Full Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science until retirement in 2013, and thereafter Collaborator of the Instituto de Humanismo y tradición clásica of The University of León, Spain. Main interests: Philosophy of Science (Biological and Human Sciences), Methodology of Science, and the theory of scientific explanation. And philosophy at large. The reader may find a summary of his philosophy in https://juanramonalvarez.academia.edu/research#drafts Phone: 699074521 Address: Primero de Mayo, 3, 8ºA
This paper interprets Kantian idea of a « possible » biological science. First, it offers the mai... more This paper interprets Kantian idea of a « possible » biological science. First, it offers the main traits of the idea; then, it deals whit the teleological bias of a science that must also allow for mechanical explanations; finally, its explanatory scheme is shown as a procedural pattern wherein observable forms are « explained » as reconstructions that deviate from previously constructed models.
The text presented here is an English version published in Spanish with the same title in Themata... more The text presented here is an English version published in Spanish with the same title in Themata (University of Seville, Spain, No. 20, 1998, pp. 49-66, devoted to the theme Philosophers and Biology. The original quotations' translations in Spanish or the source language have been back-translated, so there may be slight differences with the originals.
The following text is a version in American English of the paper
published in Spanish with the sa... more The following text is a version in American English of the paper published in Spanish with the same title in the extraordinary issue of the international philosophy journal Contrastes (University of Málaga, Spain) on the philosophy of science, coordinated by Pascual F. Martínez-Freire, corresponding to Supplement 3 (1998), pp. 59-79 thereof. The textual quotations in Spanish or the original language in this chapter of the volume were translated inversely, so they may differ slightly from each other.]
The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shape... more The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shaped according to the opposition between liberating values (desiderata) and eliminating values (demands or duties). The former are linked to symbolic, technical and social actions; the latter to their normative, ecological and institutional frameworks. Without the former, the latter do not exist (there are no languages without linguistic acts, there are no ecological systems without actions of transformation of the environment, there are no institutions without actions of some subjects on others), but without the latter, actions have no meaning (there is no meaning of symbolizations without normative frameworks of interpretation, transforming actions have no positive or negative effects outside the system of balances between conservation and destruction or extinction, the actions of some subjects on others lack legitimacy outside the institutional frameworks presupposed in their exercise). The articulation of the three spheres opposes actions as conditions of existence of structures to structures as conditions of meaning (significance, objectivity and legitimacy) of actions.
This text is the English translation, provided and revised by the author, of the article "Reducci... more This text is the English translation, provided and revised by the author, of the article "Reduccionismo clasficatorio y tipologías históricas en el pensamiento geográfico", published in El Basilisco (Oviedo, Spain), 12, 1981, pp. 60-68, available at https://fgbueno.es/bas/bas11208.htm. The textual citations in the original which were in Spanish have been translated inversely, so there may be slight differences between them.]
Note from 2024. The context of analysis of the sciences, considered here with respect to the huma... more Note from 2024. The context of analysis of the sciences, considered here with respect to the human sciences, is generally valid for all sciences and so much so that context C also serves to classify the sciences into natural, semiotic and human sciences. This is confirmed by Juan Ramón Álvarez, Ensayos metodológicos, León: Universidad de León, 1988, available at https://www.revistacontextos.es/7Ensayosmetodologicos.pdf
It analyzes in the same context the notions of method as the subordination to norms of symbolic, ... more It analyzes in the same context the notions of method as the subordination to norms of symbolic, technical and social operations, and that of scientific concept, as a proto-theory that links in the real exercise the general and structural concepts.
Biblio 3w: revista bibliográfica de geografía y ciencias sociales, Jun 5, 2010
... No citar sin permiso del autor) JUAN RAMÓN ÁLVAREZ Departamento de Psicología, Sociología y F... more ... No citar sin permiso del autor) JUAN RAMÓN ÁLVAREZ Departamento de Psicología, Sociología y Filosofía Universidad de León Correo-e: juan-ramon.alvarez@unileon.es Un espectro persigue a las ciencias sociales, el espectro de una ciencia natural de lo social. ...
Recovering this "narrative", which is, in turn, a "relic", has a definite purpose. To provide, wi... more Recovering this "narrative", which is, in turn, a "relic", has a definite purpose. To provide, without modification, a personal document used in a community process of "faculty promotion" (as it was called later) or "access to the teaching bodies", as administratively it was correct to call it then.
This study develops the idea of resolution level in the biological sciences field. A science's re... more This study develops the idea of resolution level in the biological sciences field. A science's resolution level consists of the conjugate pair of two objective levels between which the essential explanations in each science run, for example, atoms/molecules in classical chemistry. It is accessed throughout science depending on its methodology, although it has always existed ontologically: the process leads from methodology to ontology, the latter extended when necessary. This happened, for example, when it was necessary to introduce complex numbers so that all quadratics could be solved.
