We discuss some recent work by Tim Maudlin concerning Black Hole Information Loss. We argue, contra Maudlin, that there is a paradox, in the straightforward sense that there are propositions that appear true, but which are incompatible with one another. We discuss the significance of the paradox and Maudlin's response to it.

It is generally believed that the uncertainty relation Δq Δp≥1/2ħ, where Δq and Δp are standard deviations, is the precise mathematical expression of the uncertainty principle for position and momentum in quantum mechanics. We show that actually it is not possible to derive from this relation two central claims of the uncertainty principle, namely, the impossibility of an arbitrarily sharp specification of both position and momentum (as in the single-slit diffraction experiment), and the impossibility of the determination of the path (...) of a particle in an interference experiment (such as the double-slit experiment). (shrink)

We examine the closure conditions of the probabilistic consequence relation of Hawthorne and Makinson, specifically the outstanding question of completeness in terms of Horn rules, of their proposed (finite) set of rules O. We show that on the contrary no such finite set of Horn rules exists, though we are able to specify an infinite set which is complete.

The legal framework governing claims of medical negligence is extensively documented within South African (SA) jurisprudence, with a predominant focus on the liability of medical practitioners. In contrast, the liability of pharmacists has received comparatively scant attention. This issue was recently highlighted by a case in which a woman from the Western Cape initiated legal action against Clicks, a leading health, beauty and wellness retailer and SA’s largest retail pharmacy chain, alleging that the provision of incorrect medication nearly cost her (...) life. At the time of writing, the case has yet to advance to trial. This article explores the legal and ethical dimensions of medical negligence attributed to pharmacists within the context of their professional duties. Additionally, it investigates how similar cases are adjudicated in foreign jurisdictions, with a specific focus on the US. (shrink)

This paper examines two ways in which the ‘privileged coordinates’ of a geometric space might have significance. First, the structure of the space might be ‘determined by its privileged coordinates’. Second, the space might be presentable using ‘Kleinian methods’. We examine the geometric spaces for which these two conditions hold. Along the way, we investigate the relationship between these two conditions.

Girard and Reynolds independently invented System F to handle problems in logic and computer programming language design, respectively. Viewing F in the Curry style, which associates types with untyped lambda terms, raises the questions of typability and type checking. Typability asks for a term whether there exists some type it can be given. Type checking asks, for a particular term and type, whether the term can be given that type. The decidability of these problems has been settled for restrictions and (...) extensions of F and related systems and complexity lower-bounds have been determined for typability in F, but this report is the first to resolve whether these problems are decidable for System F. This report proves that type checking in F is undecidable, by a reduction from semi-unification, and that typability in F is undecidable, by a reduction from type checking. Because there is an easy reduction from typability to type checking, the two problems are equivalent. The reduction from type checking to typability uses a novel method of constructing lambda terms that simulate arbitrarily chosen type environments. All of the results also hold for the λI-calculus. (shrink)

This article gives new information about the social, cultural, and political beliefs of Thomas Wilson, the first Secretary and Treasurer of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society founded in 1837. Wilson's private correspondence was not available to J. W. Davis, who wrote the standard history of the Society to celebrate its jubilee. Davis's history underestimates the part played by Wilson and overestimates the importance of Thomas William Embleton, whose private papers were placed at Davis's disposal. It is shown that Wilson, (...) and not Embleton, was the driving force in forming and consolidating the Society, especially with respect to its early difficulties in defining even its title and aims. (shrink)

What is the function of moral principles within the body of moral knowledge? And what must be the nature of moral principles in order for them to carry out this function? A specific set of answers to these questions is widely accepted among moral philosophers – so widely accepted as almost to constitute a sort of orthodoxy. The answers embody a view of the place of principles within the body of morality which crosses the lines between cognitivism and non-cognitivism. Though (...) I have put the question in cognitivist terms and shall discuss it in those terms, I think a similar question and a more or less parallel discussion could be given in non-cognitivist terms. Perhaps the time-honoured debate between the two positions can be suspended, at least temporarily, while we examine, not the nature of morality, but its structure. (shrink)

