Sir Anthony Kenny presents a fascinating and authoritative new history of Western philosophy. Specially written for a broad popular readership, Kenny's lucid and stimulating history will become the definitive work for anyone interested in the people and ideas that shaped the course of Western thought.

J. Anthony Blair is a prominent international figure in argumentation studies. He is among the originators of informal logic, an author of textbooks on the informal logic approach to argument analysis and evaluation and on critical thinking, and a founder and editor of the journal Informal Logic. Blair is widely recognized among the leaders in the field for contributing formative ideas to the argumentation literature of the last few decades. This selection of key works provides insights into the history (...) of the field of argumentation theory and various related disciplines. It illuminates the central debates and presents core ideas in four main areas: Critical Thinking, Informal Logic, Argument Theory and Logic, Dialectic and Rhetoric. (shrink)

Foveated stimuli receive visual processing that is quantitatively and qualitatively different from nonfoveated stimuli. At normal interpersonal distances, people move their eyes around another’s face so that certain features receive foveal processing; on any given fixation, other features therefore project extrafoveally. Yet little is known about the processing of extrafoveally presented facial features, how informative those extrafoveally presented features are for face perception (e.g., for assessing another’s emotion), or what processes extract task-relevant (e.g., emotion-related) cues from facial features that first (...) appear outside the fovea, and how these processes are implemented in the brain. (shrink)

The author argues the concept of human rights is a development of the older notion of natural rights and that the modern understanding of natural rights evolved in the context of the European struggle to legitimate its overseas empires. The French Revolution changed this by, in effect, linking human rights to the idea of citizenship. Human rights were thus tied not only to a specific ethical-legal code but also implicitly to a particular kind of political system, both of inescapably European (...) origin. In both cases, however, being employed was an underlying idea of universality whose origins are to be found in the Greek and Roman idea of a common law for all humanity. He ends by arguing that to defend human rights against its non-Western critics, one must be aware of the genealogy of the concept and then be prepared to endorse an essentially Western European understanding of the human. (shrink)

We briefly describe ways in which neuroeconomics has made contributions to its contributing disciplines, especially neuroscience, and a specific way in which it could make future contributions to both. The contributions of a scientific research programme can be categorized in terms of (1) description and classification of phenomena, (2) the discovery of causal relationships among those phenomena, and (3) the development of tools to facilitate (1) and (2). We consider ways in which neuroeconomics has advanced neuroscience and economics along each (...) line. Then, focusing on electrophysiological methods, we consider a puzzle within neuroeconomics whose solution we believe could facilitate contributions to both neuroscience and economics, in line with category (2). This puzzle concerns how the brain assigns reward values to otherwise incomparable stimuli. According to the common currency hypothesis, dopamine release is a component of a neural mechanism that solves comparability problems. We review two versions of the common currency hypothesis, one proposed by Read Montague and colleagues, the other by William Newsome and colleagues, and fit these hypotheses into considerations of rational choice. (shrink)

Any engagement with Spinoza's views on art is bound to mention his account of the rightful pleasures that the wise man takes in things that appeal to the imagination and delight his senses: beautif...

Anthony Savile; VIII—The Place of Intention in the Concept of Art, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 69, Issue 1, 1 June 1969, Pages 101–124, http.

Anthony Kenny on his personal struggles with belief.

School reform and accountability tests have been hotly debated for decades, but the goal of reform and accountability has not. Most agree that the main problem with contemporary education is that it fails to adequately prepare students with the "21st century skills" needed to find jobs and promote national competitiveness in the global economy. Tony Armstrong challenges both the morality and the consequences of pushing this purpose of education. He says it is immoral because it neglects our children's deepest aspiration--happiness--and (...) treats them as mere cogs in the economic machine. Dr. Armstrong shows how methods of well-being based on happiness research--mindfulness, gratitude, perspective--can greatly improve kids' chances to feel better in the present and to live happier lives in the future. And the kindergarten-through-college "happiness pedagogy" he presents would also be a superior way to teach those "21st century skills.". (shrink)

