Salmón ha afirmado que su teoría de la explicación causal no es enteramente adecuada para el dominio cuántico debido a ciertas anomalías causales como el dualismo onda/partícula y, especialmente, a las correlaciones estadísticas que surgen de experimentos tipo EPR. En este escrito se analizan las nociones causales de Salmón, en las cuales se basa su teoría probabilista de la explicación, con el fin de delimitar su alcance en ese dominio mostrando que sólo abarca procesos de transición pero no procesos de (...) transmutación. Además, se propone, a muy grandes rasgos, una noción alternativa de causalidad indeterminista que pretende ser adecuada para ciertos procesos cuánticos como procesos estocásticos. Por último se arguye que si bien la explicación de las correlaciones cuánticas es un problema abierto, sería erróneo considerar que una teoría de la explicación causal, como la de Salmón, concebida y elaborada primordialmente para procesos físicos individuales, pueda y deba dar cuenta de tales correlaciones. /// Salmon has said that his theory of causal explanation is not fully adequate for the quantum domain because of certain causal anomalies such as the wave/particle dualism and, in particular, the statistical correlations which arise from EPR-type experiments. This paper analyzes Salmon's causal notions, on which his probabilistic theory of explanation is based, in order to delimit its scope within that domain by showing that it covers only transition processes but not processes of transmutation. Beside, I propose, very roughly, an alternative notion of indeterministic causality, intended to be adequate for certain quantum processes as stochastic processes. Finally, I also argue that, while the explanation of the quantum correlations is an open problem, is would be a mistake to think that a theory of causal explanation, like Salmon's, conceived and worked out primarily for individual physical processes, could and should account for such correlations. (shrink)

The main purpose of this essay is to explore the relationship between the incommensurability of paradigms or general theories, a thesis due to Kuhn and Feyerabend, and the idealizations and abstractions that permeate concepts and fundamental laws of physical theories. One can find some unrealistic or idealizational suppositions underlying the semantic level of the differences between the conceptual vocabularies of incommensurable theories, on which these theories rest. This kind of suppositions relates to the idealizations and abstractions involved in forming concepts (...) and formulating laws. Generally, the fundamental laws of physical theories have an abstract and idealized character. Physical theories contain conceptual networks of kind concepts and quantitative concepts, which are interconnected by several sorts of relationships. The discrepancies between such conceptual network, and their underlying assumptions, of alternative paradigms or theories make their comparison at a theoretical level, that is, their commensurability implausible. That at once strengthens the incommensurability thesis and further supports it. In addition, it follows that Kuhn’s philosophy of science indeed involves a version of conceptual or epistemological relativism about science. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to elaborate a notion of explanation which is applicable to stochastic processes such as quantum processes. The model-theoretic approach was adopted in order to delimit appropriate classes, by defining set-theoretical predicates, of different kinds of physical transformations that quantum systems suffer, either of transitions or of transmutations, by interaction or in a spontaneous manner. To explain a singular quantum process consists in showing that it is feasible to model it as an indeterministic process of (...) certain specified kind. (shrink)

En este escrito se analizan ciertos conceptos del estructuralismo empirista de Bas van Fraassen, en particular, el de representación, para intentar una crítica a su posición con respecto al vínculo entre los modelos de las teorías y, en última instancia, el mundo físico por medio de los modelos de datos, a los cuales van Fraassen les adjudica el papel de representantes de los fenómenos. Al final se delinea, a muy grandes rasgos, una alternativa conceptualista.

Se analizan ciertos conceptos del estructuralismo empirista de Bas van Fraassen, en particular, el de representación, para intentar una crítica a su posición con respecto al vínculo entre los modelos de las teorías y, en última instancia, el mundo físico por medio de los modelos de datos, a los cuales van Fraassen les adjudica el papel de representantes de los fenómenos. Al final se delinea, a muy grandes rasgos, una alternativa conceptualista. The article analyzes certain concepts of the empiricist structuralism (...) of Bas van Fraassen, particularly that of representation, in order to carry out a critique of his position with respect to the link between the models of the theories and, ultimately, the physical world, through data models to which van Fraassen grants the role of representatives of phenomena. Finally, the article outlines a conceptualist alternative. (shrink)

In this paper I attempt mainly to elucidate the claim, advanced by Woorward, that the key notion to characterize physical laws is that of invariance. I draw a distinction betwen two levels of invariance in order to elaborate that thesis. I maintain that distinctive marks of the nomic status of basic laws of physics are either that they hold invariantly, within a domain of applivation, or that they fulfill some principles of symmetry. The fomer mark relatesd to the manner in (...) which physical systems change invariantly whereas the latter concerns to the invariance of the laws themselves. This view contrats with the traditional philosophical thesis that physical laws are true universal statements with a necessary character which differentiate then from accidental true generalizations, which are contingent. (shrink)

The interpretation of probability, dominant in mathematics and other scientific disciplines, that defines the probability of an event S, relatively to a sequence or class of events C, as the quotient of the number of cases in which S occurs and the total number of occurrences of events in C, that..

