A major inspiration for the leaders of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau continues to be a widely read and referenced philosopher, novelist, and political theorist. This title devotes two chapters to Rousseaus eventful life, another to a detailed discussion of his 1762 work "The Social Contract," and a fourth to the impact that he had on the Founding Fathers of the United States. While "The Social Contract" is explored in the greatest depth, other of his (...) worksincluding his passionately argued Discourses, wildly popular novels, successful opera, and genre-shaping "Confessions"are also covered. (shrink)

"El libro "Ensayos sobre pensamiento mexicano" es una propuesta reflexiva que reúne seis diferentes acercamientos a un tema común: México en el contexto del siglo XX. Los capítulos que lo integran se entrelazan a partir de dos horizontes de análisis, por un lado, el amplio espectro de la cultura con la diversidad de pliegues y posibilidades discursivas que le distinguen, y por el otro, la controversia siempre emergente que caracteriza a la esfera política. En esta confrontación y complementariedad radica el (...) principal aporte del texto, al brindar los elementos esenciales para un trabajo crítico a partir de la filosofía que centra sus problemas de estudio en el tejido social. Aunque los diferentes ensayos nos proponen una extensa gama de referentes históricos, lo hacen siempre conservando el tratamiento filosófico de los tópicos planteados. Aquí se muestra la conformación de un país que emerge después de tres siglos de colonización, que ha pretendido hacer la recuperación de un pasado pletórico de significado y que llega a su inevitable enfrentamiento con un mundo de interacción creciente allende sus fronteras. Pero no sólo se traza la perspectiva que recoge acontecimientos y personajes de una historia nacional, también se suma la mirada desde el exilio español avecindado en México, lo que aporta un punto de vista indudablemente enriquecedor acerca del espacio y el tiempo de una memoria que recupera circunstancias y propone los elementos de crítica frente a una razón totalitaria que fue factor común de varios países durante el atribulado siglo XX"--En la cubierta. (shrink)

Some of the most relevant problems today both in Science and practical problems involves Coupled Socio-ecological Systems, which are some of the best examples of Complex Systems. In this work we discuss groundwater-management as an example of these Coupled Socio-ecological System, also known as Coupled Human and Natural Systems. We argue that it is possible and even necessary to construct a contextual statistical theory of groundwater management. Contextuality implies some very different statistical features as entanglement and complementarity. We discuss some (...) interpretation about statistical entanglement and statistical complementarity in terms of groundwater flow theory and extraction equation. To this end, we propose a non-Kolmogorobian approach following the Växjö school of thought. One of the most straightforward conclusions is that in this way, a statistical-contextual treatment of groundwater management may not only give place to new flow equations, but it could have a profound impact in resource management. Then the new basic unity of analysis should be the indivisible pair. We should not talk any more about aquifer dynamics or resource management plans by themselves. Physical and social systems are coupled in a statistical-contextual fundamental way, and a socio-hydrogeological theory should be developed. (shrink)

In this paper we evaluate and confirm the effectiveness of including curriculum training on career management as a component of university studies. The behaviour of the students in this study was modified by the uncertainty created by the crisis in the labour market due to the pandemic.Our results confirm that universities need to develop the generic and academic skills demanded by the labour market in order to provide their students with comprehensive training while also taking joint responsibility for developing their (...) students’ career management skills. (shrink)

Both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union believe that information and communication technologies have potential to transform the way in which we work. Many organizations, including those of the Third Social Sector, have to incorporate the web 2.0 tools and social software into their structures and their daily activity. The aim of this article is to analyze whether these tools are regularly used by institutions of the Third Social Sector in Catalonia in an attempt to (...) transform their daily tasks and move towards a change in their organizational culture. (shrink)

The global demand for information has brought in new developments in the publicity of discursive practices of many professional areas. This study takes the professional practice of International Commercial Arbitration, a mechanism to resolve business disputes outside the courts and traditionally considered as private, to explore the process of resemiotization of information, from the strategies used by corporations in their press releases to the news reports published by national and international media. It takes the theoretical concept of interdiscursivity in critical (...) genre analysis to show that texts are the result of a combination of a very complex range of resources brought about by genres, professional practices and professional cultures, which derive not only from the ‘local’ representation of the transnational arbitration process, but also from the different corporate identities and their ways of coping with the increasing publicity of the facts of arbitration. (shrink)

