We study 944 shareholder proposals submitted to 343 U.S. firms on climate change issues during 2009–2022. We use logistic and two-stage regression to estimate the propensity for a firm to be targeted or subjected to a vote at the annual general meeting and, for voted proposals, the determinants of that vote. We also examine whether climate-related proposals affect investor returns and how they relate to firms’ future environmental performance and greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to a matched sample, we first find (...) that activists target larger, more carbon-intensive, and less R&D-active firms. Second, voting likelihood is higher for firms with repeated and operations-related proposals and lower pre-proposal environmental ratings. By contrast, disclosure-related proposals are likelier to be negotiated and withdrawn. Third, repeated and operations-related proposals receive higher votes in favor, whereas votes on carbon-intensive firms do not. Fourth, building on the theory that investors act as if they distinguish among the different shareholder proposals based on the expected cost to the firm, we find evidence to support this idea. We find that investors respond negatively to ex-ante costlier proposals, such as those that relate to emissions reduction and target carbon-intensive firms. Fifth, targets’ future environmental performance rating is almost twenty percent higher after a proposal than before compared to the matched sample, whereas emissions do not budge appreciably. (shrink)

© 2016 Public Library of Science. All rights reserved.Black Sigatoka or black leaf streak disease, caused by the Dothideomycete fungus Pseudocercospora fijiensis, is the most significant foliar disease of banana worldwide. Due to the lack of effective host resistance, management of this disease requires frequent fungicide applications, which greatly increase the economic and environmental costs to produce banana. Weekly applications in most banana plantations lead to rapid evolution of fungicide-resistant strains within populations causing disease-control failures throughout the world. Given its (...) extremely high economic importance, two strains of P. fijiensis were sequenced and assembled with the aid of a new genetic linkage map. The 74-Mb genome of P. fijiensis is massively expanded by LTR retrotransposons, making it the largest genome within the Dothideomycetes. Melting-curve assays suggest that the genomes of two closely related members of the Sigatoka disease complex, P. eumusae and P. musae, also are expanded. Electrophoretic karyotyping and analyses of molecular markers in P. fijiensis field populations showed chromosome-length polymorphisms and high genetic diversity. Genetic differentiation was also detected using neutral markers, suggesting strong selection with limited gene flow at the studied geographic scale. Frequencies of fungicide resistance in fungicide-treated plantations were much higher than those in untreated wild-type P. fijiensis populations. A homologue of the Cladosporium fulvum Avr4 effector, PfAvr4, was identified in the P. fijiensis genome. Infiltration of the purified PfAVR4 protein into leaves of the resistant banana variety Calcutta 4 resulted in a hypersensitive-like response. This result suggests that Calcutta 4 could carry an unknown resistance gene recognizing PfAVR4. Besides adding to our understanding of the overall Dothideomycete genome structures, the P. fijiensis genome will aid in developing fungicide treatment schedules to combat this pathogen and in improving the efficiency of banana breeding programs. (shrink)

Problema de investigación abordado en esta tesis de grado, fue el de explorar el alcance que tendría la conexión entre la tesis de la regla de reconocimiento y la tesis de los contenidos mínimos de derechos natural en la teoría de H.L.A. Hart. Se indaga a partir de las referencias directas y no directas, la contextualización histórica con escuelas o tendencias activas en el período de elaboración de "El Concepto de Derecho". para identificar los puntos relevantes que permiten desarrollar los (...) enlaces que inicialmente se plantean. Alcance para entender el trabajo maduro de Hart sin olvidar que ya en obras anteriores surgen las aproximaciones a la pragmática del lenguaje y el lugar que asigna a las "reglas prácticas" del derecho en el contexto social. Se culmina apoyada la argumentación en algunas tesis de J Raz en en caracter constitutivo de la regla de reconocimiento y por lo tanto, en su naturaleza de regla primaria y no secundaria como es ubicada por Hart en la obra mencionada. (shrink)

AimThe functional prognosis of patients after coma following either cardiac arrest or acute structural brain injury is often uncertain. These patients are associated with high mortality and disability. N20 and N70 somatosensory evoked potentials are used to predict prognosis. We evaluated the utility of SSEP as an early indicator of long-term prognosis in these patients.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of coma after CA or ABI. An SSEP study was (...) performed, including N20 and N70 at 24–72 h, after coma onset. Functional recovery was assessed 6–12 months later using the modified Glasgow scale. The study was approved by our local research ethics committee.ResultsIn the CA and ABI groups, the absence of N20 or N70 was a strong indicator of poor outcome. Conversely, the presence of N70 was an indicator of a good outcome.ConclusionSomatosensory evoked potentials are useful early prognostic markers with high specificity and sensitivity. Moreover, N70 has additional potential value for improving the prediction of good long-term functional outcomes.Clinical Trial Registration:[https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier [2018/01/001]. (shrink)