Hobbes' philosophy appears as the exercise of a method (for him both philosophical and scientific... more Hobbes' philosophy appears as the exercise of a method (for him both philosophical and scientific) of analysis and synthesis concerning a generic level of resolution of bodies and spatial movements, which are concretized at each ontological level from the simplest (natural) to the most complex (social) bodies.
Lecture (German text): 2nd Inter-American Congress on Philosophy of Technology, Mayagüez. Univers... more Lecture (German text): 2nd Inter-American Congress on Philosophy of Technology, Mayagüez. University of Puerto Rico, 1991, volume: E. Lugo, H.J. Huyke and W. Frey (eds.), Actas del 2º Congreso Interamericano de Filosofía de la Tecnología, Mayagüez. University of Puerto Rico, 1994, pp. 201-216. The present text is a revised translation by the author. The quoted texts have been retranslated from the originals and the Spanish translations contained in the Spanish volume; therefore, there may be slight differences between the texts
The reconsiderations made of one of the most important figures of what is known as Central Place ... more The reconsiderations made of one of the most important figures of what is known as Central Place Theory (CPT), namely Walter Christaller. Undoubted evidence of this ongoing revision is provided by the appearance in April of this year of the publication of a collective work that touches, in part, on the classics of the theory (Christaller and Lösch, chapters 8 and 9): Hitler's geographies: spatiality in the Third Reich (Giaccaria & Minca, 2016) … Read more
This paper interprets Kantian idea of a « possible » biological science. First, it offers the mai... more This paper interprets Kantian idea of a « possible » biological science. First, it offers the main traits of the idea; then, it deals whit the teleological bias of a science that must also allow for mechanical explanations; finally, its explanatory scheme is shown as a procedural pattern wherein observable forms are « explained » as reconstructions that deviate from previously constructed models.
The text presented here is an English version published in Spanish with the same title in Themata... more The text presented here is an English version published in Spanish with the same title in Themata (University of Seville, Spain, No. 20, 1998, pp. 49-66, devoted to the theme Philosophers and Biology. The original quotations' translations in Spanish or the source language have been back-translated, so there may be slight differences with the originals.
The following text is a version in American English of the paper
published in Spanish with the sa... more The following text is a version in American English of the paper published in Spanish with the same title in the extraordinary issue of the international philosophy journal Contrastes (University of Málaga, Spain) on the philosophy of science, coordinated by Pascual F. Martínez-Freire, corresponding to Supplement 3 (1998), pp. 59-79 thereof. The textual quotations in Spanish or the original language in this chapter of the volume were translated inversely, so they may differ slightly from each other.]
The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shape... more The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shaped according to the opposition between liberating values (desiderata) and eliminating values (demands or duties). The former are linked to symbolic, technical and social actions; the latter to their normative, ecological and institutional frameworks. Without the former, the latter do not exist (there are no languages without linguistic acts, there are no ecological systems without actions of transformation of the environment, there are no institutions without actions of some subjects on others), but without the latter, actions have no meaning (there is no meaning of symbolizations without normative frameworks of interpretation, transforming actions have no positive or negative effects outside the system of balances between conservation and destruction or extinction, the actions of some subjects on others lack legitimacy outside the institutional frameworks presupposed in their exercise). The articulation of the three spheres opposes actions as conditions of existence of structures to structures as conditions of meaning (significance, objectivity and legitimacy) of actions.
This text is the English translation, provided and revised by the author, of the article "Reducci... more This text is the English translation, provided and revised by the author, of the article "Reduccionismo clasficatorio y tipologías históricas en el pensamiento geográfico", published in El Basilisco (Oviedo, Spain), 12, 1981, pp. 60-68, available at https://fgbueno.es/bas/bas11208.htm. The textual citations in the original which were in Spanish have been translated inversely, so there may be slight differences between them.]
Note from 2024. The context of analysis of the sciences, considered here with respect to the huma... more Note from 2024. The context of analysis of the sciences, considered here with respect to the human sciences, is generally valid for all sciences and so much so that context C also serves to classify the sciences into natural, semiotic and human sciences. This is confirmed by Juan Ramón Álvarez, Ensayos metodológicos, León: Universidad de León, 1988, available at https://www.revistacontextos.es/7Ensayosmetodologicos.pdf
It analyzes in the same context the notions of method as the subordination to norms of symbolic, ... more It analyzes in the same context the notions of method as the subordination to norms of symbolic, technical and social operations, and that of scientific concept, as a proto-theory that links in the real exercise the general and structural concepts.
