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Language Quaderns de Filosofia. 2019. Vol. 06, no. 01
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- Pensar problemáticamente. Ensayo sobre Gilles Deleuze, per Julien Canavera.(2019) Ribera, Raimón
- How not to Resist the Natural Kind Talk in Biology(2019) Ferreira Ruiz, Maria JoséAfter the dawn of the traditional, essentialist view of natural kinds in contemporary philosophy (exacerbated in philosophy of biology by ?population thinking?), non-essentialist cluster conceptions of natural kinds have been extensively supported and applied to numerous biological categories. However, salient philosophers have put forward two challenging arguments against cluster kind theories. I argue that, in both cases, discontent with a cluster conception of natural kinds is motivated by tacit and previous assumptions that can be challenged. I conclude that the concerns expressed in the objections do not make good reasons to resist natural kinds talk in biology unless one is willing to share such commitments and assumptions with respect to natural kinds. Ultimately, the discussion can be used to point out that our very expectations regarding natural kinds theories could use a rethink. Keywords: natural kinds, essentialism, cluster kinds, Boyd, mechanisms.
- Intervals of quasi-decompositionality and mechanistic explanations(2019) Cáceres, EmilioIt is commonly assumed that the concept of mechanism is a keytool for the scientific understanding of observable phenomena. However, there is no single definition of mechanism in the current philosophy of science. In fact, philosophers have developed several characterizations of what seemed to be a clear intuitive concept for scientists. In this paper, I will analyze these philosophical conceptions of mechanism, highlighting their problematic aspects and proposing a new mechanistic approach based on the idea that the pertinent levels of organization for a mechanistic explanation can be identified with intervals of quasi-decompositionality. I argue that this approach allows us to consider that activities are directly derived from the entities? structure. Consequently, a mechanistic explanation implies an arbitrary but not capricious choice of an organizational level. According to this approach, inter-level causation is merely apparent and there is no place for emergent properties. Keywords: mechanisms, emergent properties, quasi-decompositionality, systems.
- A metaphysical approach to holobiont individuality : Holobionts as emergent individuals(2019) Suárez Álvarez, Javier; Triviño Alonso, VanessaHolobionts are symbiotic assemblages composed by a host plus its microbiome. The status of holobionts as individuals has recently been a subject of continuous controversy, which has given rise to two main positions: on the one hand, holobiont advocates argue that holobionts are biological individuals; on the other, holobiont detractors argue that they are just mere chimeras or ecological communities, but not individuals. Both parties in the dispute develop their argu-ments from the framework of the philosophy of biology, in terms of what it takes for a ?conglomerate? to be considered an interesting individual from a biological point of view. However, the debates about holobiont individuality have important ontological implications that have remained vaguely explored from a metaphysical framework. The purpose of this paper is to cover that gap by presenting a meta-physical approach to holobionts individuality. Drawing upon a conception of natu-ral selection that puts the focus on the transgenerational recurrence of the traits and that supports the thesis that holobionts are units of selection, we argue that holobionts bear emergent traits and exert downward powers over the entities that compose them. In this vein, we argue, a reasonable argument can be made for conceiving holobionts as emergent biological individuals. Keywords: emergence, holobiont, symbiosis, microbiome, biological individuality, trait-recurrence.
- Introduction(2019) Villegas, Cristina; Nuño de la Rosa, LauraIntroduction to the Special Issue on Philosophy of Biology Edited by Laura Nuroga and Cristina Villegas
- Indispensability and Effectiveness of Diagrams in Molecular Biology(2019) Anta, JavierIn this paper I aim to defend a twofold thesis. On one hand, I will support, against Perini (2005), the indispensability of diagrams when structurally complex biomolecules are concerned, since it is not possible to satisfactorily use linguistic-sentential representations at that domain. On the other hand, even when diagrams are dispensable I will defend than they will generally be more effective than other representations in encoding biomolecular knowledge, relying on Kulvicki-Shimojima?s diagrammatic effectiveness thesis. Finally, I will ground many epistemic virtues of biomolecular diagrams (understandability, explanatory power, prediction and hypothesis evaluation) on their cognitive-computational indispensability and their semantic-epistemic effectiveness. Keywords: Molecular Biology, Diagrammatic Representation, Representational Indispensability.
- Quines normes? Una aproximació al debat sobre el concepte de malaltia mental(2019) Ballesteros, VirginiaWhich norms? An approach to the debate on the concept of mental illness Resum: En aquest article realitzem una aproximació al debat sobre el concepte de malaltia mental, des dels anys cinquanta fins al present, incorporant-hi elements de la filosofia i sociologia de la medicina, i atenent a les seues dimensions orgànica, subjectiva i social. Perfilem i avaluem les postures naturalistes i normativistes que han conformat el debat sobre la malaltia mental: des de l?antipsiquiatria a la psiquiatria crítica, passant per un naturalisme i construccionisme social forts. Paraules clau: malaltia mental, naturalisme, construccionisme, antipsiquiatria, psiquiatria crítica. In this paper we approach the debate on the concept of mental illness from the 1950s to the present, by incorporating elements from the philosophy and sociology of medicine, considering its bodily, subjective, and social dimensions. We outline and evaluate the naturalist and normativist views that have shaped the debate on mental illness: from antipsychiatry to critical psychiatry, passing through strong naturalism and social constructionism. Keywords: mental illness, naturalism, constructionism, antipsychiatry, critical psychiatry.
