Endocrinologists apply the idea of feedback loops to explain how hormones regulate certain bodily functions such as glucose metabolism. In particular, feedback loops focus on the maintenance of the plasma concentrations of glucose within a narrow range. Here, we put forward a different, organicist perspective on the endocrine regulation of glycaemia, by relying on the pivotal concept of closure of constraints. From this perspective, biological systems are understood as organized ones, which means that they are constituted of a set of (...) mutually dependent functional structures acting as constraints, whose maintenance depends on their reciprocal interactions. Closure refers specifically to the mutual dependence among functional constraints in an organism. We show that, when compared to feedback loops, organizational closure can generate much richer descriptions of the processes and constraints at play in the metabolism and regulation of glycaemia, by making explicit the different hierarchical orders involved. We expect that the proposed theoretical framework will open the way to the construction of original mathematical models, which would provide a better understanding of endocrine regulation from an organicist perspective. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:THE DOMINICAN SCHOOL OF SALAMANCA AND THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF AMERICA: SOME BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES THOMAS F. O'MEARA. O.P. University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana SALAMANCA, northwest of Madrid and Avila and not far from Spain's border with Portugal, preserves the atmosphere of a medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque university even as it develops the schools and clinics of a contemporary center of studies. There are associations with Teresa of (...) Avila, who spent the night there just after her reform was approved by Rome, with the young Cervantes, with Luis de Leon and Ignatius Loyola, and with John of the Cross, who was a student there. A bridge from the time of Trajan spans the river Tormes, and the Romanesque cathedral still reserves a chapel for the Mozarabic rite. The University of Salamanca The city brings to mind sixteenth century Dominicans like Francisco de Vitoria, often called the founder of international law, and Domingo Bafiez, confessor to Teresa of Avila. The Order of Friars Preachers, however, came to Salamanca in 1222 at the same time that Dominic's missions were taking root in·Paris and Bologna; the friars founded a priory and soon a school under the patronage of St. Stephen (San Esteban). The " Dominican School of Salamanca " means formally the line of great theologians reaching from Diego de Deza at the end of the fifteenth century to Tomas de Lemos, a main protagonist in Rome in 1607 in the controversy over grace entitled De Auxiliis. Today, after seven and a half centuries of existence, the Salamancan SSS 556 THOMAS F. o'MEARA, O.P. Dominicans remain a vital community, active m teaching, research and publishing. My attention was directed to the Dominicans at Salamanca by two volumes of essays reporting on congresses concerning the "Dominicans and the Discovery of the New World." My interest was not church history but the history of theologies of how grace might exist outside of explicit faith and sacramental baptism. The following report is a bibliographical survey of recent research on a theological era and school. Focusing on the thought of the theologians stimulated by the experiences of the missionaries in the Indies, it treats the Dominicans during the first decades after the voyages of Columbus. In the 1480s, as it entered its golden age, the University of Salamanca had a hundred professors and almost 7000 students. University records begin late, but they show that in 1546/47, one hundred thirty-four Dominicans were studying at the university, and in 1598/99, eighty. J. L. Espinel has written. a historical guide to the Dominican buildings and institutions.1 The great period of the Dominican school at the University began with Diego de Deza ( 1480-1486), professor and archbishop of Seville, and Matias de Paz (1518-1519), a professor of Scripture. Francisco de Vitoria (1526-1546) and Domingo de Soto (15321549 ) were its most gifted thinkers, but the school's achievements continued with Melchior Cano (1546-1552), Juan de la Pefia (1561-1565) and Domingo Banez (1581-1604). These t San Esteban de Salamanca, Historia y Gufa, Siglos, XIII-XX (Salamanca: Editorial San Esteban, 1978); see also R. Hernandez, "Convento y estudio de San Esteban," La Universidad de Salamanca (Salamanca: Universidad, 1989), pp. 369ff.; A. Martin Melquiades, "La Escuela de teologia de Salamanca," Atti del Congresso internazionale, Tommaso d'Aquino nel suo settimo centenario, Tommaso d'Aquino nella storia del pensiero, 1 :2 (Naples: Edizione Domenicane Italiane, 1975), pp. 242ff. A Salamancan Dominican of the 1930s, Vicente Beltran de Heredia, pioneered research in the history of the university and in the writings of the Dominican speculative masters. His writings can be found in past issues of Ciencia Tomista (CT), and some of his books and several recent collections of his most important essays are available from Editorial San Esteban. Similarly initial research in the United States can be found in the writings of Lewis Hanke. SALAMANCA AND THE SPANISH CONQUEST 557 are joined by lesser figures like Pedro de Sotomayor (15601564 ), Mancia de Corpus Christi (1564-1576), and Bartolome de Medina (1576-1581). The occupants of the chair in theology of the liturgical hour of prime from Vitoria in 1526 to Bafiez's... (shrink)

