Isabel Gómez

En el presente trabajo propongo una lectura crítica de la figura del enemigo en el pensamiento político de Thomas Hobbes, contrastándola con la caracterización que hace Carl Schmitt y poniéndola en diálogo con la noción de “violencia ultrasubjetiva” desarrollada por Étienne Balibar. A pesar de que la filosofía hobbesiana suele vincularse a una visión pesimista del ser humano y a la justificación de un poder soberano absoluto, defenderé que su teoría contiene elementos que pueden ser leídos como estrategias de civilidad: formas de evitar la deshumanización del otro incluso en contextos de violencia extrema. En contraste, la oposición amigo-enemigo propuesta por Schmitt, al depender de una lógica identitaria y no meramente circunstancial, abre la puerta a formas de violencia encarnizada que Hobbes logra sortear. El objetivo será, por tanto, recuperar ciertos elementos de la propuesta hobbesiana como herramientas útiles para pensar críticamente la política contemporánea, marcada por formas de enemistad que desbordan lo político para caer en exclusiones, discriminaciones y formas de violencia justificadas por esencias supuestamente incompatibles.

BackgroundIn 2021, Spain passed Organic Law 3/2021, which regulates euthanasia and represents an extension of rights to make decisions in the context of health care. According to the Law, the state must guarantee access to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) through health services. Therefore, the involvement of health professionals is crucial. The aim of this work is to analyse the perspectives of health professionals on the provision of MAiD. Particular attention is paid to the social impact of the Law, the conceptual problems it raises, and the distribution of rights and responsibilities of professionals and patients, as well as the procedural aspects included in the regulation, the experiences of professionals regarding MAiD, and the implementation differences observed among regions.MethodsIt was an exploratory qualitative research applying a thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews with physicians and nurses from primary care, hospital care, and palliative care, recruited from three Autonomous Communities in Spain (Madrid, Catalonia, and Andalusia) between March and May 2023.ResultsA total of 25 interviews were conducted with medical and nursing professionals, 17 women and 8 men. The information collected was organised according to these discursive axes: social impact of the Law; terminological and conceptual problems; rights and responsibilities of professionals and patients; procedure (time limits, role of professionals); experiences of professionals regarding MAiD; and differences in implementation among the regions of the study. For this analysis, the participants’ positions on the provision of MAiD were considered.ConclusionsThe professionals interviewed generally express a positive assessment of the legal safeguards of MAiD Law in Spain. However, challenges remain in its implementation, such as perceived legal ambiguities, assessment of suffering, and balancing autonomy. Structural inequalities and limited support may affect access and provider well-being. Strengthening professional training, teamwork, and institutional resources, as well as a relational approach, is essential. The findings offer practice-based guidance for policy and clinical care and highlight the need for further research on real-world impacts.

In 2021, Spain passed Organic Law 3/2021, which regulates euthanasia and represents an extension of rights to make decisions in the context of health care. According to the Law, the state must guarantee access to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) through health services. Therefore, the involvement of health professionals is crucial. The aim of this work is to analyse the perspectives of health professionals on the provision of MAiD. Particular attention is paid to the social impact of the Law, the conceptual problems it raises, and the distribution of rights and responsibilities of professionals and patients, as well as the procedural aspects included in the regulation, the experiences of professionals regarding MAiD, and the implementation differences observed among regions. It was an exploratory qualitative research applying a thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews with physicians and nurses from primary care, hospital care, and palliative care, recruited from three Autonomous Communities in Spain (Madrid, Catalonia, and Andalusia) between March and May 2023. A total of 25 interviews were conducted with medical and nursing professionals, 17 women and 8 men. The information collected was organised according to these discursive axes: social impact of the Law; terminological and conceptual problems; rights and responsibilities of professionals and patients; procedure (time limits, role of professionals); experiences of professionals regarding MAiD; and differences in implementation among the regions of the study. For this analysis, the participants’ positions on the provision of MAiD were considered. The professionals interviewed generally express a positive assessment of the legal safeguards of MAiD Law in Spain. However, challenges remain in its implementation, such as perceived legal ambiguities, assessment of suffering, and balancing autonomy. Structural inequalities and limited support may affect access and provider well-being. Strengthening professional training, teamwork, and institutional resources, as well as a relational approach, is essential. The findings offer practice-based guidance for policy and clinical care and highlight the need for further research on real-world impacts.

Este artículo pretende ofrecer un marco conceptual que permita ahondar en la comprensión de aquellas biopolíticas que caracterizaremos como orientadas a la reducción del cuerpo. La argumentación tendrá como objetivos: (1) mostrar que esta biopolítica está fundada en el arraigado prejuicio acerca de la comprensión excluyente entre mente y cuerpo; (2) distinguir dos tipos generalizados de corporalidad que se construyen a partir de esta dicotomía de base, tipos que denominaremos “corporalidades excesivas” y “corporalidades reducidas”; y (3) presentar la estructura social que se crea a partir de esta división como atravesada por un imperativo de reducción de los cuerpos, imperativo que engendra, mediante una violencia más o menos explícita, una periferia social de cuerpos excluidos y una élite de sujetos descorporeizados. Concluiremos aludiendo a la posibilidad de oponer resistencia a estas biopolíticas mediante la recuperación de la exuberancia del cuerpo y la restauración de su habitabilidad.

