Constructing Protagorean objectivity.ErrnannoBencivenga,Nadeem Hussein,Christine Korsgaard,James Lenman,Peter de Mameffe,James Nickel,David Plunkett,James Pryor,Andrews Reath &Michael Ridge -2012 - In James Lenman & Yonatan Shemmer,Constructivism in Practical Philosophy. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.detailsAt least since the late Early Modern period, the Holy Grail of ethics, for many philosophers, has been to say how ethical values could have a kind of protagorean objectivity: values are to be both fully objective as values and yet depend on us by their very nature. More than any other contemporary foundational approach it is “constructivist” theories, such as those due to Rawls, Scanlon, and Korsgaard, which have consciously sought to explain how protagorean objectivity is a real possibility. (...) Yet there remains considerable uncertainty about what the various versions of constructivism have in common, what, if anything, “constructivism” as a general approach is supposed to accomplish, and whether, if it is a general approach, it amounts to a distinctive foundational view. (shrink)
How epigenetic mutations can affect genetic evolution: Model and mechanism.Filippos D. Klironomos,Johannes Berg &Sinéad Collins -2013 -Bioessays 35 (6):571-578.detailsWe hypothesize that heritable epigenetic changes can affect rates of fitness increase as well as patterns of genotypic and phenotypic change during adaptation. In particular, we suggest that when natural selection acts on pure epigenetic variation in addition to genetic variation, populations adapt faster, and adaptive phenotypes can arise before any genetic changes. This may make it difficult to reconcile the timing of adaptive events detected using conventional population genetics tools based on DNA sequence data with environmental drivers of adaptation, (...) such as changes in climate. Epigenetic modifications are frequently associated with somatic cell differentiation, but recently epigenetic changes have been found that can be transmitted over many generations. Here, we show how the interplay of these heritable epigenetic changes with genetic changes can affect adaptive evolution, and how epigenetic changes affect the signature of selection in the genetic record. (shrink)
Logic and Other Nonsense: The Case of Anselm and His God.ErmannoBencivenga -1993 - Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.detailsLogic is often seen as the bedrock of intellectual life. It aims to be straight-forward, true, clear. But in this provocative book of postmodern philosophy, ErmannoBencivenga presents an extended reflection on the subversive nature of logic--logic that is not stable and certain, but deceptive and tortuous. The author uses Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of the eleventh century, as his case study to show how human reason can be devious. In Anselm's famous texts, his beliefs (...) are not at stake, he is sure of them--he only seeks to under-stand his faith, not to prove it. But by looking at Anselm's writings as a whole,Bencivenga argues that they undermine Anselm's own interpretation. Not only can reason be more effective than force in fighting the unorthodox, but it can also be a subtle way of undermining orthodoxy.Bencivenga demonstrates how reason plays different roles at the different levels of Anselm's project. For its authoritarian subject, reason imposes a limit on its rebellious character. For its subversive subject, reason opens up an infinite arena for experimentation whose end will never be reached. Ultimately, Logic and Other Nonsense asks hard questions about the nature of philosophy in Anselm's world, as well as our own. (shrink)
An epistemic theory of reference.ErmannoBencivenga -1983 -Journal of Philosophy 80 (12):785-805.detailsTHIS ARTICLE PRESENTS A THEORY OF REFERENCE AS AN INTENTIONAL ACT, INDEPENDENT OF THE METAPHYSICAL ASSUMPTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A REAL (AND COMMON) WORLD. ACCORDING TO THE THEORY, SPEAKERS REFER TO ENTITIES IN THEIR COGNITIVE SPACES. DIFFERENT SPEAKERS HAVE DIFFERENT SPACES, WHICH AT ANY GIVEN TIME MIRROR THEIR BELIEF-SYSTEMS AT THAT TIME. OBJECTS IN COGNITIVE SPACES ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM IDEAS, "SINNE", AND MEINONGIAN NON-EXISTENTS, AND SEVERAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE THEORY ARE DISCUSSED: AMONG THEM, HOW TO HANDLE COMMUNICATION AND TRUTH.