This volume reflects on questions of human rights in the context of globalization. The essays responding to this subject are rich and varied: they focus on legal acceptance as well as consequences of human rights with regard to social rights and the necessary protection of the environment connected or close to those rights. Another approach to the subject featured in the volume is the legal recognition and the consideration of human rights as moral rights. With concepts on universality, a new (...) cosmopolitism, cultural pluralism and perspectives on religious variants and technological advances the debate on human rights is concluded. Index / Indice I. The Foundation of Rights / El fundamento de los derechos: J. Rubio Carracedo: El legalismo occidental: un problema para la universalizacion de los derechos humanos J. A. Seoane: El caracter juridico de las leyes injustas M. Borowski: Classifying and qualifying properties of fundamental rights J. von Platz: Faith in reason: questioning practical reason as fact, norm, end, and function of human rights R. Cruft: Policy implications of the philosophical foundations of human rights Maria Gabriela Scataglini: Derechos humanos: otra mirada sobre la cuestion de su universalidad II. A New Cosmopolitism / Un nuevo cosmopolitismo: V. de P. Barreto: Derecho cosmopolita y derechos humanos Luis Fernando Barzotto: Reconocimiento y fraternidad A. R. Bernstein: Justifying universal human rights via Rawlsian public reason H. Khatchadourian: Democracy and the globalization of human rights Milagros Otero Parga: Derechos humanos y globalizacion Halim Bepari: Human rights and the United Nations Miracy B. S. Gustin: Rescate de los derechos humanos en situaciones adversas de paises perifericos III. Multiculturism and Pluralism of Values /Multiculturalidad y pluralismo de valores: M. Herrero / M. Saralegui: Dogmatismo politico y pluralismo religioso Berry Tholen: Migration, justice, and Europe's identity. The relevance of special ties for EU's migration policy C. M. Alvarez Chicano: Implicaciones de la inconmensurabilidad de los valores en la aplicacion de principios de orden etico y juridico L. Perez Conejo: Axiologia juridica y pluralismo de valores: algunas consideraciones sobre la nocion de 'inconmensurabilidad' S-I. Liu: Fundamental legal values and globalization with regard to historical experience in freedom of speech L. C. Amezua: Libertad natural y esclavitud voluntaria: reflexiones de F. Suarez sobre la esclavitud IV. Rights and Gender / Derechos y genero: J.M. Gil Ruiz: La violencia de genero en el contexto familiar y la agresion de la ciencia juridica A. Goiriena Lekue: El interes superior del/la nino/a, coparentalidad y neutralidad de genero en la atribucion de la guarda y custodia de los hijos e hijas P. Garcia Guevara: Las politicas de genero en los paises globalizados del 'Tercer Mundo' V. Technological Impact and New Generation Rights / Impacto tecnologico y nuevas generaciones de derechos: M. Ahteensuu: Understanding the precautionary principle in the light of the traditional weak-strong distinction: a critical comment Cristina Monero Atienza: Bases para una teoria de los derechos en el siglo XXI M. Kitahara: Personal data processing and business ethics: personal data processing and personal data protection in business A. D. Oliver Lalana: El lado empirico de la legitimidad comunicativa: sobre la publicidad organizativa del derecho de proteccion de datos en internet J. Ebbesson / M. Zamboni: Transbordering democracy? The case of environment protection Sagrario Moles Nieto: El impacto medioambiental de los cultivos transgenicos VI. Bioethics and Law / Bioetica y derecho: M. Cruz Diaz de Teran: Principios para una biojuridica global C. Faralli / S. Tugnoli: Bioethics between law and science: the Italian law on medically assisted procreation (Law No. 40, February 19, 2004) N. Zeegers: The working of power in communicative regulation: the case of research with human embryos J. A. Fernandez Suarez: La bioetica en la era de la globalizacion F. J. Blazqez Ruiz: Privacidad y discriminacion genetica: propuestas bioeticas y juridicas ante los desafios de un mundo globalizado. (shrink)

This paper develops a systematic reconstruction of psychological theory grounded in the Philosophy of Belonging. It introduces a stratified ontology (SDBO–SDBEO–SDBEIO), dual temporality (synchronic structure and diachronic unfolding), and imperfect belonging as a constitutive condition of reality. -/- The central thesis is that the self is a diachronic trajectory of belonging rather than a pre-existing entity. Psychological phenomena are reinterpreted as relational processes, and pathology as the collapse or rigidification of belonging. -/- The paper proposes a six-step clinical architecture explaining (...) the limitations of cognition-first therapies and formulates the belonging mediation hypothesis. -/- This manuscript is circulated as a scholarly preprint and may differ from any future published version. (shrink)

The Philosophy of Belonging: Stratified Reality, Dual Temporality, and the Scientific Reconfiguration of Contemporary Philosophy develops a scientifically grounded ontological framework designed to reconfigure contemporary philosophical discourse across analytic metaphysics, critical theory, liberal political philosophy, social ontology, post-structuralism, speculative realism, and existential phenomenology. The book introduces a tripartite stratified ontology—SDBO (material), SDBEO (evolutionary-biological), and SDBEIO (institutional-human)—derived from contemporary scientific knowledge rather than from aprioristic metaphysical premises. Across all strata operates dual temporality: synchronic relational structure (Tˢ) and diachronic irreversible unfolding (Tᵈ). (...) Central to the framework is the principle of imperfect belonging: relational embeddedness is ontologically fundamental, yet never complete. This structural imperfection generates evolutionary adaptation, institutional transformation, individual freedom, and creative divergence without endorsing ontological individualism or collectivist absorption. Rather than proposing another isolated philosophical doctrine, this work offers an explicit ontological cartography that situates major philosophical traditions within a shared scientific architecture. By grounding ontology in physics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and institutional theory, it enables cross-traditional dialogue where aprioristic systems have historically produced fragmentation. The Philosophy of Belonging presents an architectural reconfiguration of contemporary philosophy: stratified, temporally dual, empirically constrained, and structurally open. (shrink)

This work develops a comprehensive ontological reconstruction of the human being based on a foundational thesis: to be is to belong. In contrast to the modern paradigm of the sovereign individual—conceived as an isolated, self-sufficient entity prior to its bonds—this work proposes an Ontological Revolution of Belonging that redefines the subject as a Self of Belonging: biologically, affectively, temporally, and institutionally bound from its origin. The Philosophy of Belonging (PB) articulates this turn through a coherent theoretical architecture that integrates ontology, (...) epistemology, science, psychology, economics, politics, and ethics. At its ontological core, belonging is established as a primary category of being, completed by an Ontology of the Limit, which demonstrates that every habitable belonging requires non-arbitrary boundaries in order to be compatible with freedom. The work grounds this thesis in a non-ergodic universe, where vital stability emerges from systemic integration against entropy, and anchors it materially in the neurobiology of bonding, identifying the limbic system as the central interface of inclusion and exclusion. At the epistemological level, the work shows that to know is to belong: truth, rationality, and science always emerge from epistemic communities governed by non-arbitrary rules. Post-truth thus appears as a rupture of epistemic belonging, not as a mere informational deficit. In critical dialogue with contemporary philosophical tradition, PB overcomes existentialist melancholy by showing that anguish, absurdity, and solitude are not ultimate truths of being, but symptoms of an incomplete ontology of the bond. In the psychological domain, the work introduces the Clinic of Action, which redefines psychic suffering as a real rupture of belonging, rather than as a merely internal cognitive error. This clinic is articulated with a systematic typology of Pathologies of Belonging, explaining how closed, conditional, instrumental, arbitrary, or phantasmatic belongings generate anxiety, depression, trauma, and social pathologies. Psychology is completed with a Theory of Relational Temporality, in which memory, presence, and promise constitute the ontological continuity of the Self, and with a theory of imaginative fantasy as a reparative faculty that sustains meaning and action in the face of the imperfection of real belonging. At the economic and institutional level, the work replaces Homo Economicus with the Self of Economic Belonging, redefining money, institutions, and law as collective fantasies of shelter whose function is to guarantee open, stable, and non-arbitrary belongings. Economic policy is reorganized around five objectives, culminating in the satisfaction of belongings as the supreme criterion of social success. Justice is reformulated as effective ontological recognition: place, continuity, and protection against arbitrariness. Finally, the work proposes an ethics of belonging and an Art of Living based on relational mastery, creative repair, and systemic responsibility, projecting a civilizational horizon founded on open belonging, creative freedom, and ontological continuity. The Philosophy of Belonging thus presents itself as an original transdisciplinary paradigm, capable of reorienting science, clinical practice, economics, institutions, and everyday life in the twenty-first century. This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT and Gemini. (shrink)

