La bibliografía reporta amplitud en lo concerniente al campo de la edición de revistas científicas donde los avances científico tecnológicos aportaron una nueva dinámica. Las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación sirven de herramientas y han transformado radicalmente el escenario de la evaluación de la publicación científica. Variedad de perspectivas, instrumentos e indicadores impactan en los procesos de evaluación. El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una valoración del proceso actual de evaluación de las publicaciones científicas seriadas. Los (...) procedimientos utilizados son la revisión bibliográfica, análisis de textos y síntesis de los hallazgos desde lo teórico. Se concluye que la publicación científica seriada ha pasado a ser, más que un proceso singular de la comunicación científica, el modo fundamental de evaluación de la calidad del trabajo científico, de ahí la importancia de tener claridad y propuestas propias de los indicadores de la evaluación. There is amplitude in bibliography, regarding the edition of scientific journals, where the scientific technological achievements that have been made in recent times have contributed with a new dynamic. The edition in digital format has its name due to the appearance of the new information and communication technologies. The recently emerged perspectives, instruments and indicators impact evaluation of publications processes and the accreditation in the higher education. The aim of this document is to offer an assessment on the current situation of the evaluation process of serialized scientific publications through the use of indicators. The text analysis and bibliographic review procedures were used to achieve the previous goal. In conclusion, the serialized scientific publications have become the main way quality of scientific research evaluation rather than a specific process of scientific communication. That is why is important to be certain of the combination of indicators for evaluating the scientific publications. (shrink)

El trabajo tuvo como objetivo caracterizar los resultados de la gestión de la investigación en ciencias sociales y humanísticas aplicadas en salud en el contexto de su institucionalización a través del Centro para el desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas en salud. Con el fin de alcanzar el objetivo propuesto se determinaron los siguientes momentos: primero se fundamentó el proceso de gestión de la investigación en estas áreas de conocimientos en el Cendecsa; se presentaron los resultados de la gestión (...) de la investigación de 2013-2017; y por último se realizó una valoración de sus impactos científicos y sociales de la entidad. Se utilizó el enfoque de los estudios sociales de la ciencia y la tecnología, con el enfoque metodológico cuanticualitativo: la revisión bibliográfica y de documentos elaborados como informes de Balance anual de la ciencia, de los planes de ciencia del centro y de otros procesos como los expedientes presentados en el proceso de reordenamiento de las entidades de ciencia de 2013 y 2014, documentos normativos y entrevistas a informantes clave. The aim of the paper was to characterize the results of research management in Social and Humanistic Sciences applied to Health in the context of its institutionalization through the Center for the Development of Social and Humanistic Sciences in Health. To achieve this aim, the following moments were determined: first, the research management process in these areas of knowledge in Cendecsa were underpinned from the context which knowledge production; second, Social and Humanistic Sciences applied to health research management results from 2013 to 2017 were presented; finally, its scientific and social impacts were assessed. The social studies of science and technology approach was used, with the quantitative-qualitative methodological approach: bibliographic review and documents such as annual science assessment reports, science plans in the institution and other processes like files presented in the science organizations restructuring process and other normative documents. (shrink)

En la Universidad Médica “Carlos J. Finlay”, se realiza una intervención educativa con el objetivo de valorar la concepción y aplicación de un programa para un curso de preparación de metodólogos en correspondencia con sus funciones en condiciones de universalización de las Ciencias Médicas de Camagüey, en el periodo de septiembre de 2005 a junio de 2007. Se emplean diferentes métodos investigativos: los teóricos, así como la técnica de discusión grupal, permitió diseñar el programa del curso para la preparación de (...) metodólogos en condiciones de universalización y los empíricos, la obtención de algunos datos de interés acerca de los metodólogos que reciben el curso y sus valoraciones en relación con el mismo. Se constata que la preparación pedagógica y experiencia en el desempeño es insuficiente para asumir el rol de metodólogo y valoran de muy importantes los contenidos desarrollados, los métodos y formas organizativas concebidas, por lo que se concluye que el programa del curso cumple con las expectativas del metodólogo al estar diseñado teniendo en cuenta las funciones que estos desempeñan y sus necesidades sentidas A study was carried out about the intervention in education developed to increase teacher's methodological preparation under their new functions due to the fresh conditions of learning within the community applied to medicine training and education in Camagüey. It was carried out in the period of September 2005 to June 2007. Different research methods were used: the theoretical ones and the technique for group discussion help to design the course syllabus and the assessment for those teachers that received the course. It was verified that the methodological preparation and performance experience are insufficient to play their role; but they value as very important the contents, the methods and the organization of the course. The authors conclude that the course meets the expectations of training, because it was designed keeping in mind the teachers' functions and their necessities. (shrink)

