As discussões e problemas que surgem a uma área em desenvolvimento, tal como se deu à Ciência da Informação, ensejam uma tarefa teórica “filosófica”, que se acomodaria, como dimensão fundamental deste campo de pesquisa, em debates cujas concepções e consequências discursivas escapam às formas com que se lidaria, cotidianamente, com o objeto de interesse da área e seus respectivos pressupostos. Nesse âmbito, visto como primordial, se colocariam em questão os alicerces e princípios que assegurariam o trabalho e a delimitação conceitual (...) do objeto apreendido pela Ciência da Informação. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste artigo é colocar em análise duas propostas nomeadamente filosóficas de fundamentação da Ciência da Informação. Especificamente, desenvolver-se-á um comparativo entre duas propostas teóricas quanto ao objeto da Ciência da Informação: uma ontológica e uma outra epistemológica. Esse quadro comparativo terá por base as posições de Floridi e Frohmann de uma filosofia da informação. Assim, guiando-se pelo método teórico-exploratório de investigação, a pesquisa concentrar-se numa revisão (qualitativa) de literatura cujo resultado visa uma contribuição teórica ao plano da pesquisa fundamental na área. As considerações orbitam, finalmente, o modus operandi que cada autor acaba empreendendo para esse tipo de projeto teórico, bem como a concepção de filosofia que motiva tais pesquisas. (shrink)

Sabemos que la conformación de la música tradicional en México, así como en la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos, se debe a la aportación musical europea y africana principalmente. El danzón tradicional, género musical cubano y adoptado en México como propio, es una forma que resultó de la síntesis de patrones rítmicos africanos y formas musicales europeas. Nuestro interés por la obra musical sinfónica Danzón 2 de Arturo Márquez se debe al hecho de que, al mismo tiempo que es una (...) expresión artística, es portadora de elementos tradicionales, los cuales nos permiten apreciar una carga identitaria representativa de nuestro país. Una de las formas que nos permite determinar la expresión de identidad en la música contemporánea es la presencia de elementos musicales tradicionales. En este trabajo se pretende demostrar que el Danzón 2 se constituye, entre otros elementos, por formas musicales y células rítmicas de nuestra tradición. Creemos que una manera de enfrentar los retos que surgen en el siglo XXI, respecto a los temas del universalismo y la cuestión de la identidad, es a través de una actitud abierta y reflexiva en la que se replanteen los patrones tradicionales musicales creativamente. Nuestra visión es que el Danzón 2 –obra creada en 1994– del compositor mexicano Arturo Márquez, lejos de ser una de las manifestaciones político-nacionalistas (que sólo tratan de difundir ciertos patrones " convenientes " para los intereses del Estado o de sus instituciones, anunciándose dentro de la vena de la globalización como multiculturalismo), es una pieza sinfónica que se nos muestra como una obra de arte... (shrink)

What does it mean to trust the results of a computer simulation? This paper argues that trust in simulations should be grounded in empirical evidence, good engineering practice, and established theoretical principles. Without these constraints, computer simulation risks becoming little more than speculation. We argue against two prominent positions in the epistemology of computer simulation and defend a conservative view that emphasizes the difference between the norms governing scientific investigation and those governing ordinary epistemic practices.

We address some of the epistemological challenges highlighted by the Critical Data Studies literature by reference to some of the key debates in the philosophy of science concerning computational modeling and simulation. We provide a brief overview of these debates focusing particularly on what Paul Humphreys calls epistemic opacity. We argue that debates in Critical Data Studies and philosophy of science have neglected the problem of error management and error detection. This is an especially important feature of the epistemology of (...) Big Data. In “Error” section we explain the main characteristics of error detection and correction along with the relationship between error and path complexity in software. In this section we provide an overview of conventional statistical methods for error detection and review their limitations when faced with the high degree of conditionality inherent to modern software systems. (shrink)