Most theories of slurs fall into one of two families: those which understand slurring terms to involve special descriptive/informational content (however conveyed), and those which understand them to encode special emotive/expressive content. Our view is that both offer essential insights, but that part of what sets slurs apart is use-theoretic content. In particular, we urge that slurring words belong at the intersection of a number of categories in a sociolinguistic register taxonomy, one that usually includes [+slang] and [+vulgar] and always (...) includes [-polite] and [+derogatory]. Thus, e.g., what distinguishes ‘Chinese’ from ‘chink’ is neither a peculiar sort of descriptive nor emotional content, but rather the fact that ‘chink’ is lexically marked as belonging to different registers than ‘Chinese’. It is, moreover, partly such facts which makes slurring ethically unacceptable. (shrink)

This paper offers a philosophical analysis of artificial intelligence grounded in the Philosophy of Belonging. It argues that human intelligence is inseparable from emotions and biological evolution, and that belonging constitutes the ontological structure of human existence. From this perspective, AI lacks genuine subjectivity because it does not possess emotions, evolutionary history, or existential belonging. Against transhumanist and functionalist accounts, the paper defends a biologically grounded conception of emotions and shows that without them there can be neither belonging nor power (...) in the human sense. AI is therefore understood not as a potential autonomous subject, but as an instrument embedded within human structures of belonging and domination. The analysis contributes to contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, social ontology, and philosophy of technology by introducing belonging as a foundational category for understanding intelligence, agency, and social organization. (shrink)

What does woman mean? According to two competing views, it can be seen as a sex term or as a gender term. Recently, Jennifer Saul has put forward a contextualist view, according to which woman can have different meanings in different contexts. The main motivation for this view seems to involve moral and political considerations, namely, that this view can do justice to the claims of trans women. Unfortunately, Saul argues, on further reflection the contextualist view fails to do justice (...) to those moral and political claims that motivated the view in the first place. In this article I argue that there is a version of the contextualist view that can indeed capture those moral and political aims, and in addition, I use this case to illustrate an important and more general claim, namely, that moral and political considerations can be relevant to the descriptive project of finding out what certain politically significant terms actually mean. (shrink)

This article develops a neurophilosophical and ontological reconstruction of imaginative fantasy within the Philosophy of Belonging formulated by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz. It argues that belonging—loving, social, and existential—constitutes the fundamental structure of human existence, while imaginative fantasy operates as an evolutionary and adaptive function that sustains these forms of belonging despite their structural fragility. The paper integrates philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and social theory, proposing that fantasy is not mere illusion or pathology but a representational and affective mechanism that makes (...) reality emotionally habitable and ethically transformable. Through a comparative dialogue with psychoanalysis, existentialism, rationalism, and individualistic liberalism, the article advances an original theoretical framework in which imagination, emotion, and belonging are co-constitutive dimensions of the human condition. Special attention is given to the three paths of belonging (loving, social, and existential), the six-step model of a psychologically full life, and the role of fantasy in emotional regulation, resilience, symbolic institutions, and collective meaning. The work contributes to contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, existential philosophy, and social ontology by overcoming the classical dichotomies between reason and myth, reality and imagination, and individual and community. Within the broader project of the Philosophy of Belonging, the article positions fantasy as an indispensable evolutionary device that enables cooperation, attachment, meaning construction, and psychosocial survival in an uncertain and finite world. (shrink)

This article develops an ontological theory of imagination within the framework of the Philosophy of Belonging. It argues that imagination emerges from the incomplete and relational structure of existence itself rather than functioning merely as a secondary cognitive or aesthetic faculty. Because reality remains open, uncertain, and historically transformative, imagination becomes fundamental to meaning formation, creativity, scientific reasoning, institutional development, religion, and freedom. -/- The article critically engages phenomenology, existentialism, embodied cognition, predictive processing theory, symbolic anthropology, and theories of social (...) imaginaries. It proposes that imagination constitutes one of the mechanisms through which ontological openness becomes historically productive. (shrink)

This paper explores how hedonic adaptation—the tendency to return to a baseline level of well-being after external changes—can shed light on one of the most persistent problems in the philosophy of religion: why suffering endures in a world governed by an all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent God. Using a simplified formal model inspired by economics, the paper analyzes how perceived suffering evolves over time and examines whether divine intervention could reduce it. The model reveals a structural trade-off: slower adaptation extends the (...) duration of relief following improvements but also amplifies the impact of adverse events. It is argued that hedonic adaptation complicates interventionist theodicies while lending support to others, such as soul-making and free will accounts. This version (July 3, 2025) is currently under journal review. (shrink)

This paper develops a stratified ontological and phenomenological reconstruction of mindfulness and mentalization within the broader framework of the Psychology of Belonging. While contemporary psychotherapy frequently treats these processes as foundational mechanisms of change, the paper argues that both are late-stage functions whose effectiveness depends on prior structural conditions. -/- The argument is grounded in three principles: stratified reality (material, biological, institutional-social), dual temporality (synchronic structure and diachronic process), and imperfect belonging as the ontological condition of human existence. From this (...) framework, psychological transformation cannot begin at the level of consciousness alone, since awareness and interpretation depend on relational stability. -/- Belonging is introduced as a cross-level integrating structure articulated through affective, social, and existential pathways. From this, a six-step therapeutic sequence is derived, moving from material grounding and affect regulation to mindfulness and mentalization. -/- The paper shows that these processes fail when applied prematurely and become transformative only when grounded in belonging. Psychological freedom emerges not from consciousness alone, but from the capacity to reorganize belonging across time. (shrink)

Although there seems to be an agreement on what slurs are, many authors diverge when it comes to classify some words as such. Hence, many debates would benefit from a technical definition of this term that would allow scholars to clearly distinguish what counts as a slur and what not. Although the paper offers different definitions of the term in order to allow the reader to choose her favorite, I claim that ‘slurs’ is the name given to a grammatical category, (...) and I consequently trace a difference in kind between slurs and other kinds of group pejoratives. I rely on a novel approach to slurs that characterizes them based on their membership to a particular kind of register category, an often neglected sociolinguistic notion determining the social contexts in which registered terms are expected, tolerated or unacceptable. The paper also points out to the close link between words registered as [+derogatory] and their usage in the context of dominance relations of different kinds between users and recipients of slurs. By pointing out to this link I hope to underscore the political significance of slur usage, as well as to contribute further to the explanation why slurs are so damaging and unacceptable in most social contexts. (shrink)