Biblio 3w: revista bibliográfica de geografía y ciencias sociales, Jun 5, 2010
... No citar sin permiso del autor) JUAN RAMÓN ÁLVAREZ Departamento de Psicología, Sociología y F... more ... No citar sin permiso del autor) JUAN RAMÓN ÁLVAREZ Departamento de Psicología, Sociología y Filosofía Universidad de León Correo-e: juan-ramon.alvarez@unileon.es Un espectro persigue a las ciencias sociales, el espectro de una ciencia natural de lo social. ...
Recovering this "narrative", which is, in turn, a "relic", has a definite purpose. To provide, wi... more Recovering this "narrative", which is, in turn, a "relic", has a definite purpose. To provide, without modification, a personal document used in a community process of "faculty promotion" (as it was called later) or "access to the teaching bodies", as administratively it was correct to call it then.
This study develops the idea of resolution level in the biological sciences field. A science's re... more This study develops the idea of resolution level in the biological sciences field. A science's resolution level consists of the conjugate pair of two objective levels between which the essential explanations in each science run, for example, atoms/molecules in classical chemistry. It is accessed throughout science depending on its methodology, although it has always existed ontologically: the process leads from methodology to ontology, the latter extended when necessary. This happened, for example, when it was necessary to introduce complex numbers so that all quadratics could be solved.
Hobbes' philosophy appears as the exercise of a method (for him both philosophical and scientific... more Hobbes' philosophy appears as the exercise of a method (for him both philosophical and scientific) of analysis and synthesis concerning a generic level of resolution of bodies and spatial movements, which are concretized at each ontological level from the simplest (natural) to the most complex (social) bodies.
Lecture (German text): 2nd Inter-American Congress on Philosophy of Technology, Mayagüez. Univers... more Lecture (German text): 2nd Inter-American Congress on Philosophy of Technology, Mayagüez. University of Puerto Rico, 1991, volume: E. Lugo, H.J. Huyke and W. Frey (eds.), Actas del 2º Congreso Interamericano de Filosofía de la Tecnología, Mayagüez. University of Puerto Rico, 1994, pp. 201-216. The present text is a revised translation by the author. The quoted texts have been retranslated from the originals and the Spanish translations contained in the Spanish volume; therefore, there may be slight differences between the texts
The reconsiderations made of one of the most important figures of what is known as Central Place ... more The reconsiderations made of one of the most important figures of what is known as Central Place Theory (CPT), namely Walter Christaller. Undoubted evidence of this ongoing revision is provided by the appearance in April of this year of the publication of a collective work that touches, in part, on the classics of the theory (Christaller and Lösch, chapters 8 and 9): Hitler's geographies: spatiality in the Third Reich (Giaccaria & Minca, 2016) … Read more
Construyendo espacios: la ciudad iberoamericana virreinal. Teoría y estudios de caso, 2020
En las últimas décadas los estudios sobre la ciudad hispanoamericana del periodo de dominación es... more En las últimas décadas los estudios sobre la ciudad hispanoamericana del periodo de dominación española se han visto incrementados con múltiples publicaciones en las que se abordan diferentes aspectos, sin que el tema acabe por agotarse y continúe deparando nuevos y sugerentes enfoques y análisis. Esta obra pretende contribuir al desarrollo de tales estudios a través de la incorporación de diversos temas y con un planteamiento interdisciplinar, como es tradicional en las investigaciones del Instituto de Humanismo y Tradición Clásica, que van de la filosofía a la literatura, pasando por la historia, la geografía y el arte. Varias localidades iberoamericanas, desde Nueva España hasta los virreinatos del Perú y Río de la Plata, se ven retratadas en este trabajo desde diferentes perspectivas.
Engaging Asia. Essays on Laos and Beyond in Honour of Martin Stuart-Fox. Edited by Desley Goldston., 2018
A contribution to the volume dedicated to Martin Stuart-Fox: an appraisal of his theory of cultur... more A contribution to the volume dedicated to Martin Stuart-Fox: an appraisal of his theory of cultural evolution.
Teaching document for a Lecture and Seminar within the Master in Western Thought offered by the I... more Teaching document for a Lecture and Seminar within the Master in Western Thought offered by the Instituto de Humanismo y Tradición Clásica, University of León, Spain. It provides a threefold analysis of Marx' intellectual path as a critic of philosophy and political economy, as an outsider in full possession of a vast academic knowledge, as well as two weighted readings of his works with some visionary elements but with many scientific and philosophical approaches reaching present problems.
