Morality is a normative system of guidance that figures into practical reason by telling people what to do in various situations. The problem, however, is that morality has inherent gaps that often render it inefficacious. First, it may be indeterminate due to the high level of generality in which its principles are formulated. Second, moral terms such as ‘good’ and ‘right’ may be so vague that they fail to specify the requisite behavior. And third, its subjective aspect, which is a (...) product of personal experience, generates moral disagreement and thereby creates coordination problems that frustrate society’s collective moral aims. The objective of this article is to advance the thesis that morality must sometimes depend on law as a supplementary source of practical reason, a dependence which can be explained in terms of three essential features of law: its institutional character, its claim to authority, and its status as a second-order exclusionary reason for action. It shall then be explained how these three features enable law to make difficult decisions on behalf of individuals, define objective standards of conduct, and solve coordination problems, respectively, and in doing so, manage to fill in the gaps of morality mentioned above. Hence, it will be argued that law is also a normative system that helps people achieve their moral aims, notwithstanding the fact that it guides human behavior through a different logic and mode of operation from those of morality. (shrink)

I study the senses in which it is possible to understand the beginning, focusing on the beginning of thinking as a presential articulation of time. This paper is a continuation of earlier studies.

Frank Wilderson: I introduce a semiotic configuration. The point is, at important levels of abstraction, people who are positioned as Black—which is very different from saying people who think of themselves as Black. One of the basic premises of Afropessimism, which makes it resonate with psychoanalysis or Marxism, is that where one is positioned in a paradigm might not be where one thinks one is or where one desires to be. When I teach undergraduates, I say: “Look, I used to (...) study neorealism. In these neorealist films, we have these people who are bona fide fascists, and then you have those people in the Communist Party, so they could not agree on much. They don’t see themselves as having much of a connection. But in a Gramscian sense, they are both positioned as the host of capitalist parasites. Both groups rely on the wage. So, they are both workers.” One of the big points with respect to the narratological question is that I, as a Black person, trained at Columbia University in creative writing, trained at UC Berkeley in critical theory, love narrative, but narrative does not love me. In other words, it is impossible for me to be “emplotted” as a speaking subject. I can only be “emplotted” as an object of narrative. But I am always struggling to attain that love of humanity; and if I were to attain it, the Human would not have a foil against which to know itself. So, what I am saying is that in a book like Red, White & Black, I am just being very categorically clear about the divisions. In Afropessimism, I am actually talking about the desire of a sentient being who cannot be allowed into an arena where people are recognized and incorporated, in Lacanian terms, as “contemporaries” of human beings. So, there is all this back and forth. I don’t think this speaking subject in Afropessimism ever achieves anything in particular. It is always struggling toward being a subject that can actually travel on a narrative arc and yet ultimately is an object that can never travel from dispossession to redemptive recovery. (shrink)

"16 'On Justification and Interpretation', ARSP-Beiheft, 53, pp. 255-68." -- "17 'Authority Reasons in Legal Interpretation and Moral Reasoning', ARSP Supplementa (III), pp. 144-52." -- "18 'Two Types of Substantive Reasons: The Core of a Theory of Common-Law Justification', Cornell Law Review, 63, pp. 707-88." -- "19 'Reasonableness and Objectivity', Notre Dame Law Review, 74, pp. 1575-603.

Our objective will be to argue in favor of the idea that in Nietzsche there is no genealogical method, stricto sensu, with universalist and systemic-substantivist epistemic claims (traditionally conceived by justificationist and foundationalist philosophies from Plato to Hegel). However, there is a characteristic genealogical program, which opposes the majority genealogies and philosophies insofar as a self-suppression of the method is imposed as the primary and heterodox register of its reflection. We start from the hypothesis that Nietzsche’s genealogy, understood programmatically, became (...) viable because it was markedly structured on the basis of three reflexive movements that free his genealogical thinking from an analytical-methodological conduct, like the canon, which are: (i) variation of style in his writing; (ii) critical historicism or radical and (iii) discontinuity of origin. However, it would be pointless to show how clearly the Nietzschean genealogical program was outlined if we couldn’t say where it came from, for whom and for what purpose, or even more so, what it is intended to denounce. Therefore, in our conclusion, we will show, with some reservation, how the Nietzschean genealogical program lends itself to evaluating the dimension of power. (shrink)

El presente trabajo intenta mostrar de qué manera Plotino refuta la noción aristotélica del tiempo como «número» o «medida del movimiento», cuáles son las aporías que plantea, cómo las compulsa con sus propios argumentos y qué soluciones propone con respecto a esa misma confrontación. Todo esto será encauzado a partir de un estudio descriptivo y analítico, acompañado de una lectura a la vez hermenéutica y crítica de los textos seleccionados para esta ocasión.

