The majority of the currently flourishing theories of actual causation are located in a broadly counterfactual framework that draws on structural equations. In order to account for cases of symmetric overdeterminiation and preemption, these theories resort to rather intricate analytical tools, most of all, to what Hitchcock has labeled explicitly nonforetracking counterfactuals. This paper introduces a regularity theoretic approach to actual causation that only employs material conditionals, standard Boolean minimization procedures, and a stability condition that regulates the behavior (...) of causal models under model expansions. Notwithstanding its lightweight analytical toolbox, this regularity theory performs at least as well as the structural equations accounts with their heavy appliances. (shrink)

Preface In these days, an anthology on the topic of possible worlds hardly needs justification. No issue has given rise to as much literature in the past ...

Your classic Jaguar XK 120 stands useless by the roadside. Why? Because you gave priority to the admittedly gorgeous 6 cylinder straight six engine; because you privileged the highest value part. Rubber pipes perish, though, and now thanks to a leak in a cheap hose the head gasket has blown. You are stranded and facing a costly bill. More seriously, your mechanical gaffe is a sign of your misunderstanding of Deleuze. Like Sir William Lyons, he engineers systems where the concept (...) of priority must not be confused with independence, separateness, abstraction or ethical superiority. As a good engineer, Deleuze's constructions are holistic and opposed to abstract hierarchies: if a crucial small, actual part perishes in a particular practical situation where it has a role to play, then it does not matter how much virtual power you have in reserve. Your feet are still in a pool of hot water as you survey the wasted potential of actual motion and ideal expressions, hand made in Coventry. (shrink)

In this paper, it is argued that, when properly revised in the face of counter-examples, the source control and actual access views of privacy are extensionally equivalent but different in their underlying rationales. In this sense, the source control view and the actual access view, when properly modified to meet counter-examples, can be metaphorically compared to ‘climbing the same mountain but from different sides’ (as Parfit [1] has argued about normative theories). These two views can equally apply to (...) the privacy debates and, thus, resolve a long-standing debate in the literature. (shrink)

Esta entrevista fue realizada a Ricardo Pallares, miembro de la Academia Nacional de Letras de Uruguay. Uno de los objetivos medulares de este encuentro fue que el académico brindara un panorama de cómo se percibe la Literatura en sus manifestaciones heterogéneas, ya sea a nivel local o internacional. Para ello, el referente de esta entrevista hizo una apreciación en torno a algunas áreas donde se desenvuelve esta disciplina, tales como en el ámbito educativo, la sociedad, los concursos literarios y las (...) producciones que pretenden alcanzar un espacio en la canonización de la Literatura. Con todas estas propuestas, Ricardo Pallares explica con entusiasmo y pormenores aquellas experiencias que le permitieron asegurar que lo literario es un componente fundamental para la vida de los ciudadanos y que no deja de ser neurálgico en las actividades culturales y académicas. (shrink)

Despite their ethical intentions, ethically minded consumers rarely purchase ethical products (Auger and Devinney: 2007, Journal of Business Ethics76, 361–383). This intentions–behaviour gap is important to researchers and industry, yet poorly understood (Belk et al.: 2005, Consumption, Markets and Culture8(3), 275–289). In order to push the understanding of ethical consumption forward, we draw on what is known about the intention–behaviour gap from the social psychology and consumer behaviour literatures and apply these insights to ethical consumerism. We bring together three separate (...) insights – implementation intentions (Gollwitzer: 1999, American Psychologist54(7), 493–503), actual behavioural control (ABC) (Ajzen and Madden: 1986, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology22, 453–474; Sheeran et al.: 2003, Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 393–410) and situational context (SC) (Belk: 1975, Journal of Consumer Research2, 157–164) – to construct an integrated, holistic conceptual model of the intention–behaviour gap of ethically minded consumers. This holistic conceptual model addresses significant limitations within the ethical consumerism literature, and moves the understanding of ethical consumer behaviour forward. Further, the operationalisation of this model offers insight and strategic direction for marketing managers attempting to bridge the intention–behaviour gap of the ethically minded consumer. (shrink)

This paper studies the notion of virtuality in the Bohr-Kramers-Slater theory of 1924. We situate the virtual entities of BKS within the tradition of the correspondence principle and the radiation theory of the Bohr model. We show how, in this context, virtual oscillators emerged as classical substitute radiators and were used to describe the otherwise elusive quantum transitions. They played an effective role in the quantum theory of radiation while remaining categorically distinct and ontologically separated from the quantum world of (...) the Bohr model. The notion of virtuality thus differs markedly from its counterpart in quantum mechanics or QFT. (shrink)

This paper argues that David Chalmer's new epistemic interpretation of 2-D semantics faces the very same type of objection he takes to defeat earlier contextualist interpretation of the 2-D framework.

