According to an influential hypothesis, the speech act of assertion is subject to a single 'constitutive' rule, that takes the form: "One must: assert that p only if p has C". Scholars working on assertion interpret the assumption that this rule is 'constitutive' in different ways. This disagreement, often unacknowledged, threatens the foundations of the philosophical debate on assertion. This paper reviews different interpretations of the claim that assertion is governed by a constitutive rule. It argues that once we understand (...) the full import of assuming that assertion is governed by a constitutive rule, it becomes clear that some fundamental assumptions of the current debate are mistaken, and others unwarranted. (shrink)

Studies in Wilfrid Sellars' philosophy: Aune, B. Sellars on practical reason.--Castañeda, H.-N. Some reflections on Wilfrid Sellars' theory of intentions.--Donagan, A. Determinism and freedom: Sellars and the reconciliationist thesis.--Robinson, W. S. The legend of the given.--Clark, R. The sensuous content of perception.--Grossmann, R. Perceptual objects, elementary particles, and emergent properties.--Rosenberg, J. F. The elusiveness of categories, the Archimedean dilemma, and the nature of man: a study in Sellarsian metaphysics.--Turnbull, R. G. Things, natures, and properties.--Wells, R. The indispensable word "now."--Van Fraassen, (...) B. C. Theories and counterfactuals.--Harman, G. H. Wilfrid Sellars' Theory of induction.--Sellarsiana: Sellars, W. Autobiographical reflections.--Sellars, W. The structure of knowledge. Lecture I, perception. Lecture II, minds. Lecture III, epistemic principles.--Wilfrid Sellars' Philosophical bibliography. (p. 349-353). (shrink)

We present a computational analysis of de re, de dicto, and de se belief and knowledge reports. Our analysis solves a problem first observed by Hector-Neri Castañeda, namely, that the simple rule -/- `(A knows that P) implies P' -/- apparently does not hold if P contains a quasi-indexical. We present a single rule, in the context of a knowledge-representation and reasoning system, that holds for all P, including those containing quasi-indexicals. In so doing, we explore the difference between (...) reasoning in a public communication language and in a knowledge-representation language, we demonstrate the importance of representing proper names explicitly, and we provide support for the necessity of considering sentences in the context of extended discourse (for example, written narrative) in order to fully capture certain features of their semantics. (shrink)

Comunista caraibico, storico dei movimenti neri e panafricani, C.L.R. James è stato un pioniere degli studi culturali, spesso dimenticato ma importante per la sua influenza sul movimento nero e anticoloniale e sulle lotte operaie dalla fine degli anni Trenta agli anni Sessanta. Il saggio presenta una lettura critica di _American Civilization_ che James scrisse tra il 1949 e il 1950, pubblicato solo quattro anni dopo la sua morte nel 1989. Sebbene il manoscritto non sia mai stato completato, il suo (...) significato storico rimane intatto per la sua visione pervasiva degli Stati Uniti e per il suo modo di tradurre il pensiero marxiano nella cultura e nella politica statunitense. Mentre la storiografia ha preso in considerazione il manoscritto per il suo contributo agli studi culturali, il saggio lo considera come il suo “manifesto politico” per gli Stati Uniti. Collocando James nel contesto intellettuale del suo momento statunitense (1938-1953), il saggio ricostruisce la sua critica alla letteratura sociologica e manageriale, in particolare a Elton Mayo e Peter Drucker, e all’ascesa di una “filosofia controrivoluzionaria”, in particolare a Richard Weaver. _American Civilization_ porta alla luce una continua lotta operaia nella sua potenziale connessione con l’antagonismo nero e delle donne. (shrink)

Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie sind Bereiche medizinischer Praxis, die in besonderer Weise ethische Fragen aufwerfen. Die Beiträge des Bandes hierzu werden durch zwei übersetzte Beiträge des polnischen Psychiaters Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972) erweitert. Diese eröffnen neue Perspektiven in der Diskussion um ethische Fragen in der Psychiatrie.

An essential aspect of conceptual data modeling methodologies is the language’s expressiveness so as to represent the subject domain as precise as possible to obtain good quality models and, consequently, software. To gain better insight in the characteristics of the main conceptual modeling languages, we conducted a comparison between ORM, ORM2, UML, ER, and EER with the aid of Description Logic languages of the DLR family and the new formally defined generic conceptual data modeling language CMcom that is based on (...) DLRifd. ORM, ER, EER, and UML class diagrams are proper fragments of ORM2 and CMcom has the most expressive common denominator with these languages. CMcom simplifies prospects for automated, online, interoperability among the considered languages so that modelers not only can continue using their preferred modeling language yet be compatible with the other ones, but also have a common ground that eases database and software integration based on commonly used conceptual data models. (shrink)