Riassunto: Gli sviluppi recenti nell’ambito della ricerca sui processi decisionali relativi ai cosiddetti effetti di incorniciamento hanno ricevuto particolare attenzione da parte di quell’ambito della filosofia morale che si occupa di spiegare i dilemmi morali classici legati al famoso problema del carrello. Alcuni filosofi sostengono che illusioni cognitive come l’ effetto di incorniciamento mettano seriamente in discussione alcuni punti di vista classici della filosofia morale come, per esempio, l’ etica normativa e l’ intuizionismo morale. L’obiettivo di questo articolo è cercare (...) di mostrare se, alla luce della ricerca empirica sugli effetti di incorniciamento, possiamo mantenere un punto di vista intuizionista o meno e, più in generale, che cosa implichino questo genere di dati per la filosofia morale. Parole chiave: Filosofia morale; Intuizionismo; Effetti di inconiciamento; Dilemmi morali; Teoria del prospetto Should we Abandon Moral Intuitionism? Framing Effects and Moral Dilemmas: Recent developments in experimental research on decision-making have received attention from moral philosophers trying to explain classical moral dilemmas. The class of cognitive illusions known as framing effects have received particular attention because they appear to play a role in explaining the famous trolley-problem. Some philosophers maintain that cognitive illusions such as framing effects seriously undermine classical point of views in moral philosophy such as normative ethics and moral intuitionism. This essay investigates whether, in light of empirical research on framing effects, we can still maintain an intuitionist point of view, and what the available data imply in general for moral philosophy. Keywords: Moral Philosophy; Intuitionism; Framing Effects; Moral Dilemmas; Prospect Theory. (shrink)

Resumen Este artículo analiza las posibilidades actuales de la propuesta de T. W. Adorno en torno a su visión de las relaciones entre el arte y la verdad; para esto se exploran algunos pasajes de Teoría estética, donde plantea dos ideas centrales en su reflexión: por un lado, los contenidos de verdad que se revelan en las obras de arte y, por otro, los alcances de una subjetividad individual que aún puede pensar en las posibilidades de una vida emancipada. Para (...) Adorno, las obras de arte son la expresión de una verdad concebida subjetivamente, pero que excede cualquier intención puramente individual y, como fuerza de resistencia, puede mostrar aquello que escapa a la representación objetiva. De acuerdo con esto, la hipótesis inicial es que, independientemente de la posición o intencionalidad del autor, el arte contribuye al esclarecimiento de diversos fenómenos éticos y políticos debido a la codificación histórica de la forma y, sobre todo, por la autonomía de la obra de arte.This article analyzes the current possibilities of T. W. Adorno’s proposal regarding his vision of the relationships between art and the truth; for this, some passages of Aesthetic Theory are explored, in which he raises two central ideas in his reflection: on the one hand, the truth contents that are revealed in the artworks and, on the other, the scopes of an individual subjectivity that can still think about the possibilities of an emancipated life. For Adorno, works of art are the expression of a truth that is subjectively conceived, but that exceed any purely individual intention and, as a force of resistance, can show what escapes objective representation. According to this, the initial hypothesis is that, regardless of the position or intentionality of the author, art contributes to the clarification of various ethical and political phenomena due to the historical codification of form and, above all, by the autonomy of the work of art. (shrink)

If philosophy is to be faithful to her calling to serve truth and humankind, she must remain a pupil, open to the enrichment that other sciences bestow on her. This paper highlights some insights from J. H. Newman and C. S. Peirce that can shed light on our understanding of philosophy as a servant to the truth. Newman and Peirce are suitable guides for this discussion since both cultivated their intellect in various disciplines, which informed their philosophical contributions. It begins (...) by exploring how Newman and Peirce conceived philosophy as a science. Then, it discusses their views on the unity of science, which further qualify their thoughts on philosophy. Finally, it enounces some consequences for the study of philosophy which their contributions suggest. Among many others, Newman and Peirce stand out as courageous defenders of the truth and have much to contribute to the timeless conversation of philosophy. (shrink)

From fields as art history, semiotics and communication theories, a dozen researchers attempt to provide new and compelling approaches about the genesis of the images, their functions in relation to our existence and how we establish and construct our social and power relations, through the book.

Constatant que nos étudiants italiens de FLE ont contracté, au cours des années, de mauvaises habitudes de prononciation, souvent dues à un enseignement lacunaire de la connaissance correcte des sons, et que le temps d’enseignement universitaire est réduit d’année en année, notre propos est de chercher à récupérer le temps perdu en insistant, au début de l’année d’un cours de Langue et Traduction française, sur l’oralité. Partant du poème et du jeu sur les signifiants et jonglant avec les signifiés, nous (...) essayerons de motiver les étudiants, peu enclins à la lecture de la poésie et qui, en outre, négligent de se mettre quotidiennement devant un miroir durant quatre ou sept minutes, temps prescrit par les méthodes phonétiques et phonologiques, et nécessaire pour acquérir de nouvelles habitudes phonatoires. Une partie de cet article sera dédiée aux poètes pour montrer comment la force orale du poème peut devenir un atout majeur pour une bonne prononciation ; une autre, à partir d’un vers, sera une sorte de « cahier de création » phonique, sémantique voire poétique. (shrink)

