Frente a la problemática identificada: dificultades en el aprendizaje de la matemática el cual se refleja en los resultados al terminar el año escolar y en las diferentes pruebas aplicadas a nivel local, nacional e internacional. El artículo tiene como propósito por una parte la transformación de la práctica docente en aula y por otro lado como consecuencia de ella la de mejorar los niveles de aprendizaje estudiantil, luego de aplicar la propuesta de la Matemática Intercultural con estudiantes de la (...) Institución Educativa Secundaria “Miguel Grau” de la comunidad de Huarijuyo, en los años 2013-2014, jurisdicción del distrito de Pichacani, provincia y región de Puno – Perú; se apeló a una investigación cualitativa, de tipo investigación acción pedagógica, la de transformar prácticas pedagógicas y proponer alternativas de solución al problema identificado, en la línea de educación matemática; desarrollando sesiones de aprendizaje en aula, en la horizontalidad de la Matemática Intercultural que responda a las necesidades, intereses, problemas y aspiraciones; que tenga sentido, que sean cercanas al mundo real y que el estudiantado sean los actores de su aprendizaje. Se ha observado en los resultados, la mejora de los niveles de aprendizaje, lo que implicó la comprensión de conceptos matemáticos, el desarrollo de las capacidades, permite el proceso de lo concreto a lo abstracto, potencia la creatividad, la resolución de problemas de contextos diversos, asimismo la población estudiada valoraron los saberes matemáticos locales y universales. (shrink)

El objetivo de nuestra investigación es determinar el impacto de hábitos alimenticios en el desempeño académico. Fue evaluada los hábitos alimenticios según instrumentos validados y establecido su normalidad con Shapiro-Wilk W=0.97 y significancia p-valor=0.34. Tenemos que el consumo alimenticio también tiene distribución normal e impacta en el desempeño académico con una correlación de Pearson de 0.24 y significancia p-valor=0.04. La regresión logística establece el punto de corte de consumo igual a 38 para tener la probabilidad de un 50% de buen (...) desempeño académico. Asimismo, la estimación puntual de desempeño académico correspondiente a este corte de consumo 38 es el puntaje de 14. (shrink)

El objetivo de nuestra investigación es determinar el impacto de demanda de trabajo y recursos psicológicos en el desempeño profesional. Fue evaluada la calidad laboral según instrumentos validados y establecida su normalidad. Tenemos que los recursos psicológicos y demanda de trabajo impactan en el desempeño profesional con una correlación múltiple de Pearson de 0.91. La correlación de Pearson entre calidad laboral y desempeño profesional fue de 0.69 y p valor de 0.004. La correlación de Spearman entre recursos psicológicos y desempeño (...) profesional fue de 0.735 y p valor de 0.002. (shrink)

El presente trabajo es parte de una investigación de magíster en la cual se examina el problema de los universales en el período medieval, específicamente en los autores Avicena, Enrique de Gante y Duns Scotus. En él se analiza la comprensión escotista de los universales, así como también su relación con el conocimiento, Dios y el principio de individuación. Scotus dedica el conocimiento abstractivo a los universales, o sea, el conocimiento abstractivo es el tipo de conocimiento que permite a los (...) seres humanos conocer a los universales. Estos, por su parte, son totalmente contingentes, siendo creados o destruidos por Dios con base solamente en la voluntad divina. Además, un universal adquiere una existencia material cuando es concretado por la haecceitas, cuando “está presente” en un individuo existente en acto. Para tal análisis se utilizan partes de textos como Quodlibet q. 13, Ordinatio II, d. 3, Lectura I, d. 39, Reportatio I-A, d. 38. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that there are epistemic norms on evidence-gathering and consider consequences for how to understand epistemic normativity. Though the view that there are such norms seems intuitive, it has found surprisingly little defense. Rather, many philosophers have argued that norms on evidence-gathering can only be practical or moral. On a prominent evidentialist version of this position, epistemic norms only apply to responding to the evidence one already has. Here we challenge the orthodoxy. First, we argue that (...) there is no significant normative difference between responding to evidence you have and gathering more evidence. Second, we argue that our practices of epistemically criticizing agents for their poor evidence-gathering indicate the existence of epistemic norms on evidence-gathering. Finally, we show that our thesis has important implications for recent debates about the relationship between epistemic norms and inquiry. (shrink)