The extension of intellectual property rights into the realm of biology has emerged as an increasing focus of controversy in relation to science,2 biodiversity,3 agriculture,4 health,5 development,6 human rights7 and trade.8 This paper presents the results of a review of international trends in activity for patent protection between 1990-2000 and provisional data to 2004 and 2005 from over 70 national patent offices, four regional patent offices and the World Intellectual Property Organisation using the European Patent Office esp@cenet worldwide database.9 The (...) review employed patent publication counts as an indicator of activity for traditional medicines, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and biotechnology. The research provides insights into the internationalisation of patent activity in multiple areas of biology. The review emphasises the need to combine the further development of quantitative methods with qualitative analysis of the implications of international patent activity in relation to biological and genetic material for science, society and policy. (shrink)

Professor Thiselton compares and assesses modern and postmodern interpretations of the self and society on their own terms and in relation to Christian theology. He explores especially claims that appeals to truth constitute no more than disguised bids for power and self-affirmation whether in society or in religion.

Theories of rational choice focus on the question of how to choose what to do. They are, that is, concerned with the selection of one among a set of possible actions. Furthermore, they tell us how to make such a choice rationally. They accomplish this aspect of their task by telling us how to choose ‘in order to achieve our aims as well as possible.’Theories of reasonable deliberation, as I describe them in this paper, analyze a different domain of reasoning (...) in the service of action. First, their subject matter is the deliberation that leads to action, rather than the final selection of the action itself. Second, they ask about the intrinsic character of a deliberative path, rather than its likely outcome. That is, they are theories of the reasonableness of deliberation, rather than its rationality. To see the distinctiveness of this theoretical domain, it helps to approach it by backing away from the domain of rational choice theories one step at a time. (shrink)

A new calculus, based upon the multivector derivative, is developed for Lagrangian mechanics and field theory, providing streamlined and rigorous derivations of the Euler-Lagrange equations. A more general form of Noether's theorem is found which is appropriate to both discrete and continuous symmetries. This is used to find the conjugate currents of the Dirac theory, where it improves on techniques previously used for analyses of local observables. General formulas for the canonical stress-energy and angular-momentum tensors are derived, with spinors and (...) vectors treated in a unified way. It is demonstrated that the antisymmetric terms in the stress-energy tensor are crucial to the correct treatment of angular momentum. The multivector derivative is extended to provide a functional calculus for linear functions which is more compact and more powerful than previous formalisms. This is demonstrated in a reformulation of the functional derivative with respect to the metric, which is then used to recover the full canonical stress-energy tensor. Unlike conventional formalisms, which result in a symmetric stress-energy tensor, our reformulation retains the potentially important antisymmetric contribution. (shrink)

Much of the current thought concerning mathematical ontology and epistemology follows Quine and Putnam in looking to the indispensable application of mathematics in science. A standard assumption of the indispensability approach is some version of confirmational holism, i.e., that only "sufficiently large" sets of beliefs "face the tribunal of experience." In this paper I develop and defend a distinction between a pure mathematical theory and a mathematized scientific theory in which it is applied. This distinction allows for the possibility that (...) pure mathematical theories are systematically insulated from such confirmation in virtue of their being distinct from the "sufficiently large" blocks of scientific theory that are empirically confirmed. (shrink)

The author argues that the distinctive aspects of political liberalism have historical roots in the republican tradition that is often described as “neo-roman,” and recently given articulation in the work of Q. Skinner and P. Pettit. The primary task of this paper will be to layout these correlations, to provide, as it were, a mapping between the vocabulary of the neo-roman theory and that of political liberalism. By tracing the genealogy of political liberalism, the author argues that we ought to (...) rethink the history, the vocabulary, and conceptual framework of contemporary political philosophy. In particular, seeing political liberalism as a form of republican theory as well as a form of liberal theory changes how we understand it: it brings out certain distinctive features of the structure of the view that are often overlooked, such as its stress on certain civic duties and its conception of freedom as a freedom of the city. If leading republican and liberal thinkers turn out to have much in common, then we will have to rethink also our intellectual geography: we will have to sketch in some land-bridges between the continents. (shrink)