The traditional view of lying says that lying is a matter of intending to deceive others by making statements that one believes to be false. Jennifer Lackey has recently defended the following version of the traditional view: A lies to B just in case (i) A states that p to B, (ii) A believes that p is false and (iii) A intends to be deceptive to B in stating that p. I argue that, despite all the virtues that Lackey ascribes (...) to her view, conditions (i), (ii) and (iii) are not sufficient for lying. (shrink)

In answer to the question in the title, I suggest that philosophy of cognition and language benefits from (i) a problem-oriented approach, (ii) a distinction between an epistemological and a metaphysical stance, (iii) the embracing of one of many ways of handling empirical information, and (iv) a distinction between a synchronic and a diachronic view of the object of study.

We study a contemporary need to complement analytic philosophy with pendular, synthetic approaches. We provide new definitions of the dyad analytics/synthetics and complete it with a natural third, horotics. Some historical trends to support a synthetic/horotic paradigm are studied: (i) Peirce’s ideas around his logic of continuity – non Cantorian continuum and existential graphs – emphasizing the importance of mathematical gestures, (ii) Gödel’s understanding of intuitionism as a synthetic counterpart of classical logic, along with a new horotic approach to his (...) work, (iii) Contemporary mathematical achievements (1950-2000), difficult to understand from analytical philosophy perspectives. Finally, we indicate some main features that a systematical synthetic/horotic reasoning should enforce, in order to fulfill its historic sequence. (shrink)

Research has demonstrated that policing is a stressful occupation and has a negative impact on police officers’ mental and physical health, performance, and interactions with citizens. Mental health at the workplace has become a concern due to the costs of depression, anxiety, burnout, and even suicide, which is high among police officers.To ameliorate occupational health, it is crucial therefore to identify stress and burnout levels on a regular basis. However, the instruments frequently used to measure stress have not valorized the (...) specificity of policing tasks. This study aims: i) conducting a literature review, to identify questionnaires used to assess occupational stress and burnout among police officers; ii) to analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op); and, using the PSQ-op and other questionnaires, iii) to identify operational stress, burnout, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers. The literature review identified 108 studies, which use a multiplicity of questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress among police officers, but few studies use specific police stress questionnaires. Sample sizes were mostly below 500 participants and studies were mainly developed in the last decade in the USA and Brazil, but also in another 24 countries, showing the extent of the interest in this topic. This study applied to 2057 police officers from National Portuguese Police, a force policing urban centers, the PSQ-Op, as well the Spanish Burnout Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.The results show that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of PSQ-Op are adequate. Factorial analysis revealed two dimensions defined as social and work issues, which were associated with measures of distress and burnout.Fit indices suggested a second-order solution called operational police stress. Overall, and considering the scale range of each questionnaire, the results showed moderate values of operational stress, distress, and burnout. However, considering their cut-off points, 85% of the sample presented high operational stress levels, 11% critical values for burnout, and 28% high distress levels, with 55% of the sample at risk of psychological disorder. These results reinforce the need to prevent stress and to invest in police officers’ occupational health. (shrink)

The connection between language and the body has become a significant topic of research over the last decades. On the one hand, those who hold that language has an embodied nature endorse a close link between linguistic and sensorimotor processing. As a result, language processing is understood as an online activity, i.e., as something that stands in relationship to the local environment and engages in here-and-now tasks. On the other hand, for those who contend that language is fundamentally disembodied, linguistic (...) processing is a matter of mental manipulation of amodal symbols according to a set of rules. On this view, language is an offline activity and is considered to be something that grants us interesting cognitive advantages due to its independence from sensorimotor contingencies. This paper [i] offers a comprehensive presentation of these two views; [ii] highlights a crucial challenge for each of them: the scaling phenomenon and the grounding problem, respectively; and [iii] argues that all attempts to overcome these two challenges have major shortcomings. (shrink)

