After more than three centuries, Molyneux's question continues to challenge our understanding of cognition and perceptual systems. Locke, the original recipient of the question, approached it as a theoretical exercise relevant to long-standing philosophical issues, such as nativism, the possibility of common sensibles, and the empiricism-rationalism debate. However, philosophers were quick to adopt the experimentalist's stance as soon as they became aware of recoveries from congenital blindness through ophtalmic surgery. Such recoveries were widely reported to support empiricist positions, suggesting that (...) the question had found its empirical answer. Contrary to this common view, we argue that studies of patients recovering from early blindness through surgery cannot provide an answer. In fact, because of the very nature of such ophtalmological interventions it is impossible to test the question in the empirical conditions outlined by Molyneux. Thus we propose that Molyneux's question be treated as an early thought experiment of a specific kind. Although thought experiments of this kind cannot be turned into actual experimental conditions, they provide a conceptual restructuring of theories. Such restructuring in turn leads to new predictions that can then be tested by normal experiments. In accord with this interpretation, we show that Molyneux's question can be analyzed into a hierarchy of specific questions about vision in its phenomenal and sensory-motor components. Some of these questions do lead to actual experimental conditions that could be studied empirically. (shrink)

Chapter 1 FROM ORDER TO DISORDER 5 mins. John enters and goes into his office. He says something very quickly about having made a bad mistake. He had sent the review of a paper. . . . The rest of the sentence is inaudible. 5 mins.

Philosophical discussions of Molyneux's problem within contemporary philosophy of mind tend to characterize the problem as primarily concerned with the role innately known principles, amodal spatial concepts, and rational cognitive faculties play in our perceptual lives. Indeed, for broadly similar reasons, rationalists have generally advocated an affirmative answer, while empiricists have generally advocated a negative one, to the question Molyneux posed after presenting his famous thought experiment. This historical characterization of the dialectic, however, somewhat obscures the role Molyneux's problem has (...) played in spawning debates within the empiricist tradition. Fortunately, the differences between various empiricist accounts have been widely recognized and discussed among historians of philosophy working on the topic. The focus of the present essay is to develop an interpretation of John Locke's views on Molyneux's problem that best coheres with his other views on human understanding as well as with the predominant scientific opinion about the nature of perception during the period in which he lived. (shrink)

The author of the present paper argues that while trying to explain the institutional success of the science and its broad social impact, it is worth throwing aside the arguments concerning the universal traits of human nature, changes in the human mentality, or transformation of the culture and civilization, such as the development of capitalism or bureaucratic power. In the 16th century no new man emerged, and no mutants with overgrown brains work in modern laboratories. So one must also reject (...) the Great Divide between the cultures of the scientific and pre-scientific and replace it with multiple, uncertain and unexpected ‘not-so-great divides’, which can be described in meticulous anthropological studies. Although the achievements of science are certainly spectacular, and the gap between scientific practice and other areas of activity is so obvious, this does not mean that one must look for the \"great\" reasons behind this situation. One should rather focus on quite down-to-earth practices and tools used by scientists. A significant part of their activities can be described by referring to the craft of writing, reading and transforming of various types of inscriptions (records), and broadly understood visualization – their combining, performing, interpreting, confronting, comparing, shifting, shuffling etc. The important role of these tools and methods is especially visible in situations of scientific controversy. It is so because scientific controversies are won by the one able to muster on the spot the largest number of well aligned and faithful allies, and the technology of writing, printing and visualizing play a special role in mobilizing them. These are necessary to ensure that certain factors can be mobile – easy to move from place to place, and yet, immutable – not undergoing deformation as a result of the movement. This way, scientists are able to not only diffuse different types of factors relevant to the dispute and the process of constituting science, but also concentrate them in the centers of calculation, where, through accumulation, one can take actions not available elsewhere. (shrink)

Résumé La publication de l’ Enquête sur les modes d’existence (La découverte 2012), peut être quelque peu éclairée par un bref retour en arrière sur les étapes successives de cette anthropologie des Modernes commencée un quart de siècle auparavant. L’article reprend donc le cheminement intellectuel, commencé avec l’exégèse biblique puis continué dans « l’exégèse » des sciences et des techniques, qui a mené peu à peu à la présente enquête.

