One effect of information technology is the increasing need to present information visually. The trend raises intriguing questions. What is the logical status of reasoning that employs visualization? What are the cognitive advantages and pitfalls of this reasoning? What kinds of tools can be developed to aid in the use of visual representation? This newest volume on the Studies in Logic and Computation series addresses the logical aspects of the visualization of information. The authors of these specially commissioned papers explore (...) the properties of diagrams, charts, and maps, and their use in problem solving and teaching basic reasoning skills. As computers make visual representations more commonplace, it is important for professionals, researchers and students in computer science, philosophy, and logic to develop an understanding of these tools; this book can clarify the relationship between visuals and information. (shrink)

This book presents the deterministic view of quantum mechanics developed by Nobel Laureate Gerard 't Hooft. Dissatisfied with the uncomfortable gaps in the way conventional quantum mechanics meshes with the classical world, 't Hooft has revived the old hidden variable ideas, but now in a much more systematic way than usual. In this, quantum mechanics is viewed as a tool rather than a theory. The book presents examples of models that are classical in essence, but can be analysed by (...) the use of quantum techniques, and argues that even the Standard Model, together with gravitational interactions, might be viewed as a quantum mechanical approach to analysing a system that could be classical at its core. He shows how this approach, even though it is based on hidden variables, can be plausibly reconciled with Bell's theorem, and how the usual objections voiced against the idea of 'superdeterminism' can be overcome, at least in principle. This framework elegantly explains - and automatically cures - the problems of the wave function collapse and the measurement problem. Even the existence of an "arrow of time" can perhaps be explained in a more elegant way than usual. As well as reviewing the author's earlier work in the field, the book also contains many new observations and calculations. It provides stimulating reading for all physicists working on the foundations of quantum theory. (shrink)

This paper introduces the logic of evidence and truth \ as an extension of the Belnap–Dunn four-valued logic \. \ is a slightly modified version of the logic \, presented in Carnielli and Rodrigues. While \ is equipped only with a classicality operator \, \ is equipped with a non-classicality operator \ as well, dual to \. Both \ and \ are logics of formal inconsistency and undeterminedness in which the operator \ recovers classical logic for propositions in its scope. (...) Evidence is a notion weaker than truth in the sense that there may be evidence for a proposition \ even if \ is not true. As well as \, \ is able to express preservation of evidence and preservation of truth. The primary aim of this paper is to propose a probabilistic semantics for \ where statements \\) and \\) express, respectively, the amount of evidence available for \ and the degree to which the evidence for \ is expected to behave classically—or non-classically for \ \). A probabilistic scenario is paracomplete when \ + P 1\), and in both cases, \ < 1\). If \ = 1\), or \ = 0\), classical probability is recovered for \. The proposition \, a theorem of \, partitions what we call the information space, and thus allows us to obtain some new versions of known results of standard probability theory. (shrink)

(1) What may be gained by applying concepts generalised from economics to methodological problems? The perspective of cost-benefit analysis ('CBA' for short) may help the researcher to see what sorts of questions he should take into account when dealing with particular methodological problems. This claim is supported by applying generalised CBA-thinking to two standard problems of methodology. (2) In the practice of research the handling of basic statements does not normally constitute any problem, and no conscious decision is involved. In (...) the methodological reconstruction the key questions are: 'How can a particular basic statement be criticised?' and 'What are the costs of defending a statement that is "problematic"?' The problem of the empirical 'base' is an investment problem: whether or not to invest time and effort into processing a particular basic statement into a falsifying hypothesis for the theory we wish to test. The valuation of the costs of rejecting or, as the case may be, of defending a basic statement, are objective. (3) With respect to theories, in basic science, the issue is not one of acceptance or rejection of a single theory, but rather of theory preference. Both the rational response to a falsification and rational theory preference are governed by CBA-considerations. The option for one of two competing theories is based upon a CBA where the valuation of benefits and costs is objective. Theory change is an objective process, at least in those fields, where theorising is closely controlled by empirical testing: the better theory drives out the less good theory. The costs of defending a theory that is less good than its competitor are mainly epistemic resources forgone. The use of CBA in methodology not only is compatible with Popper's position, but it may pay to view Popper's methodology as an application of CBA to epistemic situations. (shrink)

