This volume puts forward a distinct new theory of direct reference, blending insights from both the Fregean and the Russellian traditions, and fitting the general theory of language understanding used by those working on the pragmatics of natural language.

Philosophical discussions on the ways that death makes life meaningful and sacred.

In this highly insightful analysis of Western and Chinese concepts of efficacy, François Jullien subtly delves into the metaphysical preconceptions of the two civilizations to account for diverging patterns of action in warfare, politics, and diplomacy. He shows how Western and Chinese strategies work in several domains (the battlefield, for example) and analyzes two resulting acts of war. The Chinese strategist manipulates his own troops and the enemy to win a battle without waging war and to bring about victory effortlessly. (...) Efficacity in China is thus conceived of in terms of transformation (as opposed to action) and manipulation, making it closer to what is understood as efficacy in the West. Jullien’s brilliant interpretations of an array of recondite texts are key to understanding our own conceptions of action, time, and reality in this foray into the world of Chinese thought. In its clear and penetrating characterization of two contrasting views of reality from a heretofore unexplored perspective, A Treatise on Efficacy will be of central importance in the intellectual debate between East and West. (shrink)

La philosophie bergsonnienne a rendu le monde de ses contemporains moins opaque, les aidant à lui trouver un sens. Si la France cartésienne coïncide avec les partisans de la démocratie parlementaire ancrée à gauche, celle de Bergson recrute ses plus gros bataillons dans la droite nationale, conservatrice, mais également dans une gauche antiparlementaire, révolutionnaire.

If we accept the idea that the value of a “logic” depends on its ability to fit the usual meaning of the “logical constants” which it formalises and the inferences we draw on their basis, we may ask if the meaning of “possible” is well captured by normal modal logic. We are faced with the following puzzle: if is meaningful and non contradictory is it not a logical truth that ? First, it is shown why there is no logical law (...) of the form , being a neutral wff, and then some philosophical conclusions are drawn: “possible” relative to truth must be distinguished from possible “relative” to meaning, and the former only is formalised in modal logic. (shrink)

Theoreticians that defend a form of realism regarding natural kinds minimally entertain the belief that the world features divisions into kinds and that the natural kind concept is a useful tool for philosophy of science. The objective of this paper is to challenge these assumptions. First, we challenge realism toward natural kinds by showing that the main arguments for their existence, which rely on the epistemic success of natural kinds, are unsatisfactory. Second, we show that, whether they exist or not, (...) natural kinds are expendable when it comes to describing and analyzing scientific explanations accurately. (shrink)

Thinking involves many elements of sound that philosophical tradition has repressed. Breathing, rhythms and collateral noises participate in the making of idealities, even the most abstract. In order to hear them, the voice needs to be considered as one sound among others and as multiple, even when it comes from the same speaker, following different protocols of enunciation. Listening to the recordings of seminars and studying the role played by modern sound technologies make it possible to hear subterranean meanings and (...) tensions at the heart of mental elaboration. Thinkers and writers could be defined by the way they handle the acoustic environments favourable to the way they speak and write, whether by selection, mixing or silence. An ‘acousmatic’ reading aims to listen to this sonic investment in texts and to hear the complex vibrations of their thought. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the hermeneutical nature of the concept of the understanding-of-being that grounds Heidegger’s fundamental ontology. I first consider the merging between ontology and hermeneutics that takes place in Being and Time and then interpret the hermeneutical sections of Being and Time (§§ 31–32) in order to clarify the ontological scope of under­standing, interpretation, and meaning. This allows me to examine the three dimensions of the “understanding-of-being principle” (according to which our encounter with entities (...) is made possible by an understanding-of-being): the semantic, the ontological, and the transcendental. Finally, I try to make sense of the problematic use Heidegger makes of the concept of understanding for both the ontic encounter with entities and the ontological access to being. (shrink)

This book is a sequel to Recanati’s Mental Files (OUP 2012), and pursues the exploration of the mental file framework for thinking about concepts and singular reference. Mental files are based on 'epistemically rewarding' relations to objects in the environment. Standing in such relations to objects puts the subject in a position to gain information regarding them—information which goes into the file based on the relevant relation. Files do not merely store information about objects, however. They refer to them and (...) serve as singular terms in the language of thought, with a relational (nondescriptivist) semantics. Crucially, files also play the role of ‘modes of presentation’. They are used to account for cognitive significance phenomena illustrated by so-called ‘Frege cases’. This book considers what happens to mental files in a dynamic setting. Mental files are construed as both continuants (dynamic files) and as time-slices thereof (static files). Dynamic files are needed to account for confusion, recognition and tracking. The book considers what happens to the relation of coreference de jure, central to the functional characterization of files, when one adopts a dynamic perspective. Only a weak form of coreference de jure is said to hold between stages of the same dynamic file. The second part of the book argues that communication involves interpersonal dynamic files. Special attention is paid to the communication of indexical thoughts (de se contents), and to communication using proper names. (shrink)

