Philosophy, General Works

This paper develops a new structural psychology, and therein proposes a specific model for the scientific study of consciousness. The presented model uses Earth's geologic history of mass-extinction & recovery (evolutionary dynamics) in determining humanity’s adaptive response (conscious and non-conscious traits). It argues humanity adaptively mirrors Earth’s basic evolutionary dynamics, in a “mythologizing of natural adversity” as foundation for all human knowledge – a process that continues well into the modern era. The intellectual lineage used to develop this model includes: (...) • Evolutionary biology offers a context for this study – answering Chalmers’ “hard question,” • Paleoanthropology defines the circumstance of human emergence from Gaia, • Environmental forces on neurophysiology derive an ambiguous but instructive narrative logic (mythic sensibility), • Psychology tracks humanity’s shift from animal-self to modern creative-self, using work of Hegel > Freud > Jung > Rank > Joseph Campbell > Arnold Mindell as a new structural psychology, • Fractal geometry offers a holographic design for modeling consciousness, • Memetics presents a tool for measuring conscious traits, in a variation of the Hall-Tonna values inventory, • Finally, Structured Opportunistic Thinking, a hybrid of NTL’s T-group, and Pierce’s Power Equity Group Theory, suggests a developmental methodology. This work presents a “general hypothesizing model” of human consciousness, in attempting a science of consciousness. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to analyze the problem proposed by John R. Searle in the third chapter of his work Rationality in Action (2003) about the gap or distance that mediates between a decision and action, and how it intends to solve through the concept of the Self. We believe that this explanation is insufficient in some aspects and introduce the term Synderesis (Συντηρηοη in Greek) as argumentative line to defend the existence of decisions not contingent but free (...) from a Thomist perspective, in contrast to the proposal of the gap and the Self No-Humean. (Spanish). (shrink)

While the recent special issue of JCS on machine consciousness (Volume 14, Issue 7) was in preparation, a collection of papers on the same topic, entitled Artificial Consciousness and edited by Antonio Chella and Riccardo Manzotti, was published. 1 The editors of the JCS special issue, Ron Chrisley, Robert Clowes and Steve Torrance, thought it would be a timely and productive move to have authors of papers in their collection review the papers in the Chella and Manzotti book, and include (...) these reviews in the special issue of the journal. Eight of the JCS authors (plus Uziel Awret) volunteered to review one or more of the fifteen papers in Artificial Consciousness; these individual reviews were then collected together with a minimal amount of editing to produce a seamless chapter-by-chapter review of the entire book. Because the number and length of contributions to the JCS issue was greater than expected, the collective review of Artificial Con- sciousness had to be omitted, but here at last it is. Each paper’s review is written by a single author, so any comments made may not reflect the opinions of all nine of the joint authors! (shrink)

This book reconstructs some of the phases and themes of the debate - never completely celebrated - between René Girard and Jacques Derrida. The volume recapitulates the essential aspects of mimetic theory and traces the development of the theoretical tools underlying the thought of deconstruction to set up the confrontation and meeting between the two great French thinkers. With a preface by Paul Dumouchel.

RESUMEN: Durante mucho tiempo las investigaciones sociológicas se centraron en el término exclusión. Existe, sin embargo, un abuso del término designando como tales, situaciones que en realidad responden a la vulnerabilidad creada por la degradación de las relaciones de trabajo, por la precarización o la marginación. Éstas son propiamente situaciones bajo amenaza de exclusión pero no son exclusión propiamente dicha, pueden desembocar en ella pero dependen de otra lógica. La lógica de la exclusión procede por discriminaciones oficiales, la marginación se (...) produce por procesos de desestabilización. En este trabajo se realizará un análisis comparado entre dos perspectivas tan disímiles como las subyacentes en las políticas de inclusión aplicadas en Argentina y Leonardo Polo pues de la confrontación fructífera emergerán las condiciones de posibilidad para una auténtica inclusión social en las organizaciones. SUMMARY: From longtime ago, sociological researches focused on the Word exclusion abusing on it. The fact is that many situations considered as exclusion really are the effect of vulnerability due to degrade of job´s relationships, or due to marginal and precarious situations. Those are situations under danger of exclusion but they are not properly exclusion, those could to end in exclusion but those depend on a different logic which runs by official discriminations. Marginality is consequence of process of unbalances. This article intend to analyzes two different perspectives, that from political plans from Argentinian government and that from Leonardo Polo because it is possible to confront in a positive way and then, many possibilities for authentic social inclusion in organizations will emerge. (shrink)