En el Concilio Vaticano II, la Sagrada Escritura logró un protagonismo inusitado en la Iglesia y en la vida de los creyentes en Latinoamérica y El Caribe. ¿Cómo impactó en el Continente?, ¿cuáles fueron los efectos de la interpretación de la Biblia en la región? Un repaso de prácticas usuales llevadas a cabo antes del Concilio, cuando la Biblia se usó para legitimar el derecho a la conquista del Nuevo Mundo, como el examen de la actual diversificación hermenéutica, creadora de (...) nuevos horizontes de lectura, permiten al lector aprehender perspectivas insospechadas, suscitadas por la apropiación de la Escritura Sagrada en la Iglesia, donde se asoman los rostros y las voces silenciadas en largos siglos de olvido. Este recorrido lleva al lector por el método de interpretación textual de los evangelizadores de varias épocas; por el acceso al texto, para su lectura e interpretación y por la teología subyacente. (shrink)

Our purpose is to describe the application of legitimate defense in so-called non-confrontational situations. To do this, we will conceptualize gender violence as that which against women, due to their condition as such, and we will describe the absence by the courts in the identification of this problem. Second, we will analyze the reception of Argentine and international legislation on the treatment of gender violence and the recommendations and criteria to take into account when interpreting and applying criminal law. Finally, (...) we will present the treatment of legitimate defense in contexts of gender violence, analyzing each of its elements. Our conclusions will focus on the need to address situations of gender violence based on international regulations for the application of legitimate defense in non-confrontational situations. (shrink)

This book gathers international and interdisciplinary work on youth studies from the Global South, exploring issues such as continuity and change in youth transitions from education to work; contemporary debates on the impact of mobility, marginalization and violence on young lives; how digital technologies shape youth experiences; and how different institutions, cultures and structures generate a diversity of experiences of what it means to be young. The book is divided into four broad thematic sections: Education, work and social structure; Identity (...) and belonging; Place, mobilities and marginalization; and Power, social conflict and new forms of political participation of youth. (shrink)

St. Augustine, through his most recognized philosophical writings, has elaborated a thesis where he makes known the concept, function and laws of the sensitive memory as the indispensable faculty for the intellectual and personal development. The main philosophical works of the Christian author “Confessions” and “Of the Trinity” seek to meditate and deepen the phenomenon of memory in order to unravel the faculty of remembering present in human beings and animals. In his confessions, St. Augustine shapes the events that have (...) marked his life before, during and after his conversion to Christianity, where he manifests the emotions, causes and consequences. In psychology, memory is part of his fields of study in order to explain, through the scientific method, the process of memory and its relationship with behavioral and psychic phenomena of man. The first authors of psychology, have proposed various theories and schemes that allow to observe and give a diagnosis to the behaviors that the person manifests, to these phenomena is involved the sensitive memory as responsible for such attitudes. St. Augustine has taken the first steps on the study of the sensitive memory from the rational, speculative and Christian scope; therefore, it becomes one of the great contributions on the study of the nemetic phenomenon and to be considered as the father of psychology. (shrink)

En este artículo se examinan algunas implicaciones del naturalismo matemático de P. Maddy como una concepción filosófica que permite superar las dificultades del ficcionalismo y el realismo fisicalista en matemáticas. Aparte de esto, la mayor virtud de tal concepción parece ser que resuelve el problema que plantea para la aplicabilidad de la matemática el no asumir la tesis de indispensabilidad de Quine sin comprometerse con su holismo confirmacional. A continuación, sobre la base de dificultades intrínsecas al programa de Maddy, exploramos (...) un camino naturalista mejor motivado, el enfoque cognitivista corporeizado, y sugerimos que él permite explicar de manera adecuada la postulación de ciertos cardinales grandes, en particular, la aceptación de conjuntos no-construibles. (shrink)