Cet article présente une synthèse de la manière dont chacun des quatre évangélistes développe le rapport à l'espace construit. De ce point de vue, trois entités principales entrent en ligne de compte, à savoir le temple, la synagogue et la maison. Quelle relation y a-t-il entre elles et cette relation est-elle la même dans les différents évangiles ? La façon dont chaque récit évangélique articule ces entités est-elle révélatrice quant à la personne de Jésus et/ou quant à la communauté de (...) ses disciples ? La question sera notamment posée de la relation au temple conçu comme espace sacré de rencontre avec Dieu. (shrink)

In 'You and She*' (ANALYSIS 51.3, June 1991) C.J.F. Williams notes the importance of reflexive pronouns in attributions of propositional attitudes, and claims to improve upon an earlier account of Hector-Neri Castaneda's in [1]. However, to the extent which his remarks are accurate, they reveal nothing that Castaneda hasn't already said, while insofar as they are new, they obliterate distinctions vital to Castaneda's theory. Castaneda called these pronouns quasi-indicators and noted that they function as linguistic devices used for attributing (...) indexical reference to others. For example, in hearing Arthur say 'I am wise' we would report his claim in English with, (1) Arthur thinks that he himself is wise. where 'he himself' is a quasi-indicator used to attribute to Arthur reference to himself qua self -- an expression that Castaneda abbreviated with 'he*.' Note that (1) is quite different from, (2) Arthur thinks that I am wise for 'I', functioning here as an indexical term, represents only the speaker's reference. Nor can (1) be identified with, (3) Arthur thinks that Arthur is wise. for this fails to represent the indexical character of Arthur's thought. Thus, (3) falls short of the informational content of (1). Moreover, as Williams, echoing Castaneda, points out, Arthur might not know that he himself is Arthur, or that he is named 'Arthur.' Hence, (3) might be false even if (1) is true. Williams observes that 'she' can also be used in oratio obliqua to report an indexical 1 usage, e.g., in (4) Arthur told Mary that she ought to talk to Shirley Makepeace's.. (shrink)

Стаття висвітлює досягнення соціального вчення Католицької Церкви в справі подолання «культури смерті» через утвердження миру як складової системи цінностей і принципів «культури життя».

David R. Griffin’s new Whitehead’s Radically Different Post-modern Philosophy: An Argument for Its Contemporary Relevance (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2007) contains a chapter-long Whiteheadian response to several criticisms I have leveled against process theology. While encouraging his attempt to promote Whitehead as a preferred alternative to foundationalist modernism and postmodernism, I undertake to rebut Griffin’s arguments through discussions of the following topics: the one and the many (which Whitehead does not treat adequately), the finite versus infinite (...) character of God, creation ex nihilo, the nature of determinateness and the need for every determinate thing to have a creator, the applicability of the Ontological Principle to explaining a complex of first principles, the inclusion of time within ontological eternity, the goodness versus wildness of God, the nature of religious experience, and the uses of religious language. (shrink)

Nolan, Ann MC In the past fifty years there has been a stream of commentary on the documents of Vatican II. Have we not had so much commentary, so much interpretation, that further commentary is unnecessary? Fifty years on, one might ponder how to interpret the sixteen documents for the church of our times, indeed to wonder whether they continue to have any relevance at all. Faced with this thought, we could turn to one scholar whose works span almost the (...) whole of this fifty-year period, yet whose thought in relation to the documents has not remained static: the renaissance historian John O'Malley SJ. (shrink)

This is an impressive book containing noteworthy and challenging contributions to meta-ethics, especially in presenting a powerful case for a version of moral relativism based on recent developments in the philosophy of language. The main thesis on moral relativity denies that there is "a single true morality." Much of the argument centers on the relevance of truth-condition semantics and the causal and descriptive theories of reference. In this light, relativist analyses are proposed for "A ought to do X" and "X (...) is a good Y" statements. These analyses are preceded by an extensive discussion of the notion of moral truth in light of works of Alfred Tarski and Donald Davidson, and the relativist analyses of morality as a social creation represented in some writings of Gilbert Harman and Hector-Neri Castañeda. It is recommended that the moral "A ought to do X" statement be analyzed as "By not doing X under certain actual conditions C, A will be breaking a rule of an adequate moral system applying to him or her," and the "X is a good Y" statement in terms of "Under certain conditions C, X satisfies the appropriate standards for Y's." Moral goodness is a special case and derivative from the general use "X satisfies the appropriate moral standards for Y's when these standards are derived from the adequate moral system applying to X." These analyses are clarified and defended against the Absolutist objections and alternative proposals, and followed by a defense "of the principle of the best explanation" as a guiding maxim for translating moral language and as "the method for explaining diversity and disagreement in moral beliefs.". (shrink)