Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

These pages are dedicated to investigate certain aspects of the filmography of Christian Petzold, one of the most significant directors of the new German cinema, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Taking as an hermeneutical key the presence of “the profil picture” in these films, the pulse is taken of the effect’s actuality of the distancing propoed by Brecht, the new resources employed in the art of «soft editing» (Farocki) and the determination of Petzold to document the truth trough fiction. The insistent tratment, trough the filmic image, of the traumas suffered by the two Germanys during the twentieth century is the main argument of this article.

This article questions the artistic manifestation of a concrete subject and provokes a radical concern: the faceless faces. By studying the constituent plastics and ontological conditions of certain works, particularly Malevich and Brancusi, where there are wonders about the limit of the Western idea of subjectivity, we will consider the influences of authors like Pico Mirandolle, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty or, among others, Paul Ricoeur.

«No book has been devoted to the dimensional analysis until 1922 –a hundred years after the appearance of Fourier’s Traité – as P.W. Bridgman published the course he taught at Yale University.» This is what Monod-Herzen (1976, p. 25) affi rms. Between both books, Fourier’s 1822 and Bridgman’s 1922, James Clerk Maxwell paved the way for the consolidation of this discipline, and his seed did not fall on barren ground. In Spain, without going any further, the work of Maxwell root from soon. So much history belies the French epistemologist. Yes, there is a book on dimensional analysis between Fourier and Bridgman. It is Physical Units written by the Spanish physicist José Muñoz del Castillo, who published it in 1890, that is thirty-two years before the publication of the book by Bridgman. Physical Units thus becomes the fi rst treatise devoted to dimensional analysis. Naturally I will not question that Bridgman’s Dimensional Analysis has been the fi rst complete treatise on this discipline. But it is not the fi rst book in which the theory of dimensions is presented, as it could be known in the nineteenth century, twenty four years before the proposal by Buckingham of his famous theorem pi. The purpose of this article is to highlight the acceptance and development of dimensional analysis in Spain in the 19th century, a circumstance so far not suffi ciently appreciated by the specialized historiography.

Well-known representative of political realism tradition in the Europe of the second half of 20th century, J. Freund’work has currently been understood as one of the most accomplished developments of schmittian «politics as confl ict theory». Freund’s interpretation cannot be reduced to this only dimension based on the analytical «friend-enemy» opposition. In this article we intend to offer a critical revision of this topic from a comprehensive reading of the work of French author, following as interpretative key his attempt to theoretical reconciliation between classical and modern political point of view.

The term ‘Inference to the Best Explanation’ (IBE) was fi rst coined by Gilbert Harman (1965) in order to illuminate a procedure that, according to the author, is constantly used by the scientists to explain the phenomena they investigate. Some years before the philosopher Charles Peirce (1958) had talked about an inferential procedure apparently similar called «Abduction». It was usual in the specialized bibliography the tendency to identify both procedures, so it is common to talk alternately about ‘abductive inferences’ and ‘inferences to the best explanation’. The aim of this paper is to assess if such identifi cation is appropriate or not.

When the problem of prediction is considered, two key issues should be considered its scientific value and the values that predictions embrace. This analysis of scientific prediction from an axiological perspective requires several steps. I) To take into account the general coordinates of the axiology of prediction, where the twofold character of the axiology of science is highlighted: the structural dimension and the dynamic aspect. II) To analyze a relevant approach to the values of prediction, such as Nicholas Rescher’s conception, which is mainly structural. III) To extend Rescher’s views on the relation between prediction and values, where a dynamic approach to the axiology of prediction is needed.

This paper provides a brief introduction to the ideas of Latvian philosopher Teodors Celms, who was one of Husserl’s students and raised some interesting early criticism on phenomenology. Specifically, Celms was interested on the problem of intersubjectivity, as he considered that the phenomenological method results in a solipsism which hinders access to knowledge of other consciousness. This paper presents Celms’ critique and Husserl’s answer to the issue posed by his Latvian pupil.

The frame problem is a central problem in Cognitive Sciences. In philosophy, researchers have discussed whether the use of heuristics would solve such a problem. Here we focus on the psychological research on this issue. The problem is that there is not a unique research program on heuristics but two: the Heuristics and Biases Program and the Fast and Frugal Heuristics Program. We analyze, thus, the relative abilities of both programs to provide a solution to the frame problem. We argue that the Fast and Frugal Heuristic Program seems to be more adequate for this purpose.

The article examines the emergence of the concept of resistance in Foucault’s philosophy, according to their various formulations in the context of the development of analytical power. Within this general framework, they set two fundamental assumptions: that the concept of resistance is a problem of “outside” reactivation formulated in both writings on literature and the archaeological work; and that the notion is challenged again and again by a tautological definition that fails to separate the concept of power. In this way, assuming the defective nature of the concept of resistance, concludes with an assessment of their limitations and possibilities from a dialogue with some of its main critics.

The notion of ‘spirit’ is central to Dilthey´s philosophy. It’s not only a concept used to defi ne a scientifi c fi eld, but is mainly the result of the activity of human beings as historical beings. Likewise, it has not a metaphysical burden, because the spirit is fruit of the way in which present, past and future are articulated within the process of life. This article explains Dilthey´s notion of spirit and its links to life.