Summary Research is regarded as transformations of complexes composed of knowledge, problems and (hardware and software) instruments. Sequences of such transformations are embedded in human settings in which they are given directions. Problems and the work of solving them are divided into empirical and theoretical ones. In an advanced science like physics empirical and theoretical work are interrelated by means of flows of problem-generating information. Empirical and theoretical researchers work also on problems of their own making. Residuals of knowledge which (...) cannot be systematized at the same rate as it is produced as well as clashes between new and old knowledge are potential starting points of new lines of research. (shrink)

En este trabajo se reconstruye la idea de consenso en la filosofía de K. O. Apel. Partiendo del origen de este concepto en Ch. S. Peirce, fundador del pragmatismo americano, se muestra su papel de puente entre cuestiones filosóficas de tipo teórico y práctico. Esta es una de las razones por las que la idea de “consenso” ocupa un lugar central en el pensamiento del filósofo alemán This paper reconstructs the idea of “consensus” in K.-O. Apel´s philosophy. Starting from the (...) origin of this concept in Ch. S. Peirce, founder of American pragmatism, his role as bridge between theoretical and practical philosophical question is shown. This is one of the reasons why the idea of “consensus” occurs a central place in the thinking of the German philosopher. (shrink)

A la hora de describir aquellos elementos que intervienen en la situación hermenéutica desde la cual comprendemos e interpretamos la realidad, es posible poner el acento en unos aspectos u otros. Mientras que la interpretación tradicional de la propuesta hermenéutica de Heidegger ha hecho hincapié en el modo previo de ver, el lenguaje de la comunidad o incluso las cosas mismas objeto de interpretación son puestas de relieve en el modelo hermenéutico de la antropología del conocimiento de Apel. A comparar (...) críticamente ambas propuestas está dedicado el presente trabajo, con el objetivo de señalar las ventajas que la transformación gnoseo-antropológica de la situación hermenéutica presenta en el panorama filosófico actual. When it comes to describe the ingredients of the hermeneutic situation from which reality is understood and interpreted, it is possible to emphasize some of them or others. Whereas the traditional interpretation of Heidegger's hermeneutic proposal has highlighted the previous way of seeing, the community language or even the things themselves subject of interpretation are emphasized in the hermeneutic model of Apel's anthropology of knowledge. The main aim of this paper is to compare and evaluate both proposals, showing the advantages of the gnoseo-anthropological transformation of the hermeneutic situation within the contemporary philosophical framework. (shrink)

The paper provides an overview of the hermeneutic and phenomenological context from which the idea of a “constitutional analysis” of science originated. It analyzes why the approach to “hermeneutic fore-structure of scientific research” requires to transcend the distinction between the context of justification and the context of discovery. By incorporating this approach into an integral “postmetaphysical philosophy of science”, I argue that one can avoid the radical empiricism of recent science studies, while also preventing the analysis of science's discursive practices (...) from collapsing into the frames of radical anti-epistemological critique mandated by some hermeneutic philosophers. (shrink)