Social representations can be conveyed through language, which expresses a construction of the reality. Assuming the complex task of analyzing the results of a qualitative study, this article exposes from a structuralist approach, a proposal to analyze and construct social representations from the central core theory. Thus validate in methodological terms, a way to graphically express results for a holistic analysis and interpretation of these central and peripheral notions. The proposal is elaborated for application in studies with primary sources such (...) as interviews and their treatment through a content analysis. (shrink)

In the fiftieth disputation of his Disputationes metaphysicae (1597), Francisco Suárez distinguishes three notions of time. Suárez offers an account of the ways in which the predicate ‘when’ can be taken and presents a more general perspective based on the principle of duration, rather than the Aristotelian definition of time. His view differs from Aristotle’s and Aquinas’ account because Suárez emphasizes that time cannot be reduced to the number of the movement of the last sphere in the Aristotelian model of (...) the cosmos. The intrinsic duration of a thing is its true time; this duration can be taken in an absolute or a relative sense. In an absolute sense, intrinsic time is an internal property of a thing that cannot be really distinguished from existence itself and cannot be compared with other durations. In a relative sense, we can imagine this intrinsic duration as filling up a certain interval within an infinitely extended imaginary succession. This imaginary succession is an ens rationis. The third concept of time is the Aristotelian notion: this is just an extrinsic time, a measurement of one movement by means of a comparison with another movement, especially the motion of the last sphere. Finally, in order to show the value of Suárez’s insights, I compare them with some contemporary issues in the analytic philosophy of time. (shrink)

Los estudios de géneros discursivos han prestado poca atención a las tesis o seminarios producidos para la obtención del grado de licenciatura. En este artículo se describe, desde el enfoque del genre analysis (Swales, 1990), la organización retórica del marco referencial de un conjunto de 30 tesis de pregrado elaboradas por estudiantes de la carrera de Trabajo Social de la UCSC. Se identifican cuatro movidas retóricas: teórico, conceptual, empírico y normativo. Se observa que cada una tiene propósitos diferentes sobre cuestiones (...) teóricas, prácticas y legales relacionadas con el problema social que aborda cada tesis. Se advierte la presencia de algunos pasos retóricos recursivo y, al mismo tiempo, un fuerte compromiso de la investigación con la resolución de un problema social real. Studies of discourse genre have paid little attention to graduation theses produced by undergraduate students. This article describes, from a genre analysis approach (Swales, 1990), the rhetorical organization of the reference framework of a set of 30 undergraduate theses prepared by social work students at the UCSC. The study identifies four rhetorical moves: theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and normative. It is observed that each move has different purposes on theoretical, practical, and legal issues related to the social problem addressed by each thesis. The presence of recursive rhetorical steps is apparent, along with a strong commitment to solving real social problems through research. (shrink)

The Purpose in Life Test is a measure of purpose in life widely used in many cultures and countries; however, cross-cultural assessments are scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL in the general population of seven Latin American countries. A total of 4306 people participated, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling, where Uruguay has the highest mean age ; while Ecuador has the lowest mean age. Furthermore, in each country, there is a higher proportion (...) of women than men. Using Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the factorial structure does not show evidence of invariance among the included countries. However, based on the Multi-Group Factor Analysis Alignment, there is evidence that a three-dimensional structure of the PIL is the same in the participating countries. Results based on item response theory indicate that most PIL items can significantly differentiate responses according to the level of life purpose. In addition, people with low life purpose will tend to choose the lower response alternatives on the PIL; while people with higher life purpose will choose higher response alternatives. The findings indicate that the PIL has the potential to increase knowledge about how people conceive and experience their purpose in life in different countries. (shrink)

