We look at two fundamental logical processes, often intertwined in planning and problem solving: inference and update. Inference is an internal process with which we uncover what is implicit in the information we already have. Update, on the other hand, is produced by external communication, usually in the form of announcements and in general in the form of observations, giving us information that might not have been available (even implicitly) before. Both processes have received attention from the logic community, usually (...) separately. In this work, we develop a logical language that allows us to describe them together. We present syntax, semantics and a complete axiom system; we discuss similarities and differences with other approaches and mention how the work can be extended. (shrink)

Classical epistemic logic describes implicit knowledge of agents about facts and knowledge of other agents based on semantic information. The latter is produced by acts of observation or communication that are described well by dynamic epistemic logics. What these logics do not describe, however, is how significant information is also produced by acts of inference— and key axioms of the system merely postulate "deductive closure". In this paper, we take the view that all information is produced by acts, and hence (...) we also need a dynamic logic of inference steps showing what effort on the part of the agent makes a conclusion explicit knowledge. Strong omniscience properties of agents should be seen not as static idealizations, but as the result of dynamic processes that agents engage in. This raises two questions: (a) how to define suitable information states of agents and matching notions of explicit knowledge, (b) how to define natural processes over these states that generate new explicit knowledge. To this end, we use a static base from the existing awareness literature, extending it into a dynamic system that includes traditional acts of observation, but also adding and dropping formulas from the current ' awareness' set. We give a completeness theorem, and we show how this dynamics updates explicit knowledge. Then we extend our approach to multi-agent scenarios where awareness changes may happen privately. Finally, we mention further directions and related approaches. Our contribution can be seen as a ' dynamification' of existing awareness logics. (shrink)

Epistemic logic with its possible worlds semantic model is a powerful framework that allows us to represent an agent’s information not only about propositional facts, but also about her own information. Nevertheless, agents represented in this framework are logically omniscient: their information is closed under logical consequence. This property, useful in some applications, is an unrealistic idealisation in some others. Many proposals to solve this problem focus on weakening the properties of the agent’s information, but some authors have argued that (...) solutions of this kind are not completely adequate because they do not look at the heart of the matter: the actions that allow the agent to reach such omniscient state. Recent works have explored how acts of observation, inference, consideration and forgetting affect an agent’s implicit and explicit knowledge; the present work focuses on acts that affect an agent’s implicit and explicit beliefs. It starts by proposing a framework in which these two notions can be represented, and then it looks into their dynamics, first by reviewing the existing notion of belief revision, and then by introducing a rich framework for representing diverse forms of inference that involve both knowledge and beliefs. (shrink)

Through a discussion with current perspectives in philosophy of history and a rigorous reading of his oeuvre this book highlights the possibilities of the best Marx in terms of his capacity to account for the development of spatiotemporally complex societies.

Este libro ofrece una imprescindible riqueza de perspectivas sobre el aspecto más problemático -que coincide con el menos tratado por los investigadores. de la obra de F. Nietzsche (1844-1990): la cuestión política. Nuestro reto de cara al Centenario de su muerte fue encarar lo que suele escamotearse. Y, al menos en este país, así ha sido por regla general. bien porque Nietzsche era "apolítico", otra forma más, como en el caso de otros pensadores, de situarlo universitariamente a la derecha, ángulo (...) desde el que se le importaba, ya porque, consigna progresista y transición filosófica, había que poner esta última interpretación en su sitio y demostrarle al mundo que Nietzsche había sido "utilizado erróneamente" por el totalitarismo nazi, el caso es que ya porque nos repugnaba moralmente aquella lectura, ya porque de tanto estar en favor de Nietzsche tampoco lo leíamos, cuestiones fundamentales de su obra y, por qué no decirlo, irritantes tanto para la derecho como para la izquierda, quedaron piadosamente salvadas. Y ahora ¿qué?... Los trabajos aquí presentados, nacionales e internacionales, han sido rigurosamente seleccionados. (shrink)

