pathologies”. This work presents the limits of the idealization of the liberal subject. Its distinctive characteristics, which make this subject one that is scarcely vulnerable to circumstances and assume the possibility to evaluate ends and preferences, limit the awareness of phenomena of colonization of the world of life. Only by modifying such idealization through deep self-reflection shall these colonizing phenomena be overcome. On the other hand, this new type of subject shall be able to participate in (...) the relevance of personal behaviour as regards consumerism and the applicability of principles of justice. (shrink)

The main goal of critical social justice is to ensure the agency of citizens, which enables them to take part, not only in public discussions about how resources are distributed, but also about matters such as what should be produced, how to do it and through what kind of production, among others. Critical social justice can be best formulated within the foundation programme of discursive ethics, in particular within Apel's version specified in his principle of co-responsibility. This principle establishes a (...) telos that operates as a normative guide to formulate the constructive question about which the necessary conditions are for someone to be able to become a subject of dialogue. Answering this question leads, on the one hand, to the development of some constitutive elements of critical social justice and, on the other hand, to the identification of the social relations and structures that undermine the possibilities of a person to effectively participate in the discussion of the topics they consider relevant. As its constitutive elements, I propose reciprocal recognition autonomy, the metric of capabilities and a sufficientarian principle of justice, which work together with the well-known difference principle. These elements constitute a normative net that allows contemporary societies to be criticized from the perspective of justice. (shrink)

Quality of Life Reach in Medical Care Alcance da qualidade de vida no atendimento médico The term quality of life has increasingly widespread use in biomedical practice, especially in end-of-life situations. Experience shows that the expression is often used with very different —and sometimes conflicting— scopes. The present article presents the results of a literature review that show diverse positions, while delimitating the subject. The analysis compares the terms “quality of life,” “human dignity,” and “value of human life.” Para citar (...) este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo Páez G, López-Gabeiras MP, Moreno-D’Anna M. Alcance de la “calidad de vida” en atención médica. Pers Bioet. 2020;24:14-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pebi.2020.24.1.2 Recibido: 06/11/2019 Aceptado: 04/03/2020 Publicado: 07/05/2020. (shrink)

Los avances en biomedicina amplían cada vez más las posibilidades de curar a enfermos críticos. Las decisiones sobre terapias por aplicar deben tener presente el riesgo de caer en el llamado “encarnizamiento terapéutico”. Aunque ya se ha escrito bastante sobre los criterios básicos que se deben tener en cuenta, aún quedan numerosas dudas a la hora de tomar las decisiones. Un aspecto no menor es la necesidad de objetivar los distintos elementos por ponderar, sin olvidar que hay aspectos subjetivos que (...) son muy importantes. En el presente artículo se presenta una manera de combinar los aspectos objetivos y subjetivos, para llegar a un equilibro adecuado y práctico, que sea razonable y respete la autonomía del paciente. (shrink)

El concepto de dificultad contramayoritaria, aplicado al control de constitucionalidad, describe el problema de justificar que un tribunal declare inválida (inconstitucional) una ley, votada por los representantes de una mayoría de los ciudadanos. ¿Es esto legítimo? En el presente trabajo, analizamos un problema similar respecto a las burocracias públicas, relativamente menos discutido hasta ahora: ¿puede la burocracia pública tomar decisiones que considera justificadas, o tiene que limitarse a implementar las directivas del poder político en todos los casos? El debate se (...) ha planteado con intensidad en México, durante los últimos años, pero afecta a la configuración institucional de otros países en América Latina. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractDriving patterns of coral bleaching over reefs are a suite of biophysical interactions where the physical environment modulates organism response through an interplay with intrinsic biological functioning. Flow conditions over reefs can mitigate the physiological impacts of thermal stress across multiple spatial scales. More details can be found in article number 1800226 by Charlotte E. Page et al., Seeking Resistance in Coral Reef Ecosystems: The Interplay of Biophysical Factors and Bleaching Resistance under a Changing Climate, DOI: 10.1002/bies.201800226.

In this paper, we introduce the variety of algebras, which we call monadic k×j\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$k\times j$$\end{document}-rough Heyting algebras. These algebras constitute an extension of monadic Heyting algebras and in 3×2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$3\times 2$$\end{document} case they coincide with monadic 3-valued Łukasiewicz–Moisil algebras. Our main interest is the characterization of simple and subdirectly irreducible monadic k×j\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$k\times j$$\end{document}-rough Heyting algebras. (...) In order to this, an Esakia-style duality for these algebras is developed. (shrink)

Recent discussions of how axioms are extrinsically justified have appealed to abductive considerations: on such accounts, axioms are adopted on the basis that they constitute the best explanation of some mathematical data, or phenomena. In the first part of this paper, I set out a potential problem caused by the appeal made to the notion of mathematical explanation and suggest that it can be remedied once it is noted that all the justificatory work is done by appeal to the theoretical (...) virtues. In the second part of the paper, I appeal to the theoretical virtues account of axiom justification to provide an argument that judgements of theoretical virtuousness, and therefore of extrinsic justification, are subjective in a substantive sense. This tells against a recent claim by Penelope Maddy that such justification is “wholly objective”. (shrink)

Recent debates about mathematical ontology are guided by the view that Platonism's prospects depend on mathematics' explanatory role in science. If mathematics plays an explanatory role, and in the right kind of way, this carries ontological commitment to mathematical objects. Conversely, the assumption goes, if mathematics merely plays a representational role then our world-oriented uses of mathematics fail to commit us to mathematical objects. I argue that it is a mistake to think that mathematical representation is necessarily ontologically innocent and (...) that there is an argument from mathematics' representational capacity to Platonism. Given that it is common ground between the Platonist and nominalist that mathematics plays a representational role in science, this representationalist argument is to be preferred over the explanatory, or enhanced, indispensability argument. (shrink)

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Volume 99, Issue 3, Page 732-738, November 2019.