Communication is an important feature of the living world that mainstream biology fails to adequately deal with. Applying two main disciplines can be contemplated to fill in this gap: semiotics and information theory. Semiotics is a philosophical discipline mainly concerned with meaning; applying it to life already originated in biosemiotics. Information theory is a mathematical discipline coming from engineering which has literal communication as purpose. Biosemiotics and information theory are thus concerned with distinct and complementary possible meanings of the word (...) ‘communication’. Since literal communication needs to be secured so as to enable semantics being communicated, information theory is a necessary prerequisite to biosemiotics. Moreover, heredity is a purely literal communication process of capital importance fully relevant to literal communication, hence to information theory. A short introduction to discrete information theory is proposed, which is centred on the concept of redundancy and its use in order to make sequences resilient to errors. Information theory has been an extremely active and fruitful domain of researches and the motor of the tremendous progress of communication engineering in the last decades. Its possible connections with semantics and linguistics are briefly considered. Its applications to biology are suggested especially as regards error-correcting codes which are mandatory for securing the conservation of genomes. Biology needs information theory so biologists and communication engineers should closely collaborate. (shrink)

(1998). The idea of the university in the global era: From knowledge as an end to the end of knowledge? Social Epistemology: Vol. 12, Sites of Knowledge Production: The University, pp. 3-25. doi: 10.1080/02691729808578856.

Most regard toleration as an unattractive fallback position of compromise and so tend to overlook it in favor of such active concepts as freedom, equality, and justice. Fotion and Elfstrom argue that toleration offers us the useful possibility of responding to a difficult situation with a degree of flexibility not possible with the dichotomous concepts of good-bad, right-wrong, ethical-unethical, Right-Left. Tolerating saturates ordinary human life and infuses public discussions of religion, morality, and politics. It forms a major strand in the (...) history of Western European thought. Yet the word “toleration” and similar terms are rarely used. Unnoticed and unremarked, they are like the air that surrounds us, vitally important yet invisible. The authors seek to address this oversight in several ways. They begin with a thorough conceptual analysis of toleration and its kindred concepts. They are convinced that an appreciation of the importance of the family of toleration concepts must be founded on an understanding of the various ways in which they function in our language and our lives. In addition, they examine the historical development of the concept of toleration and canvass the major arguments people have employed either to urge toleration or to disparage it. They examine the role of toleration in liberal political philosophy and respond to the major critics of liberal toleration. The authors also discuss a number of factors that cause toleration to be overlooked in political debate and personal reflection and offer evidence to support the view that this omission is unfortunate. In particular, they argue that toleration has the crucial role of helping people live with one another with respect and dignity in the fractious and contentious world we inhabit. With the rise of racism and other forms of religious, political, and social intolerance, people on all sides of the present debates concerning multi-culturalism and diversity will benefit from this timely and lucidly argued philosophical discussion of the concepts of toleration and its possible application in a less-than-perfect world. (shrink)

Bayesian epistemology has close connections to inductive reasoning, accepting the view that inductive inferences should be analyzed in terms of epistemic probabilities. An important precept of Bayesian epistemology is the dynamics of belief change, with change in belief resulting from updating procedures based on new evidence. The inductive relations between evidence E and hypotheses or theories H are essential, particularly the notions of plausibility, confirmation, and acceptability, which are critical but subject to several difficulties. As a non-deductive process, Bayesian reasoning (...) cannot itself be subjected to strict deductive logic, but it can take advantage of an enabling logical environment. The present paper proposes that paraconsistent and paracomplete logics can be helpful for some questions of Bayesian epistemology, even to the point of being relevant in developing a legitimate paraconsistent Bayesian epistemology. By developing a novel probability theory based on the Logic of Evidence and Truth ( $${LET}_{F}$$ ), a logic that deals with evidence for or against a judgment, including contradictory or missing evidence, we allow for the possibility of quantifying the degree of evidence attributed to a proposition through novel probability measures. We illustrate, through examples, some ways to address challenging problems in the area by using paraconsistent and paracomplete paradigms. This topic is of significant interest not only in the philosophy of science but also in Artificial Intelligence and other emerging trends such as probabilistic networks and related models (see Haenni et al. Probabilistic logics and probabilistic networks, volume 350, Springer, Berlin, 2010). (shrink)