El presente artículo parte de analizar el vínculo existente entre los derechos sociales y la democracia conforme a las funciones que desempeñan tales derechos, adaptándose a la realidad en la que deben ser implementados. Por tanto, el paso de la democracia a una posdemocracia plantea dificultades desde un primer momento al crearse obstáculos para el desenvolvimiento real de los principios que han de regir la operatividad de los derechos sociales. Tal es así que nos debemos plantear si es posible que subsistan en ese contexto. De esta manera, se presentan una serie de observaciones y propuestas para salvar los derechos sociales desde una perspectiva de participación de la ciudadanía y un enfoque de derechos humanos. Finalmente, se concluye que lo importante es que se superen los obstáculos que impidan una justiciabilidad y efectividad adecuadas de los derechos sociales.

À la lumière de la législation actuelle sur l’aide médicale à mourir (AMM; aussi appelée euthanasie et suicide assisté) dans différents pays du monde, certains arguments ont été consacrés au droit à l’objection de conscience pour les professionnels de la santé dans ces pratiques spécifiques. Les objectifs de cette étude exploratoire sont de fournir une vue d’ensemble des motivations et des causes qui se cachent derrière l’objection de conscience identifiée par la littérature précédente selon les expériences des professionnels et de vérifier si ces motivations correspondent aux débats théoriques sur l’objection de conscience. Comme le montrent les résultats, il existe une dissonance entre les motivations incluses dans la définition traditionnelle et courante de l’objection de conscience utilisée dans les cadre théoriques et spéculatifs et les facteurs réels que les études empiriques relèvent comme motivations déclarées pour s’opposer à l’AMM. Par conséquent, soit nous envisageons de nouveaux facteurs à inclure dans les causes de la “conscience”, soit nous acceptons qu’il existe des motivations qui ne sont pas réellement applicables à l’objection de conscience et qui devraient être traitées par d’autres moyens. L’objection de conscience à l’AMM étant multiforme, il peut y avoir différents types de motivations qui agissent en même temps. Il est donc pertinent de rééquilibrer les considérations théoriques et empiriques pour bien comprendre la complexité du phénomène et ainsi donner des pistes sur la meilleure façon de traiter l’objection de conscience.

El objetivo del artículo es analizar el feminismo islámico en tanto que discurso teórico que involucra tres aspectos: 1) una hermenéutica del texto sagrado (Corán) que restituya la voz de las mujeres; 2) la asunción, por ende, de un objetivo feminista: el reconocimiento de la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres en el islam; 3) la convergencia de ambos objetivos en un proyecto emancipatorio traducible en igualdad jurídica, política y social. Las conclusiones versarán sobre las posibilidades de que el discurso del feminismo islámico pueda tornarse proyecto político sin pasar por procesos secularizadores que, en parte, son criticados por algunas pensadoras musulmanas.

In the light of current legislation on Medical Aid in Dying ─euthanasia and assisted suicide─ in different countries worldwide, there have been some arguments devoted to the right to conscientious objection for healthcare professionals in these specific practices. The goals of this scoping review are to provide an overview of the motivations and causes that lie behind conscientious objection identified by previous literature according to professionals’ experience and to verify if these motives match with theoretical debates on conscientious objection. As the results show, there seems to be a dissonance between the motivations included in the traditional and mainstream definition of conscientious objection that is used in the theoretical and speculative framework and the actual factors that empirical studies note as reported motivations to object to Medical Aid in Dying. Hence, either we consider new factors to include as causes of “conscience”, or we accept that there are motivations that are not actually applicable to conscientious objection and should be addressed by other means. As conscientious objection in Medical Aid in Dying is multifaceted, we claim from the results that there can be different kinds of motivations acting at the same time. In any case, it is helpful to rebalance theoretical and empirical considerations to fully understand the complexity of the phenomenon and give some insights on how to deal with it.

The purpose of this work is to take Mary as the subject of a life of contemplation, to observe her manner of relating with God, of speaking to His messengers and of praising Yhwh. She is a daughter of Israel who speaks to the God of her people and interprets His figure according to that tradition. The questions we will attempt to answer are: with what God did she relate? Where did their encounters take place? How did she regard her person in relation to the divinity? To what degree did her son’s life affect her understanding of God? We do not know her feelings nor her reactions at the Cross but by following Old Testament patterns I am going to offer possible conjectures. Rather than present Mary simply as an object of biblical contemplation I want to give the model of Marian spirituality that can serve as a personal path for Christians so that her figure as summa contemplatrix becomes that of illuminatrix, helping us to enter into a relationship with God and discover the whole range of possibilities that this offers.2

In this article I explain the origin of the concept “postsecular”. I argue that such concept, spread by Jürgen Habermas since 2001, has its origin in the reformist Jewish thought from 70’s in the United States. In this context, the postsecular is drafted as a phase which Jewish Theology is experiencing as result of its contact with secular lifestyle. Such contact summons to a reflection on ethic values which secularization missed. I argue that some of the meanings of the current concept of “postsecular”, which Habermas articulates, were already present in the first uses of such concept from Eugene B. Borowitz and Emil Fackenheim. Finally, I argue that it might be set up a correlation between the ethical origins of the postsecular and the Habermas’s as “awareness of what is missing”.

Se analiza la producción científica española que alcanza difusión internacional durante el período 1991-1996. Se ofrecen datos generales sobre la visibilidad de la investigación española en ciencia y tecnología a través de bases de datos bibliográficas internacionales especializadas en diversas áreas de la ciencia. Física (INSPEC), Química (Chemical Abstracts), Biología (BIOSIS), Ingeniería (COMPENDEX) y Agricultura (CAB), y se analiza con más detalle la producción española recogida en la base de datos norteamericana multidisciplinar Science Citation Index (SCI). La producción científica se distribuye por áreas temáticas, sectores institucionales implicados, zonas geográficas y regiones. Se estudia asimismo la presencia de la cooperación nacional e internacional en las publicaciones científicas.