Identity itself has become complex and fragmented in our age, and in this sense, perhaps conventional categories as cosmopolitanism therefore no longer suit us very well. Conceptualizing the intellectual landscape between reactionary localism and vapid universalism, is where the debate in ethical cosmopolitanism has landed today. Although it shows no real sign of theoretical resolving or slowing, cosmopolitan theory has taken more explicitly new direction connected with the project associated with Martha Nussbaum’s thought. I propose to deal in this paper (...) her ultimately and re-articulated cosmopolitan ideas. (shrink)

Uno de los más famosos legados que recibe el pensamiento moderno proveniente del estoicismo antiguo es la concepción del cosmopolitismo, a pesar de lo cual la idea original estoica cuenta con nuevos enfoques y corrientes. La filósofa e importante clasicista Martha Nussbaum ha establecido en la actualidad una de las teorías más destacables teniendo en cuenta un punto de vista explícitamente estoico. En este artículo pretendo analizar, por un lado la exposición que Nussbaum ha hecho de la ciudadanía mundial, así (...) como las discusiones críticas ulteriores que su teoría del cosmopolitismo ha originado. (shrink)

Aristotle says that only humans can speak and the speech capability is a proper criterion of humanity. Speech is also designated by Aristotle to indicate the right and the wrong. He finishes by saying that it is partnership in these things that makes a city. Ultimately a human being who is not in a polis, would not really be a human being at all? Would this human being then be no more human than a statue with a human form?

As Socrates argues in Cratylus, although different name-makers or name-designers (Greeks and barbarians) do not embody the name in the same syllables it must not be forgotten that they attempt to reproduce the same ideal (t´ypos). Could also Greek and barbarian names of gods, made of different letters and syllables, reproduce the same t´ypos? If one takes seriously Herodotus’ onomatological inquiry in his Egyptian lógos (The Histories II 50), one may find the optimum way to understand the scope of Plato’s (...) dialectical ‘games’ between the three speakers in Cratylus (Socrates, Hermogenes and Cratylus) and, more precisely, their «theological» implications. (shrink)

El choque entre el éthos cívico y las tendencias individuales de los ciudadanos en la Atenas clásica muestra cómo la ciudad hizo frente al reto que suponían algunas opiniones individuales en relación con la cohesión cívica. Mi análisis pretende ilustrar este enfrentamiento tomando como referencia la figura que de Sócrates establece la Apología de Platón; en concreto, su comportamiento ante el tribunal puede arrojar luz sobre cuál podía ser el efecto de ciertas actitudes individuales en el seno del éthos ateniense. (...) El presente estudio no pretende alcanzar un conocimiento en profundidad de la vida política en la pólis ateniense sino más bien ofrecer una reflexión sobre la compleja relación existente entre el individuo y el estado. (shrink)

El sentido que la educación liberal posee para Michael Oakeshott se concentra en que ésta consiste en un aprendizaje de las disciplinas humanísticas y científicas. Dichas disciplinas se muestran valiosas ya que tienen la virtud de desarrollar el intelecto y la sensibilidad humanas y porque aportan, además, una comprensión operativa de lo que son nuestro yo, la sociedad, la naturaleza y la cultura. No obstante, como también es sabido, los fines que la educación liberal se propone pecan un tanto de (...) idealistas, de manera especial cuando se insiste, como muchos han hecho desde los antiguos griegos, en que dicha educación es un fin en sí misma. En parte, lo demuestra la presencia permanente en nuestra cultura occidental de unos espacios de aprendizaje (‘schola’) que se conciben como si estuvieran separados del aquí y ahora en que transcurre la vida cotidiana. (shrink)

