We study semi-isolation as a binary relation on the locus of a complete type and prove that—under some additional assumptions—it induces the strict order property.

We develop a general theory of FDE-based modal logics. Our framework takes into account the four-valued nature of FDE by considering four partially defined modal operators corresponding to conditions for verifying and falsifying modal necessity and possibility operators. The theory comes with a uniform characterization for all obtained systems in terms of FDE-style formula-formula sequents. We also develop some correspondence theory and show how Hilbert-style axiom systems can be obtained in appropriate cases. Finally, we outline how different systems from the (...) literature can be expressed in our framework. (shrink)

The structure of G. V. Florovsky’s concept of neopatristic synthesis is analyzed and reassessed here in light of the current state of philosophy and theology. As a result, the concept receives a ne...

We prove that a propositional Linear Temporal Logic with Until and Next has unitary unification. Moreover, for every unifiable in LTL formula A there is a most general projective unifier, corresponding to some projective formula B, such that A is derivable from B in LTL. On the other hand, it can be shown that not every open and unifiable in LTL formula is projective. We also present an algorithm for constructing a most general unifier.

This article aims to shed light on certain aspects of Iamblichus’ theory of time that have not been sufficiently examined to date in the scholarly literature. As of today, there are a mere handful of scholarly works tackling Iamblichus’ solutions to the paradoxes of time in particular, and his contribution to the developments of the Neoplatonic theory of the subject more generally. This article attempts to redress the lack of literature on this topic by examining Iamblichus’ response to Aristotle’s and (...) Pseudo-Archytas’ theories of time. It begins with a brief survey of the philosophical developments that led to and were formative for Iamblichus’ philosophical explorations of the area in question. Then it moves on to provide a detailed account of Iamblichus’ own unique and puzzling theory of time. The author applies the method of comparative analysis, scrutinizing Iamblichus’ solution to the paradoxes of time against the backdrop of Aristotle’s and Pseudo-Archytas’ theories. The author identifies firm scholarly grounds for doing so from within the tradition of Iamblichus studies initiated by the ground-breaking research of Shmuel Sambursky and Salomon Pines and continued, inter alia, in the subtly nuanced analysis of Richard Sorabji and John Dillon. The author concludes that Iamblichus successfully resolved the paradoxes of time and that his conception lent itself to a more effective highlighting of the ordering function of time. (shrink)

The model of congestion games is widely used to analyze games related to traffic and communication. A central property of these games is that they are potential games and hence posses a pure Nash equilibrium. In reality, it is often the case that some players cooperatively decide on their joint action in order to maximize the coalition’s total utility. This is modeled by Coalitional Congestion Games. Typical settings include truck drivers who work for the same shipping company, or routers that (...) belong to the same ISP. The formation of coalitions will typically imply that the resulting coalitional congestion game will no longer posses a pure Nash equilibrium. In this paper, we provide conditions under which such games are potential games and posses a pure Nash equilibrium. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to characterize the reproductive capabilities of human capital at the regional level. The article presents the results of a study concerning the state of factors determining the reproduction of human capital in the conditions of digitalization. The analysis of each of the indicators characterizing the reproductive capabilities of the human capital of the region is carried out. Special attention is paid to the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the factors of reproduction of human capital, (...) as well as the role of the state in solving social problems of the region. (shrink)

What follows is a two-part review of Günther Witzany’s two-part book, The Logos of the Bios. The first part of the review is written by Sergey Chebanov, and it approaches the text as a source of ideas on biosemiotics and biohermeneutics. The second part is written by Anton Markoš, and it estimates the biological pithiness of the book and the correctness of the reflection of the included data of modern biology.

In the course of a close analysis of Kant’s essay in which he gives his original answer to the question, “What is Enlightenment?” I examine the causes and consequences of the theses about Enlightenment which makes a plea for emancipation from the shackles of guardianship, above all by getting rid of one’s own cowardice. In search of an answer to the question, “What is the real reason of self-incurred immaturity?” I consider the bifurcation: Is it all about unjust social institutions (...) established in the interests of the ruling social estates, as the best European brains contended throughout the Enlightenment era, thus anticipating and justifying revolutionary upheavals, or is it within ourselves who have refused to use our reason independently and regularly? — something which Kant unequivocally considers to be everyone’s special kind of guilt. Following Kant, I look for an answer to the question, “Which limits impede Enlightenment, and which limits, far from obstructing it, are bound to promote it?” and reveal the hidden paradox of the Kantian solution: maturity has to be preceded by the granting of freedoms; and the granting of freedoms in turn calls for a mature public. I also ask the question, “Whose yoke is heavier, one’s own or the guardian’s?” and offer my version of an answer. In conclusion, I assemble all parts of the complicated and original formula of the Kantian recipe of Enlightenment. Among other things, I reveal a special type of bonding within the social organism implied by Kant, and that is the requirement to obey those who are not above us in thinking and the right to speak out in public, which ultimately means not only personal maturity, but implies also the maturity of society’s functioning in accordance with the said maxim. (shrink)

