Učenikova mogućnost izbora sadržaja učenja tijekom općeg obveznog obrazovanja važan je korak ka individualiziranom razvoju. Unatoč proklamiranim potrebama društva za razvojem kompetencija u tzv. STEM području, u hrvatskom su obrazovnom sustavu aktivnosti iz ovog područja najmanje zastupljene u kurikulumu općeg obrazovanja. Stoga je provedeno istraživanje interesa učenika za izbornu nastavu tehničke kulture te za aktivnosti koje bi odabrali kad bi mogli birati što će u školi učiti i raditi. Istraživanje je provedeno na stratificiranom uzorku učenika osnovnih škola u Hrvatskoj u (...) dobi od 11. do 15. godine života. Analizom rezultata istraživanja ustanovljeno je da su aktivnosti iz IKT-a, robotike, programiranja i modelarstva najatraktivnija područja za izbornu nastave tehničke kulture. Kad je riječ o aktivnostima u školi, učenici bi najradije odabrali sportske aktivnosti, a potom slijede informatičke, prirodoznanstvene i tehničke aktivnosti. Ovakav nalaz ukazuje na nužnu preobrazbu školskog kurikuluma koji će učenicima omogućiti razvoj u skladu s njihovim interesima. (shrink)

In this chapter, Dino Jakušić investigates Christian Wolff's attempt at developing a scientific metaphysics. According to Wolff, in order for metaphysics (and philosophy in general) to be scientific, it must be formulated as a system of interconnected disciplines modelled after Euclidean geometry and grounded in ontology. Jakušić provides an interpretation of the way in which Wolff understands ontology as the scientific discipline that is supposed to ground metaphysics, as well as science more generally. More specifically, Jakušić focuses on Wolff's (...) attempt at identifying ontology with primary philosophy. -/- This chapter starts with an introduction of Wolff's life and works, followed by a short account of the history of the concepts “ontology”, “primary philosophy”, and “metaphysics”. The context and controversy behind Wolff's identification of the terms “ontology” and “primary philosophy” are explained. Finally, Wolff's attempt at grounding his system on ontology is interpreted by specifying four ways in which ontology, as conceived by Wolf, can be considered the primary philosophical discipline: primacy in cognition, demonstration, architectonics, and in the order of being. (shrink)

What contribution can visual art practice bring to interdisciplinary research? And how to give an account of practice-led research that acknowledges the need for interdisciplinary intelligibility? I consider these two questions by reflecting on the methodology--which I call "critical practical analogy" (CPA)--that I have developed while investigating the metaethical implications of French philosopher Simone Weil's notion of attention, during my practice-led PhD. In order to address the first question, I consider as a case study a research art project that employs (...) CPA, and I explain how CPA proved instrumental in overcoming the impasse that I reached by purely theoretical investigation of Weil's discourse on attention and how it opened a distinctly artistic way forward in my research. In order to address the second question, I consider a problem posed by the interdisciplinary nature of my research (covering art and philosophy). I show how, through the application of CPA to the case study, I articulated an exegesis of my research that was intelligible across these two heterogeneous fields of investigation. In conclusion, I give some reasons for my hope that CPA may possess some heuristic and exegetical applicability in practice-led interdisciplinary research beyond my own research. (shrink)

In Boccacio's Decameron, Cervigni sees a parodic echo of the circles of Dante's Divine Comedy, and asks whether Bocaccio envisions the voyage of the brigata as similar to Dante the Pilgrim's journey toward the center, first the abysmal center of Lucifer, then towards the highest center, God.

Our article seeks to demonstrate that Husserl’s approach to intersubjectivity in his First Investigation of 1901/1913 was rigorous rather than rash. To do so, it applies a combination of intentionality and whole-part logic that has been overlooked in Husserl study. It therefore starts from Husserl’s Prolegomena of 1901 to follow his normative phenomenology until it excludes knowledge of another’s consciousness, then unpacks how he does so by his “proofs” in his 1913 Third Investigation, to apply those results to his First (...) Investigation. The outcomes might demonstrate an unexpected rigour in Husserl’s early address to intersubjectivity, and even support a novel logic that considers alterity. (shrink)

Critical Theory: The Key Concepts introduces over 200 widely-used terms, categories and ideas drawing from new historicism, postmodernism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, narratology and other approaches. Entries range from concise definitions to longer explanatory essays and include terms such as :EgoDesireConsumptionHypertextKitschMisogynyQueer StudiesSymbolSuperstructureRaceFeaturing cross-referencing throughout, a substantial bibliography and index, this accessible and easy-to-use guide is an invaluable introduction for anyone studying critical theory.

Sir William Hamilton's theory of the quantification of the predicate is presented and discussed with reference to the contemporary debate on logic.

