These things are alive: relationships between material culture, communities, and archaeological legislation

This paper deals with the relationship between different sets of archaeological legislation, material culture and communities. First it presents a historical sketch of the heritage legislation in the West and its contemporary uses. Secondly, it shows how alternative archaeological agencies, such as community archaeology, deal with these problems. The discussion is especially relevant in Brazil, where contract archaeology is presently overwhelming, and the issue is raised in the last part of the paper.

Reflexive learning in pre-service training of primary school teachers: from experience to assimilation of contents

This article presents an educational experiment carried out in the Primary School Teaching Degree at the University of Barcelona. Specifically, the article analyses the application of the “Work Corners” approach in a core subject. In a three-year action research process, trainers put into practice an innovation which enabled them to boost cooperative work and reflexive learning among trainees. Firstly, the theoretical model underpinning the project and guiding many of the actions carried out by the training team is presented. After providing detailed information on the practical development of the experiment, the data-gathering process and its results are shown. Various information-gathering strategies were used in assessing the project, such as a questionnaire, participant observation, and teachers’ diaries. The results demonstrate, amongst other things, that “work corners” offer viable and appropriate educational conditions for the articulation of theoretical and practical knowledge, for building professional knowledge, and therefore, the beginnings of a reflexive teaching practice.

Averroes y las cosas justas por naturaleza

En su comentario a la Ética a Nicómaco, Averroes se ocupó del pasaje donde Aristóteles distingue entre las cosas que son justas por naturaleza y aquéllas que lo son en virtud de la ley (V, 7 1134b18-1135a5). Su comentario es particularmente breve, pero plantea algunas dificultades importantes, como su alusión a un derecho naturale legale, que, según Leo Strauss, vendría a ser simplemente un derecho positivo de aceptación general. En este artículo se busca caracterizar lo justo natural y lo justo positivo en el comentario de Averroes y mostrar el alcance de la variación de los criterios propios de la justicia positiva.

El concepto de “posesión común originaria” en la doctrina kantiana de la propiedad

Los primeros parágrafos de la sección “El derecho privado” (§§ 1-17) de la Doctrina del derecho de Kant incluyen el conjunto de los elementos sistemáticos que conciernen a la justificación de los derechos relativos a la propiedad. El propósito central de este trabajo es analizar la función sistemática del concepto de “posesión común originaria” en la doctrina kantiana de la propiedad, con especial interés en el sentido novedoso que adquiere ese concepto —que pertenecía a la tradición del derecho natural— en su reformulación como un “concepto práctico de la razón, que contiene a priori, el principio según el cual tan solo los hombres pueden hacer uso del lugar sobre la tierra siguiendo leyes jurídicas” (RL, 262).

El pensamiento político de José Ortega y Gasset

Las siguientes páginas versan sobre el pensamiento político de José Ortega y Gasset, mostrando –entre otras cosas– su evolución desde lo que sería el neokantismo de mocedad de Ortega hasta su madurez. Para cumplir con nuestro objetivo se ha recurrido a los escritos de Ortega, así como a autores especializados en su pensamiento. La historia del pensamiento político contemporáneo tiene una deuda contraída con Ortega que desde sus primeros escritos manifestó un claro interés por la política concebida ésta como pedagogía social y cuyo fin debía ser, en primer lugar, solventar los problemas de la vida pública nacional. El pensamiento político de Ortega se define asimismo por la defensa de los valores liberales (liberalismo) compatibles con los principios socialistas (socialismo), que en una primera época de juventud idealista neokantiana adquieren un significado eminentemente cultural aunque también moral, que no se perderá completamente en su madurez o época de plenitud vital, aunque bien es verdad que aquellos dos conceptos (liberalismo y socialismo), así como también su idea de democracia, irán respondiendo a la evolución de su pensamiento.

Museums and youth: between misunderstanding and disappointment. Youth perceptions and arguments about the cultural consumption of museums in Chile

Young people are less explored in museum audience research; this is a paradoxical situation when considering its strategic location in the cultural reproduction and if considering the high performing cultural consumption compared with other sectors. The phenomenon of museums consumption by young Chileans who are self recognized as public and non-public museums is explored from a qualitative approach. It was conducted with focus groups in the three largest cities in Chile (Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción). They identify the museum as a cultural institution in full force. However, in questioning museums activity youth reveal the specificity of their cultural matrix. This is referred to a social temporality based on the fragment, the discourse of familiarity, proximity and instead of breaking and critical. They claim a museum aesthetic / historical experience based on pleasure and enjoyment. An overview is proposed to further clarify the youth cultural consumption to characterize more precisely the place of the museum in the set, to design more effective policies museums.

The use of cues for attention in ancient Greek art: aspects that influence concentration in the work of art and its elements

The goal of this study is to identify cues for the cognitive process of attention in ancient Greek art, aiming to find confirmation of its possible use by ancient Greek audiences and artists. Evidence of cues that trigger attention’s psychological dispositions was searched through content analysis of image reproductions of ancient Greek sculpture and fine vase painting from the archaic to the Hellenistic period - ca. 7th -1st cent. BC. Through this analysis, it was possible to observe the presence of cues that trigger orientation to the work of art (i.e. amplification, contrast, emotional salience, simplification, symmetry), of a cue that triggers a disseminate attention to the parts of the work (i.e. distribution of elements) and of cues that activate selective attention to specific elements in the work of art (i.e. contrast of elements, salient color, central positioning of elements, composition regarding the flow of elements and significant objects). Results support the universality of those dispositions, probably connected with basic competencies that are hard-wired in the nervous system and in the cognitive processes.