An argument can be taken as an operation of justification or as the product of this operation. But what about a counter-argument? This article is based on the hypothesis that there exists an operation of argumentative negation, which is both the argumentative and the negative equivalent of the operation of justification. Justification and argumentative negation necessarily act on assertions, for they are active at the level of the epistemic modalities of statements. As an operation, a counter-argument can thus be described, (...) as the application of an argumentative negation; as a product, it can be described as an argument the conclusion of which shows traces of negative modality. Two uses of argumentative negation are distinguished here: counter-argumentation and calling into question. The former can lead only to assertive conclusive statements, but the latter can also lead to directives or commissives. This leads the authors to introduce the notion of pseudo-argument, besides those of argument and counter-argument. It is shown in particular that when a pseudo-argument is rejected, argumentative negation has the effect of making evident an underlying argument. With respect to the latterit functions as a counter-argumentation, whereas with respect to the illocutionary act accomplished by the conclusive statement, it functions as a calling into question of a condition of satisfaction for this act. This article also defines certain characteristics of argument, proposes criteria for identifying argumentative negation in polemical conversations, and distinguishes four modes of counter-argumentation. (shrink)

In this paper we provide a compact presentation of the verisimilitudinarian approach to scientific progress (VS, for short) and defend it against the sustained attack recently mounted by Alexander Bird (2007). Advocated by such authors as Ilkka Niiniluoto and Theo Kuipers, VS is the view that progress can be explained in terms of the increasing verisimilitude (or, equivalently, truthlikeness, or approximation to the truth) of scientific theories. According to Bird, VS overlooks the central issue of the appropriate grounding of scientific (...) beliefs in the evidence, and it is therefore unable (a) to reconstruct in a satisfactory way some hypothetical cases of scientific progress, and (b) to provide an explanation of the aversion to falsity that characterizes scientific practice. We rebut both of these criticisms and argue that they reveal a misunderstanding of some key concepts underlying VS. (shrink)

Theory change is a central concern in contemporary epistemology and philosophy of science. In this paper, we investigate the relationships between two ongoing research programs providing formal treatments of theory change: the (post-Popperian) approach to verisimilitude and the AGM theory of belief change. We show that appropriately construed accounts emerging from those two lines of epistemological research do yield convergences relative to a specified kind of theories, here labeled “conjunctive”. In this domain, a set of plausible conditions are identified which (...) demonstrably capture the verisimilitudinarian effectiveness of AGM belief change, i.e., its effectiveness in tracking truth approximation. We conclude by indicating some further developments and open issues arising from our results. (shrink)

Resumen A través del estudio de los linchamientos, el artículo explora en la capacidad explicativa de algunas de las principales teorías sociológicas sobre integración, dominación e interdependencia para comprender la acción, sin que ello implique interpretaciones totales y recíprocamente excluyentes sobre esas acciones. Por el contrario, se trata de buscar distintas entradas parciales, fragmentos de lo que no son y/o de lo que parcialmente son los linchamientos. El texto observa que la disruptividad de estas acciones respecto de las teorías examinadas (...) podría explicarse en tanto en ellas conciencia y práctica fueron pensadas como oposiciones binarias, que en el mejor de los casos operarían en momentos sucesivos. En estas teorías sociológicas la acción podría explicarse por uno de estos planos o por el otro. Sin embargo, en el caso de los linchamientos es posible que estos dos estratos concurran a explicar la acción de manera conjunta.The article explores in the explanatory capacity of some of the main sociological theories on integration, domination and interdependence, to understand the action, specifically lynching, without implying total and reciprocally exclusive interpretations of these actions. On the contrary, it tries to look for different partial entries to its explanation, fragments of what lynching are not and/or what they partially are. The text notes that the disruption of these actions in relation with the theories examined could be explained considering that in them, consciousness and practice were developed as binary oppositions. This would at best operate in successive moments, but in these cases the action could be explained by either one of these levels. In the lynching case, it is possible that these two strata explain the action jointly. (shrink)

La cientificidad es una exigencia del paradigma dominante en general en las ciencias sociales y en la antropología particularmente. La idea de paradigma (o por lo menos su popularización) se la debemos a T. S. Kühn (1962). Kühn señala que paradigma puede ser entendido de muchas maneras, pero qu..

