We reconsider the nonlocal aspects of quantum mechanics with special reference to the EPR argument. We first confine our considerations to the correlations between the outcomes of measurements on spatially distant constituents, without worrying about the measurement problem. We pay particular attention to the relativistic aspects of the problem. Our first conclusion is that, when developed along the lines we follow, the EPR inference that quantum correlations and locality together imply incompleteness, is appropriate. We then investigate whether the other common (...) conclusion from the EPR argument, i.e. that standard quantum theory implies a spooky action at a distance, is correct. We emphasize the crucial role played by the locality assumption and we discuss the use of counterfactuals in the ‘relativistic’ reformulation of the EPR argument. We show that the above conclusion is false if understood as saying that standard quantum theory exhibits, at least with reference to possessed elements of physical reality, some sort of parameter dependence. Thus, in a sense, the coexistence of quantum mechanics with relativity is even more peaceful than commonly thought. We then go through a similar analysis by taking explicitly into account the measurement process. We point out the difficulties which one meets when confronting reduction mechanisms with relativistic requirements. This leads us to recognize the necessity of reconsidering the criteria for attributing objective properties to individual physical systems. Our final conclusion is that, in principle, it is perfectly possible to build up theories leading to the objectification of macroscopic properties which do not imply any spooky action at a distance. (shrink)

The AGM paradigm for belief revision provides a very elegant and powerful framework for reasoning about idealized agents. The paradigm assumes that the modeled agent is a perfect reasoner with infinite memory. In this paper we propose a framework to reason about non-ideal agents that generalizes the AGM paradigm. We first introduce a structure to represent an agent's belief states that distinguishes different status of beliefs according to whether or not they are explicitly represented, whether they are currently active and (...) whether they are fully accepted or provisional. Then we define a set of basic operations that change the status of beliefs and show how these operations can be used to model agents with different capacities. We also show how different operations of belief change described in the literature can be seen as special cases of our theory. (shrink)

Gadamer pretende realizar uma defesa da tradição, reabilitando-a no cenário filosófico como elemento fundamental do conhecimento em geral. Para tanto, o filósofo procura refutar a tese de que os sentidos herdados constituem uma determinação acrítica de nossas compreensões. Como mostraremos, a resposta gadameriana a tal problema deve ser extraída da sua análise da linguagem, que podemos encontrar, de maneira especial, na terceira parte de Verdade e Método . Assim, esta análise condicionaria a verdadeira reabilitação da tradição, uma vez que o (...) estudo do fenômeno da compreensão levaria Gadamer a considerar linguagem e compreensão como essencialmente relacionados. (shrink)

We frequently hear that we live in an age of anxiety, from 'therapy culture', the Atkins diet and child anti-depressants to gun culture and weapons of mass destruction. While Hollywood regularly cashes in on teenage anxiety through its Scream franchise, pharmaceutical companies churn out new drugs such as Paxil to combat newly diagnosed anxieties. On Anxiety takes a fascinating, psychological plunge behind the scenes of our panic stricken culture and into anxious minds, asking who and what is responsible. Putting anxiety (...) on the couch, Renata Salecl asks some much-needed questions: Is anxiety about the absence of authority or too much of it? Do the media report anxiety or create it? Are drugs a cure for anxiety or its cause? Is anxiety about being yourself or someone else, and is anxiety really the ultimate obstacle to happiness? Drawing on vivid examples from films such as the X Files and Cyrano de Bergerac , drugs used on soldiers to combat anxiety, the anxieties of love and motherhood, and fake Holocaust memoirs, Renata Salecl argues that what really produces anxiety is the attempt to get rid of it. Erudite and compelling, On Anxiety is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology and the cultural phenomenon of anxiety today. (shrink)

Choice explores how late capitalism_s shrill exhortations to _be oneself_ can be a tyranny which only leads to ever-greater disquiet.Drawing on diverse examples ...