La memética es una disciplina joven que se inscribe en el campo de las teorías de la evolución cultural y que busca extrapolar hipótesis darwinianas de selección natural al campo de las ideas, proponiendo la existencia de replicadores culturales llamados memes. En el presente artículo se hace una revisión histórica de dicha disciplina, se examina la contribución que puede ofrecer a las teorías del cambio científico de Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos y Edgar Morin y se hace una evaluación de la (...) memética desde una perspectiva epistemológica basada en categorías ofrecidas por Karl Popper, Mario Bunge e Imre Lakatos, presentándola de esta manera, en un proceso recursivo, como elemento explicativo e interpretativo a la vez que como objeto de estudio y análisis. -/- 'Science in light of memes. Memes in light of science.' -/- Memetics is a young discipline that is inserted in the field of theories of cultural evolution and seeks to extrapolate Darwinian hypotheses of natural selection to the field of ideas by proposing the existence of cultural replicators called memes. In this article, we present a historical overview of the discipline, examining the contribution it can offer to theories of scientific change by Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, and Edgar Morin. Lastly, we provide an assessment of memetics from an epistemological perspective based on categories suggested by Karl Popper, Mario Bunge and Imre Lakatos, thereby presenting that discipline in a recursive process as an explanatory and interpretative element, while at the same time as an object of study and analysis. (shrink)

El ensayo que sigue se interesa por mostrar algunas de las características más vistosas de la configuración enunciativa de la poesía de Américo Reyes Vera, a través de la lectura de sus dos de sus obras Los poemas plumaveral (1992) y Que los cuerpos cumplan su destino (2012). Para ello, se pone atención en la manera en que el sujeto de enunciación lírica se sitúa frente a su lector esperado y también se busca definir la relación en que la heterogeneidad (...) enunciativa se asocia a la preferencias temáticas de dichas obras. Para el contexto de la producción lírica actual y la tradición poética nacionales, la obra de Américo Reyes Vera puede considerarse como literatura emergente, dada la renovación exploratoria de los paradigmas estéticos que supone. (shrink)

Is it ethical or not to enhance the characteristics and capacities of human beings, making use of technological incorporations in their biology? This article presents arguments from both position pros and cons, about technological incorporations in human bodies. The denaturalization of technologically enhanced humans is discussed; A discussion is raised about the impact of these technologies on the population inequality; We present a contrast between whether the research is for treatment or enhancement purposes. Some of the repercussions on a society (...) of humans are analyzed, both hyper connected and technologically enhanced. Some of the future challenges that societies with technologically enhanced humans must face are presented. In conclusion, the development of technologies, within a regulatory and normative framework, to enhancing the characteristics and capacities of human beings is ethical. Because technologically enhanced humans are part of the NBIC convergence, and the NBIC convergence will generate new knowledge that will surely be used to develop clean and safe energy sources, preventive medical treatments that will eliminate diseases such as cancer and HIV, and design strategies to the conservation and decontamination of the planet. (shrink)

Este artículo examina las diferentes conceptualizaciones del sistema cognitivo de los docentes, desde la perspectiva socioconstructivista. Aborda la cognición como una base conceptual, personal, subjetiva y dinámica que tiene un impacto significativo en la actuación docente y en el proceso de cambio en educación. El proceso de exploración de la cognición docente puede ayudar a enriquecer la conceptualización sobre el proceso didáctico, y, además, puede servir como base para la autoevaluación docente, componente importante del desarrollo profesional en la Educación Superior.

El presente artículo apunta a discutir cómo los actos cívicos o los monumentos actuaron en los albores del siglo XX como mecanismos de articulación dinámica de la “chilenización” en el desierto tarapaqueño, particularmente en el puerto de Iquique. Se reflexiona desde una perspectiva sociohistórica en torno a las fiestas públicas como rituales simbólicos donde se materializa la integración y/o pertenencia a la comunidad nacional; eventos cívicos que no dejaron de ser menos persuasivos como otras formas mas “violentas” de implantar y (...) promover el sentido de la Nación en los nuevos territorios anexados al Estado chileno. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Reseña de ""El último romántico. El pensamiento de Mario Góngora" de Hugo E. Herrera.