En este artículo intentamos recopilar las diferentes respuestas que se han dado al interrogante: ¿cuál es la naturaleza de la guerra en Colombia? Para ello, hemos estudiado seis formas de definir la violencia en Colombia: i) guerra anti/comunista; ii) conflicto agrario; iii) conflicto criminalizado; iv) guerra civil/guerra contra la sociedad; v) conflicto internacionalizado; vi) amenaza terrorista. Concluimos que los cambios de los actores armados, sus repertorios de violencia y del contexto internacional son respondidos por masas críticas con nuevas denominaciones. Las (...) denominaciones, así como la guerra misma, son dinámicas. Este artículo aporta una revisión de literatura sobre la naturaleza del conflicto y una perspectiva de análisis historiográfico útil para otras preguntas relacionadas con la guerra. (shrink)

El artículo examina la presencia de Friedrich Nietzsche a finales del siglo XX en Colombia, especialmente el periodo 1990-2010, a partir de varios presupuestos de la Historia social de la filosofía (HSF) y del enfoque genealógico planteado por el filósofo alemán. Para dar cuenta del anterior objetivo se establecen tres momentos. En el primer apartado I. Nietzsche y la Historia social de la filosofía, se analizan varios presupuestos de la HSF a partir de los cuales se señalan aspectos característicos del (...) periodo 1990-2010. En el segundo apartado II. Edgar Garavito y la filosofía del transcurso, se destaca el trabajo del filósofo colombiano Edgar Garavito, en especial su obra La transcursividad. Crítica de la identidad psicológica como un vector fundamental de la clave interpretativa “postestructuralista” de Nietzsche. Finalmente, en el tercer apartado III. Otros devenires de Nietzsche, se destacan algunos trabajos de Jaime Toro y Víctor Florián, filósofos colombianos que han hecho tanto lecturas como usos otros del pensador alemán. (shrink)

Neste ensaio, busca-se pensar de que forma a questão do niilismo é enfrentada pelo pensamento de povos indígenas das terras baixas da América do Sul: se interpretarmos o niilismo como perda de parâmetros diante da “morte de Deus”, que sentido o problema do niilismo faz para povos que não estipularam um Deus unitário como fundamento axiológico? Para desdobrar essa questão, fez-se uso da obra Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo, de Ailton Krenak, bem como de referenciais antropológicos e filosóficos (...) a respeito de temas como niilismo, sacralidade, alegria, natureza, ciência e técnica. O artigo se desenvolve em quatro partes: em I, faz-se uma breve descrição do que Pelbart denominou “travessia do niilismo”; em II, levanta-se o questionamento central deste ensaio, trazendo à tona o conceito de “sobrenatureza” como principal operador ontológico do pensamento ameríndio; em III, examina-se as diferentes relações com a alteridade “natural” entre o pensamento indígena e o pensamento ocidental; e em IV, por fim, compara-se as metáforas das “conchas coloridas”, de Nietzsche, e dos “paraquedas coloridos”, de Ailton Krenak, em um debate sobre niilismo e Antropoceno, momento em que a noção de “riso”, levantada por P. Clastres a partir de mitos chulupi, orienta a reflexão sobre o papel da “gaia ciência” no pensamento indígena. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The focus of this essay is Kant's argument in the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals III that regarding oneself as rational implies regarding oneself as free. After setting out an interpretation of how the argument is meant to go, I argue that Kant fails to show that regarding oneself as free is incompatible with accepting universal causal determinism. However, I suggest that the argument succeeds in showing that regarding oneself as rational is inconsistent with accepting universal causal determinism (...) if one accepts a certain, plausible view of the explanation of events. RESUMEN El ensayo se enfoca en el argumento de Kant en la Fundamentación de la metafísica de las costumbres III según el cual considerarse racional implica verse a uno mismo como libre. Se interpreta la forma en que debe entenderse el argumento y se afirma que Kant no logra demostrar que considerarse libre es incompatible con la aceptación del determinismo casual universal. No obstante, se sugiere que el argumento sí logra demostrar que considerarse a uno mismo como racional es incompatible con la aceptación del determinismo casual universal, si se acepta una cierta versión plausible de la explicación de los eventos. (shrink)