El historiador francés Ernest Renan publicó en 1863 una Vida de Jesús que cuestionaba la divinidad del mismo. Causó escándalo e intentos de refutación. Se estudian algunas reacciones en América Latina y se describe el proceso por el cual Renan llegó posteriormente a ser aceptado por círculos conservadores. The French historian Ernest Renan published in 1863 a Life of Jesus that questioned his divinity. The book aroused scandal and attempts of rebuttal. This analysis examines some of the reactions in Latin (...) America, as well as the process by which Renan came later to be accepted in conservative circles. (shrink)

The prospective formalization of the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy has been intensely debated. This paper explores and assesses the stakes of this process from a philosophical perspective. I distinguish two senses of formalization—the descriptive and the evaluative—and argue that: 1) there are descriptive and evaluative formalizations of the Anthropocene beyond the confines of the ICS; 2) incoherencies between Anthropocene proposals and the ICS’s current tenets are not a decisive reason for deferring descriptive formalization; (...) and 3) the prospective evaluative formalization of the Anthropocene by the ICS would be impactful. (shrink)

La comprensión de lo histórico por medio de la “revivencia” en Dilthey confluye con la idea de re-enactment en la teoría de la imaginación histórica de Collingwood a través de la autognosis. Este conocimiento de sí constituye la actividad primordial de la comprensión histórica y es llevado a cabo por el individuo que comprende de acuerdo con los significados vitales y sociohistóricos de su época. Así, las tradiciones del empirismo y del idealismo se acercan en aras de una reflexión sobre (...) la actividad efectiva del historiador. Se analiza, entonces, cuál es el rol de la autoconciencia en el conocimiento humano, atendiendo a las diferencias entre la psicología de ambos pensadores. (shrink)

In this paper I will compare Hertz and Wittgenstein in order to bring forth a new interpretation of the Tractatus. I shall look at Wittgenstein’s ideas about simple objects and compare them with Hertz’s material particles. I shall then claim that if one understands Hertz’s material particles as logical entities that are more co-ordinate like than physical, one can reach an interpretation of the Tractatus that is deliberately silent about the nature of reality, therefore escaping both objectivist and subjectivist interpretations (...) of the book. This, I think, is just one of the great results of re-thinking Wittgenstein’s ideas through Hertz’s. (shrink)

Façamos uma lista dos dez filósofos que mais gostamos. Façamos o mesmo com os sociólogos, antropólogos ou da disciplina que queiramos. Aposto que o resultado desta lista será a notável evidência do colonialismo sedimentado em nossa cultura. Salvo exceções, nenhum destes nomes será um nome de origem latino-americana. Todos, se não a grande a maioria, serão personagens europeus que povoam os programas escolares e universitários e que tem conseguido sufocar o interesse e alimentado o desprezo pela produção latino-americana. Voltar a (...) olhar para as nossas próprias fontes foi a tarefa que, com ímpeto militante, definiu a trajetória de Enrique Dussel. (shrink)

La importancia de las ciencias naturales para la vida y el pensamiento contemporáneos es reconocida ampliamente. En ética y metaética la relevancia de las ciencias naturales se encuentra estrechamente vinculada con la concepción conocida como Naturalismo ético. A pesar de que existe una vasta literatura sobre Naturalismo y Naturalismo ético no es fácil encontrar un libro que recopile lo que diferentes autores relevantes tiene para decir sobre tal tópico. El libro Ethical Naturalism. Current Debates (2012) ha venido a llenar tal (...) laguna. Este trabajo presenta el tema general del libro y analiza y critica algunas de las ideas allí desarrolladas. El propósito central es hacer algunas observaciones generales a la empresa del Naturalismo ético considerado globalmente y al mismo tiempo algunas observaciones que son relevantes sólo para algunas de las intervenciones que forman parte de la colección. (shrink)

We present a fully relational definition of inertial systems based in the No Arbitrariness Principle, that eliminates the need for absolute inertial frames of reference or distinguished reference systems as the ``fixed stars'' in order to formulate Newtonian mechanics. The historical roots of this approach to mechanics are discussed as well. The work is based in part in the constructivist perspective of space advanced by Piaget. We argue that inertial systems admit approximations and that what is of practical use are (...) precisely such approximations. We finally discuss a slightly larger class of systems that we call ``relatively inertial'' which are the fundamental systems in a relational view of mechanics. (shrink)

The first comprehensive survey of the criticisms of Leibniz's philosophical optimism in the first half of the eighteenth century, when what has been called the ‘debacle of the perfect world’ first began.