This article develops a critical reconstruction of the contemporary paradigm of recognition —represented by Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser— through its systematic contrast with the Philosophy of Belonging. While theories of recognition have explained in great depth the formation of identity, the moral development of the individual and the institutional structures of justice, this work argues that these perspectives operate mainly on normative, symbolic and institutional planes, without fully thematizing the ontological level that makes social existence itself possible. (...) The central thesis defended is that recognition explains how the subject is valued, but does not explain why the subject can exist. Before recognition there is belonging: the real insertion of the individual into affective, social, economic and institutional networks that sustain life. Identity, self-esteem, justice and participation presuppose a deeper prior condition: existential integration into systems of cooperation that allow the continuity of human life. From a detailed comparison between Taylor, Honneth and Fraser, the study shows that each places recognition at a different level: cultural, moral-interpersonal and institutional-structural. However, all three share a common assumption: that recognition is the central organizing principle of social life. In contrast, the Philosophy of Belonging introduces a radical ontological shift by affirming that social cohesion, the historical accumulation of knowledge, institutional stability and large-scale cooperation depend, above all, on real structures of belonging. The article especially deepens the existential, psychological, economic and institutional dimension of belonging, showing that it is not only a conceptual category, but a material, emotional and structural condition that transforms the other into part of the “we.” From this perspective, belonging does not only dignify: it sustains life, stabilizes the social world and makes possible the historical continuity of human cooperation. This article has been written with the assistance of ChatGPT. (shrink)

Contemporary philosophy of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first has been marked by a profound critical movement against the modern subject, universalist humanism, and the idea of stable foundations of knowledge and social life. In this context, the works of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Byung-Chul Han represent three decisive moments of this intellectual transformation. Each one, from a different angle, has shown that the individual, truth, power, meaning and subjectivity are not natural or permanent entities, but (...) historical, linguistic and social configurations. Foucault revealed the radical historicity of institutions, systems of knowledge and forms of subjectivation, showing that the modern subject is a construction situated within relations of power. Derrida took this critique even further by demonstrating that every conceptual system is founded on a priori principles that cannot be proven and that language does not reflect a prior reality, but structures the very field of what can be thought. Han, for his part, described the passage from the disciplinary society to the performance society and psychopolitics, where the subject is no longer repressed from the outside but exploits himself from within, producing a generalized scenario of fatigue, depression and loneliness. However, although these philosophies offer extraordinarily powerful diagnoses about the historicity of power, language and subjectivity, they share a common limit: they lack a positive ontology of the bond that allows explaining why the rupture of social structures produces suffering, disintegration and loss of meaning. By concentrating on historical relativity, linguistic mediation, or the mutation of power, these approaches tend to dissolve the individual into conceptual systems, discourses, or processes of subjectivation, without being able to fully explain the persistence of certain structural traits of human existence. The Philosophy of Belonging proposes a different path. It accepts the critical diagnosis of these authors, but introduces a fundamental ontological thesis: the human being does not exist as a self-sufficient entity, but as a relational particular. To be is to belong. Belonging is not a moral value nor a secondary cultural construction, but a condition of biological, social and temporal existence. The individual exists as a creative particular, but can only subsist within networks of bond that provide continuity, identity, meaning and possibility of action. From this perspective, the historicity of power described by Foucault, the historicity of language analyzed by Derrida and the subjective collapse diagnosed by Han can be reinterpreted as partial dimensions of a deeper process: the transformation and, in many cases, the rupture of the structures of belonging that have historically sustained human life. Contemporary fatigue is not only psychological, nor exclusively political, nor purely cultural. It is ontological. It is the result of a way of life in which the individual is progressively separated from stable bonds, enduring institutions and relational structures that organized his existence. The Philosophy of Belonging also introduces a decisive distinction between two dimensions of time: diachrony, which corresponds to the historicity of conceptual systems, and synchrony, which corresponds to the network of relations between particulars at a given moment. Foucault and Derrida have explained with enormous depth the diachrony of meaning and power, but have paid little attention to the relational synchrony that allows the continuity of social life. Without this dimension, it becomes difficult to explain the accumulation of scientific knowledge, the relative stability of institutions and the universal need for social integration. The article argues that power, language and psychopolitics are real and decisive dimensions of social life, but they do not constitute its primary ontological foundation. The fundamental relation between individual and group is not power, nor discourse, nor self-exploitation: it is belonging. Power appears when belonging is instrumentalized; language organizes meaning within belonging; and psychopolitics emerges when structures of bond weaken and the individual is forced to sustain himself. From a psychological point of view, this rupture manifests itself in the expansion of depression, anxiety and structural loneliness. From an economic point of view, it is expressed in the precarization of work and in the loss of stable economic belongings. From a political point of view, it is reflected in institutional fragmentation and in the growing difficulty of producing lasting forms of collective integration. In all these planes, contemporary malaise can be interpreted as a crisis of belonging. This work integrates and expands the analyses of Foucault, Derrida and Han within a broader ontological framework that allows understanding simultaneously the historicity of social systems, the linguistic mediation of knowledge and contemporary subjective collapse, without renouncing the affirmation of the existence of the individual as a biological-relational particular nor the idea that knowledge can accumulate through time through interaction with an external reality. The central thesis that articulates the whole text can be formulated synthetically: Foucault explains the historicity of power, Derrida the historicity of meaning and Han the exhaustion of the contemporary subject. The Philosophy of Belonging, by contrast, introduces an ontology of the bond that allows understanding why the loss of stable relational structures produces psychological, economic and social disintegration. Where contemporary philosophy has deconstructed traditional foundations, the Philosophy of Belonging proposes an empirically grounded ontological reconstruction: the individual exists as a particular, but can only exist within real belongings. This article has been written with the assistance of ChatGPT. (shrink)

What is the metaphysics of gender about? Metaphysics is the study of what there is and what it is like. On this conception, questions in the metaphysics of gender would be about the existence and nature of gender. That is, the metaphysics of gender would be about whether alleged gender categories such as being a man, a woman or an agender person are real features or kinds, and if so, what their nature is. In recent years, the metaphysics of gender (...) has received a lot of attention and has shifted from being a rather marginal part of metaphysics to being a growing area of interest. Moreover, growing attention to the metaphysics of gender and the social domain have given rise to fruitful methodological questions about what metaphysics is about and what are the best methods to pursue metaphysical inquiries. This Element offers a survey of recent discussions of these questions. (shrink)