Nota previa: Reproduzco para uso docente el texto fijado por Jimmy Soni, <https://medium.com/the... more Nota previa: Reproduzco para uso docente el texto fijado por Jimmy Soni, <https://medium.com/the-mission/a-genius-explains-how-to-be-creative-claude-shannons-long-lost-1952-speech-fbbcb2ebe07f > Consultado 14/04/2018. El texto fue la base de una intervención oral, el 2 de marzo de 1952 en los Laboratorios Bell, y contiene indicaciones situacionales que han de entenderse en el marco de ejecución incluyente de representaciones gráficas y otros recursos audiovisuales. La traducción no añade nada al contenido original y no intenta mejorar la redacción del autor, manteniendo incluso probables errores.. En reproducción fotográfica se halla en <https://es.scribd.com/document/355277426/Claude-Shannon-Creative-Thinking> Consultado 08/05/2018. Se incluye el número de página entre escuadras. Se encuentra recogido en Shannon, C. E. (1993b): Miscellaneous Writings, edited by N. J. A. Sloane and A. D. Wyner. Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.4.1, accesible en <https://archive.org/details/ShannonMiscellaneousWritings> Consultado 15/04/2018. Muchos pasajes hacen relación a la relación “topográfica” del orador en el aula, respecto de la audiencia y los medios audiovisuales empleados.
Rationale for the presentation of a Syllabus of the subject "Philosophy of Nature" in an examina... more Rationale for the presentation of a Syllabus of the subject "Philosophy of Nature" in an examination for the position of Associate Professor in the Spanish Universities, which took place in 1979.
Lecture sketches for a seminar which took place in the Master's course of the Instituto de Humani... more Lecture sketches for a seminar which took place in the Master's course of the Instituto de Humanismo y Tradición Clásica of León (Spain) in April 2018 (in Spanish).
Information, culture, and history. Master's class lecture sketches concerning the Philosophy of H... more Information, culture, and history. Master's class lecture sketches concerning the Philosophy of History (in Spanish).
Resumen: En el año 2010 participé en el Máster Universitario en Formación del Profesorado de Educ... more Resumen: En el año 2010 participé en el Máster Universitario en Formación del Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas (Módulo: GEOGRAFÍA E HISTORIA), de la Universidad Internacional de Valencia (VIU) como Profesor Invitado. Las bases textuales de mi intervención grabada se recogen a continuación.
CURSO: 2º Breve descripción del contenido: La asignatura Filosofía de la ciencia como forma cultu... more CURSO: 2º Breve descripción del contenido: La asignatura Filosofía de la ciencia como forma cultural está encaminada a proporcionar una presentación a la vez temática y operativa (metodológica) de las ciencias, que ofrece tanto conocimientos como procedimientos analíticos para la comprensión de la actividad científica en sus diferentes contextos históricos. Aunque la ciencia coexiste con diversas formas culturales, tiene, sin embargo, una relación especial con la tecnología y la filosofía en el complejo de racionalidad en el cual la ciencia puede ser analizada con relación con esas dos actividades racionales. En coherencia con lo anterior se elabora un contexto de análisis para las diversas ciencias, en el cual se obtiene una clasificación de las ciencias y un concepto de método científico. Conforme al mismo contexto analiza la relación entre la ciencia y los valores, siendo éstos de tres clases: valores comunicativos, económicos y sociales. Se consideran las ciencias en su relación con las concepciones del mundo, porque las revoluciones científicas contribuyen al cambio de aquéllas. El contexto próximo en su forma actual de " complejo tecnocientífico " , recibe un estudio tanto en lo referente a su forma presente como a sus perspectivas de futuro. Contenido: Bloque Tema
Compromiso social y género: la historia de las matronas en España en la SegundaRepública, la Guer... more Compromiso social y género: la historia de las matronas en España en la SegundaRepública, la Guerra Civil y la autarquía (1931-1955) [Social commitment and gender:the history of midwives in Spain during the Second Republic, the Civil War and theautarchy (1931-1955)], Alcalá de Henares: Ayuntamiento de Alcalá, 2017, is a bookwhose authors are part of a research group in the history of health sciences and Spanishhealthcare, which won the María Isidra de Guzmán Research Award, summoned in2016 and awarded in 2017. Therein, the authors reconstruct the history of the midwifeprofession from the 1920s until the absorption of this degree in the Technical HealthAssistant (ATS) in the 1950s. Both are professors in History of Science at theUniversity of Alcalá de Henares. Dolores Ruiz Berdún, with a long professionalexperience as a midwife, University Ph.D. Professor and author of numerous researchworks published not only on this subject, but she is already an authority. Alberto Gomis,a Professor at the same university, was recently elected President of the Royal SpanishSociety of Natural History, with numerous works on Darwin and his reception -positive and negative, depending on the time and the political regime- in Spain, culminating in this book a collaboration in previous publications.