The standard theory of belief revision was developed to describe how a rational agent should change his beliefs in the presence of new information. Many interesting tools were created, but the concept of rationality was usually assumed to be related to classical logics. In this paper, we explore the fact that the logical tools used can be extended to other sorts of logics, as proved in (Hansson and Wassermann, 2002), to describe models that are closer to the rationality of a (...) real agent. (shrink)

It has been argued that belief in free will is socially consequential and psychologically universal. In this paper we look at the folk concept of free will and its critical assessment in the context of recent psychological research. Is there a widespread consensus about the conceptual content of free will? We compared English “free will” with its lexical equivalents in Lithuanian, Hindi, Chinese and Mongolian languages and found that unlike Lithuanian, Chinese, Hindi and Mongolian lexical expressions of “free will” do (...) not refer to the same concept free will. What kind people have been studied so far? A review of papers indicate that, overall, 91% of participants in studies on belief in free will were WEIRD. Thus, given that free will has no cross-culturally universal conceptual content and that most of the reviewed studies were based on WEIRD samples, belief in free will is not a psychological universal. (shrink)

This essay is William Grassie's valedictory remarks at the Metanexus Institute's 2007 Annual Conference. Grassie asks what is wrong with religion, what is wrong with science, and why the constructive engagement of the two holds the key to setting things right. He cites Sir John Templeton and others to make his case and proposes a new curriculum for general science education that uses the history of nature as a mnemonic and context for promoting better science literacy and the incorporation of (...) science into our cultural traditions. (shrink)

_Background:_ Several studies have shown a connection between mothers with postnatal depression (PND) and emotional-behavioral problems in their children. Mothers’ psychopathology may impair interactional patterns with children and these outcomes can be influenced by father’s psychopathological symptoms. The primary aim of the study was to assess over time parent-infant interaction in families where mothers have experienced PND and have received psychological treatment during the child’s first year of life considering the severity of parents’ psychopathological symptoms and children’s temperament. _Methods:_ Three (...) groups of families were involved: families with mothers with PND wherein both parents followed a psychological treatment (TxMF); families with mothers affected by PND wherein only the mother followed the treatment (TxM) and control families wherein the mothers did not have a psychopathological diagnosis and did not receive any treatment (Con). The families were assessed at two time points through Symptom Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Questionari Italiani Temperamento (QUIT) and the video-recorded procedure observing mealtime Scala di Valutazione Interazioni Alimentari (SVIA). _Results:_ Parents in the TxMF group had significantly lower SVIA scores (i.e., less maladaptive) at T2. TxMF group scored lower at T2 at SCL-90-R, whereas TxM showed no significant differences between T1 and T2. Involvement of fathers in the treatment was important to improve the psychopathological symptoms of both parents and the quality of interactions with their children. (shrink)

A relação entre o sublime e a arte, a princípio, soa natural e certa, mas ao longo do século XVIII algumas teorias afastaram essa categoria da produção artística. Foram décadas notadamente frutíferas nas questões sobre o sublime, período em que não só o sublime recebe seu título de categoria estética como destacadamente participa das questões epistemológicas da recém cunhada disciplina Estética. Nesse cenário, alguns pensadores se voltam exclusivamente para o sublime natural. Esse artigo procurará mostrar o caminho percorrido por esse (...) conceito a partir da recepção pelos ingleses, em 1689, do tratado sobre retórica do século I d.C. intitulado Peri Hypsos, traduzido por Boileu-Despréaux como Sobre o Sublime e atribuído ao crítico grego Cassius Longinus. Visitaremos as teorias de pensadores como Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke e Immanuel Kant, que apontam para o sublime exclusivamente como contemplação da natureza, e encerraremos essa jornada na reinserção do drama trágico na categoria sublime por Friedrich Schiller. Fecha-se, dessa forma, o que chamamos aqui de “ciclo do sublime natural”, que se inicia na leitura característica dos britânicos empiristas, encontra sua mais bem acabada teoria na terceira Crítica kantiana e se encerra no trabalho teórico e literário do poeta de Weimar. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene como objeto de estudio la concepción sobre fotografía que desarrolló el grupo LEF. El estudio muestra que sus miembros, pese a sus diferencias teóricas, abogaron por una noción de la imagen fotográfica como texto visual siguiendo con los lineamientos teóricos del constructivismo como estilo artístico formal pero, también, formador de la Revolución Rusa. La primera parte desarrolla la conformación del grupo y sus principales fundamentos teóricos. La segunda parte recupera específicamente la noción de fotografía del grupo y (...) analiza, a través de los documentos e imágenes fuentes, la visión amplia que de la fotografía tuvo el grupo como proceso semiótico. La tarea realizada tiene como fin impulsar un campo de investigación aún poco explorado, el de la estética fotográfica. (shrink)

