José Gómez

Image schemas are mental constructs central to human cognitive psychology. The neurobiological grounding of these structures has been suggested by experimental research both in non-human primates (Rizzolatti and Craighero 2004; Umiltá et al. 2001) and lower animals (Knudsen 2002, 1998). However, their applicability as concrete cognitive products has not been explored yet in zoosemiotics. This study shows that image schemas are highly instrumental to making sense of the impersonations of two animals featured in biology research studies and wildlife documentary films: the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) and the Gibb’s sea spider crab (Pisa armata). In analysing the movements and postures of these animals, it is argued that image schemas underlie recurring patterns of animal bodily experience and response, which ties image-schematic structures to non-human intersubjectivity. In line with the pluralistic view of zoosemiotics (e.g. Maran, Martinelli and Turovski 2011), this paper takes an intermediary position in the continuity–discontinuity debate regarding communication in humans and animals. In this regard, the complexity of the creative behavioural models of the animals examined leaves the door open for the existence of sophisticated mental life in non-human species.

We study whether the probabilistic postulate could be derived from basic principles. Through the analysis of the Strong Law of Large Numbers and its formulation in quantum mechanics, we show, contrary to the claim of the many-worlds interpretation defenders and the arguments of some other authors, the impossibility of obtaining the probabilistic postulate by means of the frequency analysis of an ensemble of infinite copies of a single system. It is shown, though, how the standard form of the probability as the square of the scalar product follows from Gleason's theorem

The traditional “realist” conception of physics, according to which human concepts, laws and theories can grasp the essence of a reality in our absence , seems incompatible with quantum formalism and it most fruitful interpretation. The proof rests on the violation by quantum mechanical formalism of some fundamental principles of the classical ontology. We discuss if the conception behind Einstein’s idea of a reality in our absence, could be still maintained and at which price. We conclude that quantum mechanical formalism is not formulated on those terms, leaving for a separated paper the discussion about the terms in which it could be formulated and the onto-epistemological implications it might have

Ha sido afortunado el recíente abandono de la «teología natural» por la «filosofía de la religión»: ésta es más respetuosa de lo específico religioso y más genuina filosofía. Debe venir tras otros abordajes (historiográfico, sociológico, fenomenológico). Puede subrayar «religión » (bien como teoría globalizadota de las explicaciones científicas, bien como complemento hermenéutico de la fenomenología). Si, más bien, subraya «filosofía», será empirista, «idealistaobjetiva » o «idealista de la libertad» (tipos de Dilthey). Su cultivo es buen antídoto de fanatismos de uno u otro sentido.

El tiempo es una dimensión clave en la construcción de nuestras señas de identidad. Las reflexiones sobre su naturaleza y alcance han ocupado a la ciencia desde la antigüedad. Ahora se acentúan sus preocupaciones, caracterizándolo como un tiempo plural, construido social y culturalmente. De ahí la importancia de la educación y de los aprendizajes relativos al tiempo, que iniciándose en la infancia se prolongan a lo largo de todo el ciclo vital. En el conjunto de los denominados “tiempos sociales”, el ocio emerge como una necesidad y un derecho cívico, del que cabe esperar una contribución decisiva a la mejora del bienestar de las personas y de su calidad de vida. Educar en los valores y significados que aporta el ocio al desarrollo humano, es una tarea en la que la pedagogía debe comprometerse activamente. El artículo pone énfasis en el potencial educador del ocio, incidiendo en su capacidad innovadora y transformadora en la sociedad red.

In a previous essay we demonstrated that quantum mechanical formalism is incompatible with some necessary principles of the mechanism conception still dominant in the physicist’s community. In this paper we show, based on recent empirical evidence in quantum physics, the inevitability of abandoning the old mechanism conception and to construct a new one in which physical reality is seen as a representation which refers to relations established through operations made by us in a world that we are determining. This change is profound and radical, with immediate consequences on both Ontology and Epistemology. This work is our contribution to try to make more concrete how this new conception of the world might be

This study explores multimodal metaphors and metonymies in Faust, a German Expressionist silent fiction movie by Murnau. The article combines principles of psychocinematics, an interdisciplinary scientific field of enquiry, with the multimodal metaphor and expressive movement model, which looks into the temporal dynamics of metaphoric meaning-making by movie watchers. It is shown that interrelating both film-analytic approaches provides a deeper and more comprehensive insight into how figurative thought influences psycho-cognitive processes in the moviegoer’s mind as they dynamically unfold in their cinematic contexts. Evidence is provided that Kappelhoff and co-workers’ proposal can be complemented and enriched by psychocinematics findings on the allocation of visual attention and eye fixation, motion and image frame sensing, and mental activity underlying emotional and diagetic experiences.

The family has a decisive influence on the construction of youth leisure, as the domain of coexistence in which people spend their free time and as a main agent in leisure activities. The manner of this influence depends on various factors or circumstances, among which how the family functions internally emerges as one of the most important. Scientific research has produced contradictory findings, undermining theories that the family’s style of upbringings, educational and/or economic level, parental behaviour and family structure are influential factors in teenagers’ physical and sports leisure, while bolstering the idea of the importance of family cohesion, communication and flexibility in the way the family functions. Further study of these factors is therefore warranted, and family action-intervention-education programmes need to be designed to boost young people’s autonomy and responsibility with regard to their leisure.

