Exploitation.Alan Wertheimer -1996 - Princeton University Press.detailsWhat is the basis for arguing that a volunteer army exploits citizens who lack civilian career opportunities? How do we determine that a doctor who has sex with his patients is exploiting them? In this book,Alan Wertheimer seeks to identify when a transaction or relationship can be properly regarded as exploitative--and not oppressive, manipulative, or morally deficient in some other way--and explores the moral weight of taking unfair advantage. Among the first political philosophers to examine this important topic (...) from a non-Marxist perspective, Wertheimer writes about ordinary experience in an accessible yet philosophically penetrating way. He considers whether it is seriously wrong for a party to exploit another if the transaction is consensual and mutually advantageous, whether society can justifiably prohibit people from entering into such a transaction, and whether it is wrong to allow oneself to be exploited. Wertheimer first considers several contexts commonly characterized as exploitive, including surrogate motherhood, unconscionable contracts, the exploitation of student athletes, and sexual exploitation in psychotherapy. In a section outlining his theory of exploitation, he sets forth the criteria for a fair transaction and the point at which we can properly say that a party has consented. Whereas many discussions of exploitation have dealt primarily with cases in which one party harms or coerces another, Wertheimer's book focuses on what makes a mutually advantageous and consensual transaction exploitive and analyzes the moral and legal implications of such exploitation. (shrink)
Neo-Fregeanism: An Embarrassment of Riches.Alan Weir -2003 -Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 44 (1):13-48.detailsNeo-Fregeans argue that substantial mathematics can be derived from a priori abstraction principles, Hume's Principle connecting numerical identities with one:one correspondences being a prominent example. The embarrassment of riches objection is that there is a plurality of consistent but pairwise inconsistent abstraction principles, thus not all consistent abstractions can be true. This paper considers and criticizes various further criteria on acceptable abstractions proposed by Wright settling on another one—stability—as the best bet for neo-Fregeans. However, an analogue of the embarrassment of (...) riches objection resurfaces in the metatheory and I conclude by arguing that the neo-Fregean program, at least insofar as it includes a platonistic ontology, is fatally wounded by it. (shrink)
Richard Rorty.Alan R. Malachowski (ed.) -2002 - London ;: Routledge.detailsRichard Rorty is notorious for contending that the traditional, foundation-building and truth-seeking ambitions of systematic philosophy should be set aside in favour of a more pragmatic, conversational, hermeneutically guided project. This challenge has not only struck at the heart of philosophy but has ricocheted across other disciplines, both contesting their received self-images and opening up new avenues of inquiry in the process.Alan Malachowski provides an authoritative overview of Rorty's considerable body of work and a general assessment of his (...) impact both within philosophy and in the humanities more broadly. He begins by explaining the genesis of Rorty's central ideas, tracking their development from suggestions in his early papers through their crystallization in his groundbreaking book, "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature". Malachowski evaluates some of the common criticisms of Rorty's position and his ensuing pragmatism. The book examines the subsequent evolution of his ideas, focusing particularly on the main themes of his second major work, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. The political and cultural impact of Rorty's writings on such diverse fields as feminism, cultural and literary theory, and international relations are also considered, and the author explores why Rorty's work has generally found its warmest reception in these areas rather than among mainstream philosophers. (shrink)
Current Legal Problems 1994: Collected Papers.Michael DavidAlan Freeman -1994 - Oxford University Press UK.detailsThis year's volume of collected papers in the Current Legal Problems series provides in-depth analyses some important developments which have taken place in recent months. Public law has witnessed much activity both in the courts and in Parliament during the last twelve months and this is reflected in three essays which examine different aspects of human rights, equality, and the right to privacy. In the wake of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, two lengthy essays deal with evidence in police (...) investigations and the concept of due process and pre-trial criminal justice. (shrink)
No categories
Tocqueville, democracy, and religion: checks and balances for democratic souls.Alan S. Kahan -2015 - New York, NY: Oxford University Press.detailsA ground-breaking study of the views of the greatest theorist of democracy writing about one of our most pressing issues.Alan S. Kahan, a leading Tocqueville scholar, shows how Tocqueville's analysis of religion is simultaneously deeply rooted in his thoughts on nineteenth-century France and America and pertinent to us today.
