Providing the first English translation of Análisis del ser del mexicano, this book features a full biography of Uranga, a detailed overview of the translated text, and discussion of Uranga's relevance to contemporary debates in the phenomenology of culture, the philosophy of liberation, Latin American philosophy and phenomenology itself. Reading Uranga's brilliant words expertly translated and introduced by Carlos Alberto Sánchez finally allows us to understand why this Mexican philosopher is considered one of the most fearless and original thinkers of (...) the 20th century. (shrink)

The paper studies the relation between systems of modal logic and systems of consequential implication, a non-material form of implication satisfying "Aristotle's Thesis" (p does not imply not p) and "Weak Boethius' Thesis" (if p implies q, then p does not imply not q). Definitions are given of consequential implication in terms of modal operators and of modal operators in terms of consequential implication. The modal equivalent of "Strong Boethius' Thesis" (that p implies q implies that p does not imply (...) not q) is identified. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to highlight several features of the concept of impiety and of its use in inscriptions. Two main types of epigraphic texts mention impiety: 1. preventive laws, where formulations such as ἀσεβὴς ἔστω, ἀσεβείτω and ἔνοχος ἔστω ἀσεβείᾳ have a double effect inasmuch as they categorize an offence as an impiety and, in addition, they give a culprit the status of impious and 2. reports of trials or of past wrongs. Being regarded as impious entails (...) other consequences on the relationship between the culprit and gods but also between the culprit and the human community – the main issue being that these consequences are seldom explicitly mentioned. Moreover, instead of a single law or text defining impiety or proceedings to take place in case of impiety, there is an array of texts in which impiety appears, the sum of which forms what a community would legally recognize as an impiety.Cet article vise à mettre en exergue différentes particularités du concept d’impiété et de son utilisation dans les inscriptions. Deux types principaux de textes épigraphiques mentionnent l’impiété : 1. des lois préventives, dans lesquelles des formulations telles que ἀσεβὴς ἔστω, ἀσεβείτω et ἔνοχος ἔστω ἀσεβείᾳ ont un double effet dans la mesure où elles définissent une infraction comme étant une impiété et, de surcroît, elles confèrent au coupable le statut d’impie et 2. des rapports de procès ou de torts commis par le passé. Être considéré impie entraîne d’autres conséquences, dans la relation du coupable avec les dieux mais également avec la communauté humaine – le problème étant principalement que ces conséquences sont rarement explicitement mentionnées. De plus, au lieu d’une loi unique définissant l’impiété ou envisageant les procédures à mettre en place en cas d’impiété, il y a un ensemble de textes dans lesquels apparaît l’impiété, dont la somme forme ce qu’une commu­nauté reconnaîtrait légalement comme impiété. (shrink)

. It is shown that the properties of so-called consequential implication allow to construct more than one aristotelian square relating implicative sentences of the consequential kind. As a result, if an aristotelian cube is an object consisting of two distinct aristotelian squares and four distinct “semiaristotelian” squares sharing corner edges, it is shown that there is a plurality of such cubes, which may also result from the composition of cubes of lower complexity.

The objects called cubes of opposition have been presented in the literature in discordant ways. The aim of the paper is to offer a survey of such various kinds of cubes and evaluate their relation with an object, here called “Aristotelian cube”, which consists of two Aristotelian squares and four squares which are semiaristotelian, i.e. are such that their vertices are linked by some so-called Aristotelian relation. Two paradigm cases of Aristotelian squares are provided by propositions written in the language (...) of the logic of consequential implication, whose distinctive feature is the validity of two formulas, A $$\rightarrow$$ → B $$\supset \lnot$$ ⊃ ¬ (A $$\rightarrow$$ → $$\lnot$$ ¬ B) and A $$\rightarrow$$ → B $$\supset \lnot$$ ⊃ ¬ ($$\lnot$$ ¬ A $$\rightarrow$$ → B), expressing two different forms of contrariety. Part of section 1 is devoted to define the notions of rotation and of r-Aristotelian square, i.e. a square resulting from some rotation of an Aristotelian square. In section 2 this notion is extended to the one of a r-Aristotelian cube, i.e. of a cube resulting from some rotation of some square of an Aristotelian cube. This notion is used in the sequel to analyze various cubes of oppositions which can be found in the literature: (1) the one used by W. Lenzen to reconstruct Caramuel’s Octagon; (2) the one used by D. Luzeaux to represent the implicative relation among S5-modalities; (3) the one introduced by D. Dubois to represent the relations between quantified propositions containing positive predicates and their negations; (4) the one called Moretti cube. None of such cubes is strictly speaking Aristotelian but each of them may be proved to be r-Aristotelian. Section 5 discusses the assertion that Dubois cube was anticipated in a paper published by Reichenbach in 1952. Actually Dubois’ construction was anticipated by the so-called Johnson–Keynes cube, while the Reichenbach cube, unlike Dubois cube, is an instance of an Aristotelian cube in the sense defined in this paper. The dominance of such notion is confirmed by J.F. Nilsson’s cube, representing relations between propositions with nested quantifiers, and also by a cube introduced by S. Read to treat quantifiers with existential import. A cube similar to Read’s cube, introduced by Chatti and Schang, is shown to be r-Aristotelian. In section 6 the author remarks that the logic of the formulas occurring in the cubes of Chatti–Schang and Read have the drawback of not satsfying the law of Identity. He then proposes a definition of non-standard quantifiers which satisfies Identity, are independent of existential assumptions and such that their interrelations are represented by an Aristotelian cube. (shrink)