It is a well-known fact that of the three governors of Britain who were responsible for the Flavian advance of the northern frontier two had had previous military experience in the area in which they were now called upon to operate. Petilius Cerialis was in command of the IXth legion during the critical times of Boudicca's revolt . And although in that capacity he succeeded in losing the larger part of his forces, his subsequent appointment by Vespasian to the command (...) of the army despatched to reconquer the Rhine frontier from the revolted Civilis suggests that his military record was more distinguished than Tacitus would imply. Agricola has still better claims to be considered as a British specialist. In 61 as tribunus militum he was serving with distinction on the staff of Suetonius Paulinus in N. Wales , and in 70 he was sent as legatus legionis to the XXth legion at Chester, in which capacity he served under Cerialis during the initial stages of the northward advance . Of Julius Frontinus, the successor of Cerialis and predecessor of Agricola, we are less well informed; and it is the purpose of this note to show that in all probability he too had had previous military experience in Britain. (shrink)

In response to Michael Allsopp's essay ‘Deontic and epistemic authority in Roman Catholic ethics: The case of Richard McCormick’ it is argued that a carefully nuanced analysis reveals further epistemological implications of “reason informed by faith.” Three areas of McCormick's ethical analyses are considered which respond to basic questions about our moral knowledge, being and choosing 1) How do our value commitments arise? 2) From what perspective do we appreciate and interpret our value commitments?; 3) How do our value commitments (...) yield concrete moral norms? Moral theology ought to yield reason informed by faith which is Christocentric and anchored in charity, universalizing in its appeal, with appropriate subsidiarity, in addition it should be personalistic, modest and tentative, ecumenical, inductive, pluralistic, aspirational, and specialistic. It is concluded that McCormick's Catholic moral theology (its bases, development, and even disputes) identifies and develops essential “points of contact” for theological-ethical and public policy discourse. (shrink)

It is proposed that symmetry of stone tools may derive from perceptual similarity rather than from cognitively more complex awareness of symmetry. Although encodement of shapes necessarily involves symmetry (as evidenced by the confusability of enantiomorphs), it does not imply awareness of symmetry. Responses of relatively simple organisms, such as bees, support the notion that the processes involved are likely to be perceptual.

Recent reports that human pluripotent stem cells can be captured in a spectrum of states with variable properties has prompted a re‐evaluation of how pluripotency is acquired and stabilised. The latest additions to the stem cell hierarchy open up opportunities for understanding human development, reprogramming, and cell state transitions more generally. Many of the new cell lines have been collectively termed ‘naïve’ human pluripotent stem cells to distinguish them from the conventional ‘primed’ cells. Here, several transcriptional and epigenetic hallmarks of (...) human pluripotent states in the recently described cell lines are reviewed and evaluated. Methods to derive and identify human naïve pluripotent stem cells are also discussed, with a focus on the uses and future developments of state‐specific reporter cell lines and cell‐surface proteins. Finally, opportunities and uncertainties in naïve stem cell biology are highlighted, and the current limitations of human naïve pluripotent stem cells considered, particularly in the context of differentiation. (shrink)

J. B. Schneewind's "The Invention of Autonomy" has been hailed as a major interpretation of modern moral thought. Schneewind's narrative, however, elides several serious interpretive issues, particularly in the transition from late medieval to early modern thought. This results in potentially distorted accounts of Thomas Aquinas, Hugo Grotius, and G. W. Leibniz. Since these thinkers play a crucial role in Schneewind's argument, uncertainty over their work calls into question at least some of Schneewind's larger agenda for the history of ethics.

In the paper I offer a brief sketch of one of the sources of utilitarianism. Our biological ancestry is a matter of fact that is not altered by the way we describe ourselves. With philosophical theories it is otherwise. Utilitarianism can be described in ways that make it look as if it is as old as moral philosophy – as J. S. Mill thought it was. For my historical purposes, it is more useful to have an account that brings out (...) what is specific about Benthamism and its descendants. Let us try to make do with the following. First, utilitarianism asserts that the fundamental requirement of morality is that we are to maximize good, for everyone and not just for the agent. This basic principle presupposes that it makes sense to think of aggregating goods to make a total, and of comparing amounts of good thus aggregated. Second, the good to be brought about is located in feelings of pleasure, and the evil to be avoided in feelings of pain. These feelings have inherent value or disvalue regardless of how they are caused to exist and regardless of their own consequences. Third, all moral principles can be derived from the requirement that good be maximized. The principles involved in evaluating agents as well as in giving moral direction to action are nothing but applications of the basic principle. (shrink)

A supertask is a task that consists in infinitely many component steps, but which in some sense is completed in a finite amount of time. Supertasks were studied by the pre-Socratics and continue to be objects of interest to modern philosophers, logicians and physicists. The term “super-task” itself was coined by J.F. Thomson (1954). Here we begin with an overview of the analysis of supertasks and their mechanics. We then discuss the possibility of supertasks from the perspective of general relativity.