Abductive problems and their solutions are presented by means of justification logic. We introduce additional meta-constructions in order to generate and compare different solutions to the same abductive problem. Our approach has three advantages: (i) it makes structurally explicit the solution to an abductive problem (as it has a syntactic nature); (ii) it gives a precise meaning to the notion of evidence; (iii) it provides clear definitions and procedures for the comparison of solutions that can be adapted to different needs.

Elicitation methods aim to build participants' distributions about a parameter of interest. In most elicitation studies this parameter is rarely known in advance and hinders an objective comparison between elicitation methods. In two experiments, participants were first presented with a fixed random sequence of images and numbers and subsequently their subjective distributions of percentages of one of those numbers was elicited. Importantly, the true percentage was set in advance. The first experiment tested whether receiving instructions as to the elicitation method (...) would assist in estimating a true value more accurately than receiving no instructions and whether accuracy was determined by the numerical skills of the participants. The second experiment sought to compare the elicitation method used in the first experiment with a variation of a graphical elicitation method. The results indicate that (i) receiving instructions as to the elicitation method does assist in producing estimates closer to a true percentage value, (ii) the level of numerical skills does not play a part in the accuracy of the estimation (Experiment 1), and (iii) although the average estimates of the betting and graphical method are not significantly different, the betting method leads to more precise estimations than the graphical method (Experiment 2). Both studies featured statistical procedures (functional data analysis and a novel clustering technique) not considered in past research on the elicitation of subjective distributions. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to a recent key study. (shrink)

Socially responsible consumption reflects a consumer's political and ethical act. Its measurement is dependent on the socio-economic and cultural context. Consequently, measurement instruments reflecting various behaviour profiles of global consumers have been developed. This study employs a Latin-American-specific measurement instrument to compare socially responsible consumption behaviours in Colombia, Mexico and Peru, countries with the same cultural cluster, that is they reflect a set of values shaped by religion, family, a sense of authority and a nationalist bias in their cultural pattern. (...) The empirical test included confirmatory factorial analysis exercise, factorial invariance analysis and a contrast analysis of variance. The results for the three Latin American countries show the following. (i) The Mexican consumer, compared to the Peruvian and Colombian one, exhibits a stronger tendency to evaluate external practices of corporate social responsibility as a criterion of consumption. (ii) The rationality of the Mexican consumer is better in terms of consumption volume of products, resources and services. Finally, (iii) Peruvian and Mexican consumers (vs. Colombian consumers) exhibit a tendency to assess the responsible practices of companies in labour matters more as a consumption criterion. This study provides empirical evidence of the context-dependent nature of measuring socially responsible consumption. For practitioners, identifying consumer profiles based on the market context enables them to customise goods and services. Moreover, policymakers should implement a sustainable consumption agenda with public policy guidelines tailored to the specific context. (shrink)

Ecuador enfrenta el reto de equilibrar el desarrollo económico con la preservación ambiental, especialmente tras la Constitución de 2008 que promueve la sostenibilidad. Sin embargo, existen tensiones y contradicciones entre las políticas de desarrollo económico y la conservación ambiental. El estudio analiza cómo la ambigüedad en las normativas constitucionales sobre derechos ambientales y desarrollo económico afecta la resolución de conflictos en arbitrajes internacionales y su impacto en la sostenibilidad ambiental y el desarrollo económico entre 2000 y 2024. Se utilizó un (...) enfoque mixto (cualitativo-cuantitativo), combinando revisión bibliográfica, análisis de casos de arbitraje internacional, encuestas y datos estadísticos. La ambigüedad normativa dificulta la resolución de conflictos en arbitrajes internacionales, impactando negativamente la sostenibilidad y el desarrollo económico. Casos como Chevron III ilustran la complejidad de equilibrar derechos de inversión con obligaciones ambientales. Comparando con Colombia y Brasil, se identifica que, aunque Ecuador tiene enfoques innovadores, enfrenta desafíos similares en implementación efectiva. Se requieren reformas legislativas para clarificar normativas ambientales, fortalecer la capacidad institucional y promover la participación de la sociedad civil en la elaboración de políticas. Es crucial alinear las normas nacionales con estándares internacionales para mejorar la protección ambiental y fomentar un desarrollo económico sostenible. (shrink)

