It is undeniable that human beings seek happiness and have difficulty finding it. This is not a new phenomenon: ever since ancient times man has wondered about what happiness is, where it lies and how to achieve it. For the Greeks, a people of deep pessimism, the search for happiness (eudaimonia) was a traditional theme of philosophy and it was precisely in Greece where Epicurus ́ (341-270 BC) doctrine of happiness emerged. A cursed and manipulated author (just like his admirer (...) Nietzsche), Epicurus has probably been the thinker who has most lucidly approached the question of eudaimonia. Its doctrine seeks and promises its followers happiness through pleasure (hedoné), self-sufficiency (autarky), friendship (philía) and mental calm (ataraxia), offering itself as medicine against the pain of flesh and the sufferings of the mind. But Epicurean hedonism, which harmonizes well with the ancient Apollonian maxim that wisdom consists of moderation and the knowledge of limits, is totally removed from both the tyranny of the happycracy and from the noxious culture of unrestrained and vacuous desire of contemporary postmodernity. This is precisely why Epicurus's timeless proposal for authentic happiness deserves to be known for everyone: for constituting an effective therapy against the ills that afflict the nihilistic human being of the neoliberal era. (shrink)

Single-unit data from the cortex of monkeys performing working-memory tasks support the main point of the target article. Those data, however, also indicate that the activation of long-term memory is essential to the processing of all cognitive functions. The activation of cortical long-term memory networks is a key neural mechanism in attention (working memory is a form thereof), perception, memory acquisition and retrieval, intelligence, and language.

En el siguiente artículo analizaremos las nociones de angustia y desesperación desarrolladas por Sören Kierkegaard en El concepto de angustia y en el Tratado de la desesperación con el fin de resaltar la importancia de las mismas para el autor danés y, a su vez, vislumbraremos su papel determinante en las relaciones concretas con el prójimo descritas por Jean-Paul Sartre en El ser y la nada. Nuestra hipótesis de trabajo establece que Sartre sigue el cuadro de la desesperación kierkergaardiana y (...) que por ello condena al fracaso las relaciones con el prójimo. Nosotros consideramos que las nociones de angustia y desesperación de Kierkegaard analizadas en este artículo constituyen el meollo del problema en el autor francés, pues, sólo a partir del estudio de ellas, se podrá discutir e intervenir el concepto de mala fe en Sartre que determina el fracaso de las relaciones concretas con el prójimo en El ser y la nada. (shrink)

La ruptura del paradigma tradicional en la educación ecuatoriana emerge ante la imperiosa necesidad de la omnipresencia de la sociedad del conocimiento, las prescripciones de solución son variadas, mitigadas en su efectividad por el contexto; sin ser la panacea la presente propuesta ha legitimado la eficiencia y eficacia del proceso formativo académico de profesionales versátiles, competentes y competitivos que aportan al desarrollo sostenible, sustentable del país en concordancia con sus pares regionales enfocados a la competitividad internacional (escalada profesional). Se identifica (...) las habilidades de los estudiantes, se potencia sus destrezas, satisface sus necesidades personales, contribuye con la satisfacción de las necesidades del colectivo permeando relaciones humanas cálidas, comportamiento cooperativo asertivo maximizando logros a través de evidencia fáctica real. Los métodos, técnicas y estrategias varían en función del nivel que cursan los preprofesionales; un modelo estándar educativo con base en las competencias reales, la comunicación y la satisfacción de las necesidades humanas en concordancia con el ecosistema, legitima los procesos de formación en escenarios reales a través de la cooperación. (shrink)

An algebraic interpretation of multigraph networks is introduced in relation to conscious experience, brain and body. These multigraphs have the ability to merge by an associative binary operator \(\odot \), accounting for biological composition. We also study a mathematical formulation of splitting layers, resulting in a formal analysis of the transition from conscious to non-conscious activity. From this construction, we recover core structures for conscious experience, dynamical content and causal constraints that conscious interactions may impose. An important result is the (...) prediction of structural topological changes after conscious interactions. These results may inspire further use of formal mathematics to describe and predict new features of conscious experience while aligning well with formal tries to mathematize phenomenology, phenomenological tradition and applications to artificial consciousness. (shrink)