In this paper I will defend the incapacity of the informational frameworks in thermal physics, mainly those that historically and conceptually derive from the work of Brillouin (1962) and Jaynes (1957a), to robustly explain the approach of certain gaseous systems to their state of thermal equilibrium from the dynamics of their molecular components. I will further argue that, since their various interpretative, conceptual and technical-formal resources (e.g. epistemic interpretations of probabilities and entropy measures, identification of thermal entropy as Shannon information, (...) and so on) are shown to be somehow incoherent, inconsistent or inaccurate, these informational proposals need to 'epistemically parasitize' the manifold of theoretical resources of Boltzmann's and Gibbs' statistical mechanics, respectively, in order to properly account for the equilibration process of an ideal gas from its microscopic properties. Finally, our conclusion leads us to adopt a sort of constructive skepticism regarding the explanatory value of the main informationalist trends in statistical thermophysics. (shrink)

In this paper I will argue that the two main approaches to statistical mechanics, that of Boltzmann and Gibbs, constitute two substantially different theoretical apparatuses. Particularly, I defend that this theoretical split must be philosophically understood as a separation of epistemic functions within this physical domain: while Boltzmannians are able to generate powerful explanations of thermal phenomena from molecular dynamics, Gibbsians can statistically predict observable values in a highly effective way. Therefore, statistical mechanics is a counterexample to Hempel's (1958) symmetry (...) thesis, where the predictive capacity of a theory is directly correlated with its explanatory potential and vice versa. (shrink)

In this paper, I analyze the physical content of the main information concepts in the history of physics of the last seven decades. I argue that this physical character should be evaluated not by appealing to analytical-linguistic confusion (Timpson 2013) or to the usefulness of its applicability (Lombardi et al. 2016), but properly from its capacity to allow us to acquire significant knowledge about the physical world. After systematically employing this epistemic criterion of physical significance I will conclude by rejecting (...) the main strategies of ontological inflation and physical content of the main information concepts in the classical thermal physics literature. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that the Epicurean genealogy of justice and laws presuppose an analysis of the just as a modality of the useful, an approach that denies the conventional character of justice. This genealogical pattern differentiates the origin of justice from that of the law and refers to friendship as a relevant explanatory factor of the origin of justice. We maintain that the interpretations that underline the incoherence of this reference to friendship, in the framework of a hedonistic (...) theory, presuppose a non-Epicurean sharp distinction between altruism and selfishness. (shrink)

In this paper we analyze some of the major difficulties of informed consent. We consider insufficient to base IC on the principle of autonomy. We must not forget that the patient may be in a situation of extreme vulnerability and the good doctor should assume a degree of commitment and responsibility with his/her decisions. Our aim is to introduce the ethics of responsibility of Levinas in practice and theory of IC in order to generate a beneficent medical practice in which (...) the supervision and overseeing of the patient do not undermine his/her autonomy. (shrink)

We support the development of non-reductive cognitive science and the naturalization of phenomenology for this purpose, and we agree that the ‘relational turn’ defended by Gallagher is a necessary step in this direction. However, we believe that certain aspects of his relational concept of nature need clarification. In particular, Gallagher does not say whether or how teleology, affect, and other value-related properties of life and mind can be naturalized within this framework. In this paper, we argue that (1) given the (...) phenomenological standards recognized by Gallagher, his commitment to a naturalized phenomenology should entail a commitment to a naturalized concept of value; and (2) the kind of ‘relational nature’ described by Gallagher in his paper is insufficient for this purpose. (shrink)

In this paper I will evaluate whether some knowledge states that are interpretatively derived from statistical mechanical probabilities could be somehow relevant in actual practices, as famously rejected by Albert (2000). On one side, I follow Frigg (2010a) in rejecting the causal relevance of knowledge states as a mere byproduct of misinterpreting this theoretical field. On the other side, I will argue against Uffink (2011) that probability-represented epistemic states cannot be explanatorily relevant, because (i) probabilities cannot faithfully represent significant epistemic (...) states, and (ii) those states cannot satisfactorily account for why an agent should theoretically believe or expect something. (shrink)

