To determine what the speaker in a cooperative dialog meant with his assertion, on top of what he explicitly said, it is crucial that we assume that the assertion he gave was optimal. In determining optimal assertions we assume that dialogs are embedded in decision problems (van Rooij 2003) and use backwards induction for calculating them (Benz 2006). In this paper, we show that in terms of our framework we can account for several types of implicatures in a uniform way, (...) suggesting that there is no need for an independent linguistic theory of generalized implicatures. In the final section, we show how we can embed our theory in the framework of signaling games, and how it relates with other game theoretic analyses of implicatures. (shrink)

The traditional formalism of quantum mechanics is mainly used to describe ensembles of identical systems (with a density-operator formalism) or single isolated systems, but is not capable of describing single open quantum objects with many degrees of freedom showing pure-state stochastic dynamical behaviour. In particular, stochastic 'line-migration' as in single-molecule spectroscopy of defect molecules in a molecular matrix is not adequately described. Starting with the Bohr scenario of stochastic quantum jumps (between strict energy eigenstates), we try to incorporate more general (...) pure-state stochastic dynamical behaviour into the quantum mechanical formalism.Probability distributions of (approximately) pure states, arising through the stochastic pure-state dynamics for long times, give rise to appropriate decompositions of thermal density operators. These decompositions of density operators into pure states mediate between quantum mechanics for ensembles of molecules and quantum theory for single molecules (or single dressed quantum objects). We suggest that such decompositions should be consistent with infinite limits (e.g. the Born-Oppenheimer limit for infinite nuclear masses) in the sense that quantum fluctuations (around classical behaviour in the infinite limit) die out asymptotically. (shrink)

Previous research on scalar implicature has primarily relied on meta-linguistic judgment tasks and found varying rates of such inferences depending on the nature of the task and contextual manipulations. This paper introduces a novel interactive paradigm involving both a production and a comprehension side and a precise conversational goal. The main research question is what is reliably communicated by some in this communicative setting, both when the quantifier occurs in unembedded and embedded positions. Our new paradigm involves an action-based task (...) from which participants’ interpretation of utterances can be inferred. It incorporates a game-theoretic design, thereby including a precise model to predict participants’ behaviour in the experimental context. Our study shows that embedded and unembedded implicatures are reliably communicated by some. We propose two cognitive principles that describe what can be left unsaid. In our experimental context, a production strategy based on these principles is more efficient than a strategy based on literal descriptions. (shrink)

This essay explores the theoretical implications of Freud's notion of `the narcissism of minor differences' - the idea that it is precisely the minor differences between people who are otherwise alike that form the basis of feelings of strangeness and hostility between them. A comparative survey shows that minor differences underlie a wide range of conflicts: from relatively benign forms of campanilismo to bloody civil wars. Freud's tentative statements link up with the insights of Simmel, Durkheim, Lévi-Strauss, Dumont, Elias, and (...) Girard. Especially helpful is what Bourdieu writes in Distinction: social identity lies in difference, and difference is asserted against what is closest, which represents the greatest threat. An outline of a general theory of power and violence should include consideration of the narcissism of minor differences, also because its counterpart - hierarchy and great differences - makes for relative stability and peace. (shrink)

Irad Kimhi considers the conundrum, first addressed by Parmenides, of how negative facts can be the case and be thought, to be the puzzle that philosophy has been working to solve since Plato and Aristotle and wants to do his part by criticizing Frege's dissociation of sense and force and developing a more Aristotelian account of judgment. Michael Della Rocca considers the conundrum a hopeless aporia that we must avoid by embracing Parmenides' radical monism of being and in a recent (...) article (“Parmenides' insight and the possibility of logic”) aims to show that Kimhi is confronted with exactly the kind of insoluble difficulties that he that finds in Frege. The present article agrees with Kimhi that we can think about what is not the case, although thinking reaches all the way to what IS the case. But Della Rocca is right that Kimhi cannot explain by virtue of what we are able to do this. The counter‐proposal says: (1) Thinking reaches to being in that we have learned to read things in the intersubjective spatial field of consciousness as model tokens of singular propositions about them. (2) Negation can be thought of because thinking has its very origin in absolute, non‐well‐founded negation. (shrink)

