The thought and the findings of moral particularism are extended to contextualism. Moral particularism asserts that reasons for moral actions are not governed by general principles, but by a mixture of situation bound deliberation and values. Particularism was established in the area of moral philosophy and its main results include delimitation with various forms of moral generalism. Many insights were accumulated along the way. The book claims that a serious contextualist approach needs to embrace particularist normativity. Thesis is then applied (...) to the traditional areas of philosophy such as semantics, epistemology and ontology. This makes it possible to ask questions about the positive and not just negative story and about the wider impact of particularism. The book is an attempt of such a positive story. Foundations are laid for an exciting new field of research in the main systematic branches of philosophy, urging you to rethink the normative basis of semantics, epistemology and metaphysics, in their interweaving with moral thought. The importance of narration and of phenomenology is stressed for these areas. (shrink)

Most linguists have defined African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a regular and systematic form of vernacular language which contains distinctive grammatical and phonological features. AAVE is considered a social dialect or a non-standard variety of American English, which is spoken by the majority of African Americans. This article explores variability of the selected AAVE features in the interviews with ten African-American public figures, ranging from Hip Hop artists and blues musicians (Redman, Chuck D, Prodigy, MC Lyte, B.B. King) to talk (...) show hosts (Oprah Winfrey), from Hollywood actresses (Queen Latifah,Whoopi Goldberg) to former government officials (Colin Powell) and residents of the White House (Michelle Obama). The selected features of AAVE treated in this study include the absence of copula, the third person singular –s absence, the possessive –s absence, the plural –s absence, and the generalization of is and was to plural and second person pronouns.We consider the influence of social parameters (i.e., gender, age, social status, ethnicity, and affiliation with Hip Hop culture) on the degree of speech formality within a frame of interspeaker variation by examining the correlation between the frequencies of AAVE features and social factors of individual interviewees. The frequencies of individual AAVE variants are calculated into percentages which represent the levels of vernacular usage of each interviewee. Our results are then compared with the outcomes of previous sociolinguistic findings on external factors that have been reported to affect the degree of linguistic formality in a spoken discourse. (shrink)

Župnijski urad v kraju Ruše (pri Mariboru) hrani rokopisno kroniko manjšega formata, ki jo je napisal domačin Jožef Avguštin Meznerič, imenovan Marian. Napisana je v latinščini in obsega 187 popisanih listov. Konec 19. stoletja ji je bil dodan indeks. Ruško latinsko kroniko lahko glede na njeno vsebino razdelimo na dva dela, pri čemer strogo cezuro predstavlja leto 1645, ko je bila v kraju ustanovljena latinska šola. Ta je pred ustanovitvijo jezuitskega kolegija in gimnazije v Mariboru (1758) predstavljala najpomembnejši javno dostopen (...) šolski zavod na ozemlju Spodnje Štajerske. Ruška kronika je nastala kmalu po letu 1764, ko je tamkajšnja šola (očitno) prenehala z delovanjem. (shrink)

In his ontology, Badiou operates with historical situations that are identified as situations whose representation regime is prone to change. Similarly, his Greater Logic operates with changes and modifications of the transcendental related to a change in a particular world determined by its transcendental. In both ontology and logic, Badiou often loosely relates the occurrence of change to temporality, but the operative concept of temporality remains unclear. The paper aims to provide a concept of temporality, borrowed from physics, and which (...) seems consistent with Badiou’s system of thought and helps in comprehending it. We use this concept of time, which explicitly links disorder and temporality in an attempt to elucidate certain parts of Badiou’s ontology and logic. (shrink)