Could relativist theses about scientific theories be coherent with realist theses about the relationship between such theories and the physical world? This is the central issue of this paper that we approach, mainly, on Giere’s perspectival realism. We consider that his epistemological relativist theses are plausible and sustainable, but his realist thesis about the representational role that plays the theoretical models with respect to real systems as well as his thesis about true hypotheses are not. After trying to show that, (...) we delineate an epistemological version of conceptual relativism which becomes cognate with Giere’s perspectival claims but that it does not comprise realist claims. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to provide some probabilistic notions on causality proposed to be applied to the nomic statements which intend to give account of the indeterministic processes within the domain of a scientific theory. In general, such statements are, in more or less extent, idealized statements which rest on a variety of unrealistic suppositions. I try to show how the probability distribution over the final states of an indeterministic process changes accordingly as the nomic statement in (...) question is de-idealized by means of addition of the causally relevant factors. In order to illustrate the study I take few nomic statements from population genetics. Besides, in the course, I attempt to contrast the ideas embraced here with some of the notions of Humphreys´ ontic conceptions of causality and explanation, which are contrary to the epistemic view adopted here about those subjects. (shrink)

En este artículo expongo la concepción estructuralista de la explicación científica como unificación, que se basa en la noción de una relación de incrustación (embedding) entre modelos, en las versiones de Barthelborth y Forge. Ellos mantienen además unas tesis realistas, ciertamente distintas, sobre el poder explicativo de las teorías. Concuerdo con tal enfoque modelo-teórico pero disiento de sus tesis realistas. Primero presento unas críticas a ellas, después, desde una posición conceptualista, con menor compromiso ontológico, introduzco una tesis sobre ciertos patrones (...) metateóricos que forman parte de los marcos conceptuales de las teorías físicas, los cuales aportan tanto poder explicativo como fuerza unificadora. (shrink)

Intellectual disability leads to a loss of autonomy and a high level of dependence, requiring support from another person permanently. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate the assessment of caregiver burden in healthcare actions, to avoid putting the health of caregivers and patients at risk. In this sense, the study aimed to analyze the internal structure of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) in a sample of caregivers of people with intellectual disabilities, to provide convergent and discriminant evidence with a measure (...) of the risk of maltreatment, and to estimate the reliability of the scores from the Classical Test Theory and the Rasch Measurement Theory. The study was instrumental. The sample consisted of 287 Peruvian informal primary caregivers of persons diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. To collect validity evidence, the internal structure (confirmatory factor analysis, CFA) and the relationship with other variables (convergent and discriminant evidence) were used, while reliability was estimated through the omega coefficient and Rasch analysis. The internal structure of the ZBI corroborated a unidimensional structure. In terms of convergent and discriminant evidence, the scale presents adequate evidence. Reliability levels were also good. Previously, the psychometric properties of the ZBI have not been studied in caregivers of people with intellectual disabilities, and it represents the first study of the scale in Peru. The results obtained will allow the use of this scale to design actions in the work with caregivers and studies to understand the psychology of the caregiver. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to identify relationships between social context dimensions and hardiness in elite weightlifting athletes. Methods: The design: non-experimental, cross-sectional and correlational, the participants were 20 athletes who belong to the elite as the national team of Mexico, they are between 19 and 28 years of age, M = 22.05 SD = 2.91, 8 men (40%) and 12 women (60%). 2 instruments were used, the first is the Perception of Factors Related to Excellence in Sport (PFED), (...) (Simón, 2009) consisting of 54 items 6 variables, coach, environment and resources, athlete, family, nature of training and characteristics of the training and the second the questionnaire of hardiness in Central American and Caribbean Athletes (PRDCC) (Ponce, 2017; Ponce-Carbajal et al. 2015) of 18 items and three variables, commitment control and challenge. In the procedure, a file was created in google forms and coaches who are in charge of athletes from the Mexican national weightlifting team were contacted. The statistical analyzes used were frequencies, descriptive, reliability, and Spearman's bivariate correlations. Results: Adequate internal consistency in almost all the variables, between.40 and.92 in the 2 questionnaires. In the correlations between variables of the social context and those of the hardiness, relationships were evidenced between the total resistant personality and the nature of the training with an r =.767** and the challenge variable correlated with two, the first is the nature of the training r =.834** and with the characteristics of training r =.671**. Conclusion, the relationships between the variables of the social context and the resistant personality are confirmed. (shrink)