¿Son los videojuegos ámbitos exclusivos para varones?; ¿es el desarrollo de videojuegos un trabajo exclusivamente masculino? A partir de estos y otros interrogantes, el presente artículo tiene por objetivo problematizar la producción y reproducción de sentidos generizados en la industria de videojuegos argentina, tanto en la elaboración de los contenidos como en la fase de creación y el momento del consumo. Partiendo de un enfoque cualitativo, centrado en una revisión bibliográfica sistemática, planteamos que las instancias de creación, diseño y consumo (...) de los videojuegos se encuentran atravesadas por un fuerte imperativo de la masculinidad que reproduce una mirada androcéntrica, lo que supone un lugar subordinado para las diversas feminidades. No obstante, tal barrera prohibitiva no es ineludible si tenemos en consideración la agencia de lxs sujetos en la construcción de estrategias e intersticios para poner en jaque la normatividad. (shrink)

Esta investigación se realizó con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto de la pandemia en las expectativas y oportunidades de los jóvenes en la zona metropolitana del Valle de México para seguir estudiando en un contexto de pobreza marcado por la incertidumbre de la COVID-19. El estudio se llevó a cabo con metodología cuantitativa, con alcance descriptivo y correlacional a partir de la definición de tres variables independientes: 1) rango de edad, 2) nivel de estudios, 3) su condición de estudiante; (...) y dos variables dependientes: 1) razón que motiva a los jóvenes a capacitarse; 2) tipo de discriminación. El diseño y análisis fueron trabajados desde teorías sobre pobreza, representaciones sociales y el estado del arte sobre comunicación del COVID-19. Las conclusiones revelan que los jóvenes encuestados encuentran una motivación para aprender en correlación con una mayor preparación; los que poseen estudios universitarios su motivación se centra en mejorar su calidad de vida; mientras que para los de menor nivel de estudios todos los motivos tienen la misma ponderación. En general, las principales motivaciones para aprender se encuentran en el ámbito de la familia, así como influir positivamente en otros. La necesidad de aprender como requisito, para obtener comida o un apoyo económico, y para cuidar de la comunidad, resultan tener la menor frecuencia de motivación, lo que demuestra que las políticas económicas implementadas por el Estado, no han generado las representaciones sociales y culturales suficientes para el progreso integral de las personas. (shrink)

The incompatibility within the context of modeling cannot be established simpliciter. The fact that modeling is understood as an activity whose representational power can only be partially established, may minimize the supposed existence of incompatible models. Indeed, it is argued from perspectivism that incompatibility can be dissolved, meaning that it becomes trivial or simply false due to the inherently pragmatic and partial nature of the act of representation and modeling. From this perspective, incompatibility can only be a consequence of a (...) misunderstanding of the very nature of modeling and representation In this sense, in order to tackle this strategy at its root from perspectivism, we will first need to outline the maximal perspectivism thesis, attempting to identify the possible escape routes that perspectivism could find in order to explain incompatibility as an illusory incompatibility. Then, we will analyze Valence Bond Model and Molecular Model of covalent bonds, and we will conclude that the dissuasive strategies used to minimize and/or disregard incompatibility prove to be fruitless. (shrink)

This paper addresses a variant of the job shop scheduling problem with total tardiness minimization where task durations and due dates are uncertain. This uncertainty is modelled with intervals. Different ranking methods for intervals are considered and embedded into a genetic algorithm. A new robustness measure is proposed to compare the different ranking methods and assess their capacity to predict ‘expected delays’ of jobs. Experimental results show that dealing with uncertainty during the optimization process yields more robust solutions. A sensitivity (...) analysis also shows that the robustness of the solutions given by the solving method increases when the uncertainty grows. (shrink)

Written by pioneers in the field, this practical book presents an authoritative yet accessible overview of the methods and applications of causal inference. The text provides a thorough introduction to the basics of the theory for non-time-varying treatments and the generalization to complex longitudinal data.