A posteriori physicalism is the combination of two appealing views: physicalism (i.e. the view that all facts are either physical or entailed by the physical), and conceptual dualism (i.e. the view that phenomenal truths are not entailed a priori by physical truths). Recently, some philosophers such as Goff (2011), Levine (2007) and Nida-Rümelin (2007), among others, have suggested that a posteriori physicalism cannot explain how phenomenal concepts can reveal the nature of phenomenal properties. In this paper, I wish to defend (...) a posteriori physicalism from this new and interesting challenge, by arguing that a posteriori physicalists have the resources to explain how phenomenal concepts can reveal at least something of what it would take for the corresponding phenomenal property to be instantiated. (shrink)

The inference from conceivability to possibility has been challenged in numerous ways. One of these ways is the so-called phenomenal concept strategy, which has become one of the main strategies against the conceivability argument against physicalism. However, David Chalmers has recently presented a dilemma for the phenomenal concept strategy, and he has argued that no version of the strategy can succeed. In this paper, I examine the dilemma, and I argue that there is a way out of it. I conclude (...) that Chalmers has not posed any serious problem for the phenomenal concept strategy to succeed in blocking the conceivability argument. In doing so, my aim is not only to show that Chalmers’s argument has not refuted the phenomenal concept strategy, but also to clarify what any version of the strategy should achieve in order to be successful. (shrink)

In this study, we examine the philosophical bases of one of the leading clinical psychological methods of therapy for anxiety, anger, and depression, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). We trace this method back to its philosophical roots in the Stoic, Buddhist, Taoist, and Existentialist philosophical traditions. We start by discussing the tenets of CBT, and then we expand on the philosophical traditions that ground this approach. Given that CBT has had a clinically measured positive effect on the psychological well-being of individuals, (...) it becomes important to study the philosophical foundations on which this therapy is based. (shrink)

Hedonic adaptation, the tendency for affective experience to return toward a baseline after improvements or setbacks, has been widely studied in psychology and economics, but its implications for theodicy have received little attention. This paper argues that adaptation introduces a distinctive constraint on the problem of evil by foregrounding a neglected dimension of suffering: its recurrence. Even when objective conditions improve, relief tends to lose experiential force as evaluative baselines reset and perceived suffering reasserts itself. I develop a minimal framework (...) distinguishing external circumstances from perceived suffering and identify two structural features of adaptation: the persistence of deviations from baseline and the degree of asymmetry between recovery from adversity and habituation to improvement. The framework shows why even benevolently calibrated trajectories can at best reduce cumulative burden rather than secure lasting experiential relief. These dynamics have differential implications for soul-making, free-will, providential-restraint, and interventionist theodicies, reframing what divine benevolence can be taken to accomplish within affective life. They also supplement skeptical theism by identifying an affective source of opacity and illuminate an experiential pathway to divine hiddenness. (shrink)

This article develops a comparative and interdisciplinary analysis between classical and contemporary existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre, Lévinas, Taylor, Nussbaum, Foucault, Butler, Han, Ricoeur, Merleau-Ponty, Damasio, Braidotti, among others) and the Philosophy of Belonging formulated by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz. The study proposes a theoretical shift from being-toward-death and radical freedom toward a relational, emotional, institutional, and scientific ontology of belonging, grounded in the thesis “to be is to belong.” Integrating philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, economics, evolutionary biology, and institutional theory, the article argues (...) that subjectivity, freedom, identity, ethics, and justice are not merely individual or abstract phenomena but capacities constructed through affective bonds, shared narratives, and stable institutional structures. In contrast to traditional existentialist pessimism centered on alienation, anguish, and finitude, the Philosophy of Belonging introduces a constructive post-existential framework oriented toward emotional stability, structural inclusion, and institutional architectures of belonging. The paper positions belonging as the ontological infrastructure of human existence, the ethical foundation of recognition, and the socio-economic condition for agency, development, and dignity. It also advances a scientific relational humanism that synthesizes existentialism, neurophilosophy, social theory, and political economy into a unified framework applicable to contemporary challenges such as inequality, exclusion, institutional fragility, and the crisis of meaning in modern societies. Ultimately, the work contributes to 21st-century philosophy by proposing a post-existential paradigm in which freedom is understood as co-belonging, justice as structural inclusion, and identity as emotional-institutional belonging within interdependent human and social systems. (shrink)

Building on the ontological framework of belonging, dual temporality, and imperfect belonging developed in prior work, this paper advances a systematic reconstruction of psychological thought. Rather than proposing a new school, it reinterprets major psychological paradigms—behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive-behavioral therapy, social psychology, and developmental theory—as partial models of belonging operating under distinct temporal and structural constraints. The central claim is that psychological theories implicitly presuppose different ontologies of the self. When examined through the lens of belonging, these paradigms can be reorganized (...) within a unified structure in which the self is understood as a diachronic trajectory of belonging unfolding under synchronic constraints. Psychological distress is thereby redefined as disruption, rigidification, or substitution of belonging across affective, social, and existential domains. The paper develops a six-step clinical architecture that distinguishes pre-cognitive conditions—body, instinct regulation, reconstruction of belonging, and emotional development—from cognitive processes such as awareness and mentalization. This reordering explains the differential efficacy of contemporary therapies and introduces the belonging mediation hypothesis: cognitive interventions are effective only when sufficient belonging has been restored. Through comparative analysis and detailed clinical cases (loneliness, addiction, relational trauma), the paper demonstrates how existing approaches converge yet remain limited by methodological individualism. The proposed framework integrates these traditions while preserving individual freedom through the principle of imperfect belonging. The result is a unified reconstruction of psychology grounded in a relational ontology: being is belonging. (shrink)

This work presents a systematic scientific reconstruction of the Philosophy of Belonging developed by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz, grounded in contemporary physics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, and the social sciences. The central ontological thesis—“to be is to belong”—argues that no entity exists in isolation and that all forms of existence emerge, persist, and transform within networks of constitutive relations. The study integrates relational ontology from physics (interaction-based universe), evolutionary biology (genetic variability, adaptation, mortality), and neuropsychology (attachment, mentalization, and identity (...) formation) to propose a unified interdisciplinary framework explaining human existence, identity, freedom, and well-being through belonging structures. It introduces the concepts of dual temporality (diachronic and synchronic time), the three pathways of belonging (love, social significance, and material-existential belonging), and the neurobiological architecture of belonging as foundational to survival, mental integration, and existential regulation. The work contributes to contemporary debates in ontology, philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology, psychology of belonging, and interdisciplinary philosophy by offering a scientifically grounded relational ontology applicable to ethics, social theory, and human development. This publication is part of the broader research program on the Philosophy and Economy of Belonging, which develops a relational scientific ontology where existence, adaptation, and human flourishing are understood as dynamic processes of constitutive belonging across biological, social, and symbolic domains. (shrink)