Juan Ramón Álvarez, "Metodo analítico-sintético y nivel de resolución
corporeísta en la filosofía... more Juan Ramón Álvarez, "Metodo analítico-sintético y nivel de resolución corporeísta en la filosofía de Hobbes”, Estudios Sobre Filosofia Moderna y Contemporánea, Number 1, Collection Contextos, León: Universidad de León, Secretariado de Publicaciones, 1984,pp. 77-97. By Devon Peña
Post published on the blog NATURAETCULTURA maintained by its author, who has also reviewed this t... more Post published on the blog NATURAETCULTURA maintained by its author, who has also reviewed this translation. The literal quotations have been translated into English from the Spanish language of the original, so there might be slight differences with those originals. References can be consulted here.] The Ego of Christ, like the Ego of Yahweh, is in no way psychic: it is a transcendental Ego, without its theological "harmonics" being of the slightest importance for this (Bueno, El Ego trascendental, Kindle version, loc. 4926).
Ludus vitalis, vol. XXVI, num. 50, 2018, pp. 157-161., 2018
Answers to the questions posed by the journal Ludus vitalis to various academics about the relati... more Answers to the questions posed by the journal Ludus vitalis to various academics about the relationships among biological, human, and semiotic sciences, as well as philosophy and biology.
Resumen: En este breve texto se atiende a la clasificación de los sistemas filosóficos que Gustav... more Resumen: En este breve texto se atiende a la clasificación de los sistemas filosóficos que Gustavo Bueno formuló en términos de su ontología de Ensayos materialistas (1972) y El Ego trascendental (2016), conforme a las relaciones de orden (inclusión o subordinación) que guardan entre sí las ideas de materia (M), mundo (M i: los tres géneros de materialidad) y de Ego trascendental (E), bajo la condición restrictiva de mundo es " menos " que materia (M i ⊂ M). Se relacionan las obras de Historia de la filosofía –escritas y orales-que han seguido la orientación de una taxonomía transformacional que tiene carácter sinecdóquico, puesto que un tipo es a la vez parte y todo, por la pretensión envolvente del materialismo filosófico. Se advierte de que al mismo tiempo que esta ontología se fue desarrollando una filosofía de la ciencia, entendida como gnoseología frente a epistemología, de que habrá que ocuparse más adelante así como de las demás líneas de este sistema filosófico. Abstract: In this short review attention is paid to the classification of philosophical systems drawn by Gustavo Bueno in terms of the ontology developed in Essays on materialism (1972) and Transcendental Ego (2016), according to the order relations (inclusion or subordination) that obtain between the ideas of matter (M), world (Mi: the three kinds of matter), and Transcendental ego (E), constrained by the condition that the world is " less " than matter (Mi ⊂ M). A list of research works in the History of philosophy –written as well as oral-that followed the way of a synecdochical transformational taxonomy because one type is both part and whole, which is the claim of philosophical materialism in this context. Likewise, there is a caveat that indicates that while this ontology is in the making a philosophy of science opposed to the traditional epistemology is emerging therein, which ought to be accounted for as well as about other dimensions within this philosophical system.
Nota rememorando los 80 años del nacimiento de W. D. Hamilton y su teoría del altruismo: aptitud ... more Nota rememorando los 80 años del nacimiento de W. D. Hamilton y su teoría del altruismo: aptitud inclusiva y selección de parentesco.
Walter Christaller es para los geógrafos una figura señera –para bien y para mal- desde que su ob... more Walter Christaller es para los geógrafos una figura señera –para bien y para mal- desde que su obra de 1933, Los lugares centrales del sur de Alemania ofreció, tras los trabajos de Von Thünen y Alfred Weber para la localización de los sectores agrario e industrial, una teoría de la localización para sector terciario. En La racionalidad hexagonal. La identidad científica de la teoría normativa de los lugares centrales (1991) se halla un estudio de la traición inaugurada por su obra y la tradición que le siguió en el mundo anglosajón, donde fue más influyente incluso que en Alemania o Europa. En los últimos años se contribución ha sido revisada y su posición política –especialmente por su colaboración con el régimen nazi en la planificación de los territorios ocupados de la Europa del Este- duramente criticada. Esta pegatina de mi blog analiza la polémica suscitada.
Abstract. This article provides an analysis of the place occupied by philosophy in relation to th... more Abstract. This article provides an analysis of the place occupied by philosophy in relation to the two cultures -science and humanities- in so far as philosophy may play the role of a "third culture". This position is compared with other efforts to establish that third place on behalf of the reflections of natural scientists or of Sociology as a third scientific form in face of the mentioned dichotomy. The thirdness of philosophy is also considered in face of another well known dichotomy -science/technology- by the assignation of sense as the proper trait of its reflections, opposite to truth as the intended property of the propositions of scientific theories, and to the efficacy linked to technological productions.
