Michael Perez

This paper is partly inspired by a well-known debate between Ruth Barcan Marcus, Terence Parsons and W. V. 0. Quine in the sixties> concerning the extent to which Quantified Modal Logic is committed to Essentialism; the issue nevertheless goes back to the origins of "analytic philosophy'', to the reflections of Frege, Russell, and the earlier Wittgenstein on the nature of logic. By elaborating on a suggestion by Quine, we purport to show that there is a relevant and interesting way to look at the ontological commitments of logical systems such that they are stronger than they are usually taken to be.

Positive Psychology has turned its attention to the study of emotions in a scientific and rigorous way. Particularly, to how emotions influence people’s health, performance, or their overall life satisfaction. Within this trend, Flow theory has established a theoretical framework that helps to promote the Flow experience. Flow state, or optimal experience, is a mental state of high concentration and enjoyment that, due to its characteristics, has been considered desirable for the development of the performing activity of performing musicians. Musicians are a population prone to health problems, both psychological and physical, owing to different stressors of their training and professional activity. One of the most common problems is Musical Performance Anxiety. In this investigation, an electronic intervention program was carried out for the development of psychological self-regulation skills whose main objective was to trigger the Flow response in performing musicians and the coping mechanism for Musical Performance Anxiety. A quasi-experimental design was used with a control group in which pre- and post-measures of Flow State, Musical Performance Anxiety and, also, Social Skills were taken. Sixty-two performing musicians from different music colleges in Spain participated in the program. Results indicated that the intervention significantly improved Flow State, and Sense of Control, and decreased Music Performance Anxiety, and self-consciousness of the participants in the EG but not CG. The changes in the EG after the program showed the inverse relationship between Flow and Anxiety. Two important theoretical factors of both variables, such as worry and the feeling of lack of control, could be involved. The results are under discussion and future lines of research are proposed.

Background: Sharing information with relatives of elderly patients in primary care and in hospital has to fit into the complex set of obligations, justifications and pressures concerning the provision of information, and the results of some studies point to the need for further empirical studies exploring issues of patient autonomy, privacy and informed consent in the day-to-day care of older people.Objectives: To know the frequency with which “capable” patients over 65 years of age receive information when admitted to hospital, the information offered to the families concerned, the person who gives consent for medical intervention, and the degree of satisfaction with the information received and the healthcare provided.Method: A descriptive questionnaire given to 200 patients and 200 relatives during the patients’ stay in hospital.Results: Only 5% of patients confirmed that they had been asked whether information could be given to their relatives. A significantly higher proportion of relatives received information on the successive stages of the care offered than did patients themselves. As the age of the patients increased, so the number who were given information, understood the information and were asked for their consent for complementary tests decreased. The degree of satisfaction with the information offered was high for both patients and relatives , despite the irregularities observed.Conclusions: The capacity of elderly patients to participate in the decision-making process is frequently doubted simply because they have reached a certain age and it is thought that relatives should act as their representatives. In Spain, the opinion of the family and doctors appears to play a larger role in making decisions than does the concept of patient autonomy

The purpose of the present dialogue is threefold: (a) Refining our previous interpretation of Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics through the 'Phenomenology' chapter of the 'Big Typescript'; (b) Examining the role of phenomenological and historical analysis in the contemporary debate surrounding the axioms of set theory; (c) Providing a brief interpretation of Kant's Architectonic as a general framework for such debate. The conclusion of the article, which add certain theological connotations to the topic being discussed, has to be explored in future research.

In this paper we analyze object-talk, some of its uses and misuses, more closely. Our main claim is that object-talk should be understood in the context of faith instead of that of rational argumentation. Hence, object-talk is compared with God-talk and the way of understanding the so-called 'abstract entities' from logic and mathematics turns out to be essentially linked with how the contact with the Divine is conceived. Moreover, we discuss the particular case of the independence phenomenon and some of the proposals that have been made in order to deal with it. The conclusion is that, even if we succeed in granting such status to object-talk, different accounts of its nature may arise. We finally present our view as one of these alternatives.

Putnam and Finkelstein can be read as providing an answer to Kripke's skeptical argument by appealing to the way mathematics is commonly pursued. Nowadays, the debate surrounding pluralism has questioned the postulation of a unique way of developing mathematical activity. In this paper, we wish to reformulate Kripke's argument as a challenge for the conjunction of 'ifthenism' and a reasonable form of pluralism and, at the same time, propose a reading of some passages of the 'Philosophical Investigations' as a solution. Our conclusion is that, in order for pluralism to be preserved, we need to clarify both the fact that we make definite 'decisions' and the philosophical value that they, as we argue, bear. To investigate the nature of this value is one of the further tasks that we want to cover in this article.