Jose Luis Martinez

Although possible worlds semantics is a powerful tool to represent the semantic properties of natural language sentences, it has been often argued that it is too coarse: with the tools that possible worlds semantics puts at our disposal, any relevant semantic difference has to be a truth conditional difference representable as a difference in intension. A case that raises questions about the ability of possible worlds semantics to make the appropriate discriminations is the distinction between rigidity and direct reference, an issue deeply connected to the representation of the behavior of two operators: ‘dthat’ and ‘actually’. Differences between the mode of operation of ‘dthat’ and ‘actually’ have been observed, but they have not been examined in depth. Our purpose is to explore systematically to what extent the observed differences between the two operators have truth conditional consequences that are formally representable in possible worlds semantics.

Las sociedades liberales contemporáneas generan individuos cada vez más egoístas. Anhelan una realización personal que sólo puede alcanzarse fuera de la comunidad, interpretada, desde el enfoque liberal dominante, como un agente colectivo que reduce la libertad individual. Esta concepción de lo humano desplaza el cuidado hacia uno mismo. Se olvida de preocuparse por los demás y, lo que es más importante, toma medidas para no necesitar ser cuidado por los demás, como si eso fuera posible. El enfoque antropológico de MacIntyre desactiva una parte fundamental de esa visión, reclamando el papel del cuerpo y creando una fenomenología de la vulnerabilidad. Este artículo presenta los aportes que A. MacIntyre ha realizado en el cuidado, concepto cuyo uso está en expansión. Para ello, comenzaremos presentando un breve análisis del cuidado y su tratamiento en relación con el enfoque liberal. Posteriormente, presentaremos la propuesta antropológica de MacIntyre, y nos inspiraremos en ella, para corregir algunas pretensiones contemporáneas de autosuficiencia.

Logical localism is a thesis within philosophy of logic according to which the correct logic is dependent on the topic, domain or subject matter of its application. There is a very straightforward problem for anyone defending a localist thesis, a problem that follows from the fact that we reason across domains. This challenge is known as the problem of mixed inferences. The problem is, very roughly, the following: suppose that there are at least two components, within the premises or conclusion of an argument, belonging to domains governed by different logics. Then, which is the criterion of validity for the mixed argument? Our aim is to offer an answer to this question and, more concretely, a way out to the dilemma that Chase Wrenn has raised in his analysis of the problem of mixed inferences. We will use Joshua Schechter’s method of combining logics, juxtaposition, as the criterion of validity for mixed inferences. After exploring its virtues and possible shortcomings, we argue that juxtaposition is a first step towards a fully-fledged solution, but already a promising way out of the dilemma posed by Wrenn.

The Liar Paradox is a classic argument that creates a contradiction by reflection on a sentence that attributes falsity to itself: ‘this sentence is false’. In our paper we will discuss the ways in which the Liar sentence (and its paradoxical argument) can be represented in first-order logic. The key to the representation is to use first-order logic to model a self-referential language. We will also discuss several related sentences, like the Liar cycles, the empirical versions of the Liar and the Truth teller sentences.

Here, I first prove that certain families of k-valued clones have the Gupta-Belnap fixed-point property. This essentially means that all propositional languages that are interpreted with operators belonging to those clones are such that any net of self-referential sentences in the language can be consistently evaluated. I then focus on two four-valued generalisations of the Kleene propositional operators that generalise the strong and weak Kleene operators: Belnap’s clone and Fitting’s clone, respectively. I apply the theorems from the initial part of the paper to analyse the fixed-point property of Belnap’s and Fitting’s clones when some special operators that reflect the semantics are added. The conclusion of the paper is that Fitting’s clone is better suited than Belnap’s to provide self-referential languages with highly expressive resources.

Nicholas of Cusa wrote two sets of glosses that comment on important themes of Alkoranus Latinus, the first Latin translation of the Qur'an done by Robert of Ketton in the year 1143 in the Iberian Peninsula. The first group of glosses, used to write De pace fidei in 1453, are found in the Bernkastel-Kues Bibliothek, manuscript Kues 108. The second set of glosses, recently identified in manuscript 4071 of the Vatican Library, and used to write Cribratio Alkorani in 1462, presents extensive doctrinal treatises on Quranic subjects. We find, among others, the consideration of the necessity of the death of Christ for the redemption of the human race.