L’ouvrage de P. Ismard (P.I.) cherche à comprendre « le poids de l’événement que représente le procès de Socrate dans la mémoire occidentale » (p. 11). Cet objectif repose sur trois angles d’approche : il s’agit de saisir les enjeux du procès comme tel, d’utiliser cet « événement » comme clé d’analyse des institutions athéniennes contemporaines du procès, et d’étudier la réception du procès aux époques ultérieures. L’analyse est structurée autour de neuf chapitres, dans un langage fluide et a...

Derrière un titre assez sobre, la structure de l’ouvrage de R. Gagné (R.G.) permet d’entrevoir son originalité. Loin de se contenter d’une brève circonscription du concept de faute ancestrale dans l’introduction, l’A. consacre les deux premiers chapitres à la réception et à la réinterprétation de cette notion après l’Antiquité. Il cherche ainsi à montrer par quels filtres successifs a transité la notion avant d’arriver jusqu’à nous. Ce n’est qu’après un exposé assez érudit sur les nombreux au...

The ageing society poses significant challenges to Europe’s economy and society. In coming to grips with these issues, we must be aware of their ethical dimensions. Values are the heart of the European Union, as Article 1a of the Lisbon Treaty makes clear: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity…”. The notion of Europe as a community of values has various important implications, including the development of inclusion policies. A special case of exclusion concerns the (...) gap between those people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without access to it, the “digital divide”, which in Europe is chiefly age-related. Policies to overcome the digital divide and, more generally speaking, e-inclusion policies addressing the ageing population raise some ethical problems. Among younger senior citizens, say those between 65 and 80 years old, the main issues are likely to be universal access to ICT and e-participation. Among the older senior citizens, say those more than 80 years old, the main issues are mental and physical deterioration and assistive technology. An approach geared towards the protection of human rights could match the different needs of senior citizens and provide concrete guidance to evaluate information technologies for them. (shrink)

In the first part of the paper it is proved that there exists a one–one mapping between a minimal contingential logic extended with a suitable axiom for a propositional constant τ, named KΔτw, and a logic of necessity ${K\square \tau{w}}$ whose language contains ${\square}$ and τ. The form of the proposed translation aims at giving a solution to a problem which was left open in a preceding paper. It is then shown that the presence of τ in the language of (...) KΔτw allows for the definition, in terms of the non-contingency operator Δ, not only of ${\square}$ but of a second necessity operator O. It is observed that this fact opens the road to an investigation of the τ-free multimodal fragments of KΔτw. (shrink)

Includes articles about Origen, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Blondel, Teilhard de Chardin, Barth, Heidegger, Gadamer, postmodernism.

This article explores Futurist technophilia and some more or less latent technophobia, in the period after 1918. Fuelled by the economic and industrial advancements of the so-called “Giolittian age,” as well as an extensive employment of war technology in the First World War, the Futurist technological imagination remains both robust and wide-ranging in the postwar period. Resonant of nineteenth-century French and Italian literary traditions, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's official position clusters round the powerful, if hackneyed, images of the steam train and (...) the motorcar. A number of fellow Futurists, however, explore technology in more original and, in some cases, more persuasive fashions. From the technology of flying employed first-hand by Fedele Azari to Enrico Prampolini's mechanical applications on the European stage, from Anton Giulio Bragaglia's experimental cinema to Ivo Pannaggi's and Vinicio Paladini's technological rebirth in marxian key, the Futurists' approach to technology is characterised throughout by a problematic counterpoint of modernity and tradition. If the Futurist officialdom ultimately relies on the latter, numerous alternative experiences testify to their vibrant strife towards the former. (shrink)