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo valorar la contribución del Centro de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas en Salud a las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas en el sector de la Salud de Camagüey, desde la contextualización de la política científica cubana en la proyección estratégica de la entidad. En el mismo se expone la trayectoria de la gestión de la actividad científico-tecnológica del centro. Se utilizó la revisión de los documentos y resultados generados por la entidad y trabajos publicados (...) acerca de la actividad científica. Se concluye que el centro es una institución pertinente y con sus resultados impacta en la formación integral de los recursos humanos y en el desarrollo del enfoque social de los problemas de salud. The objective of this work is to value the contribution of the Center of development for the Social and Humanity Sciences in Health to the Social and Humanity Sciences in the health area in Camagüey, from the contextualization of the Cuban scientific policy in the strategic projection of this center. Its trajectory on the management of the scientific-technological activity was exposed. It was used the revision of documents and results generated by the institution, and published works about the scientific activity. It is concluded that the center is pertinent and its results have an impact in the integral formation of the human resources and the development of the social viewpoint of health problems. (shrink)

El objetivo del texto radica en resaltar algunos elementos de pensamiento en salud de los notables médicos cubanos Tomás Romay y Carlos J. Finlay. Se analizan sus posturas y connotación acerca del nexo entre la ciencia y la sociedad. El método investigativo utilizado ha sido la revisión documental en publicaciones periódicas, libros y repositorio de tesis. Destaca en este acercamiento la conmemoración en agosto del centenario de la muerte de Finlay. Por lo cual este sucinto trabajo constituye un homenaje a (...) su obra y, a su vez, al ideario de vanguardia manifiesto en la labor médica de ambos hombres de ciencia. The objective of this text is to highlight some elements concerning health care stated by the outstanding Cuban doctors Tomas Romay and Carlos J. Finlay. It is analysed their attitude about the link between science and society. The investigative method used has been bibliographic review of newspapers, books and thesis repository. Though it is stressed the commemoration of Carlos J. Finlay centenary of death this work pays tribute to the work and advanced ideas in the field of medicine of these men of science. (shrink)

Un requisito para demostrar la vigencia de un programa de posgrado es la evaluación de su pertinencia social. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo describir los resultados de la evaluación de la pertinencia social del programa de maestría Humanidades Médicas. Se muestran sus características esenciales derivadas de los procesos realizados en el Centro para el Desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas en Salud; se define la pertinencia social y sus indicadores como conceptos esenciales para la evaluación de los procesos (...) del posgrado; por último, se presenta la metodología y su aplicación en el proceso de evaluación. Se realizó triangulación metodológica de fuentes de datos provenientes de encuestas y entrevistas a profesores, maestrantes de la edición actual y de egresados; además, datos de los informes de autoevaluación y de la comisión técnica en el proceso de evaluación externa para la acreditación acaecida en marzo de 2016. A requisite for demonstrating the validity of a postgraduate program is the assessment of its social relevance. This work aims to describe evaluative results related to the social relevance of the Masters of Science in Medical Humanities degree. The evaluation process was carried out in the Health Humanities and Social Sciences Development Centre of Camaguey. Social relevance and related indicators were defined and considered for this specific master's degree level evaluation. The methodology and its application in the evaluation process are presented. Data triangulation between surveys collected and interviews granted from faculty, current students of the Medical Humanities program, and graduates of the department was utilized. Additionally, data from self-evaluation reports and from the external evaluation technical commission for accreditation in March 2016 were considered in the data triangulation. (shrink)