BackgroundResearch during 2020 has been rapidly attending to the impact of COVID-19 on various dimensions of wellbeing on adults and children around the world. However, less attention has focused on the psychoeducational impact on children and their families. To our knowledge, no currently available studies have looked specifically at the impact of COVID-19 on students with dyslexia and their families. Research on this topic is needed to offer greater support for this population of students and their families.ObjectiveThe main objective of (...) this paper is to examine the psychoeducational impact of the required COVID-19 quarantine in Spain among children with dyslexia and their families.MethodA sample of 32 children with dyslexia and their mothers participated in this study.MeasuresChildren and adolescents with dyslexia and their mother completed several measures before the required national quarantine in Spain and again during the quarantine. Children completed measures of depression, state anxiety, reading activity, and reading motivation. Mothers provided demographic information and completed measures related to students’ emotional and behavioral difficulties as well as parenting stress, parental distress, and a questionnaire about educational problems during quarantine.ResultsMajor findings showed that during quarantine, children with dyslexia had increased levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, and parents perceived their children as having more emotional symptoms, hyperactivity-inattention, and conduct problems. During quarantine, children and adolescents with dyslexia also showed less reading activity and less reading motivation. Parents also reported significantly more stress, during quarantine compared to pre-quarantine conditions. Some demographic and psychological variables predicted children’s state anxiety as well parental stress. The questionnaire related to impacts of quarantine also revealed several important findings. For example, nearly all parents of children with dyslexia reported difficulties in establishing study routines, that the quarantine negatively affected their child’s learning, and that they did not receive sufficient help from teachers on how to support their child’s learning. Additionally, the vast majority of the parents were very worried about the child’s learning and school success, the child’s motivation and interest in reading, the child’s peer relations, and the professional skills of the child’s teacher.ConclusionThis study offers a preliminary investigation into this topic and elucidates several psychoeducational challenges that children with dyslexia and their families have experienced during the quarantine in Spain. Study findings highlight the need to provide immediate support for children with dyslexia and emphasizes the importance of developing prevention programs to mitigate any future negative impacts of COVID-19 on children with dyslexia and their parents. (shrink)

In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of political activism through an irruption of citizen movements – 5M or Occupy–, the birth of new political platforms –5 Stelle, Zyrisa, Podemos– and the rise of new direct action groups, such as Anonymous, Stop-Evictions Movements, cooperatives, to name just a few. In some countries this activism has not just placed substantial pressure on traditional actors of representative democracy and governments, but has also opened up opportunities for structural changes in the policymaking (...) context and procedures (García Marzá, 2012). (shrink)

Although it has acquired an extraordinary social diffusion, entrepreneurial education has a certain lack of definition associated with its conceptualisation and meaning. It seems clear that entrepreneurial education is linked to the economic sphere, but it is not limited to the productive sector. The idea of entrepreneurial education has been progressively enriched, being linked to the development of skills for personal growth and social progress. Further clarification of the meaning and scope of entrepreneurial education is, therefore, needed. Thus, it is (...) relevant to analyse entrepreneurial identity in the context of personal identity via the theoretical–explanatory investigation of a model developed in two phases. A critical analysis leads us to study the different factors that intervene in the configuration of this identity in an attempt to construct a systemic map of entrepreneurial action. Between the private and the public, entrepreneurs seek new ways of facing the challenges of our times, trying to find new ways of regenerating the links between individuals and institutions and with society in general. In this sense, we show how entrepreneurial educational ecosystems acquire relevance insofar as they consider the subject as the principle of action rather than merely the result of various contextual factors. (shrink)

Homi Bhabha's attempts to recuperate Frantz Fanon's “black man” as a figure of resistance and subversion have relied on the simple fact of this figure's existence: because the black man's identity is irrevocably divided, Bhabha claims that its mere existence calls the unity of a normative identity into question. This essay broadly questions Bhabha's reading of Fanon by asking exactly how it is that the subject's potential for subversion can be realized in action, and suggests – drawing from Jacques Lacan's (...) work as well from the work of Jean-Paul Sartre – a new model for the figure of Fanon's black man which retains the possibility for a free subjectivity oriented toward resistance. The tacit belief that resistance must arise as a consciously developed response is belied by the suggestion that there are psychic tensions that might produce a subversive subjective orientation involuntarily, spontaneously. (shrink)

The Basic-Income Guarantee is a governmental programme of income redistribution that enjoys an increasing predicament among academic and political circles. Traditionally, the philosophical defence for this programme has been articulated from the standpoint of social liberalism, republicanism, or communism. Recently, however, libertarian philosopher Matt Zwolinski also tried to reconcile the Basic-Income Guarantee scheme with libertarian ethics. To do so, he resorted to the Lockean proviso: to the extent that the institutionalization of private property impoverishes certain people by depriving their access (...) to natural resources, these people deserve compensation and the most pragmatic way of providing this is through a Basic-Income Guarantee. This paper examines Zwolinski’s arguments and responds by demonstrating that the Basic-Income Guarantee is incompatible with libertarian ethics: the current levels of poverty are not caused by the institutionalization of private property and the Basic-Income Guarantee does not constitute a pragmatic approach to eradicate poverty. (shrink)

