Los últimos libros publicados por este prolífico autor son, como mínimo, paradójicos. El presente no es una excepción. Desde hace varios años, Evandro Agazzi viene publicando varios volúmenes que presentan de forma sistemática y articulada las áreas fundamentales de su amplia reflexión filosófica. El origen de este vasto programa de investigación es el gran respeto por el conocimiento científico, acompañado de un rechazo al prejuicio positivista que reduce a las percepciones sensoriales la capacidad de aportar conocimiento y atribuye a la razón solo la facultad de elaborar esquemas formales incapaces de aportar conocimiento auténtico. El presente volumen está dedicado a la antropología filosófica, es decir, a una reflexión sobre la naturaleza humana, tema de gran actualidad en un momento en el que el entusiasmo por los logros de la ciencia y la tecnología corre el riesgo de hacer considerar al hombre como una máquina (aunque pesada) o un simple mamífero un poco más evolucionado que un orangután o un chimpancé. Superar estas limitaciones permite reconocer en el hombre un componente inmaterial e inmortal, aprovechando también las analogías con la perdurabilidad de los productos culturales. Aquí aparece una inesperada y amplísima presentación de ejemplos extraídos de la música que, en sí mismos, representan una novedad en el seno del debate filosófico y se nutren de una práctica y un conocimiento directos del mundo musical por el que ha pasado el autor. De ahí el título de esta obra, Demostrar la existencia del hombre, cuyo contenido analiza el arduo camino que ha llevado a reconocer la igual dignidad humana a tantas categorías de seres de nuestra especie que estaban excluidas de ella.

The experience of the holy can be seen as part of the effort of human beings to construct a meaningful world. This perspective reveals that science and religion have both presented themselves in human history as strong values, characterized by different “types” of knowledge (with different degrees of certainty to which they aspire) and different goals. That they have often been able to integrate smoothly and at other times appear distant from each other is part of the historicity of human affairs. Today it is necessary for religious discourse to be able to express itself in a culture strongly permeated by the scientific mentality. As the paper tries to show, this capacity essentially depends on being able to clarify how scientific knowledge can be reconciled with the concept of a radical hope in a life beyond death, understood as an essential integration of meaning in human life.

INTRODUCTION:The wish to hasten death (WTHD) is a clinically significant phenomenon that arises from complex suffering. It has been predominantly studied in Caucasian populations, emphasizing the importance of gaining more diverse cultural perspectives. This study explores the factors associated with the WTHD in Mexican cancer patients receiving palliative care from one academic center, with a specific focus on its connection to dignity.". PATIENTS AND METHODS:The study, a cross-sectional research conducted between October 12, 2023, and August 30, 2024, involved patients with confirmed cancer diagnoses who were attending a palliative care service. Patients had applied the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI), Schedule of Attitudes Toward Hastened Death (SAHD), Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS), EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL to assess health-related quality of life, Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (KPSS) to assess functional capacity, and the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System. A PDI score ≥55 indicated a fractured sense of dignity (DPD), while a SAHD score ≥1 indicated the WTHD. Factors associated with the WTHD were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis. The study was approved by the IRB. RESULTS:The study included 302 primarily middle-aged (54.5 [45-64]) females (225 [74.5%]), with 9 years of education. They reported high severity of well-being (7 [1-7]) and tiredness (3 [0-6]). Their median KPSS score showed independence (80 [70-80]), despite impacts across all EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL dimensions. DPD was noted in 110 patients (36.5%). The most frequent diagnoses were breast cancer (114 [38%]), lung cancer (33 [11%]), and gastrointestinal cancer (28 [9%]). The WTHD was found in 94 patients (31.1%). Factors significantly associated included tiredness score (OR: 1.147, 95% CI: 1.044-1.261, p = 0.004), BEDS score (1.181, 1.085-1.284, p ≤ 0.001) and a DPD (1.979, 1.038-3.772, p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS:The WTHD was found in one out of every three Mexican cancer patients receiving palliative care and was linked to biological-, mental health-, and existential-related factors.