We define a first-order theory FIN which has a recursive axiomatization and has the following two properties. Each finite part of FIN has finite models. FIN is strong enough to develop that part of mathematics which is used or has potential applications in natural science. This work can also be regarded as a consistency proof of this hitherto informal part of mathematics. In FIN one can count every set; this permits one to prove some new probabilistic theorems.

Recent work on Kant’s conception of space has largely put to rest the view that Kant is hostile to actual infinity. Far from limiting our cognition to quantities that are finite or merely potentially infinite, Kant characterizes the ground of all spatial representation as an actually infinite magnitude. I advance this reevaluation a step further by arguing that Kant judges some actual infinities to be greater than others: he claims, for instance, that an infinity of miles is strictly (...) smaller than an infinity of earth-diameters. This inequality follows from Kant’s mereological conception of magnitudes (quanta): the part is (analytically) less than the whole, and an infinity of miles is equal to only a part of an infinity of earth-diameters. This inequality does not, however, imply that Kant’s infinities have transfinite and unequal sizes (quantitates). Because Kant’s conception of size (quantitas) is based on the Eudoxian theory of proportions, infinite magnitudes (quanta) cannot be assigned exact sizes. Infinite magnitudes are immeasurable, but some are greater than others. (shrink)

In the last decade, several researchers have proposed theories of actual causation that make use of structural equations and directed graphs. Many of these researchers are committed to a widely-endorsed folk attribution desideratum, according to which an important constraint on the acceptability of a theory of actual causation is agreement between the deliverances of the theory with respect to specific cases and the reports of untutored individuals about those same cases. In the present article, we consider a small (...) collection of related theories of actual causation, including a purely structural theory and two theories that supplement the structural equations with considerations of defaults, typicality, and normality. We argue that each of these three theories are meant to satisfy the FAD, and then we present empirical evidence that they fail to do so for several variations on a simple scenario from the literature. Drawing on our previous work on the responsibility view of folk causal attribitons, we conclude by offering a solution that allows the latter two theories to satisfy the FAD for these cases. The solution is to give up on concerns with typicality and focus on injunctive norms in supplementing the graphical modeling machinery. (shrink)

As society advances, the educational system remains linked to the traditional model focused on the transmission of information and must adapt to new times and new profile of students, with the students and learning centered education. Active pedagogies developed during the 20th century become a fundamental reference point for the implementation of education competencies.

I examine the reasons Aristotle presents in Physics VIII 8 for denying a crucial assumption of Zeno’s dichotomy paradox: that every motion is composed of sub-motions. Aristotle claims that a unified motion is divisible into motions only in potentiality (δυνάμει). If it were actually divided at some point, the mobile would need to have arrived at and then have departed from this point, and that would require some interval of rest. Commentators have generally found Aristotle’s reasoning unconvincing. Against David Bostock (...) and Richard Sorabji, inter alia, I argue that Aristotle offers a plausible and internally consistent response to Zeno. I defend Aristotle’s reasoning by using his discussion of what to say about the mobile at boundary instants, transitions between change and rest. There Aristotle articulates what I call the Changes are Open, Rests are Closed Rule: what is true of something at a boundary instant is what is true of it over the time of its rest. By contrast, predications true of something over its period of change are not true of the thing at either of the boundary instants of that change. I argue that this rule issues from Aristotle’s general understanding of change, as laid out in Phys. III. It also fits well with Phys. VI, where Aristotle maintains that there is a first boundary instant included in the time of rest, but not a “first in which the mobile began to change.” I then show how this rule underlies Aristotle’s argument that a continuous motion cannot be composed of actual sub-motions. Aristotle distinguishes potential middles, points passed through en route to a terminus, from actual middles. The Changes are Open, Rests are Closed Rule only applies to actual middles, because only they are boundaries of change that the mobile must arrive at and then depart from. On my reading, Aristotle argues that the instant of arrival, the first instant at which the mobile has come to be at the actual middle, cannot belong to the time of the subsequent motion. If it did, the mobile would already be moving towards the next terminus and thus, per Phys. VI 6, would have already left. But it cannot have moved away from the midpoint at the very same moment it has arrived there. This means that the instant of arrival must be separated from the time of departure by an interval of rest. I show how Aristotle’s reasoning applies generally to rule out any continuous reflexive motion or continuous complex rectilinear motion. On my interpretation, however, the argument does not apply to every change of direction. When, as in the case of projectile motion, multiple movers and their relative powers explain why the mobile changes directions, distinct sub-motions are not involved. Aristotle holds that such motions cannot be continuous, not because they involve intervals of rest, but because they involve multiple causes of motion. My interpretation of the Changes are Open, Rests are Closed Rule allows us to make better sense of Aristotle’s argument than any previous interpretation. (shrink)

