El pensamiento político en la modernidad

In this article I examine the emergence of modern political thought and the unfulfilled promises that characterized modernity. If the Peace of Westphalia (1648) marks the beginning of modern political thought, the article explores the possibility of a «new peace of Westphalia» to confront the crisis of the paradigm of Modernity.

La invención de la diferencia costarricense, 1810-1870

Resumen En este artículo el autor ratrea el proceso de formación de los principales atributos de la nación costarricense y procura determinar cuales eran los sentidos de pertenencia en Costa Rica en el perido de 1810-1870 Abstract In this article the author traces the process of formation of the principal attributes of the Costa Rica nation, and determines which were the meanings of belonging in Costa Rica in the period 1810-1870

La invención de la diferencia costarricense, 1810-1870

Resumen En este artículo el autor ratrea el proceso de formación de los principales atributos de la nación costarricense y procura determinar cuales eran los sentidos de pertenencia en Costa Rica en el perido de 1810-1870 Abstract In this article the author traces the process of formation of the principal attributes of the Costa Rica nation, and determines which were the meanings of belonging in Costa Rica in the period 1810-1870.

Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas - vida y obra

La presente tesis doctoral tiene por objetivo analizar la obra y el pensamiento de Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas. El estudio se encuadra en el área del derecho romano puesto que él comenzó su carrera como iusromanista, doctorándose en Bolonia como colegial del Real Colegio de España con una tesis dirigida por Emilio Costa. Aquel trabajo recibió el premio Vittorio Emanuele Secondo y, tal y como se demostrará, fue el primer trabajo estrictamente científico de la romanística hispana moderna. Otras publicaciones del autor que se incluyen en el presente trabajo permitirán trazar las líneas del pensamiento jurídico, filosófico y –en parte- político de Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas.

Una scienza plausibile per un oggetto sfuggente. Popolazione, societa e governo nel pensiero politico di T.R. Malthus

Questa tesi è un’analisi storico-concettuale del pensiero politico di Thomas Robert Malthus. Si vedrà in particolar modo come la crisi rivoluzionaria tardo settecentesca, cui si sommano i rivolgimenti economici e sociali connessi alla nascita della produzione manifatturiera, spinge l’autore a ripensare alcuni concetti fondamentali del pensiero politico moderno. Popolazione, società, governo e costituzione sono gli oggetti principali di questa ricerca: il principio di popolazione è la legge scientifica cui il reverendo Malthus ricorre per elaborare le proprie teorie sul governo, il quale deve sempre porsi come scopo quello di preservare – o migliorare – la costituzione della società. La presenza politica di masse di poveri in società conduce l’autore alla ricerca di un principio scientifico in grado di fondare nella natura le gerarchie e la disuguaglianza da più parti contestate; in quanto dipendono da «leggi fondamentali», per Malthus le gerarchie e la disuguaglianza che da esse deriva sono un tratto costitutivo della società. La teologia, la morale e l’economia politica sono scienze di cui l’autore si serve per argomentare intorno all’incontestabile natura della povertà e della disuguaglianza tra i sessi, e per affermare le modalità di una loro proficua amministrazione. In India e in Irlanda, poi, le condizioni naturali di cui il principio di popolazione suggella la necessità si scoprono soggette a sfide del tutto originali rispetto a quelle osservabili in Inghilterra. Lì, allora, lo sforzo malthusiano di costruire una scienza all’altezza della complessità dell’oggetto sociale rivela con somma chiarezza la propria ambizione di naturalizzare la politica e garantire le condizioni di disciplinamento degli individui al lavoro e alla subordinazione. Il dispositivo di naturalizzazione che giace al cuore del sistema malthusiano rappresenta la cifra del problema Malthus che apre questa ricerca e ne scandisce i momenti salienti.