El reinado de Fernando III de Castilla y León constituye un período de transición entre las viejas curias plenas regias alto y plenomedievales y la baja Edad Media en la que se desarrollará ya con intensidad la institución de las Cortes. A través del presente trabajo abordamos el estudio del proceso transformador jurídico-institucional de las antiguas curias regias a partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XII, así como las manifestaciones que de este proceso apreciamos en el reinado de (...) Fernando III, con especial incidencia en el “ordenamiento” promulgado por este monarca en las cortes de Sevilla de 1250. (shrink)

La familia real española ha mantenido una gran devoción hacia su antepasado Fernando III de Castilla prácticamente desde su muerte. Adicionalmente, la monarquía tenía gran interés en tener algún monarca canonizado entre sus miembros al igual que otras casas europeas. En este artículo analizamos especialmente a la casa de Austria y posteriormente el inicio de la dinastía borbónica. Respecto a los Habsburgo, hubo reyes muy implicados en el proceso de canonización como fueron Felipe IV y su hijo Carlos II. (...) También los Borbones tendrán una especial estima a su “abuelo”, con ejemplos destacables como Felipe V que, en 1729, al inicio del lustro real en Sevilla, inaugura la nueva urna a la que traslada los restos del santo o Carlos IV, que viaja expresamente a Sevilla en acción de gracias por la curación de una de las infantas. (shrink)

This volume reflects on questions of human rights in the context of globalization. The essays responding to this subject are rich and varied: they focus on legal acceptance as well as consequences of human rights with regard to social rights and the necessary protection of the environment connected or close to those rights. Another approach to the subject featured in the volume is the legal recognition and the consideration of human rights as moral rights. With concepts on universality, a new (...) cosmopolitism, cultural pluralism and perspectives on religious variants and technological advances the debate on human rights is concluded. Index / Indice I. The Foundation of Rights / El fundamento de los derechos: J. Rubio Carracedo: El legalismo occidental: un problema para la universalizacion de los derechos humanos J. A. Seoane: El caracter juridico de las leyes injustas M. Borowski: Classifying and qualifying properties of fundamental rights J. von Platz: Faith in reason: questioning practical reason as fact, norm, end, and function of human rights R. Cruft: Policy implications of the philosophical foundations of human rights Maria Gabriela Scataglini: Derechos humanos: otra mirada sobre la cuestion de su universalidad II. A New Cosmopolitism / Un nuevo cosmopolitismo: V. de P. Barreto: Derecho cosmopolita y derechos humanos Luis Fernando Barzotto: Reconocimiento y fraternidad A. R. Bernstein: Justifying universal human rights via Rawlsian public reason H. Khatchadourian: Democracy and the globalization of human rights Milagros Otero Parga: Derechos humanos y globalizacion Halim Bepari: Human rights and the United Nations Miracy B. S. Gustin: Rescate de los derechos humanos en situaciones adversas de paises perifericos III. Multiculturism and Pluralism of Values /Multiculturalidad y pluralismo de valores: M. Herrero / M. Saralegui: Dogmatismo politico y pluralismo religioso Berry Tholen: Migration, justice, and Europe's identity. The relevance of special ties for EU's migration policy C. M. Alvarez Chicano: Implicaciones de la inconmensurabilidad de los valores en la aplicacion de principios de orden etico y juridico L. Perez Conejo: Axiologia juridica y pluralismo de valores: algunas consideraciones sobre la nocion de 'inconmensurabilidad' S-I. Liu: Fundamental legal values and globalization with regard to historical experience in freedom of speech L. C. Amezua: Libertad natural y esclavitud voluntaria: reflexiones de F. Suarez sobre la esclavitud IV. Rights and Gender / Derechos y genero: J.M. Gil Ruiz: La violencia de genero en el contexto familiar y la agresion de la ciencia juridica A. Goiriena Lekue: El interes superior del/la nino/a, coparentalidad y neutralidad de genero en la atribucion de la guarda y custodia de los hijos e hijas P. Garcia Guevara: Las politicas de genero en los paises globalizados del 'Tercer Mundo' V. Technological Impact and New Generation Rights / Impacto tecnologico y nuevas generaciones de derechos: M. Ahteensuu: Understanding the precautionary principle in the light of the traditional weak-strong distinction: a critical comment Cristina Monero Atienza: Bases para una teoria de los derechos en el siglo XXI M. Kitahara: Personal data processing and business ethics: personal data processing and personal data protection in business A. D. Oliver Lalana: El lado empirico de la legitimidad comunicativa: sobre la publicidad organizativa del derecho de proteccion de datos en internet J. Ebbesson / M. Zamboni: Transbordering democracy? The case of environment protection Sagrario Moles Nieto: El impacto medioambiental de los cultivos transgenicos VI. Bioethics and Law / Bioetica y derecho: M. Cruz Diaz de Teran: Principios para una biojuridica global C. Faralli / S. Tugnoli: Bioethics between law and science: the Italian law on medically assisted procreation (Law No. 40, February 19, 2004) N. Zeegers: The working of power in communicative regulation: the case of research with human embryos J. A. Fernandez Suarez: La bioetica en la era de la globalizacion F. J. Blazqez Ruiz: Privacidad y discriminacion genetica: propuestas bioeticas y juridicas ante los desafios de un mundo globalizado. (shrink)