Here are two plausible ideas about belief. First: beliefs are our means of storing information. Second: if we believe something, then we are willing to use it in reasoning. But in this paper I introduce a puzzle that seems to show that these cannot both be right. The solution, I argue, is a new picture, on which there is a kind of belief for each idea. An account of these two kinds of belief is offered in terms of two components: (...) a relatively stable one, which represents our information; and a more variable one, which represents what we are taking seriously. I also consider the possibility of solving the puzzle by less radical means; and an alternative argument for the proposed account of belief in terms of considerations from desire. (shrink)

In the Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant diagnoses an antinomy of taste: either determinate concepts exhaust judgments of taste or they do not. That is to say, judgments of taste are either objective and public or subjective and private. On the objectivity thesis, aesthetic value is predicable of objects. But determining the concepts that would make a judgment of taste objective is a vexing matter. Who can say which concepts these would be? To what authority does one appeal? (...) On the subjectivity thesis, aesthetic value is not predicable of objects. But this threatens judgments of taste with a sort of relativism. Can we not firmly assert the aesthetic value of any object? Have we no authority to make criticisms of taste? Following John McDowell’s “Aesthetic Value, Objectivity and the Fabric of the World”, I will hold that aesthetic value is neither objective nor subjective, but rather intersubjective. But, contra McDowell, I will argue that the validity that intersubjective aesthetic value bestows on judgments of taste must assume an indeterminate absolute conception of reality, of the world as it is in itself. Only such a conceptual resource can in turn make intelligible the notion of a shared or common sense according to which a judgment of taste can be universally valid, that is, valid for all subjects. Finally, I will consider an objection to common sense in matters of taste. (shrink)

If we accept the Socratic edict that the examined life is the only worth living, we find no examination can exclude that mortal fate of human life. If we define a philosophical problem as, in Hans Jonas’ words, “the collision between a comprehensive view (be it hypothesis or belief) and a particular fact which will not fit into it”, we see there can be no greater problem for materialism or organicism than the corpse. That living things die is a problem (...) for a view on which only a figment of the imagination differentiates organic from inorganic matter, as for a view on which life is rational and eternal. For any systematic view, the body is a constant reminder of an acceptable answer to the question 'what is being'. This is because the body that can die is the ultimate explanatory task for any principled answer to this question. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to discuss Lacan’s phrase in the title so as to show not only that the reality of the unconscious is problematic and requires an ethical approach but also that such an approach is recommended to psychoanalytical practice in general. Psychoanalysis would then be conceived as an ethics of the real – of the encounter with the traumatic, the critical or or the unassimilable.

Cusanus hatte es in seinem Leben und in seinem Werk mit einer Fulle von Konflikten verschiedenster Art zu tun: juristische, kirchenpolitische, philosophische und theologische Konflikte. Gibt es Prinzipien, die Nikolaus von Kues bei den jeweiligen Konfliktlosungen leiteten? Der Verfasser bejaht diese Frage und subsumiert abschliessend die erarbeiteten Prinzipien unter den Begriff <I>ordo im Sinne des Titels der Arbeit.".

In recent decades, there has been widespread debate in the human and social sciences regarding the compatibility and the relative merits of quantitative and qualitative approaches in research. In psychiatry, depending on disciplines and traditions, objects of study can be represented either in words or using two types of mathematization. In the latter case, the use of mathematics in psychiatry is most often only local, as opposed to global as in the case of classical mechanics. Relationships between these objects of (...) study can in turn be explored in three different ways: 1/ by a hermeneutic process, 2/ using statistics, the most frequent method in psychiatric research today, 3/ using equations, i.e. using mathematical relationships that are formal and deterministic. The 3 ways of representing entities (with language, locally with mathematics or globally with mathematics) and the 3 ways of expressing the relationships between entities (using hermeneutics, statistics or equations) can be combined in a cross-tabulation, and nearly all nine combinations can be described using examples. A typology of this nature may be useful in assessing which epistemological perspectives are currently dominant in a constantly evolving field such as psychiatry, and which other perspectives still need to be developed. It also contributes to undermining the overly simplistic and counterproductive beliefs that accompany the assumption of a Manichean “quantitative/qualitative” dichotomy. Systematic examination of this set of typologies could be useful in indicating new directions for future research beyond the quantitative/qualitative divide. (shrink)