One of the most important pieces of evidence which we possess concerning the judicial rights of Roman provincials, particularly their status in relation to the governor's tribunal, is provided by Cicero's brief outline of those provisions of the lex Rupilia, the Sicilian provincial charter, which dealt with judicial administration. The passage reads as follows: Siculi hoc iure sunt ut, quod civis cum cive agat, domi certet suis legibus, quod Siculus cum Siculo non eiusdem civitatis, ut de eo praetor iudices ex (...) P. Rupili decreto, quod is de decem legatorum sententia statuit, quam legem Rupiliam vocant, sortiatur. Quod privatus a populo petit ant populus a privato, senatus ex aliqua civitate qui iudicet datur, cum alternae civitates reiectae sunt; quod civis Romanus a Siculo petit, Siculus index, quod Siculus a civi Romano, civis Romanus datur; ceterarum rerum selecti iudices ex conventu civium Romanorum nr000ni solent. (shrink)

À rebours d’un progrès technique consistant à voir les logiciels de CAO/PAO (« Conception/Publication Assistée par Ordinateur ») comme une « augmentation » mécanique des possibilités créatives, nous proposons de considérer ce processus comme une accélération – voire comme une automatisation – de façons de faire traditionnelles. Alors que les designers utilisent au quotidien les mêmes logiciels, ont-ils pleinement conscience de leur histoire et de leurs implications? Comment cette tendance à la normalisation s’inscrit-elle dans l’histoire des transformations techniques induites par (...) le développement de la computation? Pour traiter ces enjeux, nous invitons à parcourir sous forme de courtes notices une série d’objets techniques (logiciels de création, machines, etc.), classés du plus standardisant au plus ouvert. Chacun de ces items comprend trois sous-parties : une description de son caractère standardisant, une critique des valeurs qu’il embarque, et des contre-emplois (antérieurs ou postérieurs) en art et en design. (shrink)

Apparu au tournant des révolutions industrielles comme une brèche dans l’idée dominante d’économie industrielle, le design, depuis quelques années, se voit affublé d’une multitude de qualificatifs : « écodesign », « design social », « design éthique », « design inclusif », etc. On peut dès lors se demander si cette tendance ne met pas en évidence une difficulté à comprendre ce qui pose problème dans le design « tout court » : ayant peut-être perdu sa force subversive, ce dernier (...) serait-il désormais parfaitement intégré aux forces productives? Existe-t-il une responsabilité propre au design? (shrink)

Cet article explore les enjeux des technologies blockchain dans le champ de la création (art, design, jeu vidéo, etc.) à travers le développement, depuis 2015, des « Non Fungible Tokens » ( NFT ) – à savoir la production d’un certificat numérique infalsifiable et décentralisé attaché à une entité numérique ou tangible. Mis en lumière depuis le début de l’année 2021 par une multitude de ventes aux sommes record et par le développement de places de marché spécifiques, les NFT soulèvent (...) des enjeux relatifs à la valeur, à la circulation et à l’exposition des productions artistiques et culturelles. (shrink)

Encore mal connue, l’ampleur des travaux du chercheur Vilém Flusser est pourtant d’une grande importance pour appréhender la situation contemporaine d’un monde numérique risquant d’aboutir à une société automatisée. Analysant la notion de programme depuis des réflexions sur les mutations de la photographie et de l’écriture, Flusser montre, au contraire, comment les artistes pourraient œuvrer au développement d’un « techno-imaginaire » capable de donner du sens à nos « vies artificielles ».

"Joseph Marechal, who became one of the most important figures in the twentieth-century revival of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, set for himself an ambitious intellectual project. His goal was to demonstrate that the realist theory of knowledge first enunciated by Aristotle in the ancient world and developed by Aquinas in the thirteenth century is the key to a coherent philosophy of man and being. According to Marechal, once late medieval philosophy moved away from Aquinas's epistemological foundations, no longer (...) could it construct a satisfactory unity of knowledge, man, and being. Thus modern Western philosophers, specifically Descartes, began their quest to elaborate an adequate intellectual account of human experience on the basis of a flawed philosophical legacy."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (shrink)