Atas do III Colóquio Internacional de Metafísica. [ISBN 978-85-7273-730-2]. Sumário: 1. Prazer, desejo e amor-paixão no texto de Lucrécio, por Antonio Júlio Garcia Freire; 2. Anaximandro: física, metafísica e direito, por Celso Martins Azar Filho; 3. Carta a Guimarães Rosa, por Cícero Cunha Bezerra; 4. Ante ens, non ens: La primacía de La negación em El neoplatonismo medievel, por Claudia D’Amico; 5. Metafísica e neoplatonismo, por David G. Santos; 6. Movimento e tempo no pensamento de Epicuro, por Everton da Silva (...) Rocha; 7. Críticas e elogios de Nietzche a Sócrates, por Fernanda Bulhões; 8. Sobre a Metafísica ou a respeito do jejum, por Gilvan Fogel; 9. A origem estética da ontologia hermenêutica de Luigi Pareyson, por Íris Fátima da Silva; 10. A Natureza da filosofia de Hume, por Jaimir Conte; 11. Logique ET métaphysique, por Jean-Baptiste Jainet; 12. Blaise Pascal: da recusa da metafísica da raison à metafísica do « estudo do homem », por João Emiliano Fotaleza de Aquino; 13. O niilismo no prólogo de Assim Falou Zaratustra. Por José Elielton de Sousa; 14. Presencia;Ausência: de Plotino a Procolo, por José Maria Zamora; 15. A natureza do Eros platônico, por Jovelina Maria Ramos de Souza; 16. Breve comentário acerca da origem da Gelassenheit de Heidegger a partir da mística de mestre Eckkart, por Luiz Fernando Fontes-Teixeira; 17. Humanismo e domesticação em Regras para o parque humano, por Luiz Roberto Alves dos Santos; 18. Contra a teoria de dois mundos na filosofia de Platão (República V 476e-478e), por Marcelo Pimenta Marques; 19. Sensações, impressões, projeções: as afecções do pensamento, por Markus Figueira da Silva; 20. Contribuições à história de uma metáfora: Heidegger e Nicolau de Cusa, por Oscar Federico Bauchwitz; 21. Uma impossibilidade ontológica em Schopenhauer, por Paulo César Oliveira Vasconcelos; 22. Ser e fenômeno: a Fenomenologia como teoria estética da ciência, por Pedro Paulo Coroa; 23. Para que serve a Metafísica de Aristóteles? O exemplo do movimento animal, por Pierre-marie Morel; 24. Contribuições para uma ontologia digital, por Rafael Capurro; 25. O que é o fim da metafísica, por Rodrigo Ribeiro Alves Neto; 26. A Physis na conformação do logos: linguagem e pensamento no corpus epicúreo, por Rodrigo Vidal do Nascimento; 27. O acontecimento de mundo na era da informação, por Soraya Guimarães da Silva; 28. Apofaticismo e abstração em Mark Rothko, por Vanessa Alves de Lacerda Santos. -/- . (shrink)