"Chronicles crucial period in recent Northeast history when Tasso Ribeiro Jereissati was in his first term as governor of Ceara and Ciro Ferreira Gomes was elected mayor of Fortaleza. Purely descriptive, yet valuable as a record of the popular administration that turned Ceara away from traditional clientelistic politics"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

This paper analyses whether the aggregation of individual happiness scores to a National Happiness Index can still be trusted once governments have proclaimed their main objective to be the pursuit—or even maximization—of this National Happiness Index. The answer to this investigation is clear-cut: as soon as the National Happiness Index has become a policy goal, it can no longer be trusted to reflect people’s true happiness. Rather, the Index will be systematically distorted due to the incentive for citizens to answer (...) strategically and the incentive for government to manipulate the Index in its favour. Such a distortion would arise even if the measurement of subjective well-being correctly reflected actual happiness before the intervention of government. Governments in a democracy should establish the conditions enabling individuals to become happy. The valuable and important results of happiness research should be introduced into the political process. Each person should be free to pursue happiness according to his or her preferences. This process is supported by obedience to the rule of law, human rights and free media, as well as by extended political participation rights, decentralized public decision-making, an open and effective education system fostering upward mobility and the possibility to find suitable employment. (shrink)

La question de la spécificité du noème perceptuel et de sa relative autonomie à l?égard du noème conceptuel, question qui a occupé tout un pan des réflexions husserliennes depuis ses premiers travaux dans la proximité de Carl Stumpf jusqu?à ses ultimes recherches sur les synthèses perceptives du monde de la vie, mais qui a aussi retenu l?attention principale de certains héritiers de Husserl comme Aron Gurwitsch ou Maurice Merleau-Ponty, pourrait bien constituer aujourd?hui la clé d?une préoccupation qui fut quant à (...) elle centrale dans la philosophie analytique du xx e siècle, celle des rôles respectifs de la référence directe et de la description dans l?identification des objets du discours et du monde. Des objets qui meublent le monde actuel et les mondes possibles 1 À l?analyse frégéenne, qui accordait aux termes singuliers aussi bien qu?aux termes conceptuels tout à la fois un sens ( Sinn ) et une signification ( Bedeutung ) ? les expressions « l?astre brillant du matin » et « l?astre brillant du soir » ont la même signification puisqu?elles désignent le même objet (Vénus), mais pas le même sens puisqu?elles ne le visent pas de la même façon 2 ?, Russell avait répondu en affirmant précisément le caractère conceptuel de ces termes singuliers « descriptifs » qui ont un sens et qui identifient leur objet à travers lui, et en les opposant aux authentiques noms propres comme « Vénus ». (shrink)

SOMMAIRE La critique du pragmatisme comme psychologisme La phénoménologie malgré l?antipsychologisme La théorie des actes de conscience Le retour de la praxis.

Cette communication s'interroge sur l'évaluation des dispositifs d'accompagnement à la scolarité et, plus largement, sur l'évaluation des projets qui gravitent autour de la notion de réussite éducative. Après avoir défini l'accompagnement à la scolarité et les principes de l'évaluation externe, quelques résultats sur l'efficacité des actions sont rappelés. Pour conclure, les enjeux actuels de l'évaluation des politiques de réussite éducative sont exposés ainsi que des propositions sur l'adaptation de la méthodologie de l'évaluation.

The crises of neo-liberalism, modalities of revolt and adaptability The aim of the article is to locate the current crisis within the history of neo-liberalism with its successive crises. The authors point to the fact that the crisis is the latest in a series of financial and economic crises, to which must be added energy and food crises. The article analyses the social effects of neo-liberalism by way of its return to a logic focused on the production of absolute surplus-value, (...) following the revolt of the financial bourgeoisie against the social State. It concludes with an examination of the effects of the various forms of resistance to neo-liberalism upon the modes of legitimation that are in operation. Focusing in particular on the situation in France, the article argues that the reactions to the crisis, between revolt and resignation, are to be explained by way of the structural effects of neo-liberalism and in terms of the crisis of legitimation now affecting it. (shrink)