Resumen Es muy conocida la opinión de Kant en relación con la inmoralidad del suicidio. De ahí que, muchos autores lo consideren como un prohibicionista absoluto. Sin embargo, no hay hasta el momento un análisis puntual sobre la definición metafísica-conceptual del suicidio en la teoría kantiana. En este artículo propongo entender el suicidio en Kant como una muerte física, total, autorreferencial, voluntaria e inmoral. Esta definición contrastará con la privación de la vida, la cual no implica inmoralidad. Al ser voluntarios, (...) tanto la privación de la vida, como el suicidio son actos racionales y entendibles a partir de las máximas de acción. La inmoralidad del suicidio sólo surgirá al considerar la primacía de las razones morales por encima de razones no morales.It is common knowledge theposition of Kant regarding the immorality of suicide. Several authors attribute him an absolutist-forbidden criterion. Nerveless, there is no extended analysis about the metaphysical-conceptual definition of suicide in Kantian theory. In this paper I hold that suicide in Kant can be defined asphysical death, full, self-referential, voluntary, and immoral. This definition conflicts with the definition of deprivation of life which is not immoral. As voluntarily acts, both suicide and deprivation of life are rational acts that can be understood as maxims of action. The immorality property of suicide is due to the primacy of moral over non-moral reasons. (shrink)

This research was carried out in a classroom of the center of comprehensive family development in the municipality of Durango, Mexico. The center trains young people in making crafts. From these young people, 13 teenage mothers ages 15-23, all victims of abuse as children, were selected. With this group, we implemented the philosophical-pedagogical proposal called "Philosophy for children and teenagers," first developed by the American philosopher Matthew Lipman. The main goal was to form a "community of inquiry," where through philosophical (...) dialogue the participants developed cognitive skills, allowing them to share, in an ethical and moral dialogue, their life experiences within a democratic setting. The results were demonstrated through the disclosures made by the participants during the philosophical dialogues, We also recorded the cognitive abilities detected over 20 sessions. We contrast the results with the theories to demonstrate the participants’ cognitive changes. We also observed unexpected findings in other academic fields that facilitate ethical and moral thinking. (shrink)

While mechanics was developed under the idea of reciprocal action (interactions), electromagnetism, as we know it today, takes a form more akin to unilateral action. Interactions call for spatial relations, unilateral action calls for space, just one reference centre. In contrast, interactions are matters of relations that require at least two centres. The development of the relational electromagnetism encouraged by Gauss appears to stop around 1870 for reasons that are not completely clear but are certainly not solely scientific. By the (...) same time, Maxwell recognised the equivalence in formulae of his electromagnetism and the one advocated by Gauss and called for an explanation of why such theories so differently conceived have such a large part in common. In this work we reconstruct and update the relational electromagnetism up to the contributions of Lorentz guided by the non-arbitrariness principle (NAP) that requests arbitrary choices to be accompanied by groups of symmetries. We show that a-priori there must be two more symmetries in electromagnetism, one related to the breaking (in the description) of the relation source/detector and one relating all the perceptions of the same source by detectors moving with different (constant) relative velocities. We show that the idea of electromagnetic waves put forward in concept by Lorenz (1861-1863) before Maxwell (1865) and in formulae (1867) just after Maxwell, together with the ``least action principle'' proposed by Lorentz are enough to derive Maxwell's equations, the continuity equation and the Lorentz' force, and that there is a dual formulation in terms of fields of the receiver (as opposed to fields of the source). While Galilean transformations are associated with removing the arbitrariness implied in the election of a reference space, they will not explicitly appear in a formulation based upon a relational space although we occasionally mention their usefulness. In contrast, Lorentz' transformations will emerge in this formulation involving the relations between the perceived fields of different receivers. Moreover, the role of the full Poincaré-Lorentz group as a group of transformations of the perceived actions is elucidated. In summary, we answer Maxwell's philosophical question showing how the same theory in formulae can be abduced using different inferred entities. Each form of abduction implies as well an interpretation and a facilitation of the theoretical construction. This work relies heavily on logical concepts as abduction put forward by C. Peirce, needed for the construction of theories. (shrink)