In this paper we show that the class of fork squares has a complete orthodox axiomatization in fork arrow logic (FAL). This result may be seen as an orthodox counterpart of Venema's non-orthodox axiomatization for the class of squares in arrow logic. FAL is the modal logic of fork algebras (FAs) just as arrow logic is the modal logic of relation algebras (RAs). FAs extend RAs by a binary fork operator and are axiomatized by adding three equations to RAs equational (...) axiomatization. A proper FA is an algebra of relations where the fork is induced by an injective operation coding pair formation. In contrast to RAs, FAs are representable by proper ones and their equational theory has the expressive power of full first-order logic. A square semantics (the set of arrows is ᵎ x ᵎ for some set ᵎ) for arrow logic was defined by Y. Venema. Due to the negative results about the finite axiomatizability of representable RAs, Venema provided a non-orthodox finite axiomatization for arrow logic by adding a new rule governing the applications of a difference operator. We address here the question of extending the type of relational structures to define orthodox axiomatizations for the class of squares. Given the connections between this problem and the finitization problem addressed by I. Németi, we suspect that this cannot be done by using only logical operations. The modal version of the FA equations provides an orthodox axiomatization for FAL which is complete in view of the representability of FAs. Here we review this result and carry it further to prove that this orthodox axiomatization for FAL also axiomatizes the class of fork squares. (shrink)

Este texto foi publicado na revista World Faith Insights 26, 1990, p. 7-16 e é a transcrição de uma palestra proferida pelo teólogo e filósofo catalão Raimon Panikkar. Por se tratar de uma transcrição fiel da linguagem oral, nosso desafio nesta tradução foi adequar o texto à linguagem escrita sem, no entanto, perder os traços característicos do palestrante e autor.

The books of the Old Testament contain elements of oral communication as well as the characteristic features of written elaboration. S. Niditch attempts to determine the probable oral-literate processes leading to the formation of the biblical message but does not answer the question concerning the history of the creation of any of the books. Biblical scholars examine the process of the shaping of the books as redaction criticism. This shaping, however, progressed according to different standards as evidenced by the literary (...) characteristics of the text and literary “deficiencies” as well explicit elements of oral communication. The use of the term “editing” in relation to the process evokes inadequate ideas drawn from contemporary literary culture.Attempts to discover the essential elements of the processes shaping the biblical books, based on the, to some extent, recreated history of The Gilgamesh Epic, leads us to a new concept of what such a book is. The discovered specificity of the biblical books can consequently propose a new, more adequate perspective of interpretation—the interpretation which has the characteristics of a discourse. (shrink)

At the beginning of my article I present the themes, symbols and quotations which refer to the Bible and I discuss their functions. Afterwards, I show the image of God embodied in Różewicz’s poetry. First, this God is helpless and submissive to history and poeple. Then, he is the almighty Creator who supports a man. Subsequently, I present Różewicz as a poet who converted from atheism to faith. Early on, the author was demonstrating his departure from God caused by his (...) war experiences. He felt that God had died and in this connection all the values precious for a man had died too. In spite of this, the faith remained in the local point of Różewicz’s autlook on life. The author often looked back on his childhood when he had been close to the Lord. He became aware of lack of spiritual prime in his liľe. He also knew that life without God turns into merely a phisical existence. Finally, he found the real faith and wrote pieces which we can consider as his declaration. (shrink)