RESUMEN Este ensayo presenta una reflexión sobre las limitaciones del medio digital para la enseñanza de disciplinas teóricas como la filosofía. Se quiere contrarrestar, hasta cierto punto, el entusiasmo prematuro que despierta la virtualidad en algunos estamentos universitarios. El texto se nutre de mi experiencia pedagógica en la pandemia y traza una mirada fenomenológica sobre lo que implica la pérdida del entorno de la presencia para la enseñanza filosófica. Al reflexionar sobre dicha pérdida, el ensayo también esboza algunas reflexiones dispersas (...) sobre lo que significa aprender y enseñar filosofía. ABSTRACT This essay presents a reflection on the limitations of the digital medium for the teaching of theoretical disciplines like philosophy. The aim is to counteract in part the premature enthusiasm that virtuality has awaken in some university circles. The text draws on my pedagogical experience during the pandemic and takes a phenomenological look at what the loss of the environment of presence implies for philosophical teaching. By reflecting on this loss, the essay also outlines some scattered reflections on what it means to learn and teach philosophy. (shrink)

The zone of latent solutions hypothesis provides an alternative approach to explaining cultural patterns in primates and many other animals. According to the ZLS hypothesis, non-human great ape cultures consist largely or solely of latent solutions. The current competing hypothesis for ape culture argues instead that at least some of their behavioural or artefact forms are copied through specific social learning mechanisms and that their forms may depend on copying. In contrast, the ape ZLS hypothesis does not require these forms (...) to be copied. Instead, it suggests that several social learning mechanisms help determine the frequency of these behaviours and artefacts within connected individuals. The ZLS hypothesis thus suggests that increases and stabilisations of a particular behaviour’s or artefact’s frequency can derive from socially-mediated form reinnovations. Therefore, and while genes and ecology play important roles as well, according to the ape ZLS hypothesis, apes typically acquire the forms of their behaviours and artefacts individually, but are usually socially induced to do so. The ZLS approach is often criticized—perhaps also because it challenges the current null hypothesis, which instead assumes a requirement of form-copying social learning mechanisms to explain many ape behavioural forms. However, as the ZLS hypothesis is a new approach, with less accumulated literature compared to the current null hypothesis, some confusion is to be expected. Here, we clarify the ZLS approach—also in relation to other competing hypotheses—and address misconceptions and objections. We believe that these clarifications will provide researchers with a coherent theoretical approach and an experimental methodology to examine the necessity of form-copying variants of social learning in apes, humans and other species. (shrink)

Background:Decision-making and assessment in emergency situations are complex and result many times in ethical conflicts between different healthcare professionals.Aim:To analyse and describe situations that can generate ethical conflict among nurses working in emergency situations.Methods:Qualitative analysis. A total of 16 emergency nurses took part in interviews and a focus group.Ethical considerations:Organisational approval by the University Hospital, and informed consent and confidentiality were ensured before conducting the research.Result/conclusion:Two categories emerged: one in ‘ethical issues’ and one in ‘emotions and feelings in caring’. The (...) four ethical subcategories are presented: Autonomy, the first sub category: first, the nurse’s ability to practise care on an emergency ward and, second, to support the patient and/or relatives in terms of care and medical treatment. The conflicts arise when the nurse ends up in the middle between the patient and the physician responsible for the diagnosis and treatment from a nature scientific perspective. Reification of injured body: patient was often reified and fragmented, becoming just a leg or arm. Different factors contributed in this perspective. Pain: pain relief was often inadequate but more effectively treated in the emergency medical services than at the emergency department. The nurses highlighted the phenomenon of suffering because they felt that pain was only an object, forgetting the patients’ care need, like separating mind from body. Death: the nurses felt that the emergency services are only prepared to save lives and not to take care of the needs of patients with ‘end-of-life’ care. Another issue was the lack of ethical guidelines during a cardiac arrest. Resuscitation often continues without asking about the patient’s ‘previous wishes’ in terms of resuscitation or not. In these situations, the nurses describe an ethical conflict with the physician in performing their role as the patient’s advocate. The nurses express feelings of distress, suffering, anger and helplessness. (shrink)