En vistas de una revisión general de la noción de sujeto, Michel Henry objeta, por un lado, su asociación con la representación y, por otro, el tratamiento de la alteridad presentada de manera intencional. Apunta con ello a mostrar en qué sentido la intencionalidad y la constitución no son las vías fenomenológicas adecuadas para dar cuenta del a priori universal de la experiencia de la alteridad. En rigor, la posición henryana sobre la crítica del sujeto no sólo pone en cuestión (...) las presentaciones noemáticas de la alteridad, sino que se extiende hacia todo intento de dar cuenta del Otro desde una perspectiva que no sea auto-afectiva. Sin embargo, lo que a primera parece irreconciliable con el horizonte fenomenológico husserliano, puede resultar un aporte sustantivo en este mismo terreno. Examinaremos aquí la crítica a la postura husserliana para establecer una clave de lectura que no provoque una colisión entre ellas sino una sinergia que, retomando la potencia de los orígenes, despliegue un programa de investigación que abarque el estudio de todo el arco de la fenomenicidad. (shrink)

Review of Flores-Júnior, O. La vie facile. Une lecture du cynisme ancien, Paris, Librairie philosophique J. Vrin. (2021).

During the second half of the nineteenth century, electronegativity has been one of the most relevant chemical concepts to explain the relationships between chemical substances and their possible reactions. Specifically, EN is a property of the substances that allows them to attract external electrons in bonding situations. The problem arises because EN cannot be measured directly. Indeed, the only way to measure it is through different properties that do can be directly measured, for instance enthalpy, ionization energies or electron affinities. (...) What is particularly troubling about this case in quantum chemistry is that the different models used to describe and quantify EN are incompatible but, in a certain sense, equivalent because the same EN scale results in all of them. By analyzing Linus Pauling’s and Robert Mulliken’s models of EN, it will be argued that, if we remain cling to a traditional representative conception of models, we cannot understand the meaning of the information provided by those models. Indeed, if we do not want to adopt an instrumentalist point of view concerning chemical knowledge, we should reconsider by virtue of what a model represents the system, or, in other words, which the factors that determine the representative power of a model are. I will propose a new perspective that incorporates the role of experimental techniques in the very notion of representation; this perspective allows us to understand how supposedly incompatible models of the same target system can be both simultaneously representative. (shrink)

In this paper, Douglas Hofstadter’s view of the self as a “strange loop” is used in order to understand how several acting techniques work. As examples of acting techniques I will use the work of Lee Strasberg, Constantin Stanislavski, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner. I will argue that Douglas Hofstadter’s view of the self as a strange loop allows us to understand how acting works. I will furthermore argue that because Douglas Hofstadter’s view is successful in explaining how different acting (...) techniques work, that is a good indication of its adequacy as a theory of the self. (shrink)

Al dar a conocer que ha sido violada y darse muerte, Lucrecia ensambla un hecho privado que interesa al Estado y está abierto a la discusión de todos. Con ello traspasa la responsabilidad del próximo acto político a los patricios. Los análisis que realizan Agustín de Hipona y Kant de ese sucidio, centrados en el pudor y el honor, tienen en común soslayar que Lucrecia testimonia del crimen, por lo que no vislumbran la cadena de acciones que detona la heroína, (...) ignorando el interés público del acontecimiento. Una consideración filosófica sobre el suicidio y sobre el testimonio de Lucrecia permite esclarecer algunos aspectos infravalorados de la heroína romana. (shrink)

