Los comunes desde una perspectiva de los sistemas sociales críticos

This paper is an attempt to theorise the commons from a perspective that sets out for reconciling systemism with a critical stance. According to that the concept of the commons is not only descriptive but also normative.The commons are defined as the systemic effect of synergy in social systems. However, the more suppression and exploitation are ruling, the higher is the extent of exclusion of actors from self-organised generation and usage of the synergetic effect, that is, the higher the extent of enclosure of the commons. Actually, the trend towards the enclosure of the commons is all-embracing and besets every subsystem of society.The critical stance of that theoretical position manifests itself in the endorsement of the reclaiming of the commons as a step towards the implementation of a good society.This paper is an attempt to theorise the commons from a perspective that sets out for reconciling systemism with a critical stance. According to that the concept of the commons is not only descriptive but also normative.The commons are defined as the systemic effect of synergy in social systems. However, the more suppression and exploitation are ruling, the higher is the extent of exclusion of actors from self-organised generation and usage of the synergetic effect, that is, the higher the extent of enclosure of the commons. Actually, the trend towards the enclosure of the commons is all-embracing and besets every subsystem of society.The critical stance of that theoretical position manifests itself in the endorsement of the reclaiming of the commons as a step towards the implementation of a good society.Este artículo es un intento de teorizar los comunes desde una perspectiva que pretende reconciliar el systemism con una postura crítica. De acuerdo con esto, el concepto de los comunes no es solo descriptivo sino también normativo. Los comunes son definidos como el efecto sistémico de la sinergia en los sistemas sociales. Sin embargo, mientras mayor represión y explotación reinen, más amplio es el alcance de la exclusión de los actores por los efectos sinérgicos en cuanto a su uso y producción auto-organizada, es decir, mayor será la extensión del cercamiento de los comunes. De hecho, la tendencia hacia el cercamiento de los comunes es global y asedia a todos los subsistemas de la sociedad. La postura crítica de esa posición teorética se manifiesta por sí misma en el respaldo de las reivindicaciones de los comunes como un paso hacia la implementación de una buena sociedad

The rationale for complexity thinking and emergentist systemism

The rationale for thinking in terms of complex systems today is its fitness to help understand the global problems and alleviate, if not solve, them. The tenets of complexity thinking can be identified, drawing upon the path-breaking assumptions of  Bertalanffy’s General System Theory that revolutionises the way of thinking, the world picture, and the worldview of scientific disciplines

PRIMER Initiative: Promoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Education and Research

p. 168-182El documento describe la iniciativa internacional PRIMER destinada a desarrollar capacidades y habilidades de investigación interdisciplinarias para impulsar la capacidad de enfrentar desafíos globales cuya complejidad está más allá del alcance de disciplinas individuales. Con este fin, la iniciativa ha llevado a cabo la educación, actividades de investigación e innovación basadas en teorías y metodologías, como herramientas para la integración del conocimiento. En la primera sección, se describe la motivación de la iniciativa, seguida de una sección que describe los objetivos y el enfoque teórico y metodológico, fundamentos, así como sus dimensiones técnicas y sociales. Los tres pilares del enfoque PRIMER están constituidos por la ciencia de sistemas, estudios de información e innovación social. Una tercera sección muestra los resultados de una fase de prueba en la que en las instituciones participantes se probó inicialmente programa más sistemático ideado a partir de los resultados de las pruebas. Este diseño, que es actualmente un candidato para un programa de financiación internacional, se describe brevemente en una sección posteriorS

PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Education and Research

The paper describes the PRIMER international initiative aimed to develop interdisciplinary research capacities and skills to boost the ability to face global challenges whose complexity is beyond the reach of individual disciplines. To this end, the initiative has carried out education, research and innovation activities based on theoretical and methodological tools for the integration of knowledge. In the first section, the motivation of the initiative is described, which is followed by a section describing the objectives and approach as regards theoretical and methodological underpinnings, as well as its technical and social dimensions. The three pillars of PRIMER approach are constituted by systems science, information studies, and social innovation. A third section shows the results of a testing phase in which the participant institutions where gathered, the approach was initially tested and a more systematic program was devised upon testing results. This design, which is currently a candidate for an international funding program, is briefly described in section forth.2019-2

Blurring of the Human and the Artificial: A Conceptual Clarification

Due to certain progress made in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related fields, there is a common agreement that we are facing a blurring of the human and the artificial. This presentation will argue that this agreement is rather one that pertains to anthropomorphic notations when dealing with computers and computer-based devices, as opposed to one that is justified by engineering results. In fact, the language used to describe mechanic functions hides what ontologically occurs, and how the autonomy of humans can be endangered. The clarification intended here uses the philosophical distinction between agents and patients and translates it into the systems theoretical distinction between self-organising systems and non-self-organising entities

Digital Humanism: How to Shape Digitalisation in the Age of Global Challenges?

Digital Humanism, formulated in 2019, is an explicit demand for the development and application of human-centred technology, that is, for “pulling” a humanised and humane digitalisation instead of “pushing” it for merely economic reasons. Under the title above, the scientific encounter of inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives has aimed at presenting and questioning the conception of that trend. Special emphasis has been placed on the link between digital technology and the urgent societal goals of mitigating, if not resolving, the existential multi-crisis humanity faces today

Imagined Futures Gone Astray. An Ontological Analysis

This paper is on ontological assumptions on which ideologies such as trans- and post humanism are based. The method by which these ontological assumptions are criticised is the analysis of the way of thinking (reductionism/projectionism, disjunctionism, and integrationism)