Offers a glimpse into the world of science and technology between 1950 and 1990 as seen through the eyes of a mathematician, and debunks various myths of scientific philosophy. Portrays some of the great scientific personalities of the period, including Stanislav Ulam, who patented the hydrogen bomb, and Jack Schwartz, one of the founders of computer science. Also discusses phenomenology of mathematics, and philosophy and computer science. Includes book reviews. For students and academics. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, (...) OR. (shrink)

It has been observed that whereas painters and musicians are likely to be embarrassed by references to the beauty in their work, mathematicians instead like to engage in discussions of the beauty of mathematics. Professional artists are more likely to stress the technical rather than the aesthetic aspects of their work. Mathematicians, instead, are fond of passing judgment on the beauty of their favored pieces of mathematics. Even a cursory observation shows that the characteristics of mathematical beauty are at variance (...) with those of artistic beauty. For example, courses in art appreciation are fairly common; it is however unthinkable to find any mathematical beauty appreciation courses taught anywhere. The purpose of the present paper is to try to uncover the sense of the term beauty as it is currently used by mathematicians. (shrink)

Some of the foundations of Heyes’ radical reasoning seem to be based on a fractional selection of available evidence. Using an ethological perspective, we argue against Heyes’ rapid dismissal of innate cognitive instincts. Heyes’ use of fMRI studies of literacy to claim that culture assembles pieces of mental technology seems an example of incorrect reverse inferences and overlap theories pervasive in cognitive neuroscience.

Husserl’s Third Logical Investigation, ostensibly dealing with the phenomenology of whole and parts, is actually meant to introduce the notion of Fundierung. This term is frequently used in the phenomenological literature, although little has been written about Fundierung itself since Husserl introduced it. Husserl himself, although he used it extensively, never again felt the need to reopen the discussion.

This study aims at ascertaining the existence of an organic legal policy in marriage matters, one which was followed by Roman Emperors in the IV and V centuries, in particular by Constantine. It is also aimed at showing that this policy corresponded to Christian ideas as expressed by various Church Fathers. This research was carried out in a careful way with attention to the chronology of the writings examined, and with a comparative analysis of every single essay that was subsequently (...) treated. (shrink)

RESUMO O artigo tem por objetivo analisar a raiz heideggeriana do tratamento da história no jovem Derrida. Juntamente à sua análise do problema genético em Husserl, Derrida constrói sua discussão crítica da razão histórica referindo-se ao problema da historicidade originária em "Ser e Tempo". São conhecidos os seus estudos dos anos 1970 em matéria de Heidegger, em torno do problema do tempo e da diferença, porém, uma nova e mais explícita evidência sobre esta relação primária com Heidegger em torno do (...) problema histórico é oferecida pelo curso que Derrida ministrou na École Normale Supérieure de Paris no período 1964-1965, sob o título "Heidegger: a questão do Ser e da História". Nesse curso, que acaba de ser publicado, Derrida discute a questão linguística associando-a ao problema heideggeriano da contaminação ineludível entre narração e fundação. No texto que segue, pretende-se analisar os termos de tal herança heideggeriana e, ao mesmo tempo, destacar as questões críticas que emergem desse curso e detalham a distância entre o jovem Derrida e Heidegger. ABSTRACT The article aims at analyzing the treatment of history in Young Derrida under a Heideggerian basis. Together with that, add Heidegger's analysis on the genetic issue in Husserl, Derrida builds his critical discussion on the historical reason referring to the originary historicity issue in "Ser e Tempo". His studies from the 70s, in terms of Heidegger, are known, regarding the issue of time and difference, but, a new and more explicit evidence on that primary relation with Heidegger round the historical issue is offered by the course Derrida taught at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris from 1964-1965, under the title "Heidegger: a questão do Ser e da História". In that course, which has just been published, Derrida discusses the linguistic issue linking it to Heideggerian issue of the unavoidable contamination between narrations and foundation. In the text below, we intend to analyze terms such as Heideggerian heritage and, at the same time, highlighting the critical issues emerging from that course and which detail the distance between the young Derrida and Heidegger. (shrink)