This paper presents Christian Wolff’s claim that philosophy, undertaken on the basis of a proper method, cannot contradict revealed religion. The paper first provides a context of Wolff’s banishment from Halle for holding views in conflict with religious doctrines. Next, it proceeds, on the basis of Wolff’s Discursus præliminaris de philosophia in genere prefixed to his 1728 Latin Logic, to explain the principles of Wolff’s method, and to show how his conception of method enables him to disallow the possibility of (...) a genuine conflict between philosophical and religious dogmas. For Wolff, doctrinal conflicts between philosophy and revealed religion can only occur as a result of terminological disagreements, disagreements between dogmas and hypotheses, or disagreements between dogmas and theological misinterpretations. The actual conflict of dogmas, understood as religious or philosophical truths, Wolff holds to be impossible. (shrink)

This thesis investigates the development of ontology as a philosophical discipline in the German philosophical tradition. It starts from what can be considered the invention of ontology and proceeds to the way it was received in the philosophy of Hegel. It is separated into two parts. The first part argues that what can be called the ‘traditional’ form of ontology is developed by Christian Wolff in his 1730 monograph Philosophia prima sive Ontologia, and it traces both the history of the (...) name ‘ontology’, as well as the history of the conception which led to Wolff’s formulation of it. The history of the name tracks the use of the concept ‘ontology’ from its first occurrence in 1606 up to Wolff. The history of the conception tracks the conceptions of various philosophical disciplines, found in thinkers such as Aristotle, Aquinas, and Spinoza, that ultimately give rise to Wolff’s conception of ontology as a science of an entity qua entity. The second part traces the development of this Wolffian conception through the philosophical systems of Kant and Hegel. The aim of this thesis is to argue that Wolff’s philosophy should be seen as the original formulation of the philosophical discipline of ontology and that the Wolffian conception of ontology is the one shared by subsequent German thinkers up to, and including, Hegel. I refer to this shared understanding of what ontology is as ‘the German ontological tradition’. The title of the thesis, The Possibility of Ontology, refers to the way in which this traditional understanding of what ontology is, is treated throughout the German ontological tradition. Specifically, Kant argues that the traditional conception is effectively impossible, while in Hegel one can find arguments that are intended to show that some aspects of this traditional discipline are in fact possible. Besides focusing on a fairly under-researched topic of the early history of ontology as a philosophical discipline, this thesis attempts to utilise its historical findings in order to provide novel ways in which the systems of the thinkers such as Kant and Hegel can be understood. There is a serious disregard for, or underplaying of, the Wolffian influence on the philosophical thought of Kant and Hegel, and it is my aim to contribute to the rectification of this situation by demonstrating the frequently overlooked dialogue these thinkers had with Wolff’s conception of ontology. (shrink)

_Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Athenian Democracy_ delivers a fresh and wide-ranging analysis of the uses and reinterpretations of ancient Greek democracy from the late Middle Ages to the XXI century, offering a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to this important topic.

The paper is about the relationship between Scotus’s notion of ‘natura communis,’ for an examination of the main features that Scotus ascribes to ‘common natures’ can shed substantial light on the nature of metaphysics in itself. Some preliminary observations on historiography are also deemed to be in order.

This book is intended as a historical and critical study on the origin of the equations of motion as established in Newton's Principia. The central question that it aims to answer is whether it is indeed correct to ascribe to Galileo the inertia principle and the law of falling bodies. In order to accomplish this task, the study begins by considering theories on the motion of bodies from classical antiquity, and especially those of Aristotle. The theories developed during the Middle (...) Ages and the Renaissance are then reviewed, with careful analysis of the contributions of, for example, the Merton and Parisian Schools and Galileo's immediate predecessors, Tartaglia and Benedetti. Finally, Galileo's work is examined in detail, starting from the early writings. Excerpts from individual works are presented, to allow the texts to speak for themselves, and then commented upon. The book provides historical evidence both for Galileo's dependence on his forerunners and for the major breakthroughs that he achieved. It will satisfy the curiosity of all who wish to know when and why certain laws have been credited to Galileo. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital phenotyping, including computational speech analysis, increasingly allows for the collection of diagnostically relevant information from an ever-expanding number of sources. Such information usually assesses human behaviour, which is a consequence of the nervous system, and so digital phenotyping may be particularly helpful in diagnosing neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease. As illustrated by the use of computational speech analysis of Alzheimer’s disease, however, neurological illness also introduces ethical considerations beyond commonly recognised concerns regarding machine learning and (...) data collection in everyday environments. Individuals’ decision-making capacity cannot be assumed. Understanding of analytical results will likely be limited even as the personal significance of those results is both highly sensitive and personal. In a traditional clinical evaluation, there is an opportunity to ensure that information is relayed in a way that is highly customised to the individual’s ability to understand results and make decisions, and privacy is closely protected. Can any such assurance be offered as digital phenotyping technology continues to advance? AI-supported digital phenotyping offers great promise in neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, but it also poses ethical challenges. We outline some of these risks as well as strategies for risk mitigation. (shrink)

Fourteenth- and fifteenth-century current historiography doesn't seem to offer a satisfactory reconstruction of medieval terminism, so as to be able to solve the problems of interpretation regarding to the notion of ‘intensio’. In order to analyse appropriately the relationship between the notion of ‘intensio’ and the mathematical representation of its ‘latitudo’, a thorough examination of the semantic nature of the notions of intensive qualities and of their logical behaviour is here attempted.