El papel de las Humanidades partiendo desde su éxito e implantación en Harvard en el XIX, y su reciente re-planteamiento en EE.UU. de la mano de Harry Lewis. Se añaden dos ANEXOS al final del texto: Programas de humanidades y éticas aplicadas a distintas áreas ; y un estudio y cuadros comparativos de la presencia de asignaturas humanísticas en Universidades privadas españolas.

Philosophy for Children' program that Mathew Lipman and his colleagues have developed is now known in our society and has led to thinking and research in this regard. Thus, to consider the challenges that are in front of this program can lead to the richness of these researches. Three challenges are in front of this program: philosophical, psychological, and educational. The philosophical challenge is due to the point that philosophy is mainly dependent on the history of philosophy and thoughts of (...) preceding philosophers. This dependence should of course be along with critique, but this dependence cannot be denied anyway. Hence, philosophizing cannot be reduced to the methods of thinking. Psychological challenge is rooted in the approaches of developmental psychology that emphasize on phases in human thinking. Accordingly, abstract methods of philosophizing cannot be used in the period of childhood. Educational challenge is related to basic cultural values that might be shaken in the process of philosophical interrogations. The philosophical challenge requires that teaching philosophy to children emphasize on an amalgamation of method and content. The psychological challenge makes us cautious as to looking for more investigations on the periodical characteristic of thinking. And finally, the educational challenge requires that criticizing cultural values, being necessary in active education, is not started from foundational issues of culture. The period of childhood can only be fitted to interrogation of low level cultural issues and values and leave the foundational cultural issues to philosophizing in higher ages. (shrink)

The recent distribution of nude photos of a number of high profile Hong Kong celebrities has provoked intense discussion about the state of Hong Kong's obscenity and indecency laws. In this paper, I argue that Hong Kong's laws prohibiting the transfer of obscene and indecent information and images between consenting adults are both under-inclusive and over-inclusive. The Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance is under-inclusive in that it does not adequately criminalise grave violations of privacy. It is also over-inclusive (...) because it is a blanket prohibition against the transfer by all parties (including consenting adults) of all forms of obscene and indecent materials. The laws unnecessarily violate the free expression rights of both the producer and consenting viewer of the offensive materials. The producer/publisher of such materials does not harm his or her audience as they willingly view such materials. The justification for maintaining a blanket prohibition against all transfers of such materials is invalid and utterly and totally out of touch with modern life in Hong Kong. The proponents of such laws have used Victorian positive morality considerations to justify continued criminalisation. These laws should be abrogated and replaced with a new piece of legislation that is narrowly tailored to deal with those types of offensive displays that are wrongful in a critical rather than a mere positive morality sense. Criminalisation should be limited to those offences that target children or use children in the production process, violate the rights of non-consenting adult audiences not to receive certain intimate information in certain public contexts, and violate privacy rights by publishing a person's private and intimate information without consent. If x obtains y's profoundly private information and publishes it without y's consent, then x violates y's privacy rights in a grave way. The violation in the right circumstances will justify a criminal law response rather than a mere civil law response. Similarly, if x and y copulate on a public bus they subject the captive audience to an offensive display which violates the non-consenting audience's right not to receive certain intimate information. I argue below that these types of privacy violations give the lawmaker a legitimate justification for invoking the criminal law. (shrink)