O propósito deste artigo é o de evidenciar de que forma a afirmação de ser ser-para-a-morte de Heidegger pode ser entendido como condição de possibilidade para a responsabilização do desejo conforme formulado pela psicanálise lacaniana. Primeiro, descreve-se a estrutura do Dasein heideggeriano, bem como seus existenciais. Em seguida, analisa-se o uso e o sentido da noção de desejo em Lacan. Tanto numa existência autêntica, quanto num final de análise, onde o sujeito sabe lidar com suas perdas, diante da angústia, ele (...) assume um papel de protagonista de sua existência e consegue se responsabilizar pelo seu desejo. A análise, nesse sentido, serve como uma ferramenta que possibilita o sujeito lidar com este sofrimento decorrente da falta, deste nada que falou Heidegger. Evidentemente que a análise não objetiva eliminar esta falta ontológica, mas tão somente desconstruir os fantasmas que o sujeito construiu para afastar o que lhe é mais próprio, constitutivo de sua estrutura ontológica, qual seja, sua finitude. Portanto, tanto para Heidegger, por meio da afirmação da angústia frente à morte, quanto para Lacan, onde o sujeito assumiu a tragédia de sua existência – no final de análise –, é a afirmação da finitude que possibilita a responsabilização do desejo, de ser autêntico ou, se preferir, sujeito. (shrink)

Depuis le début de ce siècle, l'art et la littérature n'ont cessé de déborder leurs limites et de bousculer leurs catégories. Cette démarche radicale a contribué, en retour, à réveiller une théorie jusqu'alors quelque peu engourdie dans des conceptions héritées de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, aux confins des âges classique et romantique. Les études ici réunies témoignent de ce renouveau de l'esthétique, particulièrement dans la philosophie de tradition analytique. Leur trait commun est le caractère relativiste de leurs critères. Les (...) "symptômes" de la relation artistique sont de l'ordre de l'usage, de la circonstance, de la fonction : il n'y a d'oeuvre qu'à la rencontre d'une intention et d'une attention. Pour le public comme pour les créateurs, l'art est aussi une pratique. (shrink)

This paper is a theo-poetic exposition on hope via the series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The authors work to counter the dilemma of the modern human-cyborg: a subject saturated with digital technology who wants to fight the horror of their continual experience of a commodified hope. What emerges in this paper’s analysis is the articulation of three kinds of hope. The first kind is a prosaic general hope of the imaginary; the second is a rational hope of the symbolic, while the (...) third is an occult, excessive hope in the real. The ethical injunction of this paper’s conclusion is that to refuse the horror of the digital, we must preserve this third-order hope through an ethics of antagonistic uselessness. (shrink)

LA CRITIQUE PAR RAMSEY EN 1926 DE LA THESE DU DUALISME DES CONSTITUANTS DE LA PROPOSITION CONSTITUE UNE DES MANIFESTATIONS LES PLUS IMPORTANTES DE L'EBRANLEMENT DE LA CONSEPTION STANDARD ASSOCIANT LE DUALISME ONTOLOGIQUE (PARTICULIERS ET UNIVERSELS), LA DICHOTOMIE DES CONSTITUANTS DE LA PROPOSITION ET LA DISTINCTION METAPHYSIQUE ENTRE SUBSTANCE ET QUALITES. LA CRITIQUE DE LA NOTION DE SUBSTANCE AMORCEE AVEC L'EMPIRISME, NOTAMMENT CHEZ HUME, VA TROUVER DANS LA THEORIE DE LA RELATIVITE DE NOUVELLES JUSTIFICATIONS, ET L'EFFONDREMENT DE LA NOTION DE (...) SUBSTANCE VA METTRE EN CAUSE LA CONCEPTION STANDARD. LE DUALISME ONTOLOGIQUE SEMBLE SURVIVRE A CES ATTAQUES MAIS AU PRIX D'UN COMPLET REAMENAGEMENT CONCEPTUEL. LA SUBSTANCE CEDE LA PLACE A L'EVENEMENT COMME PARADIGME DES PARTICULIERS. (shrink)