Se realiza la investigación con el objetivo de perfeccionar la obtención del consentimiento informado en las amputaciones mayores de causa vascular en el Servicio de Angiología del Hospital Universitario Manuel Ascunce Domenech. Se constató debilidades en la institucionalización del consentimiento informado y específicamente en el caso de tales amputaciones. Se utilizaron métodos y técnicas del nivel empírico: encuestas a 30 pacientes con riesgo inminente de amputación. El 64% eran mayores de 65 años, 73 % femeninos, todos escolarizados y 73% residentes (...) urbanos. Los resultados más relevantes fueron: que el 54% de los pacientes manifestaron debe existir consentimiento en la aceptación de la amputación, aunque un grupo no despreciable el 37% declinó este derecho a favor de sus familiares. A los médicos se les realizó una entrevista y aunque no hubo unanimidad de criterios, todos coincidieron en que debía legislarse este consentimiento, como parte del perfeccionamiento de los servicios de salud. Research is conducted to improve the process of obtaining informed consent for major amputations due to vascular causes in the Angiology Service of the Manuel Ascunce Domenech Teaching Hospital. Deficiencies were identified in the institutionalization of informed consent protocols, most specifically as they relate to major lower limb amputations. Empirical methods and techniques were used. Thirty patients at imminent risk of amputation were surveyed by questionnaire methods; 64% of those surveyed were of 65 years of age, 73% were female, all of them had an average educational level, and 73% were urban residents. The results indicated that 54% of patients recognized the importance of informed consent in cases of amputation, although a rather considerable group declined this right for their families. Physicians were also interviewed and, although there was no unanimity of criteria, all of them considered that this consent should be legislated as part of the improvement of health services. (shrink)

En el escenario actual de Cuba y el mundo la migración al software libre constituye una necesidad para el desarrollo para garantizar la independencia tecnológica. Los procedimientos para realizar dicho proceso son fundamentales en la estrategia definida por el país que incluye la "Guía cubana de migración al software libre", sin embargo, su aplicación práctica enfrenta dificultades que han motivado a los autores a la elaboración de una estrategia específica para la migración al software libre en el sector de la (...) Salud Pública de la provincia de Camagüey, Cuba. En esta estrategia se proponen las acciones concretas, los programas docentes que permitirán la recalificación del capital humano y las acciones que posibiliten garantizar la sostenibilidad de la migración al concluir el proceso. In the present Cuban and world scenarios the migration to free software constitutes a need for the development to guarantee technological independence. The procedures to carry out that process are vital in the strategy defined by the country that includes “Cuban guidelines for the migration to free software” however its practical implementation is facing difficulties that have motivated the authors to elaborate a specific strategy form the migration to free software in the Public health sector in the province of Camagüey, Cuba. In this strategy actions are suggested, like teaching programs that will allow the recertification of the capital human resources and steps that will make possible to guarantee the sustainability of the migration at the end of the process. (shrink)

Toda la vida de San Agustín fue una intensa búsqueda de la definición del hombre. Recorrió en sus meditaciones las tres direcciones que acotan el campo de la investigación antropológica: el ser del hombre, su perduración más allá de la vida y el sentido de su existencia. Él descubrió que la naturaleza del hombre es “dialéctica”: es un ser que está en un mundo hecho para él, pero él es hecho para Dios. Como no hay una adecuación entre su ‘ser (...) en’ y su ‘ser para’, el hombre se convierte en un discurso abierto infinitamente, cuyo final trasciende sus posibilidades. Además, el hombre ocupa un lugar intermedio en la configuración ontológica del universo agustiniano, un medio entre la Nada y el Todo, entre el cuerpo y el Creador del sí mismo y del cuerpo. De hecho, en la Enarración al Salmo 109, explica así la condición mortal, finita, del ser humano: “Como el torrente recoge las lluvias y se hincha, salta, se despeña, y corriendo acaba su carrera, así es todo el curso de la mortalidad… el género humano, de lo oculto va apareciendo y corre; con la muerte otra vez se oculta. En el intermedio resuena y pasa”. Es decir, el hombre es un murmullo entre dos abismos. Agustine of Hippo and human natureThe life of St. Augustine was an intense search for the definition of man. He studied the three directions that delimit the field of anthropological research in his meditations: the being of man, his endurance beyond life, and the meaning of their existence. He discovered that the nature of man is "dialectical": he is a being that is in a world made for him, but he is made for God. As there is not a match between 'being in' and 'being for', the man becomes a speech open infinitely, the end of which transcends its possibilities. Furthermore, humankind has an intermediate place in the ontological configuration of the Augustinian universe, a medium between nothing and everything, between the body and the creator of the self, and of the body. In fact, in the Enarracion to the Psalm 109, explains the mortal and finite condition of the human being: "As the stream collects rain and swells, jumps, falls, and running ends its career, so is the entire course of mortality... the mankind, from the occult will appear and run; with death again is hidden. It resonates in the intermediate and passes". I.e., the man is a whisper between two abysses. (shrink)