The practical aspect of ancient philosophy has been recently made a focus of renewed metaphilosophical investigation. After a brief presentation of three accounts of this kind developed by Martha Nussbaum, Pierre Hadot, and Michel Foucault, the model of the therapeutic argument developed by Nussbaum is called into question from the perspectives offered by her French colleagues, who emphasize spiritual exercise (Hadot) or the care of the self (Foucault). The ways in which the account of Nussbaum can be defended are then (...) discussed, including both a ‘negative’ defense, i.e. the indication of the weaknesses of Hadot and Foucault’s proposals, and a ‘positive’ one focused on the points in which Nussbaum can convincingly address doubts about her metaphilosophical account. In response to these analyses, some further remarks made by Hadot and Foucault are discussed in order to demonstrate that their accounts are not as distant from Nussbaum after all. Finally, a recent metaphilosophical study by John Sellars together with a therapeutic (medical) model developed by the author of the present article are suggested as providing a framework for potential reconciliation between all three accounts discussed and a resource for further metaphilosophical studies. (shrink)

The complete title of this article is - -/- "Particle spin, F=ma and black holes revise gravity, unify gravitation with electromagnetism and matter, and eliminate the two nuclear forces (with support for the existence of God, ESP, and time travel; deletion of disasters, disease, death and parallel universes; as well as new explanations of why planetary orbits are ellipses, and why tides follow the moon/why the moon’s slowly moving away from Earth)". -/- I think the phrase "end of the world" (...) doesn't refer to the literal end of the world (as in the planet blowing up or something) but refers to an enormous change in everything we know and to the end of the world AS WE KNOW IT. I think this enormous change will start in science and this article spells out the conclusions I believe science will arrive at (in English). This science will change the way everyone thinks about everything. (shrink)

La filosofía fue entre nosotros, durante largo tiempo, un “juego social”, en las últimas décadas se ha venido transformando en (pseudo)campo, y en la actualidad está expuesta a sucumbir a la heteronomía, decayendo a la degradada situación de “espacio de servicios”. Así la doctrina de Bourdieu esclarece el surgimiento, la situación actual, y en cierto modo también la peripecia futura de la filosofía en España. Y al mismo tiempo consigue explicar porque, en este preciso momento, es plausible el pesimista diagnóstico (...) de que el peligro de regresión a la heteronomía compromete la existencia del incipiente campo filosófico español. Simplemente ocurre que en las situaciones de crisis las percepciones de los agentes adquieren una relevancia de la que suelen carecer en etapas más apacibles. En los períodos de desilusión los agentes se vuelven lúcidos, en una palabra, porque entonces resulta más difícil “seguir el juego” que el campo les exige. Ya que tomar parte en dicho juego no es más, según Bourdieu, que una forma de ilusión. (shrink)

Abstract -/- Kratzer’s semantics for the deontic modals ought, must, etc., is criticized and improvements are suggested. Specifically, a solution is offered for the strong/weak, must/ought contrast, based on connecting must to right and ought to good as their respective ordering norms. A formal treatment of the semantics of must is proposed. For the semantics of ought it is argued that good enough should replace best in the formula giving truth conditions. A semantics for supposed to slightly different from that (...) for ought is proposed that connects interestingly with the “normative judgement internalism” problem. An extended analysis of the workings of the ordering source in Kratzer semantics reveals several problems and related possible solutions. And finally, it is argued that ‘We must do the right things” and “We ought to pursue good things” are provably necessary in Kratzer semantics, which is, I think, a welcome result, although, since formal, does not tell what are the right and good things. (shrink)

Resumen Al artículo presenta una reflexión acerca de la obra de arte desde una lectura levinasiana, a partir de la noción de epifanía del rostro. La pesquisa asume en un primer momento una lectura de la crisis de los esteticismos del siglo XX, como manifestación del sinsentido de la vida, y se centra en el carácter meta-ontológico que deviene de la relación asincrónica rostro, teniendo como puerta de entrada la obra de arte. Palabras Clave: Estética, Infinito, Belleza, Otro, Trascendencia. -/- (...) Abstract The article presents a reflection on the art from a reading of Levinas, from the notion of epiphany of the face. The research assumes at first reading of the crisis of the twentieth century aestheticism, as a manifestation of the meaninglessness of life, and focuses on the meta-ontological character of the relationship becomes asynchronous face, having as door into the work of art. Key words: Aesthetics, Infinite, Beautiful, Other, Transcendence. (shrink)