The Role of Natural Constraints in Computational Theories of Vision.PeterAlan Morton -1991 - Dissertation, The University of Western Ontario (Canada)detailsThe thesis examines the philosophical implications of the computational theory of early vision developed by Marr. According to Marr, early visual processes consist of sequences of "modular" computational mechanisms. These processes rely on functional relations between rates of change in stimulus magnitudes which result from certain contingent, global properties--natural constraints--of the physical world. ;Marr argues that explanations of early vision must have three distinct levels of description: computational, algorithmic and physical. In Chapter 1 I defend the explanatory significance of this (...) distinction in levels. In fulfilling its role in describing the dependence of visual processes on natural constraints, the computational level forms an autonomous level of description in the sense that it is unaffected by the computational steps at the other levels. ;In Chapter 2 I discuss the implications of natural constraints for the issues of individualism and methodological solipsism. I conclude that Mart's theory is nonindividualistic in the sense that visual content does not supervene on neural properties. However, this merely reflects the fact that different computational theories may be selected for the same system. Importantly, Marr's theory does not violate methodological solipsism since interpretations within theories must supervene on neural properties. ;In Chapter 3 I argue from the results of Chapters 1 and 2 that psychological explanation does not reduce to neurophysiology. This conclusion does not follow from the functionalist argument against physicalism, which is based on an incorrect account of computational theories. Rather the conclusion reflects the explanatory incompleteness of neurophysiological theories given the autonomous role of the computational level. ;In Chapter 4 I look in detail at the arguments for a "language of thought" as they apply to early vision. I distinguish two versions of the language of thought hypothesis, one weaker than the other. I conclude that the stronger version, which claims that a cognitive system is "program-using", is false of early vision because of the role of natural constraints. The weaker claim that cognitive processes employ symbolic transformations is true of the computational-level theory of early vision, but there is insufficient evidence to establish the claim at the algorithmic level. (shrink)
Export citation
Bookmark
An Ultra‐Realist Theory of Perception.Alan Weir -2004 -International Journal of Philosophical Studies 12 (2):105-128.detailsIn this paper I argue for a theory of perception distinct both from classical sense-datum theories and from intentionalist theories, that is theories according to which one perceives external objects by dint of a relation with a propositional content. The alternative I propose completely rejects any representational element in perception. When one sees that an object has a property, the situation or state of affairs of its having that property is one's perception, so that the object and property are literally (...) part of one's mind. The most obvious objection to this view is that it embodies a rampant form of idealism. It is argued to the contrary, via consideration of the metaphysics of situations, that the theory is entirely consistent with a robustly realist view of the world. (shrink)
No categories
The R. A. Fisher-Sewall Wright Controversy in Philosophical Focus: Theory Evaluation in Population Genetics.RobertAlan Skipper -2000 - Dissertation, University of Maryland, College ParkdetailsThe dissertation is a critical examination of theory evaluation in population genetics. There are three main philosophical approaches to theory evaluation in philosophy of science: confirmation and hypothesis testing, scientific change, and experimentation. Accounts that champion each of the main philosophical approaches to scientific theory evaluation are represented in philosophy of biology: confirmation and hypothesis testing by Elisabeth A. Lloyd, scientific change by Lindley Darden, and experimentation by David W. Rudge. I argue that each of the main approaches is insufficient (...) for evaluating population genetics theories. However, the accounts I critique are not fundamentally incompatible. I modify, unify, and extend them into a comprehensive account of theory evaluation for population genetics. ;My philosophical analysis is driven by a complex, important, and ongoing controversy in population genetics, viz., the R. A. Fisher-Sewall Wright controversy in population genetics. I use my historical case study to assess the adequacy of both the extant philosophical analyses of theory evaluation and my own account. Between 1929 and 1962 Fisher and Wright debated the main differences emanating from their alternative approaches to evolutionary theorizing. The debates between Fisher and Wright functionally ended with Fisher's death. However, Wright continued to clarify his position in the controversy until his death in 1988, and other biologists have continued work on the core debates. ;Recently, four scientific papers led by biologists Jerry A. Coyne and Michael J. Wade have been key in revisiting and rekindling the Fisher-Wright controversy with analyses of old theoretical and empirical issues as well as new developments that have spun off the older work. Four decades after the debates between Fisher and Wright, these papers have staked out, with substantial disagreement, claims about the evaluative status of the two predominant population genetics approaches to evolution in the field. A further task of this dissertation is to provide a non-partisan evaluation of the last 40 years of work on the controversy, i.e., the controversy since Fisher's death in 1962. It is hoped that such a critical analysis of the controversy will advance it to some extent. (shrink)