Although a reasonable understanding of corporate social responsibility exists, one dimension remains largely ignored. That is, the cultural impacts of corporations, or the bearing, at various levels of their business models, activities, and outcomes on the value systems and enduring beliefs of affected people. We introduce the notion of corporate cultural responsibility. The way corporations address CCR concerns can be reflected according to three stances: cultural destructiveness, cultural carelessness, and cultural prowess. Taken sequentially, they reflect a growing comprehension and increasingly (...) active consideration of CCR concerns by corporations. In turn, we explicitly address issues related to the complex question of determining the cultural responsibilities of corporate actors; specify key CCR-related conceptualizations; and lay a foundation for discussions, debates, and research efforts centered on CCR concerns and rationales. (shrink)

Il y a une pente universitaire à s'enfermer dans les textes en perdant de vue la réalité. C'est l'aboutissement d'un vice constitutif. En effet, depuis Aristote au moins, toutes les doctrines se sont développées sur la base d'un dédoublement ontologique entre un domaine des 'idées' et un domaine de la réalité elle-même. Ce dédoublement repose sur une imagination étrangère à l'expérience. Pour y voir plus clair, il faut s'appuyer constamment sur ce qui est donné tel qu'il est donné. Pour cela, (...) il faut déplacer l'attention depuis les contenus vers la manière dont nous les saisissons consciemment en confrontant l'expérience commune et la figure scientifique corrélative"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Animal ethicists often distinguish between direct and indirect defenses of speciesism, where the former appeal to species membership and the latter invoke other features that are simply associated with it. The main extant charge against indirect defenses rests on the empirical claim that any feature other than membership in our species is either absent in some humans or present in some nonhumans. This paper challenges indirect defenses with a new argument, which presupposes no such empirical claim. Instead, the argument from (...) discordance resorts to the following principle: a certain feature can only justify discriminating on the basis of that feature. (shrink)

On the basis of two thought experiments, I argue that self-building technologies are possible given our current level of technological progress. We could already use technology to make us instantiate selfhood in a more perfect, complete manner. I then examine possible extensions of this thesis, regarding more radical self-building technologies which might become available in a distant future. I also discuss objections and reservations one might have about this view.

D'abord, la philosophie l'a longtemps délaissé ou abaissé. La pensée religieuse, sans doute mal comprise, lui a prêté son concours : le corps, source de plaisir et de péché, y était tenu alors en suspicion. Le philosophe lui a toujours opposé l'esprit. Il lui préfère " les états de conscience ". Pour lui, il lui semble plus aisé de se connaître (l'ego) que le corps. Il ne rompt pas facilement avec le mentalisme. Il abandonne volontiers le corps aux anthropologues, aux (...) ethnologues, voire aux médecins, ou pis encore, mais afin de le diminuer un peu plus, aux anatomistes (l'aspect cadavérique). (shrink)

We introduce _Interleave-Disjunction-Lock parallel multiple context-free grammars_ (IDL-PMCFG), a novel grammar formalism designed to describe the syntax of free word order languages that allow for extensive interleaving of grammatical constituents. Though interleaved constituents, and especially the so-called hyperbaton, are common in several ancient (Classical Latin and Greek, Sanskrit...) and modern (Hungarian, Finnish...) languages, these syntactic structures are often difficult to express in existing formalisms. The IDL-PMCFG formalism combines Seki et al.’s parallel multiple context-free grammars (PMCFG) with Nederhof and Satta’s IDL (...) expressions. We define the semantics of IDL-PMCFGs and study their expressivity, proving that IDL-PMCFG extends both PMCFG and IDL-CFG (context-free grammars equipped with IDL expressions) and that IDL-PMCFG parsing is \(\mathrm {NP}\) -hard. We then introduce COMPĀ, a programming language extending Ranta’s Grammatical Framework (GF) and built as a high-level front-end formalism to IDL-PMCFG for practical grammar development. We present a parsing algorithm for IDL-PMCFG inspired by earlier Earley-style PMCFG parsing algorithms and Nederhof and Satta’s IDL graphs and give a worst-case estimate of its complexity as a function of several metrics on IDL expressions, the size of the input and a new notion of the _G_-density of a language. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, I present a framework called historical coherentism (Chang, 2004; Tal, 2016; Van fraassen 2008) and argue that it is the best epistemological framework available to tackle the problem of coordination, an epistemic conundrum that arises with every attempt to provide empirical content to scientific theories, models or statements. Second, I argue that the problem of coordination, which has so far been theorized only in the context of measurement practices (Reichenbach, 1927; Chang, 2001; (...) Tal, 2012; Van fraassen 2008), can be generalized beyond the philosophy of measurement. Specifically, it will be shown that the problem is embodied in classificatory practices and that, consequently, historical coherentism is well suited to analyze these practices as well as metrological ones. As a case study, I look at a contemporary debate in phylogenetics, regarding the evolutionary origin of a newly identified archaeal phylum called Methanonatronarchaeia. Exploring this debate through the lens of historical coherentism provides a detailed understanding of the dynamics of the field and a foothold for critical analyses of the standard rationale used by practitioners. (shrink)