In this article, I question the unspoken assumption in historical theory that there is a trade-off between language or narrative, on the one hand, and experience or presence, on the other. Both critics and proponents of historical experience seem to presuppose that this is indeed the case. I argue that this is not necessarily true, and I analyze how the opposition between language and experience in historical theory can be overcome. More specifically, I identify the necessary conditions for a philosophy (...) of language that can be the basis for this. Second, I will also suggest and present one specific instance of such a solution. I argue that the existential philosophies of language of Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas can be exactly the kind of theory we need. For Buber and Levinas, language is not a means for accessing reality, but rather a medium of encounters between human beings. I present Levinas's and Buber's arguments, discuss how their views could be applied to the writing of history, and assess what the resulting picture of the writing of history could look like. (shrink)

In this paper, I formulate an existentialist view on the dialogue with the past, based on the philosophy of Martin Buber. This view is meant to supplement the traditional, hermeneutical view on the dialogue with the past. In the first part of this paper, I argue that the traditional hermeneutic view on the dialogue with the past is somewhat restricted. In the work of people such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey or even Gadamer, dialogue is always regarded as a primarily cognitive event, (...) focused on the “I” rather than the “you.” I argue that this means that they take only one aspect of the metaphor into account, and ignore the more existential dimension of dialogue. As an alternative, I use the philosophy of Martin Buber to formulate a point of view that does embrace the existential side of dialogue. I also compare the Buberian view of dialogue with that of Gadamer, and I suggest in which a Buberian historian would differ from a Gadamerian historian. (shrink)

Informed consent bears significant relevance as a legal basis for the processing of personal data and health data in the current privacy, data protection and confidentiality legislations. The consent requirements find their basis in an ideal of personal autonomy. Yet, with the recent advent of the global pandemic and the increased use of eHealth applications in its wake, a more differentiated perspective with regards to this normative approach might soon gain momentum. This paper discusses the compatibility of a moral duty (...) to share data for the sake of the improvement of healthcare, research, and public health with autonomy in the field of data protection, privacy and medical confidentiality. It explores several ethical-theoretical justifications for a duty of data sharing, and then reflects on how existing privacy, data protection, and confidentiality legislations could obstruct such a duty. Consent, as currently defined in the General Data Protection Regulation – a key legislative framework providing rules on the processing of personal data and data concerning health – and in the recommendation of the Council of Europe on the protection of health-related data – explored here as soft-law – turns out not to be indispensable from various ethical perspectives, while the requirement of consent in the General Data Protection Regulation and the recommendation nonetheless curtails the full potential of a duty to share medical data. Also other legal grounds as possible alternatives for consent seem to constitute an impediment. (shrink)

“The inquiry into the foundations of knowledge is a systematic inquiry into the problem of truth. This problem constitutes one of the three main concerns of philosophical analysis, the others being the problem of beauty and the problem of goodness.” Thus Evangelos P. Papanoutsos, Greece’s leading contemporary philosopher, introduces this third book of his “Trilogy of the Mind.” The first two volumes covered aesthetics and ethics; this one is a major work in epistemology. Combining rigorous analysis with thorough-going scholarship, displaying (...) an intimate acquaintance with the physical and humanistic sciences, and drawing on a deep understanding of philosophical method and the history of philosophy, Professor Papanoutsos is held in high esteem by his European colleagues. This translation of his masterpiece will enhance his reputation and influence among readers of English. The themes of The Foundation of Knowledge range over the topics that have been continually challenging to the modern era of philosophers: being and consciousness, experience and reason, common sense and science, and the domains of knowledge, including the nature of philosophical knowledge. Special attention is paid to the analysis of theoretical consciousness, the problems of categorical thinking, the theory of judgment, mathematics and logic, and the limits of historical understanding. (shrink)

Originally published in 1973. Aristotle’s early works probably belong to the formative era of his philosophic thought and as such contribute vitally to the understanding and evaluation of the development of his philosophy. This book shows that the philosophy propagated in these lost works indicates an undeniable Platonism, and thus seems to conflict with the basic doctrines in the traditional treatises collected in the Corpus Aristotelicum . Was the author of the lost early works and the later preserved treatises one (...) and the same person, or were some of these treatises written by members of the Early Peripatus? This, the second of two volumes, discusses in detail certain decisive aspects of Aristotle’s early works. Fascinating hypotheses and conjectures put forward here provoke discussion and further investigation in the ‘Aristotelian Problem’. (shrink)