What is a belief? To answer this question, the reconstruction of belief-formation is attempted. It reveals the intertwining of two dimensions. At the upper end, there is the truth as the objective teleological goal of belief-formation. This goal is based upon a nested hierarchy of mutually supported sub-goals: objective evidence, transglobal reliability, one’s doxastic sensibility, and one’s all-in ultima facie doxastic seeming. The lower end of the hierarchy is subjective and deontic, whereas, in the middle, teleological and deontic elements intermingle. (...) Belief-formation external or descriptive ingredients get disciplined through non-instrumental teleology and deontics. Teleology-deontics intertwining in belief-formation reveals that a belief shares several characteristics with genuine judgment: phenomenological basis, commitment, sensibility and responsibility. Teleology-deontics intertwining also characterises quasi-agentive account of intentionality. Belief, such as it is predominantly forthcoming in epistemology and ethics, provides a reduced version of the genuine judgment, so that it can comply with externalist and descriptivist agenda, doing away with teleology-deontics intertwining. Judgmental belief perspective is revived once as virtue epistemology, and virtue ethics obtain their support through one’s character. (shrink)

Avtor v prispevku predstavi okoliščine korespondence med teologom in klasicistom Richardom Bentleyem in filozofom Isaacom Newtonom. Bentley je v svojih osmih Boylovih predavanjih, naslovljenih Ovržba ateizma, uporabil številne misli in ugotovitve, ali pa njihove izpeljave, iz Newtonovih Matematičnih principov filozofije narave, ker pa ni pa bil povsem prepričan, ali jih dovolj dobro razume, se je obrnil na Newtona s prošnjo za dodatna pojasnila. Newton v svojih odgovorih pojasnjuje nekatere temeljne elemente svoje filozofske teologije ali metafizike in filozofije narave, predvsem o (...) vlogi in delovanju Boga pri stvarjenju in ureditvi sveta. Tako Bentley kot Newton sta prepričana, je svet ustvaril »umni dejavnik«. Drugi pomemben vidik korespondence predstavljajo Newtonova razmišljanja o gravitaciji ali, povedano drugače, vprašanje, ali je gravitacija materiji vrojena ali ne, in o možnosti delovanja teles na daljavo. (shrink)

The author argues that Newton’s distinction between absolute and relative motion, i.e. the refusal to define motion in relation to sensible things, in “Scholium on time, space, place and motion” from _Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy_, stems in great part from his critical stance towards Descartes’s philosophy of nature. This is apparent from the comparison of “Scholium”, in which Descartes is not mentioned at all, with Newton’s criticism of him in his manuscript _De gravitatione_. The positive results of Newton’s encounter (...) with Descartes’s theory of motion is almost completely identical to those of the “Scholium”: the definition of motion must concern the whole body and not just its surface; instead of “mutual translation”, it must include the force that is the cause of the physical motion; the motion of the bodies is uniform and straightforward, which can only be achieved within absolute space. As far as the theory of motion is concerned, Newton’s philosophical challenge was always Descartes. (shrink)

Copernicus’ work was for long considered a turning point in astronomy; some historians even consider it a turning point in science in general. But numerous recent studies have turned this image upside-down. It was revealed that Copernicus’ work was firmly rooted in the traditional conceptual apparatus. The aim of the article is to show that Copernicus’ work, in spite of everything, does indeed represent a radical epistemological shift regarding a certain point, which can be appropriately illuminated by the analysis of (...) the Copernicus’ introduction of the concept of Earth’s motion in astronomy. Copernicus, in contrast to the pre-Copernican tradition, finds mathematical-astronomical reasons that transcend the field of sensory perceptions to be decisive, and rejects the physical or cosmological reasons given by the traditional natural sciences, which are eventually all based on direct or indirect “evidence immediate”. (shrink)

The article focuses on Galileo's Letter to Castelli, 21 December 1613. The author analyzes Galileo's hermeneutical principles established in the first part of the letter and his literal interpretation of the passage from the Book of Joshua 10, 12-13, in Copernican terms, in the second part of the letter. Galileo appears to use the Bible as a scientific authority, supporting his Copernican views, and thus he seems to contradict his own hermeneutical principles. The author argues that Galileo's position is consistent, (...) especially if one takes into account the historical context of its genesis, that is, in the context of the constant, theologically-inspired attacks on Copernicus and Galileo and his commitment to the heliocentric world system and in the context of his newly-made telescopic observations and discoveries. (shrink)