A veces, justificadamente, dejamos de confiar en el testimonio de alguien cuando descubrimos que nos ha mentido en repetidas ocasiones. Pero, ¿cuál es la razón por la que asignamos a alguien menor credibilidad de la que se merece cuando nada justifica esa falta de confianza? Cuando otorgamos a una persona menos credibilidad de la que merece por pertenecer a un determinado grupo social estamos llevando a cabo un acto de injusticia testimonial. ¿Se debe esto a factores individuales (prejuicios explícitos y (...) sesgos implícitos) o estructurales (normas y convenciones sociales, instituciones y condiciones materiales de vida)? Estos dos enfoques difieren tanto en sus versiones sobre las causas de estas injusticias como en las maneras de intervenir para resistirlas. Sin embargo, ambos enfoques pueden integrarse fácilmente. (shrink)

Aworkshop was held August 26–28, 2015, by the Earth- Life Science Institute (ELSI) Origins Network (EON, see Appendix I) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. This meeting gathered a diverse group of around 40 scholars researching the origins of life (OoL) from various perspectives with the intent to find common ground, identify key questions and investigations for progress, and guide EON by suggesting a roadmap of activities. Specific challenges that the attendees were encouraged to address included the following: What key (...) questions, ideas, and investigations should the OoL research community address in the near and long term? How can this community better organize itself and prioritize its efforts? What roles can particular subfields play, and what can ELSI and EON do to facilitate research progress? (See also Appendix II.) The present document is a product of that workshop; a white paper that serves as a record of the discussion that took place and a guide and stimulus to the solution of the most urgent and important issues in the study of the OoL. This paper is not intended to be comprehensive or a balanced representation of the opinions of the entire OoL research community. It is intended to present a number of important position statements that contain many aspirational goals and suggestions as to how progress can be made in understanding the OoL. The key role played in the field by current societies and recurring meetings over the past many decades is fully acknowledged, including the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) and its official journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, as well as the International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL). (shrink)

Publicado originalmente como “Prólogo” al libro Risieri Frondizi. Pensamiento Axiológico. Antología ([Selección, Prólogo y Epílogo de José Ramón Fabelo]. Biblioteca Americana, Universidad del Valle-Instituto Cubano del Libro, Cali-La Habana, 1993, pp. VII-XXIII). El texto busca ubicar al filósofo Risieri Frondizi en los marcos del pensamiento sobre los valores en el contexto latinoamericano.

Publicado originalmente como “Prólogo” al libro Risieri Frondizi. Pensamiento Axiológico. Antología ([Selección, Prólogo y Epílogo de José Ramón Fabelo]. Biblioteca Americana, Universidad del Valle-Instituto Cubano del Libro, Cali-La Habana, 1993, pp. VII-XXIII). El texto busca ubicar al filósofo Risieri Frondizi en los marcos del pensamiento sobre los valores en el contexto latinoamericano.

‘Dogwhistle’ refers to a kind of political manipulation that some people carry out for political gains. According to Saul (2018), dogwhistles can be either intentional or unintentional depending on whether the speaker carried out the dogwhistle deliberately or not —although one cannot always recognize whether a particular case was intentional. In addition to being intentional or not, dogwhistles can also be overt or covert depending on whether the audience is aware or not of the dogwhistle. In the case of overt (...) dogwhistles, the speaker addresses a message to an audience with two possible interpretations. One of these is coded and affects only a subset the audience (Witten 2014). Covert dogwhistles, on the other hand, are not really about sending a “coded message.” Instead, they raise attitudes to salience, so people will act on them without realizing they are being moved on them. As Stanley (2015) points out, these kinds of dogwhistles work as a strategy for undermining democratic ideals without immediate rejection. Our key question is whether covert dogwhistles constitute a special form of implicit communication or whether they can be reduced to already existing forms of implicit communication such as presuppositions or implicatures. We will focus on covert dogwhistles because they seem more difficult to accommodate within the traditional categories of presuppositions and implicatures. To carry out this task, we compare the features of each of the mentioned phenomena and analyse how they behave in the face of retraction. (shrink)

El trabajo argumenta la necesidad de interpretar el valor del arte, por un lado, de manera concreta, como síntesis de múltiples determinaciones y tomando en consideración las condiciones de la época y lugar en las que la obra artística se inserta; y por otro lado, como producto complejo poseedor de múltiples dimensiones, diferentes pero interconectadas entre sí.