Playing soccer in public parks, participating in parades, or marching in religious processions are public performances that express membership in a political community. When these practices are performed by noncitizens, they highlight how the public space—in its physical and symbolic character—is not a space exclusive to members of the political community. Rather, public space is a terrain subject to contestation. In this article, I explore the ways Mexican migrants in New York City use and appropriate public spaces and in doing (...) so expand the boundaries of the political community. I argue that by gaining access to public spaces, appropriating them, and then transforming them, noncitizens claim recognition as members of the political community and thus unsettle its boundaries. (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)

Este artículo, fruto de investigación, abordó el tema de la comunicación comomedio para dar a conocer la revelación de Dios; el objetivo fue descubrir elementosen el actuar de YHWH, quien se vale de la comunicación para revelarse;esto ayudó a contestar a la pregunta: ¿Qué elementos narrativos encontramosen Éxodo 3, 2-7 como medio de revelación divina? Para responder, dicho trabajose realizó en el marco del enfoque praxeológico, cuyo interés investigativo esla acción transformadora en que se interviene; sus etapas: ver, juzgar, actuar (...) ydevolución creativa. El análisis realizado permitió identificar las acciones de Diospara darse a conocer, por ende se tiene: un Dios que ve la opresión de su pueblo,este ver no solo lo lleva a la reflexión, sino que lo capacita para hacer un juiciovalorativo: un Dios que oye los clamores de su pueblo, es tal el dolor que expresanque se hace necesario dar una respuesta, Dios entra en la historia; un Diosque trabaja a favor de su pueblo, es así un Dios llamado a servir a la humanidad;finalmente, un Dios de Pacto, adquiere un compromiso con su pueblo. Es un Diosque antes de darse a conocer se acerca, ve, escucha y responde de acuerdo ala necesidad, es así como Dios comunica su revelación. Dichos elementos sonpresentados como prototipos para el predicador, quien comunica la Revelación;estos hallazgos muestran cómo Dios se inclina a favor de los débiles y sugiereque al igual que Él debemos intervenir las realidades de nuestro entorno, paraque, como instrumentos de comunicación de la revelación, logremos, primeroen nosotros y luego en los más vulnerados, una respuesta de seguimiento para llegar a la plenitud de la revelación hecha por el Padre. (shrink)

Este texto recupera dos posiciones en torno al concepto de destino: la de Diego de Saavedra Fajardo y la de Plutarco. Ambos, a diferencia de algunos estoicos, sostienen que, independientemente de aquellas circunstancias que escapan a la voluntad humana, el hombre posee la capacidad para ser libre y tomar decisiones respecto de sus actos, sin que esto signifique dejar atrás el ideal del sabio. Para ellos, enfrentarse con el destino implica conocer las pasiones que se hallan inmersas en la naturaleza (...) humana, así que no las toman en un sentido negativo. Por esta razón, ambos filósofos insisten en reorientar las pasiones a través de la educación, la moral o la religión y, con ello, en dejar atrás la idea de que el hombre está determinado o bien por su propia naturaleza humana o por las circunstancias que se le presentan. De esta manera, brindan un reconocimiento esencial al ejercicio de la libertad humana. (shrink)

In this paper, we address the problem of truth approximation through theory change, asking whether revising our theories by newly acquired data leads us closer to the truth about a given domain. More particularly, we focus on “nomic conjunctive theories”, i.e., theories expressed as conjunctions of logically independent statements concerning the physical or, more generally, nomic possibilities and impossibilities of the domain under inquiry. We define both a comparative and a quantitative notion of the verisimilitude of such theories, and identify (...) suitable conditions concerning the (partial) correctness of acquired data, under which revising our theories by data leads us closer to “the nomic truth”, construed as the target of scientific inquiry. We conclude by indicating some further developments, generalizations, and open issues arising from our results. (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)