Gandhi nell'Atlantico Nero: geografie, movimenti, concetti

Questo lavoro ricostruisce l'uso strategico di Gandhi come “significante” nel pensiero politico dell'Atlantico Nero, nella lotta contro la supremazia bianca e nei processi di decolonizzazione. Le pratiche discorsive che hanno stretto alleanze metaforiche con il movimento gandhiano sono evidenziate come un mezzo con cui il discorso politico nero attraversa la linea di separazione tra metropoli e colonie, e sovverte la costruzione spaziale della modernità. L’analisi spazia dall'indomani della Prima guerra mondiale alla seconda metà degli anni Cinquanta. Questa parte di Secolo breve fu caratterizzata dalle due guerre mondiali, dalla Lega contro l'imperialismo e dai congressi panafricani - importanti punti di svolta che consolidarono la consapevolezza di un'esperienza comune di oppressione e sfruttamento razziale. La ricerca si concentra sui circuiti e movimenti editoriali e associativi, come i congressi panafricani (1919-1945), il movimento “New Negro”, l’UNIA di Marcus Garvey, il sindacalismo nero e i movimenti di liberazione africani - in particolare la Positive Action in Ghana, il movimento zikista in Nigeria e la Defiance Campaign in Sud Africa. Nel complesso quadro di gerarchie e idiosincrasie dell'Atlantico Nero, gli scarti semantici dell'uso di Gandhi come tropo politico sono connessi con diverse prospettive e visioni di solidarietà.

The aesthetic turn in international political theory

This essay explores the nature and significance of aesthetic approaches to international political theory. More specifically, it contrasts aesthetic with mimetic forms of representation. The latter, which have dominated the study of international relations, seek to represent politics as realistically and authentically as possible, aiming at capturing world politics as it really is. An aesthetic approach, by contrast, assumes that there is always a gap between a form of representation and what is represented therewith. Rather than ignoring or seeking to narrow this gap, as mimetic approaches do, aesthetic insight recognises that the inevitable difference between the represented and its representation is the very location of politics. The essay, thus, argues for the need to reclaim the political value of the aesthetic; not to replace social science or technological reason, but to broaden our abilities to comprehend and deal with the key dilemmas of world politics. The ensuing model of thought facilitates productive interactions across different faculties, including sensibility, imagination and reason, without any of them annihilating the unique position and insight of the other.

Book citations: influence of epidemiologic thought in the academic community

Whilst their 'death' has often been certified, books remain highly important to most professions and academic disciplines. Analyses of citations received by epidemiologic texts may complement other views on epidemiology. The objective was to assess the number of citations received by some books of epidemiology and public health, as a first step towards studying the influence of epidemiological thought and thinking in academia. For this purpose, Institute for Scientific Information/ Thomson Scientific - Web of Science/ Web of Knowledgedatabase was consulted, in May 2006. The book by Rothman & Greenland appeared to have received the highest number of citations overall (over 8,000) and per year. The books by Kleinbaum et al, and by Breslow & Day received around 5,000 citations. In terms of citations per year the book by Sackett et al ranks 3rd, and the one by Rose, 4th of those included in this preliminary study. Other books which were influential in the classrooms collected comparatively less citations. Results offer a rich picture of the academic influences and trends of epidemiologic methods and reasoning on public health, clinical medicine and the other health, life and social sciences. They may contribute to assess epidemiologists' efforts to demarcate epidemiology and to assert epistemic authority, and to analyze some historical influences of economic, social and political forces on epidemiological research.

Los objetos técnicos y los organismos tecnificados. Reflexiones filosóficas, estéticas y políticas sobre la técnica. Technical objects and technified organisms. Philosophical, aesthetical and political approaches on technique