The confrontation between Philosophy and Sufism —as systematized by Algazel— as a means for acquiring human knowledge and happiness, provoked differing reactions among Andalusian philosophers: Avempace totally denied the claims of the sufis and declared Philosophy as the only adequate study for achieving complete satisfaction in all human potentialities. Ibn Ṭufayl undertook the Sufi path within his philosophy, combining the ecstasy searched for the sufis with Plotinian ecstasy. Averroes recognized the validity of the Sufi path, but only for the few. (...) He believed that the only normal and accesible path for the intelligent man was Philosophy. The experience of ecstasy is not contemplated in his philosophy. The synthesis of Philosophy and Sufism developed by Ibn Ṭufayl had no continuity in the western Islamic world. Philosophy being finally eliminated from the intellectual horizon by Sufism, a phenomenon which is perfectly apreciable in Ibn Khaldūn. (shrink)

Stakeholder engagement and dialogue have a central role in defining the relations between organisations and their internal and external interlocutors. Drawing upon the analysis of dialogic motifs, power–conflict dynamics and sociopolitical perspectives, and based on a set of interviews with the stakeholders of a consumer-owned cooperative, the research explores the dialogic potential of stakeholder engagement. The analysis revealed a fragmented picture where the co-design and co-implementation aspects were mainly related to the non-business areas of cooperative life, while business logic dominated (...) the most central aspects. Stakeholder engagement was mainly related to consensus building, while dialogic engagement based on a pluralistic understanding was only partially considered and then neglected. The social capital in the local area, the growing size of the organisation and the related power structure embrace stakeholder engagement, influencing the orientation of the dialogic dynamic. The analysis indicates that a dialogic exchange is a relative concept which depends on the interests involved and the topics discussed. It also reveals that the key factors in the democratisation of stakeholder engagement are a mutual understanding and long-term opportunities. Common sociopolitical aspects are also important, but they do not necessarily guarantee the creation of dialogism paths. The research contributes to the critical dialogic literature in revealing whether and how stakeholder engagement has been implemented in a specific setting. It also shows the limitations of voluntarist stakeholder engagement initiatives. (shrink)

The first part of the paper aims at showing that the notion of an Aristotelian square may be seen as a special case of a variety of different more general notions: the one of a subAristotelian square, the one of a semiAristotelian square, the one of an Aristotelian cube, which is a construction made up of six semiAristotelian squares, two of which are Aristotelian. Furthermore, if the standard Aristotelian square is seen as a special ordered 4-tuple of formulas, there are (...) 4-tuples describing rotations of the original square which are non-standard Aristotelian squares. The second part of the paper focuses on the notion of a composition of squares. After a discussion of possible alternative definitions, a privileged notion of composition of squares is identified, thus opening the road to introducing and discussing the wider notion of composition of cubes. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage se penche sur la question des transformations à l’œuvre dans les traditions rituelles des religions méditerranéennes antiques, avec une attention particulière portée aux acteurs à l’origine de ces changements ainsi qu’aux émotions suscitées. Plusieurs contributions sont issues de communications présentées dans le panel « agency » du colloque « Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual », organisé à Heidelberg en 2008. Je résume ici les contributions portant sur le monde grec. L’an...

In its broadest sense, cohesion is an ultimate goal for Europe. In a study about long term future scenarios for Europe it appears that deepening of the integration process may induce decreasing cohesion, unless measures are taken to promote regional diversity as a vector of development. The widening of Europe also raises threats to cohesion, but a well prepared scenario for a Development Belt surrounding the EC may positively enhance the cohesion process.

In Logical Forms Chateaubriand introduces a disambiguation technique that might turn out to be highly useful for analyzing important classes of sentences. In particular, he claims that this technique is relevant for analyzing counterfactual suppositions. In this paper I critically examine this claim and conclude that the ambiguity of counterfactuals is contextual rather than structural.

This volume is based on the papers presented at the international conference Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology (MBR09_BRAZIL), held at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, December 2009. The presentations given at the conference explored how scientific cognition, but several other kinds as well, use models, abduction, and explanatory reasoning to produce important or creative changes in theories and concepts. Some speakers addressed the problem of model-based reasoning in technology, and stressed the issue of science and technological innovation. (...) The various contributions of the book are written by interdisciplinary researchers who are active in the area of creative reasoning in logic, science, and technology: the most recent results and achievements about the topics above are illustrated in detail in the papers. The book is divided in three parts, which cover the following main areas: part I, abduction, problem solving, and practical reasoning; part II: formal and computational aspects of model based reasoning; part III, models, mental models, representations. (shrink)

