Intertemporal choice requires one to decide between smaller sooner and larger later payoffs and is captured by discount rates. Across two preregistered experiments testing three language pairs (Polish vs. English, Spanish, and German; Experiment 1) and with incentivized participants (Experiment 2), we found no evidence that using a foreign language decreased the strength or increased the consistency of intertemporal choices. On the contrary, there was some evidence of stronger discounting when a foreign language was used. We confirmed prior findings that (...) more reflective individuals discount less strongly but observed that they were just as (un)affected by using foreign language as less reflective individuals. Thus, we provide preliminary evidence that the foreign language effect is robust to individual differences in cognitive reflection. (shrink)

This paper offers a critical reconstruction of the motivations that led to the development of mereology as we know it today, along with a brief description of some problems that define current research in the field.

This article proposes a mereological approach to the dao-you relation in the Daodejing. It is claimed here that dao and you can be conceived of as two integrated subregions, defined in terms of rules of composition and their persistence through time. It is shown that dao is an atemporal object (a fourdimensional unrestricted composition), whereas you is a temporal object (a three-dimensional restricted composition). This particular approach can provide a new understanding of essential issues in Daoist metaphysics.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the notion of a Grzegorczyk point introduced in [19] (and thoroughly investigated in [3, 14, 16, 18]) to the standard notions of a filter in Boolean algebras and round filter in Boolean contact algebras. In particular, we compare Grzegorczyk points to filters and ultrafilters of atomic and atomless algebras. We also prove how a certain extra axiom influences topological spaces for Grzegorczyk contact algebras. Last but not least, we do not refrain from (...) a philosophical interpretation of the results from the paper. (shrink)

Advances in analytical understanding of the biosphere’s biogeochemical cycles have spawned concepts of Gaia and noosphere. Earlier in this century, in concert with the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the natural scientist Vladimir Vernadsky developed the notion of noosphere-an evolving collective human consciousness on Earth exerting an ever increasing intluence on biogeochemical processes. More recently, the chemist James Lovelock postulated the Earth to be a self-regulating system made up of biota and their environment with the capacity to maintain a (...) planetary steady state favorable to life. This is the Gaia hypothesis. To many, Gaia and noosphere represent contradictory interpretations of humanity’s relation to planetary ecology. Noosphere emphasizes a free will and obligation to shape the destiny of humanity on Earth through technology and new kinds of social relations. In contrast, Gaia invokes mysterious mechanisms of planetary evolution that lie beyond human control and understanding. I argue that if brought together, noosphere and Gaia can provide a useful symbol for guiding human interventions in global ecology because the contradictions of a nature-centered view of Gaia and a human-centered view of noosphere are coming to be irrelevant with the emergence of an analytical science of the biosphere. (shrink)

In the second installment to Gruszczyński and Pietruszczak we carry out an analysis of spaces of points of Grzegorczyk structures. At the outset we introduce notions of a concentric and \-concentric topological space and we recollect some facts proven in the first part which are important for the sequel. Theorem 2.9 is a strengthening of Theorem 5.13, as we obtain stronger conclusion weakening Tychonoff separation axiom to mere regularity. This leads to a stronger version of Theorem 6.10. Further, we show (...) that Grzegorczyk points are maximal contracting filters in the sense of De Vries, but the converse inclusion is not necessarily true. We also compare the notions of a Grzegorczyk point and an ultrafilter, and establish several properties of topological spaces based on Grzegorczyk structures. The main results of the paper are representation and completion theorems for G-structures. We prove both set-theoretical and topological representation theorems for various classes of G-structures. We also present topological object duality theorem for the class of complete G-structures and the class of concentric spaces, both restricted to structures which satisfy countable chain condition. We conclude the paper with proving equivalence of the original Grzegorczyk axiom with the one accepted by us as axiom. (shrink)

In this article, I discuss parthood status in mereologi- cally interpreted Daoist metaphysics, based on the Daodejing. I depart from the dao and you interrela- tion, which mereologically overlap by sharing parts. I consider the case of a complete overlap, which (a) challenges proper parthood, according to which a part cannot be identical with the whole that it com- poses, and (b) entails the question of identity that, while complying with classical mereology, cannot be consis- tent with Daoist metaphysics. The (...) discussion leads to abandoning proper parthood and antisymmetry axiom from classical axiomatics. It also shows a plausible fur- ther direction for mereological reconstruction. (shrink)