De Monarchia representa una de las obras de Dante que más influjo político ha ejercido. Probablemente movido a escribirla, hacia 1313. Con ella, Dante quiere contribuir a erradicar la anarquía imperante de su época, en Italia y, concretamente, en su ciudad florentina. Sueña con un orden social que establezca la paz universal. El tono de la obra, netamente gibelino, muestra a un Dante que ha evolucionado intelectualmente. Dante se muestra aquí como un intelectual a caballo entre la escolástica y el (...) florecimiento de un estilo nuevo. Hay en él toda una serie de giros, expresiones, alegorías, imágenes y simbolismos claramente medievales, pero también un conjunto de ideas que, contra corriente, contribuyeron a cambiar el modo de interpretar el mundo. Su De Monarchia ha de considerarse una obra innovadora porque, aunque el texto ciertamente recogió tradiciones legales, jurídicas, políticas y teológicas precedentes, su mayor mérito radicó en la elaboración de una densa, brillante y novedosa teoría, según la cual, el emperador no sólo debía su poder a la elección directa de Dios —con lo que su investidura no devenía un mero oficio de la Iglesia— sino que, además, la institución imperial resultaba superior a la pontificia. Por tanto, hay que plantearse si «De Monarqchia» es una obra que precederá algunas de las principales tesis que posteriormente defenderá la Reforma protestante en cuestiones políticas. (shrink)

El artículo explora el sentido en que tanto Kant como Husserl entienden lo trascendental y la importancia de este concepto para sus respectivas filosofías. El autor aborda esta relación con la intención de mostrar que ambos filósofos parten de una reflexión radical sobre las condiciones de posibilidad de la experiencia, llegando a conclusiones diferentes sobre ésta. Se pasa revista de las consecuencias de establecer una filosofía trascendental y la enorme diferencia que ambos autores establecen sobre el tema de la experiencia (...) como articuladora de lo trascendental en sus respectivas filosofías. (shrink)

Juan Huarte de San Juan (1529–88) was a physician of the Spanish Renaissance. He wrote the Examen de Ingenios para las Ciencias, translated as The Trial of Men’s Wits (1989[1575–94]), a book that has been acknowledged as a precursor of educational psychology, organizational psychology, behaviorism, neuropsychology and psychiatry. Huarte suggested that before beginning a course of study, students’ intellectual capabilities (i.e. ingenio) should be matched up with the professional studies that best suit their aptitudes. His book had a great impact (...) in Europe from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century. The influence of the Trial spread throughout many areas including philosophy, politics, linguistics and literature. Although there has been a growing interest in Huarte’s work in recent years, biographical studies have been rare; as a result, the information about Huarte’s life is currently incomplete, scattered and sometimes inaccurate. This study presents a systematic archival research on Spanish original sources. We present a reconstruction of Huarte’s life-story based on 32 original documents (1549–c.1650), some of them first discovered during the present survey. Documents are described according to the General International Standard of Archival Description, ISAD(G). The documents uncovered allow for a reappraisal of Huarte’s biography. (shrink)

El compatibilismo afirma que el libre albedrío es compatible con el determinismo. Para el «compatibilismo de las bifurcaciones» pertenece a la esencia de la libertad «poder actuar de otra manera», mientras que para el «compatibilismo de la fontalidad» resulta decisiva la ultimidad del agente como fuente de control. Ahora bien, dadas dos partículas con entrelazamiento EPR, la medición de una variable en una de ellas determina instantáneamente el valor de dicha variable en la otra. Experimentos recientes hacen finalmente insostenibles explicaciones (...) basadas en variables ocultas locales: o la naturaleza está ónticamente indeterminada o bien está determinada de modo global. El primer caso es incompatible con los dos compatibilismos y el segundo es incompatible con el «poder actuar de otra manera». Además, implicaría la existencia de variables ocultas no locales como fuente última de determinación, con longitudes de correlación típicas mayores que las del cuerpo humano: la acción no podría originarse en su interior. El compatibilismo, por tanto, debe ser rechazado. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to propose a qualitative approach to the theory of conceptual spaces, in contrast to the usual metric framework. This requires qualitative notions of similarity, simple concepts, prototypes and conceptual categorisation. For this purpose, I will introduce three mathematical models for conceptual spaces. The first one is topological and has been proposed by Mormann. The other two are new and are based on atomistic orders and similarity relations. I will discuss how each of them deals (...) with the Design Principles proposed by Douven and Gärdenfors and with further Adequacy Conditions. Despite being apparently different, I will show that these three models are mathematically equivalent. Finally, I will address three objections to the present approach. The first one says that the qualitative notion of a prototype is a bad analogue of the metric one. The second one suggests that, in contrast to the Voronoi construction, the function qualitatively representing the conceptual categorisation process is arbitrary. The last one appeals to Goodman’s companionship and imperfect community problems to show that there is a flaw in defining simple concepts from similarity relations. (shrink)

