Expanding Our Grasp: Causal Knowledge and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives

I argue that scientific realism, insofar as it is only committed to those scientific posits of which we have causal knowledge, is immune to Kyle Stanford’s argument from unconceived alternatives. This causal strategy (previously introduced, but not worked out in detail, by Anjan Chakravartty) is shown not to repeat the shortcomings of previous realist responses to Stanford’s argument. Furthermore, I show that the notion of causal knowledge underlying it can be made sufficiently precise by means of conceptual tools recently introduced into the debate on scientific realism. Finally, I apply this strategy to the case of Jean Perrin’s experimental work on the atomic hypothesis, disputing Stanford’s claim that the problem of unconceived alternatives invalidates a realist interpretation of this historical episode.

Alessandro Baricco: A Modern Homer / Alessandro Baricco: Omero Modern

Alessandro Baricco is an Italian author, pianist, journalist and music critic, among a wide range of many other talents. His novels have won great critical acclaim in Italy and France and are popular around the world. While generally considered among the postmodern writers, some critics have accused him of being a forerunner in a 1990s movement dubbed letteratura giovanile, that is juvenile literature that is simplistic, targets a young audience and is created for the sole purpose of making money. This criticism is unwarranted. Baricco is a multitalented author who pays strict attention to the quality of his work and weaves plotlines replete with a diverse set of genres, literary devices and symbolism, often inspired by other great writers and thinkers. However, literary critics have yet to acknowledge one of Baricco's strongest and most important influences: Homer, the ancient Greek bard and author of the epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Taking Baricco's work in a Homeric context can aid in viewing it as valid and important work, worthy of scholarly discussion and interpretation, rather than, as some critics accuse, a one-dimensional story meant only for children. This paper will argue that Baricco's work is Homeric and, in fact, Baricco's implementation of many of Homer's devices, such as his understanding of his audience and use rhythmic language and stereotyped story patterns, has aided Baricco's great success and popularity.

A study to determine the association between medical decision-making and the performance of an institutional ethics committee

This study developed proxy measures to test the independent effects of medical specialty, institutional ethics committee (IEC) and the interaction between the two, upon a proxy for the dependent variable of the medical decision to withhold/withdraw care for the dying--the resuscitation index (R-index). Five clinical vignettes were constructed and validated to convey the realism and contextual factors implicit in the decision to withhold/withdraw care. A scale was developed to determine the range of contact by an IEC in terms of physician knowledge and use of IEC policy.^ This study was composed of a sample of 215 physicians in a teaching hospital in the Southwest where proxy measures were tested for two competing influences, medical specialty and IEC, which alternately oppose and support the decision to withhold/withdraw care for the dying. A sub-sample of surgeons supported the hypothesis that an IEC is influential in opposing the medical training imperative to prolong life.^ Those surgeons with a low IEC score were 326 percent more likely to continue care than were surgeons with a high IEC score when compared to all other specialties. IEC alone was also found to significantly predict the decision to withhold/withdraw care. Interaction of IEC with the specialty of surgery was found to be the best predictor for a decision to withhold/withdraw care for the dying. ^

El espacio narrativo en Revelaciones de un manuscrito, de Bernabé Demaría

Bernabé Demaría (1824-1910), escritor, político y pintor argentino, es autor de una única novela, Revelaciones de un manuscrito (1869). En sus páginas, el espacio geográfico -Europa en la primera parte; la Argentina, en la segunda- funciona como elemento estructurador, pues la novela está concebida como un Bildungsroman, donde el motivo del viaje articula tanto el desplazamiento horizontal (espacial) como el vertical (espiritual y social) del protagonista, Florencio Indarte. Junto a los tópicos del más definido romanticismo, se descubren rasgos realistas: una cuidadosa localización espacial de la acción, la acumulación de detalles tendientes a reforzar el efecto de realidad, el discurso didáctico, de registro aparentemente objetivo, portador de una copiosa enciclopedia científica. La olvidada novela de Bernabé Demaría debe ser tenida en cuenta muy especialmente en toda indagación de los orígenes del realismo en la novela argentina.

Armando Tejada Gómez: sentido americanista y social de la poesía

La poesía de Armando Tejada Gómez (1929-1992) se destaca con perfiles nítidos en el desarrollo de las letras mendocínas correspondiente a la segunda mitad del siglo XX y constituye una faceta más de un interesante movimiento cultural no exclusivamente literario, que se conoce como la Generación del '50. En el presente artículos se analizan las fuerzas que juegan en el campo intelectual de mediados del siglo XX: el viraje a lo popular con la incorporación del coloquialismo y la asunción de los ritmos de la canción popular, la temática ciudadana, la preocupación social y el sentido americanista. Esta nueva estética, que ha recibido las denominaciones de realismo romántico (Freidemberg), de poesía existencial (César Fernández Moreno), de neohumanismo (José Isaacson), presenta además como rasgo saliente una gran libertad interior y exterior. Todas estas características se ponen de manifiesto en la poesía de Tejada Gómez. A ello hay que sumar también la libertad en el manejo de las convenciones literarias, la borradura de límites entre los géneros, por ejemplo, lírico y dramático, o la incorporación de las denominadas "formas populares" al registro de la lírica mal llamada "culta". En cuanto a la libertad métrica de la que también hace gala, viene a ser apenas una consecuencia técnica de aquella libertad de fondo ya aludida, que asume como objeto poético aun la trivialidad de lo cotidiano.

La historia en los debates de la posmodernidad

Los modelos de comprensión de la realidad que han tomado los historiadores, elaborados por San Agustín en el siglo V (de la adaptación), por Maquiavelo en el siglo XVI (del conflicto) y por Leibniz en el siglo XVII (de la multiplicidad) –vistos en perspectiva de larga duración–, son los que, combinados de distinta manera, perviven hasta la actualidad en los historiadores que toman a la historia como una ciencia que intenta comprender el pasado. El debate con los pensadores posmodernos se da en términos de si la historia es ciencia o solamente discurso. Este escrito sostiene que la práctica de hacer historia, entendida como ciencia, no es compatible con los postulados posmodernos. Los que se dicen historiadores posmodernos no son historiadores, son posmodernos.