The general topic of this paper is the ontological commitment to so-called "fictitious objects", that is, things and characters of fictional stories, like Sherlock Holmes and Pegasus. Discourse about fiction seems to entail an ontological commitment to fictitious entities, a commitment that is often deemed inconsistent with empirical facts. For instance, "Pegasus is a flying horse" seems to entail "There are flying horses" as well as "Pegasus exists" (according to some widely accepted logical principles). I discuss two solutions that have (...) been proposed in the literature. The first one amounts to rejecting sentences like "Pegasus is a flying horse" as false, at least if they are taken at face value. This solution is called the "story operator strategy". It consists in paraphrasing sentences like "Pegasus is a flying horse" by means of the expression "according to a story" such that they are interpreted as an elliptic formulation of, e.g., "According to a story, Pegasus is a flying horse". I spell out the difficulties of the story operator strategy and opt for a realist ontology of fiction. A novel interpretation of the story operator "according to a story" is given, which is not only consistent with but even sheds new light on such a realist ontology. In particular, it is shown how the story operator can be used as a tool to introduce the so-called "modes of predication distinction" (which is an essential ingredient of many realist ontologies of fiction) in a commonsensical way. (shrink)

Human nature has always been a foundational issue for philosophy. What does it mean to have a human nature? Is the concept the relic of a bygone age? What is the use of such a concept? What are the epistemic and ontological commitments people make when they use the concept? In What’s Left of Human Nature? Maria Kronfeldner offers a philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against contemporary criticism. In particular, she takes on challenges related to (...) social misuse of the concept that dehumanizes those regarded as lacking human nature (the dehumanization challenge); the conflict between Darwinian thinking and essentialist concepts of human nature (the Darwinian challenge); and the consensus that evolution, heredity, and ontogenetic development results from nurture and nature. After answering each of these challenges, Kronfeldner presents a revisionist account of human nature that minimizes dehumanization and does not fall back on outdated biological ideas. Her account is post-essentialist because it eliminates the concept of an essence of being human; pluralist in that it argues that there are different things in the world that correspond to three different post-essentialist concepts of human nature; and interactive because it understands nature and nurture as interacting at the developmental, epigenetic, and evolutionary levels. On the basis of this, she introduces a dialectical concept of an ever-changing and “looping” human nature. Finally, noting the essentially contested character of the concept and the ambiguity and redundancy of the terminology, she wonders if we should simply eliminate the term “human nature” altogether. (shrink)

Over the last four decades arguments for and against the claim that creative hypothesis formation is based on Darwinian ‘blind’ variation have been put forward. This paper offers a new and systematic route through this long-lasting debate. It distinguishes between undirected, random, and unjustified variation, to prevent widespread confusions regarding the meaning of undirected variation. These misunderstandings concern Lamarckism, equiprobability, developmental constraints, and creative hypothesis formation. The paper then introduces and develops the standard critique that creative hypothesis formation is guided (...) rather than blind, integrating developments from contemporary research on creativity. On that basis, I discuss three compatibility arguments that have been used to answer the critique. These arguments do not deny guided variation but insist that an important analogy exists nonetheless. These compatibility arguments all fail, even though they do so for different reasons: trivialisation, conceptual confusion, and lack of evidence respectively. Revisiting the debate in this manner not only allows us to see where exactly a ‘Darwinian’ account of creative hypothesis formation goes wrong, but also to see that the debate is not about factual issues, but about the interpretation of these factual issues in Darwinian terms. (shrink)