This article deals with the main themes I discussed in a book under the same title. The leading thread of the work is to present the issue that Hume, from A Treatise of Human Nature to Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion , continually discusses and examines. Th e point aim is to put metaphysics and its claims to a most ruthless test that would ultimately disqualify it. Such disqualification, which brings metaphysics down to an incoherent daydreaming, is the other side and (...) consequence of a notion of science that Hume wants to create foundations for, i.e. a “science of human nature”. In a sense, this enterprise is a continuation of Descartes, who provided philosophy with a new foundation, that is the self-awareness of the human subject. But, if Descartes’ subject is funded on the cogito act, Hume’s turns out to be not a certain “I”, but a non-personal subject, a kind of il y a, whereas the mind is a kind of theatre, on whose stage various perceptions appear in different configurations. Hume’s analyses demonstrated that human cognition has no foundation in any substantial subjectivity, but in temporal genealogy of appearing impressions and ideas.Descartes wants to define the functioning of the mind, beginning with separating it from sensuality, while Hume sees the mind as a simple interplay of relations between ideas, having their source in the sensuality. Hence the critique of metaphysical claims and of religion. It is precisely the study of sources of religious beliefs that constitutes a substantial part of Hume’s work, because they are a good example of how easily the human mind exceeds the borders of experience – the only foundation of knowledge – and how easily it paves the way for metaphysical illusions.For Hume, the subject, comes down to the functioning of the relations between ideas, which merely are simple refl exes of sensuality. In the mind there is nothing and cannot be anything apart from what has already been introduced there by the senses. Thus Hume takes up and radicalizes Locke’s thesis. (shrink)

Desde el siglo XVIII, el jardín es el lugar del saber-hacer y de los conocimientos adquiridos por la botánica experimental. A partir de ahí, se propondrá una definición de lo que es un ambiente técnico: un ambiente de cultivo hecho de normas y leyes. Pero este ambiente técnico debe distinguirse del ambiente natural. Este último designa un ambiente ocupado por especies salvajes. Se trata, pues, de precisar la naturaleza de la relación entre ambiente técnico y ambiente natural. A los productos (...) del cultivo, Linneo les daba un valor positivo. Rousseau piensa al contrario. A la naturaleza, le da un valor positivo. Linneo valora el jardín, está a favor del cultivo. Rousseau desvaloriza el jardín, está a favor de la naturaleza. La controversia sobre los organismos modificados podría comenzar. (shrink)

Dans cet article, j’étudie la façon dont Pierre de La Ramée aborde la question de l’analyse mathématique, d’abord dans ses écrits de logicien, puis dans ses traités mathématiques. Dans les Scholae mathematicae (1569), en reprenant un argumentaire qui lui avait servi dans les controverses des années 1550 concernant la « méthode unique», il est conduit à la conclusion que l’analyse n’a aucune valeur démonstrative. Ses recherches sur les significations diverses du mot analysis et sur la nature de l’analyse dans les (...) mathématiques grecques m’apparaissent pourtant comme une condition préalable pour que soit reconnue au xviie siècle la fécondité de la méthode analytique en géométrie. (shrink)

Dans cet article, j’étudie la façon dont Pierre de La Ramée aborde la question de l’analyse mathématique, d’abord dans ses écrits de logicien, puis dans ses traités mathématiques. Dans les Scholae mathematicae, en reprenant un argumentaire qui lui avait servi dans les controverses des années 1550 concernant la « méthode unique», il est conduit à la conclusion que l’analyse n’a aucune valeur démonstrative. Ses recherches sur les significations diverses du mot analysis et sur la nature de l’analyse dans les mathématiques (...) grecques m’apparaissent pourtant comme une condition préalable pour que soit reconnue au xviie siècle la fécondité de la méthode analytique en géométrie. (shrink)

En tirant le fil de l’amitié, on se trouve confronté à un réseau de relations qui lient frères, sœurs, compagnons, compagnes, amants, époux, amis, amies. Dans l’ancien Japon, comme probablement dans bien d’autres cultures, l’amitié ne peut se saisir en dehors de ce réseau. Je n’ai pas d’explication satisfaisante pour justifier la relative pauvreté des sources les plus anciennes sur l’amitié. Disons qu’elle n’a pas été mise en valeur. Ce qui semble primer, ce sont les relations de groupe, d’où le (...) flottement, dans les traductions, entre amis, compagnons, compagnes. Les poèmes sur l’amitié furent le plus souvent composés lors de banquet. Le saké devait aider à amplifier l’expression des sentiments. Toutefois, à moins de soutenir que toute poésie n’est qu’artifice sans fondement, on ne peut rejeter ces affirmations d’amitié comme de pures conventions littéraires. (shrink)

Etre citoyen en démocratie ne consiste pas seulement à exercer le droit de vote. C'est aussi être impliqué dans le devenir d'une société dont chacun est responsable. Celle-ci se construit quotidiennement à travers des actes et des comportements qui sont inséparables de nos convictions et de nos choix. Etre citoyen, c'est donc aussi agir avec soi et sur soi. C'est être souverain sur soi. Pour être citoyen, il faut donc le vouloir, le concevoir, et trouver la bonne mesure, car nous (...) ne sommes pas souverains de droit divin. Pour le dire autrement, nous devons apprendre à être libres, au cœur même de notre finitude. (shrink)