One of the standard axioms for Boolean contact algebras says that if a region __x__ is in contact with the join of __y__ and __z__, then __x__ is in contact with at least one of the two regions. Our intention is to examine a stronger version of this axiom according to which if __x__ is in contact with the supremum of some family __S__ of regions, then there is a __y__ in __S__ that is in contact with __x__. We study (...) a modal possibility operator which is definable in complete algebras in the presence of the aforementioned axiom, and we prove that the class of complete algebras satisfying the axiom is closely related to the class of modal KTB-algebras. We also demonstrate that in the class of complete extensional contact algebras the axiom is equivalent to the statement: _every region is isolated_. Finally, we present an interpretation of the modal operator in the class of the so-called _resolution contact algebras_. (shrink)

The results of the linguistic interpretation should be verified through systemic and purposive methods of interpretation. That process is especially desirable in the cases where the result of the linguistic interpretation is not unequivocal. Whereas, as practice demonstrates, the quality of tax law is not the best, it is impossible to overestimate the role of the non-linguistic method of interpretation. The object of this paper was to present the role which the linguistic interpretation may play in interpreting the tax law. (...) However it was also important to: place the purposive interpretation among the methods of tax law interpretation and to present static and dynamic elements in tax law interpretation. Within the frames of this paper one can find out about historical interpretation of tax law, economic method of tax law interpretation and purposive interpretation directives. The above considerations allow for posit a thesis according to which purposive interpretation is an indispensable element of the process of interpreting a legal text. Its role in the scope of norms of tax law is, however, peculiar, since it serves only to verify the results of linguistic interpretation. However, it can be indicated that the growth in importance of purposive interpretation is direct proportional to the fall in the quality of tax law regulations. (shrink)

Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą wyjaśnienia pojęcia politycznego entuzjazmu, za pomocą którego Immanuel Kant wyraził stosunek do rewolucji francuskiej. Entuzjazm jako czysto rozumowy afekt, a nie jako kolektywnie przeżywana, irracjonalna euforia, pełni w rozważaniach królewieckiego filozofa ważną heurystyczną funkcję. Pozwala mu bowiem uzasadnić pozytywne znaczenie rewolucji, która na poziomie empirycznych faktów okazała się godną moralnego potępienia eskalacją przemocy. W pierwszej części przedstawiono definicję polityki, przydatne w dalszej analizy kategorii entuzjazmu. Głównym punktem odniesienia jest tu teoria polityczna Hannah Arendt. W drugiej części (...) postaram się wyjaśnić dwuznaczną postawę Kanta wobec rewolucji francuskiej, która z punktu widzenia moralnego została przez niego jednoznacznie potępiona, natomiast z punktu widzenia estetycznego i politycznego – oceniana została bardzo pozytywnie. Kluczem do zrozumienia tej ambiwalencji jest kategoria jawnej publiczności. W trzecim rozdziale przechodzę do głównego tematu tego artykułu, czyli kwestii entuzjazm w kontekście politycznym. (shrink)

This article departs from a mereological conceptualization of the Daoist metaphysi- cal system in the Daodejing 道德經. I discuss what parthood status applies to dao 道. Whereas it is quite intuitive that you 有—the region of concrete objects—has parthood relationships and compositions (entities made from parts), the other, undif- ferentiated region, dao, poses a considerable problem. This problem can be charac- terized in the following way: (a) dao cannot be characterized as a particular com- position, which entails that it does (...) not include parts. However, (b) dao underpins compositions in you, which entails that it contains compositions or at least parts that make compositions in you. This generates a problem of how compositions are possi- ble with an undifferentiated ontological foundation. I focus on one possible approach to this problem––mereological nihilism, according to which no composition is pos- sible. Assuming nihilism entails dao composed of mereological simples––funda- mental entities, which are not parts. (shrink)

As it is indicated in the title, this paper is devoted to the problem of defining mereological (collective) sets. Starting from basic properties of sets in mathematics and differences between them and so called conglomerates in Section 1, we go on to explicate informally in Section 2 what it means to join many objects into a single entity from point of view of mereology, the theory of part of (parthood) relation. In Section 3 we present and motivate basic axioms for (...) part of relation and we point to their most fundamental consequences. Next three sections are devoted to formal explication of the notion of mereological set (collective set) in terms of sums, fusions and aggregates. We do not give proofs of all theorems. Some of them are complicated and their presentation would divert the reader’s attention from the main topic of the paper. In such cases we indicate where the proofs can be found and analyzed by those who are interested. (shrink)

This is a spin-off paper to [3, 4] in which we carried out an extensive analysis of Andrzej Grzegorczyk’s point-free topology from [5]. In [1] Loredana Biacino and Giangiacomo Gerla presented an axiomatization which was inspired by the Grzegorczyk’s system, and which is its variation. Our aim is to compare the two approaches and show that they are slightly different. Except for pointing to dissimilarities, we also demonstrate that the theories coincide in presence of axiom stipulating non-existence of atoms.