Continuing Franz Boas' work to establish anthropology as an academic discipline in the US at the turn of the twentieth century, Alfred L. Kroeber re-defined culture as a phenomenon sui generis. To achieve this he asked geneticists to enter into a coalition against hereditarian thoughts prevalent at that time in the US. The goal was to create space for anthropology as a separate discipline within academia, distinct from other disciplines. To this end he crossed the boundary separating anthropology from biology (...) in order to secure the boundary. His notion of culture, closely bound to the concept of heredity, saw it as independent of biological heredity (culture as superorganic) but at the same time as a heredity of another sort. The paper intends to summarise the shifting boundaries of anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century, and to present Kroeber?s ideas on culture, with a focus on how the changing landscape of concepts of heredity influenced his views. The historical case serves to illustrate two general conclusions: that the concept of culture played and plays different roles in explaining human existence; that genetics and the concept of Weismannian hard inheritance did not have an unambiguous unidirectional historical effect on the vogue for hereditarianism at that time; on the contrary, it helped to establish culture in Kroeber's sense, culture as independent of heredity. (shrink)

The article addresses the question whether culture evolves in a Lamarckian manner. I highlight three central aspects of a Lamarckian concept of evolution: the inheritance of acquired characteristics, the transformational pattern of evolution, and the concept of directed changes. A clear exposition of these aspects shows that a system can be a Darwinian variational system instead of a Lamarckian transformational one, even if it is based on inheritance of acquired characteristics and/or on Lamarckian directed changes. On this basis, I apply (...) the three aspects to culture. Taking for granted that culture is a variational system, based on selection processes, I discuss in detail the senses in which cultural inheritance can be said to be Lamarckian and in which sense problem solving, a major factor in cultural change, leads to directed variation. (shrink)

This article illustrates in which sense genetic determinism is still part of the contemporary interactionist consensus in medicine. Three dimensions of this consensus are discussed: kinds of causes, a continuum of traits ranging from monogenetic diseases to car accidents, and different kinds of determination due to different norms of reaction. On this basis, this article explicates in which sense the interactionist consensus presupposes the innate?acquired distinction. After a descriptive Part 1, Part 2 reviews why the innate?acquired distinction is under attack (...) in contemporary philosophy of biology. Three arguments are then presented to provide a limited and pragmatic defense of the distinction: an epistemic, a conceptual, and a historical argument. If interpreted in a certain manner, and if the pragmatic goals of prevention and treatment are taken into account, then the innate?acquired distinction can be a useful epistemic tool. It can help, first, to understand that genetic determination does not mean fatalism, and, second, to maintain a system of checks and balances in the continuing nature?nurture debates. (shrink)

Thinking of problems of aesthetics has a long and strong tradition in Austrian Philosophy. It starts with Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848); it is famously represented by the critic and musicologist Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904); and it is continued within the school of Alexius Meinong (1853-1920), in particular by Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) and Stephan Witasek (1870-1915). Nowadays the aesthetic writings of Bolzano, Ehrenfels, and Witasek are hardly known, particularly not in the Anglo-Saxon world. Austrian aesthetics is surely less known than Austrian contributions (...) to other philosophical disciplines, like ontology, epistemology or philosophy of science. One of the aims of this paper is to show that this is both regrettable and unjustified for the following reasons: Austrian aestheticians have dealt with a number of problems (mainly concerning the foundations of aesthetics) that are salient until today; in terms of subtlety and depth as well as exactness and originality, in general, they easily stand comparison with today's analytic aesthetics; and many of there views and arguments are still worthy of consideration. In this paper, the focus is on a number of hardly known Austrian contributions to aesthetics. These contributions concern the following, partly interrelated, central problems of philosophical aesthetics: i. The problem of the definition of beauty (What is beauty? What does it mean to say of an object that it is beautiful?) ii. The problem of the ontological status of works of art (What kinds of objects are works of art?) iii. The problem of the objectivity of aesthetic values (Do we claim objective validity for aesthetic value judgements, and if so, is this claim justified?) The answers of Bolzano, Meinong, Witasek and Ehrenfels to these questions will be considered. (shrink)

We give an elementary theory of Henselian local rings and construct the Henselisation of a local ring. All our theorems have an algorithmic content.