Most growth models for complex networks consider networks comprising a single connected block or island, which contains all the nodes in the network. However, it has been demonstrated that some large complex networks have more than one island, with an island size distribution obeying a power-law function Is~s-α. This paper introduces a growth model that considers the emergence of islands as the network grows. The proposed model addresses the following two features: the probability that a new island is generated decreases as the network grows and new islands are created with a constant probability at any stage of the growth. In the first case, the model produces an island size distribution that decays as a power-law Is~s-α with a fixed exponent α=1 and in-degree distribution that decays as a power-law Qi~i-γ with γ=2. When the second case is considered, the model describes island size and in-degree distributions that decay as a power-law with 2

En aquest article pretenem fer una crítica, des de postulats ètics de caràcter republicà, al mode actual d’entendre i, per tant, posar en pràctica el principi d'autonomia de la bioètica. Pretenem mostrar que, en l’estat actual d’aplicació d'aquest principi, emprant una definició liberal de llibertat i de la natura humana, aquest idea de llibertat i autonomia que es pretén protegir, no es compleix en deixar fora de l’equació tot un seguit de circumstàncies socials, polítiques o econòmiques que poden dificultar al pacient prendre una veritable decisió sobirana sobre quin ha de ser el fet d'actuar dels professionals sanitaris sobre el seu cos en cada cas.

This paper proposes and analyzes the psychometric properties of the PREVI-A scale. It describes the process of item development, the factorial structure of the scale, reliability, evidence of validity and diagnostic performance with regard to recidivism risk in juvenile offenders. The sample was made up of 212 juvenile offenders held at detention centers run by the Madrid Agency for Reeducation and Reintegration of Juvenile Offenders, a regional government body. Statistical analyses were used to corroborate the theoretical factorial structure of the PREVI-A, which consists of six risk/protection dimensions based on the Risk-Needs-Responsivity Model, and to obtain empirical support for the reliability and validity of PREVI-A as a tool to assess the risk of recidivism by juvenile offenders in Spain.

Se exponen las razones para la búsqueda de una interpretación de la teoría cuántica que resuelva los problemas de la «ortodoxa» (interpretación de Copenhague), en particular el de la necesidad de postular la existencia de ciertos entes no cuánticos, los observadores. A tal fin, se presentan las líneas esenciales de la interpretación de los muchos-universos y de la moderna formulación de la mecánica cuántica en términos de historias consistentes, haciendo énfasis en el interés de esta última en cosmología cuántica.

La teoría del «mal radical en la naturaleza humana», expuesta por Kant en La religión dentro de los límites de la mera razón, hace contraste con el optimismo antropológico que empapa el Criticismo. Constituyó, sin duda, una importante denuncia frente a la banalidad de muchos optimismos ilustrados. Pero su letra (acto de libertad pre-individual) tiene una obvia dificultad. El artículo propone una reinterpretación que la evitaría, aunque desdramatizando un tanto el tentador alcance enigmático de la propuesta kantiana.

O presente artigo tem por objectivo, em primeiro lugar, mostrar os diversos caminhos através dos quais a sociedade contemporânea tem progressivamente vindo a descobrir o problema ecológico. Num segundo passo, o artigo procede a uma análise das raízes histórico-culturais da redução da natureza a objecto de exploração por parte do ser humano, bem como dos diferentes modos mediante os quais este se relaciona com aquela, sublinhando de modo particular as consequências para o meio ambiente de um uso descontrolado da técnica na transformação do mesmo. Finalmente, num terceiro momento, o autor analisa em que medida a filosofia, sob pressão da crise ecológica, está desenvolvendo um novo paradigma hermenêutico no qual não é apenas a concepção de filosofia que está submetida a uma profunda transformação, mas se verifica também uma incidência dessa transformação em algumas das disciplinas filosóficas básicas, tais como a metafísica, a ética, a antropologia e, evidentemente, a filosofia da natureza. /// The present article aims, first of all, to demonstrate the diverse paths by which contemporary society has progressively discovered the ecological problem. In a second moment, it will analyze the historical and cultural roots of the reduction of nature to an object to be exploited by humankind, along with the different ways by which the latter is related to the former. The consequences of the environment due to the uncontrolled use of technology in the transformation of nature will be underscored. Finally, the author considers how philosophy, pressed by the ecological crisis, is in the process of developing a new hermeneutical paradigm: not only is the conception of philosophy itself transformed but the transforming effect is spreading to other areas of philosophical investigation, e.g., metaphysics, ethics, anthropology, and- of course - the philosophy of nature.

En este texto se examina el fructífero diálogo sobre la naturaleza de la historia consignado en el Diario de lectura que lleva Ernesto Volkening (1908-1983) sobre los Escolios de Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913-1994). Entre escolios y comentarios se hila una concepción de la historia que, a pesar de ser fragmentaria, guarda una auspiciosa coherencia. El historiador, el hecho histórico y el individuo son los conceptos centrales respecto a los cuales se compone el pensamiento histórico. Sin embargo, ese pensamiento solo se vislumbra en el diálogo entablado, pues los escolios se ven iluminados por los comentarios de Volkening: quien ante la etérea soledad del escolio suele proponer un acontecimiento histórico o un historiador como ejemplo.