El atractivo de la figura de San Francisco de Asís ha sido permanente desde el siglo XIII hasta nuestros días. A pesar de sus biografías y leyendas, que deben ser leídas e interpretadas según sus propias estructuras literarias, en su contexto histórico y como obras interdependientes (Cuestión Franciscana), la verdadera imagen del santo se muestra preferentemente en sus escritos personales. Los estudios franciscanos han aportado no sólo una imagen renovada de san Francisco, sino también de su espiritualidad.

Por estas fechas, hace veinte años, se reunía en la sala de consejos de esta Universidad un grupo numeroso de filósofos, miembros de la Academia de Historia, de la Academia de la Lengua y del Instituto Caro y Cuervo, con el fin de determinar el pensum de la Facultad de Filosofía que se pretendía fundar. Entre los presentes se hallaba un extranjero. En las últimas sesiones, cuando ya la programación de las materias y los contenidos generales de las mismas estaban (...) casi totalmente configurados, el extranjero anotó la ausencia de una materia o de un capítulo extenso dentro de la historia de la filosofía que se denominara_ Historia de la Filosofía Colombiana_ o _Historia de la Filosofía en Colombia_ o algo similar, e insistió en que se llenara ese vacío. Al fin de las deliberaciones la propuesta fue rechazada porque prevaleció la tesis de que en Colombia nunca se había cultivado la filosofía de una forma tal que mereciera el esfuerzo de su estudio y recuperación. (shrink)

Pueden identificarse cuatro estrategias principales de tratar la cuestión ambiental de acuerdo al marco rawlsiano. Extender la posición original o el principio de igualdad de oportunidades afecta a la concepción de la justicia. Reconocer límites naturales o ambientales a nivel de esencia constitucional o abrir la fase legislativa a la justicia ambiental afectan al liberalismo político. En cualquiera de ellas, el esquema sólo permitiría ir más lejos cuestionando la visión nacional-estatal de sociedad cooperativa.

In this conceptual article, we argue that defining corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility as opposite constructs produces a lack of clarity between responsible and irresponsible acts. Furthermore, we contend that the treatment of the CSR and CSI concepts as opposites de-emphasizes the value of CSI as a stand-alone construct. Thus, we reorient the CSI discussion to include multiple aspects that current conceptualizations have not adequately accommodated. We provide an in-depth exploration of how researchers define CSI and both identify (...) and analyze three important gray zones between CSR and CSI: the role of harm and benefit, the role of the actor and intentionality, and the role of rectification. We offer these gray zones as factors contributing to the present lack of conceptual clarity of the term CSI, as a concept in its own right, leading to difficulties that researchers and managers experience in categorizing CSI acts as distinct from CSR. (shrink)

Aún a falta de la imprescindible perspectiva temporal, se presentan aquí (1) una tesis sobre el movimiento 15M en su fase inicial de las acampadas: su discurso político en su fase de emergencia es un republicanismo cívico democrático de marca blanca sin referencias teóricas o filosóficas; y (2) varias hipótesis: se trata de un fenómeno político en sentido fuerte, producto del civismo bienestarista, sin conexión con movimientos sociales alternativos y sus ideologías, con una concepción novedosa de sí mismo como sujeto, (...) y que desafía el papel de los cuerpos intermedios en el ámbito de la sociedad civil, desde partidos hasta movimientos sociales. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 99 Heft: 1 Seiten: 130-148.