It is well known that Frege's system in the Grundgesetze der Arithmetik is formally inconsistent. Frege's instantiation rule for the second-order universal quantifier makes his system, except for minor differences, full (i.e., with unrestricted comprehension) second-order logic, augmented by an abstraction operator that abides to Frege's basic law V. A few years ago, Richard Heck proved the consistency of the fragment of Frege's theory obtained by restricting the comprehension schema to predicative formulae. He further conjectured that the more encompassing Δ₁¹-comprehension (...) schema would already be inconsistent. In the present paper, we show that this is not the case. (shrink)

We construct a weak second-order theory of arithmetic which includes Weak König's Lemma (WKL) for trees defined by bounded formulae. The provably total functions (with Σ b 1 -graphs) of this theory are the polynomial time computable functions. It is shown that the first-order strength of this version of WKL is exactly that of the scheme of collection for bounded formulae.

Notions of disambiguation supporting a compositional interpretation ofvambiguous expressions and reflecting intuitions about how sentences combinevin discourse are investigated. Expressions are analyzed both inductively byvbreaking them apart, and co-inductively by embedding them within larger contexts.

My aim in this paper is twofold: I will try to clarify what the conditions developed in EN I a discipline or an argument must meet to be assumed as precise are, and, then, try to present evidence that the exam of akrasia in EN VII 3 meets these conditions. In the first part of this paper, I will select passages in which such conditions are displayed, and also distinguish between practical precision and theoretical precision. In the second part, where (...) the analysis of the senses of having but not using knowledge in EN VII 3 is carried on, I will claim that Aristotle’s objective is reaching the adequate statement of the explanandum that will be the subject of causal enquiry of akrasia. My concluding remarks will claim that the conditions displayed in this paper’s first part are met by Aristotelian procedure in EN VII 3. (shrink)

Frege’s Grundgesetze der Arithmetik is formally inconsistent. This system is, except for minor differences, second-order logic together with an abstraction operator governed by Frege’s Axiom V. A few years ago, Richard Heck showed that the ramified predicative second-order fragment of the Grundgesetze is consistent. In this paper, we show that the above fragment augmented with the axiom of reducibility for concepts true of only finitely many individuals is still consistent, and that elementary Peano arithmetic (and more) is interpretable in this (...) extended system. (shrink)

A modal logic for translating a sequence of English sentences to a sequence of logical forms is presented, characterized by Kripke models with points formed from input/output sequences, and valuations determined by entailment relations. Previous approaches based (to one degree or another) on Quantified Dynamic Logic are embeddable within it. Applications to presupposition and ambiguity are described, and decision procedures and axiomatizations supplied.

Dynamic and proof-conditional approaches to discourse (exemplified by Discourse Representation Theory and Type-Theoretical Grammar, respectively) are related through translations and transitions labeled by first-order formulas with anaphoric twists. Type-theoretic contexts are defined relative to a signature and instantiated modeltheoretically, subject to change.

As regards the issue of futura contingentia, Aquinas's interpretation turns on a phrase that has sometimes been dismissed as irrelevant or even confused: "...non tamen haec vel illa determinatae...". It is shown that this clause is in complete conformity with Aquinas's interpretation of the principles of non-contradiction and of excluded middle. According to this interpretation the meaning of propositional negation derives from the first two principles considered collectively but is not presupposed by them. With respect to time-relative modalities this implies (...) that at the time of announcement, say, of a sea battle both parts of the contradiction could be true, provided one understands "could" in the sense of a counterfactual possibility with respect to the final outcome. It is also shown that Aquinas's interpretation allows one to avoid some perplexities in connection with the controversial beginning of Met. IX, 4. Some final considerations are meant to show the rationale of that interpretation. (shrink)