American underdog: historic outsider upset: ethics and economics matter in Washington, DC.DavidAlan Brat -2016 - New York: Center Street.detailsFrom David Brat, the college professor who made political headlines when he unseated Majority Leader Eric Cantor, comes his plan for restoring fiscal liberty for America. Congressman David Brat's odds-defying win against Eric Cantor--a triumph of a modest $200,000 campaign fund against a $5 million war chest--immediately brought David Brat, heretofore a liberal arts college economics professor, into the political limelight. Now, in his first book, AMERICAN UNDERDOG, Brat examines how we brought down the status quo by tapping into moral (...) and economic lessons as old as our civilization and discusses how Washington can learn from history instead of ignoring it. A fighter for children, he illuminates how our current fiscal policies are selling their future, and outlines new ways to move forward with a conservative agenda that provides fairer treatment for all. (shrink)
My Science Wars.Aronowitz CallsAlan Sokal -unknowndetailslthough it was in the early eighties when I began to feel a growing disaff'ection with the radicalized academic left, a decisive nausea-inducing body blow was administered by the PMLA of January 1989. In that infamous issue appeared a letter signed by twenty-four feminist academics attacking the eminent Shakespeare scholar Richard Levin, for "Feminist Thematics and Shakespearean Tragedy," which had appeared in PMLA the year before. Levin's essay, the work of a well-tempered, open-minded, and liberal supporter of many radical reforms (...) in the academy, was a penetrating critique of the feminist identity politics that were trying to wrest Shakespeare into the persona of a feminist scourge of sexism and patriarchy. Levin's temerity in taking on the distortions of identity politics was threatening enough, but his Enlightenment style and Swiftian wit, which he brilliantly deployed to dismantle the tendentious and self-serving hermeneutics of the "dictatorship of virtue" (a phrase I borrow here from Richard Bernstein) that constitutes avant-garde millenarianism in the U.S. academy, served further to inflame the hypersensitive skins of his holier-than-thou critics, who brook no criticism.. (shrink)
The role of participants in education research: ethics, epistemologies, and methods.Warren Midgley,PatrickAlan Danaher &Margaret Baguley (eds.) -2013 - New York, NY: Routledge.detailsThis book explores different perspectives on the role, influence and importance of participants in education research. Drawing on a variety of philosophical, theoretical and methodological approaches, the book examines how researchers relate to and with their participants before, during, and after the collection and/or production of data; reimagining the rights of participants, the role/s of participants, the concept/s of "participant" itself.
The way it all works: a philosophical treatise.Alan S. E. Bradfield -1994 - London, Eng.: Janus.detailsEnquiring into the reality of existence,Alan Bradfield draws on knowledge from philosophy to sub-atomic physics to explore such mysteries as free will, mind, matter, time and self.
No categories
The Old Regime and the Revolution, Volume I: The Complete Text.Alan S. Kahan,François Furet &Francoise Melonio (eds.) -1998 - University of Chicago Press.details_The Old Regime and the Revolution_ is Alexis de Tocqueville's great meditation on the origins and meanings of the French Revolution. One of the most profound and influential studies of this pivotal event, it remains a relevant and stimulating discussion of the problem of preserving individual and political freedom in the modern world.Alan Kahan's translation provides a faithful, readable rendering of Tocqueville's last masterpiece, and includes notes and variants which reveal Tocqueville's sources and include excerpts from his drafts (...) and revisions. The introduction by France's most eminent scholars of Tocqueville and the French Revolution, Françoise Mélonio and the late François Furet, provides a brilliant analysis of the work. (shrink)
Deleuze and Pragmatism eds. by Sean Bowden et al.Sarin Marchetti &Alan Rosenberg -2016 -Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 52 (2):312-317.detailsThe editors of this collection aim to fill a notable gap in the scholarship on Gilles Deleuze, pragmatism, and their reciprocal relations. This task is approached along two main lines, corresponding roughly to the volume’s two parts: on the one hand, by reconstructing Deleuze’s direct or potential engagements with classical pragmatism, while on the other hand by investigating the real or virtual exchanges between Deleuze’s rich philosophical production and most contemporary varieties of pragmatism. As the editors explain in their useful (...) stage-setting introduction to the volume, it is a telling fact that, despite Deleuze’s deep interest in pragmatism and an overlapping of concerns and themes, no work has yet... (shrink)
No categories
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment: 4 Volumes: Print and E-Reference Editions Available.Alan Charles Kors (ed.) -2002 - New York: Oup Usa.detailsCovering the "long" Enlightenment, from the rise of Descartes' disciples in 1670 to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815, the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment contains articles ranging from discussions of mercantilism and democracy to the dissemination of ideas in salons and coffeehouses. It is also an e-reference text from Oxford's Digital Reference Shelf.
