Relationships between the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability have been solidly specified, but relatively little attention has been given to the social sphere. The current study attempts to fill this gap by integrating corporate environmentalism more fully with concepts of corporate sustainability. This investigation draws specifically from neo-Habermasian critical environmental theory research and brings three concepts together for closer empirical examination: the public sphere, the communicative rationality, and discursive design with the goal of capturing whether critical and reflective organizational (...) systems (CROS) among the selected sample of business participants are in fact developing. Using content analysis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, the study reveals that some business organizations appear to be on the brink of developing a type of learning environment consistent with CROS thinking. The empirical findings also suggest that there is a transformative effect on citizenship that can result from the teaching and learning that is facilitated by voluntary CSR initiatives. (shrink)

In the 10 years after the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (GC), there have been very few empirical assessments of the initiative in the academic literature. In this study, drawing from institutional theory and the resource‐based view of the firm, we examine motivations of business participants to adopt the GC principles in the Spanish context. Using survey data from Spain – the country reporting the highest volume of business participants in the GC – we find that external institutional (...) forces as well as internal organisational resources shape motivations for adopting GC principles. In particular, we find that early and late adopters are motivated similarly by the perceived opportunity of achieving image gains, while late adopters are motivated more by economic gains than early adopters. We further find that regardless of the extent of internal intangible resources possessed, firms are similarly motivated by economic gains. The results also show that companies with more intangible resources are motivated more by image gains than those with fewer resources. Our findings indicate that contrary to its earlier days, economic gains have emerged as an important motivator for the adopters of the GC principles with image gains still being an important motivator. (shrink)

In the 10 years after the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (GC), there have been very few empirical assessments of the initiative in the academic literature. In this study, drawing from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, we examine motivations of business participants to adopt the GC principles in the Spanish context. Using survey data from Spain – the country reporting the highest volume of business participants in the GC – we find that external institutional (...) forces as well as internal organisational resources shape motivations for adopting GC principles. In particular, we find that early and late adopters are motivated similarly by the perceived opportunity of achieving image gains, while late adopters are motivated more by economic gains than early adopters. We further find that regardless of the extent of internal intangible resources possessed, firms are similarly motivated by economic gains. The results also show that companies with more intangible resources are motivated more by image gains than those with fewer resources. Our findings indicate that contrary to its earlier days, economic gains have emerged as an important motivator for the adopters of the GC principles with image gains still being an important motivator. (shrink)

Although existing research evaluates the growth and motivations behind global corporate social responsibility activity, there is little understanding whether these growing commitments generate strategic benefits to their adherents. In this article, we analyze the organizational attributes that underlie the firm’s ability to generate competitive advantage from the adoption of a global CSR framework. We develop hypotheses on economic and reputational benefits and test whether firm performance, organizational resources, and access to business and CSR networks determine these benefits in CSR frameworks. (...) Results from a survey of 213 Spanish global compact business participants strongly support our arguments. (shrink)

International Accountability Standards have proliferated in the last 20 years, with the UN Global Compact as the most widely accepted principle-based standard catalyzing voluntary participation by firms. This study aims to improve understanding about the factors that determine companies’ progress in adopting principle-based standards. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we examine the direct and combined influences of different organizational resources on standard implementation as perceived by 213 Spanish GC signatories. Our results reveal that the level of firm-specific (...) resources has a positive effect on the extent of GC principles implementation and that innovative capability and length of GC participation strengthen this effect. Contrary to our expectations, we find that the internationalization of firms does not have an effect on GC principles implementation. We discuss the implications of these findings for scholars and practicing managers. (shrink)