Abstract: Introspection reveals that one is frequently conscious of some form of inner speech, which may appear either in a condensed or expanded form. It has been claimed that this speech reflects the way in which language is involved in conscious thought, fulfilling a number of cognitive functions. We criticize three theories that address this issue: Bermúdez’s view of language as a generator of second-order thoughts, Prinz’s development of Jackendoff’s intermediate-level theory of consciousness, and Carruthers’s theory of inner speech as (...) a rehearsal of action-schemata. We contend they have problems to account for those cases in which inner speech is fragmentary, and for the difference with those instances in which it appears as more sentence-like. In addition, we present verbal overshadowing as a phenomenon that neither of them can easily explain. Finally, we propose an account in which inner speech is fundamentally silent outer speech and argue that it is more explanatory than the alternatives. (shrink)

Bullying has damaging short-term and long-term consequences. Research suggests that perpetrators have low empathy and high moral disengagement, but relations between these variables are unclear and are rarely integrated in a single study. Thus, the objective of this study was to discover if empathy and moral disengagement mechanisms were related to bullying perpetration. This study was conducted with 904 Polish adolescents enrolled in 6 rural and urban upper secondary schools. High affective empathy predicted lower bullying perpetration. Moral-disengagement mechanisms such as (...) moral justification, euphemistic language, advanced comparison, and distorting consequences were uniquely related to increased bullying perpetration. Low affective empathy was also uniquely related to increased perpetration. These findings have important implication for school policy and practice. (shrink)

Michel de Montaigne, el reconocido autor de Los ensayos, ha sido interpretado como un escéptico y, más en concreto, como un defensor del fideísmo escéptico; lectura que tiene su origen principal en la interpretación de B. Pascal. El artículo pretendereexaminar tanto la cuestión del fideísmo como la del escepticismo presente en Los ensayos, para concluir que quizá la interpretación de Pascal, que todavía perdura, se basa en un “desvío” involuntario o intencionado, pero en todo caso creativo y fértil.

The current conceptualization of working memory highlights its pivotal role in the cognitive control of goal-directed behaviour, for example, by keeping task-priorities and relevant information ‘online’. Evidence has accumulated, however, that working memory contents can automatically misdirect attention and observers can only exert little intentional control to overcome irrelevant contents held in memory that are known to be misleading for behaviour. The authors discuss extant evidence on this topic and argue that obligatory functional coupling between working memory and attentional selection (...) reflects a default property of the brain which is hardwired in overlapping substrates for memory and perception. They further argue that the neuroanatomical substrates for working memory biases in vision are distinct from the classical fronto-parietal networks involved in attentional control and distinct from the mechanisms that mediate attention biases from long-term memory. Finally the authors present emerging evidence that working memory ‘guiding’ processes may operate outside conscious awareness. (shrink)