For the contemporary reader of Psychoanalysis: Its Image and Its Public the analyses of communicative systems in the book provides a challenging occasion for reconsidering current social psychological thinking about the character of social groups. In Moscovici's careful delineation of the communicative systems of diffusion, propagation and propaganda through his content analysis of the French press, one can also see the description of different types of group structured through distinctive social psychological organisations. Moscovici himself suggests that the genres of diffusion, (...) propagation and propaganda are each linked to the construction of a specific type of social-psychological object, opinion, attitude and stereotype respectively. But one can also identify different forms of affiliation corresponding to each communicative genre, and consequently also different representations of the people who constitute both the in-group and the out-group in each instance. The affiliative bonds might be described as forms of sympathy, communion and solidarity. (shrink)

This paper defends the use of possibility and necessity models based on the Logics of Formal Inconsistency, taking advantage of their expressivity in terms of the notions of consistency and inconsistency. The present proposal directly generalizes the approach of Besnard and Lang, whose main guidelines we borrow here. Some basic properties of possibility and necessity functions over the Logics of Formal Inconsistency are obtained and it is shown, by revisiting a paradigmatic example, how paraconsistent possibility and necessity reasoning can, in (...) general, attain realistic models for artificial judgement. We will call such models credal calculi, emphasizing some of their appealing consequences. (shrink)

Canavero and Ren (2017) suggest that both public and bioethical objections to head/body transplantation will subside after patient outcomes prove successful in an analogous way to how similar objec...

Objectives:Over the past two decades, all U.S. states have incorporated alcohol ignition interlock technology into sentencing laws for individuals convicted of driving while intoxicated. This article provides the first 50-state summary of these laws to include changes in the laws over time and their effective dates. This information is critical for policy makers to make informed decisions and for researchers to conduct quantitative evaluation of the laws.Methods:Standard legal research and legislative history techniques were used, including full-text searches in the Westlaw (...) legal database and identification of state session laws. Because ignition interlock device laws often change over time, we identified the date of each law's initial enactment as well as the effective date of each law in its current form.Results:Beginning with California and Washington in 1987, all 50 states have enacted IID laws as a sentencing option for DWI offenders. Initially, most of these laws were discretionary. Today, however, 48 states mandate IID installation for at least some types of DWI offenders to maintain lawful driving privileges. Of these, 27 mandate an IID for all offenders; seven mandate an IID for repeat offenders only; and 21 for some combination of specific groups of DWI offenders, including repeat offenders, offenders with a blood alcohol content above a legislatively-specified level, and aggravated offenders.Conclusion:States have wrestled with a number of IID policy issues, including for whom to mandate IIDs and whether to suspend a license for DWI prior to reinstating driving privileges with or without an IID. By understanding how state interlock laws differ, policy makers and researchers can ultimately better ascertain the impact of these laws. (shrink)