Thema der Arbeit ist der ontologische Status von Werken sowie die Beziehung zwischen Werken einerseits und Aufführungen, Manuskripten, Partituren, Schallplatten, Gemälden, Gebäuden, Drucken etc. andererseits. Es wird angeknüpft an den phänomenologischen Ansatz von Roman Ingarden (aber auch an den von Alexius Meinung). Diese Ansätze werden unter Verwendung moderner logischer Hilfsmittel weiterentwickelt und, wo notwendig, revidiert. Im ersten Kapitel wird ausführlich begründet, warum Werke (und zwar Werke aller Gattungen) abstrakte, typenartige Gegenstände sein müssen, die in konkreten Einzeldingen (z. B. Aufführungen) realisiert (...) sein können, jedoch von diesen Realisierungen in ihrer Existenz nicht abhängig sind. Diese These ist im weiteren Verlauf der Arbeit eine nicht mehr hinterfragte Grundvoraussetzung. Im zweiten Kapitel werden die formalen Grundlagen einer Typenontologie des Werks entwickelt. Zwei Hauptfragen stehen dabei im Vordergrund: (a) Wie kann ein Werk (also ein abstrakter Gegenstand) sinnliche Eigenschaften (z. B. Klangeigenschaften, Farbeigenschaften) haben? (b) Was macht einen Gegenstand zu einer Realisierung eines Werks? Welche Bedingungen müssen erfüllt sein, damit etwas eine Realisierung eines gegebenen Werks ist? Neben dem Begriff des Werks beruht die in dieser Arbeit entwickelte Theorie auf drei weiteren Grundbegriffen: Realisierungen, Konkretisierungen und Aktualisierungen. Realisierungen sind jene Gegenstände, in denen Werke realisiert sind. Konkretisierungen sind abstrakte Gegenstände, die durch "Vervollständigung" aus Werken hervorgehen. Sie sind immer noch unvollständig bestimmt, aber vollständiger bestimmt als die Werke, deren Konkretisierungen sie sind. Beispiele für Konkretisierungen sind Inszenierungen im Theater oder musikalische Interpretationen. Aktualisierungen sind die intentionalen Korrelate von Rezeptionsvorgängen. Sie entstehen im Verlauf der Rezeption eines Werks und werden von den Rezipienten erzeugt. Ein und dasselbe Werk kann auf verschiedene Weisen aktualisiert werden (z. B.: ein Musikstück kann auf verschiedene Weisen "gehört" werden). In eigenen Kapiteln werden Probleme der Mereologie, der Identität, des Darstellens und der Beziehung zwischen dem darstellenden Werk und dem Dargestellten erörtert. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is an ontological clarification of the concept of artefact. The following questions are addressed: 1. Do artefacts constitute an ontological category of objects in its own right, and if so, how could this category be characterized? 2. How do artefacts come into existence? 3. What kind of artefacts are there, and in which relations do they stand to each other? It is argued that artefacts are characterized essentially through their genesis and that they owe their (...) existence to mental acts of a particular kind, which I call “acts of creation”. It is maintained that there are not only concrete, material artefacts, but also abstract artefacts, that is, artefacts that cannot be perceived through the senses and are not located in space. Furthermore, it shall be claimed that in a sense those abstract artefacts are even primary to the concrete, material artefacts. (shrink)

The topic of this paper is the relationship between value facts (e.g., that this is good) and value experiences (e.g., appreciation). Its aim is, first, to give a concise account of the value theories of some important early phenomenologists (Franz Brentano, Christian von Ehrenfels, Alexius Meinong), second, to show that they raise questions and put forward arguments that are still worthy of note, and, third, to critically assess these arguments. Among others, the following questions are discussed: Can past and other (...) nonexistent objects have value? Are value experiences feelings or rather desires? Are value properties exemplified by “immanent objects” only? (shrink)