The objective is to identify the relationships between resistant personality variables and coping strategies with diving athletes. Methods: The design is cross-sectional, non-experimental, and correlational, the sample consists of 13 athletes from the national diving team, between 18 and 23 years of age, M = 20.31 SD = 1.54, 7 men (53.8%) and 6 women (46.2%). 2 instruments will be used, hardiness in Athletes from Central America and the Caribbean (PRDCC) by Ponce et al. (2015) of 18 items. The other (...) is the Approach to Coping in Sport Questionnaire, ACSQ-1, in the Spanish version (Kim et al., 2003), the questionnaire is made up of 28 items. The procedure was completely online, the link was sent with the instruments to the coaches of the national diving team of Mexico and Colombia. Statistical analyzes were performed on frequencies, descriptive, reliability, and Spearman's correlations. Results: Adequate internal consistency in almost all the variables, between.62 and.92 in the 2 questionnaires. The existence of relationships between the variables of hardiness and approach to coping in sport is confirmed in most of its variables and as a whole. Conclusion, athletes are capable of solving their problems with a certain calm of mind if they let stress influence their decisions. (shrink)

Identifying the expression of anger in a foreign language and reproducing it appropriately and precisely are skills whose relevance and lack of satisfying proposals have been pointed by research on the pedagogy of emotions (Dewaele, 2010; Toya & Kodis, 1996). This paper combines an identification of lacks in the pedagogy of emotional intonation with an analysis of spontaneous samples of anger as a basis to didactic guidelines for the introduction of the contextualized teaching of anger expression in Spanish. Through colloquial (...) samples, key features for the expression of anger in Spanish are identified. A selection of technical features is adapted in an accessible didactic proposal that is conformed of the stages of identification, induction of recurrent patterns, guided and free production. The proposal offered here is a starting point for the design of didactic units on emotional and expressive speech, an area that lacks didactic guidelines. (shrink)

In the present work, we propose to explore the passage from critique to commodity fetishism and, in general, of capital in Karl Marx to the critique of the fetishism of power in Enrique Dussel. Marx's category of fetishism and its use in the political field has been suggested by the Latin American philosopher for the negative critique moment of his Politics of Liberation, however, it has not been explicitly developed in his passage from the economic field to the political field. (...) We think that its explicit thematic treatment is important since it seems to us the central category in the critique of politics and the possible alternatives towards a new order. The text is presented in three parts: The first part reviews the historical necessity of the State form and its inevitable possibility of fetishization. In the second one, it recovers the category People and their Will-of-life as anti-fetishist fundament of the political power. And, in the third, we made the exposition of the logical passage from the economic field to the political field, that is, from the fetishism of capital to the fetishism of power between Marx and Dussel. (shrink)

This article examines intertextuality in digital humour through a combination of tools from pragmatics and decoloniality. The study draws on a dataset of Spanish image macros that intertwine highbrow and lowbrow intertextual references. The analysis is framed by key theoretical concepts at the discursive and hierarchical levels. Specifically, three domains of the colonial matrix of power (knowledge, humanity and governance) are used as analytical categories to identify specific intertextual strategies and hierarchies present in the data. The visual and verbal components (...) of the items are analysed through critical discourse analysis with attention to their salient signs. The use of the colonial matrix of power as an analytical tool for identifying hierarchies in intertextual references stands out as a methodological application with the potential to be further replicated in discourse analysis. (shrink)

Um alinhamento responsável à alguma versão do naturalismo filosófico requer a articulação explicita e cuidadosa de um argumento em sua defesa. Em quatro passos, o texto que segue abaixo expande e examina a validade de um argumento que é frequentemente rascunhado em favor do naturalismo. Como veremos, contudo, a versão do naturalismo que esse argumento nos permite é um pouco diferente dos naturalismos filosóficos mais populares.