Myers' offer of cooperation as a medicine for ailing moral theories is welcomed as potentially helpful, even if his handling of it is diagnosed as implicitly one-sided consequentialist. His search for an ethically “substantive way of engaging with others” is shown as not coherent with his remarks on the tasks cooperation as an ethical concept has to fulfil. Instead, it is proposed that the concept be disentangled from the micro- problems Myers' wants it to solve, and that it be read (...) more freely, from the perspective of Rawls' conception of cooperation. (shrink)

Among philosophers and social scientists, Hume’s idea of justice is generally identified with a system of rules based on mutual advantage, their moral quality playing either an insignificant or no part at all. This conventional or contractarian model, respectively, is not adequate to the special institution of morality or, in Hume, to the virtues, artificial or natural. It is not self-interest but sympathy in combination with the indirect passions of pride and humility that gives conventions their moral quality and social (...) relevance. This article suggests exegetic and systematic reasons for the normative importance of Hume’s moral psychology, which should open the way to a developing morality much more in agreement with actual Western societies than a static morality based on self-interest would allow. (shrink)

We are going to explain partial blocking as the result of diachronic processes based on what we will call associative learning. Especially, we argue that the task posed by partial blocking phenomena is to explain their emergence from unambiguous and fully expressive languages. This contrasts with approaches that presuppose underspecified semantic meanings or ineffability like Bidirectional Optimality Theory (Bi–OT) and some game theoretic explanations. We introduce a formal framework based on learning, speaker’s preferences and pure semantics for describing diachronic strengthening (...) of meaning. Moreover, we show how the diachronic development of systems of semantically co–extensive forms can be described in terms of a complete system of diachronic laws. (shrink)

The volume presented here is a collection of the contributions to an author s colloquium with Walter Burkert, which was held in November 2007 in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld. Well known experts looked in detail at the work of the internationally renowned scholar of Greek. In his epochal cultural-scientific studies focusing on the origins of human co-existence in rites, on violence, sacrifice, guilt and horrific scenarios of death, Burkert approached questions of biological behavioural research, (...) anthropology and aggression theory, and developed an enormous intellectual impact that reached beyond classical and religious studies. ". (shrink)

Dans cette contribution, la Comédie Ancienne est associée de manière surprenante au complexe chamanistique, ou respectivement, au schéma du goës ou magos qui existait dans la Grèce archaïque et dans les premiers temps de la Grèce classique. Après un bref aperçu de l’histoire de la recherche concernant le ‘chamanisme’ grec dans les études classiques, l’auteur écarte explicitement les spéculations essentialistes sur l’origine, mais utilise le phénomène religieux au sens d’un procédé de fantaisie mental et théâtral. Le potentiel performatif du goës (...) est à même de traduire la chute soudaine, constitutive du genre, dans des espaces et des modes de jeu grotesques et ataviques, sur la scène comique. En particulier, les thèmes de la guérison et des voyages dans l’Hadès ou au ciel, thèmes qui jusqu’à présent n’ont pas vraiment été traités comme il l’aurait fallu, comme le héros comique ambigu et excessif, et la poétique alogique et non naturaliste de la Comédie Ancienne, peuvent s’expliquer comme repoussoirs d’un goës chamanique. Dans les pièces populaires de la place de marché, un tel théâtre de bouffons et de médecins charlatans perdure à travers l’histoire. À la fin, l’approche théorique est mise en pratique en prenant comme exemple la Paix d’Aristophane. L’intrigue relativement simple, où le héros chevauche jusqu’au ciel pour trouver une sorte de thérapie pour la cité, est enrichie d’une nouvelle signification totalement englobante, au-delà du politique strict. (shrink)

These CQ Sources were compiled by Bette Anton.