This article deals with voice and bodily deixis as manifestations of performativity in written texts. A speech act of origin presents as both vocal and performative events. Ritual matrixes of culture contain performative complexes, as suggested by Austin. Such performative nuclei are neither true nor false, that is, their negation cannot be logically inferred from true premises. The term deixis describes the performative moment of the utterance, its active and transformative force. The first embodied deictic utterance in Western history would (...) be the biblical phrase “And the word made flesh.” It is the first mythopoetical performative denoting the bodily incarnation of logos. In the article, the term bodily deixis is considered against the background of experimental poetry of E.E. Cummings. (shrink)

This research partially answers the question raised by Goncharov about the size of the class of positive elements of a Roger's semilattice. We introduce a notion of effective infinity of classes of computable enumerations. Then, using finite injury priority method, we prove five theorems which give sufficient conditions to be effectively infinite for classes of all enumerations without repetitions, positive undecidable enumerations, negative undecidable enumerations and all computable enumerations of a family of r.e. sets. These theorems permit to strengthen the (...) results of Pour-El, Pour-El and Howard, Ershov and Khutoretskii about existence of enumerations without repetitions and positive undecidable enumerations. (shrink)

Globalna świadomość jako pojęcie kulturowe i historyczne Artykuł stanowi analizę idei głoszonych przez przedstawicieli filozofii kosmicznej. Przedstawiony zostaje kulturowy, historyczny i cywilizacyjny charakter zjawiska świadomości globalnej. Dowodzi się w nim, że świadomość globalna jest częścią społecznego i kulturowego potencjału globalnych sieci informacyjnych oraz że może ona wskazywać perspektywę rozwoju obdarzonej rozumem ludzkości.

The main aim of this study was to analyze the patterns of changes in Approximate Number Sense precision from grade 1 to grade 9 in a sample of Russian schoolchildren. To fulfill this aim, the data from a longitudinal study of two cohorts of children were used. The first cohort was assessed at grades 1–5, and the second cohort was assessed at grades 5–9. ANS precision was assessed by accuracy and reaction time in a non-symbolic comparison test. The patterns of (...) change were estimated via mixed-effect growth models. The results revealed that in the first cohort, the average accuracy increased from grade 1 to grade 5 following a non-linear pattern and that the rate of growth slowed after grade 3. The non-linear pattern of changes in the second cohort indicated that accuracy started to increase from grade 7 to grade 9, while there were no changes from grade 5 to grade 7. However, the RT in the non-symbolic comparison test decreased evenly from grade 1 to grade 7, and the rate of processing non-symbolic information tended to stabilize from grade 7 to grade 9. Moreover, the changes in the rate of processing non-symbolic information were not explained by the changes in general processing speed. The results also demonstrated that accuracy and RT were positively correlated across all grades. These results indicate that accuracy and the rate of non-symbolic processing reflect two different processes, namely, the maturation and development of a non-symbolic representation system. (shrink)

The category of coherent phase spaces introduced by the author is a refinement of the symplectic “category” of A. Weinstein. This category is *-autonomous and thus provides a denotational model for Multiplicative Linear Logic. Coherent phase spaces are symplectic manifolds equipped with a certain extra structure of “coherence”. They may be thought of as “infinitesimal” analogues of familiar coherent spaces of Linear Logic. The role of cliques is played by Lagrangian submanifolds of ambient spaces. Physically, a symplectic manifold is the (...) phase space of a classical dynamical system, and a Lagrangian submanifold is a phase of a short-wave oscillation. Typically, Lagrangian submanifolds represent such objects as short-wave approximations of wave functions in asymptotic quantization and wave fronts in geometrical optics. The coherent phase space semantics was motivated to a large extent by methods of geometric and asymptotic quantization and suggests some interesting intuitions on Linear Logic. In particular Lagrangian submanifold-cliques of types A and A can be interpreted as semiclassical limits of eigenstates of respectively position and momentum observables. These observables being canonically conjugate cannot be measured simultaneously, which corresponds to the idea that a formula A and its negation A cannot both simultaneously have proofs . We show that the coherent phase space semantics of Linear Logic enjoys several completeness properties in general much stronger than the usual full completeness with respect to the class of dinatural transformations. These properties of completeness in conjunction with a quite natural -physical meaning make the coherent phase space semantics an interesting object of investigation. (shrink)

