The mosses of Easter Island

The bryophyte flora of Easter Island has been poorly known primarily because few botanists have collected there. In order to increase the knowledge of the flora the two authors collected bryophytes from 12 localities on the island from April 28-May 3, 2000. The small island, which is south of the Tropic of Capricorn, is of volcanic origin and the volcanic soil as well as the destruction of most of the native flora have undoubtedly contributed to the paucity of bryophytes. The present study revealed that the bryophyte flora consists of only a few species, including one unidentifiable member of the Anthocerotaceae, 11 hepatics and 30 mosses. Eighteen mosses are new to the island. Three mosses, Chenia leptophylla (Müll. Hal.) R. H. Zander, Dicranella hawaiica (Müll. Hal.) Broth. and Tortella humilis (Hedw.) Jennings, are new for Chile, while three, Fissidens pascuanus Broth. in Skottsb., Ptychomitrium subcylindricum Thér. and Trematodon pascuanus Thér., are presently known to be endemic to Easter Island. Two of the three endemics, Fissidens pascuanus and Ptychomitrium subcylindricum, were rediscovered on the island. Fissidens pascuanus was found with sporophytes for the first time and a revised description of the species is provided

Political Liberalism and the Scientific Claims of Religion

Political liberalism is said to be neutral between what John Rawls called comprehensive doctrines. These doctrines are usually defined by their ethical and philosophical claims. However, how political liberalism should address factual disagreements in pluralistic societies is less clear. This is the broader question that this work aims to tackle. At a more specific level, the normative question is how liberal institutions should deal with factual claims put forward by religious traditions and communities. I take evolution vs. creationism as a case in point. While the former is a widely-accepted theory within scientific circles, the latter is advocated by religious groups in the US and elsewhere. The question is thus whether the liberal state can legitimately enlist its educational resources to teach Darwinism and exclude creationism as the true story about our origins. To this, creationists claim that (a) as Darwinism is a philosophically naturalistic doctrine, its exclusive teaching violates the promise of liberal neutrality to the detriment of non-naturalistic worldviews; and (b) liberal institutions – from courts of justice to educational boards and executive officials - are promoting a materialistic understanding of the scientific project by arbitrarily disallowing supernatural hypotheses. Accordingly, the best way to honour both metaphysical and epistemological fairness is to treat evolutionary theory and its foes in a balanced way within the framework of mandatory scientific education. Hence, the Creationist Claim (CC) is advanced as a logical implication of political liberalism’s purported impartiality. The first part of this thesis addresses three arguments that liberal theorists have articulated to dismiss CC: (i) Darwinian evolution is just a scientific theory, (ii) religion should not address matters of factuality, and (iii) science cannot handle supernatural hypotheses by definition. But these replies are unconvincing. I argue that Darwinism can be suitably presented as a partial worldview; that most religious narratives incorporate factual claims; and that theistic hypotheses should not be excluded from the purview of science under the disguise of a purely methodological naturalism. Nonetheless, this does not mean that creationism should be taught in the biology classroom. The second part of the thesis aims to provide a public justification for the exclusive teaching of Darwinian evolution. After distinguishing between two stages of liberal neutrality, I argue that the state is legitimated to adjudicate between competing factual claims through fair procedures, an adjudication that is indifferent to the naturalistic or supernaturalistic character of the hypotheses. Two justificatory strategies are then pursued. The first reconstructs the problem by mimicking the conditions of the Rawlsian Original Position, tracking the educational goods that every citizen under the veil of ignorance would sign up for. It concludes that a commitment to the aims of a broadly liberal education leads to the notion that every future citizen is entitled to an adequate degree of scientific literacy, which includes an understanding of the most fundamental idea in life sciences: evolution. The second appeals to Rawls’s suggestion that public reason encompasses the uncontroversial methods and conclusions of science. After addressing several possible objections, I conclude that scientific reasoning is a paradigmatic case of public reasoning, thus suitable for the aims of liberal public justification. Further, it offers a theory to think about scientific reasoning as an extension of everyday reasoning and common sense, a crucial assumption from which we can assert epistemic shared grounds. As a conclusion, this thesis argues that factual disagreements – such as the one that divides pluralistic societies over cosmic narratives - should be addressed by liberals within parameters of public justification, because this is the best way to show respect to all citizens. The scientific claims of religion might well be discarded, not because they are religious but because they fail to provide evidential support in a world in which scientific reasoning works as public epistemology

Experiencias ajenas, recorridos compartidos: Boca de lobo de Sergio Chejfec

El artículo rastrea los elementos y los mecanismos por medio los cuales Boca de lobo (2000), de Sergio Chejfec, hace convivir signos culturales fuertemente connotados, en especial aquellos relacionados con el universo semántico del mundo proletario, con otros caracterizados por la ambigüedad y la suspensión del sujeto como conciencia organizadora y rectora de la representación. Procuro leer una figuración del límite como experiencia y como dispositivo narrativo en el paisaje, los personajes y los objetos en la novela para encontrar los modos en que estos inquietan y subvierten los propósitos y los programas del relato. O artigo rasteja os elementos e os mecanismos pelos quais Boca de lobo (2000), de Sergio Chejfec, faz com que convivam signos culturais fortemente conotados, especialmente os relacionados com o universo semântico do mundo proletário, com outros caraterizados pela ambigüidade e a suspensão do sujeito como conciência organizadora e reitora da representação. Procuro ler uma figuração do limite como experiência e como dispositivo narrativo na paisagem, nas personagens e nos objetos do romance para indagar como eles inquietam e subvertem os propósitos e os programas do relato. This article tracks the elements and mechanisms through which Sergio Chjefec’s Boca de lobo meets strongly connoted cultural signs, specially those ones related to the semantic universe of the proletarian world, with others signs characterized by ambiguity and the suspension of the Subject as consciousness that organizes and regulates the system of representation. I look forward to find a representation of the limit as experience and as a narrative device in the landscape, the characters and the objects in the novel in order to find the ways in which they disturb and undermine the purposes and the programs of the story.

