Chasing Reality deals with the controversies over the reality of the external world. Distinguished philosopher Mario Bunge offers an extended defence of realism, a critique of various forms of contemporary anti-realism, and a sketch of his own version of realism, namely hylorealism. Bunge examines the main varieties of antirealism - Berkeley's, Hume's, and Kant's; positivism, phenomenology, and constructivism - and argues that all of these in fact hinder scientific research. Bunge's realist contention is that genuine explanations in the sciences (...) appeal to causal laws and mechanisms that are not directly observable, rather than simply to empirical generalisations. Genuine science, in his view, is objective even when it deals with subjective phenomena such as feelings of fear. This work defends a realist view of universals, kinds, possibilities, and dispositions, while rejecting contemporary accounts of these that are couched in terms of modal logic and 'possible worlds.'. (shrink)

Reading through the Corpus Aristotelicum we come across a group of expressions meant to indicate predicative relations, which lead us to think that Aristotle connected predication to a part-whole relation. He frequently calls the ‘εἴδη’, “species”, ‘μέρη’, “parts”, of their genera. More generally, the universal is said to contain that of which it is true. In a parallel way, what is contained by something is also what is under something else. Again, it is quite common for him to consider the (...) species as partaking of their genera. Although the relation of partaking is normally used to qualify the way in which species are related to their genera, sometimes also the relation between particulars and species or even genera is expressed in terms of partaking. (shrink)

Mele's modified definition of self-deception is consistent with evolutionary theory. Self-deception is most likely whenever ignorance confers (reproductive) advantage, namely, in impression management, deception, conformity, social norms, reproductive knowledge, and existential conflicts. Second-order self-deception (unawareness of unawareness) perpetuates self-deception and may be the reason for our misguided definitions.

El tratado metodológico de Spinoza, llamado Tratado de la reforma del entendimiento, introduce al lector con la declaración de un objetivo puramente ético, la obtención de la felicidad. La cual, identificada con la virtud, es también el objetivo último de la filosofía. Es evidente, a partir de dicha introducción, que existe una relación entre el método y la ética, pero su naturaleza no es del todo clara. Así pues, cabe preguntarse: ¿se trata de una relación que puede presentar algún tipo (...) de interés en la comprensión de la teoría ética de Spinoza, o es meramente una relación accidental? Dicho de otro modo, ¿los procedimientos metodológicos tienen una función constitutiva en la búsqueda de la virtud o se trata solo de una relación mediata y carente de interés filosófico? En el presente trabajo nos proponemos indagar cuál es la naturaleza de esta relación, partiendo de la hipótesis de que reviste un interés filosófico que es necesario clarificar. Con este fin abordaremos otras cuestiones en torno a la relación entre la virtud y el conocimiento, en especial en torno al modo en que dicha relación aparece planteada en la Ética de Spinoza. (shrink)

For a, b > 0, we consider a temporally homogeneous, one-dimensional diffusion process X(t) defined over I = (-b, a), with infinitesimal parameters depending on the sign of X(t). We suppose that, when X(t) reaches the position 0, it is reflected rightward to δ with probability p > 0 and leftward to -δ with probability 1 - p, where δ > 0. Closed analytical expressions are found for the mean exit time from the interval (-b, a), and for the probability (...) of exit through the right end a, in the limit δ → 0+, generalizing the results of Lefebvre, holding for asymmetric Wiener process. Moreover, in alternative to the heavy analytical calculations, a numerical method is presented to estimate approximately the quantities above. Furthermore, on the analogy of skew Brownian motion, the notion of skew diffusion process is introduced. Some examples and numerical results are also reported. (shrink)

A mathematical theory is proposed and exemplified, which covers an extended class of black boxes. Every kind of stimulus and response is pictured by a channel connecting the box with its environment. The input-output relation is given by a postulate schema according to which the response is, in general, a nonlinear functional of the input. Several examples are worked out: the perfectly transmitting box, the damping box, and the amplifying box. The theory is shown to be (a) an extension of (...) the S-matrix theory and the accompanying channel picture as developed in microphysics; (b) abstract and applicable to any problem involving the transactions of a system (physical, biological, social, etc.) with its milieu; (c) superficial, because unconcerned with either the structure of the box or the nature of the stimuli and responses. The motive for building the theory was to show the capabilities and limitations of the phenomenological approach. (shrink)