Research suggests a direct negative relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. But several possible mechanisms might explain this relationship in more detail. For example, Machiavellianism is a personality trait characterized by interpersonal manipulation and the use of unethical means to achieve certain self‐interested ends, whether useful or pleasant. This article adopts an Aristotelian understanding of philia, related to three goods on which human relationships rest: useful, pleasant, and honest. We propose that Machiavellianism, a self‐interested, pragmatic personality orientation, (...) might explicate the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and ethical intention. The results of a structural equation model applied to a sample of 436 banking employees in Spain reveals that Machiavellianism partially mediates the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. We also find that with a greater level of peers’ unethical behavior, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention increases, and that when peers’ unethical behavior is nonexistent, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention disappears. These findings advance current literature by revealing that unethical peers can indirectly influence ethical intention, through shaping Machiavellianism. Our study is also the first to show that pairing high Machiavellians with ethical peers can help to cancel out the negative influence of Machiavellianism on ethical intention. (shrink)

In this article we are concerned with an analysis of the modern crisis of democracy. This aim should be pursued through the related works of Alexis de Tocqueville and Max Weber. The study begins with the claim that both authors, not only are concerned with the analysis of the rising mass democracy, but furthermore they outline the main tendencies of this new form of society. On the one hand, there is a proclivity of the contemporary systems to enter into (...) what could be denominated «individualist despotism». On the other hand, the underpinning of the plebiscitary democracy runs through an increasing «bureaucratization», which remains on the intensive process of instrumental rationality. (shrink)

In this article, I raise three potential objections to Alexis Shotwell’s view of “implicit knowledge,” which she presents in her book Knowing Otherwise.

El propósito de esta intervención es realizar un análisis de la crisis de la democracia contemporánea a través de los estudios de Alexis de Tocqueville y de Max Weber. Nuestro punto de partida considera que el trabajo de ambos autores, no sólo puede ser entendido como el análisis sociológico de la naciente democracia de masas, sino que además presenta las tendencias que semejante sistema político desarrollará en el tiempo. De un lado una predisposición de los sistemas políticos modernos hacia (...) lo que denominaremos el «despotismo individualista». De otro lado, el reforzamiento del sistema plebiscitario a través de una creciente «burocratización» que proviene del desarrollo acelerado de los procesos de racionalización instrumental en la sociedad moderna. (shrink)

Es una tesis admitida y común la que sostiene que Descartes introdujo la forma moderna del método y del quehacer filosófico, caracterizados ambos por su desconexión del terreno de la espiritualidad, del cuidado de sí, de la ascesis y de toda una forma de vida. Se considera que Foucault compartía esa tesis, lo que en su momento criticaría Pierre Hadot. En el presente trabajo tratamos de mostrar que la forma en que Descartes elaboró su método y su propuesta no se (...) ajusta a aquella tesis recibida. En él se mantiene la relación antigua entre filosofía y espiritualidad, método y paideía. Una vez mostrado esto, apuntamos finalmente cómo en él, sin embargo, se abrió la vía para que se diera la ruptura que él no practicó. (shrink)

Entre los medios elegidos para el logro de los objetivos transhumanistas (TH) se encuentra el recurso a biotecnologías para incidir en la dotación genética de la descendencia. Ahora bien, el temor a una utilización desmesurada de las biotecnologías no puede significar una negación de los indudables avances para el bien de la vida humana que ellas han traído. Así, desde una perspectiva jurídica, es decisiva la cuestión de determinar los alcances de la libertad procreativa, es decir, cuáles son las opciones (...) legítimas que pueden adoptarse en relación con la transmisión de la vida humana. Esta comunicación se propone analizar este interrogante y enunciar los desafíos jurídicos implicados en esta cuestión. En tal sentido, mientras algunos sostienen una libertad procreativa absoluta y sin límites, otras posturas tienden a anular la libertad procreativa y a obligar a los padres a buscar “el mejor hijo posible” (beneficencia procreativa). Entre esas dos visiones extremas, esta comunicación propone una libertad procreativa respetuosa de la originalidad de la transmisión de la vida y enraizada en una concepción ontológica de la dignidad. Por otra parte, para que esa libertad procreativa realice los bienes propiamente humanos, se enuncian seis tópicos que el derecho debe afrontar para responder a los desafíos del TH en esta dimensión vinculada con la procreación: a) el comienzo de la existencia de la persona; b) la inviolabilidad de la vida humana; c) los límites jurídicos que deben ponerse a las técnicas de procreación artificial y sus finalidades de uso; d) si es admisible o no el uso de gametos de terceros en esas técnicas; e) el problema del diagnóstico preimplantatorio; f) los alcances de la edición genética humana aplicada a la línea germinal y la distinción entre terapia y mejora (enhancement). (shrink)