With material on his early philosophical views, his contributions to set theory and his work on nominalism and higher-order quantification, this book offers a uniquely expansive critical commentary on one of analytical philosophy’s great ...

This article is devoted to the problem of ontological foundations of three-dimensional Euclidean geometry. Starting from Bertrand Russell’s intuitions concerning the sensual world we try to show that it is possible to build a foundation for pure geometry by means of the so called regions of space. It is not our intention to present mathematically developed theory, but rather demonstrate basic assumptions, tools and techniques that are used in construction of systems of point-free geometry and topology by means of mereology (...) and Whitehead-like connection structures. We list and briefly analyze axioms for mereological structures, as well as those for connection structures. We argue that mereology is a good tool to model so called spatial relations. We also try to justify our choice of axioms for connection relation. Finally, we briefly discuss two theories: Grzegorczyk’s point-free topology and Tarski’s geometry of solids. (shrink)

This is an essay in comparative philosophy and philosophy of religion building on the ontological claims espoused by two major thinkers in the Buddhist and Christian philosophical traditions: Nāgārjuna (c. 150–250) and Hegel (1770–1831). I use Nāgārjuna’s fourfold tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi) and Hegel’s threefold dialectic (Dialektik) to propose a novel understanding of the ontological status of the self in its relation to itself and to its other, the no-self. Thus, I apply the tetralemma to the self, arguing that, to attain ontic (...) completion, the self must itself reflect the tetralemmic form in the totality of its being – nothing – both-being-and-nothing – neither-being-nor-nothing. These in turn correspond to the Hegelian in-itself, for-another, both-in-itself-and-for-another, and neither-in-itself-nor-for-another. (shrink)

Author: Michalski Rafał Title: ANCIENT SOURCES OF MEANING OF THE TERM “MIMESIS” (Antyczne źródła pojęcia mimezis) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2005, vol:.5, number: 2005/1, pages: 45-64 Keywords: ‘MIMESIS’, PLATO, PYTHAGORAS Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:In this article I show the evolution of meaning of the term ‘mimesis’ in ancient Greece. I distinguish its two basic meanings: copying (imitation) and expression. The older meaning (mimesis as expression) comes from the Pythagorean (...) tradition, whereas the newer one (mimesis as copying) can be traced back to the philosophy of Plato. Analysis of Plato’s dialogues step by step reveals ambivalence of the notion, and, what is most important, points out how useful it can be in epistemology, philosophy of language, psychology and aesthetics. (shrink)

Legal institutions are created at a certain point in time, intended to be applied to ‘life’ as it is perceived at the specific moment when they are elaborated and cast into legal form. As a result, legal institutions always already refer, in their original design, to a certain normality, but between the moment of creation of a legal institution and its application to future situations there is always a certain time lag. Some legal institutions—referred to in the paper as “legal (...) survivals” –outlive the epoch in which they were created and continue their legal life long after the conditions which lead to their creation had, in the meantime, disappeared. The aim of this paper is to put forward an archaeologico–genealogical perspective on legal survivals not only as a method of studying continuity of law and the resilience of juridical form, but also as a line of enquiry capable of enriching our understanding of the juridical in its relation to the changing circumstances of life. The study of legal survivals allows to combine three aspects of legal continuity: firstly, the continued use of the same legal forms in different circumstances and for different purposes, whereby the same juridical form is filled with different socio-economic substance; secondly, the gradual adaptation of legal forms to new circumstances; thirdly, the emergence of new legal forms in close reference to old ones. The study of legal survivals allows to address the foundations of law’s claims to authority, based on stability and predictability of juridical forms. It also reveals the complex and multilayered nature of legal form which effectively has the structure of a palimpsest. (shrink)