El presente ensayo se circunscribe dentro de la bioética, pues desarrolla un análisis al caso del español Ramón Sampedro, reflexionando las tensiones que se generan a partir de su deseo de muerte asistida, como mecanismo para alcanzar la muerte digna. La novedad del presente estudio radica en la utilización del principio de la alteridad y el contextual, sin acudir a los principios de Tom L. Beauchamp y James F. Childress, con el objetivo de establecer un parámetro de análisis alterno a (...) casos similares. (shrink)

El artículo analiza la categoría "praxeológica" en el personalismo. La prazis como elemento constitutivo del ser humano y como hecho irrenunciable de la condición humana es analizada para proponer distintos prolegómenos que abren nuevas puertas en esta corriente filosófica de frente a diferentes elementos que desvirtúan a la persona.

Team-based learning (TBL) was applied within a third-year unit of study about ethics and management with the aim of enhancing students’ teamwork skills. A survey used to collect students’ opinions about their experience with TBL provided insights about how TBL helped students to develop an appreciation for teamwork and team collaboration. The team skills acquired through TBL could strengthen job readiness for business.

A proposal for a human philosophy to deal with the demands of social cooperation, personal satisfaction and self restraint in a modern era of plenty.

The paper looks at three big ideas that have been associated with the term “relativism.” The first maintains that some property has a higher-degree than might have been thought. The second that the judgments in a particular domain of discourse are capable only of relative truth and not of absolute truth And the third, which I dub with the oxymoronic label “absolutist relativism,” seeks to locate relativism in our acceptance of certain sorts of spare absolutist principles. -/- The first idea (...) is well illustrated by the famous cases drawn from physics, but is ill suited for providing a model for the sorts of relativism about normative domains that have most interested philosophers. -/- The second idea – according to which it is the truth of certain judgments that is relative – seems subject to a very difficult dilemma. -/- The final idea provides a coherent model of cases like etiquette but is not plausibly applied to the moral or epistemic domains. (shrink)

Altruism is embedded in our biology and in our culture. We offer our bus seats to the disabled and elderly, give directions to disoriented tourists, and donate a portion of our income charity. Yet for all the good it does, there are deep problems with altruism as it is practiced today. Nearly all of us, when asked, will say that we care about practicing altruism in a way that effectively improves the lives of others. Almost none of us, when asked, (...) can honestly say that we have made a serious effort to ensure that we are practicing altruism in a way that effectively improves the lives of others. Disparities like these are indicative of flaws in our cognitive architecture - biases which ensure that the traditional practice of altruism is incongruous with our own values. This disconnect between our values and our actions causes our altruistic efforts to help fewer people to a lesser extent than they otherwise could. I argue that traditional altruism is in need of reformation and defend a social and philosophical movement aimed at achieving this reformation known as effective altruism. The reason effective altruism is such a promising alternative to traditional altruism is its application of economic thinking to the realm of altruism and morality. An economist’s mentality is, I suggest, a necessary instrument for bridging the gap between our values and our actions, allowing us to practice altruism in a way that more effectively improves the lives of others. (shrink)

Esta enciclopédia abrange, de uma forma introdutória mas desejavelmente rigorosa, uma diversidade de conceitos, temas, problemas, argumentos e teorias localizados numa área relativamente recente de estudos, os quais tem sido habitual qualificar como «estudos lógico-filosóficos». De uma forma apropriadamente genérica, e apesar de o território teórico abrangido ser extenso e de contornos por vezes difusos, podemos dizer que na área se investiga um conjunto de questões fundamentais acerca da natureza da linguagem, da mente, da cognição e do raciocínio humanos, bem (...) como questões acerca das conexões destes com a realidade não mental e extralinguística. A razão daquela qualificação é a seguinte: por um lado, a investigação em questão é qualificada como filosófica em virtude do elevado grau de generalidade e abstracção das questões examinadas (entre outras coisas); por outro, a investigação é qualificada como lógica em virtude de ser uma investigação logicamente disciplinada, no sentido de nela se fazer um uso intenso de conceitos, técnicas e métodos provenientes da disciplina de lógica. O agregado de tópicos que constitui a área de estudos lógico-filosóficos é já visível, pelo menos em parte, no Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus de Ludwig Wittgenstein, uma obra publicada em 1921. E uma boa maneira de ter uma ideia sinóptica do território disciplinar abrangido por esta enciclopédia, ou pelo menos de uma porção substancial dele, é extrair do Tractatus uma lista dos tópicos mais salientes aí discutidos; a lista incluirá certamente tópicos do seguinte género, muitos dos quais se podem encontrar ao longo desta enciclopédia: factos e estados de coisas; objectos; representação; crenças e estados mentais; pensamentos; a proposição; nomes próprios; valores de verdade e bivalência; quantificação; funções de verdade; verdade lógica; identidade; tautologia; o raciocínio matemático; a natureza da inferência; o cepticismo e o solipsismo; a indução; as constantes lógicas; a negação; a forma lógica; as leis da ciência; o número. (shrink)