François Mauriac desarrolló fundamentalmente su producción literaria en la primera mitad del siglo pasado, un periodo marcado por las dos Guerras Mundiales en una Francia en creciente proceso de secularización. Así las cosas, con motivo del cincuenta aniversario de su fallecimiento la pretensión de este trabajo es hacer emerger la figura de Mauriac como apologeta que, desde el ámbito literario, defendió algunos de los principales postulados católicos cuestionados por el alma moderna. En efecto, el premio Nobel de literatura pertenece a (...) esa constelación de autores católicos que, profundizando en las raíces del Cristianismo, intentan dar una salida a la crisis de la Modernidad, cimentada fundamentalmente en el positivismo y el materialismo. De hecho, veremos cómo plantea el problema del mal en el mundo y la solución al mismo desde el ámbito de la caridad por medio de mártires inmolados. Asimismo, asistiremos a la crítica sistemática del novelista francés contra el antitestimonio cristiano o contra el fariseísmo religioso como elementos clave de su pedagogía apologética. (shrink)

Con el objetivo de esbozar una ontología del presente, este artículo sigue las transformaciones de la antropología en México en busca de sus condiciones políticas y epistémicas de enunciación. El gobierno mexicano del siglo XIX dedicó mútliples esfuerzos poblar correctamente el territorio, es decir, con una población sana, educada y civilizada. A principios del siglo XX, las políticas indigenistas promovieron la aculturación de los pueblos indígenas, pero esta aculturación fue luego denunciada como etnocida por una nueva generación de antropólogos, defensores (...) del indigenismo autogestivo y, más tarde, de la valorización de las identidades como capital humano por la metodología neoliberal. El evolucionismo científico dio paso a un paradigma comunicacional, fundamento epistémico de muchas políticas contemporáneas. Es la encarnación misma del tema foucaltiano de la muerte del Hombre como forma de saber, y la ilustración de una nueva episteme. (shrink)

Física mecanista y campo electromagnético.--La teoría de la relatividad.--La teoría de los quanta.

Hans Kelsen, juspositivista austríaco, e Herman Dooyeweerd, jusfilósofo cristão neerlandês, foram pensadores contemporâneos que desenvolveram importantes reflexões sobre a relação entre Estado e direito. -/- Esse livro, além de apresentar e comparar suas perspectivas, analisa os comprometimentos teóricos e os problemas políticos e jurídicos do pensamento de Hans Kelsen a partir da filosofia de Herman Dooyeweerd. -/- A obra pode contribuir para as discussões contemporâneas acerca da relação entre Estado e direito e suas consequências para a teorização sobre política e (...) justiça em uma sociedade plural. (shrink)

A filosofia político-social de Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977) ainda é pouco conhecida no Brasil. Esse livro, resultado de minhas pesquisas no Mestrado de Filosofia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, apresenta e discute a perspectiva teórica dooyeweerdiana sobre a ordem de uma sociedade complexa. A filosofia de Herman Dooyeweerd pode contribuir para a reflexão e ação cristã em uma sociedade moderna e plural. Em Dooyeweerd, é possível encontrar uma teoria política e social abrangente para pensar e atuar no ambiente público, rejeitando orientações (...) ideológicas secularistas. Herman Dooyeweerd pode nos ajudar a refletir sobre política e sociedade na medida em que nos faz reconhecer princípios estruturais na realidade criada por Deus que estruturam cada esfera e relação social em seu âmbito de soberania. Em contraponto ao positivismo e ao historicismo, Dooyeweerd nos indica caminhos para compreender as normas divinas para cada centímetro quadrado da existência. Além de denunciar o comprometimento religioso do imanentismo das ideologias políticas, Dooyeweerd tem muito a dizer sobre como pensar política e sociedade na ordem da história. (shrink)