El presente proyecto se propone como parte inicial de una investigación sobre la relación entre naturaleza/cultura/técnica. Tradicionalmente la naturaleza y la cultura se han considerado como ámbitos diferenciados y opuestos. Y es en esta distinción donde la técnica adquiere un lugar central. El pensamiento occidental sobre la técnica ha recibido diversas interpretaciones: desde una subordinación con respecto al conocimiento verdadero (episteme) en la filosofía clásica, un optimismo sobre la técnica como posibilidad de dominación de la naturaleza en el Renacimiento y la Ilustración, y la ambigüedad y desasosiego romántico (Mitcham, 1979). Durante el siglo XX se distinguen dos posiciones antagónicas sobre la técnica. Por un lado, una actitud “crítica” donde pueden identificarse los trabajos de filósofs de diferentes tradiciones como Ortega y Gasset (1939), Heidegger (1954), Mumford (1971) Ellul (1960) y la Escuela de Frankfurt. Por otro lado, una filosofía de la técnica “ingenieril” que consiste en el análisis de la tecnología como un paradigma de pensamiento y acción humana. Esta dicotomía ha sido interpretada por Eco como “apocalípticos e integrados”. Más allá de las mencionadas diferencias, lo que tienen en común ambas posiciones es que parten de una dicotomía entre cultura y naturaleza. Nuestra perspectiva rechaza esta dicotomía, por el contrario, evidenciamos una creciente imbricación entre ambas donde las fronteras entre una y otra se hacen difusas. La noción de “objeto técnico” propuesta por Simondon (2007) hace referencia a la inserción del objeto técnico en la cultura, donde debe reconocerse la “realidad humana” presente en el mismo. Ahora bien, esto no significa “humanizar el objeto técnico”, sino más bien indagar sobre el lugar que este ocupa en la cultura como también establecer su relación con la naturaleza. En el siglo XVII el hombre mismo es reinterpretado como máquina (La Mettrie, 2000). En la actualidad pueden identificarse dos tendencias en la concepción de la técnica: los «humanos-máquinas» y las «máquinas-humanas», en otras palabras, la disposición del humano hacia la máquina y la tendencia de la máquina hacia lo humano. No obstante, ambas posiciones siguen manteniendo una distinción taxonómica entre el cuerpo –o lo orgánico- y lo maquínico, lo que implica una consideración de esta relación de manera extrínseca. Frente a esta tensión Haraway propone el concepto de cyborg: «un organismo cibernético» (1995). Los desarrollos tecnológicos han producido una modificación tal en la vida de los seres orgánicos en los cuales ya no puede concebirse su cuerpo independientemente de la tecnología. Esto conduce a replantear la distinción entre “animales/hombres/máquinas”, entendiendo a los mismos como expresiones de naturaleza, cultura y tecnología respectivamente. Nuestra investigación parte de la hipótesis que la técnica diluye diferencias de orden natural y cultural a través de los objetos técnicos que son productos culturales. La estética se ocupa de la percepción sensible del mundo no puede eludir su dimensión técnica. Al margen de la crítica a la “Industria cultural” consideramos relevante la aproximación de Benjamin al problema de la técnica porque aborda la imbricación antes mencionada en el campo de la percepción. Según Benjamin la irrupción de la técnica al mismo tiempo que posibilita una estetización de la política que confluye en el fascismo como punto extremo también abre la posibilidad de desmontar la ideología del progreso infinito (1967). Una integración entre aproximaciones estéticas y políticas a la técnica Flusser (1983) propone la “caja negra” como metáfora de la técnica contemporánea. Su propuesta es la “apertura de la caja negra” que consiste en tomar conocimiento del funcionamiento del dispositivo. Nuestra propuesta de investigación aborda la técnica desde una consideración filosófica/estética/política, donde redefiniremos la técnica partiendo de la imbricación entre cultura y naturaleza. This project will set the basis for a sustained research on the relation nature/culture/technique. They have been traditionally considered as separate and even opposite fields. And it is on the brink of this distinction where technique plays a central role. In Western thought technique has received many interpretations since the beginnings of philosophy: from a subordination to true knowledge (episteme) in classic philosophy, or the optimism which sees in technique the possibility of dominating nature in the Renaissance and in the Enlightenment, to the Romantic ambiguity and uneasiness towards technological change (Mitcham, 1979). During the twentieth century two opposed approach on technique prevail. On one hand, a “critical” attitude such defines the work of philosophers of different traditions such as Ortega y Gasset (1939), Heidegger (1954), Mumford (1971) Ellul (1960) and the Frankfurt School. On the other hand there is an “engineering” philosophy of technique that consists in the analisis of technology as a paradigm to understand human action and thought. Besides their differences, both positions have in common a dichotomy between nature and culture. We reject such dichotomy. On the contrary we consider there is a growing intertwinement between both which blurs the borders of the concepts. Simondon’s notion of “technical object” refers to the insertion of the technique in culture where the “human reality” in it must be recognised. This does not imply “humanising the technical object”, but investigate on the role it plays on culture and establishing its relation to nature. To articulate this relation we will work with unorthodox approaches on technique such as Benjamin (1967), Flusser (1983) and others. The hypothesis of our project is that the traditional distinction of “animal/man/machine” must be re-thought, therefore raising the question on the blurring line between nature, culture and technique and its effects in philosophy, politics and aesthetics.