What I call the Doxastic Puzzle, is the impression that while each of these claims seems true, at least one of them must be false: (a) Claims of the form ‘S ought to have doxastic attitude D towards p at t’ are sometimes true at t, (b) If Φ-ing at t is not within S’s effective control at t, then it is false, at t, that ‘S ought to Φ at t’, (c) For all S, p, and t, having doxastic (...) attitude D towards p at t is not within S’s effective control at t. All three natural replies to the puzzle have been pursued. Some have claimed that doxastic attitudes like believing that p are, in fact, within our effective control, or sufficiently so. Others have claimed that doxastic ought-claims, strictly speaking, are always false. And some have denied that effective control is required for the adequacy of doxastic ought-claims in general. I here pursue and examine a different strategy. In the first part of this paper, I argue that these claims are not only each true but actually not in tension with each other in the first place. Instead of attempting to dispel the puzzle, this solution proposes to evade it instead: to solve it by properly understanding, and by thereby accepting without contradiction, all of its constitutive claims. In the second part of the paper, I argue that the evasive strategy forces us to re-think our understanding of the place of normative reasons in epistemology. More exactly, it seems to come at the cost of one central way of thinking about our reasons for having doxastic attitudes, one where such reasons are good-standing exemplars of normative reasons in general. The evasive strategy, that is, threatens to lead us very quickly to a deflationary picture of epistemic normativity: it rescues normative talk, but sacrifices normative substance. I conclude by explaining why I think this is more consequential than some have made it out to be, and by suggesting that these consequences are welcome nonetheless. (shrink)

My starting point is what I call the Normative Authority Conception of justification, where S is justified in their belief that p at t (to some degree n) if and only if their believing that p at t is not ruled out by epistemic norms that have normative authority over S at t. With this in mind, this paper develops an account of doxastic justification by first developing an account of the normative authority of epistemic norms. Drawing from work in (...) political philosophy, I argue that (a) the cognitive and evaluative commitments and concerns behind our actual practices of holding each other and ourselves accountable for our beliefs reveal which epistemic norms we have consented to be under, and that (b) it is because we have consented to be under the authority of these norms – by actually holding ourselves and others accountable to them – that they in turn have normative authority over us. By connecting the authority of epistemic norms to the authority we have over ourselves in this way, the resulting account of doxastic justification (i) explains why it can be appropriate to criticize, resent, or sanction someone for having unjustified beliefs, (ii) avoids the phenomena of normative alienation and normative parochialism, and (iii) respects the social and collective nature of epistemic justification. (shrink)

More than a school of philosophy with a defined set of beliefs and convictions, classical Cynicism represents an unconventional sect of philosophers and a way of life. This is a complete account of classical Cynicism from its beginnings in the Socratic circle to its extinction in late Roman times. In this thoroughly documented study, Navia explores various issues related to the sources of information about the Cynics, the development of Cynicism, and the principal representatives of classical Cynicism. Exploring the relationship (...) between classical Cynicism and cynicism as understood in its ordinary modern sense, the author argues that despite their common designation, they represent significantly different philosophical attitudes. This book explicates the main ideas associated with classical Cynicism and argues that, its shortcomings notwithstanding, classical Cynicism furnishes us with a wealthy source of philosophical enlightenment. Individual chapters are devoted to Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Crates, the three principal classical Cynics. Attention is given to the development and application of certain fundamental Cynic ideas and to the transformation of these ideas throughout the eight centuries during which Cynicism was an influential philosophical movement. The book provides abundant references to primary and secondary sources and includes a bibliography of over five hundred entries. (shrink)

In this novel account of global citizenship, Luis Cabrera argues that all individuals have a global duty to contribute directly to human rights protections and to promote rights-enhancing political integration between states. The Practice of Global Citizenship blends careful moral argument with compelling narratives from field research among unauthorized immigrants, activists seeking to protect their rights, and the 'Minuteman' activists striving to keep them out. Immigrant-rights activists, especially those conducting humanitarian patrols for border-crossers stranded in the brutal Arizona desert, (...) are shown as embodying aspects of global citizenship. Unauthorized immigrants themselves are shown to be enacting a form of global 'civil' disobedience, claiming the economic rights central to the emerging global normative charter while challenging the restrictive membership regimes that are the norm in the current global system. Cabrera also examines the European Union, seeing it as a crucial laboratory for studying the challenges inherent in expanding citizen membership. (shrink)

Could global government be the answer to global poverty and starvation? Cosmopolitan thinkers challenge the widely held belief that we owe more to our co-citizens than to those in other countries. This book offers a moral argument for world government, claiming that not only do we have strong obligations to people elsewhere, but that accountable integration among nation-states will help ensure that all persons can lead a decent life. Cabrera considers both the views of those political philosophers who say we (...) have much stronger obligations to help our co-citizens than foreigners and those cosmopolitans who say our duties are equally strong to each but resist restructuring. He then outlines his own position, using the European Union as a partial model for the integrated alternative and advocating instituting EU-style supranational government, development aid, and free movement of persons in the Americas and other regions. Over time, Cabrera argues that the transformation of the global system into a cohesive network of democratic institutions would help ensure that anyone born anywhere could lead a decent life. This book will appeal to all those interested in political philosophy and the processes and potential of globalization. (shrink)