In the 1970s, particularly in his article “The Model of the Text: Meaningful Action Considered as a Text”, Paul Ricœur proposed a hypothesis concerning the homology between the text and social action. That hypothesis is not reducible to the narrative logic prevailing in late Ricœur’s writings, and we are searching to elucidate its further implications in social sciences. A new hermeneutics of social meanings can be founded upon it, enriched by the methodological experience of structural semiotics and taking into account (...) some special processes of sense-giving as “remote-model behavior” and “sense-suppressing action”. . (shrink)

Sequential transformative design of research :224–235, 2015; Groleau et al. in J Mental Health 16:731–741, 2007; Robson and McCartan in Real world research: a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings, Wiley, Chichester, 2016) allows testing a group of theoretical assumptions about the connections of artificial intelligence with culture and education. In the course of research, semiotics ensures the description of self-organizing systems of cultural signs and symbols in terms of artificial intelligence as a special set of (...) algorithms. This approach helps to consider the arguments proposed by Searle :417–457, 1980) against ‘strong’ artificial intelligence. Searle :417–457, 1980) believes that artificial or machine intelligence cannot fully emulate the processes of the human mind. Machine intelligence shows own inevitable weakness. This is non-autonomous tool for computations and data operating. In fact, this tool cannot provide insight into real cognitive conditions. After Lotman and Uspensky, authors expand the meaning of artificial intelligence. The authors identify a cultural type of ‘strong’ artificial intelligence or ‘self-increase of Logos’ in terms by Lotman and Uspensky. The interpretation of human intelligence as imitation of machine intelligence makes possible such immersion of artificial intelligence in culture. The authors reveal a case of self-organizing autonomous generation, encoding, decoding, reception, storage, and transmission of social information in the field of physical training. From the empirical studies it is clear that the organization of collective activities without external control ensures the development of positive emotions and social orientations. Interest in autonomous behavior provides the formation of educational and cognitive motives. As a special set of algorithms, these motives are the most promising and favorable for personal development. (shrink)

The paper defends the thesis that Proclus Diadochus’ ideas are still relevant in modern culture. It appears that the ideas of Neoplatonism as a whole and these of Proclus’ in particular matter at least in some aspects of modern culture, such as the foundations of politics, the basic characteristics of philosophy and the fundamental aspects of understanding of the human existence. In the sphere of politics, one can note the ideas useful for creating of the non-totalitarian forms of ideology. In (...) contemporary philosophy the Neoplatonic studies can be interpreted as one of the bases of understanding of rational knowledge. The ideals of material harmony are essential for understanding of the human existence. (shrink)

The article deals with the problem of coining terms and nomenclature signs with proper names illustrated by the example of the English language legal terminology. The article begins with the discussion of the problems of intersection of two linguistic areas and differentiation between terms and nomenclature signs. It is observed that linguistic units with proper names possess a cultural specificity in the legal English as compared to the Russian terminological system of law. Linguistic and extra-linguistic factors influencing language units’ formation (...) with the help of proper names in legal English, their structural and semantic specificity are revealed. The latter is considered from the point of view of the two-level semantics of language signs. The authors come to the following conclusions: structural variability of the units under consideration especially strongly manifest in formation of legal nomenclature; systemic linguistic oppositions of terms and nomenclature signs with proper names determine the semantics of these units; the basis of the meaning of a term and a nomenclature sign is a notion, its essential components being included into the definitions; differential semes of the meanings are assigned to the proper name elements of terms; all semes of nomenclature signs with proper names constitute an inseparable whole and are not assigned to any specific elements of these units; the meanings of nomenclature signs with proper names specify those of the terms in the hierarchical structure of the terminological system and in particular legal situations. (shrink)