Accountability is a cornerstone of the governance of artificial intelligence (AI). However, it is often defined too imprecisely because its multifaceted nature and the sociotechnical structure of AI systems imply a variety of values, practices, and measures to which accountability in AI can refer. We address this lack of clarity by defining accountability in terms of answerability, identifying three conditions of possibility (authority recognition, interrogation, and limitation of power), and an architecture of seven features (context, range, agent, forum, standards, process, (...) and implications). We analyse this architecture through four accountability goals (compliance, report, oversight, and enforcement). We argue that these goals are often complementary and that policy-makers emphasise or prioritise some over others depending on the proactive or reactive use of accountability and the missions of AI governance. (shrink)

The EU proposal for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, as these categories statically depend on broad fields of application of AI, the risk magnitude may be wrongly estimated, and the AIA may not be enforced effectively. This problem is particularly challenging when it comes to regulating general-purpose AI (GPAI), which has versatile and often unpredictable applications. Recent amendments to the compromise text, though introducing context-specific assessments, remain insufficient. To address this, (...) we propose applying the risk categories to specific AI scenarios, rather than solely to fields of application, using a risk assessment model that integrates the AIA with the risk approach arising from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and related literature. This model enables the estimation of the magnitude of AI risk by considering the interaction between (a) risk determinants, (b) individual drivers of determinants, and (c) multiple risk types. We use large language models (LLMs) as an example. (shrink)

The present article is framed within the biosemiotic glossary project as a way to address common terminology within biosemiotic research. The glossary integrates the view of the members of the biosemiotic community through a standard survey and a literature review. The concept of ‘semiotic threshold’ was first introduced by Umberto Eco, defining it as a boundary between semiotic and non-semiotic areas. We review here the concept of ‘semiotic threshold’, first describing its denotation within semiotics via an examination on the history (...) of the concept, its synonyms, antonyms, etymology, usage in other languages and context in which it is used. Then we present a general overview of the survey among researchers, analyzing the difference in responses for the concept of ‘lower semiotic threshold’ and related concepts. From the answers we also review the difference between the general usage of ‘semiotic threshold’ versus its specific use within biosemiotics, and attempt to make a general synthesis of the concept taking into account what we have learned from the survey and the literature review. (shrink)

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories for AI systems: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, it lacks a clear methodology for the assessment of these risks in concrete situations. Risks are broadly categorized based on the application areas of AI systems and ambiguous risk factors. This paper suggests a methodology for assessing AI risk magnitudes, focusing on the construction of real-world risk scenarios. To this scope, we propose to integrate the AIA with a framework developed by (...) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and related literature. This approach enables a nuanced analysis of AI risk by exploring the interplay between (a) risk determinants, (b) individual drivers of determinants, and (c) multiple risk types. We further refine the proposed methodology by applying a proportionality test to balance the competing values involved in AI risk assessment. Finally, we present three uses of this approach under the AIA: to implement the Regulation, to assess the significance of risks, and to develop internal risk management systems for AI deployers. (shrink)

This volume serves as a reference on the field of cognitive semantics. It offers a systematic and original discussion of the issues at the core of the debate in semiotics and the cognitive sciences. It takes into account the problems of representation, the nature of mind, the structure of perception, beliefs associated with habits, social cognition, autism, intersubjectivity and subjectivity. The chapters in this volume present the foundation of semiotics as a theory of cognition, offer a semiotic model of cognitive (...) integration that combines Enactivism and the Extended Mind Theory, and investigate the role of imagination as the origin of perception. The author develops an account of beliefs that are associated with habits and meaning, grounded in Pragmatism, testing his Narrative Practice Semiotic Hypothesis on persons with autism spectrum disorders. He also integrates his ideas about the formation of the theory of mind with a theory of subjectivity, understood as self-consciousness which derives from semiotic cognitive abilities. This text appeals to students, professors and researchers in the field. (shrink)