Artykuł analizuje pojęcie sztuki żydowskiej w zapisach krytyki dwudziestolecia międzywojennego w Polsce. Rozważania o sztuce żydowskiej, dyskusje o znaczeniu sztuk pięknych dla społeczności żydowskiej w diasporze oraz roli, jaka przypadła im w budowaniu nowego narodowego uniwersum wizualnego Żydów europejskich rozpoczęły się w przededniu I wojny światowej. W niepodległej Polsce kontynuowano dyskusje o kierunkach rozwoju narodowej kultury, zarówno w kontekście niezależnego, autonomicznego życia żydowskiego, jak i relacji między kulturą polską, kulturą dominująca a peryferyjną w kontekście państwa kulturą żydowską. Na przykładzie otwartego (...) 20 maja 1928 roku Salonu Wiosennego Żydowskiego Towarzystwa Krzewienia Sztuk Pięknych widzimy, że polska krytyka artystyczna nie tylko dopiero w połowie lat dwudziestych XX wielu. dostrzegła istnienie sztuki żydowskiej, ale i nie zdawała sobie sprawy ze znaczenia ideowego konstruktu sztuki żydowskiej dla żydowskiej społeczności. Równie niewielu krytyków zdawało sobie sprawę z doniosłości istnienia odrębnej, żydowskiej instytucji artystycznej, jaką było ŻTKSP i roli Towarzystwa w rozwoju żydowskiego życia artystycznego. (shrink)

Epistemic externalists offer many arguments against skepticism. They modify the skeptic’s concept of knowledge, justification and meaning and point out which of his presuppositions we need not accept. Dretske claims that a skeptic wrongly presupposes that we cannot know if we do not know that we know. But knowledge need not be self-conscious . According to Nozick a skeptic wrongly presupposes the Principle of Closure . He says that although we do not know that we are not brains in a (...) vat, a skeptic does not have the right to use this principle to argue that we do not know things that are obvious. According to Putnam the skeptical hypothesis that we are brains in a vat is incoherent when we use the external theory of meaning. If the meaning of our words depends on a causal relation with our environment, the sentence “I am a brain in a vat” is false or meaningless. Similarly, Davidson says that the external theory of perceptual beliefs excludes global skepticism. According to Williams skepticism simply presupposes a stance opposite to externalism, namely internalism . When we reject internalism, no skeptical argument can be formulated. (shrink)

In this paper we report a study conducted in Mongolia on the scope of morality, that is, the extent to which people moralize different social domains. Following Turiel’s moral-conventional task, we characterized moral transgressions (in contrast to conventional transgressions) in terms of two dimensions: authority independence and generality of scope. Different moral domains are then defined by grouping such moral transgressions in terms of their content (following Haidt’s classification of morally relevant domains). There are four main results of the study. (...) First, since all five Haidtian domains were moralized by the Mongolian participants, the study provides evidence in favour of pluralism about moral domains. However, the study also suggests that the domain of harm can be reduced to the fairness domain. Furthermore, although the strong claim about reduction of all moral domains to the domain of fairness does not seem to hold a significant number of participants did indicate considerations of fairness across domains. Finally, a significant amount of participants moralized conventional transgressions a la Turiel, but it did not reach a statistical significance. (shrink)

In the area known as model-based diagnosis, a system is described by-means of a set of formulas together with assumptions that all the components are functioning correctly. When we observe a behavior of the system which is inconsistent with the system description, we must relax some of the assumptions. In previous work, we have presented operations of belief change which only affect the relevant part of a belief base. In this paper, we propose the application of the same strategy to (...) the problem of model-based diagnosis. We Erst isolate the subset of the system description which is relevant for a given observation. By doing this, we reduce the size of the problem and then solve the diagnosis problem for the relevant subset. (shrink)

Pod pojęciem technik interpretacji scenicznej rozumie się działania, które łącząc recepcję tekstu literackiego z pedagogiką dramy, przyczyniają się do intensywnej analizy i interpretacji tekstów. Twórcą i głównym przedstawicielem tego nurtu dydaktyki literatury jest w Niemczech profesor nauk o estetyce i komunikacji Ingo Scheller. Swoją koncepcję pracy z tekstami literackimi Scheller zbudował na gruncie estetyki recepcji - teorii, która nadawała szczególną rolę czytelnikowi w konstytuowaniu znaczenia dzieła literackiego. Ogromny wpływ na powstanie interpretacji scenicznej wywarły także rozwijające się w latach osiemdziesiątych koncepcje (...) dydaktyczne, bazujące na kreatywnym pisaniu i kładące nacisk na powiązanie interpretacji tekstu z produktywnym działaniem czytelnika. Opracowana przez Schellera metoda interpretacji scenicznej nabrała ostatecznego kształtu pod wpływem różnorodnych teorii i koncepcji teatru, reprezentowanych m. in. przez Stanisławskiego, Grotowskiego, Boala, Strasberga i Brechta. W wyniku wieloletnich doświadczeń powstała metoda, która podkreśla znaczenie emocji i imaginacji w procesach uczenia się, pozwala rozwijać umiejętność empatii oraz respektuje indywidualne doświadczenia czytelnika. Niniejszy artykuł poświęcony jest możliwościom zastosowania technik interpretacji scenicznej w nauczaniu języków obcych. Sposoby wykorzystania poszczególnych technik na lekcjach języka niemieckiego zilustrowano na przykładzie dziewiątego rozdziału z podręcznika Tangram 2B. (shrink)