Nietzsche wanted to affirm life in its totality without dispensing with either the joy of affirmation or the tragic energy of the most terrible that it implies. His thought and his life bore witness to this. However, a task of such magnitude requires the affinity of other spirits who are capable of traveling other paths than those of ascent. Bataille's immanent mysticism knows that in the sovereignty of excess the limitlessness of expenditure allows us to descend into the sacred spaces (...) of the curse. The present work wants to delve into such a physiological inner experience to see whether the Nietzschean affirmation can be consummated in this way. Como sabemos Nietzsche quiso afirmar la vida en su totalidad sin prescindir ni de la alegría misma de la afirmación, ni de la energía trágica de lo más terrible que ello implica. Sin embargo, una tarea de esa magnitud requiere la afinidad de otros espíritus que sean capaces de recorrer otras vías distintas a las del ascenso. El misticismo inmanente de Bataille sabe bien que en la soberanía del exceso la ilimitación del gasto nos permite descender a los espacios sagrados de la maldición. La afirmación nietzscheana parece querer consumarse de este modo. (shrink)

Artículos Ciudadanía y sociedad civil en las democracias contemporáneas. Citizenship and civil society in contemporary democracies. de La Vega, Marta El poder simbólico de los medios de comunicación.The transformations of the political in the field of the symbolic.González Broquen, Ximena La rutinizacion de la indiferencia ética y el aplanamiento de los valores en la Argentina actual. Ethical indifference routine and smoothing moral in contemporary Argentine. Meabe, Joaquín E. Jürgen Habermas: entre la ética del discurso y la ética de la (...) especie. Jürgen Habermas: between the ethics of discourse and the ethics of the species. Moreno Lax, Alejandro Derechos humanos y proceso justo.Human rights and rightful process. Ramos Pascua, José Antonio El Fedón o la trascendencia del alma.Phaedo or the inmortality of the soul. Robledo Rodriguez, Alejandro La enseñanza del derecho en los países de derecho escrito.Legal education in civil law systems. Rodríguez Ferrara, Mauricio De cómo los latinoamericanos percibimos la pena de muerte. How latin-americans view the death penalti. Rodríguez Ferrara, Mauricio La doctrina platónica del alma en el 'Timeo'.The platonic doctrine of soul in 'Thimaeus'. Suzzarini, Andrés Interdisciplinares Bajo los murmullos: tributo a Juan Rulfo. Under the whispers: a homage to Juan Rulfo. Camacho Crispín, Marco Antonio Recensiones Semblanza del jurista venezolano Tulio Chiossone. Belandria, Margarita Informaciones Índice acumulado. (shrink)

In the wake of corporate ethical scandals that have harmed millions of employees and investors, there has been an increase in the number of works written in the last decade, which aim to answer one apparently simple question: what causes unethical behavior, and what can we do, if anything, to prevent similar transgressions in the future? The extensive research around this question is the best proof of its real complexity as the challenge of disentangling the background of ethical behavior has (...) obvious academic and practical interest. This study aims to take a further step toward that goal. Much research has noted the impact of multiple aspects of organizational contexts on individuals’ ethical behavior. However, studies that analyze the impact of organizational learning capability (OLC) on employees’ ethical behavior are few and far between. This was the first aim of this study. The second centered on gaining a deeper understanding of the relationship between OLC and ethical behavior by analyzing the mediating role of employability and organizational commitment. We tested our hypotheses through a structural equation methodology applied to a sample of 641 workers from 166 Spanish consultancy firms and found a positive, direct relationship between OLC and employability, OLC and organizational commitment, employability and organizational commitment, and organizational commitment and ethical behavior. (shrink)

The modern philosophy of science has not succeeded in defining conclusively what the scientific method consists in. On the contrary, scientific practice seems to consist in a methodological pluralism, a definition that connects with essential fragments of John Dewey's Logic, the Theory of Inquiry. For Dewey, even the forms of logic emerge from the problems defined in indeterminate situations. A historical example was the introduction of the notion of complementarity in physics, which allowed the interpretation of two confusingly paradoxical experiments (...) in a coherent way. Dewey's thought demonstrates its relevance by helping us to define the pattern of inquiry. Methodological pluralism and the dependence of logic on research problems is not something that will happen, it is something that has happened and does happen in scientific practices. (shrink)