Previously, the author tried to show that some arguments in one of the two versions of Nicholas of Autrecourt’s Quaestio de intensione visionis are taken almost verbatim from the anonymous Tractatus de sex inconvenientibus. This paper concentrates on the arguments themselves in order to consider two main issues: the ‘translatability’ of limit decision problems, manifest in Autrecourt’s juxtaposition of questions de maximo et minimo, de primo et ultimo instanti, and the intension and remission of forms; the importance of Parisian discussions (...) of limit decision problems prior to the adoption of the new analytical languages developed at Oxford. Thus, the paper is divided in two sections, the first concerning some arguments of Autrecourt’s question, the second focusing on the link between one of Autrecourt’s arguments and the medieval tradition of commentaries on Aristotle’s De caelo, in which it is possible to find some antecedents of the analytical approach that later Parisian scholars would apply to these problems. (shrink)

A theory of the person which considers feeling. The book distinguishes feeling from emotion, and defines it as resonance with being, the capacity to be unified with what is present. It relates this to the theory and practice of a transpersonal psychology and philosophy.

This article seeks to deepen Giorgio Agamben’s brief investigation of the Foucauldian technical term dispositif, by locating it (and the triple structure which articulates it) in the larger context of his own contribution to the genealogy of “governmentality.” Following Agamben’s reconstruction of the Christian paradigm for the divine government of the world, it explores the singular relation between governmental dispositifs and concurrent modes of subjectivation. It argues that the contingency of human action must first be secured for the governmental machine (...) to be able to operate. (shrink)

There are communities in which disadvantaged groups experience severe inequality. For instance, poor and indigent families face many difficulties accessing their social rights. Their condition is largely the consequence of the wrong choices of those in power, either historical or more recent choices. The lack of opportunities of these deprived citizens is due to state omissions. In such communities, it is not unusual for homeless members of these particular groups to occupy abandoned lands and build their shelters there. However, almost (...) everywhere, these actions constitute a crime. The typical response to this situation is prosecution and punishment. In this paper, I will defend the occupation of public places as a consequence of the failure of governments to solve the problem of housing, and I will argue that we must distinguish a social claim from a crime and avoid the use of criminal law in these “occupation cases”. I will also argue that our right—as a community—to blame and punish these “squatters” is eroded by the fact that we perpetrated their situation of injustice. (shrink)

We provide a 'verisimilitudinarian' analysis of the well-known Linda paradox or conjunction fallacy, i.e., the fact that most people judge the probability of the conjunctive statement "Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement" (B & F) as more probable than the isolated statement "Linda is a bank teller" (B), contrary to an uncontroversial principle of probability theory. The basic idea is that experimental participants may judge B & F a better hypothesis about Linda as compared (...) to B because they evaluate B & F as more verisimilar than B. In fact, the hypothesis "feminist bank teller", while less likely to be true than "bank teller", may well be a better approximation to the truth about Linda. (shrink)

Conceptual engineering is commonly characterized as the method for assessing and improving our representational devices. Little has been said, however, on how best to construe these representational devices—in other words, on what conceptual engineering should be all about. This paper tackles this problem with a basic strategy: First, by presenting a taxonomy of the different possible subject matters for conceptual engineering; then, by comparatively assessing them and selecting the most conducive one with a view to making conceptual engineering an actionable (...) method, that is, a method that can be applied effectively and consistently to specific case studies. The outcome is that conceptual engineering should be all about concepts on pain of pragmatic inconsistencies otherwise. (shrink)

This textbook presents the basics of philosophy that are necessary for the student and researcher in science in order to better understand scientific work. The approach is not historical but formative: tools for semantical analysis, ontology of science, epistemology, and scientific ethics are presented in a formal and direct way. The book has two parts: one with the general theory and a second part with application to some problems such as the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the nature of mathematics, and (...) the ontology of spacetime. The book addresses questions such as "What is meaning?", "What is truth?", "What are truth criteria in science?", "What is a theory?", "What is a model?" "What is a datum?", "What is information?", "What does it mean to understand something?", "What is space?", "What is time?", "How are these concepts articulated in science?" "What are values?" "What are the limits of science?", and many more. The philosophical views presented are "scientific" in the sense that they are informed by current science, they are relevant for scientific research, and the method adopted uses the hypothetical-deductive approach that is characteristic of science. The results and conclusions, as any scientific conclusion, are open to revision in the light of future advances. Hence, this philosophical approach opposes to dogmatic philosophy. Supported by end-of-chapter summaries and a list of special symbols used, the material will be of interest for students and researchers in both science and philosophy. The second part will appeal to physicists and mathematicians. (shrink)

This brief review of Mario Bunge’s research on physics begins with an analysis of his masterpiece Foundations of Physics, and then it discusses his other contributions to the philosophy of physics. Following that is a summary of his more recent reactions to scientific discoveries in physics and a discussion of his position about non-locality in quantum mechanics, as well as his changing opinions on the nature of spacetime. The paper ends with a brief assessment of Bunge’s legacy concerning the foundations (...) of physics. (shrink)