The so-called Preface Paradox seems to show that one can rationally believe two logically incompatible propositions. We address this puzzle, relying on the notions of truthlikeness and approximate truth as studied within the post-Popperian research programme on verisimilitude. In particular, we show that adequately combining probability, approximate truth, and truthlikeness leads to an explanation of how rational belief is possible in the face of the Preface Paradox. We argue that our account is superior to other solutions of the paradox, including (...) a recent one advanced by Hannes Leitgeb (Analysis 74.1). (shrink)

Starting from the sixties of the past century theory change has become a main concern of philosophy of science. Two of the best known formal accounts of theory change are the post-Popperian theories of verisimilitude (PPV for short) and the AGM theory of belief change (AGM for short). In this paper, we will investigate the conceptual relations between PPV and AGM and, in particular, we will ask whether the AGM rules for theory change are effective means for approaching the truth, (...) i.e., for achieving the cognitive aim of science pointed out by PPV. First, the key ideas of PPV and AGM and their application to a particular kind of propositional theories - the so called "conjunctive propositions" - will be illustrated. Afterwards, we will prove that, as far as conjunctive propositions are concerned, AGM belief change is an effective tool for approaching the truth. (shrink)

Admitiendo la distinción propuesta por Mayr entre biología funcional y biología evolutiva, sugerimos que estos dos dominios de investigación siguen dos distintos modos de considerar lo viviente que pueden ser entendidos, pero en dos sentidos diferentes, como teleológicos. Para distinguir esas dos formas de teleología hacemos una comparación entre la explicación funcional típica de la biología funcional y la explicación seleccional propia de la biología evolutiva. Cada uno de estos tipos de explicación obedece a una regla metodológica especial: la explicación (...) funcional sigue al principio de adecuación autopoiética; y la explicación seleccional sigue al principio de adecuación adaptativa. Pero, mientras el primero será presentado como estando subordinado a un principio general da causación; el segundo será presentado como siendo independiente de él. Finalmente, en el contexto de una breve discusión relativa al concepto de symmorphosis, sostenemos que, en la biología contemporánea, la noción de adecuación adaptiva es preeminente sobre la noción de adecuación funcional: esta encuentra su fundamento en aquella.Admitting Mayr’s distinction between functional and evolutionary biology we suggest that these two dominions of inquiry follow two different modes of onsider the living that can be considered, but in two different senses, as being teleological. To distinguish these two forms of teleology we make a comparison between the functional explanation, typical of functional biology, and the selective explanation, proper of evolutionary biology. Each one of this kind of explanation obeys an special methodological rule: the functional explanation follows the principle of autopoietic adequacy; and the selective explanation follows the principle of adaptive adequacy. But, while the former principle will be presented as being subordinated to a general principle of causation; the later will be presented as being independent of it. Finally, in the context of a brief discussion concerning the concept of symmorphosis, we argue that, in contemporary biology, the notion of adaptive adequacy is preeminent over the notion of functional adequacy: the later find its fundament in the former. (shrink)

In this paper, we investigate the problem of truth approximation via belief merging, i.e., we ask whether, and under what conditions, a group of inquirers merging together their beliefs makes progress toward the truth about the underlying domain. We answer this question by proving some formal results on how belief merging operators perform with respect to the task of truth approximation, construed as increasing verisimilitude or truthlikeness. Our results shed new light on the issue of how rational (dis)agreement affects the (...) inquirers’ quest for truth. In particular, they vindicate the intuition that scientific inquiry, and rational discussion in general, benefits from some heterogeneity in opinion and interaction among different viewpoints. The links between our approach and related analyses of truth tracking, judgment aggregation, and opinion dynamics, are also highlighted. (shrink)

Popper’s original definition of truthlikeness relied on a central insight: that truthlikeness combines truth and information, in the sense that a proposition is closer to the truth the more true consequences and the less false consequences it entails. As intuitively compelling as this definition may be, it is untenable, as proved long ago; still, one can arguably rely on Popper’s intuition to provide an adequate account of truthlikeness. To this aim, we mobilize some classical work on partial entailment in defining (...) a new measure of truthlikeness which satisfies a number of desiderata. The resulting account has some interesting and surprising connections with other accounts on the market, thus shedding new light on current attempts of systematizing different approaches to verisimilitude. (shrink)

Contrariando la concepción etiológica de las funciones biológicas, se pretende mostrar que las explicaciones por selección natural, lejos de justificar atribuciones funcionales, las presuponen; y que estas atribuciones pueden ser entendidas apelando a una especificación particular de la concepción s..