In my paper I argue, relying on Kantian definitions and conceptual distinctions, the thesis that Kantian transcen-dental philosophy, which he characterizes as a second-order system of transcendental idealism, is not [empirical] idealism, but a form of realism (resp. compatible with empirical realism [A370-1]). As arguments in favor of this “realistic” thesis, I consistently develop a realistic interpretation of the Kant’s concept of appearance (the theory of “two aspects”), as well as of Kantian Copernican revolution, of his theory of intuition as (...) cognitive ability which 'giving' ‘us objects, of the concept of double affection and noumenal causality. (shrink)

At the present time, there are several interpretations and modes of Kant’s transcendental philosophy (TP). Which of these interpretations and modes of transcendentalism most adequately express the spirit of TP, i.e. can claim the title of the transcendental ones? For the explication of the ‘idea of transcendental philosophy’ [KrV, A1], here I distinguish two transcendental shifts: methodological and metaphysical ones, which in their totality predetermine the essence and set the specificity of Kant’s transcendental idealism. The methodological transcendental shift that Kant (...) postulates in his definitions of TP in the Critique of Pure Reason [KrV, A11; B25] represents a shift from studying of objects to the analysis and justification of our mode of cognition of objects. This shift sets a fairly wide range of a la Kantian a priori doctrines and predetermines the transcendental turn (Re–Transcendentalising) of modern philosophy. The metaphysical transcendental shift that can be correlated with “the altered method of our way of thinking [in metaphysics]” [KrV, BXVIII], is associated with the splitting of the “thing” into the actual object (or Kantian thing-in-itself) and object of experience (or Kantian appearance), and involves a transition from the study of thing-in-itself to the analysis of the appearance. More precisely, this shift finds its expression in the transcendental triad “object (thing-in-itself; Ding an sich) – appearance (Erscheinung) – representation (Vorstellung)”, which determines the ‘idea’ (essence) of transcendental idealism/metaphysics. (shrink)

The topic of this article is the problem of World and Infinity. The concepts “Weltanschauung,” (I. Kant) and “Umgreifende” (K. Jaspers) are introduced. A transcendental analysis of the concepts "World" and "Infinite" as ideas of reason is carried out. The theory of the world by L. Tengely is analyzed. Metaphysical and mathematical interpretations of the infinite are compared (actual and potential infinity, openness, horizon).

Today, scientific discussions on the specifics of the development of civil society in Russia do not stop. The institutional approach allows us to look at this problem through the prism of formal and informal institutions existing in society. Researchers and practitioners should not focus only on the rule of law, official prescriptions and orders, setting the framework for interactions between authorities and citizens, promoting private initiatives, and realizing the rights and freedoms of the population. If they do not correspond to (...) the prevailing norms, stereotypes, ways of thinking and actions for centuries, then the most useful, at first glance, innovations in the political and social sphere may not take root. This does not mean, however, that informal institutions remain unchanged under any circumstances. They also evolve. This process can be targeted. It is important to understand all the actors involved in the development of civil society in our country. (shrink)

From descriptive interpretation of "understanding" to abstract-gnosiological understanding of mentality. The historical deconstruction of the existential understanding introduced as ontologic property of constantly becoming stable "Being-in-the-World" allows us to interpret this concept as mentality. Through theprism of existential philosophy in general and its interpreters such as Jacque Le Goff it allows us to make a conclusion that mentality is one of complete formations of public consciousness. But in the course of such interpretation of mentality it is important to avoid the (...) methodological situation in which Plato deadlocked, when he had decided to find out, what was beautiful itself. For the way out from this situation he had to introduce independently existing ideas and special space of ideas which define all the things and even gods. We, unfortunately, do not have such an opportunity which the history gave to Plato. Somehow to define structural and historical conditions for breaking out of mentality we shall be limited to the instruction that it is more complex, compound, but in the same time integrally complete formation historically actualized, unlike traditionally allocated kinds and forms of consciousness. Another important question is whether the concept "mentality" is acceptable for analysis of the current modern processes or it can only be used for the reconstruction of the completed formations. The mentality cannot be analyzed from inside. And we are inclined to consider that to operate the concept "mentality" in relation to a modern representative of civilization is inappropriate. (shrink)

The work is concerned with the so called display property of display logic. The motivation behind it is discussed and challenged. It is shown using one display calculus for intuitionistic logic as an example that the display property can be abandoned without losing subformula, cut elimination and completeness properties in such a way that results in additional expressive power of the system. This is done by disentangling structural connectives so that they are no longer context-sensitive. A recipe for characterizing structural (...) extensions of display calculi is provided. (shrink)

