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This article discusses the ontology of institutions and criticizes the notion that institutions are made only of incentives and individual actions. It is further argued that institutions are not constituted solely on the actions of individuals, and that they have a proper, regulated and linguistic ontology. Several approaches are compared on the subject and two main lines of research are identified in the literature: the attempt to construct a uni¡ed theory of institutions and a proposal to include constitutive rules in game theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo presenta las opiniones del autor sobre la obra del profesor Daniel Herrera Restrepo en filosofar. Diversos temas relacionados con ella que se discuten incluyen quién philosophizes, cómo se filosofa y la razón detrás de filosofar. Aborda además orientar la ruta proporcionada por Restrepo para uso filosófico trazados.

Copyright of Economía del Caribe is the property of Fundacion Universidad del Norte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Praxis Filosófica is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Commonly, the critical analysis of institutions has focused on investigating how they build and reproduce relationships of domination. However, this seems to be a unilateral perspective. Therefore, taking into consideration the ontology of institutions proposed by Searle from a reconstructive perspective of criticism, this article argues that there is emancipatory potential within the ontological structure of institutions. The emancipatory processes do not necessarily take the form of interrupted or discontinuous institutional changes, but can develop into oppressive institutional complexes. In concrete terms, according to Boltanski, it is argued that excesses of validity and semantic contradictions lay the foundation for criticism of institutions from an institutional complex. Conversely, it is argued that a reconstruction of ratings and capabilities which leads to the emergence of institutional complexes can also provide a basis for criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will focus on reconceptualizing philosophical activity from a practical perspective of reason. It will question the territory in which philosophy stands today and the limits that this space exhibits for a renewal of a philosophical practice that wishes to transcend these limits. It will take into consideration the role of the university in society in order to understand the position or the place that institutionalized knowledge have in the neoliberal capitalist order, the impact of cybernetics in the productive structure of the regime and the ever increasing emphasis of a cybernetic control of the population as a central operation of this regime. These reflections take into consideration that philosophy always happens in situation and not in the abstract; like a sort of conversation with that which surrounds it. In other words, it happens in the space that the philosopher shares with other bodies and their practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human Social Systems (HSS) are complex systems. One of the best ways to organize complex systems is by means of their self-organization, since the latter has proven to be an optimal producer of order in this type of systems, regardless of their nature: physical, biological or social. This concept emerged due to developments in the sciences of complexity, in which life has been understood as the most complex system that exists, and that does not require of central or external control in order to produce organized patterns. Life's order stems from the self-organization of its internal and external dynamics and interactions. This fact serves to question the use of centralized control mechanisms when organizing human social systems, and underwrites a critique of pyramidal structures and control hierarchies in classical political regimes from the standpoint of the sciences of complexity. The paper argues that human social systems are complex systems; hence, the best way of organizing them is by letting them self-organize, instead of imposing - in a top-down manner, or from the outside -- control by means of political regimes with hierarchical, pyramidal, or vertical structures. The paper explores this idea with a focus on political theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 5th and 4th centuries B. C., in Greek language and culture, poverty --like it appears in Aristophanes' Pluto-- occupies a middle position between wealth and beggary. It was distinguishable from the two extremes of the scale only from a quantitative point of view, and it was considered as a useful stimulus for social life and advancement of technai. In Periclean speeches by Thucydides, this idea is clearly expressed: technai, which must be exercised with restraint and only in view of the common good, helps to bring out the Athenian citizen from poverty and social darkness, promoting political participation in a perspective of horizontal reciprocity. The most obvious exception to this paradigm --linking poverty with the pursuit of technai-- is that of Socrates: in the Platonic representation, this philosopher unbinds the exercise of technai from the pursue of wealth and questions the paradigmatic value of horizontal reciprocity, peculiar in financial transactions, in favour of an unbalanced self-giving attitude, a total care for others and their salvation on the part of the philosopher. The roots of the Socratic idea of poverty, to be taken Cynics, are found on the archaic idea of ptocheia, "begging". In Homer, the beggar experience seems to be permanent and encoded by canons of behavior and signs of identity. Similarly, Socrates presents his own personal poverty as part of his identity and as the testimony of a life entirely spent in the service of the god of Delphi and devoted to philosophia. From Socrates onwards, the topic of philosophical life is closely linked to poverty, as shown by the singular coincidence between the artistic representation of the act of thinking and the iconography of the "poor". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proposal for taking philosophy to alternative settings outside of the classroom by using mass media, starting with the conviction that this is indeed possible, and then sharing strategies and professional experiences from several years in which the author made use of a varietry of communication tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the three great principles of the French Revolution —liberty, equality, and fraternity— the concept of fraternity has been, philosophically speaking, the least studied and the most enigmatic. This article proposes a philosophical discussion of the concept of “fraternity” through the various conceptual metaphors that have been made through time. The author proposes that there are several conceptual metaphors that are completely different and even political and cognitive opposites, ranging from the modern republican political tradition to a legacy for contemporary socialism. The article concludes that the future of republican socialism lies in setting in resolutely and realistically setting in motion the pancivilizing program of fraternal revolutionary democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the social theory of freedom proposed by Norbert Elias, as opposed to classic philosophical views. Firstly, it analyses the basic features of the metaphysical theories of freedom which Elias rejects. Then the key points on which Norbert Elias's social theory of freedom is based are developed. Finally, two Eliasian classic empirical examples are briefly discussed: the cases of Louis XIV and Mozart. The above is intended to show that Elias has a legitimate voice in the current scientific debate about freedom, especially within Neuroscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the majority of the discussions with regards to moral responsibility are focused towards the debate between freedom and determinism. However, it is common that the same debate presupposes at least the possibility of attributing responsibility to the agent in terms of the result occurred. In fact, it is rare the discussion about the validity of the ends of the relation studied, these are: on one side, the volitional aspect of the agent (will, dolus, etc.); and on the other, the result occurred in the "exterior world" (reality, context, society, etc.). With this paper, the purpose is also to study the debate between determinism and indeterminism in the light of moral responsibility of the agent. Nevertheless, the focus is very sharp and will be given in a vast part by the debate between moral responsibility of actions or results. Basically, it is pretended to revaluate the discussion regarding determinism, when faced to the incongruence in the judge of imputation of results. It will defend the thesis according to which, be as it may the position adopted in the debate between determinism and indeterminism, the question for moral responsibility must be referred to the action, never to the result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common sense, the thinking of the people par excellence, asserts that: a picture is worth a thousand words. This is a big mistake. The images are not carriers of meanings. The images always go through three basic processes are: production, circulation and reception. These processes are always determined in the time and social space. They are always the result of multiple relationships (social, ideological, political, moral, religious, etc.), established with them. Always there are so many elements beyond the image, which determines its meaning. The meaning of an image always depends on the relationships established with it in a historical time and space, socially and culturally determined. The images are never alone. To decrypt their meanings, you must first know the symbolic life of the societies in which they appear. Images do not have a single meaning because it depends on the historical and cultural geography which presents. The images always have a close relationship with the society they were born. The Muhammad cartoons not offend everyone equally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr. Julio Quesada Martín. Philosophy as an Educative Paradigm for Citizens in a Liberal Democratic Context. The author speaks of philosophy and citizenship and enters into dialog with Aristotle, Kant, and Ortega and Gasset. The three serious capital sins of a democratic system would be poverty, the lack of freedom and ignorance. To affirm the contrary is foolish. In this sense philosophy has much to say. It is not surprising that to a large extent philosophy is the animal to fight. The author criticizes all totalitarian thinking beginning with Plato and sides with the weak, the vulnerable, the changeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo presenta una reflexión del autor acerca del ejercicio intelectual responsable y la praxis social del filósofo. El autor recurre al pensamiento del filósofo latinoamericano Ignacio Ellacuría para reflexionar sobre la perspectiva bíblico-profética, el pensamiento utópico cristiano y su relevancia para la sociedad latinoamericana.