Truth and Norms: Normative Alethic Pluralism and Evaluative Disagreements.Filippo Ferrari -2021 - Lanham: Lexington Books.detailsTruth and Norms develops a novel pluralistic view of the normative role that truth exerts on judgements. This view, labeled normative alethic pluralism, provides the best explanation of the variable normative significance that disagreement exhibits in different areas of discourse and is fully compatible with a minimalist conception of truth.
The Reason for the Guilt.ErmannoBencivenga -2016 -Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 3 (1):9-10.detailsI may feel guilty for situations and events in which I seemed to play no causal role, which (it would seem) would have been exactly the same had I never existed. What is the reason for this guilt? The paper argues that it is to be found in a sense of universal connectedness: I take myself to always make a difference, no matter how distant I appear to be from anything that happens.
A Theory of Language and Mind.ErmannoBencivenga -1997 - University of California Press.detailsIn his most recent book, ErmannoBencivenga offers a stylistically and conceptually exciting investigation of the nature of language, mind, and personhood and the many ways the three connect.Bencivenga, one of the most iconoclastic voices to emerge in contemporary American philosophy, contests the basic assumptions of analytic (and also, to an extent, postmodern) approaches to these topics. His exploration leads through fascinating discussions of education, courage, pain, time and history, selfhood, subjectivity and objectivity, reality, facts, the empirical, (...) power and transgression, silence, privacy and publicity, and play—all themes that are shown to be integral to our thinking about language. Relentessly bending the rules,Bencivenga frustrates our expectations of a "proper" theory of language. He invokes the transgressions of Nietzsche and Wittgenstein even as he appropriates the aphoristic style of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. Written in a philosophically playful and experimental mode, A Theory of Language and Mind draws the reader into a sense of continual surprise, therapeutic discomfort, and discovery. (shrink)
Heidegger and the Contradiction of Being: An Analytic Interpretation of the Late Heidegger.Filippo Casati -2021 - New York, NY: Routledge.detailsThis book offers a clear, analytic, and innovative interpretation of Heidegger's late work. This period of Heidegger's philosophy remains largely unexplored by analytic philosophers, who consider it filled with inconsistencies and paradoxical ideas, particularly concerning the notions of Being and nothingness. This book takes seriously the claim that the late Heidegger endorses dialetheism--namely the position according to which some contradictions are true--and shows that the idea that Being is both an entity and not an entity is neither incoherent nor logically (...) trivial. The author achieves this by presenting and defending the idea that reality has an inconsistent structure. In doing so, he takes one of the most discussed topics in current analytic metaphysics, grounding theory, into a completely unexplored area. Additionally, in order to make sense of Heidegger's concept of nothingness, the author introduces an original axiomatic mereological system that, having a paraconsistent logic as a base logic, can tolerate inconsistencies without falling into logical triviality. This is the first book to set forth a complete and detailed discussion of the late Heidegger in the framework of analytic metaphysics. It will be of interest to Heidegger scholars and analytic philosophers working on theories of grounding, mereology, dialetheism, and paraconsistent logic. (shrink)
'An liceat cum Iudeis participare' A consilium of Giovanni of Capestrano.Filippo Sedda -2017 -Franciscan Studies 75:145-174.detailsTo ensure that the perfidious Jews and their accomplices, defenders and supporters, do not seek their own frivolous exception from the burdens of the statutes of the church or the abrogation of laws, it has been deemed expedient, by the approval and confirmation of recommendations, to extend the commission of the devout friar Giovanni of Capestrano, which he has with regard to the conduct of the Jews and the renewal and confirmation of the regulations of the church concerning the Jews (...) issued by the lord Pope Nicholas IV, the tenor of which is the following.1These words in an incunable edition containing a Tractatus de Iudeorum et Christianorum communione et conversatione, which in all probability is from the... (shrink)