This essay develops a systematic ontology of harmony within the framework of the Philosophy of Belonging (FDP), articulated with the Psychology of Belonging (PDP) and the Economy of Belonging (EDP). It argues that harmony is neither an aesthetic ideal nor a state of perfection, but a minimal relational condition of possibility for existence: nothing exists in isolation; to be is to belong. The work distinguishes between synchronic time (regularity, repetition, measurable order) and diachronic time (irreversibility, finitude, transformation), and characterizes the (...) universe—especially social life—as non-ergodic: the future is not a probabilistic repetition of the past, and historical novelty is real. From this perspective, the pursuit of total harmony appears as an ontological and practical error. Integrating physics (irreversibility and thermodynamics), evolutionary biology (diversification and adaptation), psychology (attachment, hospitalism, affect regulation), institutional theory, economics (uncertainty, non-ergodicity, path dependence), religion, and aesthetics (music and beauty as lived harmony), the essay proposes the principle of sufficient harmony. Life, institutions, and social design should not aim at eliminating conflict or diachrony, but at constructing resilient and reparable architectures of belonging capable of sustaining trust, dignity, inclusion, and creativity in a non-ergodic world. The fundamental thesis is ontological and practical at once: belonging is always imperfect, yet it is the condition of existence. The art of living consists in seeking sufficient harmony without demanding impossible perfection. (shrink)

This work develops a theoretical extension of the Philosophy of Belonging, grounded in the ontological thesis “to be is to belong.” The article argues that human well-being is not primarily sustained by cognition or mental control, but by the strengthening of affective, social, and existential belongings, with emotions functioning as the foundational layer from which reason operates. Within this framework, art is conceptualized as a central anthropological and existential mechanism that activates emotion, expands imagination, and deepens existential belonging toward the (...) universe as a whole. Unlike analytical scientific knowledge, which fragments reality into measurable parts, art relates to the whole through emotional experience, restoring unity, meaning, and presence in human life. The paper integrates philosophical anthropology, psychology of emotion, and existential theory to propose a “circuit of belonging” in which body, emotion, imagination, and social bonds precede rational reflection. Art plays a structural role in the first stages of this circuit by naturally developing emotional regulation, symbolic integration, and community belonging without cognitive overload. The contribution positions the Philosophy of Belonging as an interdisciplinary paradigm connecting ontology, psychology, aesthetics, and social theory, offering a novel framework for understanding well-being, existential meaning, and cultural practices through the strengthening of belonging rather than individualistic cognition. The study is part of the broader theoretical corpus on the Ontological Revolution of Belonging and the Economy and Psychology of Belonging. (shrink)

This essay contrasts two ethical architectures: (i) Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of alterity, where ethics is “first philosophy” and responsibility toward the Other manifests itself in the face-to-face encounter as a prior and asymmetric demand; and (ii) the Philosophy of Belonging (PB), whose ontological thesis — to be is to belong — shifts the source of normativity from an essentialist ethical a priori toward the concrete construction of habitable, open, and non-arbitrary forms of belonging, sustained by healthy limits, institutions, and material (...) arrangements. The key difference expanded here is that Levinas, although anti-rationalist and relational in his phenomenology, preserves an essentialism: responsibility would be constitutive of the human prior to relation; PB rejects this a priori due to lack of scientific grounding and due to historical and empirical evidence of moral variability, and instead introduces an operational program: diagnosis of failures of belonging (pathologies), distinction between individual–group–institutions, a criterion of non-arbitrariness, and a praxis of peace based on economic-political integration and institutional design, within a non-ergodic universe. This article has been written with the assistance of ChatGPT. (shrink)

This article develops a structural rereading of the history of philosophy through a long-term oscillation between two ontological architectures: the integral cosmology of the whole and the modern ontology of the isolated rational individual. Against this historical polarity, it introduces the Philosophy of Belonging (PB) as a contemporary relational synthesis grounded in the ontological thesis “being is belonging.” The work argues that belonging is constitutive of human existence while always imperfect (anti-fusion), thereby grounding individuality, real freedom, and creativity as ontological (...) consequences rather than merely moral or political concessions. The paper integrates historical philosophy, relational ontology, social theory, and institutional analysis, proposing a tripartite architecture of belonging (affective, social, and existential) and translating relational ontology into normative and institutional criteria such as reliability, repair, dignified public language, and a habitable “we.” Positioned within contemporary relational philosophies (recognition theory, hermeneutics, care ethics, pragmatism, and communitarianism), the Philosophy of Belonging advances a distinct ontological framework that reconstructs community without suppressing individual creativity and freedom, offering a theoretical foundation for understanding polarization, institutional fragility, and the reconstruction of social cohesion in modern societies. (shrink)

This article offers a systematic comparative reconstruction of Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative rationality and the Philosophy of Belonging (PB) in order to clarify the conditions of possibility of sustainable cooperation in complex, pluralistic societies and fragmented international systems. While Habermas provides the most robust contemporary framework for grounding normative legitimacy through discourse ethics, communicative action, and deliberative law, this work argues that discursive legitimacy alone cannot explain the stability of cooperation under conditions of structural inequality, institutional fragility, economic shocks, (...) and geopolitical tension. The Philosophy of Belonging expands the Habermasian framework by introducing belonging as an operative institutional bond composed of symbolic recognition, material inclusion, credible expectations of reciprocity, and enforcement capacity. The central thesis is that discursive legitimacy is a necessary condition for normativity, but only institutional belonging—open to individual freedom and creativity—makes cooperation durable, inclusive development sustainable, and social peace possible. The article develops a multi-level analytical comparison (semantic–pragmatic, normative, institutional, and dynamic), proposes a causal mechanism explaining the endogenous transition from cooperation to coercion, and articulates a theoretical synthesis linking political philosophy, institutional economics, and conflict theory. It contributes to contemporary debates on democracy, polarization, political economy, and international order by integrating legitimacy and institutional sustainability within a unified explanatory framework. (shrink)