El artículo revela cómo la filosofía que desarrolló Karl Marx estuvo centrada en el tema de la vida. La esencia de la comprensión marxiana de la sociedad y la historia no radica en una primacía abstracta de lo económico, sino en el proceso real de producción y reproducción de la vida. Es la vida –y no la economía por sí misma– la que constituye el fundamento de la concepción materialista de la historia desarrollada por Marx.

El trabajo reflexiona sobre los fundamentos originarios de la ética. La tesis central que se defiende y que se busca mostrar consiste en asumir que las raíces históricas últimas de lo ético están en la vida humana misma, que lo ético responde a una necesidad humana vital y que es precisamente en la vida donde ha de encontrarse el buscado criterio de última instancia sobre lo que lo ético es. Esta hipótesis conduce necesariamente a analizar el tema de la vida, (...) a abordar el asunto también desde una perspectiva antropológica y a buscar lo que podría llamarse pre-historia biológica de lo ético. (shrink)

Se trata de un pequeño libro de Ocean Sur en los marcos de su colección Cuadernos de Formación que, bajo el título genérico de Capitalismo y globalización, contiene el ensayo de José Ramón Fabelo Corzo "Capitalismo versus Vida. Actualidad de lа visión de Marx" y el ensayo de Gilberto Valdés Gutiérrez "Globalización imperialista у sistema de dominación múltiple". La sociedad capitalista, cuya existencia depende de la explotación del trabajo asalariado y de una desenfrenada carrera en pos de la concentración de (...) la riqueza, la propiedad, la producción y el poder político, entró hace décadas en una intensa y suicida fase de destrucción de la naturaleza que, por supuesto, amenaza la extinción de la especie humana. En esta fase, conocida como globalización neoliberal, el imperialismo despliega todos los mecanismos de su sistema de dominación múltiple para evitar la emancipación de la humanidad. (shrink)

El libro, de autoría colectiva, aborda el tema de la formación de valores en estudiantes universitarios. Consta de tres capítulos, dedicados, respectivamente, a problemas teóricos generales de la axiología, a aspectos conceptuales y metodológicos relacionados con la formación de valores y a la evaluación de dos experiencias pedagógicas en la formación de diversos valores específicos. El primer capítulo, de la autoría de José Ramón Fabelo Corzo y titulado “Sobre la naturaleza de los valores humanos”, plantea sintéticamente las bases de una (...) nueva concepción multidimensional de los valores. Con ligeras variaciones, se convirtió en el primer capítulo del libro del autor Los valores y sus desafíos actuales, publicado en su primera edición en 2001, un año después, de la aparición del presente libro . (shrink)

A inicio de los años 90 la sociedad cubana se enfrentaba a un proceso de profundas transformaciones internas como consecuencia de los cambios en la esfera de las relaciones internacionales, el recrudecimiento del bloqueo de Estados Unidos y la necesidad de insertarse en la nueva dinámica de las relaciones económicas mundiales después de desaparecida la URSS y el socialismo este-europeo. Todo ello tuvo un importante impacto en los valores de la sociedad cubana, especialmente en los jóvenes. En razón de ello, (...) la Asamblea nacional del Poder Popular convocó a una audiencia pública sobre la formación de valores en las nuevas generaciones, llevada a cabo los días 24 y 25 de abril de 1995. Este libro recoge las más importantes intervenciones presentadas desde diversos planos de análisis: filosófico (José Ramón Fabelo Corzo), histórico (Cintio Vitier), sociológico (María Isabel Domínguez), psicológico (Fernando González) y pedagógico (Gilberto García Batista). (shrink)

Sometimes justifiably, we stop trusting someone’s testimony when we catch that person repeatedly on a lie. But what is the reason why we assign less credibility to someone if nothing justifies the lack of trust? When we give a person less credibility than she deserves because she belongs to a particular social group, we are committing a testimonial injustice. Is this due to factors that are individual (explicit prejudices and implicit biases) or structural (social norms and conventions, institutions and material (...) reality)? These two approaches differ both in their versions of the causes of these injustices and how to intervene to resist them. However, they can be easily integrated. (shrink)

Many of the doctrines expounded by Alfonso de la Torre have found their inspiration in Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed and, indirectly, in some Arab authors. Mention must be made of the Maimonidean doctrine of prophecy and that of his predecessor the Arabic philosopher al-Fârâbî. It is also indicated that some of Avicenna’s works could have influenced both Maimonides and Alfonso.

