It may seem faintly absurd to claim or imply that a Vergilian cento has suffered unjustified neglect from scholars. These works—of which there are sixteen, covering a period of over three centuries within Late Antiquity—are usually treated at best with amused tolerance, and at worst with angry disdain. Though always ingenious, sometimes funny, and occasionally informative about the reception of Vergil, they are seldom admired. Even among Italian scholars, some of whom have paid much attention to centos, a recession has (...) set in since the annus mirabilis of 1981, which saw two editions of the Medea of Hosidius Geta. Proba has, deservedly, attracted more attention than most; her aims and methods as a Christian poetess were carefully and illuminatingly studied twenty years ago by Reinhard Herzog, and her interest as a female Roman aristocrat has brought her further attention, especially in recent years. The main aim of the present article is to suggest a particular context and a serious purpose for her cento. A postscript will show that it went on to enjoy considerable popularity until the end of the century, and an introductory section will discuss its date, but very briefly, since Matthews has convincingly said most of what needs to be said about a recent attempt to redate it. Proba's preface, much of it not in cento form, calls for detailed treatment from various angles—textual, literary, historical—and will be explored in a separate article. (shrink)

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility performance is associated with corporate tax avoidance. Employing a matched sample of 434 firm-year observations from the Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini database over the period 2003–2009, our logit regression results show that the higher the level of CSR performance of a firm, the lower the likelihood of tax avoidance. Our results indicate that more socially responsible firms are likely to display less tax avoidance. Finally, the results from our additional analysis show that the (...) CSR categories community relations and diversity represent particularly important elements of CSR performance that reduce tax avoidance. (shrink)

What should our buildings look like? Or is their usability more important than their appearance? Paul Guyer argues that the fundamental goals of architecture first identified by the Roman architect Marcus Pollio Vitruvius - good construction, functionality, and aesthetic appeal - have remained valid despite constant changes in human activities, building materials and technologies, as well as in artistic styles and cultures. Guyer discusses philosophers and architects throughout history, including Alberti, Kant, Ruskin, Wright, and Loos, and surveys the ways (...) in which their ideas are brought to life in buildings across the world. He also considers the works and words of contemporary architects including Annabelle Selldorf, Herzog and de Meuron, and Steven Holl, and shows that - despite changing times and fashions - good architecture continues to be something worth striving for. This new series offers short and personal perspectives by expert thinkers on topics that we all encounter in our everyday lives. (shrink)

BackgroundThe theory and practice of ethics consultations (ECs) in health care are still characterized by many controversies, including, for example, the practice of giving recommendations. These controversies are complicated by an astonishing lack of evidence in the whole field. It is not clear how often a recommendation is issued in ethics consultations and when and why this step is taken. Especially in a facilitation model in which giving recommendations is optional, more data would be helpful to evaluate daily practice, ensure (...) that this practice is in line with the overarching goals of this approach and support the development of standards.MethodsWe analyzed all consultations requested from an EC service working under a facilitation approach at a maximum-care university hospital in Germany over a period of more than 10 years. Our aim was to better understand why—and under what circumstances—some consultation requests result in a recommendation, whereas others can be sufficiently addressed solely by facilitated meetings. We especially wanted to know when and why clients felt the need for clear advice from the EC service while in other cases they did not. We compared ethics consultations in terms of the differences between cases with and without recommendations issued by the ethics consultants using χ2 difference tests and Welch’s t-test.ResultsA total of 243 ECs were carried out between September 2008 and December 2019. In approximately half of the cases, a recommendation was given. All recommendations were issued upon the request of clients. When physicians asked for an EC, the consultation was significantly more likely to result in a recommendation than when the EC was requested by any other party. ECs in cases on wards with ethics rounds resulted in comparably fewer recommendations than those in wards without ethics rounds. When interpersonal conflicts were part of the problem or relatives were present in the meeting, clients less frequently asked for a recommendation.ConclusionFrom the client’s point of view, there does not seem to be only one “right” way to provide ethics consultations, but rather several. While facilitated meetings are obviously appreciated by clients, there also seem to be situations in which a recommendation is desired (especially by physicians). Further empirical and theoretical research is needed to validate our single-center results and re-evaluate the role of recommendations in ethics consultations. (shrink)