Niniejszy artykuł został poświęcony charakterystyce poglądów wybranych scholastyków i dekretalistów z XIII wieku dotyczących kwestii spożywania w poście słodkich wyrobów aptekarzy, zwanych po łacinie _electuaria_, w angielskiej literaturze przedmiotu znanych jako _electuary_. Autor omówił to zagadnienie, opierając się na analizie fragmentów dzieł autorstwa: Wilhelma z Auxerre (_Summa aurea_, znanym też jako _Summa in IV Sententiarum_), Aleksandra z Hales (_Summa teologii_), Tomasza z Akwinu (_Komentarz do czterech ksiąg Sentencji Piotra Lombarda_ (łac. _Scriptum super libros Sententiarum_) i _Summa teologii_), Innocentego IV (_Commentaria (...) super libros quinque decretalium_) oraz Henryka z Ostii (znanego jako Hostiensis, _Apparatus in Decretales_). Poglądy poszczególnych autorów niniejszej kwestii były zbieżne i sprowadzały się do stwierdzenia, że spożycie elekwarzy w poście jest dopuszczalne, o ile będą traktowane jako słodycze. Każdy z wymienionych autorów używał nieco odmiennych argumentów. I tak Wilhelm z Auxerre wskazał, że przyjmowanie powidełek leczniczych, choć prowadzi do złamania postu, nie skutkuje utratą zasługi, tj. nagrody do życia wiecznego. Aleksander z Hales dokonał analizy typologicznej produktów spożywczych i podzielił je na cztery kategorie, takie jak: lekarstwa, właściwa żywność, lekarstwa pokarmowe i żywność lecznicza. Elekwarze zostały zaliczone do grupy trzeciej i z tego względu mogły być spożywane w poście. Święty Tomasz z Akwinu podkreślił znaczenie czynnika ilościowego i roli walorów smakowych jako kryteriów oceny dopuszczalności spożywania elekwarzy w czasie postu. Zaś zarówno Innocenty IV, jak i Henryk z Suzy (Hostiensis) uwypuklili jedyny warunek spożycia powidełek leczniczych w czasie postu, jakim jest choroba. W konkluzji autor dochodzi do wniosku, że uwaga wybitnych przedstawicieli ówczesnej myśli teologicznej, jak i prawniczej, poświęcona zagadnieniu dopuszczalności spożywania w poście elekwarzy, czyli słodkich wyrobów aptekarskich, stanowiła odpowiedź na zmieniającą się wówczas rolę tego typu wyrobów aptekarskich. Traktowane uprzednio jako lekarstwa na różne dolegliwości (na ogół o podłożu gastrycznym), stawały się słodyczami jedzonymi dla przyjemności i w nadmiarze. Tym samym ich przyjmowanie w czasie postu, czyli umartwiania, rodziło istotny dylemat moralny. W zgodnej opinii zarówno scholastyków, jak i dekretalistów zostały one uznane jako medykamenty i jako takie mogły być przyjmowane w poście. W efekcie ten typ wyrobów aptekarskich, obok kontektów (łac. _confectes_), na trwałe wszedł do menu postnego u schyłku średniowiecza. Co więcej, postrzegane jako produkty postne, cieszyły się rosnącą popularnością, niezależnie od uwarunkowań ówczesnej medycyny, jak i poglądów myślicieli i dekretalistów z XIII wieku. (shrink)