Copyright of Acta Sociologica (0186-6028) is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones Filosoficas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Dr. Alfonso Ibáñez. The utopian propheticism of "the civilization of poverty". In remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Ellacuría (the Latinamerican Socrates), Alfonso Ibáñez shows the internal unity in the life and thought of Ellacuría. This is a moral life up until its ultimate consequences: First, for having exercised a radically philosophical thought and interdiscipline. Second, for its practice from which the civilization of poverty is offered as a real alternative to the worn out civilization of wealth. The project can be legitimately universalized for its prophetic departure point of questioning to the negativity of reality, for its utopian liberating horizon and for its transforming fruits. It is also an overwhelming response to the fatalism of a sole thought, sustained philosophically in an understanding of intelligence and reality as intrincically historical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this research is to analyze the impact of power in the causal attribution. More especifically, we analyze the attributions made by the observer about people's success and failure who differ in the power that they have in their workplace. Results show that both the success and failure obtained by people with high power are explained by controlable, internal attributions, specifically, referring to the effort made by the powerful person. However, the explanation of the outcomes achieved by people with low power show a different pattern. While the success is attributed to the subordinate's effort, the failure is attributed to his or her low skill. The results were analyzed in relation to previous findings and their involvement in maintaining the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I will try to show that Mexico was not strange to the presence nor to the influence of the Kantian Philosophy; that from an early stage, the ideas of the philosopher of Königsberg were relevant for the theory of law, pedagogy, psychology, ethics and the culture that Mexican intellectuals, educators and thinkers developed in general. Also, that his figure was present, even among those who manifested themselves as detractors of his philosophy. How and in what the Kantian thinking was felt in the life of the Mexico of the nineteenth century? This is the question to answer in the present essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study divides from the current need to link the different current perspectives with regard to the alterity. From there examine different authors of different areas of knowledge to initiate a reclassification of the finds. Later to this process entails develop and the opposing researches are analyzed. Of this form there takes is produced an itinerary that constitutes the basement for the generation of a multi-disciplinary approach. Finally it was achieved to give new perspectives to the hermeneutic process of the human interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupations have three distinct elements: those related with their difficulty as activity, those related with their hierarchical dimension and those related with the object to which the work process is applied. This study analyzes occupational contents in relation with the complexity and object of different occupational groups. First, obstacles in the measurement of task complexity are discussed. Then we inspect the orientation of occupations towards specific objects of work. Finally, the real chance of task complexity measuring is shown, with a discussion of the consequences of this measurement exercise. This analysis is performed with the CIS survey 2634 on «Social Stratification». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of social imaginaries and collective representations from a sociological perspective involves agencying interpretative exercises of image reconstruction, whether mental or pictorial images. Thus, the theoretical path followed in this text points to the understanding of social imaginaries and collective representations, as knowledge tradition socially constructed, and social images, which become historically symbolic points of reference of social action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Sociológicos is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Desacatos is the property of Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents several of the topics addressed in this issue of the journal including the description of various complexity theories, the application of these theories to the study of culture and society and an analysis of social networks using a computer science paradigm of complex systems.