En este artículo defiendo que el problema humeano de la justificación racional de la inducción no ha contribuido a la comprensión filosófica de este tipo de inferencias. La teoría material de la inducción propuesta por Norton (2003) permite analizar el razonamiento inductivo más allá del laberinto justificativo humeano, pero con un corte demasiado alto: asumir que las inducciones dependen intrínsecamente de cómo es localmente la realidad. En su lugar, propongo una teoría de la inducción en la que las inducciones dependen (...) no de tesis ontológicas, sino de las capacidades cognitivas para comprimir información de un modo epistémicamente efectivo. (shrink)

El primer objetivo de este artículo es mostrar que explicaciones genuinamente geométricas/matemáticas e intrínsecamente diagramáticas de fenómenos físicos no solo son posibles en la práctica científica, sino que además comportan un potencial epistémico que sus contrapartes simbólico-verbales carecen. Como ejemplo representativo utilizaremos la metodología geométrica de John Wheeler (1963) para calcular cantidades físicas en una reacción nuclear. Como segundo objetivo pretendemos analizar, desde un marco inferencial, la garantía epistémica de este tipo de explicaciones en términos de dependencia sintáctica y semántica (...) del contenido lo inferido en las premisas, lo cual denominaremos criterio de validez inferencial (CVI). (shrink)

Ontic Structural Realism, as pivotal position in philosophy of science and metaphysics, defends the idea that the world is ultimately constituted of real physical structures. French (2014) regards physical symmetries as the foundational structure of a world without objects. On the other hand, Ladyman and Ross (2007) hold that the world is essentially made of non-redundant informational structure. I argue in this paper that these two positions are by no means incompatible, for instance by interpreting French’s physical symmetries as real (...) structures both encompassing and compressing every piece of information (Kolmogorov complexity) within the world. (shrink)

En este artículo se plantea una reconsideración de la elección del reduccionismo de Parfit en Razones y personas como la posición que mejor explica el vínculo de dos sucesos mentales separados en el tiempo. Sin embargo, veremos cómo Parfit basa dicha elección en la consideración de la noción de persona como una sustancia, lo que en principio deja fuera cualquier otra perspectiva. El problema aparece cuando éste no considera apropiadamente el origen histórico de la pregunta en Locke, donde la noción (...) de “persona” se caracteriza en función de la “conciencia de sí”, lo que abre la posibilidad de entender dicha noción a partir de su naturaleza modal en vez de sustancial. En esta medida, se verá cómo esta tercera alternativa incluye una explicación de la conciencia de sí que podría considerarse más razonable bajo los propios términos de Parfit. (shrink)

In this paper I aim to demonstrate that Rudolf Carnap's analysis of the application of information theory within physics, an intellectual-historical precedent of current philosophical criticisms toward this tendency, is justified. First, Carnap and Bar-Hillel (1952) underlined the unjustified ‘semantification’ of Shannon entropy Furthermore, Carnap criticized the ‘physicalization’ of Shannon entropy, but that criticism was not accepted by the physics community of the 1950s (Köhler 2001). Finally, in the posthumously published "Two Essays on Entropy" Carnap (1977) developed a critical assessment (...) of entropy concepts that showed some deep conceptual and interpretative deficiencies in Jaynes (1957a) and Brillouin’s (1956) informational approaches to thermophysics. (shrink)

