- Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
- History and Philosophy of the Human Sciences, Philosophy, Cultural Studies, History of Sciences, Philosophy Of Religion, Bioethics, and 3 moreBioethics Reproductive Technology, Bioethics, Death, Life extension, and Philosophy of Science, History of the Philosophy of Science, Epistemology of Experimentation, History of the Human sciencesedit
Research Interests:
En este artículo presento una clasificación de las teorías éticas acerca del aborto provocado. En esa clasificación utilizo dos criterios que, aunque inseparables, se pueden tratar relativamente disociados uno del otro. En primer lugar,... more
En este artículo presento una clasificación de las teorías éticas acerca del aborto provocado. En esa clasificación utilizo dos criterios que, aunque inseparables, se pueden tratar relativamente disociados uno del otro. En primer lugar, presento las teorías ordenadas según el estatuto ontológico y ético que otorgan a los gametos, cigotos, preembriones, embriones, fetos y neonatos, y discuto las teorías basadas en la idea de potencialidad. En segundo lugar, me refiero a las teorías centradas en la libertad de la madre. En las consideraciones finales reconozco explícitamente el partidismo de la teoría de teorías propuesta.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
1. El consejo de redacción de la revista El escéptico, órgano de expresión de la Sociedad para el Avance del Pensamiento Crítico, me pide un artículo analizando el concepto de relativismo cultural. En principio, podría pensarse que una... more
1. El consejo de redacción de la revista El escéptico, órgano de expresión de la Sociedad para el Avance del Pensamiento Crítico, me pide un artículo analizando el concepto de relativismo cultural. En principio, podría pensarse que una revista «escéptica» tendría que defender ...
espanolEn este articulo presento una clasificacion de las doctrinas de la bioetica. En primer lugar, hare una breve caracterizacion de la bioetica como disciplina pragmatica, y explicare lo que entiendo por doctrina. Luego, diferenciare... more
espanolEn este articulo presento una clasificacion de las doctrinas de la bioetica. En primer lugar, hare una breve caracterizacion de la bioetica como disciplina pragmatica, y explicare lo que entiendo por doctrina. Luego, diferenciare la bioetica de la biomoral y la biopolitica, con el objeto de distinguir la bioetica en sentido amplio y en sentido restringido. A continuacion, analizare algunos criterios que se han utilizado para clasificar las doctrinas bioeticas y que considero inadecuados, y propondre y justificare unos criterios alternativos. Por ultimo, presentare una clasificacion de las doctrinas bioeticas basada en los criterios propuestos, y discutire el lugar de la bioetica materialista en el conjunto de esa clasificacion. EnglishIn this paper, I will propose a classification of the doctrines of bioethics. First, I will make a brief characterization of bioethics as a pragmatic discipline, and I will put forward an idea of doctrine. Then, I will differentiate bioethics fr...
This paper seeks to contribute to understanding the fundamentals of an extensively used classification of modern sciences. It opens by setting out the differences between modern sciences and philosophy and then goes on to refute a common... more
This paper seeks to contribute to understanding the fundamentals of an extensively used classification of modern sciences. It opens by setting out the differences between modern sciences and philosophy and then goes on to refute a common misunderstanding in the classification of sciences: that there is such a thing as a system of sciences sharing a common set of principles. In their stead, it puts forward a currently accepted classification of the modern sciences. Recognizing that this classification is hardly original, the paper attempts to shed light on the related fundamentals.
Research Interests:
Se reivindica la importancia de la idea de cierre categorial de Gustavo Bueno para la filosofía española actual. Se presentan las ideas de cierre operatorio y categorial, y se discuten sus semejanzas y sus diferencias. Se propone una... more
Se reivindica la importancia de la idea de cierre categorial de Gustavo Bueno para la filosofía española actual. Se presentan las ideas de cierre operatorio y categorial, y se discuten sus semejanzas y sus diferencias. Se propone una clasificación de los diferentes tipos de cierre operatorio. Por último, se reivindica la importancia de estas ideas para establecer la demarcación de las ciencias frente a otros conocimientos, y para la clasificación de las ciencias.
