We present strategies how to reconstruct (estimate) properties of a quantum channel described by the map E based on incomplete measurements. In a particular case of a qubit channel a complete reconstruction of the map E can be performed via complete tomography of four output states E[ρj] that originate from a set of four linearly independent “test” states ρj (j = 1,2,3,4) at the input of the channel. We study the situation when less than four linearly independent states are transmitted (...) via the channel and measured at the output. We present strategies how to reconstruct the channel when just one, two or three states are transmitted via the channel. In particular, we show that if just one state is transmitted via the channel then the best reconstruction can be achieved when this state is a total mixture described by the density operator ρ = I/2. To improve the reconstruction procedure one has to send via the channel more states. The best strategy is to complement the total mixture with pure states that are mutually orthogonal in the sense of the Bloch-sphere representation. We show that unitary transformations (channels) can be uniquely reconstructed (determined) based on the information of how three properly chosen input states are transformed under the action of the channel. (shrink)

Classical philosophical Daoism as it is expressed in the Dao-De-Jing and the Zhuang-Zi is often interpreted as lacking a capacity for critique and resistance. Since these capacities are taken to be central components of Enlightenment reason and action, it would follow that Daoism is incompatible with Enlightenment. This interpretation is being refuted by way of developing a constructive dialogue between the enlightenment traditions of critical theory and recent philosophy of action from a Daoist perspective. Daoism's normative naturalism does neither rest (...) on a primitivist call for a return to the past, nor does it suggest future-directed activism. By way of reconstructing its descriptive, explanatory and emancipatory dimensions, it is shown that Daoism constitutes an alternative form of critical theory. In contrast to future-directed purposive action or blind rule-following, Daoism's key normative concept of "wu-wei" emphasizes effortless non-calculative responsiveness in the present. Drawing on recent insights in the philosophy of action, a reconstruction of wu-wei allows to conceive of a promising form of emancipatory agency. (shrink)

The work of the lay Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain continues to provoke and inspire readers to engage in a Thomistic approach to many of the questions facing the world today. Maritain’s wide-ranging thought touched on many fields, including aesthetics, anthropology, educational theory, moral philosophy, and ethics, as well as Thomism and its relationship to other philosophical stances._ In _Being in the World: A Quotable Maritain Reader_, Mario O. D’Souza, C.S.B., has selected seven hundred and fifty of the most salient quotations (...) found in the English translations of fifty-four works by Jacques Maritain. Organized into forty thematic chapters, ordered alphabetically, the book serves as an overview of the areas that Maritain's writings addressed. By referring to entries in _Being in the World_, readers can quickly locate key passages in Maritain’s writing on a given topic and then turn elsewhere to the full texts for more in-depth study. Complete with a detailed index of key terms, the _Reader _will be an essential reference tool for the study of Maritain in English. "Fr. Mario O. D'Souza's careful selection from the works of Jacques Maritain provides the reader with an invaluable sampling of Maritain's extensive philosophical work. In it, we find examples of Maritain's almost lyrical gift of expression as well as of his trenchant wit. More than a scholarly contribution, the volume also ably serves as an introduction and entrance into Maritain's corpus." — William Sweet, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada_. (shrink)

This interview seeks to highlight some of the main characteristics of the new pandemic world, besides the main contradictions the philosophical thought runs into in this difficult time. Between a political world which is unable to react and the scientific world which is usually moved by political aims, this work tries to understand if there is any room for a role of a long range philosophical thought, which is able to defend its clarity prerogatives but it is also able to (...) speak with other disciplines which seem increasingly deafer. (shrink)

As we will show in the present work, the historical development of pure geometry did not arise as a direct “transition” from practical geometry into pure geometry, at least as these are usually understood. We can discern four phases related to this evolution. Initially, we have practical geometry as applied in ancient Greece and other ancient civilizations. This surveyors’ practical geometry was somewhat transformed in “didactic” contexts when applied to problem-solving. This not-so-practical geometry is the direct antecedent of the first (...) form of pure geometry, that of Hippocrates of Chios. Only afterward did pure geometry, as we usually understand it, emerge. The form of pure geometry that we find in Euclid’s Elements. (shrink)

This book investigates how, from the seventeenth century onward, philosophers, philologists and historians described various world "cultures", colonized the past (or national pasts), and thus invented Europe's philosophical nature. In the recent past, critical discussions concerning notions such as "cultural area" and "area studies", as well as their relativizations by means of conceptions that avoid splitting clearly identified areas (inter alia, "third space", "hybridity", "diaspora", or "cosmopolitism"), drew attention to the long history of cultural territorialization. This book attempts to open (...) the history of philosophy to reflexive and globalizing tendencies elaborated in the field of "world history". From the seventeenth century onward, in both modern Europe and North America, historical sciences - notably philosophical historiography and cultural history - colonized both the past (or national pasts) and the "rest" of the world. The contributions gathered in the present volume address both phenomena to the extent that they have been linked with modern historicization of philosophy, sciences, and culture. (shrink)

El escenario energético de escasez a nivel mundial se empieza a reflejar fuertemente en América Latina. Chile tiene una política energética diseñada en el período dictatorial, y administrada en la democracia, que hace muy vulnerable su economía, su medio ambiente y su seguridad. En este artículo se analizan críticamente los diversos aspectos que inciden fuertemente en el actual escenario energético chileno, sobre todo en lo que respecta a la política de integración con sus vecinos latinoamericanos, desde donde se puede vislumbrar (...) también una solución sustentable a los problemas energéticos futuros. (shrink)

Trata-se, no presente artigo, de analisar as mudanças que historicamente tem ocorrido no EU e as rupturas na apreensâo da realidade. As atuais transformaçoes da realidade teriam levado a um asvaziamento do ser? Ou ainda, a realidade nâo teria mais nada a ver com o sujeito? Como apreender essas transformaçoes? Esta investigaçâo faz-se valer da leitura de Gramsci, por meio da qual a unidade entre se e o pensar aparece como uma possibilidade de superaçao da metafísica do sujeito à elaboraçâo (...) de uma ontología concreta. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta una reflexión sobre el don, la ofrenda y el perdón referida a la relación de comunidad inaugurada por el estar-con-otro-en-el-mundo, en la experiencia de las relaciones de alteridad, donde la hospitalidad, en tanto comprensión de la responsabilidad para con el otro, conlleva la vivencia de una política de la diferencia. Esta propuesta recupera los aportes teóricos de Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy, entre otros.

A single composition from a literary point of view, and considered a hymn within a liturgical context, chapter 17 of John's gospel is a model of prayer as well as a synthesis of revelation and an expression of the totality of God' work. It is called the «priestly prayer» - more because it is an existential key than a cultural one -and Jesus gave it expression at the approach of «his hour» as a colloquy with his Father. It presents a (...) twofold horizon: Jesus's return to the Father and the disciples' remaining in the world. It expresses Jesus's deepest desires: to be glorified for his Father; that the Father take care of those who belong to him; that they may be one; that they may be sanctified in the truth; that they are moving towards Him, where He will be. (shrink)

El autor recoge el versículo 13 del capítulo 19 del Evangelio atribuido a San Mateo reza así : "porque a cualquiera que tiene, le será dado, y tendrá más; pero al que no tiene, aún lo que tiene le será quitado", y lo vincula a la sociología de la ciencia, para a través del "efecto San Mateo" -los investigadores científicos eminentes cosechan aplausos mucho más nutridos, que otros investigadores, menos conocidos, por contribuciones equivalentes- exponer la estratificación social de las comunidades (...) científicas. (shrink)