Populismo como democracia iliberal: Una hipótesis sobre el estallido social chileno

A number of interpretations have been put forward regarding the social uprising that occurred in Chile in late 2019. This article situates the events within the global climate of populism, a phenomenon understood as a response to the democratic deficits of contemporary liberal democracies. While the liberal literature on the subject is critical of populism, accusing it of undermining typically liberal principles and institutions, authors nonetheless recognize its democratic potential. This tension recreates the canonical distinction between liberalism and democracy. In this context, we go beyond a normative appraisal of the Chilean uprising to argue that it presents characteristics identifiable as populist within both the liberal and radical conceptual frameworks, and that the unrest can be interpreted as a denouncement of the current workings of liberal democracy, seen as incapable of properly processing the will of the people.Se han postulado distintas interpretaciones del estallido social chileno de 2019. Sin perjuicio de ello, este artículo sitúa la protesta y movilización en el marco de un clima populista global, entendido como una reacción al déficit democrático de las democracias liberales contemporáneas. Si bien la literatura liberal es crítica del fenómeno populista por su desprecio a una serie de principios e instituciones del liberalismo, le reconoce de todas formas su potencial democratizador. Esta tensión, recrea la distinción canónica entre liberalismo y democracia. A partir de lo anterior, se concluye que más allá de su evaluación normativa, el estallido social chileno trasunta elementos que son populistas tanto en la conceptualización liberal como en la radical, y admite una lectura como reclamo en contra del funcionamiento de la democracia liberal por su incapacidad de procesar correctamente la voluntad popular

Aproximación a la noción de auditorio y de aceptabilidad racional

Análisis de los conceptos de auditorio y de aceptabilidad racional

Sin agonismo no hay paraíso: Polarización y populismo en el proceso constituyente chileno

El proceso constituyente chileno ha sido interpretado como la canalización institucional y democrática del denominado “estallido social” de octubre de 2019. Aunque sus causas siguen siendo debatidas, el presente artículo lo presupone como una impugnación al rol de las élites políticas y económicas de la transición, así como una reivindicación de sectores tradicionalmente marginados de la toma de decisiones. De estas características emana una hipótesis populista del estallido social, que se ha proyectado en el proceso constituyente chileno. Uno de los elementos de esta hipótesis populista es la crítica a la comprensión consensual de la política, propia de la tradición deliberativa liberal, acusada de neutralizar el conflicto y disfrazar la hegemonía de racionalidad técnica. El presente artículo sostiene que, contra esta comprensión consensual, el proceso constituyente tiende a una comprensión agonista de la política, para la cual la política es esencialmente adversarial, y la legitimidad de la nueva norma es el resultado de una disputa democrática por el poder. Las condiciones de polarización que usualmente se denuncian como problemáticas para alcanzar acuerdos en el centro son, en este caso, funcionales a esta comprensión agonista, en la medida que transparentan la amplitud del arco ideológico y visibilizan a actores habitualmente excluidos. En tanto el proceso constituyente continúa su marcha, es muy temprano para saber si la  combinación entre populismo y polarización imprime nuevo vigor a la democracia chilena, o bien una excesiva fuerza centrífuga pone en riesgo su estabilidad

Un puñado de vida

La diferencia entre vida y biografía es la misma que existe, tensando las posibilidades de expresión y representación, entre la generalidad del lenguaje y la irreductibilidad de la experiencia. El presente artículo parte de esa tensión para pensar el lugar que la crisis (enfermedad, traición, duelo) tiene en la escritura, con foco en el libro de relatos Melanoma, de la escritora argentina Andrea Rabih.La différence entre la vie et la biographie est la même que celle qui existe, poussant à la limite les possibilités d'expression et de représentation, entre la généralité du langage et l'irréductibilité de l'expérience. Cet article part de cette tension pour réfléchir à la place qu'occupe la crise (maladie, trahison, deuil) dans l'écriture, en se concentrant sur le livre de nouvelles Melanoma, de l'écrivain argentin Andrea Rabih.The difference between life and biography is the same that exists between the generality of language and the irreducibility of experience, one that tenses the possibilities of expression and representation. This article starts from that tension in order to think about the place of crisis (illness, betrayal, grief) in writing, with focus on Melanoma, a book of short stories by the argentine writer Andrea Rabih

Problemas de legibilidad. Una cierta ética de la modestia de Sergio Chejfec

Más bien una historia sin peripecia de alguien sumergido en un escrutinio constanteSergio Chejfec La imagen como régimen de visibilidad coagulada o estúpida de un sujeto determinado (en su caso, sí mismo) representó para Roland Barthes un problema pertinaz y una preocupación consistente, aunque ambigua por decir lo menos, poco prístina en la relación entre su enunciación constante y su puesta en acto en la escritura y la vida pública. Toda imagen es mala, dice Barthes, porque es una ventosa q..