* Doutora em Educação pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Professora do curso de Dança e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Artes Cênicas da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia.** Doutor em Educação pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Professor do curso de Filosofia, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. O ano de 2015 marcou os vinte anos da morte de Gilles Deleuze, a data foi celebrada com a realização de eventos promovidos (...) pelos núcleos de pesquisa vinculados à filosofia de Deleuze, cuja obra comporta também os livros escritos em coautoria com Félix Guattari. O Dossiê Artes e Oficinas: incursões na filosofia de Deleuze-Guattari foi concebido no mesmo movimento de discussão do legado do pensamento deleuziano, cujo propósito ultrapassa o ensejo de uma simples homenagem e pretende intensificar as experimentações conceituais para vislumbrar, na criação artística, um disparador de encontros ético-político-estéticos, o que confere ao Dossiê uma abordagem transdisciplinar da filosofia de Deleuze - e também Guattari - com vias a favorecer as interfaces entre a filosofia e as artes, recuperando a junção dos afectos e dos perceptos, tal como foram apresentados pelos autores em muitas dos seus escritos, dentre os quais destacamos Qu'est-ce que la filosophie?.O motivo dos artigos que compõem o presente Dossiê são as artes, considerando que essas manifestações são abordadas conforme dois eixos: das oficinas de criação e da lógica do sentido; ou seja, a poiética é considerada em sua autonomia na produção de experimentações do pensamento, por isso, não se trata de uma leitura estética, aliás, não é a intepretação das obras de arte que estão em discussão, mas, antes, a possibilidade das artes esgotarem as fixações de sentidos do mundo contemporâneo que instauram a crise nas mais variadas esferas da vida. Deleuze e Guattari vislumbram nas artes uma política menor, pertinente a mobilização dos afectos e dos perceptos graças as mobilizações engendradas pelos signos artísticos. Assim, apostamos na articulação da clínica, da crítica, das artes e da política, tendo em vista a abertura de novos espaços, contribuindo para o aparecimento de práticas de liberação dos fluxos que poderão fazer variar o pensamento.O que pode ser esperado das oficinas de criação em artes é a invenção de procedimentos diferentes que potencializem os corpos, mobilizando-os para encontrar nos blocos de perceptos e afectos da criação artística o arrancar "o percepto das percepções do objeto, [...], arrancar o afecto das afecções", provocando fluxos de desejo a abrirem a realidade a novos possíveis. Os pensadores franceses oferecem uma rica abrangência com relação as artes e que acreditamos estar contemplada nos artigos do Dossiê, a saber, que a filosofia como criação de conceitos está conectada - ousamos dizer: acoplada - ao plano de imanência "que deve ser considerado pré-filosófico", porque a atividade conceitual vislumbra a apreensão de uma realidade não conceitual composta pelas criações artísticas, por isso, os pensadores concluíram afirmando que "o não-filosófico está talvez mais no coração da filosofia do que a própria filosofia".A aglutinação dos artigos, que apresentaremos a seguir, propõe a composição de zonas de vizinhança entre conceitos da filosofia em conexões com os perceptos e os afectos com relação as artes, não os confundindo com percepções e sentimentos. Ora, longe da ambição do dogmatismo filosófico, aqui a filosofia é tomada como conceito e devir, permitindo vislumbrar experimentações do pensamento, no encontro com o seu fora, ao entrar na composição de um plano de imanência, que poderá ser construído junto às criações artísticas. As escritas reunias neste Dossiê se processam em meio a produção de um pensar teórico-poiético a partir das artes e das oficinas, traçando divergências convergentes com a filosofia da diferença. [...]. (shrink)

The present article deals with issues of social recognition in the global and transnational environment. It deals with the issue of solidarity, a form of recognition that has no adequate parallel beyond nation state borders and manifests itself mainly in the transnational economy. We focus on the articulation of the extraterritorial recognition of social rights-holders at the international and transnational levels of justice. It is clear that conditions in developing countries do not allow the people there to express disapproval in (...) ways that are typical for Western societies. We stress that states should strengthen their influence in global and transnational organizations and equally that the media should improve its informative role and should provide information on what is happening in developing parts of the world. (shrink)

Greek philosophy had formed the minds of the educated classes of the Roman Empire for centuries before the early Christians set out to spread their message there. If they wished to gain a hearing, therefore, the language of Greek philosophy was the language they had to speak. This venture was to have a long history and an enduring effect both upon Christianity itself and on the world that it was seeking to convince and convert.

The blood oxygen level dependent effect that provides the contrast in functional magnetic resonance imaging has been demonstrated to affect the linewidth of spectral peaks as measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy and through this, may be used as an indirect measure of cerebral blood flow related to neural activity. By acquiring MR-spectra interleaved with frames without water suppression, it may be possible to image the BOLD effect and associated metabolic changes simultaneously through changes in the linewidth of the unsuppressed water (...) peak. The purpose of this study was to implement this approach with the MEGA-PRESS sequence, widely considered to be the standard sequence for quantitative measurement of GABA at field strengths of 3 T and lower, to observe how changes in both glutamate and GABA levels may relate to changes due to the BOLD effect. MR-spectra and fMRI were acquired from the occipital cortex of 20 healthy participants whilst undergoing intrascanner visual stimulation in the form of a red and black radial checkerboard, alternating at 8 Hz, in 90 s blocks comprising 30 s of visual stimulation followed by 60 s of rest. Results show very strong agreement between the changes in the linewidth of the unsuppressed water signal and the canonical haemodynamic response function as well as a strong, negative, but not statistically significant, correlation with the Glx signal as measured from the OFF spectra in MEGA-PRESS pairs. Findings from this experiment suggest that the unsuppressed water signal provides a reliable measure of the BOLD effect and that correlations with associated changes in GABA and Glx levels may also be measured. However, discrepancies between metabolite levels as measured from the difference and OFF spectra raise questions regarding the reliability of the respective methods. (shrink)