Eighteenth-century scientist-turned-theologian Emanuel Swedenborg had a deep understanding of the nature of reality that resonates both with mystical traditions and with artists and poets. In this volume, philosopher José Antonio Antón-Pacheco explores Swedenborg's views on heaven, angels, primordial language, and the spiritual history of humanity, in the process linking Swedenborg's thought to that of Jorge Luis Borges, Soren Kirkegaard, Henry Corbin, and Ibn 'Arabi, among others.

Матеріал являє собою короткий філософський коментар до першого перекладу на українську мову статті Альберта Ейнштейна «Свобода та наука». Актуальність публікації пов’язана з тим, що категорія «свобода», яку аналізує Ейнштейн, розглядається у світлі тих соціально-філософських проблем, які сьогодні стоять і перед українським суспільством – громадянська відповідальність в умовах війни, здатність плекати свободу і протистояти пропаганді, використання науки для підвищення якості життя людей та утвердження їх гідності. Мета полягає у ширшому залучені інтелектуальної спадщини Альберта Ейнштейна в український соціально-філософський та етичний дискурс.

У статті досліджено загальну сутність політичного православ’я, зокрема на прикладі сучасної Руської православної церкви, у контексті аксіологічних й естетичних парадигм культури постмодерна. Перебуваючи в історичній залежності від державної влади, російська православна традиція поширилася в усіх регіонах політичного та культурного впливу Росії, а на сьогодні виступає важливим чинником у межах сучасного російського ідеологічного дискурсу. Релігійне явище політичного православ’я означає проникнення політичного дискурсу до сфери релігійної риторики та значну клерикалізацію світського суспільства. Найвиразніше політичне православ’я проявилося в сучасній Руській православній церкві через особливо (...) взаємодію представників та установ російської державної влади з Руською православною церквою. Культурно-філософська основа можливості функціонування політичного православ’я зумовлена тим, що людина доби постмодерна хоча і втратила притаманні традиційному суспільству поняття про сакральне та профане, але потрапила в умови певної мовної гри, з правилами якої вона не знайома. Через відсутність досвіду існування в умовах ліберальної держави представники Руської православної церкви після розпаду Радянського Союзу інстинктивно орієнтувалися на максимально консервативний курс. (shrink)

Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik will nicht weniger sein als die wissenschaftliche Darstellung des Systems der reinen Vernunft. In ihren drei Teilen Das Sein (1812/1832), Die Lehre vom Wesen (1813) und Die subjektive Logik oder die Lehre vom Begriff (1816) verfolgt sie den Weg, auf dem Denken sich zum begreifenden und sich selbst begreifenden Denken bestimmt. Von Anfang an steht sie damit unter dem Vorzeichen, dass die Etappen dieses Weges, das heisst die Formen des Denkens, ihre Beurteilung nicht nach Massgabe ihrer (...) Anpassung an oder Funktionalitat fur anderes, sondern durch immanente Kritik erfahren. Mit diesem Konzept einer sich selbst kritisierenden und sich selbst bestimmenden Vernunft hat die Wissenschaft der Logik es ihren Lesern nicht eben leicht gemacht und, von ihrem Erscheinen bis in die Gegenwart, tiefgreifende Kontroversen sowohl hinsichtlich ihrer Interpretation als auch hinsichtlich ihrer Einschatzung nach sich gezogen. Der vorliegende Kommentarband dient vor allem dem Ziel, Einblick in den Gedankengang der Wissenschaft der Logik zu geben. In dreizehn Originalbeitragen wird, der Gliederung des Werks folgend, die Argumentation in teils freierer, teils nah am Text orientierter Weise rekonstruiert. Daruber hinaus dokumentiert der Band unterschiedliche Perspektiven der gegenwartigen Hegel-Forschung. ". (shrink)

--Vorwort, von W. Schulz.--Der Gottesbegriff der Schellingschen positiven Philosophie, von H. Fuhrmans.--Die Funktion der Abfallslehre in der Gesamtbewegung der Schellingschen Philosophie, von L. van Bladel.--Die Mythopoesie des "Werdenden Gottes," von W. R. Corti.--Das grosse Welttheater, von H. Zeltner.--Über Teilhard de Chardin und die Metaphysik, von W. Schrader.--Die Idee der formalen und transzendentalen Logik bei Kant, Fichte und Hegel, von M. Zahn.--Marx--Kierkegaard--Schelling, von W. Schmied-Kowarzik.--Charles Secrétan--Exemple pour l'influence de Schelling en Suisse Romande, par M. Reymond.