This article examines Aristotle's views concerning the possibility of friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. The suggestion that he denies this possibility is rejected. I reassess the textual evidence adduced by scholars in support of this reading, while adding new material for discussion. Central to the traditional reading is the assumption that animals, in Aristotle's view, cannot be friends in virtue of their cognitive limitations. I argue that Aristotle's account of animal cognition is perfectly consistent with the possibility of (...) friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. (shrink)

Implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains is not a trivial task. In fact, many firms in recent years have publicly proclaimed that in order to keep their CSR commitments, they had to reduce reliance on external suppliers by vertically integrating their operations. Our aim in this article is to examine whether there is truly a relationship between a firm’s CSR performance and its level of vertical integration. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 2,715 firm-year observations, and after addressing (...) endogeneity concerns, we demonstrate that firms with higher CSR performance tend to vertically integrate more (or, outsource less). We also demonstrate that this tendency is weaker for firms that have higher degrees of asset specificity or international diversification. Our core conclusion is that CSR performance and outsourcing are at odds, but firms can reconcile this tension by deepening their collaborations with suppliers. (shrink)

En mayo de 2003 se celebró la duodécima edición de las «Conferencias Aranguren». Jorge Semprún dictó tres conferencias magistrales tituladas «Kant y la mochila del maquis», «El mal radical y las letrinas de Buchenwald» y «Literatura y memoria del mal: de Sartre a Paul Ricoeur», agrupadas todas ellas bajo el título genérico de Memoria del mal. El hilo conductor de las tres intervenciones fue la experiencia de Semprún como deportado político en el campo de concentración de Buchenwald, tan cercano (...) al Weimar de Schiller y Goethe. Allí pudo experimentar el mal radical, pero también la fraternidad, a través de los grupos de resistencia antifascista que coordinaban en el campo los distintos grupos políticos clandestinos. Esta experiencia le sirvió para repasar las lecturas filosóficas que había realizado en su época de estudiante de Filosofía en la Sorbona, así como las que le interesaron una vez terminada la guerra. De esta forma, Semprún hizo un recorrido por distintos autores argumentando la relación de los mismos con el problema del mal. (shrink)

Much research into morphogenesis focuses on discovering mechanisms and models able to generate or describe the forms we can observe in nature. These studies all provide insights, even though they do not directly touch upon what is the focus of this article: the understanding of form. To this end a conceptual scheme based on the following ideas is proposed: understanding , emerging , persisting , selection , and the relation concerning complexity versus uncertainty , in particular, the relation between form (...) and function. This article is thus a contribution to both the epistemology and the ontology of nature and, in particular, of the living world. (shrink)

Clearly in contrast to the sociosymbolic approaches that underlie the positions of Butler or Derrida, this article delves into a materialist and machinic reading of the ontology of Deleuze and Guattari. This ontology is the basis of a posthumanist conception that allows to join political philosophy, technology and biology understood as complex rhizomatic systems. From this point of view, we propose to construct an antagonistic posthumanist politics that is an alternative to the pluriversal ethics defended by Braidotti. We believe that (...) the latter maintains an excessively liberal position that prioritizes inclusion as a new form of consensus in the face of conflict. (shrink)

John Ackrill argued that Aristotelian bodies are conceptually promiscuous, since they fail to exemplify the modal relations that are expected to hold between their matter and their form. Although “potentially alive”, organic bodies are bound to be ensouled, on pain of lacking the required potential; but to the extent that they are ensouled, they are already actually alive. It seems odd to claim that a body may lack what it cannot help having. This paper claims that the standard solution falls (...) short of the strong unity living beings display, given that nothing in them can be accidentally alive. An alternative proposal is advanced, based on two distinctions Aristotle draws in his philosophical lexicon: both matter and form have a claim to being called “nature”; formal nature may be found in its subject either in actuality or in potentiality. It is argued that the characterization of organic bodies as “potentially alive” conforms to, a pattern that helps explain the specific way in which bodies share in the organisms’ life. Two possible instances of are finally considered by way of illustration. (shrink)

And how are the answers to these questions affected by the Black and Latino experience in the United States"-From the Preface This collection of new essays explores the relation between race and ethnicity and its social and political ...