Technology and accessibility in global governance and human rights: the experience of disability rights advocates.Filippo Trevisan &Derrick L. Cogburn -2020 -Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 18 (3):377-391.detailsPurposeInternational organizations are working on an unprecedented number of development initiatives relevant to people with disabilities. This makes it essential for the global disability community to be able to participate effectively in the decision-making processes associated with these programs. In light of this, this study aims to explore whether information technologies can help create a more inclusive global governance, forming the basis for equitable development for people with disabilities.Design/methodology/approachThe results of a global survey of disabled people’s organizations’ leaders are discussed. (...) This asked disability rights advocates about their experiences with accessibility and barriers to effective participation, low-cost accessible technological solutions for remote participation and freely available “off-the-shelf” online technologies – in particular social media platforms – to bridge the gap between the disability community and global governance processes.FindingsAlthough only a small number of international conferences offer accessible virtual participation through web conferencing and other tools, responses from DPO advocates suggest that there is a strong demand for this technology and provide evidence of its potential for improving accessibility in global governance. Furthermore, disability organizations all over the world have embraced social media platforms to liaise with their grassroots and enable them to part-take in policy-making processes.Originality/valueThis study highlights community-backed technological solutions to persisting barriers that systematically exclude people with disabilities from fundamental global governance processes, illuminating the nexus of disability, accessibility, and participation. (shrink)
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Legal ideology and the commons: Why are jurists falling behind?Filippo Valguarnera -2018 -Filozofija I Društvo 29 (2):205-218.detailsThe last quarter of a century has featured a surge in interest and studies on the commons, spearheaded, of course, by the efforts of Elinor Ostrom. These efforts have problematized the once well-established paradigm of the tragedy of the commons most clearly described by Garrett Hardin in 1968. One could say that the commons, thus, have become a fundamental field of study in most social sciences. This is not the case in the field of legal scholarship, which leads me to (...) the overarching issue of this essay, namely the difficult relationship between jurists and the commons. The phrase?difficult relationship? does not refer to an explicit antagonism, but to something even worse: complete indifference and a scandalous lack of knowledge. While my main purpose is to try to explain this sorry state of affairs, I also hope to make a more general point on the nature of law and legal change. In this sense, the commons can be considered a case-study in legal theory. The main issue of this paper is to tackle following sub-questions. What is the status of commons in the Western European legal discourse? Why do most legal scholars pay such a poor attention to the growing literature on the commons in other disciplines? What factors contribute to this peculiar case of cultural deafness? What promise of improvement does the future hold? nema. (shrink)
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Sul Dialeteismo. Lezioni Padovane di Graham Priest Ed Altri Saggi Su L Dialeteismo.Filippo Mancini &Massimiliano Carrara -2021 - Padua, Province of Padua, Italy: Padova University Press.detailsPer il dialeteismo ci sono contraddizioni vere. Questa concezione filosofica ha assunto una forma chiara e definita a partire dal lavoro del filosofo e logico Graham Priest – uno dei suoi padri fondatori, nonché uno dei suoi più strenui difensori. Questo libro intende portare il dialeteismo all’attenzione di un ampio pubblico, che non sia solo quello degli addetti ai lavori. Il volume è suddiviso in due parti. La prima include le cinque lezioni su "Dialeteismo e storia della filosofia" tenute da (...) Priest eFilippo Casati a Padova nel 2016, in occasione del Corso di Eccellenza per il dottorato in filosofia dell’Università di Padova. La seconda contiene quattro contributi sul dialeteismo di autori italiani. (shrink)
Brain Entropy During Aging Through a Free Energy Principle Approach.Filippo Cieri,Xiaowei Zhuang,Jessica Z. K. Caldwell &Dietmar Cordes -2021 -Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 15.detailsNeural complexity and brain entropy have gained greater interest in recent years. The dynamics of neural signals and their relations with information processing continue to be investigated through different measures in a variety of noteworthy studies. The BEN of spontaneous neural activity decreases during states of reduced consciousness. This evidence has been showed in primary consciousness states, such as psychedelic states, under the name of “the entropic brain hypothesis.” In this manuscript we propose an extension of this hypothesis to physiological (...) and pathological aging. We review this particular facet of the complexity of the brain, mentioning studies that have investigated BEN in primary consciousness states, and extending this view to the field of neuroaging with a focus on resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We first introduce historic and conceptual ideas about entropy and neural complexity, treating the mindbrain as a complex nonlinear dynamic adaptive system, in light of the free energy principle. Then, we review the studies in this field, analyzing the idea that the aim of the neurocognitive system is to maintain a dynamic state of balance between order and chaos, both in terms of dynamics of neural signals and functional connectivity. In our exploration we will review studies both on acute psychedelic states and more chronic psychotic states and traits, such as those in schizophrenia, in order to show the increase of entropy in those states. Then we extend our exploration to physiological and pathological aging, where BEN is reduced. Finally, we propose an interpretation of these results, defining a general trend of BEN in primary states and cognitive aging. (shrink)
The COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter versus Facebook.Filippo Menczer,John Bryden,Christopher Torres-Lugo,David Axelrod,Pik-Mai Hui,Francesco Pierri &Kai-Cheng Yang -2021 -Big Data and Society 8 (1).detailsThe global spread of the novel coronavirus is affected by the spread of related misinformation—the so-called COVID-19 Infodemic—that makes populations more vulnerable to the disease through resistance to mitigation efforts. Here, we analyze the prevalence and diffusion of links to low-credibility content about the pandemic across two major social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook. We characterize cross-platform similarities and differences in popular sources, diffusion patterns, influencers, coordination, and automation. Comparing the two platforms, we find divergence among the prevalence of popular (...) low-credibility sources and suspicious videos. A minority of accounts and pages exert a strong influence on each platform. These misinformation “superspreaders” are often associated with the low-credibility sources and tend to be verified by the platforms. On both platforms, there is evidence of coordinated sharing of Infodemic content. The overt nature of this manipulation points to the need for societal-level solutions in addition to mitigation strategies within the platforms. However, we highlight limits imposed by inconsistent data-access policies on our capability to study harmful manipulations of information ecosystems. (shrink)
Variation, distributivity, and the illusion of branching.Filippo Beghelli,Dorit Ben-Shalom &Anna Szabolcsi -1997 - In Anna Szabolcsi,Ways of Scope Taking. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 29--69.detailsWe show in rather informal terms how witness sets can be useful in both explicating some basic intuitions about scope and understanding how particular denotational semantic differences between noun phrases affect their abilities to bear out certain scopal patterns. More generally we suggest that the usual notion of scope needs to be factored into variation distributivity and maximality. This part lays some groundwork for several of the subsequent chapters and is thus of interest to all readers. The second part shows (...) that already in this initial raw form the above insights can be applied to make a novel claim concerning the availability of so-called branching readings. In logical terms a branching reading can be defined for any sentence with a subject and a direct object. However speakers of English accept only a fraction of these readings, so the question arises how the data can be predicted from the meanings of the participating quantifiers and the syntactic structure of the sentence. We propose that thinking about the behavior of quantifiers along the lines introduced in the first part leads to a simple answer to this question. (shrink)
Looser Ends: The Practice of Philosophy.ErmannoBencivenga -1989detailsA selection of Perlman's (social service, U. of Chicago) recent essays responsibility, and who need ongoing support to better center themselves in their professions. No index. of relevance for contemporary social work, especially in its casework and groupwork forms. The selections reflect two concerns. First is the number of entrants to social work (and frequently to the most difficult publicly supported welfare programs) who have only rudimentary education in the field, and need the support of ongoing education to help them (...) maintain focus and direction. The second concern is with the number of more advanced graduates who have been prematurely placed in positions with supervisory or teaching Working from within the analytic tradition, and employing analytic tools, distinctions, and methods of argument,Bencivenga (philosophy, U. of California-Irvine) attempts to transform and save the tradition, under increasing assault by its post-analytic critics. Eleven essays (nine previously published) cover topics in aesthetics, language, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and meta-philosophy. Cloth edition (unseen), $35. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR. (shrink)