The following study departs from the lecture, entitled “Creative thinking”, delivered by Claude Shannon in 1952 at the Bell Laboratories. This paper includes an interpretive and critical account of the necessary conditions, as well as the desirable procedures, which must be satisfied in the scientific and technological invention, within the frame of the so-called scientist’s spontaneous philosophy.

La Economía del Bien Común (EBC) representa un modelo que, sin llegar a poner en cuestión la libertad de mercado, propone una visión más humana de la economía a través del bien común y la cooperación. Se trata de un modelo global e integral que se está desarrollando especialmente en el campo de la microeconomía. El objetivo de este trabajo es, una vez identificadas las características básicas del modelo del EBC, justificar sus fundamentos teóricos desde el punto de vista organizativo, (...) en particular, desde la teoría de los stakeholders. El Balance del Bien Común, como herramienta que sirve para implementar el modelo de la EBC, utilitza una matriz de doble entrada, que sirve para medir la aportación de las empresas en la consecución de los principios de los derechos humanos a través de su relación con los stakeholders.The Economy of the Common Good ecb represents a model that, without questioning market freedom, proposes a more humane vision of the economy, through the common good and cooperation. It is a global and comprehensive model that is being developed above all in the field of microeconomics. The objective of the work is, after identifying the basic characteristics of the ecb model, to justify its theoretical foundations from the organizational point of view, in particular, from Stakeholders’ Theory. The Balance of the Common Good, as a tool that serves to implement the ecb model, uses a double entry matrix, which serves to measure the contribution of companies to the achievement of human rights principles through their relationship with the stakeholders. (shrink)

Secularization ist a phenomenon connected with modernity in the Western world. This paper focuses on a classical scholar from 16th century, Isaac Casaubon, and explores his religious experience. Casaubon, living in Paris from 1600, was a key witness to the very first moments of securalization in Europe.

Une grande stèle trouvée à Larissa en 1990 porte trois décrets votés par cette cité au cours de la même année, probablement très peu après la fin de la troisième guerre de Macédoine, donc en 171/0 av. J.-C. ou l'une des années suivantes. Les deux premiers honorent un philosophe athénien, Satyros fils de Philinos, qui a séjourné sans doute plusieurs années à Larissa et y a vécu les temps de guerre : le peuple de Larissa le récompense en lui accordant (...) la proxénie et différents honneurs, complétés par l'octroi du droit de cité, qui fait l'objet d'un décret complémentaire. Le troisième décret a été voté pour un Mamertin de Sicile appelé Novius fils d'Ovius, qui a racheté un Larisséen capturé par des soldats romains au cours de la même guerre et l'a rendu à la liberté. Dans la partie disparue au bas de la stèle, un quatrième décret devait, comme pour le philosophe Satyros, accorder à Novius le droit de cité. Ces textes sont de tout premier ordre à la fois parce qu'on y trouve des formulaires très explicites et complets, ce qui est peu fréquent, et parce que leur rédaction, dans un dialecte cohérent et représentatif, donne matière à des observations syntaxiques et stylistiques qu'il n'est pas toujours possible de faire sur d'autres documents thessaliens. Leur valeur pour l'histoire de Larissa n'est pas moindre, puisque l'on peut rassembler autour de ces textes plusieurs autres documents déjà connus qui se rapportent à la troisième guerre de Macédoine, soit aux quelques années qui l'ont précédée, soit aux années 171-169 av. J.-C. et à celles qui ont immédiatement suivi. (shrink)

En la sección "Páginas revisitadas" del sitio web Cuba Posible y con presentación a cargo de Walter Espronceda Govantes, se reproduce en 2018 una buena parte del ensayo "América Latina en la encrucijada..." de José Ramón Fabelo, publicado originalmente en 1994. En el ensayo se muestra y argumenta por qué debe considerarse la contradictoria relación entre los valores universales y propios como el más importante problema axiológico que ha enfrentado la praxis y el pensamiento latinoamericanos, al tiempo que se proyecta (...) la solución teórica de ese problema como consecuencia posible y necesaria de su solución práctica. (shrink)

Reseña al libro de María Rosa Palazón Mayoral titulado "La estética en México. Siglo XX. Diálogo entre filósofos". El libro reseñado es de gran importancia al compilar las propuestas teóricas sobre el tema de pensadores tan destacados como Antonio Caso, José Vasconcelos, Alfonso Reyes, Samuel Ramos, Eduardo Nicol, María Zambrano, Ramón Xirau, Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, Joaquín Sánchez Mcgrégor, Bolívar Echeverría, Néstor García Canclini, María Noël Lapoujade, Ana María Martínez de la Escalera, Silvia Durán Payán y muchos otros.