A consideration of the relationship between conscious self-aware systems and art. I introduce my art practice and demonstrate the connections language has to self-conscious reflexivity. The document of research can be considered part of a creative practice that also uses language as a material. The specialist use and subversive manipulation of information in science and art as practiced in the service of culture are discussed to show how this informed the creation of Access Restricted-Operational Reasons as a response to my (...) environment. (shrink)

Many of us took pride in never feeling violent, never hitting. We had not thought deeply about our relationships to inflicting physical pain. Some of us expressed terror and awe when confronted with physical strength on the part of others. For us, the healing process included the need to learn how to use physical force constructively, to remove the terror—the dread. —bell hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black.

: How much power does emotional dismissal have over the oppressed's ability to trust outlaw emotions, or to stand for such emotions before others? I discuss Sue Campbell 's view of the interpretation of emotion in light of the political significance of emotional dismissal. In response, I suggest that feminist conventions of interpretation developed within dialogical communities are best suited to providing resources for expressing, interpreting, defining, and reflecting on our emotions.

Apresentaremos neste texto a tese de David Hume sobre a identidade pessoal tal como é apresentada no Tratado da natureza humana, de sua autoria. No apêndice da obra, Hume apresenta dúvidas sobre a tese que defendeu, apontando uma série de problemas que não se resolvem em sua teoria. Mas o tratamento desses problemas e uma possível resposta a Hume podem ser encontrados em D. W. Winnicott.

Despite the growth in research in philosophy of religion over the past several decades, recent years have seen a number of critical studies of this subfield in an effort to redirect the methods and topics of inquiry. This article argues that in addition to problems of religious parochialism described by critics such as Wesley Wildman, the subfield is facing a problem of relevance. In responding to this problem, it suggests that philosophers of religion should do three things: first, be critically (...) self-aware about their aims of inquiry; second, investigate concepts used by other philosophers, scientists, and religious studies scholars to identify and dispel confusion about religions; and third, following the model of applied ethics, work to clarify concepts and advance arguments of contemporary practical urgency. (shrink)

Why is space 3-dimensional? The fi rst answer to this question, entirely based on Physics, was given by Ehrenfest, in 1917, who showed that the stability requirement for n-dimensional two-body planetary system very strongly constrains space dimensionality, favouring 3-d. This kind of approach will be generically called "stability postulate" throughout this paper and was shown by Tangherlini, in 1963, to be still valid in the framework of general relativity as well as for quantum mechanical hydrogen atom, giving the same constraint (...) for space{dimensionality. In the present work, before criticizing this methodology, a brief discussion has been introduced, aimed at stressing and clarifying some general physical aspects of the problem of how to determine the number of space dimensions. Then, the epistemological consequences of Ehrenfest's methodology are critically reviewed. An alternative procedure to get at the proper number of dimensions, in which the stability postulate - and the implicit singularities in three-dimensional physics - are not an essential part of the argument, is proposed. In this way, the main epistemological problems contained in Ehrenfest's original idea are avoided. The alternative methodology proposed in this paper is realized by obtaining and discussing the n-dimensional quantum theory as expressed in Planck's law, de Broglie relation and the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. As a consequence, it is possible to propose an experiment, based on thermal neutron di raction by crystals, to directly measure space dimensionality. Finally the distinguished role of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in the determination of space dimensionality is stressed. (shrink)

This is a discussion on the Problem of Evil.