1. Bd. Bis zu Nietzsche und den nichtdeutschen Nominalisten.--2. Bd. Die realistische und halbrealistische Philosophie im 19. Jahrhundret und ersten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts.

The architectonic principle, as stated in Aristotle's Politics, is related to the arrangement of the arts, the technai, whereby it is argued that the leading art is the politike techne. Plato, in the Gorgias, has argued for an architectonic of crafts. Four technai provide the best, aei pros to beltiston therapeuousai, and they differ from the pseudo-crafts that offer pleasure while indifferent to the beltiston. The principle for arranging the architectonic is the pursuit of the best, whereby each practitioner of (...) a craft is expected to give logos concerning the "how" as well as the end of the craft. Extending the Platonic principle, Aristotle brings together under a unified theory the intelligibility of nature and human nature in line with the ends of episteme and techne, especially the politike techne. (shrink)

David White’s Myth, Metaphysics and Dialectic in Plato’s Statesman is an ambitious work that aims not only to interpret the message of Plato’s Statesman, but also to situate the dialogue within Plato’s corpus as one that serves as a transition between Plato’s earlier metaphysics and his more mature views in later dialogues such as Philebus and Laws. White makes several adept observations of oddities sprinkled throughout Statesman, and he frequently connects these observations to thoughtful claims concerning possible motivations on the (...) part of Plato as well as possible revelations concerning Platonic metaphysics and philosophy. However, justifiably made inferences are difficult for the reader to discern, as White tends to obfuscate his message with difficult and wordy prose. In addition to these flaws, White makes frequent references to many other Platonic dialogues with little explanation in the way of contextualization. While I find this aspect of White’s thinking to be impressive and indicative of both extensive knowledge and great aptitude for synthesis in thought, readers are warned that novices of Plato scholarship might get lost in the copious references to dialogues beyond those central to the book. That being said, in most respects, White’s interpretation is both sound and refreshing. In my opinion, the virtues of this work heavily outweigh any imperfections. (shrink)

Réflexions sur deux publications récentes en ecclésiologie : «Eclesiología 30 años después de Lumen Gentium. Pueblo de Dios - Cuerpo de Cristo - Templo del Espíritu Santo - Sacramento - Comuniοn», Pedro Rodríguez , Madrid : Rialp, 1994 et François Guillemette, «Théologie des conférences Episcopales. Une herméneutique de Vatican II», Montréal, QC : Médiaspaul, 1994.

Comme le disent le titre et le sous-titre de l'article, l'auteur centre son attention sur la «proposition» faite par l'encyclique Ut Unum Sint aux responsables d'Eglises et aux théologiens, d'approfondir, en dialogue avec le successeur de Pierre, la distinction entre la «substance» du ministère de Pierre et les «formes d'exercice» qu'il pourrait prendre en fonction de la «nouvelle situation». L'article ne se propose pas de faire un commentaire, encore moins d'analyser en détails, le contenu doctrinal de l'encyclique; il se contente (...) d'examiner la «proposition papale» dans le contexte immédiat de l'encyclique. Cela implique certaines coordonnées quant à la méthode et au contenu, pour qu'un thème aussi brûlant soit situé en vue de porter une lumière nouvelle sur la «fonction papale». Approfondir l'essence du ministère. de Pierre représente un désir profond de la «conscience oecuménique», tant de Paul VI que de Jean Paul II. Celui-ci annonça, dès le début de son pontificat, que la «cause oecuménique» était -comme le rappelle la UUS, n. 99 - «une des priorités pastorales» de son pontificat. L'encyclique réaffirme l'«engagement oécuménique» de toute l'Eglise et du pape en personne. La UUS, «de caractère essentiellement pastoral» , ne se préoccupe pas tant de développer les principes doctrinaux contenus dans les décrets conciliaires que de faire appel avec insistance à la conscience des fidèles chrétiens, afin d'avancer ve. (shrink)