Contemporary studies in unconscious cognition are essentially founded on dissociation, i.e., on how it dissociates with respect to conscious mental processes and representations. This is claimed to be in so many and diverse ways that one is often lost in dissociation. In order to reduce this state of confusion we here carry out two major tasks: based on the central distinction between cognitive processes and representations, we identify and isolate the main dissociation paradigms; we then critically analyze their key tenets (...) and reported findings. (shrink)

Since Freud and his co-author Breuer spoke of dissociation in 1895, a scientific paradigm was painstakingly established in the field of unconscious cognition. This is the dissociation paradigm. However, recent critical analysis of the many and various reported dissociations reveals their blurred, or unveridical, character. Moreover, we remain ignorant with respect to the ways cognitive phenomena transition from consciousness to an unconscious mode. This hinders us from filling in the puzzle of the unified mind. We conclude that we have reached (...) a Kuhnian crisis in the field of unconscious cognition, and we predict that new models, incorporating partly the relevant findings of the dissociation paradigm—but also of dynamic psychology—, will soon be established. We further predict that some of these models will be largely based on the pairs representation–process and analog–digital. (shrink)

“Literature and the Right to Death” is probably the most quoted of French thinker Maurice Blanchot’s texts. For decades it has been discussed by such important figures as Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, or even the writer Paul Auster. Its importance is twofold: on the one hand, it is often considered an important gateway to Blanchot’s literary thought. On the other hand, it constitutes a substantial example of the new reception of Hegel in France after the Second World War. Although there (...) is no doubt about its Kojèvo-Hegelian inspiration and its center in what we could call “literary experience”, this article intends to explore another of its layers: its relation to the discussion around humanism and the Terror, as forgotten as it was central in France at the end of the 1940’s. We will thus try to lay the foundations for a new reading of this fundamental piece in Blanchot’s production. (shrink)

Cosmopolitanism is said by many critics to be arrogant. In emphasizing universal principles and granting no fundamental moral significance to national or other group belonging, it wrongly treats those making non-universalist claims as not authorized to speak, while treating those in non-Western societies as not qualified. This book works to address such objections. It does so in part by engaging the work of B.R. Ambedkar, architect of India's 1950 Constitution and revered champion of the country's Dalits (formerly "untouchables"). Ambedkar cited (...) universal principles of equality and rights in confronting domestic exclusions and the "arrogance" of caste. He sought to advance forms of political humility, or the affirmation of equal standing within political institutions and openness to input and challenge within them. This book examines how an "institutional global citizenship" approach to cosmopolitanism could similarly advance political humility, in supporting the development of input and challenge mechanisms beyond the state. It employs a grounded normative theory method, taking insights for the model from field research among Dalit activists pressing for domestic reforms through the UN human rights regime, and from their critics in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Insights also are taken from Turkish protesters challenging a rising domestic authoritarianism, and from UK Independence Party members demanding "Brexit" from the European Union-in part because of possibilities that predominantly Muslim Turkey will join. Overall, it is shown, an appropriately configured institutional cosmopolitanism should orient fundamentally to political humility rather than arrogance, while holding significant potential for advancing global rights protections and more equitable rights specifications. (shrink)

Viruses and related infectious genetic parasites are the most abundant biological agents on this planet. They invade all cellular organisms, are key agents in the generation of adaptive and innate immune systems, and drive nearly all regulatory processes within living cells.

In this paper I present reasons for us to accept the hypothesis that suspended judgment has correctness conditions, just like beliefs do. Roughly put, the idea is that suspended judgment about p is correct when both p and ¬p might be true in view of certain facts that characterize the subject’s situation. The reasons to accept that hypothesis are broadly theoretical ones: it adds unifying power to our epistemological theories, it delivers good and conservative consequences, and it allows us to (...) assess processes of reasoning involving attitudes of suspended judgment. (shrink)

Foundational ontologies, central constructs in ontological investigations and engineering alike, are based on ontological categories. Firstly proposed by Aristotle as the very ur- elements from which the whole of reality can be derived, they are not easy to identify, let alone partition and/or hierarchize; in particular, the question of their number poses serious challenges. The late medieval philosopher Dietrich of Freiberg wrote around 1286 a tutorial that can help us today with this exceedingly difficult task. In this paper, I discuss (...) ontological categories and their importance for foundational ontologies from both the contemporary perspective and the original Aristotelian viewpoint, I provide the translation from the Latin into English of Dietrich's De origine II with an introductory elaboration, and I extract a foundational ontology–that is in fact a single-category one–from this text rooted in Dietrich's specification of types of subjecthood and his conception of intentionality as causal operation. (shrink)