ATTI DEL CONVEGNO DI FILOSOFIA «IL SÉ – TRA ORIENTE E OCCIDENTE», TRIESTE (11-12 GENNAIO 2010).

Argumentations are at the heart of the deductive and the hypothetico-deductive methods, which are involved in attempts to reduce currently open problems to problems already solved. These two methods span the entire spectrum of problem-oriented reasoning from the simplest and most practical to the most complex and most theoretical, thereby uniting all objective thought whether ancient or contemporary, whether humanistic or scientific, whether normative or descriptive, whether concrete or abstract. Analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and function of argumentations are described. Perennial philosophic (...) problems, epistemic and ontic, related to argumentations are put in perspective. So much of what has been regarded as logic is seen to be involved in the study of argumentations that logic may be usefully defined as the systematic study of argumentations, which is virtually identical to the quest of objective understanding of objectivity. (shrink)

http://www.diva-portal.org/mdh/theses/abstract.xsql?dbid=153.

Transhumanists, like other elites in modernity, place great value on human creativity, and advances in human enhancement and AI form the basis of their propos- als for boosting it. However, there are problems with this perspective, due to the unique ways in which humans have evolved, procreated and socialized. I first describe how creativity is related to past evolution and developmental aspects in children, stressing pretend play and the ambivalent character of creativity. Then, I outline proposals for enhancing creativity, be (...) it in embodied humans on the way to a superior species, in AI- related beings (virtual reality, robotics), or even in any degree of mixture in human- machine interaction. In the final section, I describe intrinsic limits to these proposals, such as the absence of a good understanding of human psychology by the proponents of enhancement; the lack of interest in the subjective side of creativity (for one’s own sake); delayed maturation and the ambivalence of pretend play in childhood; and the contrariness typical of new human generations. As for the enhancement of creativity, it is argued that creativity in its social context may be the victim of its own past success. On the other hand, an asymmetry between virtual beings and children is described— the latter can behave in a nasty way, it is part of their growth and creativity, whereas the former are not supposed to cause any harm to human beings. In sum, despite impressive progress in several scientific and technological interventions in creativity, philosophical questions emerge that place many constraints on transhumanist dreams of endless creativity. (shrink)

A defense of the value of studying what Aristotle, in the Politics, refers to as useless things, and thereby a defense of the 'uselessness' of the study of the liberal arts.

This essay intends to focus on the examination systems taken by the universities to judge the knowledge of student, where creative students are highly underrated and the students who read by parroting without any conceptual gain are honoured. This system is labeled as a dogma by the author.

Four issues or problems philosophers should be concerned about when doing philosophy.

El presente artículo propone una interpretación ontológica del concepto de capital humano a la luz de la metafísica de Nietzsche y de “El Trabajador” de Jünger. En ese sentido cabe preguntarse por el fundamento y las implicancias de aquel concepto que habiendo crecido dentro del ámbito económico, supone sin embargo el suelo de una nueva comprensibilidad de la posición histórica del hombre.

A description of consciousness leads to a contradiction with the postulation from special relativity that there can be no connections between simultaneous event. This contradiction points to consciousness involving quantum level mechanisms. The Quantum level description of the universe is re- evaluated in the light of what is observed in consciousness namely 4 Dimensional objects. A new improved interpretation of Quantum level observations is introduced. From this vantage point the following axioms of consciousness is presented. Consciousness consists of two distinct (...) components, the observed U and the observer I. The observed U consist of all the events I is aware of. A vast majority of these occur simultaneously. Now if I were to be an entity within the space-time continuum, all of these events of U together with I would have to occur at one point in space-time. However, U is distributed over a definite region of space-time (region in brain). Thus, I is aware of a multitude of space-like separated events. It is seen that this awareness necessitates I to be an entity outside the space-time continuum. With I taken as such, a new concept called concept A is introduced. With the help of concept A a very important axiom of consciousness, namely Free Will is explained. Libet s Experiment which was originally seen to contradict Free will, in the light of Concept A is shown to support it. A variation to Libet s Experiment is suggested that will give conclusive proof for Concept A and Free Will. (shrink)