With the help of syncretiсs as a new philosophical logic, the philosophy of carriers, the theory of similarity and the theory of Infinite Hierarchical Nesting of Matter, the problems of modern physics are analyzed. We consider the classical and relativistic mechanics, the special and general theories of relativity, the theory of electromagnetic and gravitational fields, of weak and strong interactions. The goal is axiomatization of these theories, building models of elementary particles and of their interactions with each other. The main (...) obtained results are: the model of bead lightning; an explanation of redshift of the spectra of galaxies; the derivation of the Newton law in the concept of gravitons; the calculation of nuclear forces and the structure of simplest nuclei with the help of the theory of strong gravitation; building the model of weak interactions of elementary particles; presentation of quarks as a particular type of quasiparticles; explanation of the electron spin. The book should be useful for students and researchers, as well as for those interested in physical and philosophical problems. Tables 20. Fig. 30. Ref. 155 titles. (shrink)

The research is focused on the problems of transforming a complex heterogeneous spatial system, urban agglomeration with a unique natural complex. The paper touches upon the following issues: restrictions on spatial development, zoning of territories, transformation of the settlement framework, social transformations, and integration of the most significant city-forming objects. To predict transformations in such a system, a complex multilevel model is considered — “the biosphere core vs. urban environment”. Forming such a model to analyze the prospective development of the (...) territory involves updating the methodology aimed at the systemic socio-ecological-economic analysis of developing heterogeneous spatial systems, integration of cartographic and digital information, adaptation of IT visualization technologies, including the “neogeography” toolkit. In the study the authors analyze the main prospects for the spatial territory development as exemplified by developing the urban environment of the Chelyabinsk agglomeration with a unique “green zone” (Chelyabinsk urban forest), complex multi-level socio-economic system. The main research results create the prerequisites for a significant expansion of the possibilities for analyzing the prospects for sustainable socio-ecological-economic development of complex spatial systems with unique natural objects and effective management of regional development. (shrink)

Статтю присвячено розгляду телеіндустрії під філософським кутом зору. Зокрема, здійснено аналіз критичних теорій щодо економічних основ телеіндустрії, її функціонування як медіа та особливості означування у соціокультурному просторі. Розглянуто концепції масової культури Макса Горкгаймера і Теодора Адорно, дослідження інструментального характеру мас-медіа Гербертом Маркузе, суспільства спектаклю Гі Дебора, телематичного екрану Жана Бодріяра, неотрайбалізму Мішеля Маффесолі. Телеіндустрія постає як один з найбільш характерних проявів масової культури, а з іншого боку – як центральний елемент сучасної культурної індустрії. Розглянуто телесеріали як один з найбільш впливових (...) елементів телеіндустрії, який здійснює вагомий вплив на формування цінностей та світогляду сучасної людини. Свого часу телебачення швидко набуло соціальної домінантності і частково витіснило інші види впливу масової культури на людину. Телебачення дедалі більшою мірою адаптується до новітніх засобів масової комунікації, зокрема вторгається у царину мережі Інтернет. Телеіндустрія формує не лише смаки, а й домінантний у суспільстві дискурс, через який непомітно і владно формує життєві принципи і стратегію поведінки споживача телевізійного «продукту». (shrink)

Causal structure learning from time series data is a major scientific challenge. Existing algorithms assume that measurements occur sufficiently quickly; more precisely, they assume that the system and measurement timescales are approximately equal. In many scientific domains, however, measurements occur at a significantly slower rate than the underlying system changes. Moreover, the size of the mismatch between timescales is often unknown. This paper provides three distinct causal structure learning algorithms, all of which discover all dynamic graphs that could explain the (...) observed measurement data as arising from undersampling at some rate. That is, these algorithms all learn causal structure without assuming any particular relation between the measurement and system timescales; they are thus rate-agnostic. We apply these algorithms to data from simulations. The results provide insight into the challenge of undersampling. (shrink)