Ανέκδοτα ψηφίσματα από τη Λάρισσα (3) Συνεχίζοντας τις δΰο προηγούμενες δημοσιεύσεις που αφορούσαν σε ψηφίσματα της Λάρισσας (BCH 128-129 (2005), p. 377-417 ; BCH 130 (2006) [20081, Ρ· 435-483), παρουσιάζουμε εδώ μια τρίτη στήλη, η οποία φέρει τρία κείμενα: δύο ψηφίσματα της Λάρισσας, που ψηφίστηκαν κατά τη διάρκεια της στρατηγείας του Παυσανία, υιού του Θρασυμήδη από τις Φέρες (περίπου 130/129 π. Χ.), το ένα για έναν Αθηναίο φιλόσοφο και το άλλο για τρεις πολίτες της Κω· ένα τρίτο ψήφισμα προέρχεται από (...) τη Συνομοσπονδία των Μολοσσών και ανταμοίβει δικαστές από τη Λάρισσα, οι οποίοι εστάλησαν στην Ήπειρο για να διαιτητεύσουν σε μια διαμάχη μεταξύ Μολοσσών και Ακαρνάνων. Τα κείμενα αυτά, γραμμένα σε θεσσαλική διάλεκτο, η οποία την εποχή εκείνη χρησίμευε στη μεταγραφή εγγράφων της καγκελλαρίας των ελληνιστικών πόλεων σε μια γλώσσα που χάνει προοδευτικά τη συνοχή και την ιδιομορφία της και καταλήγει να διατηρεί μόνο μια «θεσσαλίζουσα» απόχρωση, έχουν αξία για την ιστορία της Λάρισσας, αφού αναφέρονται στην πνευματική ζωή και σε ορισμένες εκφάνσεις των πολιτικών ή οικονομικών δραστηριοτήτων των Λαρισσαίων στο δεύτερο μισό του 2ου αι. π. Χ. (shrink)

The texts of the book are concerned with G. Bergmann's open and new problems and their active role on issues in contemporary metaphysics, like the ontology of ties, connexions and relations, problems of exemplification, substrates and tropes theories, particulars, persistence and the metaphysics of space, time and existence. Papers deal with these themes by themselves, or discuss them in an associated way: some of them aim to clarify the complicated conceptual Relations Bergmann have enlarged with major themes of philosophers like (...) Aristotle, Brentano, Meinong and Sellars. The purpose of the book is to provide some light on his central interests, but also in regard of the evolution of the actual scope of his thought. (shrink)

Im Gegensatz zu einer verbreiteten Sichtweise seiner politischen Philosophie sieht Aristoteles gerade in einer mangelhaften oder bruchigen Ordnung das Hauptproblem seiner Zeit. Diese Studie legt eine Deutung vor, die bei den aristotelischen Leitgedanken der Rechtsordnung und der politischen Freundschaft ansetzt und dabei sowohl die normative Dimension als auch den machtpolitischen Realismus dieser Uberlegungen angemessen wurdigt. Diese Arbeit wurde von der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften im Jahr 2018 mit dem Bohlaupreis ausgezeichnet.

Political philosophy reduced man to a speaking being and forgot his old trade with nature. We discover back this trade, as a political object, an issue for militancy, and we don’t believe any longer in mankind power.

Dieser Text beschreibt die besondere Existenzweise und Operationalität des Rechts, das nicht von externen sozialen Faktoren determiniert wird, dessen Autonomie aber auch nicht die eines Subsystems ist. Was es in seiner absichtsvollen Oberflächlichkeit leisten kann, ist eine besondere Form der Verbindung: Seine Enunziationsform verknüpft alle Äußerungen und Handlungen so, dass sie eindeutig einem Sprechenden und Handelnden zugeordnet werden können: Dies ist der ununterbrochene Faden, mit dem es Menschen, Güter, Orte, Zeit, Beschlüsse etc. zusammenhält. The text describes the specific mode of (...) existence and operation of Law, which is not determined by external social factors, nor is its autonomy that of a subsystem. Its deliberate super ciality achieves a particular form of cohesion: Its form of enunciation connects utterances and actions in such a way that they can be assigned unambiguously to a single speaker and actor. This is the undisrupted thread which binds men, goods, locations, time, resolutions, etc. (shrink)