The article offers information about a research grant received in 2008 by the journal "Desacatos" from the Latin American Social Science Research Council (CLACSO, Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales). The award contributed to fund this issue of the journal which is dedicated to the application of the paradigm of complexity to the study of culture and society.

Ignacio Ellacuría is probably who has better understood Xavier Zubiri's philosophy, he prolongs Zubiri's thought in two directions. First he looks for a morality foundation based on the analysis of the self reality opening into the historical and natural reality. Later he thinks that this analysis is not enough to base the ethic and it is necessary a metaphysical sense; He will find this one in the historical dynamism. Joining these two approaches we find a personal hermeneutic of Zubiri's philosophy which integrates the biological, anthropological and moral reflection in a new category, the original object of the philosophy: the historical reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of this article points out the which presents difficult when it comes to defining itself and original philosophic thought of Ignacio Ellacuría, beyond the philosophy of Zubiri. Samur shows that unlike the production of theological and socio-political analysis, the bulk of the work of Ellacuría remained unpublished, making difficult any attempt to systematize and properly characterize his philosophy. The article reclaims the production of philosophical Ellacuría from the posthumous publication of his Filosofía de la realidad histórica of 1990, and points out that this systematic and philosophical consistency was found in Xavier Zubiri's 1965 doctoral thesis. Samur shows that this thesis was the beginning for a mature philosophy that, developing alongside the life of Ellacuría and his experience of the liberation of the oppressed, become a the shaping principle in establishing his own existence.

In this paper we discuss the concept of an intercultural philosophy developed by the Latin American philosopher Raúl Fornet-Betancourt since 1994. We'll dwell on the opportunities and limitations of such a concept. So much the criticism of colonialism and its legacies of language, as the radical openness to other schools of thought are central in the development of a hermeneutics of historical liberation, rooted in the thinking of Martí. Another factor is the methodological implications that the reformulation of the Latin American philosophy brings. I'll link the discussion with the conclusions reached by feminist theory and postcolonial studies, because they broaden the discussion concerning the meaning of "Our America". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bertrand Russell and George Santayana, as much in their life as in their work, represent two characteristics and contrasting ways of philosophy, which are compared in this paper. I re-examine the places where they write on one another and I take into account some aspects of their lives that are relevant. The result shows two important thinkers, which, in spite of their friendship and shared philosophy, represent two alternative ways of thinking and living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dentro del paradigma de la complejidad planteado por Edgar Morin, surge el tetragrama en que interactúan el orden, el desorden y la organización. En la lógica de dicho tetragrama se inicia un camino para llegar a la comprensión del macroconcepto "desorden", con el fin de aprender a convivir y trabajar con él. Ello se sustenta en las crecientes condiciones de incertidumbre que definen la nueva era y la necesidad de construir conocimientos que superen las parcelas disciplinarias para atender la complejidad del género humano en el nuevo escenario planetario. Desde esta mirada, se propone desarrollar modelos y estrategias didácticas que permitan enseñar y aprender del "desorden". Esta misión tiene como primer desafio tomar conciencia de la muerte de la sociedad de las certezas y del orden estable y nacer a la sociedad de la incertidumbre y del orden transitorio. Esto abre fecundas perspectivas de estudio para lo que he denominado "la didáctica del desorden". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the goals and methodology of philosophy, focusing on the role of philosophers in time of crisis, including topics such as reading, liberty, and thought.