This article develops the Philosophy of Belonging as an original relational–emotional ontology and a normative framework for justice, institutional design, and global development. In critical dialogue with major modern and contemporary philosophical traditions—including liberalism, Marxism, existentialism, the capabilities approach, and critical theory (Foucault, Butler, Agamben, Han, Ricœur)—the paper argues that the central problem of contemporary societies is not only inequality of resources or formal rights, but the structural organization of belonging: who is stably integrated into institutions and who is systematically (...) excluded. The study introduces the concept of habitable institutions and proposes that justice should be evaluated in terms of dignified, stable, and emotionally sustainable forms of belonging at four interconnected levels: global system, nation-state, social groups, and individual life. From this perspective, poverty, discrimination, insecurity, war, and psychological suffering are interpreted primarily as failures of belonging rather than merely economic or legal deficits. Drawing on relational ontology, political philosophy, development theory, and game-theoretic reasoning, the article shows that inclusive belonging—such as the construction of a broad global middle class and the institutional integration of marginalized populations—is not only ethically superior but also economically and strategically more efficient than exclusionary or punitive models. The Philosophy of Belonging thus offers a unified theoretical framework that connects justice, institutional legitimacy, emotional recognition, and global stability, redefining philosophy as a discipline oriented toward designing inclusive structures of co-belonging in the contemporary world. (shrink)

Living Better: The Philosophy of Belonging in Daily Life presents an accessible and practical exposition of the Philosophy of Belonging, whose central ontological thesis is that human fulfillment does not emerge from isolated individuality but from relational existence: to be is to belong. The work argues that quality of life is primarily grounded in the strength of affective, social, and existential belongings rather than in individual happiness, cognitive control, or personal achievement. The text develops a life-oriented philosophical framework that places (...) emotion, action, embodiment, imagination, and relational bonds at the center of human flourishing. It introduces the “circuit of belonging,” a six-step dynamic model linking movement, instincts, emotional development, imagination, awareness, and reason as an integrated structure of lived experience. Positioned at the intersection of philosophy of life, philosophical anthropology, existential philosophy, and applied ethics, the book proposes that weakened belongings—social isolation, bodily disconnection, and loss of existential meaning—are core sources of contemporary dissatisfaction. Instead of purely cognitive or individualistic approaches to well-being, it advances a relational ontology where belonging functions as the fundamental condition of meaning, vitality, and sustainable life orientation. The Philosophy of Belonging integrates emotion before reason, action before abstraction, and relational embeddedness before individual optimization. It also highlights the constructive role of imagination and fantasy in making imperfect belonging habitable, offering a humane philosophical guide for everyday living, embodiment, social connection, and existential meaning in modern life. (shrink)

This work develops a theoretical extension of the Philosophy of Belonging, grounded in the ontological thesis “to be is to belong.” The article argues that human well-being is not primarily sustained by cognition or mental control, but by the strengthening of affective, social, and existential belongings, with emotions functioning as the foundational layer from which reason operates. Within this framework, art is conceptualized as a central anthropological and existential mechanism that activates emotion, expands imagination, and deepens existential belonging toward the (...) universe as a whole. Unlike analytical scientific knowledge, which fragments reality into measurable parts, art relates to the whole through emotional experience, restoring unity, meaning, and presence in human life. The paper integrates philosophical anthropology, psychology of emotion, and existential theory to propose a “circuit of belonging” in which body, emotion, imagination, and social bonds precede rational reflection. Art plays a structural role in the first stages of this circuit by naturally developing emotional regulation, symbolic integration, and community belonging without cognitive overload. The contribution positions the Philosophy of Belonging as an interdisciplinary paradigm connecting ontology, psychology, aesthetics, and social theory, offering a novel framework for understanding well-being, existential meaning, and cultural practices through the strengthening of belonging rather than individualistic cognition. The study is part of the broader theoretical corpus on the Ontological Revolution of Belonging and the Economy and Psychology of Belonging. (shrink)

The online version of the original article can be found under doi:10.1007/s11948-007-9045-2.

In this paper I examine Chalmers and Jackson’s defence of the a priori entailment thesis, that is, the claim that microphysical truths a priori entail ordinary non-phenomenal truths such as ‘water covers 60% of the Earth surface’, which they use as a premise for an argument against the possibility of a reductive explanation of consciousness. Their argument relies on a certain view about the possession conditions of macroscopic concepts such as WATER, known as ascriptivism. In the paper I distinguish two (...) versions of ascriptivism: reductive versus non-reductive ascriptivism. According to reductive ascriptivism, competent users of a concept have the ability to infer truths involving such concept from lower-level truths, whereas according to non-reductive ascriptivism, all that is required in order to be a competent user of a concept is to be able to infer truths involving that concept from other truths, which need not be lower-level truths. I argue, first, that the a priori entailment thesis is committed to reductive ascriptivism, and secondly, that reductive ascriptivism is problematic because it trivializes the notion of a priori knowledge. Therefore, I conclude that Chalmers and Jackson have not presented a convincing case for the claim that microphysical truths entail ordinary non-phenomenal truths a priori, especially when we understand this claim in the sense that is relevant for their argument against the possibility of a reductive explanation of consciousness. (shrink)

This article develops a novel reconceptualization of political freedom from the Philosophy of Belonging proposed by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz. Departing from dominant liberal, republican, Marxist, and capability-based frameworks, the manuscript argues that freedom is not a primary attribute of an isolated individual nor a universal normative essence, but an emergent psycho-institutional property sustained by functional belonging, non-arbitrariness, and institutional mentalization. Through a historical genealogy of Western political and economic freedom and a comparative analysis of traditional, hybrid, and global institutional (...) systems, the paper demonstrates the structural limits of Western freedom when evaluated outside its historical ecology. It introduces key analytical concepts such as functional domination, psychological freedom grounded in belonging, institutional synchrony, and comparative political freedom beyond liberal democracy. The article proposes an expanded theoretical framework integrating philosophy, psychology, economics, and institutional theory, in which freedom depends on psychosocial belonging, stable legality, minimum material thresholds, and non-arbitrary institutional arrangements across state, market, and social orders. By replacing ontological individualism with a relational ontology of belonging, the work offers a globally applicable and empirically sensitive theory of freedom that avoids both cultural relativism and normative imperialism. This contribution forms part of the broader theoretical program of the Philosophy of Belonging and advances a new interdisciplinary paradigm for analyzing freedom, institutions, global governance, and comparative political systems in an integrated world. (shrink)