In this paper, I discuss certain criteria for classifying the substantive arts. In the first section, I explain the idea of substantive arts and then put forward sociological, historical, thematic and metaphysical criteria for classifying... more
In this paper, I discuss certain criteria for classifying the substantive arts. In the first section, I explain the idea of substantive arts and then put forward sociological, historical, thematic and metaphysical criteria for classifying the arts that I deem to be external to the classified materials. I subsequently outline five classification criteria internal to works of art, themselves understood as techniques. Such criteria take into account the materials used in the works, the degree of destruction exercised therein, the degree of disconnection between the artist and the artwork, the sense organs involved in perceiving these works and the scope of the analogies between them and the other parts of reality. To end, I draw final corollaries in line with the discussion.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper discusses the ethical and epistemological implications of cultural relativism. An initial analysis identifies two possible sources of cultural relativism – the ideology rampant in current liberal democracies and what I term as... more
This paper discusses the ethical and epistemological implications of cultural relativism. An initial analysis identifies two possible sources of cultural relativism – the ideology rampant in current liberal democracies and what I term as “environmental fundamentalism”. It then moves on to discuss cultural relativism in relation to such universal ethical values as the basic human right of survival and the right to physical integrity. The paper ends by pitting itself against epistemological relativism and by upholding the universal character of scientific theorems.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Employing the tenets of philosophical materialism, this paper discusses the ethical debate surrounding assisted suicide for persons suffering end-stage Alzheimer's. It first presents a classification of the... more
Employing the tenets of philosophical materialism, this paper discusses the ethical debate surrounding assisted suicide for persons suffering end-stage Alzheimer's. It first presents a classification of the dissociative situations between "human individual" and "human person". It then moves on to discuss challenges to diagnosed persons and their caregivers in relation to the cardinal virtues of Spinozistic ethics--strength of character (fortitudo), firmness (animositas) and generosity (generositas). Finally, a number of ideas attached to the debate--"right of choice", "death with dignity", "quality of life" and "compassion in dying"--are discussed in order to clarify their foundations.
Research Interests: Psychology, Quality of life, Personhood, Medical Ethics, Medicine, and 15 moreHumans, Character, United States, Social Isolation, Dissociative disorders, Caregivers, Clinical Sciences, Aging Studies, Aged, Social Values, Right to Die, Patient Advocacy, Alzheimer Disease, Depersonalization, and Personal autonomy
Research Interests:
This paper seeks to contribute to understanding the fundamentals of an extensively used classification of modern sciences. It opens by setting out the differences between modern sciences and philosophy and then goes on to refute a common... more
This paper seeks to contribute to understanding the fundamentals of an extensively used classification of modern sciences. It opens by setting out the differences between modern sciences and philosophy and then goes on to refute a common misunderstanding in the classification of sciences: that there is such a thing as a system of sciences sharing a common set of principles. In their stead, it puts forward a currently accepted classification of the modern sciences. Recognizing that this classification is hardly original, the paper attempts to shed light on the related fundamentals.
Research Interests:
En las congregaciones de auxiliis del siglo XVI se discutio acerca de la compatibilidad entre la omnisciencia de Dios y la libertad humana. La concordia entre el determinismo de la ciencia y la libertad de los sujetos viene siendo tambien... more
En las congregaciones de auxiliis del siglo XVI se discutio acerca de la compatibilidad entre la omnisciencia de Dios y la libertad humana. La concordia entre el determinismo de la ciencia y la libertad de los sujetos viene siendo tambien objeto de polemica en la filosofia de las ciencias sociales del presente. Este articulo explora los paralelismos entre esas dos discusiones con el objeto de iluminar algunos problemas filosoficos actuales.
Research Interests: Philosophy and Daimon
Research Interests:
In this paper, I put forward a theory about the modes and dimensions of being. In the first section, I define existence through coexistence, understood as the codetermination of certain things and processes via other things and processes.... more
In this paper, I put forward a theory about the modes and dimensions of being. In the first section, I define existence through coexistence, understood as the codetermination of certain things and processes via other things and processes. In the second section, I differentiate between modes and dimensions of being. In the third section, I argue that the modes of existing are the different ways in which coexistence and codetermination take place and discuss two types of modes ("fundamental" and "categorial"), to subsequently present a classification thereof. In the fourth section, I posit a theory about the dimensions of any existing thing or process, arguing for the existence of two types of dimensions: configurational and processual.