General system theory offers a conceptual and methodological framework for integrating bioethical considerations into environmental and ecological decision-making, clearly and effectively framing many problems and situations that are usually presented using ordinary language. A system is an internally structured entity characterised by certain specific properties and functions. This unit is related to several of its parts which are also systems and are therefore its subsystems. In turn, each system is part (i.e., subsystem) of higher-order systems. All these systems and subsystems are connected by relationships in such a way that each system is characterised by its specific properties, which, in addition, result from the correlations that link them to their subsystems and higher-order systems. Within this general architecture, concepts such as environment and complexity as well as emergence, with all the problems concerning the limits of predictive possibilities, are easily inscribed, showing that traditional deterministic approaches in science are insufficient to manage such complexity. The paper addresses the challenges posed by unpredictability in complex systems, critiquing fatalistic views that either optimistically or pessimistically accept the uncontrollable nature of technological and ecological developments. It is precisely the unpredictability of a complex system like the environment that necessitates a bioethical dimension to guide the values underlying our decision-making concerning life itself.

La teoría general de sistemas ofrece un marco conceptual y metodológico para integrar consideraciones bioéticas en la toma de decisiones ambientales y ecológicas, enmarcando clara y eficazmente muchos problemas y situaciones que suelen presentarse utilizando el lenguaje ordinario. Un sistema es una entidad estructurada internamente que se caracteriza por algunas propiedades y funciones específicas. Esta unidad se relaciona con varias de sus partes que también son sistemas y son, por tanto, sus subsistemas. A su vez, cada sistema es parte (es decir, subsistema) de sistemas de orden superior. Todos estos sistemas y subsistemas están relacionados entre sí de tal manera que cada uno se caracteriza por sus propiedades específicas, que, además, resultan de las correlaciones que los unen a sus subsistemas y sistemas de orden superior. Dentro de esta arquitectura general se inscriben fácilmente conceptos como entorno y complejidad, así como emergencia, con todos los problemas relativos a los límites de las posibilidades de predicción mostrando que los enfoques deterministas tradicionales en la ciencia son insuficientes para manejar tal complejidad. El artículo aborda los desafíos que plantea la impredecibilidad en los sistemas complejos, criticando las visiones fatalistas que aceptan de manera optimista o pesimista la naturaleza incontrolable de los desarrollos tecnológicos y ecológicos. Es precisamente la impredecibilidad de un sistema complejo como el entorno lo que requiere una dimensión bioética para guiar los valores que subyacen a nuestra toma de decisiones respecto a la vida misma.

Este libro titulado Transhumanismo y realidades paralelas. Interpelaciones desde la filosofía y la teología es el resultado de un análisis interdisciplinario de autores e investigadores reconocidos en el campo de la Filosofía y la Teología de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana de Ecuador y la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Colombia. El libro establece un diálogo entre la filosofía, la teología y la religión con la tecnociencia. Se trata de un conjunto de seis capítulos que realizan un diálogo interdisciplinar pero desglosado desde temas específicos. Es un trabajo bien analizado, claro, coherente y con unidad argumentativa que responde a las situaciones de nuestros tiempos. El hilo conductor más visible a lo largo del desarrollo del libro tiene que ver con las tensiones que genera para el humanismo las apuestas de la tecnociencia actual.

A topic that will be thematically addressed in this issue of our journal is Artificial Intelligence, which has been considered in a rather ambiguous way during the last decades. For this reason, it seems advisable to publish a rather extended Editorial with the view of offering analyses and clarifications that will provide a rather clear frame for the discussion of such an important topic.

This second issue of the 2023 year of our journal is characterized by the presence of rather wide-ranging articles dedicated to topics of bioethical relevance that is studied according to philosophical, general ethical, and specific bioethical approaches, with attention to interdisciplinary connections.