Niniejszy artykuł został poświęcony charakterystyce poglądów wybranych scholastyków i dekretalistów z XIII wieku dotyczących kwestii spożywania w poście słodkich wyrobów aptekarzy, zwanych po łacinie _electuaria_, w angielskiej literaturze przedmiotu znanych jako _electuary_. Autor omówił to zagadnienie, opierając się na analizie fragmentów dzieł autorstwa: Wilhelma z Auxerre (_Summa aurea_, znanym też jako _Summa in IV Sententiarum_), Aleksandra z Hales (_Summa teologii_), Tomasza z Akwinu (_Komentarz do czterech ksiąg Sentencji Piotra Lombarda_ (łac. _Scriptum super libros Sententiarum_) i _Summa teologii_), Innocentego IV (_Commentaria (...) super libros quinque decretalium_) oraz Henryka z Ostii (znanego jako Hostiensis, _Apparatus in Decretales_). Poglądy poszczególnych autorów niniejszej kwestii były zbieżne i sprowadzały się do stwierdzenia, że spożycie elekwarzy w poście jest dopuszczalne, o ile będą traktowane jako słodycze. Każdy z wymienionych autorów używał nieco odmiennych argumentów. I tak Wilhelm z Auxerre wskazał, że przyjmowanie powidełek leczniczych, choć prowadzi do złamania postu, nie skutkuje utratą zasługi, tj. nagrody do życia wiecznego. Aleksander z Hales dokonał analizy typologicznej produktów spożywczych i podzielił je na cztery kategorie, takie jak: lekarstwa, właściwa żywność, lekarstwa pokarmowe i żywność lecznicza. Elekwarze zostały zaliczone do grupy trzeciej i z tego względu mogły być spożywane w poście. Święty Tomasz z Akwinu podkreślił znaczenie czynnika ilościowego i roli walorów smakowych jako kryteriów oceny dopuszczalności spożywania elekwarzy w czasie postu. Zaś zarówno Innocenty IV, jak i Henryk z Suzy (Hostiensis) uwypuklili jedyny warunek spożycia powidełek leczniczych w czasie postu, jakim jest choroba. W konkluzji autor dochodzi do wniosku, że uwaga wybitnych przedstawicieli ówczesnej myśli teologicznej, jak i prawniczej, poświęcona zagadnieniu dopuszczalności spożywania w poście elekwarzy, czyli słodkich wyrobów aptekarskich, stanowiła odpowiedź na zmieniającą się wówczas rolę tego typu wyrobów aptekarskich. Traktowane uprzednio jako lekarstwa na różne dolegliwości (na ogół o podłożu gastrycznym), stawały się słodyczami jedzonymi dla przyjemności i w nadmiarze. Tym samym ich przyjmowanie w czasie postu, czyli umartwiania, rodziło istotny dylemat moralny. W zgodnej opinii zarówno scholastyków, jak i dekretalistów zostały one uznane jako medykamenty i jako takie mogły być przyjmowane w poście. W efekcie ten typ wyrobów aptekarskich, obok kontektów (łac. _confectes_), na trwałe wszedł do menu postnego u schyłku średniowiecza. Co więcej, postrzegane jako produkty postne, cieszyły się rosnącą popularnością, niezależnie od uwarunkowań ówczesnej medycyny, jak i poglądów myślicieli i dekretalistów z XIII wieku. (shrink)

According to contrastivism in epistemology - advocated chiefly by Jonathan Schaffer - the knowledge relation is not binary (s knows that p) but ternary (s knows that p rather than q). Thus knowledge ascriptions are contrast-sensitive. The aim of this paper is to portray, investigate and assess the details of this view. In the first three sections I focus mainly on arguments for contrastivism. Section fourth is devoted to the contrastivist solution to the skeptical puzzle. In the last three sections (...) I present several problems for contrastivism as well as three main binary explanations for contrast-sensitivity. (shrink)

tom I. Między pragmatyką a semantyką -- tom 2. Między semantyką a epistemologią.

Two fundamental features of a liberal political community are usually identified in contemporary deliberations: there is an inevitable pluralism of visions of good and worthy life, blended into a wide range of religious, philosophical and ethical positions; those who are in power are under an obligation to set public matters in such a way as to avoid discrimination of any class of the ruled. In respect of and, it is presumed that the process of enacting, implementing and executing public law (...) shall be separated from any perfectionist moral position, because being impartial when making political decisions is a prerequisite for non-discriminatory politics. This kind of politics looks for proper, convincing and comprehensible reasons to establish a new legal standard of behaviour in the ‘public reason’ – a set of moral statements and political values commonly shared in an open, pluralistic and tolerant society, which does not provide decisive answers to any questions about the meaning of life and does not bring us closer to discover its ideal. This article tries to reproduce the main notions and ideas of leading, contemporary liberal philosophers – John Rawls and Charles Larmore – that deal with the very nature of impartiality of a liberal state and the ability of policymakers to be impartial. It also presents the critical views of Stephen Macedo and Nicholas Wolterstorff, who question the possibility of building a neutral state. (shrink)

Tematem rozważań jest ludzka agresja. Czy agresja jest wrodzona? Jak sposób rozumienia tego, czym jest agresja, wpływa na sposoby radzenia sobie ze szkodliwymi skutkami zachowań agresywnych?