The article aims to point out some of the interpretive horizons of Twilight of the Idols, especially the status in relation to philological literary project regarding Will to Power and the philosophical status within the texts of 1888. Among others, the central hypothesis that will guide our interpretation is the 'heuristic of necessity': the question about desires and needs that cause or force an artistic, politic, etc. production and, moreover, a hypothesis that is found through the book. Finally, it is (...) also to point out that how Nietzsche operates with a semantic distance in relation to concepts that were previously elaborated by him, for example, the concept of ‘genius'. These assumptions help to fill a gap into the research-Nietzsche, regarding a text that didn’t receive its real significance in Brazil. (shrink)

Garzón Vallejo, Iván. La religión en la razón pública. Bogotá; Buenos Aires: Universidad de la Sabana; Editorial Astrea, 2014. 287 pp.

Las relaciones entre el sentido común -como categoría recurrente en la historia del pensamiento- y el ingenio -con sus relaciones tal y como plantea Vico- constituyen la estructura de la propuesta del autor.The paper is organised around the relationship between common sens -as a recurrent category in the history of thought- and ingenuity -with it's relationships, as they are considered by Vico-.

Este artículo se divide en tres partes. En la primera se procura situar la argumentación de Kant siguiendo todos los pasos dados en la Fundamentación III. Se optó por seguir la división interna comunmente aceptada, y no los conjuntos de parágrafos indicados por McCarthy. En la segunda, se desarrolla la crítica rea li za da por Allison. En la tercera, finalmente, se discuten, breve y sintéticamente, tres interrogantes: i) la relación entre la libertad transcendental y el imperativo categórico; ii) el (...) problema del círculo vicioso oculto y iii) las dos fallas de la deducción de la libertad en Fundamentación III, identificadas por Allison, comparando su argumentación con la de McCarthy.This article is divided into three parts. In the first part Kant´s argumentation following all the steps given in Fundamentación III is explained. The commonly accepted internal division was fol lowed, and not the sets of para graphs indicated by McCarthy. In the second part, the criticism developed by Allison is developed. In the third part, three questions are quickly and syntheti cally discussed; i) the relation be tween transcenden tal liberty and the categorical imperitive; ii) the problem of the hid denviscious circle, and iii) two errors in the deduction of liberty in Fundamentación III, identified by Allison, comparing his argumentation with that of McCarthy. (shrink)

Este ensaio discute a relevância de algumas abordagens epistemológicas, éticas e políticas de Jürgen Habermas para a análise de práticas de justiça de transição. Como objeto da análise, parte-se da experiência do autor como consultor de um dos grupos de trabalho da Comissão Nacional da Verdade brasileira, que foi estabelecida pela Lei 12528/2011. A construção da análise é teórica e não empírica, portanto despreza para efeitos argumentativos os meandros das investigações, depoimentos, audiências públicas e outros mecanismos de pesquisa efetivamente usados (...) pelos grupos de trabalho da Comissão Nacional da Verdade. O escopo da investigação é o papel da busca cooperativa da verdade, como empreendimento epistemológico, na consecução de elementos que favoreçam a reconciliação nacional e ao estabelecimento de um repertório hermenêutico capaz de criar condições para o entendimento mútuo, ante situações de superação de injustiças cometidas historicamente. O recurso à teoria de Jürgen Habermas é justificado, não apenas pela biografia deste autor, que se retroalimenta da necessidade histórica de reparação das injustiças cometidas pelo Nacional Socialismo na Alemanha, porém, sobretudo, pelas investigações sobre o papel da aprendizagem comunicativa como elemento restabelecedor de uma solidariedade construída em bases morais, de uma ética discursiva, que favorecem ao estabelecimento do Estado de direito e da democracia deliberativa. Neste sentido, a argumentação desenvolvida parte de constatações da Comissão Nacional da Verdade, se debruça sobre aspectos da ética do discurso, referentes à resolução de conflitos e se conclui com apreciações sobre o papel da justificação no estabelecimento da verdade. (shrink)

La fenomenología marioniana ha recibido diversas críticas respecto de su lectura de la _Gegebenheit_ husserliana y heideggeriana. Este artículo se propone dar cuenta de la importancia fenomenológica de la concepción marioniana de la donación.