Aristóteles sostiene que los animales no requieren un monarcon con poderes arbitrarios para gobernarse, como tampoco lo requiere una ciudad bien gobernada. Con ello inaugura una analogía entre la vida animal y la vida política. Examinando algunos textos de él y de filósofos posteriores (Vitoria, Locke, Condillac y Rousseau), se constata que la analogía tiene continuidad y que se complementa con nociones modernas, como la de soberanía e interés. Aplicado por Condillac a los animales, el interés es entendido como una (...) guía que orienta la vida de los animales, y no sólo como un "instinto" conducente a obtener alimentación y reproducción. Asimismo, la capacidad de movimiento de algunos animales requiere algún grado de conciencia de sí, del entorno y de la propia posibilidad de muerte. El conjunto lleva a que es difícil hablar de lo político sin una analogía con la vida animal o viceversa y a que dicha analogía obligaría reconocer derechos a los animales, tal como se constata ya en la jurisprudencia y en algunos textos jurídicos. Aristote maintains that, in order to govern themselves, animals need neither a monarcon with arbitrary powers, nor a well governed city. With this assessment he establishes an analogy between animal life and political life. Following analysis of some of his and later philosophers' (Vitoria, Locke, Condillac, and Rousseau) texts, we can affirm that this analogy has displayed continuity and that it is complemented with some modern concepts, such as those of sovereignty and interest. Applied by Condillac to animals, the concept of interest is understood as a guide that orientates their life, and not only as an "instinct" conducive to obtaining food and enabling reproduction. Likewise, the capacity of movement of some animals requires a certain degree of consciousness of self, of the environment and of the possibility of their own death. The ensemble shows that it is hard to talk about the political without an analogy with the animal life, and vice versa; and that the analogy would support the obligation to recognize rights of animals, as already some courts have decided and as can be found in some legal texts. (shrink)

This article looks at the film A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick 1971) through the lenses of the free will debate. The main argument proposed is that the film exemplifies a view of free will that I call polythetic. This view says that free will needs to be understood as containing several criteria that allow us to see an action as more or less free, but none of the characteristics is essential for an action to be classified as free. In this view, (...) free will is not an on or off function, but should be understood on a spectrum. A Clockwork Orange illustrates this view. This story is a philosophical work of fiction. As the story progresses, the main character, Little Alex, is free in certain aspects and not others, touching on several important and different elements of free will. The film’s story is an ideal way to illustrate the idea of free will as something we can have more or less of, rather than something we have or do not have. The film is seen as a philosophical work in that it illustrates a polythetic view of free will, and the traditional philosophical discussions on free will can also be used to enrich the understanding of the film. (shrink)

This paper compares Cohen’s Logic of Pure Knowledge and Cassirer’s Substance and Function in order to evaluate how in these works Cohen and Cassirer go beyond the limits established by Kantian philosophy. In his Logic, Cohen seeks to ground in pure thought all the elements which Kant distinguishes in empirical intuition: its matter (sensation) as well as its form (time and space). In this way, Cohen tries to provide an account of knowledge without appealing to any receptivity. In accordance with (...) Cohen’s project of reformulating the Kantian theory of sensibility, Cassirer undertakes in Substance and Function the task of developing an alternative doctrine of pure and empirical manifolds. But whereas Cohen analyzes the laws of pure thought, Cassirer aims to highlight the functional character of concepts in the development of modern mathematics and physics. I will discuss these two different approaches to the problems raised by Kantian philosophy and I will argue that Cassirer went further than Cohen in the project of critical idealism. (shrink)

Scientific pluralism has gained supporters in philosophy of science during the last decades, since it seems to accurately account for the plural and varied development of science. Arguments in defense of robust, non-merely epistemic pluralistic positions can be found in several contemporary philosophical works. According to these positions, to hold pluralism does not suppose to assume an epistemic position regarding truth and a non-realistic view on scientific theories. Monism can be thought as the “natural” opponent of scientific pluralism. In this (...) paper, we will evaluate the alleged rivalry between the two positions, paying special attention to those riskier, ontologically more robust, pluralistic proposals. We will argue that these strongest versions of pluralism fail to offer an alternative to monism: they either changes the topic or hold a weak skepticism that Hegel develops in the Phenomenology of the Spirit. (shrink)