When engaging with magic, we are moved by seemingly impossible events that contradict what we believe to be possible in the real world. We are surprised, curious, and baffled when we cannot explain how the magic we are witnessing is possible. We generally understand the events to be illusions. But how is it possible to be moved by something we know to be unreal? This problem is related to the paradox of fiction in aesthetics. Here, we introduce the problem in (...) the domain of theatrical magic, discuss possible solutions, and present a tentative account that allows us to accommodate inconsistent, seemingly incompatible beliefs at different representational levels in the viewers’ mind. (shrink)

A educação, segundo Kant, divide-se em física e prática. A educação física tem em vista os cuidados com o infante, a educação prática diz respeito à formação do sujeito . A formação ou educação prática, por sua vez, se divide, essencialmente, em dois momentos, disciplina e instrução. Pretendemos aqui investigar o papel da Disciplina no projeto filosófico da Educação Prática de Kant. Verificamos o constrangimento ao falar da questão da disciplina no âmbito pedagógico , desse modo, pretendemos elucidar o pensamento (...) pedagógico kantiano, uma tentativa de, ademais, revelar possíveis contribuições da modernidade às discussões contemporâneas. Para o filósofo a disciplina desempenha um papel vital na educação prática – a educação do homem livre. Procurando expor e justificar essa posição, iremos analisar alguns momentos do conjunto de preleções “Sobre a pedagogia”, porém, sem perder os vínculos com o todo do pensamento prático e teórico de Kant. L'éducation, selon Kant, est divisé en physique et pratique. L'éducation physiquevise à prendre soin de l'enfant, l'éducation pratique concernant la formation du sujet . La formation pratique, à son tour, est divisé essentiellement en deux moments, la discipline et l'instruction. Nous avons l'intention ici d’examiner le rolê de la discipline dans le projet philosophique de la éducation pratique chez Kant. Nous vérifions la contrainte pour discuter de la question de la discipline dans l'éducation , donc nous avons l'intention d'élucider la pensée pédagogique de Kant, une tentative, par ailleurs, révéler d'éventuelles contributions de la modernité aux débats contemporains. Pour lê philosophe la discipline joue un rôle vital dans la l'éducation pratique – l'éducation d’être libre. Vous cherchez à exposer et justifier cette position, nous allons examiner quelques instants de la série de conférences «Sur la pédagogie» sans perdre les liens avec toute la réflexion théorique et pratique de Kant. (shrink)

One of the motivations for the researches leaded by the members of Vienna Circle with regard to the foundations of scientific language is found on Wittgenstein’s “Tractatus Logico-Philophicus”. Even though there are divergences about the legitimacy of this influence, thebook was, in effect, taken as a theoretical motivation for the structuring of scientific language, developed by logical empiricists. This paper will present the theories developed by members of Vienna Circle emphasizing the elements presents in Tractatusthat were taken, largely, as influence (...) over the “criterion of meaning” of a philosophical proposition adopted by logical empiricists in an attempt to set a foundation for knowledge. (shrink)

One of the motivations for the researches leaded by the members of Vienna Circle with regard to the foundations of scientific language is found on Wittgenstein’s “ Tractatus Logico-Philophicus ”. Even though there are divergences about the legitimacy of this influence, thebook was, in effect, taken as a theoretical motivation for the structuring of scientific language, developed by logical empiricists. This paper will present the theories developed by members of Vienna Circle emphasizing the elements presents in Tractatus that were taken, (...) largely, as influence over the “criterion of meaning” of a philosophical proposition adopted by logical empiricists in an attempt to set a foundation for knowledge. (shrink)