The article examines the controversy between the “orthodox” Indian philosophical school Vaiśeṣika and one of the greatest Buddhist philosophers - Vasubandhu on the existence of subject as a reality. The discussion is investigated on the example of the text “Pudgalaviniścaya”. PV of Vasubandhu - literally “Study on the Self”, or “pudgala” - is traditionally considered the 9th chapter of “Abhidharmakośabhaṣya” of the same author and is one of the most important polemical treatises on the self, or ātman, in Buddhist philosophy. (...) Among the issues discussed are the famous “epistemological argument”, the ability of recall and perception, how a difference between moments of consciousness is possible, whether the substrate for consciousness is necessary. One of the strategies of Vasubandhu is that he tries to find internal contradictions in the arguments of opponents. We can say that the main argument of Vasubandhu is aimed at justifying the mechanism of the cause-and-effect occurrence of all phenomena. If the Vaiśeṣikas proceed from their logic about the need for a substance for qualities, then Vasubandhu tries to persuade them to his side and offer a fundamentally new explanatory model, according to which there are only sequence-like moments-phenomena that flow from each other according to the law of cause and effect. (shrink)

We define $\Psi $ -autoreducible sets given an autoreduction procedure $\Psi $. Then, we show that for any $\Psi $, a measurable class of $\Psi $ -autoreducible sets has measure zero. Using this, we show that classes of cototal, uniformly introenumerable, introenumerable, and hyper-cototal enumeration degrees all have measure zero. By analyzing the arithmetical complexity of the classes of cototal sets and cototal enumeration degrees, we show that weakly 2-random sets cannot be cototal and weakly 3-random sets cannot be of (...) cototal enumeration degree. Then, we see that this result is optimal by showing that there exists a 1-random cototal set and a 2-random set of cototal enumeration degree. For uniformly introenumerable degrees and introenumerable degrees, we utilize $\Psi $ -autoreducibility again to show the optimal result that no weakly 3-random sets can have introenumerable enumeration degree. We also show that no 1-random set can be introenumerable. (shrink)

In the contemporary ecological literature, the instrumental approach to nature is convincingly discredited and it is acknowledged that man's goals and the means for achieving them must be brought into accord with ecological demands. Moreover, the spiritual importance of nature for man is recognized: through contact with nature man can be morally improved. Ecological knowledge acquires a moral coloration and significance; the philosopher merely has to reveal and analyze the intellectual foundations of this knowledge, formulate by relying on them the (...) general principles of an ecological ethics, and then draw from them standards and rules for human behavior, the criteria for what is inadmissible and for what must be from an ecological as well as a moral perspective. In a word, knowledge obliges. (shrink)

Confucianism defined benevolence with “feelings” and “love.” “Feelings” in Confucianism can be mainly divided into three categories: feelings in general, love for one’s relatives, and compassion. The seven kinds of feeling in which people respond to things can be summarized as “likes and dislikes.” The mind responds to things through feelings; based on the mind of benevolence and righteousness or feelings of compassion, the expression of feelings can conform to the principle of the mean and reach the integration of self (...) and others, and of self and external things. The “relations between the seven kinds of feelings and the Four Commencements,” however, was not developed into a theoretical idea in Confucianism. After Confucius, the relationship between the universality of natural sympathies and the gradation of love for relatives gradually became an important subject in Confucian ideas of benevolence and love. By “refuting Yang Zhu and Mozi,” Mencius systematically expounded on this issue. Love had two ends: self-love and natural sympathies, between which existed the love for relatives. These two ends were not the two extremes of Yang’s self-interest and Mozi’s universal love. Love for relatives not only implied a gradation, but also contained universality and transcendence that came from self-love. Love for relatives, natural sympathies and self-love had a kind of tension and connectivity between two dynamic ends. The Confucian idea of benevolence and love hence demonstrated differences and interconnectivity. An accurate understanding of such “feelings” and “love” is important for us to grasp Confucian thoughts on benevolence and its realization. (shrink)