The ICD-11 personality disorder model is the first fully dimensional assessment of personality pathology. It consists of a personality disorder dysfunction-severity dimension, which encompasses both self- and interpersonal dysfunction, and six optional qualifiers for five prominent personality traits—Negative Affectivity, Detachment, Dissociality, Disinhibition, and Anankastia —plus a borderline pattern that is defined by the criteria of DSM-IV borderline PD. This article reports on the development of a new self-report measure to assess self- and interpersonal dysfunction and the five trait qualifiers. It (...) is the first comprehensive measure of the ICD-11 PD model in that it is the only one to include both PD dysfunction-severity as well as trait scales and because it is based on the Clinical Description and Diagnostic Guidelines, which are more detailed than the “statistical” model description that is currently on the ICD-11 website. The authors wrote 992 items and then reduced the pool to 300 items by eliminating redundancy and selecting the consensus best few items for each subconstruct. Data were collected using an online sample of 383 Prolific workers. Using exploratory factor analysis, seven domain scales were developed, each of which contained two to four scales assessing components of the domain. These preliminary scales’ psychometrics were excellent, as were the domains’ and their components’ convergent and discriminant validity, with a few generally minor exceptions. Structural analyses at the component level revealed a three-factor structure consisting of two moderately correlated Internalizing factors, one centered on Self Dysfunction with two NA components and a DSN component and the other on Interpersonal Dysfunction with DET and ANK components; as well as an Externalizing factor with DSL and a DSN component that was uncorrelated with the other two factors. Two aspects of the results in particular are striking: ANK was not the opposite end of a DSN dimension, but rather contributed to an Internalizing Interpersonal Dysfunction dimension and DSN had both an Internalizing and an Externalizing component. Implications of the findings and study limitations are discussed. (shrink)

La tecnología se ha constituido como el gran tótem de nuestra era. Inmediatez, comodidad, automatización, todo el universo que rodea a la palabra "tecnología" remite a la esencia de un progreso. Andoni Alonso e Iñaki Arzoz buscan, a contrapelo de su tiempo y con gran agudeza, descralizar ese discurso apologético de las revoluciones tecnológicas. Su libro es el objeto de esta reseña.

The main problem of the Spanish local finance system derives from the existence of two opposite models: LOFCA model versus Floral system. As a result of this opposition, the Spanish system has moved some distance away from the theoretical principles of sound fiscal federalism. The analysis carried out in the article points out clearly the need to improve the fiscal mechanisms of responsibility and financial autonomy and to introduce a system of interjurisdictional responsibility which should palliate the defects detected in (...) the actual system in order to maximise the political and economic advantages of an authentic fiscal decentralisation.Le problème majeur du système espagnol de finances locales réside dans l’existence de deux modèles opposés: le modèle LOFCA et le système Floral. En raison de cette opposition, le système espagnol s’est considérablement écarté des principes affirmés par la théorie d’un authentique fédéralisme fiscal. L’analyse conduite dans l’article met en évidence la nécessité d’améliorer les mécanismes fiscaux de responsabilité et d’autonomie financière des collectivités locales espagnoles en introduisant un système de responsabilité inter-juridictionnelle capable d’éliminer les incohérences du système ; ce qui permettra de tirer pleinement partie des avantages politiques et économiques inhérents à la décentralisation fiscale. (shrink)

In the face of the Corona Phenomenon, this volume includes the reflections of 26 scholars on 60 important philosophical and political questions, together and interconnected.

People share their emotions on social media and evidence suggests that in times of crisis people are especially motivated to post emotional content. The current Coronavirus pandemic is such a crisis. The online sharing of emotional content during the Coronavirus crisis may contribute to societal value change. Emotion sharing via social media could lead to emotional contagion which in turn could facilitate an emotional climate in a society. In turn, the emotional climate of a society can influence society’s value structure. (...) The emotions that spread in the current Coronavirus crisis are predominantly negative, which could result in a negative emotional climate. Based on the dynamic relations of values to each other and the way that emotions relate to values, a negative emotional climate can contribute to societal value change towards values related to security preservation and threat avoidance. As a consequence, a negative emotional climate and the shift in values could lead to a change in political attitudes that has implications for rights, freedom, privacy and moral progress. Considering the impact of social media in terms of emotional contagion and a longer-lasting value change is an important perspective in thinking about the ethical long-term impact of social media technology. (shrink)

Aetius 2.24.1 includes a reference to the ‘corona’ apparent during a total solar eclipse, and suggests a theory, also discernible in Plutarch, that it is a case of the optical phenomenon known as a ‘halo.’.