The Spanish philosopher Gustavo Bueno coined the expression “substantive arts” to refer to those arts that do not serve any immediate, mundane or practical purpose. In this paper, I briefly present this idea and put forward a definition... more
The Spanish philosopher Gustavo Bueno coined the expression “substantive arts” to refer to those arts that do not serve any immediate, mundane or practical purpose. In this paper, I briefly present this idea and put forward a definition of the substantive arts as an alternative to those used until now. Starting from the assumption that since the end of the 18th century there has been a set of arts that have their own substantivity, I expound on certain criteria widely used as distinctive features to define the substantive arts. I subsequently put forward an alternative intensional criterion to characterize the substantive arts. To end, I draw some corollaries following from the application of this criterion.
Research Interests:
En este artículo daré una respuesta razonada a la pregunta acerca de la utilidad de la filosofía. Empezaré analizando el sentido y la intencionalidad de la pregunta “filosofía, ¿para qué?”. A continuación, estudiaré los diferentes... more
En este artículo daré una respuesta razonada a la pregunta acerca de la utilidad de la filosofía. Empezaré analizando el sentido y la intencionalidad de la pregunta “filosofía, ¿para qué?”. A continuación, estudiaré los diferentes significados de la palabra “filosofía” en el contexto de esa pregunta (apartado segundo). En el epígrafe tercero, presentaré algunos ejemplos de respuestas a la pregunta “filosofía, ¿para qué?” tal como ésta se entiende en una perspectiva histórica y antropológica. A continuación, tomaré en consideración algunos sistemas filosóficos sobresalientes para ver cómo han respondido a la pregunta sobre la utilidad de la filosofía (apartado cuatro). Por último, argumentaré cuál es la respuesta a la pregunta “filosofía, ¿para qué?” desde una filosofía materialista estoica del presente (sección cinco).
In this paper, I will propose a classification of analogies based on their internal structure. Selecting the criteria used in that classification first requires discussing the minimal constitutive parts of any analogy. Accordingly, I will... more
In this paper, I will propose a classification of analogies based on their internal structure. Selecting the criteria used in that classification first requires discussing the minimal constitutive parts of any analogy. Accordingly, I will discuss the differences between analogy and similarity and between analogy and “synalogy,” and I will stress the importance of the analogy of operations and procedures. Finally, I will set forth a classification of the different types of analogies, which lends itself to a further understanding of the differences between certain modulations of the general idea of analogy, such as archetypes, prototypes, models, simulations, parables, paradigms, canons, maps, thought experiments, myths, utopias, dystopias and fables.
Research Interests:
This paper opens by distinguishing between the multiple concepts of system and the philosophical idea of system. It then goes on to discuss the differences between systems and other proximate ideas, such as whole, set, aggregate and... more
This paper opens by distinguishing between the multiple concepts of system and the philosophical idea of system. It then goes on to discuss the differences between systems and other proximate ideas, such as whole, set, aggregate and structure. Subsequently, it proposes a definition of system, and then lays out three classifications of systems. When elaborating a general definition of system, the main challenge is finding a general criterion with which to characterize both technical systems built by men (for instance, machines), and scientific systems independent of human subjects (for instance, the solar system). The criterion proposed in the text solves this difficulty. Lastly, from the tenets of Gustavo Bueno’s hyperrealist philosophy of categorial closure, I put forward the consideration of the sciences as systems.