La unidad del problema hermenéutico reside en el reconocimiento de la aplicación y su integración a los momentos de la interpretación y de la comprensión en tanta instancias indisolubles en el acto mismo del comprender como un proceso unitario. El concepto de "aplicación", el tercer momento de la teoría de la interpretación que Gadamer ha reclamado de nuevo para ocupar el lugar central que le corresponde en la hermenéutica filosófica y con ello reivindicar la unidad del problema hermenéutico, está diseñado (...) en gran parte sobre el modelo de la ciencia práctica aristotélica y el ejercicio de la phrónesis, su virtud principal. (shrink)

La bifacialidad de la hipóstasis nodal (noûs, psyché) en el régimen de emanación neoplatónico, recabada en clave antropológica, impregna el pensamiento occidental como expresión de la doble faceta de la razón: facies cognoscitiva/ad infra e idealizadora/ad supra. El noúmeno se erige en límite ideal de conocimiento para la progresión de la razón hacia lo incondicionado, con valor, entonces, no cognoscitivo sino regulativo. Sobre esa tesis kantiana versal, la irrealidad de lo cognoscible en su comisión objetiva (la objetualidad de lo sólo (...) óntico transluce su ontologización como irreal - fenomenológico) y la transfenomenalidad del en sí agostado en la apariencia (despliegue del ser en el espectro completo de manifestaciones ante conciencia que detrae la realidad al noúmeno, relegado a mera ficción), el libro ensaya patrones de lectura del hiato objeto - sujeto, procurando cauces a la metafísica e imponiendo barreras indelebles a la ciencia, en un recorrido que arranca en el mythos y en la anáfora filogenética del enigma de Edipo. La topología freudiana del aparato psíquico servirá de base para una división de las edades del espíritu que reelabora la propuesta de Comte, asociando el super - yo a la era teocrática de prominencia de la faz acognitiva (vivencia del noúmeno como realidad metafísica significativa en sí misma, no puro ideal, con la jerarquía y envolturas del mundo medio como consecuencia sociológica y el supra - egocidium místico, implosión del superyo decisiva para el renacer -teorema de Thomas-), el yo a la era crítica (inflación utópico - normativa del noúmeno y restrictiva adhesión epistemológica a lo fenoménico en una época que conserva la ilusión transcendental), ambas, etapas de bipolaridad con quiásmica descompensación facial, y el ello, en fin, al orden positivista unifacial surgente con la revolución industrial y el vitalismo que, en sus directrices primarias, sanciona el estatuto canónico del noúmeno, abonándose al fenómeno y abrazando la inmanencia como única solución de fe. (shrink)

El artículo segmenta un recorrido por la metafísica esencialista y el paradig-ma unívoco del ens que brinda Duns Escoto, auténtica propuesta ontológica del Medievo en detrimento del programa energetista sustentado en la analogia entis. Se hilvanan los momentos estructurales de comunidad esencial o real-metafísica en la entidad, comunidad natural específica, individuación y subsistencia incomunicable, en un régimen bidireccional con quiásmica prerrogativa de comunidad del ens unívoco o de virtualidad del singular. La persona es el evento exuberante en que culmina la (...) actualidad de la naturaleza sustancial individuada de índole espiritual. (shrink)

En una aproximación cualitativa y una perspectiva analítica performativa relevamos la presencia de lenguajes musicales diversos en la educación intercultural, teniendo como caso de estudio a educadores tradicionales mapuches que incorporan dispositivos curriculares en escuelas con programas de educación intercultural bilingüe, localizadas en la ciudad de Puerto Montt. Nuestras reflexiones principales apuntan al relevamiento de estrategias etnomusicales descolonizadoras puestas en juego en el aula, en las que se evidencia la ampliación de repertorio musical en la noción tradicional del canto mapuche (...) que manifiestan los docentes. Para los y las docentes entrevistados, esta noción se abre para incluir, entre otros, algunos epewkantun, además de canciones con funciones didácticas y canciones winka, estas últimas en la forma de re-mixtura de expresiones musicales urbanas. Estas nuevas prácticas musicales apuntan a favorecer la reafirmación étnica de sus estudiantes, desde un posicionamiento de identidad mapuche urbana, en ruptura con la noción esencialista de cultura. Estas transiciones curriculares estarían constituyendo un nuevo escenario en las prácticas musicales dentro del aula intercultural, caracterizadas de manera tradicional por la incorporación de canciones políticamente ingenuas. From a qualitative approach and a performative analytical perspective, we surveyed the presence of various musical languages, taking as case of study the traditional Mapuche educators who incorporate curricular devices in schools with bilingual education programs, in Puerto Montt, Chile. Our main reflections point to survey decolonization strategies applied in the classroom, which appeal to the growth of musical repertoire extending the traditional notion of the Mapuche song. For traditional teachers, this new notion includes some epewkantun, besides songs with didactic functions, and winka songs. These new musical practices aim at favoring the ethnic reaffirmation of students from a disruptive paradigm with the essentialist notion of culture. These curricular transitions create a new framework in the musical practices in the intercultural education, characterized by the incorporation of “politically naive” songs. (shrink)

