The transference theory reduces causation to the transmission of physical conserved quantities, like energy or momenta. Although this theory aims at applying to all felds of physics, we claim that it fails to account for a quantum electrodynamic effect, viz. the Aharonov-Bohm effect. After having argued that the Aharonov-Bohm effect is a genuine counter-example for the transference theory, we offer a new physicalist approach of causation, ontic and modal, in which this effect is embedded.

(2013). Towards the Rehabilitation of the Will in Contemporary Philosophy. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology: Vol. 44, Life, Truth, Transcendence, pp. 286-301.

Uffink and Valente claim that there is no time-asymmetric ingredient that, added to the Hamiltonian equations of motion, allows to obtain the Boltzmann equation within the Lanford’s derivation. This paper is a discussion and a reply to that analysis. More specifically, I focus on two mathematical tools used in this derivation, viz. the Boltzmann–Grad limit and the incoming configurations. Although none of them are time-asymmetric ingredients, by themselves, I claim that the use of incoming configurations, as taken within the B–G (...) limit, is such a time-asymmetric ingredient. Accordingly, this leads to reconsider a kind of Stoßzahlansatz within Lanford’s derivation. (shrink)

Skeptics argue that the acquisition of knowledge is impossible given the standing possibility of error. We present the limiting convergence strategy for responding to skepticism and discuss the relationship between conceivable error and an agent’s knowledge in the limit. We argue that the skeptic must demonstrate that agents are operating with a bad method or are in an epistemically cursed world. Such demonstration involves a significant step beyond conceivability and commits the skeptic to potentially convergent inquiry.

This paper studies some model-theoretic properties of special groups of finite type. Special groups are a first-order axiomatization of the algebraic theory of quadratic forms, introduced by Dickmann and Miraglia, which is essentially equivalent to abstract Witt rings. More precisely, we consider elementary equivalence, saturation, elementary embeddings, quantifier elimination, stability and Morley rank.

Je propose d’analyser une pratique de la recherche en mathématiques constructives, celle qui consiste à reformuler constructivement les théories physiques. Je discute plus précisément trois aspects de cette pratique. Je montre d’abord que celle-ci a la particularité d’être motivée par des considérations philosophiques et comment la physique est utilisée pour arbitrer un débat de philosophie des mathématiques entre constructivisme et classicisme. Ensuite, j’identifie la méthodologie de la recherche en mathématiques que cette pratique implique et montre qu’il s’agit, selon une terminologie (...) empruntée à Poincaré, d’une méthodologie de « logiciens ». Enfin, je montre que dans cette pratique, les théories physiques ont un rôle heuristique sur le développement des mathématiques constructives. Elles permettent avec succès de stimuler la recherche d’énoncés constructifs et d’orienter la recherche en mathématiques constructives vers de nouveaux domaines. (shrink)

This volume presents both a historical and a systematic examination of the philosophy of classical Confucianism. Taking into account newly unearthed materials and the most recent scholarship, it features contributions by experts in the field, ranging from senior scholars to outstanding early career scholars. The book first presents the historical development of classical Confucianism, detailing its development amidst a fading ancient political theology and a rising wave of creative humanism. It examines the development of the philosophical ideas of Confucius as (...) well as his disciples and his grandson Zisi, the Zisi-Mencius School, Mencius, and Xunzi. Together with this historical development, the book analyzes and critically assesses the philosophy in the Confucian Classics and other major works of these philosophers. The second part systematically examines such philosophical issues as feeling and emotion, the aesthetic appreciation of music, wisdom in poetry, moral psychology, virtue ethics, political thoughts, the relation with the Ultimate Reality, and the concept of harmony in Confucianism. The Philosophy of Classical Confucianism offers an unparalleled examination to the philosophers, basic texts and philosophical concepts and ideas of Classical Confucianism as well as the recently unearthed bamboo slips related to Classical Confucianism. It will prove itself a valuable reference to undergraduate and postgraduate university students and teachers in philosophy, Chinese history, History, Chinese language and Culture. (shrink)

The hype surrounding the emergence of nanotechnology proved extremely effective to raise public attention and controversies in the early 2000s. A proactive attitude prevailed resulting in the integration of social scientists upstream at the research level, research programs on Ethical, Legal and Societal Impacts, and various public engagement initiatives such as nanojury and citizen conferences. Twenty years later, what happened to the promises of SHS integration and public engagement in nanotechnology? Was it part of the hype, one of the many (...) promises made by the champions of nanotechnology initiatives that never materialized? As a contribution to this broad question, this paper focuses on public engagement initiatives in France and ventures some general reflections on their fate. I will first report, from an insider’s perspective, the public debates conducted by a civil society organization VivAgora, in the national context of fierce controversies. Then I will describe the permanent forum NanoRESP opened in 2013 when nano controversies waned out. On the basis of this case study, I will argue that the STS ideal of co-production of science and society gradually gave way to a more modest co-learning process between stakeholders in the 2010s. (shrink)