Es wird gezeigt, daß in der Skizze zum Beweis des 2. Satzes von Gödel dieser eine stillschweigende Voraussetzung macht, die im Widerspruch zu den üblichen Forderungen nach Eindeutigkeit der benutzten Terme steht: Eine und dieselbe Gödelzahl g repräsentiert nämlich einmal den Ausdruck g1: "ein im System k unentscheidbarer Satz" und das andere Mal den Ausdruck g2: "g1 ist in k nicht beweisbar". Beachtet man aber diesen Unterschied, so ist der Widerspruch nicht herleitbar, auf dem der Gödelsche Beweis basiert.

Can mind be modeled as a Turing machine? If you find such questions irrelevant, e.g. because the subject is already exhausted, then you need not read the book Mind versus Computer (Gams et al., 1991). If, on the other hand, you do find such questions relevant, then perhaps you need not read Dunlop's review of the book (Dunlop, 2000). (...).

Following some preliminary intuitions, a view attributing a specific level to sensation in a two levels model of mind is promoted. Some opinions deny the specificity of sensation by claiming either that it is physical or again by implying that it is completely cognitive. Meinong's definition of sensation as a simple perceptual representation originating from peripheric stimulation is reconstructed. France Veber's promotion of the hitting function with its attachment to sensation is derived from this definition by his teacher. Veber ambiguously (...) extends the hitting function to the higher cognitive level. Although he underlines their importance, just like Meinong he does not acknowledge sensations' autonomous level. (shrink)

The problem of reconciling the philosophical denial of ontological vagueness with common-sense beliefs positing vague objects, properties and relations is addressed. This project arises for any view denying ontological vagueness but is especially pressing for transvaluationism, which claims that ontological vagueness is impossible. The idea that truth, for vague discourse and vague thought-content, is an indirect form of language-thought correspondence is invoked and applied. It is pointed out that supervaluationism provides one way, but not necessarily the only way, of implementing (...) the idea of indirect correspondence. (shrink)

Izhodišče analize, kot njeno vlogo dojema Bertrand Russell, še zlasti v obdobju, ko izdela teorijo opisov, je vselej nekaj enostavnega. Od sežete, zapletene strukture nas analiza kot znanstveni model vodi k njenim porizlikovanim, dobro pregledanim delom. Doseči enostavnost na takih osnovah pa pomeni prevzeti nekaj izhodišč: na ontološki predpostavki utemeljeni spoznavni model, razlikovanje med popolnim ter nepopolnimi simboli, itd. Vselej imamo razdelitev med ravnijo enostavnega ter med ravnijo izvedenega, in odločilni model je reprezentacionalističen. Takšen idilični pričetek pa kmalu zadane ob (...) svojo mejo, ki ni nič drugega kot pripoznanje komunikacijske vloge govorice. Se več, paradoks analize bo moral najti svoj ključ v subjektovi izreki: v družbeni vezi. (shrink)

Crude externalist theory of content is realistic and teleologically minded. On its basis, predicate notation can render the content's structure. Davidson's views concerning content are able to refine this theory. They are sophisticated externalist by being based on the implicit rejection of the two claims: the plausibility of the organismenvironment dualism and the utility of epistemic intermediaries. It might be well impossible to defend a plausible version of extemalism without such a kind of refmement.

Avtor v prispevku predstavi okoliščine, ki so spodbudile korespondenco med cambriškim platonistom Henryjem Morom in korposkularnim filozofom Renéjem Descartesom. Morova vprašanja zadevajo številna ključna vprašanja Descartesove filozofije in jih lahko razumemo kot zadnji niz ugovorov, ki jih je glede svoje filozofije prejel Descartes. More naslovi celotno področje filozofije, se pravi metafiziko, fiziko in logiko, odpre pa tudi številne probleme s področja optike in meteorologije. Avtor povzame ta vprašanja, prispevek pa zaključi z opozorilom na vpliv, ki ga je korespondenca imela na (...) mladega Isaaca Newtona in njegov rokopis De gravitatione. (shrink)