No categories
Constitutionalism: The Philosophical Dimension.Alan S. Rosenbaum (ed.) -1988 - Greenwood Press.detailsAn excellent sampling of current thinking in the theory and practice of constitutionalism. Each essay was written specifically for this volume by well-known legal and political philosophers. . . . All in all, a first-rate and provocative example of contemporary philosophical concerns. Choice In our constitutional democracy, the dissent and conflict that are the inevitable consequence of free political dialogue point to the importance of reexamining the philosophical premises on which our conceptions of society and government are based. This volume (...) of original essays reviews the foundations of constitutionalism in classical liberal thought and looks at contemporary philosophical perspectives on a wide range of constitutional issues. Written by a distinguished group of philosophers and constitutional scholars, it provides a deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution as a political instrument and examines the idea of constitutionalism as it functions in our modern world. (shrink)
A History of Habit: From Aristotle to Bourdieu ed. by Tom Sparrow, Adam Hutchinson.Sarin Marchetti &Alan Rosenberg -2017 -Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 53 (4):635-640.detailsThe collection by Sparrow and Hutchinson gathers together philosophers and sociologists to discuss the ever fascinating yet surprisingly underplayed theme of habit: its history and place in the western philosophical tradition, from the ancients to the contemporary scene. A collection such as this has been long overdue, and surprisingly so, given the centrality of habits in our understanding and organization of ourselves and of the world. We human beings are in fact complex bundles of habits embodied in practices. Hence, our (...) limits and possibilities are at least partially governed by the way in which we habituate, dishabituate, and re-habituate ourselves. Although their presence is widely... (shrink)
No categories
The History of Continental Philosophy.Alan D. Schrift (ed.) -2010 - London: Routledge.detailsThis major work of reference is an indispensable resource for anyone conducting research or teaching in philosophy. An international team of over 100 leading scholars has been brought together under the general editorship ofAlan Schrift and the volume editors to provide authoritative analyses of the continental tradition of philosophy from Kant to the present day. Divided, chronologically, into eight volumes, "The History of Continental Philosophy" is designed to be accessible to a wide range of readers, from the scholar (...) looking for original insight and the latest thinking to the student wishing for a masterly encapsulation of a particular thinker's views. By placing continental philosophy within a historical context, "The History of Continental Philosophy" helps define what the continental tradition has been and where it is moving. It will become a landmark publication in its field. Volume 1 covers the period from 1780 until 1848, focusing primarily on the main philosophical figures and developments in Germany during that period, but also including a description of economic and social theories in France that set the stage for the philosophical and social movements that predominated in Germany and France during the second half of the nineteenth century. Volume 2 examines what is often referred to as the 'Age of Revolution' as various responses to Hegel, while also attending to developments in science, mathematics, sociology and aesthetics during the second half of the nineteenth century that would set the stage for the twentieth century. Volume 3 examines the earliest developments in the twentieth century: while attending to a number of key thinkers, it also discusses the emergence of French sociology in the Durkheim school, developments in modern science, the philosophical response to evolution, and the schools of phenomenology and neo-Kantianism. Volume 4, as the title indicates, charts the various responses to phenomenology that appeared in the years following Husserl, with particular attention to the emergence of existentialism and existential theology, as well as its relations with philosophy of science, aesthetics and ethics. Volume 5 surveys some of the main continental movements and philosophers associated with social and political philosophy and philosophy of the human sciences during the period from 1940 through to 1968. Volume 6 looks at the major figures associated with the two dominant movements that emerge in the 1960s - poststructuralism and critical theory - while also attending to the emergence of philosophical feminism and some influential figures in those years not easily situated in the "standard" histories of the period. Volume 7 examines the developments in Continental philosophy in the years, roughly, 1980-95, the period immediately after the hegemony of poststructuralism in France and of Habermas in Germany. Volume 8 attempts to situate the present scene in continental philosophy in terms of various new developments that are framed as attempts to rethink some of the classic themes with which the history of continental philosophy has been more or less consistently engaged. (shrink)
The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory: Studies of Schmitt, Oakeshott, Hayek, Strauss, and Rand.LarryAlan Busk -2023 - Lexington Books.detailsThis book interrogates the meaning and consequences of the unsettling parallel relationship between today’s critical theory and Right-wing political philosophy.