This article develops a central thesis of the Philosophy of Belonging formulated by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz: freedom and belonging are not opposites but mutually reinforcing dimensions of human development. Challenging classical liberal interpretations that equate freedom with independence from social ties, the paper argues that real freedom emerges from secure emotional, institutional, and structural belonging. Drawing on interdisciplinary foundations in philosophy, economics, neuroscience, and development theory, the study shows that emotional insecurity limits rational agency, weak institutions undermine effective rights, (...) and fragile social structures transform freedom into a merely formal condition. In contrast, secure belonging enables rational deliberation, social cooperation, market stability, and inclusive development. The article reinterprets Adam Smith within a moral-institutional framework of belonging, emphasizing that self-interest becomes socially productive only when embedded in ethical norms and inclusive institutions. It further argues that the historical success of modern capitalism depended not primarily on free trade alone but on the expansion of the middle class, democratic institutions, welfare systems, technological investment, and global integration. The work proposes an integrated theoretical model where: freedom = belonging + institutional security + human capacities + fair development. By linking emotional belonging, institutional design, global integration, and human flourishing, the article contributes to contemporary debates in political philosophy, development economics, institutional theory, and global justice. It positions the Philosophy of Belonging as a unified framework connecting freedom, justice, markets, and human development in the 21st century. (shrink)

This article develops a post-metaphysical and interdisciplinary reformulation of 20th-century continental philosophy by placing Heidegger, Levinas, and Derrida in dialogue with Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz’s Philosophy of Belonging. The paper argues that, unlike traditional metaphysical categories such as Being, Otherness, and différance, belonging should be understood as a scientific and evolutionary fact grounded in neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and institutional analysis. The study proposes that human subjectivity is structured not by abstract ontological or ethical absolutes, but by a fragile (...) and contingent evolutionary competence: belonging. This competence can fail, collapse, or become partial, thereby reintroducing risk, vulnerability, agency, emotional creativity, and institutional struggle into philosophical anthropology. In contrast to Heidegger’s ontological structures, Levinas’s infinite responsibility, and Derrida’s deconstruction of presence, the Philosophy of Belonging restores the individual as an active agent who constructs, defends, and reconstructs inclusion within social, emotional, and institutional environments. By integrating philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, ethics, institutional theory, and economic thought, the article advances a new interdisciplinary paradigm for understanding subjectivity, recognition, exclusion, and institutional belonging in the 21st century. The work contributes to post-metaphysical philosophy, philosophical anthropology, and the emerging scientific philosophy of belonging, offering a framework applicable to ethics, political theory, development theory, and global institutional analysis. (shrink)

This article develops an ontological synthesis of the debate on human nature through the lens of the Philosophy of Belonging, proposing that the human being is constituted by relational and institutional orders of belonging rather than by an ontologically isolated individual. It critically reviews canonical traditions (Hobbesian conflict theory, liberalism, Kantian autonomy, neoclassical economics, and psychological theories of motivation and attachment) and integrates contemporary relational approaches such as recognition theory, communitarianism, social ontology, and republican non-domination. The central thesis is that (...) belonging is not merely a social good but a constitutive condition of the self, and that freedom is best understood as non-arbitrariness within stable and revisable orders of belonging. Within this framework, individual creativity emerges as an enabled and distributed institutional capacity rather than as an exogenous individual trait. Authentic belonging does not homogenize individuals; instead, it protects productive difference and transforms dissent and innovation into collective resources for social dynamism, competitiveness, and institutional learning. The article introduces a comparative ontological matrix of theories of human nature, freedom, institutions, and creativity, demonstrating that non-arbitrary belonging generates effective freedom, psychological security, and adaptive social change. The Philosophy of Belonging is presented as an ontological turn that bridges individual agency and relational constitution, offering a unified framework for understanding identity, institutional design, distributed creativity, and long-term social survival in environments of accelerated global change. (shrink)

Being and Existence offers a systematic philosophical and scientific critique of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time, proposing an alternative ontological framework grounded in contemporary neurobiology, evolutionary theory, psychology, and social science. The book argues that there is no unified metaphysical “Being,” but rather multiple beings embedded in distinct social and evolutionary contexts. It challenges Heidegger’s central thesis that temporality—particularly diachronic time oriented toward the future—constitutes the fundamental existential condition of human beings. Instead, it introduces the concept of synchronicity with the (...) existential universe as the primary ontological condition of human existence. The work develops a scientifically grounded theory of belonging as the core existential structure of human life. It identifies three fundamental ways of belonging: 1. Love (attachment to close others), 2. Social significance (belonging to a social group and its institutions), and 3. Existential significance (belonging to the biological and material universe). Drawing from attachment theory, neurobiology, evolutionary anthropology, sociology, and cross-cultural analysis, the book argues that existential anxiety does not primarily arise from awareness of death or responsibility for future self-definition, as Heidegger maintained. Rather, anxiety emerges from failures in belonging. The manuscript also provides a comparative analysis of Heidegger and Sartre, critiques essential ontological freedom, and reinterprets human existence through the scientific distinction between synchronic time (cyclical, relational, structural time) and diachronic time (irreversible, entropic time). The book concludes that human existence is fundamentally defined not by temporal projection toward death, but by relational synchronicity with the existential universe. By integrating philosophy with contemporary science, Being and Existence advances a post-essentialist ontology that redefines the meaning of being, freedom, anxiety, and human existence. (shrink)

Margarita Diaz-Andreu offers an innovative history of archaeology during the nineteenth century, encompassing all its fields from the origins of humanity to the medieval period, and all areas of the world. The development of archaeology is placed within the framework of contemporary political events, with a particular focus upon the ideologies of nationalism and imperialism. Diaz-Andreu examines a wide range of issues, including the creation of institutions, the conversion of the study of antiquities into a profession, public memory, (...) changes in archaeological thought and practice, and the effect on archaeology of racism, religion, the belief in progress, hegemony, and resistance. (shrink)

This article develops the Ethics of Belonging within the broader framework of the Philosophy of Belonging formulated by Carlos Federico Obregón Díaz. It argues that morality and justice are grounded in the biological, emotional, and evolutionary need to belong, integrating insights from psychology, neurobiology, anthropology, and institutional economics. The paper places the ethics of belonging in systematic dialogue with major ethical traditions—Kantian deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, care ethics, recognition theories, and Marxism—showing how it overcomes the classical dilemma between abstract universalism (...) and relativism. Instead of starting from an isolated autonomous subject, the work proposes a relational ontology summarized in the thesis “to be is to belong,” from which emerges a scientific foundation of ethics centered on the protection, integration, and repair of human belongings. Conceptually, the study articulates the chain: belonging → social ethics → justice, defining justice as the institutional organization that safeguards dignified belongings and prevents exclusion. The article also introduces the notion of the emotional belonging self and the autonomy of belonging as a reformulation of freedom beyond methodological individualism. Overall, the paper contributes to contemporary debates in moral philosophy, political theory, and interdisciplinary ethics by offering an original relational and scientifically grounded alternative to individualistic and purely rationalist ethical frameworks, with implications for institutional design, social cohesion, and the crisis of justice in fragmented societies. (shrink)