The article examines the system-methodological and conceptual foundations of the psychological activity theory that arose in the Soviet Union under the influence of the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. The author demonstrates the process of incorporation of Marxism-Leninism dogmas into the canonical form of the activity theory as a scientific knowledge that does not need any scientific confirmation. The pseudoscientific discourse that arose at the same time served to strengthen the position of the ideologists of the bureaucratic system, who found “objective confirmations” (...) of the truth of Marx’s teachings in the data of psychological science. The scientific community, subjected to ideological transformation, tried to defend itself from the destructive influence of ideology, giving rise to special forms of relations in the scientific and psychological environment, which led to the struggle and confrontation of scientific schools and groups. As a result of ideological expansion, psychological knowledge has become to some extent a tool for the bureaucratic system to overpower scientific dissent. That was clearly manifested in the discussion on the results of the Zagorsk experiment, in which an incorrect, partially falsified, attempt was made to prove the development of the human psyche of children born deaf and blind. The influence of ideology can also be traced in the confrontation of scientific schools in physics, genetics, biology and physiology. The article discusses prospects and new trends in the development of the activity theory after exclusion of the ideological concepts of Soviet socialism from its systemconceptual foundations. We observe the formation of new psychological concepts that reflect non-classical and post-non-classical forms of scientific rationality. Attempts are made to create and study the models of the psyche developed within the framework of the theory of organized complexity and the concepts of autopoietic self-organization and evolution. (shrink)

The article focuses the possibility of elaboration of a cross-disciplinary methodological approach to formation of the semiotics of power. Four possible forms of relation of semiotic research to the problem of power are revealed upon the basis of Drechsler’s typology. The approaches of Mandoki and Siefkes to formation of the methodological basis of the semiotics of power are analyzed and compared. The author designates the perspective directions of a further research and formulates methodological prerequisites for realization of the specified directions.

We exploit properties of certain directed graphs, obtained from the families of sets with special effective enumeration properties, to generalize several results in computable model theory to higher levels of the hyperarithmetical hierarchy. Families of sets with such enumeration features were previously built by Selivanov, Goncharov, and Wehner. For a computable successor ordinal α, we transform a countable directed graph into a structure such that has a isomorphic copy if and only if has a computable isomorphic copy.A computable structure is (...) categorical if for all computable isomorphic copies of , there is an isomorphism from onto , which is . We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is a computable, categorical structure, which is not relatively categorical. This generalizes the result of Goncharov that there is a computable, computably categorical structure, which is not relatively computably categorical.An additional relation R on the domain of a computable structure is intrinsically on if in all computable isomorphic copies of , the image of R is . We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is an intrinsically relation on a computable structure, which not relatively intrinsically . This generalizes the result of Manasse that there is an intrinsically computably enumerable relation on a computable structure, which is not relatively intrinsically computably enumerable.The dimension of a structure is the number of computable isomorphic copies, up to isomorphisms. We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α and every n≥1, there is a computable structure with dimension n. This generalizes the result of Goncharov that there is a structure of computable dimension n for every n≥1.Finally, we prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is a countable structure with isomorphic copies in just the Turing degrees of sets X such that relative to X is not . In particular, for every finite n, there is a structure with isomorphic copies in exactly the non- Turing degrees. This generalizes the result obtained by Wehner, and independently by Slaman, that there is a structure with isomorphic copies in exactly the nonzero Turing degrees. (shrink)

This paper is dedicated to developing a formalism that takes rejection seriously. Bilateral notation of signed formulas with force indicators is adopted to define signed consequences which can be viewed as the bilateral counterpart of Tarskian consequence relations. Its relation to some other bilateral approaches is discussed. It is shown how David Nelson’s logic N4 can be characterized bilaterally and the corresponding completeness result is proved. Further, bilateral variants of three familiar notions are considered and investigated: that of a fragment, (...) of definitional equivalence, and of a conservative extension. (shrink)

The writings in which an author expresses his thought may actually be the product of certain cultural practices of his age. The article considers how such practices are manifested in the writings of Isidore of Seville, particularly with respect to the meaning of the metaphor of taste. Isidore borrows this metaphor from texts that explain the process of understanding Scripture and applies it to the achievement of wisdom. On the one hand, the metaphor stresses the transformative aspect of understanding (rather (...) than the informative, scientia). It focuses on the special experience of the reader who senses the sweetness of the text, and not on the application of the text to one’s life. On the other hand, reading and writing were imagined in terms related to food. The text was food that had to be prepared, to ‘read’ meant to ‘taste’, to ‘meditate’ on it meant to ‘ruminate’. Against this background, the writings of Isidore seem to appeal to the memory of the reader and his ability to meditate upon the text and, finally, to experience the taste of wisdom. Only the outermost level of texts was intended to inform the reader. (shrink)