La desigualdad ha revelado brechas en varios sectores. La relevancia de este artículo radica en la cobertura general de servicios médicos y medicamentos en el sector salud de México, así como el impacto en la sociedad y sus individuos. Mediante un estudio analítico-retrospectivo, se concluyó que nos encontramos muy por debajo de la recomendación hecha a México por la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) sobre cobertura universal en salud. Se sugiere regular más enérgicamente el «proceso de toma de decisiones» en las estrategias de salud y los planes de gestión del suministro de medicamentos. Se deben mirar los derechos a la salud desde una perspectiva ética, implementando medidas gubernamentales que garanticen la igualdad de acceso a los servicios médicos, ampliar la cobertura universal de salud, el abasto de insumos y medicamentos en este sector, garantizando un sistema de salud sostenible.

Background The patient-doctor relationship (PDR) is a complex phenomenon with strong cultural determinants, which impacts health-related outcomes and, accordingly, does have ethical implications. The study objective was to describe the PDR from medical encounters between 600 Mexican outpatients with rheumatic diseases and their attending rheumatologists, and to identify factors associated with a good PDR. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed. Patients completed the PDRQ-9 (Patient-Doctor Relationship Questionnaire, 9 items), the HAQ-DI (Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index), the Short-Form 36 items (SF-36), a pain-visual analog scale, and the Ideal Patient Autonomy Scale. Relevant sociodemographic, disease-related, and treatment-related variables were obtained. Patients assigned a PDRQ-9 score to each patient-doctor encounter. Regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with a good PDR, which was defined based on a cutoff point established using the borderline performance method. Results Patients were primarily middle-aged female subjects (86%), with substantial disease duration (median, 11.1 years), without disability (HAQ-DI within reference range, 55.3%), and with deteriorated quality of life (SF-36 out of reference range, 73.7%-78.6%). Among them, 36.5% had systemic lupus erythematosus and 31.8% had rheumatoid arthritis. There were 422 patients (70.3%) with a good PDR and 523 medical encounters (87.2%) involved certified rheumatologists. Patient paternalistic ideal of autonomy (odds ratio [OR], 3.029; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.793-5.113), SF-36 score (OR, 1.014; 95% CI, 1.003-1.025), female sex (OR, 0.460; 95% CI, 0.233-0.010), and being certified rheumatologist (OR, 1.526; 95% CI, 1.059-2.200) were associated with a good PDR. Conclusions Patient-related factors and the degree of experience of the attending physician impact the quality of the PDR, in Mexican outpatients with rheumatic diseases.

We are accustomed to believe that, thanks to exceptional technological progress, our quality of life has improved incomparably if one considers the eras that preceded us.In many respects this impression is certainly correct, one cannot ignore, however, the heavy trade-offs of technological progress that have profoundly altered our living conditions globally: these changes affect less usual aspects of the ordinary life of the majority of the world's population and yet correspond to the need to protect oneself against serious and unpredictable threats.

The article from a perspective of philosophy of science undertakes an attempt of broadening and refining the sense of addressing interrelations between science, technology and philosophy in contemporary research. The author points out that the hope that technological and scientific development of the last few decades would solve all the problems of the world were naïve and did not contribute suf­ficiently to the analysis of the current situation and the concept of science. As a possible solution the article proposes to take a look on the origins and ac­tual functioning of the phenomenon of science from a wider perspective. There­fore, the author conducts a historical-philosophical investigation that shows how widely spread modern views on science that led to the loss of cultural identity and unity emerged from the spirit of rational philosophy. The break between phi­losophy and science further led to the break between science and technology. Using the inspired by non-Western tradition thought of Indian philosopher De­piprasad Chattopadhyaya the author provides a framework for a fruitful concep­tion of that unity of the sciences and humanities that should be a result of re­thinking their interrelations and foundations in the course of history and culture.