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Étienne SOURIAU : Fragments pour une biographie intellectuelle.Filippo Domenicali &Fabien Le Tinnier -2017 -Nouvelle Revue d'Esthétique 19 (1):151-196.detailsÉtienne Souriau (1892-1979) demeure un philosophe et esthécien français du xx e siècle encore largement méconnu. Cette première biographie coécrite parFilippo Domenicali et Fabien Le Tinnier – regroupant leurs recherches respectives sur l’œuvre d’Étienne Souriau, pour l’un sur ses années lyonnaises, l’autre sur ses années parisiennes –, cherche à restaurer la place qu’occupait l’œuvre du philosophe au sein de l’histoire de la philosophie française contemporaine. Fondée sur l’étude de nombreuses archives pour la première fois mises au jour, cette (...) biographie retrace le cursus honorem du professeur Souriau durant plus soixante ans. En resituant ainsi la trajectoire intellectuelle de Souriau, l’évolution de sa carrière, la toile de ses amitiés philosophes ainsi que ses réseaux collégiaux parmi les lieux qu’il a fréquenté, cette biographie vise encore à éclairer son travail à la lumière des livres, idées et événements qui ont chacun participé à façonner son abondante œuvre philosophique que depuis quelques années de nombreux chercheurs et universitaires français, belges et italiens redécouvrent. Depuis ses années parisiennes de formation passées à l’École Normale Supérieure jusqu’au faste de ces années passée à l’université de Paris occupant la chaire d’esthétique à partir de juillet 1946, Souriau fait rayonner la philosophie française par-delà les frontières françaises comme en témoignent ses nombreuses publications étrangères et déplacements professionnels. Figure majeure de la philosophie universitaire, Souriau et son œuvre parcourent ainsi le monde philosophique du milieu du xx e siècle. (shrink)
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Better Than Zilch?Filippo Casati &Naoya Fujikawa -2015 -Logic and Logical Philosophy 24 (2):255-264.detailsIn their paper ‘Zilch’, Oliver and Smiley claim that the word ‘nothing’ can be used as a singular term and that ‘nothing’ as a singular term and the word ‘zilch’ are empty terms, which fail to refer to anything. In this paper, we propose that ‘nothing’ as a singular term and ‘zilch’ can be used to denote null things such as absences, null objects or nothingness. We also claim that, pace their interpretation of Heidegger’s ‘das Nichts’ as an empty term, (...) it should be understood as such a singular term that refers to nothingness. (shrink)
Enquiry and Normative Deviance The Role of Fake News in Science Denialism.Filippo Ferrari &Sebastiano Moruzzi -2021 - In Sven Bernecker, Amy K. Flowerree & Thomas Grundmann,The Epistemology of Fake News. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.detailsThe main thesis of this paper is that science denialism brings about an aberrant form of enquiry in which the epistemic norms governing scientific enquiry are deviated in significant ways. Science denialism doesn’t involve just a rejection of a scientific theory; it also deeply challenges the practice, common within scientific enquiry, of continuously and, to a certain extent, impartially testing research methods, theories, and evidential sources with the aim of improving the accuracy of our theories. We will offer an in-depth (...) analysis of the epistemic mechanisms underpinning the normative aberration brought about by science denialism. More specifically, we will develop a fine-grained framework to model a variety of normative deviances that may take place in enquiry. By analysing two case studies, we will argue that fake news contributes significantly to shape the epistemic norms operating within science denialism. They in fact play two pivotal roles: first, they are used to cast discredit on a variety of (institutional) sources of evidence in relation to a certain set of phenomena (e.g. whether vaccines are safe for our health); second, they also play a part in building the alternative explanation of the targeted phenomena. (shrink)
Linguistic Relativity and Its Relation to Analytic Philosophy.Filippo Batisti -2017 -Studia Semiotyczne 31 (2):201-226.detailsThe history of so-called ‘linguistic relativity’ is an odd and multifaceted one. After knowing alternate fortunes and being treated by different academic branches, today there are some new ways of investigating the language-thought-reality problem that put into dialogue the latest trends in language-related disciplines generate room for philosophical themes previously overlooked, reassess the very idea of linguistic relativity, despite its popularized versions which have circulated for decades and which have led an otherwise fruitful debate to extremes. It is argued that (...) a multidisciplinary approach is desirable in order to broaden future research. In the last few years the opportunity to study this matter following a common trend in several disciplines has been created. Language, and cognition too, are now conceived as intrinsically social phenomena. It is argued that relativistic effects should be investigated in social realms, and that analytic philosophy could help with this task. (shrink)
Knowledge as a Relation and Knowledge as an Experience in the Critique of Pure Reason.ErmannoBencivenga -1985 -Canadian Journal of Philosophy 15 (4):593 - 615.detailsKant was very proud of his Copernican revolution. So it is a bit ironical that the exact nature of this revolution should have turned out to be as obscure and controversial as it has. In the present paper I will try to provide a new way of looking at the issue. It is my hope that this new perspective will prove not only historically but also theoretically valuable; in particular, that it will present Kant's revolution as one that we might (...) want to take seriously, and maybe even think we still need. (shrink)