The Preface Paradox apparently shows that it is sometimes rational to believe logically incompatible propositions. In this paper, I propose a way out of the paradox based on the ideas of fallibilism and verisimilitude. More precisely, I defend the view that a rational inquirer can fallibly believe or accept a proposition which is false, or likely false, but verisimilar; and I argue that this view makes the Preface Paradox disappear. Some possible objections to my proposal, and an alternative view of (...) fallible belief, are briefly discussed in the final part of the paper. (shrink)

The aim of this research is to ascertain whether a firm’s environmental motivations may help to predict how complete or incomplete its environmental management will be, understanding incomplete management to be that which neglects one or more of the three keys aspects of such management, namely, monitoring, action and results. We specifically posit that while motivations based on the search for legitimation lead to more incomplete styles of environmental management, competitive motivations entail a more complete management. The analyses conducted with (...) a sample of 1,902 plants provide empirical evidence in favour of such reasoning. The contribution this research makes, therefore, is not restricted solely to showing the effect motivations have on the environmental performance of organisations, as it also introduces a new dimension of environmental management—the degree of completeness, which needs to be considered when understanding and evaluating this effect. (shrink)

Starting with Popper, philosophers and logicians have proposed different accounts of verisimilitude or truthlikeness. One way of classifying such accounts is to distinguish between “conjunctive” and “disjunctive” ones. In this paper, we focus on our own “basic feature” approach to verisimilitude, which naturally belongs to the conjunctive family. We start by surveying the landscape of conjunctive accounts; then, we introduce two new measures of verisimilitude and discuss their properties; finally, we conclude by hinting at some surprising relations between our conjunctive (...) approach and a disjunctive account of verisimilitude widely discussed in the literature. (shrink)

La distinción propuesta por Ernst Mayr y François Jacob entre biología funcionaly biología evolutiva es una clave fundamental para un tratamiento claro y concluyente de dos problemas que, recurrentemente, se colocan en el ámbito de la Filosofía de la Biología: aquel que atañe al posible carácter teleológico de las explicaciones biológicas y aquel relativo a la autonomía de la Biología en relación a la Física y a la Química. Sin sostener una alternativa de solución para ninguno de estos problemas, presentamos (...) esa oposición mostrando su relevancia para el tratamiento de tales cuestiones. Nuestra idea es que las mismas no deberían plantearse sin especificar a cual de los dos dominios de la ciencias de la vida nos estamos refiriendo.Mayr’s and Jacob’s distinction between functional biology and evolutionary biology is a fundamental key for a clearer and more conclusive treatment of two problems that, currently, are discussed in Philosophy of Biology: that which matter to the teleological character of biological explanations and that which matter to the autonomy of Biology from Physic and Chemistry. Without hold any alternative solution for none of these problems, we present that opposition showing its relevance for the treatment of both questions. Our idea is that these problems shouldn’t be posed without a specification of the domain of Biology that is being considered. (shrink)

In Metaphysics A.4, Aristotle provides crucial information about fundamental aspects of the chemistry and microphysics of the atomic theory of Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera. Besides the plenum and the void, which he identifies as the elements of the atomic theory, he presents what he himself names as differences. These fundamental differences are named so because they ought to be responsible for the emergence of all other differences in the physical world, and especially the ones that hit our senses. Aristotle (...) provides a list of three differences both in what is recognized as autochthonous terminology from Leucippus and Democritus, and in a translation to terms apparently more intelligible to Aristotelian listeners. Among those differences there is one in particular that is harder to comprehend than the other ones: rhysmos. Aristotle’s translation of rhysmos into schēma has led most interpreters to acknowledge that it referred solely to atoms individually, while the other two differences would refer to relations between atoms. In this paper, I want to propose an interpretation in which rhysmos actually refers to several aspects of the chemistry and microphysics of the atomic theory. (shrink)

This is the introductory essay to the Italian translation of Anthony de Jasay's "Choice, contract, and consent. A restatement of liberalism".