Towards robots that trust.Alan R. Wagner &Paul Robinette -2015 -Interaction Studies 16 (1):89-117.detailsThis article investigates the challenge of developing a robot capable of determining if a social situation demands trust. Solving this challenge may allow a robot to react when a person over or under trusts the system. Prior work in this area has focused on understanding the factors that influence a person’s trust of a robot (Hancock, et al., 2011). In contrast, by using game-theoretic representations to frame the problem, we are able to develop a set of conditions for determining if (...) an interactive situation demands trust. In two separate experiments, human subjects were asked to evaluate either written narratives or mazes in terms of whether or not they require trust. The results indicate aΦ1= +0.592 andΦ2= +0.406 correlation respectively between the subjects’ evaluations and the condition’s predictions. This is a strong correlation for a study involving human subjects. (shrink)
The Death of Horatia.Alan Watson -1979 -Classical Quarterly 29 (02):436-.detailsCentral to any understanding of archaic Roman criminal law is the trial, as recorded by Livy, of Horatius for killing his sister. It is not just that the case raises so many legal issues; the jurisdiction of the father and of the king, the institution of a separate state procedure with two judges , the right of appeal to the people, the scope of the crime of perduellio and of parricidium, murder, and the use of sacral punishment. But also, on (...) the ability to determine how accurate for the period of King Tullus Hostilius is this account of law and legal procedure will depend our wider appreciation of the reliability of the sources. It must be admitted that almost all modern scholars regard Livy's account as quite untrustworthy. (shrink)
The Limits of Super-Rationality: A New Look at the Conception of Jupiter in Prometheus Unbound.Alan Weinberg -2009 -The European Legacy 14 (3):253-267.detailsIn Prometheus Unbound, the empire of Jupiter is a mythic figuration of monotheism and its corresponding hegemonies, broadly conceived in both instances as the domain of supreme oppressive governance. The ties of governance are reified by paternalism—hence the use of Jupiter (Gk. Zeu + pater) as the master embodiment of the Father, combining the role of God-the-Father in Judeo-Christianity, of the Trinity, of pope or monarch, and that of paterfamilias, such that, in Shelley's unifying vision, one becomes indistinguishable from the (...) other: all emanations of the Law of the Father, the symbolic order of “rationality” which represses primordial desire, associated with Prometheus and Asia. The overthrow of Jupiter in Prometheus Unbound is an implicit rejection of European rationalist hegemony, embodied in the conception of a manic, autocratic sky God, uniting sacred and secular aspects, and a reinstatement of an extra, or at least more profound and enduring identity that is consistent with re-ascendant primeval forces, paradoxically embodied in the shadowy figure of Demogorgon, but repressed as long as Jupiter reigns. (shrink)
No categories
The neuroscience of Wesleyan soteriology: The dynamic of both instantaneous and gradual change.Alan C. Weissenbacher -2016 -Zygon 51 (2):347-360.detailsIn his work Rewired: Exploring Religious Conversion, dealing with Wesleyan soteriology and neuroscience, Paul Markham claims that when one incorporates biology as an epistemic restriction in theologies of conversion, doctrines of instantaneous conversion are invalidated. He asserts that conversion must always be gradual, because the mechanism by which the brain changes in response to experience does not occur instantaneously; rather change is initiated and consolidated over an often lengthy span of time. I argue, however, that doctrines of instantaneous conversion are (...) maintained when taking neuroscience into account. First, for doctrines of conversion that hold to the imputation of Christ's righteousness, neuroscience is irrelevant, because statements of instantaneous change are in terms of a relational status and not biological. Rapid conversion is maintained as a metaphysical position. Second, an embodied and neurologically realized change is expected in theologies of conversion that hold to impartation and, contrary to Markham, immediate change is neurologically possible in a variety of ways. (shrink)