Research Interests:
Resumen: En este artículo se presenta una clasificación de las ciencias realizada desde la filosofía del cierre categorial de Gustavo Bueno. En primer lugar, voy a comentar ciertos presupuestos de la teoría buenista que afectan a esta... more
Resumen: En este artículo se presenta una clasificación de las ciencias realizada desde la filosofía del cierre categorial de Gustavo Bueno. En primer lugar, voy a comentar ciertos presupuestos de la teoría buenista que afectan a esta tarea clasificatoria. Luego distinguiré las clasificaciones basadas en criterios ontológicos de las basadas en criterios gnoseológicos. A continuación, presentaré un criterio gnoseológico de clasificación de las ciencias que, aunque es diferente del propuesto por Gustavo Bueno, es interno a la filosofía del cierre categorial. Pasaré luego a aplicar ese criterio y propondré una clasificación de las ciencias que trataré de justificar confrontándola con otras alternativas.: This paper presents a classification of the sciences carried out from the Gustavo Bueno's philosophy of categorial closure. Firstly, I will comment on certain assumptions of Bueno's theory that affect this classificatory task. Then, I will distinguish the classifications based ...
This study examined attitudes towards and knowledge about abortion among undergraduate students doing eleven different subjects. The differences in attitudes and knowledge about abortion according to gender, religious and political... more
This study examined attitudes towards and knowledge about abortion among undergraduate students doing eleven different subjects. The differences in attitudes and knowledge about abortion according to gender, religious and political affiliation, religiosity, sexual orientation, number of sex partners and previous sexual experience were also considered. 1,025 undergraduate students (58.34% women and 41.66% men; mean age 20.18) completed the following instruments: an adaptation of the Abortion Attitudes Scale by Hill, and an adaptation of Abortion Knowledge Test by Esposito and Basow. With attitudes ranging from 0 to 100, medicine, psychology and nursing students were in the anti-abortion range (55.93, 54.19 and 53.62, respectively) while history, philology and physics students were in the pro-abortion rights range (48.44, 48.49 and 50.12, respectively). Law, medicine and nursing students showed greater theoretical knowledge about abortion, while physics, engineering and philology stud...
Research Interests: Psychology and Psicothema
Research Interests:
Tras una breve introducción al materialismo filosófico de Gustavo Bueno y a su antropología, se expone su teoría acerca de la diferencia entre individuo humano y persona, y se distingue entre la muerte del individuo humano biológico y... more
Tras una breve introducción al materialismo filosófico de Gustavo Bueno y a su antropología, se expone su teoría acerca de la diferencia entre individuo humano y persona, y se distingue entre la muerte del individuo humano biológico y el fallecimiento de la persona humana. Se pasa, entonces, a presentar la diferencia entra las normas éticas, morales y políticas, con el objeto de discutir el significado de una muerte buena y un buen fallecimiento desde cada uno de esos tres sistemas axiológicos. Por último, se expone y discute, tanto desde un punto de vista ético como político, la teoría de la «eutanasia procesal» propuesta por Gustavo Bueno.
This article analyzes certain aspects of the structure of bioethics as a discipline. It begins by arguing that bioethics is an academic discipline of a pragmatic nature and then puts forward a classification of the main problems, issues,... more
This article analyzes certain aspects of the structure of bioethics as a discipline. It begins by arguing that bioethics is an academic discipline of a pragmatic nature and then puts forward a classification of the main problems, issues, and concerns in bioethics, using this classification as a way to outline the limits and framework of the field. Pushing further, it contends that comprehensive treatment of any topic in bioethics requires that three normative dimensions (the ethical , the moral, and the political) be taken into account. It concludes that the classification of the issues and analysis of each issues normative dimensions can provide valuable contributions toward understanding the sui generis structure of bioethics as a pragmatic discipline.
Research Interests:
This paper analyzes the transformation from the human zygote to the implanted embryo under the prism of substantial change. After a brief introduction, it vindicates the Aristotelian ideas of substance and accident, and those of... more
This paper analyzes the transformation from the human zygote to the implanted embryo under the prism of substantial change. After a brief introduction, it vindicates the Aristotelian ideas of substance and accident, and those of substantial and accidental change. It then claims that the transformation from the multicelled zygote to the implanted embryo amounts to a substantial change. Pushing further, it contends that this substantial change cannot be explained following patterns of genetic reductionism, emergence, and self-organization, and proposes Gustavo Bueno's idea of anamorphosis as a means to encapsulate criticism against such positions.