The Rise of democracy in Europe and the fight against mass poverty in Latin America: the implications for marxist thought of some recent mainstream papers

Recently a number of mainstream papers have treated the rise of democracy in 19th century Europe and its instability in Latin America in an eminently Marxist fashion. This paper sets out their implications for Marxist thought. With respect to Europe, Marx's emphasis on political action backed by the threat of violence is vindicated but his justification for socialism is not. With respect to Latin America, the unequal distribution of wealth is the cause of political instability that is, in turn, the root cause of mass poverty. In addition it is possible to explain some of the paradoxical characteristics of neo-liberalism and to make a weak argument for socialism in spite of its rejection in Europe.

Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890-1920)

The subject "Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890--1920)" should evoke several names and debates in the reader's mind. For a long time, Western scholars have been aware that the Russian economists Tugan-Baranovsky and Bortkiewicz were active participants to the Marxian transformation problem, that the mathematical models of Dmitriev prefigured forthcoming neoricardian based models, and that many Russian economists were either supporting the Marxian labour theory of value or being revisionists. Moreover, these ideas were preparing the ground for Soviet planning. Russian scholars additionally knew that this period was the time of introduction of marginalism in Russia, and that, during this period, economists were active in thinking the relation of ethics with economic theory. All these issues are well covered in the existing literature. But there is a big gap that this dissertation intends to fill. The existing literature handles these pieces separately, although they are part of a single, more general, history. All these issues (the labour theory of value, marginalism, the Marxian transformation problem, planning, ethics, mathematical economics) were part of what this dissertation calls here "The Russian synthesis". The Russian synthesis (in the singular) designates here all the attempts at synthesis between classical political economy and marginalism, between labour theory of value and marginal utility, and between value and prices that occurred in Russian economic thought between 1890 and 1920, and that embraces the whole set of issues evoked above. This dissertation has the ambition of being the first comprehensive history of that Russian synthesis. In this, this contribution is unique. It has always surprised the author of the present dissertation that such a book has not yet been written. Several good reasons, both in terms of scarce availability of sources and of ideological restrictions, may accounted for a reasonable delay of several decades. But it is now urgent to remedy the situation before the protagonists of the Russian synthesis are definitely classified under the wrong labels in the pantheon of economic thought. To accomplish this task, it has seldom be sufficient to gather together the various existing studies on aspects of this story. It as been necessary to return to the primary sources in the Russian language. The most important part of the primary literature has never been translated, and in the last years only some of them have been republished in Russian. Therefore, most translations from the Russian have been made by the author of the present dissertation. The secondary literature has been surveyed in the languages that are familiar (Russian, English and French) or almost familiar (German) to the present author, and which are hopefully the most pertinent to the present investigation. Besides, and in order to increase the acquaintance with the text, which was the objective of all this, some archival sources were used. The analysis consists of careful chronological studies of the authors' writings and their evolution in their historical and intellectual context. As a consequence, the dissertation brings new authors to the foreground - Shaposhnikov and Yurovsky - who were traditionally confined to the substitutes' bench, because they only superficially touched the domains quoted above. In the Russian synthesis however, they played an important part of the story. As a side effect, some authors that used to play in the foreground - Dmitriev and Bortkiewicz - are relegated to the background, but are not forgotten. Besides, the dissertation refreshes the views on authors already known, such as Ziber and, especially, Tugan-Baranovsky. The ultimate objective of this dissertation is to change the opinion that one could have on "value and prices in Russian economic thought", by setting the Russian synthesis at the centre of the debates.