The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shape... more The axiology of science, and the general axiology, is articulated in three areas of values, shaped according to the opposition between liberating values (desiderata) and eliminating values (demands or duties). The former are linked to symbolic, technical and social actions; the latter to their normative, ecological and institutional frameworks. Without the former, the latter do not exist (there are no languages without linguistic acts, there are no ecological systems without actions of transformation of the environment, there are no institutions without actions of some subjects on others), but without the latter, actions have no meaning (there is no meaning of symbolizations without normative frameworks of interpretation, transforming actions have no positive or negative effects outside the system of balances between conservation and destruction or extinction, the actions of some subjects on others lack legitimacy outside the institutional frameworks presupposed in their exercise). The articulation of the three spheres opposes actions as conditions of existence of structures to structures as conditions of meaning (significance, objectivity and legitimacy) of actions. … Read more
The textual quotations of the text in Spanish or the language of the authors were translated inve... more The textual quotations of the text in Spanish or the language of the authors were translated inversely, so there may be slight differences with the initial ones. I am indebted to Adrián Álvarez Lafuente for the composition of the figures, as well as for other formatting assistance.]
Abstract: Definition is a methodological procedure typical of all sciences. This article develops... more Abstract: Definition is a methodological procedure typical of all sciences. This article develops the idea of this procedure in an analysis that approaches all science from the perspective of its principles and procedures: the former is the basis of its ontology, and the latter is its methodology. The analysis of thereof establishes that scientific definitions must be real and effective. The content of these properties constitutes the body of this work.
The original textual citations, which were all in Spanish, were translated inversely, so slight d... more The original textual citations, which were all in Spanish, were translated inversely, so slight differences may have occurred. That publication is available at https://bit.ly/3vriQbY].
A concise dictionary entry presentation of the philosophical concept of judgement in an epistemol... more A concise dictionary entry presentation of the philosophical concept of judgement in an epistemological perspective (in Spanish), (Muñoz, J. y Velarde, J. (Eds.), Compendio de epistemología, Madrid: Trotta, 2000.)
A concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of LOGICISM in an epistemological pers... more A concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of LOGICISM in an epistemological perspective (in Spanish), (Muñoz, J. & Velarde, J. (Eds.), Compendio de epistemología, Madrid: Trotta, 2000.)
[English translation of a concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of PROOF in ... more [English translation of a concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of PROOF in an epistemological perspective (in Spanish), in Muñoz, J. y Velarde, J. (Eds.), Compendio de epistemología, Madrid, Trotta, 2000.]
El texto que sigue fue redactado en 2022, como testimonio de apoyo a la revista Ludus Vitalis, qu... more El texto que sigue fue redactado en 2022, como testimonio de apoyo a la revista Ludus Vitalis, que entonces estaba a punto de desaparecer ny que habría de publicarse en su último número. Por suerte hoy esa circunstancia ha cambiado y la revista comenzará pronto una segunda singladura, gracias a los esfuerzos de la dirección de la primera época, a la AIFIBI y acogida editorialmente por la Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile.
This text is the author's English version of the work published in Spanish in Contextos (Universi... more This text is the author's English version of the work published in Spanish in Contextos (Universidad de León) lV/7, 1986, pp. 161-174, on the occasion of the bicentennial of the publication of Kant's book discussed herein. I have back-translated the literal quotations in Spanish in the original publication, so there may be slight differences between them.]
Essay on Hobbes' philosophy as a system highlighted by a material-corporealist ontology, an empir... more Essay on Hobbes' philosophy as a system highlighted by a material-corporealist ontology, an empiricist epistemology and an analytic-synthetic methodology. Within this framework, human reason emerges as the self-regulation of instinct in the face of the fear of violent death.
A concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of PARADOX in an epistemological persp... more A concise dictionary entry about the philosophical concept of PARADOX in an epistemological perspective (in Spanish), (Muñoz, J. y Velarde, J. (Eds.), Compendio de epistemología, Madrid: Trotta, 2000.)
held in Oviedo in 1982 and published in its Proceedings (available at https://www.researchgate.ne... more held in Oviedo in 1982 and published in its Proceedings (available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284720688). Forty-two years after its publication, its reading may serve more to obtain a historical knowledge of the issues in vogue at the time, but perhaps not to take it as a current reflection on present problems. Often quoted in this text, Kant distinguished between historical and rational knowledge as two disjunct forms of knowledge. However, after him, others (Dilthey, Ortega, et al.) advocated their union within the framework of historical reason. The reader may choose.]
