The popular notion of bullshit and the term that expresses it has received little philosophical attention despite the fact that it pervades much of human discourse. Frankfurt recovered bullshit analysis in the eighties and opened the way to studies on its nature and function. Our interest in bullshit is philosophically analytical, but also practical, as bullshit particularly affects the field of science policy. In order to understand that double character, we first present Grice's model of meaning of expressions and then summarize the controversy between the tobacco industry and the US Administration, which allows us to state our basic hypothesis: tobacco companies have developed and implemented a discursive tactic of bullshit in order to delay or avoid governmental regulations and decisions. Before eventually applying the Gricean model to various cases of bullshit, we locate our approach against the background of the comparison between sound and junk science.Keywords: Grice, intention, meaning, tobacco industry, bullshit, junk science, uncertainty. RESUMO A noção popular de bullshit eo termo que expressa não receberam atenção filosófica excessiva, apesar de que se estende por grande parte do discurso falado e escrito. Frankfurt recupera a análise do bullshit na década de 1980 e, assim, abriu o caminho para estudos sobre sua natureza e função. Nosso interesse na bullshit é especificamente analítico, mas também pragmática na medida em que afeta o domínio da política da ciência. Para entender esse caráter duplo, primeiro apresentamos o modelo de Grice do significado de expressões de linguagem e, em seguida, depois de sintetizar as principais disputas entre a indústria de tabaco e a administração dos EUA, estabelecemos a nossa hipótese de base: as empresas de tabaco têm desenvolvido e implementado uma técnica discursiva do bullshit a fim de retardar ou prevenir muitos regulamentos e decisões do governo. Antes de finalmente aplicar o modelo griceana a vários casos de bullshit, colocamos nosso foco contra um fundo no qual a discernir a 'boa ciência' da 'má ciência'.Palavras-chave: Grice, intenção, significado, indústria de tabaco, bullshit, má ciência, incerteza.
Mechanistic information is used in the field of risk assessment in order to clarify two controversial methodological issues, the selection of inference guides and the definition of standards of evidence. In this paper we present an analysis of the concept of mechanistic information in risk assessment by recurring to previous philosophical analyses of mechanistic explanation. Our conclusion is that the conceptual analysis of mechanistic explanation facilitates a better characterization of the concept of mechanistic information. However, it also shows that the use of this kind of information in risk assessment is heavily influenced by pragmatic factors, which have not been sufficiently taken into account in philosophical analysis. Mechanistic models are like hypothesis that have to be validated empirically. Due to their dependence on the standards of evidence, they are subject to the same pragmatic factors. Therefore, recurring to mechanistic information does not lead to closure of the methodological controversies in risk assessment.
Spain is becoming the source of a number of scholarly engagements between culture and technology that run the gamut from analytic philosophy to postmodernist activism. These appear in publications that rival those of almost any other country and reflect the great diversity of modern Spain. Unfortunately, these engagements are often underappreciated by English-speaking readers. The present essay uses both geography and methodology to describe this emerging body of work, while acknowledging the simplifications and overlaps inherent in any survey.
En el texto defendemos que la crítica de Byung-Chul Han a la sociedad actual en sus vertientes epistémica y tecnocientífica es una pseudo-crítica. Su crítica de la noción de transparencia se teje con citas y reflexiones de naturaleza poco clara que chocan de frente con nuestra concepción de lo que es la crítica filosófica. Como alternativa, proponemos una crítica argumentada de los mismos fenómenos a los que apunta Han con el fin de desmontar su propuesta al respecto. Sobre el trasfondo de la filosofía racionalista crítica de Popper y de la semiótica crítica de Eco, proponemos escrutar las nociones de conocimiento, enseñanza y tecnologías a partir del análisis de varios conceptos clave: el pseudo-conocimiento, la posverdad y el bullshit. A partir de ello, sostenemos que hay otros fenómenos (mala ciencia y mala filosofía, cámaras de eco, burbujas epistémicas) cuyo examen nos puede ayudar a acometer nuestra tarea crítica razonada de un fenómeno clave en la actualidad que Han ni siquiera ha previsto: las tecno-enseñanza online.
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