En este ensayo analizamos el pensamiento político de Maurice Merleau-Ponty en el contexto de su obra filosófica y de lo que llamamos el �giro político� de la filosofía del siglo XX, que entendemos como el giro desde la Filosofía política a la manera clásica (normativa, prescriptiva, ideológica) hacia una �filosofía de lo político�, entendida más bien como una fenomenología de lo político, es decir, una descripción del �fenómeno político� en su realidad contingente. Además de exponer la manera como Merleau-Ponty desarrolla (...) su visión de �lo político�, tratamos de mostrar las convergencias de sus planteamientos con los de otros pensadores del siglo XX (Schmitt, Rancière, Nancy, Esposito, Castoriadis), apuntando hacia una nueva compresión, no jerárquica ni unidireccional de las relaciones entre filosofía y política. (shrink)

This contribution sketches the path that St. Ignatius traversed from excluding in 1541 educational work as a Jesuit ministry to his decision to found colleges and universities as apostolic woks of the Society for the formation of young lay students. Ignatius determined in 1553 that the Collegio Romano should be marked by universality in its make-up and outreach, and furthermore should exercise influence on the other colleges of the Society in Europe. From these beginnings, a comprehensive instructional program emerged in (...) the definitive Ratio studiorum of 1599. We relate the organisation of the courses in literature and in the Faculty of Philosophy, which included pure and applied mathematics. The Faculty of Theology included a course on casus conscientiae or moral theology, and in the 18th century it added chairs of Canon Law, Church History, and Liturgy. In conclusion this article describes the three public «academies» founded for the intellectual and religious formation of select groups of students. Also, we tell of the instruction given in the exact sciences, with mention of some of more famous professors. (shrink)

Metaphysics is, as Adorno once notes, the nuisance of philosophy. On the one hand, metaphysics is the reasons of philosophy's existence; on the other hand, it is nearly impossible to characterise metaphysics precisely. This tension is reflected with reference to the contemporary political and cultural situation in Adorno's "Meditations on Metaphysics", the last part of his opus magnum *Negative Dialectics*. The essays in this volume are devoted to different facets of Adorno's examination of metaphysics. They do, however, not only concern (...) themselves with Adorno's metaphysical reflections in a narrow sense, but also extend to other themes Adorno relates to metaphysics: critique of concepts, history, truth, and materialism. Thereby, they render a hardly investigated topic of the *Negative Dialectics* accessible. -/- Contributors: Emil Angehrn, Dirk Braunstein, Peggy H. Breitenstein, Gunnar Hindrichs, Axel Hutter, Philip Hogh, Christian Iber, Julia Jopp, Guido Kreis, Ansgar Martins, Brian O'Connor, Mario Schärli, Marc Nicolas Sommer, Tilo Wesche. (shrink)

The study began with an introduction to Philosophy of Man. This Philosophical-Christological approach started with sense of self-awareness on this seemingly vain technological modern world. In the history of philosophy, there were three objects of study evolving by themselves, world, man and God in orderly fashion and repeating in interval phases. Self-experience shows three objects: first, existential unity (past), second, experiential unity (present) and third, transcendental unity (future). Western Philosophy banked on Aristotle’s notion of man as rational animal that led (...) to Dualism turned into Monism and finally into Pluralism making it harder to capsulate man’s unity. Thus, the universal question “what is man?” including his end remains unanswered. The problem with Western-Aristotelian Thought was its dependence on rationality as ultimate and highest faculty of man. The Greeks believed in immortality of soul but contradicted reality that human mind has no power over death (mortality). Faith transcends mortal-natural state of man however not in proud and arrogant manner but in utter surrender and subjection (Paschal). Faith turns truth from objective to personal. God’s and man’s identity was both revealed. Man as God’s image becomes definite in the revelation about Christ, the Son of God - the Perfect Man Eph. 4.13. KEYWORDS: Philosophy, Christ, Perfect Man, Philosophical-Christological approach,Christian anthropology, Qualitative Research Design, Philippines. (shrink)

A semantical and methodological analysis of physical theories is performed in order to find out their relation to reality and to human experience. It is shown that every physical theory refers immediately to an idealized model of waht is supposed to be a piece of reality‐the mediate referent of the theory. Two kinds of physical interpretation of physical symbols are distinguished : objective and operational, and the difference between reference and evidence is stressed. It is claimed that for a theory (...) to be physically meaningful it is necessary that it includes rules of objective reference. In some cases a theory contains, in addition, evidential reference rules, i.e. correspondences between some of its concepts and empirical items. But the test. of any theory requires, rather than operational rules, further theories that can bridge the gap between what the theory refers to and its remote symptom . The conditions for the semantical consistency are sketched and it is argued that there does not exist a semantically consistency inter‐pretation of any of the formalisms of quantum theory. From this analysis arguments in favor of critical realism are drawn. (shrink)