After the death of Stephen J. Gould and René Thom, this paper recalls their contribution to biolo... more After the death of Stephen J. Gould and René Thom, this paper recalls their contribution to biological theory from each of their theoretical positions, with special attention to their maintenance of the morphological tradition within biological thought i n a century dominated by the evolutionary synthesis. Thom's contribution is reviewed in his application of mathematical models to morphogenesis and his insertion of mathematics into biological reality itself. As a leading evolutionary theorist, the review of Gould goes beyond his relationship with the morphological tradition to address the main points of his conception of evolution as a biologist, historian and philosopher of science.
In der Tradition der Humangeographie war die christallerianische Theorie der zentralen Orte sowoh... more In der Tradition der Humangeographie war die christallerianische Theorie der zentralen Orte sowohl ein Ursprung -erste Form dessen, was hier als normative Theorie der zentralen Orte bezeichnet wird (NTZ)- und Paradigm, das verdeutlicht den Anspruch einer nomothetischen Wissenschaft, deren Funktion es ist, Gesetze aufzustellen, die die menschliche Handlungen im Raum subsumieren (vgl. SCHAEFER, 1971). Die vorliegende Analyse liefert eine Weiterentwicklung der Ergebnisse des zweiten Teils einer Untersuchung, die sich mit der wissenschaftlichen Identität und dem Erklärungsmodell des NTZ befasst. Die These, die hier vertreten wird, ist, dass die normativen und nomothetischen Merkmale der NTZ nur in dem Modell der wissenschaftlichen Erklärung zusammenpassen können, das ich als rekonstruktiv-naturalistisch bezeichne und das in dem grundlegenden Werk von Christaller (1980), vollkommen explizit ist.
Although the ideas associated with the term "teleology" have had a long and checkered history, an... more Although the ideas associated with the term "teleology" have had a long and checkered history, and teleological language continues to be viewed with suspicion by many scientists and philosophers, its use in biology.... is widespread. Indeed, many biologists believe that such language is indispensable for describing and explaining many important biological phenomena. (ERNEST NAGEL, Teleology Revisited and Other Essays) The notion of finality in biological discourse has a very long, even variegated and motley history, which cannot, and should not be summarized in a note; even less so when that note is a kind of note in the second degree-a note on a short article which also has all the characteristics of a note. The article that has been used as the "occasion" for the following text consists of a few pages by Marjorie Grene, entitled "Biology and Teleology" (BT), published by the Cambridge Review in 1964. [1] She aimed to show which are the contexts in which biological discourse employs teleological (finalistic) expressions, to classify them and, finally, to establish their theoretical warranties. The basic thesis of Grene's paper, reproduced verbatim, reads: Teleological reference in biological discourse can be characterized as (l) reflexive, (2) regulative, (3) descriptive, (4) operational, (5) explanatory, or (6) ontological. [2]
ABSTRACT: This article comments on R. J. Johnston's book Philosophy and Human Geography. An Intro... more ABSTRACT: This article comments on R. J. Johnston's book Philosophy and Human Geography. An Introduction to Contemporary Approaches, consisting of a history of polemics in the form of a systematization of the philosophies that affected the development of Human Geography. Johnston develops his book in five chapters, giving the reader a broad overview of the philosophies of geographers dedicated to Human Geography. All this is treated employing the triplet epistemology/ontology/methodology, sticking more to the positivist model. Three geographical philosophies- positivism, Marxist structuralism and humanism, are discussed.