It has been argued that neural data are an especially sensitive kind of personal information that could be used to undermine the control we should have over access to our mental states, and therefore need a stronger legal protection than other kinds of personal data. The Morningside Group, a global consortium of interdisciplinary experts advocating for the ethical use of neurotechnology, suggests achieving this by treating legally ND as a body organ. Although the proposal is currently shaping ND-related policies, it (...) is not clear what its conceptual and legal basis is. Treating legally something as something else requires some kind of analogical reasoning, which is not provided by the authors of the proposal. In this paper, I will try to fill this gap by addressing ontological issues related to neurocognitive processes. The substantial differences between ND and body organs or organic tissue cast doubt on the idea that the former should be covered by bodily integrity. Crucially, ND are not constituted by organic material. Nevertheless, I argue that the ND of a subject s are analogous to neurocognitive properties of her brain. I claim that s’ ND are a ‘medium independent’ property that can be characterized as natural semantic personal information about her brain and that s’ brain not only instantiates this property but also has an exclusive ontological relationship with it: This information constitutes a domain that is unique to her neurocognitive architecture. (shrink)

The extent to which English law remedies injury to autonomy as a stand-alone actionable damage in negligence is disputed. In this article I argue that the remedy available is not only partial and inconsistent but also gendered and discriminatory against women. I first situate the argument within the broader feminist critique of tort law as failing to appropriately remedy gendered harms, and of law more broadly as undervaluing women’s interest in reproductive autonomy. I then show by reference to English remedies (...) law’s first principles how imposed motherhood cases—Rees v Darlington and its predecessor McFarlane v Tayside Health Board—result in gender injustice when compared with other autonomy cases such as Chester v Afshar and Yearworth v North Bristol NHS Trust: A minor gender-neutral ITA is better remedied than the significant gendered harm of imposing motherhood on the claimant; men’s reproductive autonomy is protected to a greater extent than women’s; women’s reproductive autonomy is protected by an exceptional, derisory award. Worst of all, courts refuse to recognise imposed motherhood as detriment; and the deemed, mansplained, nonpecuniary joys of motherhood are used to offset pecuniary upkeep costs, forcing the claimant into a position she sought to avoid and thus further undermining her autonomy. The recent Singaporean case ACB v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd, awarding compensation for undermining the claimant’s genetic affinity in an IVF wrong-sperm-mix-up demonstrates some improvement in comparison to English law, and some shared gender injustices in the context of reproductive autonomy. ACB’s analysis is oblivious to the nature of reproductive autonomy harm as gendered; and prioritises the father’s interest in having genetic affinity with the baby over a woman’s interest in not having motherhood imposed upon her. (shrink)

This work proposes an understanding of deductive, default and abductive reasoning as different instances of the same phenomenon: epistemic dynamics. It discusses the main intuitions behind each one of these reasoning processes, and suggest how they can be understood as different epistemic actions that modify an agent’s knowledge and/or beliefs in a different way, making formal the discussion with the use of the dynamic epistemic logic framework. The ideas in this paper put the studied processes under the same umbrella, thus (...) highlighting their relationship and allowing a better understanding of how they interact together. (shrink)

Belief revision is concerned with belief change fired by incoming information. Despite the variety of frameworks representing it, most revision policies share one crucial feature: incoming information outweighs current information and hence, in case of conflict, incoming information will prevail. However, if one is interested in representing the way actual humans revise their beliefs, one might not always want for the agent to blindly believe everything they are told. This manuscript presents a semantic approach to non-prioritized belief revision. It uses (...) plausibility models for depicting an agent’s beliefs, and model operations for displaying the way beliefs change. The first proposal, semantically-based screened revision, compares the current model with the one the revision would yield, accepting or rejecting the incoming information depending on whether the ‘differences’ between these models go beyond a given threshold. The second proposal, semantically-based gradual revision, turns the binary decision of acceptance or rejection into a more general setting in which a revision always occurs, with the threshold used rather to choose ‘the right revision’ for the given input and model. (shrink)

Two justifications of backward induction (BI) in generic perfect information games are formulated using Bonanno's (1992; Theory and Decision 33, 153) belief systems. The first justification concerns the BI strategy profile and is based on selecting a set of rational belief systems from which players have to choose their belief functions. The second justification concerns the BI path of play and is based on a sequential deletion of nodes that are inconsistent with the choice of rational belief functions.