(No abstract is available for this citation).

The nondecay probability of an unstable particle at a definite moment of time is investigated provided this particle existed at all earlier observation moments separated with the time interval Δ. Using the usual postulates for quantum measurements it is proved that this probability is described by the exponential function of Δ>0, and it tends to 1 as Δ → 0. An approximate formula is found for the effective decay width Γ(Δ) appearing in the case of multiple measurements. It is shown (...) that Γ(Δ) → 0 as Δ → 0. For Δ → ∞, the width Γ(Δ) → Γ0, with Γ0 being the standard decay with in Weisskopf-Wigner theory. At finite δ's Γ(Δ) may be smaller or greater than Γ0 depending on the parameters of the theory. (shrink)

Radical Concept Nativism (RCN) is the doctrine that most of our concepts are innate. In this paper I will argue in favour of RCN by developing a speculative account of concept acquisition that has considerable nativist credentials and can be defended against the most familiar anti-nativist objections. The core idea is that we have a whole battery of hard-wired dispositions that determine how we group together objects with which we interact. In having these dispositions we are effectively committed to an (...) implicit conceptual scheme and acquiring concepts is a matter of labelling the elements of that scheme. (shrink)

Festschrifts of Vietnamese philosopher Trà̂n Đức Thảo, 1917-1993.

La ‘explicación’ platónica de la creación poética en el Ion como efecto de la inspiración permite identificar las condiciones culturales que le subyacen: por carecer de escritura, la sabiduría griega, incluida la poética, es transmitida oralmente. La circunstancia en que realiza su actividad el poeta llevan a Platón a proponer entonces que esta no obedece a la téchne y, por tanto, el poeta no puede dar razón de lo que dice. Esta crítica alcanza a los sofistas en sus usos ‘pedagógicos’ (...) de la poesía, y cabe preguntarse si podría estar dirigida contra las concepciones sofísticas de la poesía como téchne. Sin embargo, sostener que está asimismo dirigida contra estas concepciones constituye un forzamiento de la doctrina platónica de la poesía, porque los planteamientos de la sofística surgen, desde Simónides de Ceos, dentro de circunstancias culturales en que las tesis platónicas pierden validez: la obra de los sofistas es producto de una época que dispone ya de escritura alfabética. (shrink)

The tragic experience of the XX century, the worth expression of which was Holocaust, challenges the fundamental values of civilized society. Its terrifying symbol is Auschwitz, extermination camp, Universe of terror – “the kingdom not of this world”. Its understanding is beyond classical concepts of good and evil and can not be described in the usual categories of crime and punishment. The entrance to this “kingdom” can be illustrated by Dante’s words written at the entrance to Hell (Inferno): “Abandon all (...) hope, ye who enter here”. Finding no help, either in God or in human Reason, the shattered mind has to seek a new “measure of all things” to perceive wisdom born in despair. (shrink)