1. Two Approaches to the EarthIn several postwar texts, the earth increasingly receives attention from Carl Schmitt.1 In The Nomos of the Earth, the most important of these texts, he refers to Friedrich Hölderlin, a much earlier, very different author, who also considers the subject of the earth. Even though the positions of both are, ultimately, quite similar, they maintain significant terminological differences. Schmitt and Hölderlin both employ the word “nomos,” but in very different ways. Hölderlin regards “nomos” as “law” (...) in the sense of “positive” norm or “Gesez.”2 This use of “nomos” as “Gesez” differs from a second notion of law as the meaning operating at the basis of what Hölderlin calls the “sphere.” The sphere is a meaningful whole in which man originally exists. Law is here the very relations of the sphere as a meaningful whole. Hölderlin calls it the law in a “negative” sense.3 This second notion of law by Hölderlin (negative law or law as the meaning at the basis of the sphere) coincides precisely with the Schmittian idea of “nomos” as an “order of meaning [Sinnreich],”4 what he also calls the law in an “ontonomous and existential” sense.5 The first use of law as “nomos” or “Gesez” by Hölderlin coincides with Schmitt’s use of “Gesetz”: of law as “positive” law. (shrink)

Studying the origin of semiosis is a task obscured by terminological and metaphysical issues which create an ambiguous set of definitions for biosemiotics when referring to the concept of emergence. The question is, how emergent can semiosis be? And what are the conditions for semiosis to be an emergent of a certain type? This paper will attempt to briefly deal with the general terminology of emergence from a philosophical point of view and will discuss the characterization of semiosis as an (...) emergent phenomenon based on the distinctions made by Bedau, Kim and Chalmers. Accordingly, we will consider the possibility of strong and weak emergence in an attempt to bring some clarity to what it means for something in biosemiotics to be an emergent and how the philosophical concepts play out when applied to biosemiotic research. In inquiring into the metaphysical status of semiosis, we change our semiotic theories to correspond to the assumptions contained in the elementary objects of our theories. This being the case, the way semiosis–the constitutive element that it is for semiotics–is taken to be with regards to its possible ontology, will conduct to different research objects for the long-term investigation of its origins and necessary conditions. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar una reconstrucción de la teoría de los grupos dereferencia. La teoría, desarrollada por Robert K. Merton, ha sido largamente utilizada enlos más variados campos de las ciencias sociales, aunque con escasa o nula consideraciónmetateórica hasta ahora. La reconstrucción atenderá a la presentación que de la misma serecoge en sendos artículos de su libro Social Theory and Social Structure, de 1968, a saber:“Contributions to the theory of reference group behavior” y “Continuities in the theory (...) ofreference groups and social structure”. Para presentar esta reconstrucción me apoyaré en elinstrumental de la Metateoría Estructuralista. Después de una consideración informal de lateoría, serán presentados sus modelos potenciales, modelos, modelos potenciales parciales,sus aplicaciones intencionales y algunos comentarios acerca de la noción de “grupo de referencia”en lo que respeta su carácter relacional y disposicional. (shrink)

The aim of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale for consumer’s perceptions of corporate social responsibility using the three-dimensional social, environmental and economic conceptual approach as a theoretical basis. Based on the stages of measurement scale creation and validation suggested by DeVellis and supported by Churchill Jr.’s :64–73, 1979) suggestions, five different empirical studies are developed expressly and applied to consumers of tourist services. This research involves 1147 real tourists from 24 countries in two different cultural (...) and geographical contexts. A three-dimensional 18-item scale is proposed for measuring consumer perceptions of corporate social, environmental and economic responsibilities. This paper presents the complete development of the scale, as well as the implications and limitations of the main findings and the managerial implications. (shrink)