[email protected].V.Alan White -unknowndetailsOf course you know the movie, just by cultural assimilation if not by having seen it. There’s this young elephant, Dumbo, who has laughably big ears and has been pitiably separated from his mom. He’s aided by a friendly talking mouse[ii] into translating those otherwise hapless ears into the power of flight, which he eventually uses to rescue his mom and live happily ever after. The way the wily mouse gets Dumbo to believe that he could fly is to give (...) him a “magic feather” which, held in his trunk, demonstrably imparts the gift of flight. Naturally the mouse believes throughout all this that Dumbo can fly anyway, but he also knows that Dumbo needs the feather as a confidence-builder to do so. At the critical juncture of the tale Dumbo loses the feather after being pushed off a precipice, and he thus plummets perilously towards earth—only to find at the last moment that he can indeed fly on his own. (shrink)
Export citation
Bookmark
Educating for Democracy: Paideia in an Age of Uncertainty.Alan M. Olson,David M. Steiner &Irina S. Tuuli (eds.) -2004 - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.detailsThe central conflicts of the world today are closely related to cultural, traditional, and religious differences between nations. As we move to a globalized world, these differences often become magnified, entrenched, and the cause of bloody conflict. Growing out of a conference of distinguished scholars from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, this volume is a singular contribution to mutual understanding and cooperative efforts on behalf of peace. The term paideia, drawn from Greek philosophy, has to do with (...) responsible education for citizenship as a necessary precondition for effective democracy. (shrink)
Vaiṣṇava concepts of god: philosophical perspectives.Ricardo Sousa Silvestre,Alan C. Herbert &Benedikt Paul Göcke (eds.) -2024 - New York: Routledge.detailsThis book analyses the concepts of God in Vaisnavism, which is commonly referred to as one of the great Hindu monotheistic traditions. Addressing the question of what attributes God possesses according to particular textual sources and traditions in Vaisnavism, the book analyses Vaisnava traditions and texts in order to locate them within a global philosophical framework. The book is divided into two sections. The first one, God in Vaisnava Texts, deals with concepts of God found in the canonical Vaisnava texts: (...) the Bhavagad Gita, the Bhagavata Purana, the Pancaratras, and the Mahabharata. The second section, God in Vaisnava Traditions, addresses concepts of God found in several Vaisnava traditions and their respective key theologians. As well as the Alvars, five traditional Vaisnava schools- the Sri Vaisnava tradition, the Madhva tradition, the Nimbarka tradition, the Pustimarga tradition, and the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition- and two contemporary ones Ramakrishna's and Swami Bhaktivedanta's are considered. The book combines normative, critical and descriptive elements. Some chapters are philosophical in nature, others are more descriptive, unpacking a specific Vaiṣṇava concept of God for future philosophical analysis and critique. Written by experts who break new ground in presenting and representing a diversity of Vaiṣṇava texts and tradition, the book presents approaches that reflect the amount of philosophical and historical deliberation on the specific issues and divine attributes considered. This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of philosophy of religion and Indian philosophy, cross-cultural and comparative philosophy, analytic philosophy of religion, Hindu studies, theology and religious studies. (shrink)
«Pondere, Numero et Mensura» Roberval et la Géométrie divine.Alan Gabbey -2001 -Revue de Synthèse 122 (2-4):521-529.detailsPanni les aspects remarquables de l'Aristarque (1644) de Roberval, on relève la répétition fréquente dans le texte de l'abréviation« P.N.E.M.». Ces lettres signifient « pondere, numero et mensura ». Ces mots sont tirés du Livre de la Sagesse, XI, 20: « Pondere, mensura, numero Deus omnia fecit » (Vulgate). Ce verset est cité chez beaucoup d'auteurs qui veulent louer Dieu Géomètre. Cependant, Roberval n'est nullement pieux. Il s'agit donc ici de savoir pourquoi il se sert de « P.N.E.M.» dans son (...) texte. Roberval se montre-t-il ainsi solidaire de ses confrères mathématiciens du Collège royal, dont le verset serait la devise? (shrink)
No categories
The Oxford Francis Bacon I: Early Writings 1584-1596.Alan Stewart (ed.) -2012 - Oxford University Press.detailsThis volume contains Bacon's earliest known writings, dating from 1584 to 1596. It includes position papers, commentaries on printed works, legal readings and opinions, and discourses of advice, usually written in response to specific events or demands and circulated in manuscript. There are detailed introductions, commentaries, and glossaries.