In this paper I discuss the status of Darwinism as a genuine scientific truth. Firstly, I take into consideration certain historical interpretations which are not really philosophical since they are made from the points of view of... more
In this paper I discuss the status of Darwinism as a genuine scientific truth. Firstly, I take into consideration certain historical interpretations which are not really philosophical since they are made from the points of view of psychology, sociology and formal logic. Secondly, I discuss certain philosophical exegesis which I think are misguided: they make use of the idea of scientific truth as a description, as a theory and as a concordance between facts and theories. Then I defend a materialistic approach to the idea of scientific truth and to Darwinism as a scientific truth. This implies the discussion of how biological evolutionism should be understood as a constitutive part of our present reality. The paper ends with certain reflections about Darwinism after Darwin and a discussion on the limits of Darwinism.
Free on line: http://www.filosofia.org/rev/bas/bas22001.htm
Free on line: http://www.filosofia.org/rev/bas/bas22001.htm
The absence of agreement on the ethical legitimacy of abortion does not entail the impossibility of finding a consensus on the best policy on abortion. This consensus is affordable because nobody doubts that, regarding the methods of... more
The absence of agreement on the ethical legitimacy of abortion does not entail the impossibility of finding a consensus on the best policy on abortion. This consensus is affordable because
nobody doubts that, regarding the methods of birth control, contraception is better than abortion, abortion is better than infanticide and abortion is worse the later and the less safe it is performed.
Because the complete elimination of abortion is not possible, the most relevant realistic political objectives that can be proposed are reducing the abortion rate, reducing the gestational age of abortions and making the remaining abortions safer. Restrictive policies do not contribute to lowering the abortion rate while are associated with unsafe abortions and higher women’s morbidity and mortality.
nobody doubts that, regarding the methods of birth control, contraception is better than abortion, abortion is better than infanticide and abortion is worse the later and the less safe it is performed.
Because the complete elimination of abortion is not possible, the most relevant realistic political objectives that can be proposed are reducing the abortion rate, reducing the gestational age of abortions and making the remaining abortions safer. Restrictive policies do not contribute to lowering the abortion rate while are associated with unsafe abortions and higher women’s morbidity and mortality.
This paper argues the case for the actuality of the doctrine of two 16th-century Spanish scholastics, Luis de Molina and Domingo Báñez, which led to an important debate in the so-called De auxiliis Congregations. Said Congregations... more
This paper argues the case for the actuality of the doctrine of two 16th-century Spanish scholastics, Luis de Molina and Domingo Báñez, which led to an important debate in the so-called De auxiliis Congregations.
Said Congregations discussed how God lends his aid to men for them to act; thus divine omnipotence and omniscience can be compatible with human freedom. A brief summary of the positions held by the two protagonists of the discussion will be given in the first part of the paper. The second part is an attempt to uphold the actuality of this scholastic debate for today’s philosophy of human sciences: we shall compare
narrative history with the divine ‘science of vision’, and efficacious human techniques with God’s ‘middle science’.
Said Congregations discussed how God lends his aid to men for them to act; thus divine omnipotence and omniscience can be compatible with human freedom. A brief summary of the positions held by the two protagonists of the discussion will be given in the first part of the paper. The second part is an attempt to uphold the actuality of this scholastic debate for today’s philosophy of human sciences: we shall compare
narrative history with the divine ‘science of vision’, and efficacious human techniques with God’s ‘middle science’.
This paper discusses the ethical and epistemological implications of cultural relativism. An initial analysis identifies two possible sources of cultural relativism – the ideology rampant in current liberal democracies and what I term as... more
This paper discusses the ethical and epistemological implications of cultural relativism. An initial analysis identifies two possible sources of cultural relativism – the ideology rampant in current liberal democracies and what I term as “environmental fundamentalism”. It then moves on to discuss cultural relativism in relation to such universal ethical values as the basic human right of survival and the right to physical integrity. The paper ends by pitting itself against epistemological relativism and by upholding the universal character of scientific theorems.