We show that the stabilizer of an element a of a countable recursively saturated model of arithmetic M is a maximal subgroup of Aut iff the type of a is selective. This is a point of departure for a more detailed study of the relationship between pointwise and setwise stabilizers of certain subsets of M and the types of elements in those subsets. We also show that a complete type of PA is 2-indiscernible iff it is minimal in the sense (...) of Gaifman. (shrink)

Commentary on the first Ukrainian translation of Thomasius’ work entitled “Nucleus disputationis de plagio literario maxime theoreticus, thesibus paucis & brevibus comprehensus”, which is one of the Appendices to the famous “Philosophical dissertation on literary plagiarism”.

We discuss Robinson's model theoretic proof of Tarski's theorem on undefinability of truth. We present two other “diagonal-free” proofs of Tarski's theorem, and we compare undefinability of truth to other forms of undefinability in nonstandard models of arithmetic.

In the paper the views and tendencies in the philosophical reflection on mathematics in Poland between the wars are analyzed. Views of most outstanding representatives of Lvov–Warsaw Philosophical School and of Polish Mathematical School are presented. Their influence on logical and mathematical researches is considered.

el presente texto es una revisión crítica de parte de la obra del escritor argentino Jorge Luis Borges con el fin de evidenciar el talante filosófico de este autor. Para ello se presta especial atención al uso de la noción de infinito y las paradojas que de él resultan. Nuestra conclusión es que, si se va a considerar a Borges como filósofo, se debe concluir que, ante todo, es un “filósofo de las paradojas”. Sobre esta base se puede entender su (...) idealismo escéptico. (shrink)

Muchos de los dilemas morales perderían su intensidad, piensa Iris Murdoch, si abandonáramos la idea de una voluntad soberana que elige autónomamente sus cursos de acción. Prestar atención a la constitución de la realidad posibilita una suerte de ascesis experiencial que conduce más allá del los devaneos de un yo ensimismado. El ejercicio de apreciación de los detalles, de las conexiones, de la complejidad, modifica la decisión misma: no se trata de elegir, sino de “ver” lo moral –la exigencia de (...) la cosa–, igual que un artista cabal no pinta lo que “le gusta” sino “lo que está ahí”. (shrink)

We give a complete characterization of Boolean algebras admitting weak elimination of imaginaries in terms of elementary invariants.

The article reviews the book Korespondencja Adama Adamandego Kochańskiego SJ, edited by Bogdan Lisiak.

En 1570, les jesuites fonderent un college à Vilna, en Lituanie, qui a ete transforme en Academie en 1579. Un cours special de Philosophie qui durait trois ans y a ete introduit en 1572. Le present article est consacre au jesuite espagnol Pedro Viana, professeur de Philosophie à Vilna de 1575 à 1578. Des sources inconnues jusqu'à maintenant nous permettront d'eclairer d'un nouveau jour la personnalite de cet Espagnol qui sur ses soixante annees de vie en passa cinq dans la (...) Republique de Deux Nations, etat compose alors des terres dites de la Couronne et du Grand Duche de Lituanie, et contribua au developpement de la philosophie de ces deux nations. En meme temps, ce texte montre comment on enseignait la philosophie à Vilna dans les annees 70 du XVIe siecle. (shrink)

Le Pere Paul Siwek SJ est un des plus eminents philosophes et psychologues polonais. II a travaille dans differents pays et s'est acquis une estime et une celebrite internationales. Pour familiariser le lecteur avec la personne de Siwek, on presente ici, de facon succincte, sa biographie, la liste de ses livres principaux publies en plusieurs langues, la caracteristique de son activite et la bibliographie des publications principales qui contiennent des donnees sur lui.

Poniższe opracowanie obejmuje zasadniczo wiek XX. Nawiązuje jednak do pewnych dokumentów i faktów z XIX w., które miały znaczny wpływ na kształt filozofii jezuitów w XX w. Chodzi zwłaszcza o nową wersję dawnej Ratio studiorum z 1832 r. oraz o encyklikę Aeterni Patris z 1879 r. Badając dzieje filozofii jezuitów w Polsce, można wyróżnić: 1) filozofia związana z nauczaniem, głównie w Wydziale Filozoficznym Towarzystwa Jezusowego w Krakowie, oraz 2) filozofia pozaszkolna, a więc nie związana ścisłej z nauczaniem.

