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This paper analyzes Maurizio Ferraris's "minimal realism" with the aim of showing that his criticisms of correlationism and constructivism are not convincing. Ferraris preserves both a substantivist vision of the objects of knowledge and a substantial difference between sensible things and concepts. These two issues prevent his Manifesto of New Realism from being considered the founding moment of the "new realism." The paper concludes with a reflection on those aspects that should be considered and avoided when proposing a philosophical realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to show that, in the Science of Logic Hegel, through the category of "subjective end", distinguishes a purely instrumental dimension of the activity of concept. After delineating a general interpretation of the Doctrine of Concept, key aspects of the chapter dedicated of Teleology are re-constructed with the aim of detecting both the fundamental features and the limitations of this purely instrumental dimension of the concept. It is concluded that, in the chapter, it is possible to verify a 'logic of the instrumentally activity' and from this standpoint, to interpret the systematic position of the chapter. In addition, critical features of the Hegelian analysis are emphasized in regard to the general problem of mechanization and wear of the world and life, which projects the problem to the transit from chapter on Teleology to the Idea section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the theoretical assumptions of constructivism in order to understand it from the perspectives of epistemology and pedagogy. In the first section, three relevant constructivist positions (radical, Piaget's, and social constructivism) are describe as a necessary condition to explore the possibility of advancing in the characterization of a constructivist epistemology and to be able to show the epistemological difficulties entailed. The second section, constructivism as a pedagogic theory, examines the constructivist pedagogy to show its contribution to teaching. In addition, some pedagogy objections requiring clarification regarding the theme are mentioned. Finally, by establishing a connection from the epistemological and pedagogical perspectives of constructivism, it is suggested that constructivism is not a theory of teaching but rather a u of raisins epistemological problems and trying to solve them. It is not the intention this paper to fall into simplifications which are typical of constructivism but to high light some of its positive aspects such as underlining the importance of a positive attitude in learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews several evolutionary theories of technological change, gathering them in two groups: (a) historical and philosophical; (b) economic. The goal is to determine and analyze the philosophical issues, themes and vocabulary common to such theories. These theories are contrasted with the pseudo-evolutionary and social-constructivist theories. The study moves from deterministic, linear evolutionary theories, to the bi-directional and multi-linear evolutionary theories. An analogy between technological change and the theory of evolution is established. Based on this revision, the paper upholds an evolutionary theory of technological change denominated the Third Way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I analyze the main arguments and counterarguments proposed by realists and anti-realists stances for and against the scientific ability to produce objective and true scientific knowledge about the social and natural world. I argue that the theoretical and observational language which social and natural scientists use to refer to several scientific observable and unobservable entities, phenomena, properties and processes are determined, in practice, by their theoretical research traditions. This shows that scientific methodology depends so heavily on scientific theories that is, at most, a constructive procedure and not a discovery procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some authors sustain that historical research is an effect of a specific historiographical context (Jenkins, 1991; González de Oleaga, 2009). An approach to the historiographical debate between constructivism and recontructivism is presented in this paper. Two theses are here defended. The first one affirms that the above mentioned debate is deeply related to epistemological questions (study of mental representations, different conceptions about historical reasoning functions, historical reasoning, cognitive bias, and informal falacies). The second thesis affirms that each historiographical conception can be understood as the effect of assuming a specific perspective about these epistemic questions. As an evidence of this, some connections between historiography and epistemology will be analysed through the analogy between the reconstructivism vs. constructivism debate, and the epistemological debate detectivism vs. constitutivism (Finkelstein, 2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the theoretical methodological perspectives of postmodernism as a tendency of comparative politics. Although postmodernists frequently reject some of the points of behavioral approaching, the psychological politics tend to embrace them. In this analysis it is suggested that you must be careful when elements are attributed to postmodernism which is far beyond being a monolithic discipline, because it contains different areas of interest, such as poststructuralism. Postmodernity questions the legitimacy of the development achieved by modernity and the universality of its values and processes, the economics reductionism, its ethnocentric focus and its unidimensional interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses justice in terms of political problem as viewed by John Rawls' philosophy. It claims that the Kantian politic constructivism has some implications on the base of the Rawlsian liberalism. It argues about how the connection between these two different types of constructivism provides a construction procedure in which rational autonomous agents, submitted to reasonable conditions, make agreements concerning public principles about justice in order to reach a fair system of cooperation that goes beyond the generations. It concludes showing the limitations and achievements of the proposal in contemporary political philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a possibilistic conception of technological artifacts facing technological determinism. Technological artifacts are considered points in a space of pragmatic possibilities determined by the abilities of different socio-cultural aspects. The determination process of one possibility is the design of an artifact that comes true as long as the abilities are effective. A design is a process of creation at several levels of reality: material, functional, usefulness. At the same time, the idea of design may also include the social participation of the community, which hereby collectively expresses its desires. This proposed alternative responds to determinism as well as to social constructivism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary on Carlos Pereda's paper "El poder de la primera persona", I object him two things: 1) that his caracterization of the subjectivity falls into a vicious circle, and 2) that he mistakenly constrains normativity to the first person perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the topic of representation since the point of view of etnomethodology and sociology of scientific knowledge. It start out by discussing the "standard image of representation" and the constructuvist proposition of that image. Then, a case of study is presented to suggest how practices for collecting and analyzing forensic evidence in criminal law, can contribute to under stand representational adequacy. The aim of this pa per is to think differently about representation considering how it is produced, man aged and deconstructed. Since this point of view, the propositions is to consider representation not only as a problematic epistemological concept but also as a practical accomplishment in specific epistemic cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the origin and the philosophical assumptions of the Spanish reform typology of contents, assumed by Argentine educational transformation in the 90s. It tries to show that the theses of social constructivism --rooted in Kantian idealism-- and of psychological formalism, are still in force. The criterion of selection of curricular contents --social significance-- is also discussed, attempting to show that the basic principles assumed by this criterion lead to relativization of pedagogical statements. The need to approach curricular theory from a metaphysical and anthropological foundation is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]