Michel Muñoz

In the context of 20th-century philosophical discussions on the nature of the mind, intelligence, and understanding, divergent conceptions about the explanatory status of mental phenomena have become established. Within this framework, Gilbert Ryle developed a nonintellectualist conception of understanding as a form of know-how, according to which understanding consists primarily in the possession and manifestation of capacities and dispositions that can be evaluated according to the performance of the action. From this perspective, Ryle, especially in The Concept of Mind, formulated a systematic critique of intellectualism and introspective and idealistic conceptions of action. The problem that structures the research consists of determining whether some of these criticisms can be understood as specifically directed at Collingwood's conception of historical understanding. The thesis defended argues that Ryle's notion of understanding provides the conceptual framework from which criticisms are articulated that come into direct tension with R. G. Collingwood's theory of understanding as re-experiencing past thought. To support this thesis, Ryle's conception of understanding as know-how and his critique of the intellectualist explanation of intelligent action are reconstructed, his treatment of dispositional predicates and ordinary language is analyzed, and these elements are contrasted with the epistemological and ontological commitments implicit in Collingwood's conception of historical understanding

The text starts from Sen's conception of rationality as a social commitment and from his criticism of the economic rationality of utilitarianism, confronting them with the characteristics of implicit rationality in solidarity economic initiatives and sustainable development. These economic initiatives and Sen's ethical rationality are reflected in the following aspects: ethical evaluations of these solidarity initiatives, seeking to reduce social inequalities, the need for social commitment by the companies involved, recognition of social diversity, the importance given to the social participation of the people involved in the initiatives, expansion of positive freedom and recognition of the individual as an active agent. These solidarity initiatives, compared to the traditional economy, also entail changes at the political and social level, related to rationality as Sen's social commitment.

Topological insulators nanowires are an emerging class of structures, promising both novel quantum effects and potential applications in low-power electronics, thermoelectrics and spintronics. However, investigating the electronic states of TI NWs is complicated, due to their small lateral size, especially at room temperature. Here, we perform scanning probe based nanoscale imaging to resolve the local surface potential landscapes of Bi 2 Te 3 nanowires at 300 K. We found equipotential rings around the NWs perimeter that we attribute to azimuthal 1D modes. Along the NW axis, these modes are altered, forming potential ripples in the local density of states, due to intrinsic disturbances. Potential mapping of electrically biased NWs enabled us to accurately determine their conductivity which was found to increase with the decrease of NW diameter, consistent with surface dominated transport. Our results demonstrate that TI NWs can pave the way to both exotic quantum states and novel electronic devices.