Jerzy Braun (1901–1975) began as a scout activist, in subsequent years he became known as a politician, poet, prose writer, playwright, screenwriter, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian. In the inter-war years he founded and edited the periodicals Gazeta Literacka [Literary Gazette] and Zet, he also headed the Hoene-Wroński Society which propagated the thought of Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński. Under the Nazi occupation he founded and headed the underground organization Unia grouping Poland’s leading intellectuals. Unia propounded a universalistic program of integrating nations (...) and states whose outlines Braun had laid down before the war. Braun’s unionism theory, in which he strove for a harmonious combination of national and universal ideas, was based on 19th-century concepts developed by, among others, Bronisław Trentowski, August Cieszkowski and, of course, Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński. Imprisoned by the communists after the war, in the 1960s Braun attended the Vaticanum II sessions as an unofficial ecumenism expert. (shrink)

This article investigates the structures of an identifiably Buddhist philosophy of religion, understood as the philosophical exposition and exploration of Buddhist religiosity. I thus theorize what forms a philosophy of religion structured according to Buddhist principles and paradigms might take, address various theoretical and methodological considerations, and survey a range of candidate schemas, which latter are arranged under textual, sectarian, and doctrinal rubrics. Overall, this project is undertaken on the understanding that the study of Buddhism, among other global traditions, need (...) not and should not replicate conceptual structures imposed upon it from without, and that philosophy of religion is enriched by attention to the resolutely plural philosophies of religions worldwide. (shrink)

Various government efforts to address the exploitation of street beggars have yet to be fully effective, especially in Medan City. This research aims to explore and understand how the practice of street begging exploitation and its social and economic impacts. The method used is qualitative research with a case study approach. The data was collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussions involving the Medan City government, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders, especially street child beggars. The results showed that (...) the exploitation of street children in Medan City continues to increase, which reflects the problems of poverty and poor child protection. The characteristics of street child beggars in Medan are diverse, with different modes of begging. On the other hand, the Medan City Government has enacted Regional Regulation No. 6 Year 2003 to address this issue, but its implementation could have been more optimal. As the responsible party, the Social Affairs Office of Medan City has made various efforts, such as coaching and rehabilitation, but the number of street children is increasing. This research concludes that a more integrated approach and cooperation with related parties is needed to address the problem of street beggars' exploitation effectively. (shrink)

The present paper puts forward a first outline of a possible agonistic theory of adjudication, conceived of as an extension of Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory of democracy onto the domain of the juridical, and specifically, judicial decision-making. Mouffe’s concept of the political as the dimension of inherent and unalienable conflicts (antagonisms) which, nonetheless, need to be tamed for a pluralist democracy to function, creates an excellent vantage point for a critical theory of adjudication. The paper argues for perceiving all judicial (...) decisions as having a double nature—juridical and political. Cloaked in legal form, judgments nonetheless decide on individual instances of on-going collective conflicts, opposing workers to employers, consumers to traders, tenants to landlords, moral progressives to traditionalists, minorities to majorities and so forth. Judges, when handing down judgments, enjoy a ‘relative sovereignty’, being always already inscribed into the institutional imperatives of the juridical, on one hand, and ideological influences, on the other, but at the same time called upon to decide in the terrain of the undecidable and contingent (after all, law does not ‘apply itself’ on its own). Indeed the determinacy of legal decisions is only relative: in many cases judges can, by performing a sufficient amount of legal interpretive work, reach a conclusion which will be different from theprima facieinterpretation. The collective conflicts of a various nature (economic, ideological, socio-political), once they are juridified, become the object of judicial decisions which, in light of Mouffe’s theory, can be seen as temporary hegemonic fixations. The goal of critical legal scholarship is to destabilise such hegemonies in the name of justice. This can be done not only through an external critique of the law, but also through an internal one. The methodological approach advanced in the latter part of the paper emphasises the need for a critique of judicial decisions based on the consideration of all possible alternative decisions a court could have reached, and their evaluation in the light of conflicting interests and ideologies. (shrink)

Legal probabilism is the view that juridical fact-finding should be modeled using Bayesian methods. One of the alternatives to it is the narration view, according to which instead we should conceptualize the process in terms of competing narrations of what happened. The goal of this paper is to develop a reconciliatory account, on which the narration view is construed from the Bayesian perspective within the framework of formal Bayesian epistemology.

One of the standard views on plural quantification is that its use commits one to the existence of abstract objects–sets. On this view claims like ‘some logicians admire only each other’ involve ineliminable quantification over subsets of a salient domain. The main motivation for this view is that plural quantification has to be given some sort of semantics, and among the two main candidates—substitutional and set-theoretic—only the latter can provide the language of plurals with the desired expressive power (given that (...) the nominalist seems committed to the assumption that there can be at most countably many names). To counter this approach I develop a modal-substitutional semantics of plural quantification (on which plural variables, roughly speaking, range over ways names could be) and argue for its nominalistic acceptability. (shrink)