In The Scientific Image B. C. van Fraassen argues that a theory of explanation ought to take the form of a theory of why-questions, and a theory of this form is what he provides. Van Fraassen's account of explanation is good, as far as it goes. In particular, van Fraassen's theory of why-questions adds considerable illumination to the problem of alternative explanations in psychodynamics. But van Fraassen's theory is incomplete because it ignores those classes of explanations that are answers not (...) to why-questions but to how-questions. In this article I provide a unified theory of explanatory questions that comprehends both how-questions and why-questions, and I show that a question-theoretic approach to explanation can be defended independently of van Fraassen's programme of Constructive Empiricism. (shrink)

Hyperboolean algebras are Boolean algebras with operators, constructed as algebras of complexes (or, power structures) of Boolean algebras. They provide an algebraic semantics for a modal logic (called here a {\em hyperboolean modal logic}) with a Kripke semantics accordingly based on frames in which the worlds are elements of Boolean algebras and the relations correspond to the Boolean operations. We introduce the hyperboolean modal logic, give a complete axiomatization of it, and show that it lacks the finite model property. The (...) method of axiomatization hinges upon the fact that a "difference" operator is definable in hyperboolean algebras, and makes use of additional non-Hilbert-style rules. Finally, we discuss a number of open questions and directions for further research. (shrink)

By comparing chemistry to art, chemists have recently made claims to the aesthetic value, even beauty, of some of their products. This paper takes these claims seriously and turns them into a systematic investigation of the aesthetics of chemical products. I distinguish three types of chemical products - materials, molecules, and molecular models - and use a wide variety of aesthetic theories suitable for an investigation of the corresponding sorts of objects. These include aesthetics of materials, idealistic aesthetics from Plato (...) to Kant and Schopenhauer, psychological approaches of Ernst Gombrich and Rudolf Arnheim, and semiotic aesthetics of Nelson Goodman and Umberto Eco. Although the investigation does not support recent claims, I point out where aesthetics does and can play an import role in chemistry. Particularly, Eco's approach helps us understand that and how aesthetic experience can be a driving force in chemical research. (shrink)

I investigate the status of subjectivity in Integrated Information Theory. This leads me to examine if Integrated Information Theory can answer the hard problem of consciousness. On itself, Integrated Information Theory does not seem to constitute an answer to the hard problem, but could be combined with panpsychism to yield a more satisfying theory of consciousness. I will show, that even if Integrated Information Theory employs the metaphysical machinery of panpsychism, Integrated Information would still suffer from a different problem, not (...) being able to account for the subjective character of consciousness. (shrink)

We present a detailed proof of the admissibility of cut in sequent calculus for some congruent modal logics. The result was announced much earlier during the Trends in Logic Conference, Toruń 2006 and the proof for monotonic modal logics was provided already in Indrzejczak [5]. Also some tableau and natural deduction formalizations presented in Indrzejczak [6] and Indrzejczak [7] were based on this result but the proof itself was not published so far. In this paper we are going to fill (...) this gap. The delay was partly due to the fact that the author from time to time was trying to improve the result and extend it to some additional logics by testing other methods of proving cut elimination. Unfortunately all these attempts failed and cut elimination holds only for these logics which were proved to satisfy this property already in 2005. (shrink)

У статті визначено поняття криптовалюти. Проаналізовано відповідність криптовалюти статусу грошей. Висвітлено основні етапи розвитку криптовалюти. Розглянуто переваги та недоліки використання криптовалюти біткоїн. Досліджено правовий статус криптовалюти в країнах світу. Охарактеризовано стан використання найбільш відомої криптовалюти Bitcoin в Україні.

Jean-Luc Nancy's phenomenology of listening makes a series of claims about the sonic/auditory nature of the subject. First among these is the claim that the subject is a subject to the extent that it is listening, that it is all ears. The subject emerges on the back of the resonance of timbre in the body and the body's becoming-rhythmic. These claims are phrased often in musical terms, or making use of terms and rhetoric from the domains of music theory and (...) music psychology. This article explores the role of music in Nancy's phenomenology with a particular view to the nature of listening in the contemporary world: both how listening is figured as a part of what Nancy terms the inoperative community and how listening figures the cognitive and phenomenological constitution of the subject. (shrink)

(2001). British Perspectives on Internationalism, Justice and Sovereignty: From the English School to Cosmopolitan Democracy. The European Legacy: Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 265-275.

In her paper “Sovereignty and the International Protection of Human rights”, Cristina Lafont argues that “The obligation of respecting human rights in the sense of not contributing to their violation seems to be a universal obligation and thus one that binds states just as much as non-state actors.” In this paper, I argue that one can find support for this claim in Thomas Hobbes’ _Leviathan._ This requires a different reading of _Leviathan_ than the one that is typically performed by realist (...) thinkers, such as, for instance, Morgenthau and Mearsheimer, who read Hobbes as someone who has no regard for human rights. Contrary to the realists, I suggest a reading of _Leviathan_ that shows that there is in fact a normative underpinning of Hobbes’ view of sovereignty, to the extent that Hobbes can be taken to be one of the forerunners of international law. I do this by showing how Hobbes’ reasons for establishing sovereign power, and not his conclusions on how to organize sovereign power, may give support to Lafont’s claim that an obligation to respect human rights is not confined to the sovereign state, but also to extra-state institutions. (shrink)