Las tragedias clásicas griegas narran conflictos y confrontaciones entre tradiciones transmitidas y moldeadas por los poetas trágicos tipificadas en los antiguos mitos que ellos han recibido. Las nacientes ciudades griegas, con su nuevo orden y sus nuevas instituciones, se enfrentan a través de las obras trágicas a las viejas tradiciones e instituciones que son ahora cuestionadas y discutidas, y con ellas las nociones de responsabilidad y voluntad humanas son reclamadas ante el imperio de los dioses y su corolario acerca del (...) destino del hombre. Nociones que a su vez son exigidas por la creación del derecho y el gobierno de las leyes, ya no de los dioses ni de los hombres. El ensayo indaga, por el estatuto de estas tesis en dos obras trágicas de la literatura griega: �Prometeo Encadenado� de Esquilo y las �Bacantes� de Eurípides. (shrink)

En el Sócrates jenofontíaco lo justo es lo legal. Lo legal se manifiesta en las leyes. Las leyes son escritas o no-escritas. Las primeras son humanas; las segundas, divinas. Ejemplos de éstas: el culto a los dioses y la prohibición del incesto. El incesto infringe una ley no-escrita acerca del akmé. La validez legal del akmé radica en una Ésta pone de manifiesto a través de: 1) una exploración semántica de la sinonimia entre los términos akmé y kairós; 2) La (...) doctrina socrática del morir a tiempo; 3) un examen semántico de las definiciones apócrifo-platónicas acerca del kairós; y 4) una reconsideración de las antiguas descripciones retóricas de la estatua del Kairós. (shrink)

Taking into account the difficulties that all attempts at a solution of the problem of causal-explanatory exclusion have experienced, we analyze in this paper the chances that mind-body causation is a case of overdetermination, a line of attack that has scarcely been explored. Our conclusion is that claiming that behaviors are causally overdetermined cannot solve the problem of causal-explanatory exclusion. The reason is the problem of massive coincidence, that can only be avoided by establishing a relation between mind and body; (...) that is, by denying overdetermination. The only way to defend that mind-body causation is a case of overdetermination would be by denying any modal force whatever to the principle of the causal closure of the physical, and this is a claim we would not like to reject. (shrink)

This article is about the novel role of the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (South American Nations Union) - UNASUR as a peacekeeper in the SouthAmerican region. It begins with an overview of UNASUR, its history, legal framework, and its mandate related to peacekeeping activities. Then, the efforts for regional integration and peacekeeping are addressed, with an explanation of the different frameworks backing those intents and the new peacemaking body known as UNASUR. Examples of political conflict are outlined, namely those in (...) Bolivia and Venezuela, and the ways in which the novel intervention of UNASUR deescalated the violence. After providing a brief description of South American history, its recent conflicts, and a review of some applicable conflict causation theories, the article concludes with a theoretical explanation of the role of UNASUR and its intervention for building peace in the region. This leads to questions and suggestions about how the work of UNASUR can be protected and enhanced to benefit the creation and maintenance of harmonious relationships within South American states. (shrink)