Habermas y el problema de la verdad

El texto revisa los problemas que ha suscitado el abandono, por parte de Habermas, de una concepción epistémica de la verdad. Este autor ha sostenido que los enunciados descriptivos pueden ser verdaderos o falsos (en un sentido no epistémico) y los juicios morales correctos o incorrectos (en un sentido epistémico). Las expresiones evaluativas no se encontrarían en ninguno de esos casos y no podrían aspirar a una validez independiente del contexto. El artículo examina —a la luz de la literatura— las críticas que esa posición ha suscitado. En general, se ha sostenido que mientras un enunciado descriptivo podría ser verdadero aunque no sepamos cómo justificarlo, no tendría sentido decir que un enunciado moral es correcto aunque no sepamos cómo justificarlo. Ello ocurriría porque mientras el concepto de verdad de Habermas es no epistémico, el concepto de corrección lo es. Para superar esa asimetría, McCarthy ha sugerido un concepto de corrección puramente procedimental; Putnam un concepto de verdad deflacionada; y Lafont una tesis realista tanto en el plano natural como moral.

Sexual health and socioeconomic-related factors in Spain

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to describe sexual health in Spain according to three important indicators of the World Health Organization definition and explore the influence of socioeconomic factors. Methods: We performed a population-based cross-sectional study of sexually active people aged 16-44 years residing in Spain in 2009 (2365 women and 2532 men). Three main aspects of sexual health were explored: sexual satisfaction, safe sex, and sexual abuse. The independent variables explored were age, age at first intercourse, reason for first intercourse, type of partner, level of education, country of origin, religiousness, parity, and social class. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted. Results: Both men and women were quite satisfied with their sexual life, their first sexual intercourse, and their sexual relationships during the previous year. Most participants had practiced safe sex both at first intercourse and during the previous year. Levels of sexual abuse were similar to those in other developed countries. People of disadvantaged socioeconomic position have less satisfying, more unsafe, and more abusive sexual relationships. Women experienced more sexual abuse and had less satisfaction at their first intercourse. Conclusions: The state of sexual health in Spain is relatively good. However, we observed inequalities according to gender and socioeconomic position.

La perspectiva de género desde el estudio de la familia cubana

Este trabajo presenta una investigación antropológica de carácter cualitativo que trata de mostrar la institución familiar y las relaciones de género, como inseparables del contexto sociocultural en el que se inscriben. Así, se tiene en cuenta de qué forma la dinámica y características de la familia se modelan en función de aspectos históricos, políticos, económicos e ideológicos. En particular, se analiza el caso cubano con el objetivo de averiguar hasta qué punto su pasado colonial y la incidencia de un Gobierno que, desde su instauración en 1959, proclamó su interés por lograr la igualdad entre géneros e incentivó la presencia de las mujeres en el espacio público, han incidido en el cambio o transformación de la familia y en la situación de la mujer cubana tanto dentro como fuera de la Isla.

The Significance of the Disputed Territory in Bechuanaland 1887-1893

British Imperial policy in Southern Africa in the last three decades of the nineteenth century oscillated between two extremes. It began in the early 1870's with Lord Kimberley's attempt to effect confederation as a means of devolving Imperial responsibility and expenditure. It ended in 1899 with Britain's active intervention against the Boers. For most of the remaining years of those decades a middle course was adopted while the British Government struggled to reconcile its diverse political interests. Strategy, supremacy, economy, humanitarianism, and recognition of colonial aspirations were all at one time or another, in varying degrees, motivating forces behind Imperial policy. Many historians have pointed out how incompatible many of these ends were and how the attempt to pursue them all at once almost inevitably ended in at least one of them being sacrificed on the way. This study focusses on a relatively minor problem over a period of about seven years. It attempts to show how the British Government tried to reconcile, in this case, the predominant motives of economy and supremacy. The problem of the Disputed Territory now seems like a small fish in a big ocean because non the great hopes and fears that it raised were ever realized. But the anticlimactic nature of the outcome of events should not be allowed to conceal two important points: first, that the problem loomed large at the time in the eyes of the Imperial Government; and second, that in the case of its policy towards the Disputed Territory, the Government gained a greater degree of success in trying to reconcile seemingly incompatible ends than it did in many other instances.

Polo-like kinase 4 controls centriole duplication but does not directly regulate cytokinesis

Centrioles organize the centrosome, and accurate control of their number is critical for the maintenance of genomic integrity. Centrioles duplicate once per cell cycle, and duplication is coordinated by Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4). We previously demonstrated that Plk4 accumulation is autoregulated by its own kinase activity. However, loss of heterozygosity of Plk4 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts has been proposed to cause cytokinesis failure as a primary event, leading to centrosome amplification and gross chromosomal abnormalities. Using targeted gene disruption, we show that human epithelial cells with one inactivated Plk4 allele undergo neither cytokinesis failure nor increase in centrosome amplification. Plk4 is shown to localize exclusively at the centrosome, with none in the spindle midbody. Substantial depletion of Plk4 by small interfering RNA leads to loss of centrioles and subsequent spindle defects that lead to a modest increase in the rate of cytokinesis failure. Therefore, Plk4 is a centriole-localized kinase that does not directly regulate cytokinesis.