The new wave of ‘foundation models’—general-purpose generative AI models, for production of text (e.g., ChatGPT) or images (e.g., MidJourney)—represent a dramatic advance in the state of the art for AI. But their use also introduces a range of new risks, which has prompted an ongoing conversation about possible regulatory mechanisms. Here we propose a specific principle that should be incorporated into legislation: that any organization developing a foundation model intended for public use must demonstrate a reliable detection mechanism for the (...) content it generates, as a condition of its public release. The detection mechanism should be made publicly available in a tool that allows users to query, for an arbitrary item of content, whether the item was generated (wholly or partly) by the model. In this paper, we argue that this requirement is technically feasible and would play an important role in reducing certain risks from new AI models in many domains. We also outline a number of options for the tool’s design, and summarize a number of points where further input from policymakers and researchers would be required. (shrink)

Is some form of epoché possible on theological concepts? In which way? Is it possible consider their importance leaving their religious scope aside? Can the theological concepts tell us something unless we consider their essential reference to our relationship with a divine being? The answer to these questions let us to understand what means to be a secular scholar of medieval philosophy. It's impossible conversely to discuss this problem without dealing with medieval theology. And this concerns not only the nature (...) of theology, but also and deeply the same idea of secularism . Therefore a fully aware historiography of medieval thought has to understand the theological speech and to encounter the depth of this theoretical question. So we can conclude that for a secular reading of the medieval theology is paradoxically essential to catch the intimate sense of religious thought and the historically defined forms of its actual conceptualizations. (shrink)

This article examines Paul Guyer’s claim that we should attempt to ground the principle of religious freedom on the basis of Kant’s arguments for religious liberty. I problematise Guyer’s suggestion by investigating a hypothetical ‘dogmatic conflict’ between a scientifically and a religiously grounded belief. I further suggest that considering Christian Wolff’s philosophy might provide us with an approach which shares the benefits that Guyer identifies in Kant, while at the same time avoiding the issues Kant might run into that result (...) from the occurrence of the dogmatic conflict. I start by providing a background to Wolff’s philosophy and explaining the notion of the dogmatic conflict. Then I present a potential contemporary case of the dogmatic conflict and try to see how it would be dealt with based on Guyer’s proposal. Finally, I consider what a Wolffian solution would look like, arguing that Guyer’s project might benefit from considering Wolff. (shrink)

The origin of the genetic code has been attributed in part to an accidental assignment of codons to amino acids. Although several lines of evidence indicate the subsequent expansion and improvement of the genetic code, the hypothesis of Francis Crick concerning a frozen accident occurring at the early stage of genetic code evolution is still widely accepted. Considering Crick’s hypothesis, mathematical descriptions of hypothetical scenarios involving a huge number of possible coexisting random genetic codes could be very important to explain (...) the origin and evolution of a selected genetic code. This work aims to contribute in this regard, that is, it provides a theoretical framework in which statistical parameters of error functions are calculated. Given a genetic code and an amino acid property, the functional code robustness is estimated by means of a known error function. In this work, using analytical calculations, general expressions for the average and standard deviation of the error function distributions of completely random codes with standard stop codons were obtained. As a possible biological application of these results, any set of amino acids and any pure or mixed amino acid properties can be used in the calculations, such that, in case of having to select a set of amino acids to create a genetic code, possible advantages of natural selection of the genetic codes could be discussed. (shrink)

This book describes in detail the various theories on the shape of the Earth from classical antiquity to the present day and examines how measurements of its form and dimensions have evolved throughout this period. The origins of the notion of the sphericity of the Earth are explained, dating back to Eratosthenes and beyond, and detailed attention is paid to the struggle to establish key discoveries as part of the cultural heritage of humanity. In this context, the roles played by (...) the Catholic Church and the philosophers of the Middle Ages are scrutinized. Later contributions by such luminaries as Richer, Newton, Clairaut, Maupertuis, and Delambre are thoroughly reviewed, with exploration of the importance of mathematics in their geodetic enterprises. The culmination of progress in scientific research is the recognition that the reference figure is not a sphere but rather a geoid and that the earth’s shape is oblate. Today, satellite geodesy permits the solution of geodetic problems by means of precise measurements. Narrating this fascinating story from the very beginning not only casts light on our emerging understanding of the figure of the Earth but also offers profound insights into the broader evolution of human thought. (shrink)

Transculturality. When Anthropology meets Psychology.