Argumentum in Absentia
Dpt. of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (CASE)
Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) Plaça Eusebi Güell, 1-3 08034 Barcelona (Spain)
ORCID: 0000-0002-8817-7286
SCOPUS ID: 57222557221
News
16/12/2023- With great pleasure, I share the special issue on the Philosophy of Medicine that my friend and colleague Mario Gensollen and I have edited in the journal Euphya. I thank Alejandro, the editor of the journal, for his invitation. You will find contributions by Cristina Barés and Matthieu Fontaine, Lorenzo Magnani, Anna Estany, Jordi Vallverdú, Cecilia Calderón, Antonio Sitges-Serra, and Andreu Segura.
Vol. 17 Núm. 32 (2023): Número especial: Filosofía de la Medicina | Euphyía (uaa.mx)
12/09/2023- It may be the first article that approaches silence as a sociocultural phenomenon from its cognitive dimension as a tool to apprehend the environment.
I am happy, really happy, that the results of my investigation on silence have finally been published (open access). It has been a challenging task, and I am very tired. Exhausted, to be exact, but happy and proud as one can only be when one has worked hard.
Silence as a Cognitive Tool to Comprehend the Environment | Foundations of Science (springer.com)
01/09/2023– (Spanish) Acabado de salir del horno:
Daimon Revista Internacional de Filosofía
Núm. 90 (2023): Septiembre-Diciembre 2023: Monográfico sobre «Inteligencia Artificial»
Monográfico sobre Inteligencia Artificial.
Sección sobre «Inteligencia Artificial, datos y objetividad. ¿El regreso al naturalismo dataísta?» coordinada por Ariel Guersenzvaig (University School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona)
y David Casacuberta (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).
Sección sobre «Ética aplicada para una Inteligencia artificial confiable» coordinada por Elsa González-Esteban y Domingo García-Marzá.
Ha sido un placer enorme contribuir (Università di Pavia) en la primera sección con mi colega y amigo Vicent Bueno (IIIA-CSIC), con un artículo sobre la transformación digital del museo tradicional:
Copio el abstract:
Este trabajo se centra en el museo virtual entendido como la transformación digital del museo tradicional. En primer lugar, se revisan las principales conceptualizaciones del museo virtual en la literatura especializada y, a partir de las mismas, se propone una definición básica. Asimismo, se presentan argumentos que muestran la insuficiencia de la perspectiva dataísta en el estudio de la injusticia epistémica relativa al museo virtual. Finalmente, se analiza la exclusión relativa a la participación y la interacción entre las visitantes de un museo (tanto virtual como físico) y la propia institución.
03/07/2023 – I am excited to share the publication in Catalan (also in Spanish): SANS PINILLOS, Alger. La distribució abductiva de valors en els catàlegs digitals. Mosaic [online], juny 2023, no. 199. ISSN: 1696-3296. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7238/m.n199.2308
On June 8, I gave a talk at the MBR Conference 2023-Rome, entitled “The role of anticipations based on axiological information in the EC-Model of abduction.” It was a sweet encounter with colleagues I had not seen since the pandemic and an unparalleled opportunity to share ideas and discuss current issues in our discipline.
29/03/2023- Fresh from the oven! An article I’ve written together with Anna Estany has been published: Concerning the Epistemology of Design: The Role of the Eco-Cognitive Model of Abduction in Pragmatism mdpi.com/2220720
The Thesis
In “Argumentum in Absentia: The Role of Abduction in Philosophy of Science and its Prescriptive Value Dependency”, it is argued that abduction has a prescriptive aspect that has not yet been taken into account. The reasons lie in the fact that abduction has been investigated from the standpoint of the debates in philosophy of science, which not only determine the conceptual framework acting as a starting point of studies but also offer a closed conception of what is science, namely the one that goes into the debate in question. This interpretation of abduction is a pending task that, if it is not solved, then we would risk perpetuating a philosophical system that denies abduction itself. This situation is shown through the dichotomies that have shaped contemporary debates because abduction can only operate precisely when one accepts the relation between notions previously declared to be antagonistic.
The ideal starting point is the EC-Model from which the contemporary conception of abduction can be approached differently, which allows the incorporation of relevant cognitive elements to understand the multimodal aspect of this reasoning. On the other hand, the prescriptive element is based on James’ radical empiricism, which complements the EC-Model with a theoretical framework to raise a holistic (and not vicious) relationship between the values and the descriptions of the world. This conjunction offers an open and unfinished cosmovision, formed by the set of particular views of the world.
The Project
My current project is to demonstrate the hypothesis that abduction has a prescriptive aspect, which is essential for operating its full potential. I carry out this task in various ways, which are determined by the different official projects in which I collaborate.
From an epistemological perspective, I am investigating the role of abduction when facing uncertainty. In a figurative sense, I am interested in analyzing which is the last available link when you do not have tools to build the same path that you are walking. In these circumstances, it is more important to know how we want the world to be than to know how it is, and, here, the ethical gaze acquires an epistemological relevance.
I also work on this idea in more practical research. I am currently working on the prescriptive aspect of medical diagnosis. On the other hand, I also try to implement the prescriptive element of abduction in concrete design processes, in which different descriptions have to be adapted to individual wills which in turn, are regulated by the social impact of the final product obtained.
Upcoming Works
Upcoming Works
– Guersenzvaig, A., Sans Pinillos, A. (2024). Beyond codes of ethics and dos and don’ts: regulative ideals as ethical scaffolding for design. In F. Secomandi and Verbeek, P-P (eds.), Design philosophy after the technology turn. Bloomsbury
– Sans Pinillos, A., Costa, V., Casacuberta. D. (2024). Integrating digital museums within traditional ones as a way to redress epistemic injustice in cultural heritage.
-Gensollen, M., Sans Pinillos, A. (2024). Why Does Evidence-Based Medicine Involve and Demand Abduction?
– Moyano, C., Sans Pinillos, A. (2024). Change your mind, and be green! Unraveling sustainable development based on unsustainable normative epistemologies.
– Sans Pinillos, A. (2024). The role of anticipations based on axiological information in the EC-Model of abduction.
– Casacuberta, D., Sans Pinillos, A. (2024). An abductive protocol to detect epistemic injustice in cultural centers.
* All the publications in this section are accepted texts that will come out soon. For this reason, not all the data are available yet.
The Method
My methodology is mainly based on staying motivated by establishing harmony between fascination, intuition and knowledge. Unlike some colleagues’ understanding of what research is, to me, knowledge has never been the central axis, but the regulative limit of my intuition. Precisely for this reason, knowledge is also a crutch, which offers a point of support for intuition.
By intuition, I mean the vague idea I have of the order of things and, based on them, also of its possibilities. There are concrete issues that I can only keep connected from this overview. Obviously, in the end, it is the investigation of the moment that determines if this is more or less possible. Still, intuition allows me to separate without eliminating those aspects that seem not to fit, but that seem relevant to me.
Finally, the fascination is the engine of my research. With it, I focus on those problems that interest me the most, and it allows me to find its roots in countless places. At times, it can become an obsession, and that is why it is necessary to control it with the intuited ideas that, in turn, are contrasted with the knowledge obtained from the current state of the research.
However, without the fascination I feel for my specific work and for philosophy in general, I would have no interest, not only in knowing what surrounds me but neither understanding and looking for alternatives for a better future.