Leibniz and Clarke: A Study of Their Correspondence.Alan Gabbey -2003 -Philosophical Review 112 (4):570-572.detailsMost people in the philosophical world have combed, perused, written about, taught from, or at least heard of or wondered about the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence. So it’s surprising that until now there has been no full-scale study of these famous letters, though there are lots of articles that deal with various aspects of the exchanges. Perhaps it’s even more surprising because Ezio Vailati has shown how to manage a serious and ordered analysis of these exchanges. I suspect there are one or (...) two historians of early modern philosophy who are wishing they had had the same idea as Vailati and brought it to fruition. This is a welcome volume, combining analytic thoroughness with solid documentation. (shrink)
Accounting for Belief Bias in a Mental Model Framework: Comment on Klauer, Musch, and Naumer (2000).Alan Garnham &Jane V. Oakhill -2005 -Psychological Review 112 (2):509-517.detailsK. C. Klauer, J. Musch, and B. Naumer (2000) presented a general multinomial model of belief bias effects in syllogistic reasoning. They claimed to map a particular mental model account of belief bias (J. V. Oakhill, P. N. Johnson-Laird, & A. Garnham, 1989) onto this model and to show empirically that it is incorrect. The authors argue that this mental model account does not map onto the multinomial model and that it can account for the data presented by Klauer et (...) al. (Experiments 1–4). The authors further argue that additional data Klauer et al. presented in support of a new model of their own (Experiments 5– 8) are explained by this mental model account. The mental model account is, therefore, refuted neither by Klauer et al.’s theoretical analysis nor by any of the results they presented. Furthermore, the account can accommodate more recent findings on belief bias in a more satisfactory way than can alternative models that have been proposed. (shrink)
Does manifestness solve problems of mutuality?Alan Garnham &Josef Perner -1990 -Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13 (1):178-179.detailsThis piece is a commentary on a precis of Sperber and Wilson's book "Relevance", published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Default Values, Criteria and Constructivism.Alan Garnham -1980 -Cognitive Science 4 (4):427-433.detailsWittgenstein, in his later writings, gave an account of the meaning of expressions in terms of criteria for their application. As with many of Wittgenstein's later ideas the notion of a criterion have proved difficult to explicate. A recent account, which ties criteria to the philosophical doctrine of constructivism, provides a link between the concept of a criterion and a series of ideas about language understanding which have emerged in the past few years. It is shown that these ideas can (...) be made of cohere within a general constructivist framework, and that an alternative realist framework is inadequate in this respect. (shrink)
An Examination of Whitehead's Epochal Theory of Time.VillardAlan White -1982 - Dissertation, The University of TennesseedetailsThis thesis is an examination of Alfred North Whitehead's epochal theory of time. Two necessary conditions for Whitehead's epochal theory are analyzed. First, Whitehead's requirement that events "become" is examined, with the result that becoming is found not to be an objective, physical feature of events in Whitehead's theory as is commonly thought. Second, the requirement that events be discrete is examined, with the result that this requirement is found to be incompatible with contemporary quantum theory, contrary to Whitehead's claim (...) that it is compatible. (shrink)
Export citation
Bookmark
Openness and stability.Alan Cottey -2016 -AI and Society 31 (3):319-325.detailsHumanity’s desire for change but not instability is explored. In this context, it is proposed that a key ‘balancing aid’ of society is openness. Converse attributes, such as secrecy, reserve and tact, are also discussed, following the ideas of Sissela Bok. A particular interest in openness can be traced to the thought and advocacy of Niels Bohr, at the beginning of the nuclear age, when the problems were thought about mainly in terms of security. His ideas and efforts to promote (...) an open world are reviewed in the light of subsequent developments. These developments are not restricted to nuclear matters. The qualitative proliferation of kinds of instability (perhaps combining into John Beddington’s ‘perfect storm’) is relevant. This proliferation justifies extension of Bohr’s concerns with security to the wider realm of stability. It is also proposed in this paper that Bohr’s use of the term confidence, which was an important element of his argument for an open world, requires refinement, with a distinction between confidence in others (trust) and self-confidence (necessary for openness). The paper ends with a section on ‘improving our prospects’. (shrink)
Erratum.Alan Millar -forthcoming -Analysis:anx034.detailsBerkley's Puzzle, Analysis anw070, doi: 10.1093/analys/anw070.
No categories