BackgroundThe effectiveness of physical activity as an intervention against anxiety disorders and depression is undeniable in clinical psychology. Therefore, the question arose whether these effects also occur when a fear stimulus, like the COVID-19 pandemic, affects otherwise healthy adolescents. Boredom is closely linked to symptoms of fear and anxiety, but the connection between PA, boredom and fear is partly unclear.MethodsA cross-sectional online study was conducted that involved 122 students. Participants were 13–19 years old. The survey was available online from April (...) 27th to May 3rd, 2020. At this time, schools in Germany had already been closed for 6 weeks. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure physical activity, boredom, and fear of COVID-19. A multiple linear regression model was conducted.ResultsThe reported fear of COVID-19 significantly correlates with total PA, quantity of strenuous PA, and boredom. Furthermore, a significant regression equation was found. The variables boredom, PA, and age contribute significantly to predicting the fear of COVID-19 [R2 = 0.127, F = 6.876, p < 0.000], among adolescents.ConclusionOur results indicate that there is an association between PA, boredom and the quarantine experience of adolescents. Students who were physically more active, especially with strenuous intensity, did not feel bored and showed less fear of COVID-19. (shrink)

« Entre Deleuze et Guattari, Clastres et Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, il sera question dans cet article de l’échange fécond entre philosophie et anthropologie. En 1972, Pierre Clastres trouve chez Deleuze et Guattari la théorie du marquage qui sera déterminante dans l’élaboration de sa thèse de la société-contre-l’État. Huit ans plus tard, ces derniers développent une théorisation du nomadisme dans Mille plateaux où tient une place importante la thèse de l’anthropologue. Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, fin lecteur de Mille plateaux, y (...) puise pour sa part des outils conceptuels, notamment le concept de devenir, lui permettant de dépasser le clivage entre nature et culture en anthropologie et développer une interprétation du perspectivisme et du cannibalisme amazonien. Il relit en retour Clastres pour décentrer la thèse de la société-contre-l’État de son “sociocentrisme” et l’ouvrir à une cosmopolitique “par-delà nature et culture” qui se dessine clairement à l’horizon de Mille Plateaux. ». (shrink)

In this paper we reflect upon our multi-year reading group as a site of decolonial feminist praxis that motivates reading in a different register from how we were trained to read as academics in the humanities. In collaborative study we willingly open ourselves to change, to being worked on by one another and by the texts we read. Our reading together has initiated the undoing of settler colonial academic subjectivity and the co-creation of new forms of scholarly subjectivity grounded in (...) relations of care, openness to transformation, and a growing commitment to epistemic justice. In giving an account of our group history and process we reflect on our complicities with settler-colonialism in the university and consider the ways that reading together has cultivated our capacities to listen to counter-narratives, formulate institutional and self critique, and engage in epistemic reparations. (shrink)

Offers readable case studies in postmodern economics, philosophy, literary criticism, feminism, pedagogy, poetry, painting, historiography, and cultural studies, showing disorganization as characteristic of postmodern times.

In metaphysics, there are a number of distinct but related questions about the existence of “further facts”—facts that are contingent relative to the physical structure of the universe. These include further facts about qualia, personal identity, and time. In this article I provide a sequence of examples involving computer simulations, ranging from one in which the protagonist can clearly conclude such further facts exist to one that describes our own condition. This raises the question of where along the sequence the (...) protagonist stops being able to soundly conclude that further facts exist. (shrink)

This article examines Schürmann’s oeuvre in light of his reflections on language. Schürmann’s meditations raise the question whether language is capable of truly expressing the ultimate conditions of human experience. This article argues that, after hegemonies have been broken, or rather are seen to have always been broken from within, one can continue to speak, but only on condition that tragic irony doubles every natal general word with a mortal singular shadow.

Peirce was a thinker who claimed that his mind had been thoroughly formed by his rigorous training in the natural sciences. But he was also the author who proclaimed that nothing is truer than true poetry. In making the case for Peirce’s relevance to issues of education, then, it is necessary to do justice to the multifaceted character of his philosophical genius, in particular, to the experimentalist cast of his mind and his profound appreciation for the aesthetic, the imaginative, and (...) (more narrowly) the metaphorical in their myriad guises. My aim in this paper is to go some distance, however small, toward doing such justice to Peirce. (shrink)

In their 1978 paper, psychologists David Premack and Guy Woodruff posed the question, “Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?” They treated this question as interchangeable with the inquiry, “Does a chimpanzee make inferences about another individual, in any degree or kind?” Here, we offer an alternative way of thinking about this issue, positing that while chimpanzees may not possess a theory of mind in the strict sense, we ought to think of them as enactive perceivers of practical and (...) social affordances. As such, we reframe the question: “Are chimpanzees socially enactive?”. (shrink)

The author opens with a general discussion of religion & the beginnings of Law. Each subsequent chapter discusses topics such as: Origin of Laws, Inherited Education, Rulers & Leaders, Evolution, Tyranny, Taxation, & many others. A very readable text, which invokes additional thought on a variety of topics.

This paper explores the apparently forgotten area of community education. It examines the dominant modes of community education practice, dubbed the status reform model, and concludes that one of the key explanations of its failure to change practice was its reluctance to tackle professional domination of existing power structures in education. The article also examines New Right definitions of appropriate parental roles, of citizenship, and of community. The article concludes by identifying some possible strategies to expand and enhance the roles (...) offered by the education system to lay actors. (shrink)