In this paper we describe expertise as a way of seeing. We use match analysis `punditry’ as a setting to show how professional vision is interactionally achieved in TV sport broadcasts through environmentally coupled gestures enhanced by camera actions and a new technology of vision called telestrator. The paper is based on data from video sequences of football TV broadcasts where the pundit shows to the TV host in the studio and to the non-expert audience at home what happened during (...) a football match. We argue that the transparency of seeing is the product of an artfully instructed process whereby the pundit shows what should be seen, how it should be made accountable, and what the audience should expect in order to fully appreciate what they see. The paper shows how broadcasted match analysis expertise interactionally achieves this through the time-critical linking of talk, gesture, and technological environment. (shrink)

Gian Aldo Antonelli and Cristina Bicchieri. Backwards Forwards Induction.

El presente artículo pretende subrayar la relevancia de una tradición menor en la reflexión estética que ha intentado pensar el ritmo más allá del patrón del tiempo secuencial, como una potencia intensiva capaz de contaminar la variabilidad del flujo temporal y la estaticidad de la forma. En esta tradición, se vuelve inoperante la dicotomía de imagen y sonido, de figura y movimiento, y se abre la brecha para considerar el ritmo como potencia con-figurativa. Pasando por Chladni, Novalis, Benveniste y Tarkowski, (...) el artículo indica las apuestas de una consideración visual del ritmo y los rasgos para una estética capaz de superar la dicotomía de figura y sonido. (shrink)

In the Aeneid, Virgil sets out to achieve a new sublime style, paradoxically steeped in the common parlance. He aims for the spontaneity of everyday language to win readers’ involvement, while elaborating a discourse both expressively taut and stylistically marked, that avoids a register too colloquial or prosaic. Above all, he tirelessly deploys an array of subtle strategies – below the threshold of perception – that defamiliarize language in order to elevate its style. The present paper furnishes a selection of (...) case studies. (shrink)

We shall argue that the attempt carried out by certain philosophers in this century to parrot the language, the method, and the results of mathematics has harmed philosophy. Such an attempt results from a misunderstanding of both mathematics and philosophy, and has harmed both subjects.

In this paper we show that the Gupta-Belnap systems S# and S* are П12. Since Kremer has independently established that they are П12-hard, this completely settles the problem of their complexity. The above-mentioned upper bound is established through a reduction to countable revision sequences that is inspired by, and makes use of a construction of McGee.

This article proposes a rereading of the question of the body and of meaning in the work of Jean-Luc Nancy by considering the phenomenon of sound. The issues of tonality, voice and listening have been at the center of several of Nancy’s studies throughout his philosophical production, but it is from his last publication, the book Cruor, that the analysis of sound outward propagation acquires a major relevance in the thought of bodies. Sound implies a fragmentation which suspends all rhetoric (...) of contact and all spatial valorisation of the “between” (of the in-between, of between-us, of being-with). (shrink)

Excerpt from Benedetto Croce: Philosopher of Art and Literary Critic In Italian of course there are several aids to the study of Croce, including a full bibliography, completely indexed; see Appendix 2. But there are still a number of unsettled points concerning the development of Croce's thought and the chronology of his doctrines. The current view of this chronology as it refers to aesthetic theory is cited above, but each date may be pushed backwards. The theory of art as expression (...) is already outlined in a book of 1893. The lyrical intuition, announced in the Heidelberg lecture of 1908, was already formulated in the first draft of the Logic The first formulation of ex pression as an a priori synthesis is dated, even by some Italian scholars, in 1912, but it is to be found in the Logic of 1908. The cosmic intuition is dated 1918, but it is already found in a book which goes back to 1915. My book gives some attention to chronology, but does not attempt to solve all the relative problems. A complete study of Croce's intellectual develop ment still remains to be done. However, the ultimate aim of this work is not biographical or purely historical but critical. The goal has been to see whether there is a practical theory of literary criticism in Croce. Are the problems of criticism solved more clearly and satisfactorily when viewed from Croce's standpoint? Is the question I have asked myself throughout. Accordingly, I have endeavored to see things as much as possible from his point of View and to present his doctrines in the most favorable light. However, dissent will appear on three main points of doctrine: Croce's handling of the image in his theory of practical criticism (chapters III and VIII), his third or universalistic aesthetics (chapter XI) and his later criticism of contemporary writing (chapter XIV). In other words, Croce in this book has been criticized only from within, when his conclusions appeared to be inconsistent with his premises. Of course these premises themselves are sub jcet to discussion. But this discussion is profitable only when it arises out of complete knowledge of what Croce had to say. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