Joaquín M. Fuster is an eminent cognitive neuroscientist whose research over the last five decades has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural structures underlying cognition and behaviour. This book provides his view on the eternal question of whether we have free will. Based on his seminal work on the functions of the prefrontal cortex in decision-making, planning, creativity, working memory, and language, Professor Fuster argues that the liberty or freedom to choose between alternatives is a function (...) of the cerebral cortex, under prefrontal control, in its reciprocal interaction with the environment. Freedom is therefore inseparable from that circular relationship. The Neuroscience of Freedom and Creativity is a fascinating inquiry into the cerebral foundation of our ability to choose between alternative actions and to freely lead creative plans to their goal. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo consiste en un comentario del ensayo Ser justo con Freud: La historia de la locura en la era del psicoanálisis de Derrida con el objeto de rastrear lo que no puede ser reapropiado por la presuposición del marco del debate entre Derrida y Foucault. Al analizar la pregunta “¿quién anuncia el no-recurso?”, exploraré la forma en que la escritura de Derrida es afectada por la necesidad e imposibilidad de no reprimir la sinrazón. Argumentaré que Derrida compulsivamente escribe (...) los efectos de dicha resistencia a no reprimir la sinrazón a través de la repetición de la búsqueda Foucaultiana de un más allá de la razón. Esta “compulsión de repetición’ no solamente reabre una y otra vez el debate, sino que desencadena el retorno de la sinrazón en la forma de un desarreglo de los principios de identidad y tiempo lineal, desestabilizando todo forma de autoría sobre la historia de la locura en general y cada una de sus críticas. Este artículo se aproxima a los intercambios entre Derrida y Foucault deconstruyendo la premisa de la posibilidad de un debate sobre la historia de la locura. (shrink)

Automated legal reasoning and its application in smart contracts and automated decisions are increasingly attracting interest. In this context, ethical and legal concerns make it necessary for automated reasoners to justify in human-understandable terms the advice given. Logic Programming, specially Answer Set Programming, has a rich semantics and has been used to very concisely express complex knowledge. However, modelling discretionality to act and other vague concepts such as ambiguity cannot be expressed in top-down execution models based on Prolog, and in (...) bottom-up execution models based on ASP the justifications are incomplete and/or not scalable. We propose to use s(CASP), a top-down execution model for predicate ASP, to model vague concepts following a set of patterns. We have implemented a framework, called s(LAW), to model, reason, and justify the applicable legislation and validate it by translating (and benchmarking) a representative use case, the criteria for the admission of students in the “Comunidad de Madrid”. (shrink)

In “God of the Gaps: A Neglected Reply to God’s Stone Problem”, Jc Beall and A. J. Cotnoir offer a gappy solution to the paradox of (unrestricted) omnipotence that is typified by the classic stone problem. Andrew Tedder and Guillermo Badia, however, have recently argued that this solution could not be extended to a more serious Curry-like version of the paradox. In this paper, we show that such a gappy solution does extend to it.

The aim of the article is to analyze the role played by popularization and training within nanotechnology as a mean to build a bridge between Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies; its applications in Biology, Biotechnology and Health Care Industry; and the object of study of Bioethics, mainly its general view. The article begins with a brief presentation of the basic concepts of Bioethics; of the paradigm of the relationship between science, technology and society; and of the contribution of general scientific and technological (...) knowledge to Bioethics. Afterwards, it analyzes in detail the interdisciplinary relationship of sciences and technologies with Bioethics and presents a brief conceptual exposition of Nanotechnology as well as its benefits and risks. The article ends by presenting some arguments in favor of considering popularization and training in Nanotechnology as a bridge towards bioethics. Finally, some general conclusions are sketched. (shrink)