Partiendo de una revisión del debate académico sobre la empatía o toma de perspectiva histórica, se ofrece una propuesta de currículo de historia para Secundaria centrado en esta dimensión del pensamiento histórico. Este segundo artículo de la serie “El valor de la historia” indaga cómo podría ser un currículo en el que los estudiantes se enfrenten al reto de explicar por qué los seres humanos actuaron como lo hicieron en determinadas circunstancias y en el que exploren lo que creían, pensaban (...) o sentían para hacer lo que hicieron. Se analizan algunas de las claves fundamentales que deberían tenerse en cuenta en el diseño y se argumenta el valor de dar esta orientación curricular a la asignatura partiendo de la importancia de desarrollar el sentido de alteridad y de expandir su comprensión de lo que significa ser humano. (shrink)

I argue for the possibility of the thesis that metaphors are indispensable for grasping and expressing certain propositions. I defend this possibility against the objection that, if metaphors express propositions, once these propositions are identified they should be specifiable by non‐metaphorical means. I argue that this objection loses its strength if one adopts a Wittgensteinian, particularist view of thought, according to which grasping a propositional thought requires the ongoing exercise of a suitable skill often not characterizable by algorithmic rules. Within (...) this particularist framework, thus, it becomes possible that metaphorical skills have an indispensable role in cognition and communication. (shrink)

I argue for the possibility of the thesis that metaphors are indispensable for grasping and expressing certain propositions. I defend this possibility against the objection that, if metaphors express propositions, once these propositions are identified they should be specifiable by non‐metaphorical means. I argue that this objection loses its strength if one adopts a Wittgensteinian, particularist view of thought, according to which grasping a propositional thought requires the ongoing exercise of a suitable skill often not characterizable by algorithmic rules. Within (...) this particularist framework, thus, it becomes possible that metaphorical skills have an indispensable role in cognition and communication. (shrink)

Although the everyday notion of information has clear semantic properties, the all-pervasive technical concept of Shannon information is usually considered as a non-semantic concept. In this paper I show how this concept was implicitly ‘semantized’ in the early 1950s by many authors, such as Rothstein or Brillouin, in order to explain the knowledge dynamics underlying certain scientific practices such as measurement. On the other hand, I argue that the main attempts in the literature to develop a quantitative measure of semantic (...) information to clarify science and scientific measurements, such as Carnap-Bar-Hillel, or Dretske, will not successfully achieve this philosophical aim for several reasons. Finally, I defend the use of a qualitative notion of semantic information within the information-theoretical framework MacKay to assess the informational dynamics underlying scientific practices, particularly measurements in statistical mechanics. (shrink)

In this talk I present the main results from Anta (2021), namely, that the theoretical division between Boltzmannian and Gibbsian statistical mechanics should be understood as a separation in the epistemic capabilities of this physical discipline. In particular, while from the Boltzmannian framework one can generate powerful explanations of thermal processes by appealing to their microdynamics, from the Gibbsian framework one can predict observable values in a computationally effective way. Finally, I argue that this statistical mechanical schism contradicts the Hempelian (...) (1958) thesis that the predictive power of a scientific theory is directly proportional to its explanatory potential, and vice versa. (shrink)

ArgumentIn this comparative historical analysis, we will analyze the intellectual tendency that emerged between 1946 and 1956 to take advantage of the popularity of communication theory to develop a kind of informational epistemology of statistical mechanics. We will argue that this tendency results from a historical confluence in the early 1950s of certain theoretical claims of the so-called English School of Information Theory, championed by authors such as Gabor (1956) or MacKay (1969), and from the attempt to extend the profound (...) success of Shannon’s ([1948] 1993) technical theory of sign transmission to the field of statistical thermal physics. As a paradigmatic example of this tendency, we will evaluate the intellectual work of Léon Brillouin (1956), who, in the mid-fifties, developed an information theoretical approach to statistical mechanical physics based on a concept of information linked to the knowledge of the observer. (shrink)