Three-valued logics are standardly used to formalize gappy languages, i.e., interpreted languages in which sentences can be true, false or neither. A three-valued logic that assigns the same truth value to all gappy sentences is, in our view, insufficient to capture important semantic differences between them. In this paper we will argue that there are two different kinds of pathologies that should be treated separately and we defend the usefulness of a four-valued logic to represent adequately these two types of gappy sentences. Our purpose is to begin the formal exploration of the four-valued logics that could be used to represent the phenomena in question and to show that these phenomena are present in natural language, at least according to some semantic theories of natural language.

Las primeras muestras de poesía hebrea andalusí inspiradas en la métrica y figuras árabes datadas a mediados del siglo X en Córdoba adoptan la forma de musammaṭ. El musammaṭ hebreo presenta juegos estróficos y modificaciones métricas que, en realidad, no son aceptadas en la poesía hebrea inspirada en la métrica árabe clásica. Estas desviaciones se producen en toda la tradición literaria judía andalusí (siglos X-XII). En este artículo se han seleccionado y analizado varias muestras de musammaṭ hebreos que reflejan este uso y, además, al contener un acróstico nos permiten identificar a su autor y época. Con ello, se intenta arrojar luz sobre dos premisas aceptadas actualmente. La primera postula que el estrofismo de la poesía andalusí tiene su origen en el musammaṭ y, la segunda, que en la poesía hebrea andalusí se dan dos modelos métricos: el cuantitativo y el silábico.

La comunicación religiosa a través de los medios tiene problemas. El mensaje cristiano mediático no está llegando al público. Estos problemas levantan interrogantes: ¿Cómo debe ser el comunicador cristiano? ¿Cuáles deben ser sus características? ¿Qué motivaciones debe tener? ¿Qué vida interior debe tener para que pueda comunicar eficazmente? Aquí se presenta la espiritualidad como algo que debe impregnar toda la misión de comunicador. Ella es elemento fundamental de la comunicación cristiana y el alma del comunicador cristiano. No puede haber una dicotomía entre la profesión de comunicador y su vida interior. Ambas deben enriquecerse e integrarse mutuamente. Primero se explicará lo que se entiende por 'espiritualidad' en general, sus características, el contexto en que se halla la espiritualidad latinoamericana y la necesidad que el comunicador cristiano tiene de desarrollar su propia espiritualidad. Después se buscarán los elementos teológicos en que se basa la espiritualidad del comunicador. Se verán el camino espiritual del comunicador y las características más concretas de la espiritualidad del comunicador cristiano. Se indicarán las tentaciones más comunes en el comunicador cristiano: expresarse de una forma conceptual; priorizar la técnica y el lenguaje mediático sobre el contenido ; la prisa por comunicar y el abandono de los símbolos sacramentales. Ellas obligan a buscar las prioridades espirituales del comunicador cristiano, que le permitan hacer un discernimiento. Estas son: el comunicador debe ser santo, evangelizador y profesional. Finalmente se especificará cómo la espiritualidad del comunicador cristiano se da en la práctica. Se señalan sus indicadores, sus virtudes, las palabras claves de la espiritualidad del comunicador y los niveles del profesional comunicador cristiano.

The goal of this paper is to present Yabloesque versions of Grelling’s and Zwicker’s paradoxes concerning the notions of “heterological” and “hypergame” respectively. We will offer counterparts of these paradoxes that do not seem to involve self-reference or vicious circularity.El objetivo de este artículo es ofrecer versiones de las paradojas de Grelling y de Zwicker inspiradas en la paradoja de Yablo. Nuestras versiones de estas paradojas no parecen involucrar ni autorreferencia ni circularidad viciosa.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) is an approach that promotes resilience and focuses on youth strengths rather than their weaknesses as done by the traditional deficit-based perspective. Research in Europe and North America show that developmental assets are associated with school success, psychological well-being, and lower health risks among youth and young adults. However, not much research has been done on these associations in Latin American contexts. The purpose of this research study is to assess the association between substance use behaviors, such as drunkenness and the use of illicit drugs, and mental health, together with the mediating role of developmental assets representing youth strengths (e.g., social competence) and contextual resources (e.g., social support at home or school). Cross-national data was collected from Colombian (n= 210; 70.4% females) and Peruvian(n= 349; 66.5% females) 1st year university students. Results shed light on the protective role of developmental assets regarding substance use behaviors and mental well-being. Specifically, the results showed direct negative associations between developmental assets and substance use behaviors and positive associations of developmental assets with mental health indicators. Internal assets appear to be a stronger predictor of social, emotional, and psychological well-being compared to external assets. We did not find any statistical significance in the association of substance use behavior and mental health. We discuss implications regarding research, policy, and practice.