Retomando el momento definitivo en los estudios viquianos que constituyó el aniversario del nacimiento de Vico , se rastrea la importancia de los principales momentos anteriores y los consecuentemente posteriores. Principalmente, la actualidad de Vico se presenta en su sesgo de fundador de la filosofía de la historia, que puede presentarse como una concepción escatológica, de la dinámica de ésta, en la que se articulan religión e historia, imprescindible para comprender el pensamiento histórico contemporáneo posthistorista. La misma actualidad de Vico (...) se patentiza en su sobrevivencia al historismo.Turning again to the definitive moment in Vichian studies which was the anniversary of Vico’s birth , we investigate the importance of the principle moments before and after the anniversary. Principally, the contemporariness of Vico is shown by his position as the founder of the Philosophy of History, which can be presented as being of eschatological conception of the dynamics of History, in which religion and history are united, an invaluable step in understanding contemporary historical and post-historicist thought. The very contemporariness of Vico is evident by him surviving historicism. (shrink)

Kepler is mainly known among historians of science for his astronomical theories and his approaches to problems having to do with philosophy of science and ontology. This paper attempts to contribute to Kepler studies by providing a discussion of a topic not frequently considered, namely Kepler’s theory of the soul, a general theory of knowledge whose central problem is what makes knowledge possible, rather than what makes knowledge true, as happens in the case of Descartes’s and Bacon’s epistemologies. Kepler’s theory (...) consists of four issues: the theory of the different sorts of soul—that is, the human soul, the animal soul, the vegetable soul, and the Earth soul—concerning their faculties, the differences and the resemblances emerging among them, the relation they maintain with their own bodies and the world, and the distinction soul–world. The paper discusses these issues from a historical perspective, that is, it reconstructs the way they appear in three periods of Kepler’s career: the period prior to the publication of the Mysterium cosmographicum, the period from 1596 to 1611, and the period of the Harmonices mundi libri V. Finally, Kepler’s epistemology is briefly contrasted with Descartes’s and Bacon’s in order to suggest that Kepler’s could be seen as a third way to understand the philosophical origins of Modernity.Keywords: Johannes Kepler; René Descartes; Francis Bacon; Anima; Force; Animism. (shrink)

The current economic crisis, unsustainable growth, and financial scandals invite reflection on the role of universities in professional training, particularly those who have to manage businesses. This study analyzes the main factors that might determine the extent to which Spanish organizational management educators use corporate social responsibility (CSR) or business ethics stand-alone subjects to equip students with alternative views on business. A web content analysis and non-parametric mean comparison statistics of the curricula of undergraduate degrees in all universities in Spain (...) were conducted. The main conclusion of this paper is related to the Bologna effect in Spanish universities. Comparing our results with prior research in this matter, it is demonstrated that the main reason that explains the increase of CSR and ethical education in Spain is the Bologna process and its adaptation to the European Higher Education Area. Also, private universities in Spain are more likely to require an ethics course than public universities. Other factors, such as size, political orientation, or related to CSR chairs are not statistically explanatory of CSR and ethical education. (shrink)

La hermenéutica de Dilthey ha legado a la historia de la filosofía una profunda tematización del problema de la vivencia humana. En ella, se lleva a cabo un análisis de la experiencia desde el juego dado entre la totalidad de la vida histórica y la vivencia concreta y particular. Tomando estas ideas como base, la filosofía de la vivencia elaborada por dicha tradición se orienta hacia la dilucidación de una ontología de la vida, cuya pretensión es la de indagar en (...) la naturaleza fáctica de la propia experiencia. Esta herencia es apreciable en la hermenéutica de la facticidad explicitada por Heidegger y en la ontología hermenéutica planteada por Gadamer. El objetivo del presente ensayo será el de recuperar la reflexión diltheyana que da cuenta de un modo de comprensión específico de la experiencia. Ello nos permitirá desvelar las dinámicas propias de la comprensión y la vivencia, distinguiendo este análisis frente al modelo fenomenológico. (shrink)