O presente artigo trata da influência exercida pela filosofia kantiana na actualidade a partir da chamada crise da Modernidade ilustrada. Os autores começam por analisar o posicionamento original kantiano, incidindo especialmente na sua concepção do criticismo e do transcendentalismo. Esta análise é feita a partir da perspectiva da aberta pela Kritik der Urteilskraft enquanto marco do sistema da razão, capaz de incorporar a finitude da mesma. Seguidamente são analisadas a recepção e a transformação do pensamento kantiano a partir de duas (...) correntes filosóflcas actuais: o Racionalismo Crítico de Karl Popper e Hans Albert, e a Pragmática Transcendental da linguagem de Karl-Otto Apel. Em ambos os casos se compara o sen modo próprio de incorporar as noções de crítica e transcendentalidade com a concepção original de Kant. /// The article addresses the influence of Kantian philosophy in contemporary thought from the view point of the crisis of illustrated Modernity. The authors start by analyzing the original Kantian position, whereby particular attention is given to his conception of criticism and transcendentalism. This analysis is worked out from the perspective of the Kritik der Urteilskraft as a frame for the system of reason, able to incorporate the finitude of reason itself This is followed by a detailed analysis of the reception and the transformation of illustrated thinking performed by two contemporary philosophical schools: Critical Rationalism (Karl Popper and Hans Albert), and Transcendental Pragmatics of language (Karl-Otto Apel). The authors of the article compare in each case the adoption of the notions of critique and transcendentality with the original use that Kant himself makes of them. (shrink)

El panteísmo de Baruch de Spinoza se convirtió en el estandarte de la cosmovisión filosófica que el autor desarrolló, lo que ha hecho que, al tratarse de éste, se le asocie con su peculiar concepción de Dios y cómo ésta está relacionada con la felicidad del hombre. Es por dicha razón que busco retomar la importancia de una concepción panteísta/spinoziana adecuada a la realidad de nuestro contexto histórico. Si bien hay un abanico muy amplio de concepciones teológicas y cultos que (...) de éstas se siguen, considero que la visión que Baruch de Spinoza sostenía de Dios tiene una relevancia vigente si se la aborda por sus postulados principales después de considerar los cambios contextuales y adoptarlos dentro del contexto actual. (shrink)

Pasado y presente se encuentran en las páginas de esta obra. Ahora bien, ello no pretende incurrir en ningún tipo de cronolatría. Por ello mismo, alberga la pretensión de mirar al futuro y proporcionar claves interpretativas para analizar y afrontar lo que está por venir. Tanto la Historia de la Educación como la Teoría de la Educación, por separado así como de manera interactiva, investigan, describen, analizan e interpretan lo que aconteció y lo que acaece con la finalidad de preparar (...) los andamios que permitan desentrañar retos latentes y afrontar nuevos desafíos. Por ello mismo, ninguna de las dos disciplinas se mueve por lo novedoso ni hacia lo más reciente, sino por aquello que discurre destilando permanencia. No hacerlo supondría atender sólo a lo último de la actualidad, lo cual conduciría a tales disciplinas a acabar trabajando para verter simples crónicas históricas o emitir meras informaciones tan profundamente superficiales como fugaces. Por tanto, una historia con voz propia y una teoría que pivota sobre el mejoramiento de procesos y de personas son los dos ejes que van a servir para enhebrar los contenidos del presente libro. (shrink)

The prominent, catholic, existentialist philosopher, Alberto Wagner de Reyma (Lima Peru, 1915) who was a privileged witness of the XX Century, focused on Spanish-America from the beginning of the XXI century to the present and the future of the West. His criticism of pan-Americanism, globalization, ..

El problema y debate sobre la disyunción de la filosofía y la clínica psicoanalítica es un fenómeno que ha traído diversas discusiones desde ambas aristas teóricas. En el presente documento se abordan algunas de las contribuciones más recientes al debate filosófico en implicancia con las modificaciones de la clínica psicoanalítica actual. Nuestro objetivo fue mediante un análisis documental con miramiento teóricocrítico contribuir al esclarecimiento de las herramientas fundamentales que la filosofía entrega a la modificación de la teoría y práctica (...) psicoanalítica. Para tal efecto, hemos trazado un recorrido histórico general a las modificaciones y argumentos que a lo largo de la historia del psicoanálisis hanido emergiendo. Finalmente, exponemos algunos de los debates y tesis pendientes de continuar explorando, en miras de la mixtura de los saberes y en beneficio de las reflexiones y análisis enfocados en la condición humana, cuestiones que tanto la filosofía como el psicoanálisis tienen como ejes centrales. (shrink)

Retornando al modelo dialógico del discurso racional de la antigüedad, describimos a la lógica como el estudio del flujo general de la información: inferencia, observación y comunicación. Mostramos cómo esta perspectiva aúna ideas de la lógica estándar, la filosofía, la lingüística, la informática y la teoría de juegos.