The autobiography of an influential medieval Catalan intellectual.

For this new anthology, Anthony Bonner has chosen central texts from his acclaimed two-volume compilation Selected Works of Ramon Llull. Available for the first time in an affordable format, these works serve as an introduction to the life and writings of the Catalan philosopher, mystic, and theologian who lived from 1232 to 1316. Founder of a school of Arabic and other languages, Llull was also a poet and novelist and one of the creators of literary Catalan. This volume contains (...) three prefaces on Llull's life, thought, and reputation. Of Llull's works, it offers Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, his seminal Christian apology; the Ars brevis, a summary of his philosophical system; The Book of the Lover and the Beloved, a celebration of mystical love in the courtly tradition; and his wittily scathing Book of the Beasts. (shrink)

Abstract:Cristina Crichton speaks with Ramón Rodríguez about ethics in Heidegger (Studies) and Heidegger's influence on his own work.

Empirical studies have revealed a disturbing prevalence of research misconduct in a wide variety of disciplines, although not, to date, in the areas of ethics and philosophy. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on perceptions of how serious a problem research misconduct is in these two disciplines in Spain, particularly regarding the effects that the model used to evaluate academics’ research performance may have on their ethical behaviour. The methodological triangulation applied in the study combines a questionnaire, a debate (...) at the annual meeting of scientific association, and in-depth interviews. Of the 541 questionnaires sent out, 201 responses were obtained, with a significant difference in the participation of researchers in philosophy and in ethics ; 26 researchers took part in the debate and 14 interviews were conducted. The questionnaire results reveal that 91.5% of the respondents considered research misconduct to be on the rise; 63.2% considered at least three of the fraudulent practices referred to in the study to be commonplace, and 84.1% identified two or more such practices. The researchers perceived a high prevalence of duplicate publication and self-plagiarism, use of personal influence and citation manipulation, in contrast to a low perceived incidence of data falsification or fabrication. The debate and the interviews corroborated these data. Researchers associated the spread of these misconducts with the research evaluation model applied in Spain. (shrink)

Computer simulations have conventionally been understood to be either extensions of formal methods such as mathematical models or as special cases of empirical practices such as experiments. Here, I argue that computer simulations are best understood as instruments. Understanding them as such can better elucidate their actual role as well as their potential epistemic standing in relation to science and other scientific methods, practices and devices.

Following Post program, we will propose a linguistic and empirical interpretation of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem and related ones on unsolvability by Church and Turing. All these theorems use the diagonal argument by Cantor in order to find limitations in finitary systems, as human language, which can make “infinite use of finite means”. The linguistic version of the incompleteness theorem says that every Turing complete language is Gödel incomplete. We conclude that the incompleteness and unsolvability theorems find limitations in our finitary (...) tool, which is our complete language. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that Artificial Intelligence and the many data science methods associated with it, such as machine learning and large language models, are first and foremost epistemic technologies. In order to establish this claim, I first argue that epistemic technologies can be conceptually and practically distinguished from other technologies in virtue of what they are designed for, what they do and how they do it. I then proceed to show that unlike other kinds of technology (_including_ other (...) epistemic technologies) AI can be uniquely positioned as an epistemic technology in that it is primarily designed, developed and deployed to be used in _epistemic contexts_ such as inquiry, it is specifically designed, developed and deployed to manipulate _epistemic content_ such as data, _and_ it is designed, developed and deployed to do so particularly through _epistemic operations_ such as prediction and analysis. As has been shown in recent work in the philosophy and ethics of AI (Alvarado, AI and Ethics, 2022a), understanding AI as an epistemic technology will also have significant implications for important debates regarding our relationship to AI technologies. This paper includes a brief overview of such implications, particularly those pertaining to explainability, opacity, trust and even epistemic harms related to AI technologies. (shrink)