"The Laws", Plato's most lengthy dialogue, has longbeen regarded as the most comprehensive explanation of the possible consequences of a practical application of his philosophy.We might expect the first question Plato ponders to be "What is Law?" Instead, the question posed is "Who is given the credit for laying down your laws?"We are privy to an interaction between a powerfulstatesman and an Athenian philosopher on theisland of Crete. We watch as a plan for a new political order is worked out (...) that embodiesmany of the issues that we still struggle withtoday, such as the status of women, the statusof homosexuals, the family, criminal law, andthe role of religion in a healthy society.We at Timeless Classic Books hope that you enjoy this ancient thought-provoking story that may change the way you think about modern day issues.(Timeless Classic Books). (shrink)

We give a complete characterization of Priest's Finite Inconsistent Arithmetics observing that his original putative characterization included arithmetics which cannot in fact be realized.

Philosophy and the scientific revolution / Daniel Garber -- Old history and introductory teaching in early modern philosophy : a response to Daniel Garber / Lisa Downing -- Meaning and metaphysics / Susan Neiman -- Evil and wonder in early modern philosophy : a response to Susan Neiman / Mark Larrimore -- The forgetting of gender / Nancy Tuana -- The forgetting of gender and the new histories of philosophy : a response to Nancy Tuana / Eileen O’Neill -- The (...) idea of early modern philosophy / Knud Haakonssen -- Response to Knud Haakonssen / Jeffrey Edwards -- Arguments over obligation : teaching time and place in moral philosophy / Ian Hunter -- Response to Ian Hunter / T.J. Hochstrasser -- Teaching the history of moral philosophy / J.B. Schneewind -- Historicism, moral judgment, and the good life : a response to J.B. Schneewind / Jennifer A. Herdt -- Integrating history of philosophy with history of science after Kant / Michael Friedman -- Response to Michael Friedman / Juliet Floyd -- Thought versus history : reflections on a French problem / Denis Kambouchner -- Response to Denis Kambouchner / Bé́atrice Longuenesse -- Teaching the history of philosophy in 19th-century Germany / Ulrich Johannes Schneider -- Response to Ulrich Johannes Schneider / Karl Ameriks -- Comment : philosophy in practice / Lorraine Daston -- A note from inside the teapot / Anthony Grafton -- Philosophy, history of philosophy, and L’histoire de l’esprit humain : a historiographical question and problem for philosophers / Jonathan Israel -- History and/or philosophy / Donald R. Kelly -- Historians look at the new histories of philosophy : roundtable discussion. (shrink)

This anthology contains excerpts from some thirty-two important seventeenth- and eighteenth-century moral philosophers. Including a substantial introduction and extensive bibliographies, the anthology facilitates the study and teaching of early modern moral philosophy in its crucial formative period. As well as well-known thinkers such as Hobbes, Hume, and Kant, there are excerpts from a wide range of philosophers never previously assembled in one text, such as Grotius, Pufendorf, Nicole, Clarke, Leibniz, Malebranche, Holbach and Paley. Originally issued as a two-volume edition in (...) 1990, the anthology is now re-issued with a new foreword by Professor Schneewind, as a one-volume anthology to serve as a companion to his highly successful history of modern ethics, The Invention of Autonomy. The anthology provides many of the sources discussed in The Invention of Autonomy and taken together the two volumes will be an invaluable resource for the teaching of the history of modern moral philosophy. (shrink)

We give an account of some relationships between the principles of Constant and Atom Exchangeability and various generalizations of the Principle of Instantial Relevance within the framework of Inductive Logic. In particular we demonstrate some surprising and somewhat counterintuitive dependencies of these relationships on ostensibly unimportant parameters, such as the number of predicates in the overlying language.

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.