States of affairs raise, among others, the following questions: What kind of entity are they (if there are any)? Are they contingent, causally efficacious, spatio-temporal and perceivable entities, or are they abstract objects? What are their constituents and their identity conditions? What are the functions that states of affairs are able to fulfil in a viable theory, and which problems and prima facie counterintuitive consequences arise out of an ontological commitment to them? Are there merely possible (non-actual, non-obtaining) states of (...) affairs? Are there molecular (i.e., negative, conjunctive, disjunctive etc.) states of affairs? Are there modal and tensed states of affairs? (shrink)

Charles Darwin und seine Erben wendeten die Theorie der Evolution biologischer Arten auch auf Kultur an. Kultur evolviere wie die Natur auf Darwinistische Weise. Die sog. Memtheorie, vertreten von verschiedenen Autoren auf der Basis des Darwinistischen Genselektionismus, ist eine Spielart einer solchen analogen Anwendung. Dieser Artikel kritisiert drei zentrale Aussagen der Memtheorie: (i) dass es Einheiten der Kultur – Meme – gibt, die analog zu Genen zu verstehen sind, (ii) dass Meme, in Analogie zu Genen, Replikatoren sind, und (iii) dass (...) Meme als Einheiten der kulturellen Selektion auf die gleiche Art wie Gene 'egoistisch' sein können. Nach einer Einführung in die Memtheorie in Teil 1, werden diese drei Thesen in Teil 2 als entweder falsch oder trivial entlarvt. Dieser kritische Teil soll vor allem zeigen, dass die Memtheorie keine 'gefährliche Idee' ist, die das bisher in den Geistes- Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften tradierte Verständnis von Geist und Kultur herausfordern kann. Im Gegenteil, im besten Fall re-formuliert die Memtheorie lediglich Bekanntes in evolutionärer Sprache und ist in diesem Sinne trivial. In Teil 3 wird die Perspektive gewechselt: Nicht mehr der Gehalt, sondern die Funktion der Memtheorie, v.a. im Kontext interdisziplinärer Verständigung, soll betrachtet werden. Denn trotz der Kritik der drei Kernthesen kann die Memtheorie eine kommunikative und somit produktive Rolle zwischen den 'zwei Kulturen' der Wissenschaften spielen. (shrink)

Eine ausgearbeitete Kunstontologie findet sich bei Ehrenfels nicht, wohl aber Bausteine zu einer solchen. Diese herauszuarbeiten ist das Anliegen des vorliegenden Beitrags. Dabei geht es um die Frage nach dem ontologischen Status von Kunstwerken, um mögliche kategoriale Einteilungen derselben, um Bestandteile und Identitätsbedingungen. Ehrenfels vertritt die Auffassung, dass nicht materielle Entitäten, sondern „Vorstellungskomplexe“ Träger ästhetischer Eigenschaften sind. Ich argumentiere, dass Ehrenfels die Auffassung zugeschrieben werden kann, dass Kunstwerke nicht mit materiellen Gegenständen, sondern mit Vorstellungskomplexen zu identifizieren sind. Im Weiteren wird (...) die Frage diskutiert, ob die Vorstellungskomplexe als mentale Entitäten im engeren Sinn aufzufassen sind (d. h. als Entitäten, die in jedem Moment ihrer Existenz von Bewusstseinsvorgängen ontologisch abhängig sind) oder ob sie von Bewusstseinsvorgängen unabhängige Existenz haben können. Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wird ein wenig beachteter Text zur Gestalttheorie herangezogen, der eine überraschende Antwort nahe legt. Was die Frage nach den Bestandteilen betrifft, lässt sich aus Ehrenfels’ Schriften die Auffassung extrahieren, dass Kunstwerke aus Gestalten bestehen, die entweder durch sinnliche Qualitäten oder durch Psychisches fundiert sein können. Ich zeige zudem, dass Ehrenfels eine differenzierte Auffassung bezüglich der Identitätsbedingungen von Kunstwerken vertritt: In erster Linie sind die konstituierenden Gestalten identitätsrelevant, doch es können auch Kontexte und Funktionen eine Rolle spielen. (shrink)