This paper deals with the influence that, especially from 1950 to 1970, logical positivism, as a ... more This paper deals with the influence that, especially from 1950 to 1970, logical positivism, as a philosophy of science, had on the methodological developments in Human Geography, which, with greater or lesser success, were called "quantitative revolution" and/or "new Geography". The exposition is divided into three parts: a historical part, a thematic part and a final part of reconstruction and critique. I. This influence took place within the framework provided by the recovery of a tradition of geographical knowledge beginning in the early 1930s-in particular with the work of W. Christaller, The Central Places of Southern Germany (1933), which served as a reference, alongside logical positivistic philosophy, particularly in the version given by Gustav Bergmann in his well-known Philosophy of Science (1971), in two of the most important theoretical contributions of geographical thought under consideration: Exceptionalism in Geography by F.K. Schaefer (1953) and Theoretical Geography by W. Bunge (1962). The theoretical expression of this current can be found represented in its mature form in David Harvey's methodological treatise, Explanation in Geography (1969), whose date already indicates the end of the period when the two most pronounced criticisms of the so-called "positivist geography", namely, humanistic geography (with marked influences of phenomenology, existentialism and hermeneutics) and Marxist geography, began to gain importance. II. In this historical framework, one of the main directions of the logical positivistic influence on Human Geography stands out, that which follows the idea of science as a theory in which laws are established that allow the explanation and, presumably, the prediction of geographical phenomena understood as spatial phenomena. Thus, in polemical terms, this time in the logical positivistic register, the neo-Kantian opposition idiographic/nomothetic sciences is taken up in favor of the latter, preserving the qualifier of the former for traditional geography, which is rejected. The explanatory model adopted conforms to the version given to it by Hempel under the name of the deductive-nomological model (DN), both in its deterministic and probabilistic forms: phenomena are explained (and predicted, according to the thesis of structural symmetry) by inferring them from a set of laws and another of antecedent conditions. III. However, the acceptance of this model and its attribution to the Christallerian explanatory tradition was based on two stepped confusions. 1) In the fusion of the Christallerian explanatory model with DN, even though it does not conform to it, but to a different model that I have called reconstructivenaturalistic (RN), in which (a) norms are introduced to understand actions, (b) basic morphologies are constructed starting from those norms and (c) phenomena (observed morphologies) are explained by 1 The text of this paper is the English translation made by the author of a lecture delivered at the University of Salamanca in the Congress "Reexamining Neopositivism", which took place in 1991 and whose Proceedings were published in 1992. In Spanish, the term "neopositivismo" has triumphed over the expressions "empirismo lógico" and "positivismo lógico". To conform more with the name of this current in English, "logical positivism", used in Ayer's classic book (1959), is the best choice. The text in Spanish is available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284719886_Neopositivismo_y_ciencias_humanas_filosofia_de _la_ciencia_y_geografia.
Biosemiótica: Comunicación y causalidad (Información incluida) [El texto que sigue es la versión ... more Biosemiótica: Comunicación y causalidad (Información incluida) [El texto que sigue es la versión en español de artículo publicado en inglés en Triple C 7(2. 72-178, 2009. Las citas textuales, que estaban traducidas del inglés al español, han sido traducidas aquí inversamente, por lo cual puede haber ligaras diferencias con las originales]
After 150 years elapsed since the publication of Capital (in 2017) and 200, since Marx was, born ... more After 150 years elapsed since the publication of Capital (in 2017) and 200, since Marx was, born (2018), the author gave a lecture with a seminar at the Institute of Humanism and Classical Tradition of the University of León. Marx (and Engels) is studied as a critic, polymath and visionary on the material used and bringing up to date what is necessary. The current draft considers the first two figures. The third remains pending for a second part, with which the complete study will be achieved.
Lecture delivered at the 1991 SOPHIA (Sociedad Iberoamericana de Filosofía) Congress [This text i... more Lecture delivered at the 1991 SOPHIA (Sociedad Iberoamericana de Filosofía) Congress [This text is the Spanish version, revised by the author, of the English original that served as the basis for the lecture] (This is an unpublished text. Please do not quote it without permission). It deals with the theory of explanation in the human sciences in terms of the reconstructive-naturalistic model of scientific explanation.
The best way to advance in the analysis of the relationship between determinism and freedom is no... more The best way to advance in the analysis of the relationship between determinism and freedom is not to take these concepts as primitive and indivisible terms. It is usual to identify-if not in their entirety, at least preferentially-determinism with causal determinism, against which and concerning the freedom of actions, two positions have been proposed, the so-called compatibilistic and incompatibilistic conceptions. The first argues that freedom, understood under certain conditions, has a place within a causally determined world.
Uploads
published in Spanish with the same title in the extraordinary issue of
the international philosophy journal Contrastes (University of Málaga,
Spain) on the philosophy of science, coordinated by Pascual F.
Martínez-Freire, corresponding to Supplement 3 (1998), pp. 59-79
thereof.
The textual quotations in Spanish or the original language in this
chapter of the volume were translated inversely, so they may differ
slightly from each other.]
… Read more
published in Spanish with the same title in the extraordinary issue of
the international philosophy journal Contrastes (University of Málaga,
Spain) on the philosophy of science, coordinated by Pascual F.
Martínez-Freire, corresponding to Supplement 3 (1998), pp. 59-79
thereof.
The textual quotations in Spanish or the original language in this
chapter of the volume were translated inversely, so they may differ
slightly from each other.]
… Read more
corporeísta en la filosofía de Hobbes”, Estudios Sobre Filosofia
Moderna y Contemporánea, Number 1, Collection Contextos, León:
Universidad de León, Secretariado de Publicaciones,
1984,pp. 77-97.
By Devon Peña
En los últimos años se contribución ha sido revisada y su posición política –especialmente por su colaboración con el régimen nazi en la planificación de los territorios ocupados de la Europa del Este- duramente criticada. Esta pegatina de mi blog analiza la polémica suscitada.
… Read more
Public File
1