W. Benjamin expresa su inquietud política en las tesis acerca de la “violencia revolucionaria” como “excepción divina”, valorada por J. Derrida como una ruptura histórica; esto permite ver una analogía e incluso una continuidad en estos autores. Sin embargo, Derrida subraya la inadecuación política y el efecto “insoportable” del planteamiento de Benjamin. Se intenta comprender el fondo de esta crítica y avanzar hacia una hipótesis que haga converger las dos problematizaciones de la violencia y las complemente con el tema mesiánico (...) y el problema de la responsabilidad. (shrink)

Sur la notion de « mutation », Jean-Luc Nancy a insisté assez régulièrement dans des textes récents sur l’actualité et sur l’histoire. Plus qu’une simple transformation et qu’une métamorphose, la mutation est conçue comme une notion capable d’indiquer les ruptures et les recompositions structurelles qui permettent de considérer les puissances de civilisation et les expressions des époques, en évitant tout recours à des mouvements progressifs ou téléologiques, mais aussi sans réduire l’histoire à une simple fiction narrative. La mutation rejoue, dans (...) l’espace du rapport, l’advenir historique. (shrink)

Professor Orsini’s book enters the controversy that has marked the changing response to Coleridge’s work during the past forty years, stimulated recently by the accessibility of Coleridge manuscripts and by the publication of hitherto unpublished works. Professor Orsini himself contributes to our new knowl­edge by publishing here for the first time texts from the note­books. His book is of importance and interest because it examines problems which are rooted in world-wide intellectual developments of recent times. Counterposing his argument against the (...) theory that Col­eridge had anticipated Kant and Schelling, Professor Orsini marshalls impressive evidence that shows that Coleridge was familiar with the works of the German idealists and that they greatly influenced his thinking, to the extent that he was for a time an expounder of transcendental idealism, and should be credited with bringing it to England. Professor Orsini’s new findings will lead inevitably to reassessment of Coleridge’s status as a philosopher, though he insists that his report is an interim one, that a final estimate must wait until all Coleridge’s writings have been published and assessed. (shrink)

An application of Narrative Knowledge Representation Language (NKRL) techniques on (declassified) ‘terrorism in Southern Philippines’ documents has been carried out in the context of the IST Parmenides project. This paper describes some aspects of this work: it is our belief, in fact, that the Knowledge Representation techniques and the Intelligent Information Retrieval tools used in this experiment can be of some interest also in an ‘Ontological Modelling of Legal Events and Legal Reasoning’ context.

In the paper it is argued that bridging the digital divide may cause a new ethical and social dilemma. Using Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons, we show that an improper opening and enlargement of the digital environment (Infosphere) is likely to produce a Tragedy of the Digital Commons (TDC). In the course of the analysis, we explain why Adar and Huberman's previous use of Hardin's Tragedy to interpret certain recent phenomena in the Infosphere (especially peer-to-peer communication) may not be entirely (...) satisfactory. We then seek to provide an improved version of the TDC that avoids the possible shortcomings of their model. Next, we analyse some problems encountered by the application of classical ethics in the resolution of the TDC. In the conclusion, we outline the kind of work that will be required to develop an ethical approach that may bridge the digital divide but avoid the TDC. (shrink)