Crece la necesidad de renovación de las teorías críticas. Los cambios sociales y las crisis de legitimidad política exigen análisis cada vez más profundas. En esta dirección, las luchas por reconocimiento contribuyen para comprender las situaciones de vulnerabilidad social, al tiempo que abren nuevas frentes para el reconocimiento mismo. Por eso, la propuesta de este texto se vuelve a distintas esferas del reconocimiento con el fin de repensar el sistema-mundo latinoamericano. Son tres las esferas, con las cuales las grandes tradiciones (...) presenten en las Américas. De ahí la apuesta en una interculturalidad abierta, sin rechazar ninguna contribución y, así, pensar en la posibilidad de una pedagogía triangular. (shrink)

The main goal of this paper is to analyze Nicholas of Cusa’s reading on the dispute of Mystical Theology through Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness. To do this, first of all, we will address the analyses offered by Jean-Luc Marion on the problem of affectivity. Secondly, we examine Nicholas’ interpretation of Mystical Theology through the aenigma of the eicona dei in De visione dei. Thirdly, we present Jean-Luc Marion’s interpretation of Cusanus eicona dei as an antecedent of his phenomenological conception (...) of Icone as “saturated phenomenon.” Finally, we suggest that Cusanus eicona dei appears in Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology as a precedent of his strategy when approaching the field of affectivity. Both authors try to show an instance preceding the distinction between affectivity and rationality. (shrink)

Afirmar que a ética habermasiana se limita a um formalismo significa negar suas contribuições. Todavia, só é possível compreender a proposta de uma étca de mínimos e uma ética de máximos desde uma critica aos possiveis limites do procedimentalismo de Habermas.

En este trabajo analizamos críticamente el enfoque mecanicista de explicación científica centrándonos principalmente en la forma en la que este da cuenta de los fenómenos biológicos. Nos proponemos complementar esta perspectiva con una concepción de nivel como intervalo de cuasi-descomponibilidad que nos permite fundamentar metafísicamente las propuestas mecanicistas clásicas en las propiedades sistémicas características de las entidades biológicas. A través del análisis de ejemplos concretos, demostraremos cómo nuestra propuesta permite superar algunas de las limitaciones de los enfoques predominantes de explicación (...) mecanística. (shrink)

What are the Early Memoranda?1 When were they written? What are their sources? What is their purpose and their relation to Hume's works? These questions, usually addressed separately, are in fact tightly interwoven: they require an articulated response that embraces them all. Our response could be summarised as follows: far from being current reading notes, or even less the exhaustive diary of Hume's intellectual experience, the Early Memoranda are most likely second-tier texts, or—as James Harris recently conjectured—"notes taken from notes."2 (...) More generally, the Memoranda, with some possible exceptions, are the result of a selection between those "loose bits of paper" and "uncorrect thoughts"3 which Hume began to... (shrink)

Pulcinella is one of the most ancient comic characters of the Commedia dell’Arte.1 He is the stereotypical lazy servant, insolent and chauvinist, sometimes stupid, sometimes clever, always penniless, and absolutely unable to keep any secret. In a typical Commedia dell’Arte plot, the master reveals a secret to Pulcinella, who is under oath never to disclose it. Needless to say, after swearing that he will never divulge it, Pulcinella soon acts in a very different way, telling the secret to everybody he (...) meets. Yet each time Pulcinella discloses the secret, he asks for total confidentiality, pretending that no one else knows it. Sooner or later all characters on the stage know the secret but none of them know that all the others know it. Eventually each one behaves as though she were the sole repository of the secret while the only secret is that there is no secret at all. I often think of the Pulcinella’s secret nowadays, when someone evokes the ‘medical secret’. (shrink)

This paper compares two logical conditionals which are strengthenings of the strict conditional and avoid the paradoxes of strict implication. The logics of both may be viewed as extensions of KT, and the two conditionals are interdefinable in KT. The implicative conditional requires that its antecedent and consequent be both contingent. The consequential conditional may be viewed as a weakening of the implicative conditional, insofar as it also admits the case in which the antecedent and the consequent are strictly equivalent (...) (either both necessary or both impossible). The two conditionals share a number of properties, among them Transitivity, Contraposition, Aristotle’s Thesis, Weak Boethius’ Thesis and Aristotle’s Second Thesis. They also share some restricted principles such as Possibilistic Monotonicity, Possibilistic Simplification and Possibilistic Right Weakening. They differ in relation to Identity, which is validated by consequential implication, while the implicative conditional only validates the restricted principle of Possibilistic Identity. The relations between the two conditionals are represented by two Aristotelian cubes of opposition, one involving the contrariety between If A, then B and If A, then ¬B, according to Weak Boethius’ Thesis, and the other the contrariety between If A, then B and If ¬A, then B, according to Aristotle’s Second Thesis. We also explore the relations between the two logical conditionals and natural language conditionals, emphasizing the dependence of the latter on the context, and the need to distinguish natural language conditionals which may be viewed as consequential or implicative, on one side, and concessive and some other types of conditionals, on the other. (shrink)