Volume 20, Issue 7, July 2020, Page 112-114.

COVID-19 and its social and political consequences have led to increased attention to the sometimes philosophically neglected concept of solidarity. This paper reflects the discourse on solidarity in times of COVID-19 from the viewpoint of the philosophical debate on solidarity. We argue that currently – regarding this debate – the critical potential of solidarity as a political concept is often undermined. Solidarity should rather be used as a social-diagnostic lens to focus on and criticise problematic exclusions caused by current political (...) developments. This applies especially to the cross-border and transnational dimension of political solidarity, which is often neglected in the national constrictions of political COVID-19 strategies. The paper concludes with observations on which levels and in which directions the reflection on solidarity could stimulate both the political and the philosophical debate on global crises such as COVID-19. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDieser Beitrag ist Teil des Forums COVID-19: Perspektiven in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften. Die Spanische Grippe 1918–1920 war mit 50 bis 100 Millionen Toten eines der gravierendsten Seuchenereignisse der Geschichte. Dennoch reagierten westdeutsche Behörden bei zwei weiteren Pandemien 1957/1958 und 1968–1970 mit „geduldige[m] Ausharren“ (Rengeling 2017). Erst ein veränderter Erinnerungsdiskurs führte zu einer „allumfassenden Prävention“, und doch lag die „allumfassende Prävention“ (ebd.) damit noch weit unterhalb dessen, was seit der weltweiten Verbreitung des Corona-Virus SARS-CoV‑2 praktiziert wird.

Diante da pandemia do Novo Coronavírus, muitos foram os problemas levantados pela filosofia a partir do modo “imunitário” com o qual a civilização industrial lidou com a crise, e muito tem sido aventado sobre a necessidade de se repensar o sentido da noção de comunidades de apoio e de resistência. Exemplos disso não faltam; dentre os filósofos que abordaram a crise, encontram-se desde Giorgio Agamben a Paul B. Preciado, entre outros. Neste artigo, pretendemos partir da discussão sobre imunologia e paradigma (...) imunitário em Roberto Espósito para nos perguntar de que modo podemos pensar essa demanda por “comunidade” em meio a uma crise imunitária, no sentido biológico e político do termo. Temos por hipótese que, mais do que postular a oposição exclusiva dos termos, levantar a questão pela articulação deles nos abre dois modos possíveis de relação com a alteridade abissal que encontramos no vírus. (shrink)

Ever since the start of the Corona pandemic, different and often conflicting views have emerged about the virus and how to appropriately deal with it. Such epistemic, societal, and economic criticisms, including those about government imposed measures, have often been dismissed as dangerous forms of conspiratorial disinformation that should be (and have been) excluded from the realm of reasonable political discussion. However, since these critiques of emerging hegemonic knowledge and policies often involve significant and complex questioning of epistemic and (...) political claims, and since corresponding plausibilities change over time, such clear distinctions between correct knowledge and foolish, fraudulent, and/or dangerous, disinformation are not easy to draw. In fact, they can be considered political acts in these epistemic disputes over the pandemic. These conflicts, which we refer to as the “Corona Truth Wars,” are not just about knowledge, but have turned into societal conflicts and even outright identity wars that run through families, circles of friends, organizations, and entire societies. In this special issue, we illuminate these dynamics by bringing together a range of scholars who have been struck by the complexity of these controversies and their far-reaching social consequences. Far from understanding these controversies as simple dichotomies between truth and disinformation, or between disinterested science and manipulative politics, these scholars are interested in the various ways in which these dimensions are intertwined. Building on a long tradition of exploring (scientific) knowledge controversies, the six contributions to this special issue show how epistemic struggles over truth are not only fought in the realm of science, but increasingly manifest and interact in everyday politics, social media platforms, daily talk shows, and family dinners. The scholars brought together in this issue, with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and from different geographical regions (Denmark, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Israel), present their studies on the various epistemic and social conflicts that have emerged during the Corona pandemic of the last three years. (shrink)

The essay reviews the digital emergency measures many governments have adopted in an attempt to curb Covid-19. It argues that those ‘virologically legitimized’ measures may infringe the human right to privacy and mark the transition into a world of global surveillance. At this possible turning point in human history, panic and latent fear seem to fog much needed farsightedness. Leaving the current state of emotional paralysis and restarting to critically assess the digital pandemic management can serve as an emergency break (...) against drifting into a new era of digital monitoring. (shrink)