El gran malentendido que está por detrás de la concepción etiológicadel concepto de función es haber confundido este último con el concepto de adaptación. Las explicaciones por selección natural no justifican imputaciones funcionales: ellas explican la configuración de determinada estructura orgánic..

We investigate the logical and conceptual connections between abductive reasoning construed as a process of belief change, on the one hand, and truth approximation, construed as increasing (estimated) verisimilitude, on the other. We introduce the notion of ‘(verisimilitude-guided) abductive belief change’ and discuss under what conditions abductively changing our theories or beliefs does lead them closer to the truth, and hence tracks truth approximation conceived as the main aim of inquiry. The consequences of our analysis for some recent discussions concerning (...) belief revision aiming at truth approximation and inference to the best explanation are also highlighted. (shrink)

Theories of truthlikeness (or verisimilitude) are currently being classified according to two independent distinctions: that between ‘content’ and ‘likeness’ accounts, and that between ‘conjunctive’ and ‘disjunctive’ ones. In this article, I present and discuss a new definition of truthlikeness, which employs Carnap’s notion of the content elements entailed by a theory or proposition, and is then labelled ‘Carnapian’. After studying in detail the properties and shortcomings of this definition, I argue that it occupies a unique position in the landscape of (...) different approaches to truthlikeness. More precisely, I show that it provides the only explication of truthlikeness which is both ‘conjunctive’ and ‘content-based’ in a suitably defined sense. (shrink)

Las presiones selectivas no son factores ambientales que existan independientemente de los linajes por ellas afectados. Su existencia y su configuración siempre dependen de las alternativas de evolución que el propio linaje genera y acepta; y dicha configuración, necesariamente, se va alterando conforme el propio linaje evoluciona. Aclarar eso es muy importante para desestimar algunas reticencias generadas por la dicotomía próximo-remoto. Esta polaridad continúa siendo un recurso conceptual válido e insustituible para entender la especificidad de la Biología Evolucionaria. Enmendar algunos (...) equívocos generados por Mayr en su caracterización del concepto de causa remota es una alternativa mejor que la de pensar en abandonar o en relativizar esa distinción. (shrink)

In this note I present a solution to Kripkenstein’s paradox, based on a very simple argument: (1) natural language and rule-following are empirical phenomena; (2) no case has been described, in real life, of a person who behaves as Wittgenstein’s or Kripke’s fictional character; (3) therefore, the discussion of such a case is completely devoid of interest. I lay out the example of a ‘Kripkensteinian apple’, which has a normal weight on even days and is weightless on odd days, in (...) order to highlight the contrast between a genuinely empirical perspective, such as that of physics, and the logical-analytical perspective, under which Kripkenstein’s paradox has attracted so much attention. (shrink)

Asumiendo y profundizando la distinción entre Biología Funcional y Biología Evolutiva conforme ha sido propuesta por Ernst Mayr y François Jacob, comparamos la naturaleza de los procedimientos experimentales que se realizan en uno y otro dominio de las ciencias de la vida. En vistas a esto, introducimos ciertas precisiones sobre las nociones de observación y experimento e intentamos elucidar los presupuestos sobre los que se apoya la experimentación en biología funcional. A continuación, presentamos los fundamentos y las particularidades de los (...) procedimientos experimentales desarrollados en el contexto de ese capítulo de la biología evolutiva que es la genética de poblaciones, y analizamos las peculiaridades de las variables sobre la que estos se ejercen. Esto nos permite mostrar la diferencia radical que existe entre operar sobre variables poblacionales y operar sobre variables fisiológicas.In this article we compare the nature of the experimental procedures that are carried out in different areas of biology. This is done by accepting and deepening the distinction between Functional and Evolutive Biology as it is argued for by Ernst Mayr and François Jacob. Keeping this in mind, we introduce some remarks on the notions of observation and experiment and try to clear up the presuppositions on the basis of which experimentation in Functional Biology rest. In the wake of it, we show the foundations and the main aspects of those experimental procedures that are developed in the context of that chapter of Evolutive Biology called Genetics of Populations and analyze the peculiarities of the variables by which those experiments are carried out. This allows us to show the radical difference between working on population and physiological variables. (shrink)