RESUMENLa segunda etapa del pensamiento filosófico de Ayer es conocida como «fenomenalismo analítico» y se caracteriza por su afirmación: lo que conoce el sujeto no son más datos sensoriales. Esto conlleva la necesidad de de crear lo que se conoce como el lenguaje de «los datos sensoriales», que debería ser previo al lenguaje ordinario y al que podría traducirse el primero mediante la provisión de una serie de reglas con este objeto. Los problemas y las críticas, conectados con la caracterización (...) de que sea un «dato sensorial» surgieron muy pronto y tales problemas provocaron que el propio Ayer fuese obligado a redefinir su posición filosófica.PALABRAS CLAVE:DATO SENSORIAL, FENOMENALISMO ANALÍTICO, ENTIDAD CUASIFÍSICA, ENTIDAD LINGÜÍSTICAABSTRACTThe second phase of Ayer’s philosophical thought is known as «analytical phenomenalism» and is characterized by his assertion: what the subject knows is not but sense data. This involved the need of creating what is known as the language of «sense data», which should be prior to the ordinary language, and into which the last one could be translated, by means of providing a series of rules on this purpose. Problems and criticism, linked to the characterization of what a «sense datum» could be, arose very soon, and such problems and criticism forced Ayer to redefine his philosophical position.KEY WORDS.SENSE DATUM, ANALYTICAL PHENOMENALISM, QUASI-PHYSICAL ENTITY, LINGUISTIC ENTITY. (shrink)

L’enfant placé a souvent vécu des traumatismes qui ont impacté sa capacité à réguler ses émotions dans les relations interpersonnelles. Afin d’aider les assistants familiaux et les parents à mieux s’ajuster à l’enfant ont été instaurés des temps d’observation dans les conditions naturelles des interactions adulte-enfant qui ont été enregistrés en vidéo. Le vidéo-feedback a ensuite été utilisé avec chacun des adultes. L’exemple de Matthias montre comment ce dispositif a permis aux parents d’identifier les conséquences de leur comportement sur leur (...) enfant. L’exercice a été plus difficile pour l’assistante familiale davantage centrée sur ses besoins. (shrink)

Christopher Hom has recently argued that the best-overall account of the meaning of pejorative terms is a semantic account according to which pejoratives make a distinctive truth-conditional contribution, and in particular express complex, negative socially constructed properties. In addition, Hom supplements the semantic account with a pragmatic strategy to deal with the derogatory content of occurrences of pejorative terms in negations, conditionals, attitude reports, and so on, according to which those occurrences give rise to conversational implicatures to the effect that (...) the pejorative terms are non-empty, which explains the offensiveness of those occurrences. In this paper, I aim to defend this semantic strategy from several recent objections, and I will also present a novel objection, which in my view shows that we should understand the semantic account as a version of inferentialism, rather than radical externalism. (shrink)

Despite the promises made by molecular evolutionists since the early 1960s that phylogenies would be readily reconstructed using molecular data, the construction of molecular phylogenies has both retained many methodological problems of the past and brought up new ones of considerable epistemic relevance. The field is driven not only by changes in knowledge about the processes of molecular evolution, but also by an ever-present methodological anxiety manifested in the constant search for an increased objectivity—or in its converse, the avoidance of (...) subjectivity.This paper offers an exhaustive account of the methodological and conceptual difficulties embedded in each of the steps required to elaborate molecular phytogenies. The authors adopt a historical perspective on the field in order to follow the development of practices that seek to increase the objectivity of their methods and representations. These include the adoption and development of explicit criteria for evaluation of evidence, and of procedures associated with methods of statistical inference, quantification and automation. All these are linked to an increasing use of computers in research since the mid 1960s. We will show that the practices of objectivity described are highly dependent on the problems and tools of molecular phylogenetics. (shrink)