Pierwsza grupa jezuitów przybyła do Polski w jesieni 1564 r. Na początku następnego roku otwarli oni w Braniewie na Warmii kolegium z pięcioklasową szkołą średnią oraz Internat, zwany Konwiktem Szlacheckim. Już w r. 1566 wprowadzili wykłady dialektyki w klasie wymowy i kontynuowali je przez następne dwa lata. Wykłady te były początkowo przeznaczone dla konwiktorów oraz towarzyszących im zwykle wychowawców, a także dla eksternów. Pierwszym wykładowcą dialektyki w Braniewie był jezuita czeski Baltazar Hostounsky. W lecie 1565 r. został on wiceprowincjałem w (...) Polsce z zadaniem czuwania nad kolegium w Braniewie, w którym naukę pobierało ponad 200 uczniów, oraz nad początkami fundacji kolegium w Pułtusku. Hostounsky uważał, ze system szkolny jezuitów należy przystosować do tradycji szkoły polskiej, m.in. przez wprowadzenie do programu nauczania matematyki, a zwłaszcza dialektyki. (shrink)

Starożytne teksty judaizmu jasno opisują rozwarstwienie społeczne Izraela i wynikające z tego uwarunkowania religijne. Sposoby i możliwości realizacji religijnej w zależności od pochodzenia określa szczególnie wyraźnie judaizm rabiniczny. Wyższy status społeczny zapewniał większe możliwości samorealizacji religijnej, ale zobowiązywał też do większej odpowiedzialności wobec Boga i społeczności, nakładał również inne obowiązki w zależności od pochodzenia społecznego. Istotę judaizmu rabinicznego, zwanego także talmudycznym od głównego jego dzieła – Talmudu, określa Miszna, stanowiąca obok Gemary, jego zasadniczą i pierwszą część. Miszna zgodnie z jej (...) przeznaczeniem wskazuje sposób życia, który można by ogólnie określić mianem religijnego. Opisuje zarazem życie społeczno-religijne starożytnego Izraela sprzed czasu jej spisania, sięgając niekiedy nawet kilka wieków wstecz. (shrink)

This article reflects on the dynamics of the public sphere in the early modern period by analyzing the figure of the peasant and the notion of the common(s) in dialogue pamphlets. Beginning with a discussion of what it means to speak of a public sphere in relation to the early modern period, it examines one of the most famous Reformation dialogues, _Karst-hans_, published anonymously in 1521 in Strasbourg. Just before the German Peasants’ War (1524–26), the Lutheran dialogue, polemically directed against (...) the theologian and satirist Thomas Murner, positions the peasant as a critically mature citizen, with the hoe (_Karst_) symbolizing his potential militancy. This article specifically draws on the notion of publicity that the dialogue articulates. Using it as an example, this article analyzes the transitions and mutual projections between fiction, urban culture, and peasant protest, the structures of which are significant for the literary representation of agrarian protest far beyond the Reformation. In its final section, this article closely examines the media genre of the dialogue pamphlet and outlines some horizons of its historical development up to the Enlightenment concerning its political use and its relation to the ideal of a dialogic and socially leveled public sphere. By arguing that there existed an implicit ideal of the public sphere as a common good in the early modern period, the aim is also to clarify what distinguishes this early modern understanding of the public sphere from its conceptualization as a marketplace that has dominated our understanding of it since the Enlightenment. The prehistory presented here should provide resources for reimagining the future of the public sphere at a time when its actual structure is once again very much at stake. (shrink)

Il y a deux expériences foncières, l’une dans laquelle c’est nous qui apparaissons comme existant, tandis que le temps paraît être un simple phénomène, l’autre dans laquelle, inversement, le temps se présente comme la réalité, tandis que nous paraissons disparaître dans ces changements. On montre comment cette double expérience nous force à reprendre le problème de l’essence du moi, comme existant dans le temps, et comment ce problème ne peut être écarté par aucun artifice.