El presente artículo se estructura en torno a una crónica de clase que relata un episodio acontecido en un aula de escuela primaria. A partir de ello, se entraman análisis centrados en las decisiones de quien resulta protagonista docente e interrogantes acerca de los supuestos que movilizan esa forma de decidir, interpretados desde la noción de habitus y violencia simbólica.

The aim of this work is twofold. First, we survey the techniques developed in Perthame and Zubelli (Inverse Probl 23(3):1037–1052, 2007 ), Doumic et al. (Inverse Probl 25, 2009 ) to reconstruct the division (birth) rate from the cell volume distribution data in certain structured population structured population models. Secondly, we implement such techniques on experimental cell volume distributions available in the literature so as to validate the theoretical and numerical results. As a proof of concept, we use the experimental (...) data experimental data reported in the classical work of Kubitschek (Biophys J 9(6):792–809, 1969 ) concerning Escherichia coli in vitro experiments measured by means of a Coulter transducer-multichannel analyzer system (Coulter Electronics, Inc., Hialeah, FL, USA). Despite the rather old measurement technology, the reconstructed division rates still display potentially useful biological features. (shrink)

I argue that there are different orders of mechanisms with different constitutive relevance and individuation conditions. In common first-order mechanistic explanations, constitutive relevance norms are captured by the matched-interlevel-experiments condition (Craver et al. (2021) Synthese 199:8807–8828). Regarding individuation, we say that any two mechanisms are of the same type when they have the same concrete components performing the same activities in the same arrangement. By contrast, in higher-order mechanistic explanations, we formulate the decompositions in terms of generalized basic components (GBCs). (...) These GBCs (e.g., logic gates) possess causal properties that are common to a set of physical systems. Mechanistic explanations formulated in terms of GBCs embody the epistemic value of horizontal integration, which aims to explain as many phenomena as possible with a minimal amount of abstract components (Wajnerman Paz (2017a) Philos Psychol 30:213–234). Two higher-order mechanisms are of the same type when they share all the same GBCs, and they are organized as performing the same activities with the same interactions. I use this notion of mechanistic order to enhance the mechanistic account of computation (MAC) and provide an account of the epistemic norms of computational explanation and the nature of medium-independent functional properties and mechanisms. Finally, I use these new conceptual tools to address four criticisms of the MAC. (shrink)

IF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY studies ideas from the past, as is generally accepted, then historians of philosophy face a serious problem concerning their object of study for two reasons. In the first place, like all history, the history of philosophy is concerned with the past and we can never have direct empirical access to the past unless that past is close to us and we have taken part in it. In order to know the past in which we have (...) not participated we must rely on the testimony of those who had direct access to it and left records of what they witnessed. In the second place, the problem arises because the specific object that the history of philosophy studies is ideas and ideas are not things, events, or facts for which we can have direct empirical evidence even if we are contemporaneous with them. The most we can have is indirect empirical evidence. We do not perceive ideas; what we perceive are certain phenomena that suggest to us certain ideas. If I ask you, for example, "Do you approve of what the President did?" and you frown in return, I conclude that you do not. But it is altogether possible that you do in fact approve of the President's action, although you wish me to think that you do not and thus mislead me by making the frown. My conclusion that you do not, then, can be taken only as an interpretation of what you are thinking based on certain empirical evidence that is only indirectly related to what you think. Thus the study of the history of philosophy is very difficult, more difficult than the study of the type of history that relies on events for which there can be direct empirical evidence; for not only is direct access to the past impossible for historians of philosophy from the present, but even if they had it they would not have direct access to the ideas which are supposed to be the object of their study. (shrink)