Theodor Adorno’s philistine functions as the other of art, or as the ideal embodiment of everything that the bourgeois aesthetic subject is not. He insists on the truth-content of the derogation, while recognising its unjust social foundation, and seeking to reflect that tension in a self-critical turn. His model of advanced art is negatively delimited by the philistinism of art with a cause and the philistinism of art for enjoyment, which represent the poles of the aesthetic and the social. The (...) philistine is also the counterpart to the connoisseur, with the interplay between them pointing to his preferred approach to aesthetics, in which an affinity for art and alienness to it are combined without compromise. However, Adorno fails to realise fully the critical potential of the philistine as the immanent negation of art and aesthetics. (shrink)

The topic of eschatology is generally confined to the field of theology. However, the subject has influenced many other fields, such as politics and history. This dissertation examines the question why eschatology remained a topic of discussion within twentieth century philosophy. Concepts associated with eschatology, such as the end of time and the hope of a utopian age to come, remained largely background assumptions among intellectuals in the modern age. Martin Heidegger, Nicolai Berdyaev, and Hans Blumenberg, however, explicitly addressed the (...) subject in their philosophies. The impetus of this study is Heidegger's statement, "Being itself is inherently eschatological," which indicates the centrality of the subject in his understanding of Being. This statement led to the question whether eschatology played a larger role in Western thought. It also raised the question concerning the relationship between eschatology and other philosophical subjects such as teleology. Because of the multitude of assumptions concerning the meaning of eschatology, Chapter One provides essential working definitions. In order to obtain a sufficient understanding of the topic and address the use of the term among the three philosophers, it was necessary to see how eschatology was understood and acted upon in Western thought. Chapter Two addresses the history of eschatology in the West and concludes that there are two general streams of eschatological thought that explains why it continued to remain a subject for contemporary philosophers. Chapters Three through Five address how eschatology was used by Heidegger, Berdyaev, and Blumenberg respectively. Each utilized the subject in different ways: for Heidegger eschatology constitutes Dasein's existence. Futurity ("forward-directedness") is a condition Dasein as a totality. Dasein is "being-toward-the-end" or "toward-death." Berdyaev combines the eschatological tradition with philosophical achievements and offers an "eschatological metaphysics." He distinguishes eschatology from teleology arguing against teleology, noting that only a "personalist" eschatology can solve the problems of dualism and objectification. Blumenberg differs from Heidegger and Berdyaev by offering a negative evaluation of eschatological belief in the West contending that the modern secular age is the result of a failed eschatology. The conclusion of this work follows Charles Taylor's contention in A Secular Age that "our sense of where we are is crucially defined in part by a story of how we got there." The conclusion is that eschatology, throughout most of Western thought, functioned largely as a background assumption for understanding time and history. The transition from the linear concept of time to a cyclical concept defines in part the modern secular age. The notion of future time is an important and often neglected dimension of hermeneutic understanding. The continued influence of eschatological thought in Western history explains why the philosophers under consideration in this work address eschatology and signals that its influence upon philosophical thought is not likely to diminish in the future. (shrink)

Gathering information in human interactions is a critical aspect for police and intelligence interviewers. However, quite recently and rather slowly researchers have started to focus on using available information in order to collect case-related information in such interactions. This thesis advances this line of research by conducting three studies on how to use available information to elicit new information from sources and suspects. Two of the studies were about the Scharff-technique and one was about the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE)-technique. (...) Overall, the Scharff-technique (vs. the Direct Approach) and the SUE-technique (vs. the Early disclosure) resulted in more new information by influencing the sources’/suspects’ perceptions of the interviewer’s knowledge strategically. In line with the three studies, this thesis developed an interviewing framework consisting of a conceptual and tactical tier. The conceptual tier explains the cognitive and verbal processes of the sources/suspects in interviews and the mechanisms behind the Scharff and SUE tactics. The tactical tier includes the Scharff-technique and SUE-technique and shows ways in order to influence the sources’/suspects’ perceptions and verbal behaviours. Overall, the developed two-tier interviewing framework can help to train practitioners and initiate further research. (shrink)

This essay responds to Frederic Jameson’s Allegory and Ideology by arguing that this book is centrally concerned with the masses. By developing Jameson’s own model of allegorical reading the pressure of the masses on the text is explored. This is demonstrated through a reading of Albert Camus’s The Plague, Jameson’s central example of ‘bad’ allegory. While this novel is ‘bad’ for implying a one-to-one allegory between the plague infection and the occupation of France during World War Two or to the (...) human condition, a reading of the text as biopolitical allegory reveals the complex presence of the masses. Finally, this response considers the ‘immortality’ of the masses as the utopian moment traced within Allegory and Ideology. (shrink)

The domain of ethics deals with the antagonisms between “good and evil, right or wrong, correct or unjust, virtuoso or vicious” etc. However, ethics is not the only area where these terms can be used, but as a norm, most ethical systems have been grounded in negotiating and consolidating these debates. Ethics has been transposed into many areas of activity, social and / or professional, so over time, according to Harry Redner, ethics have been born on account of the relationship (...) of feelings: love vs blame (religious or moral ethics), patriotism and glory vs. disgrace and disapproval (civic ethics), respect and veneration vs. rejection and humility (ethics of responsibility). These types of ethics over time have mixed up and can be “distinguished according to the external guarantees that they rely on to ensure social conformities.” These external guarantees, according to Harry Redner, are conventions, norms and laws. Even though they seem to be identical, there are some details of difference that are worth mentioning to understand the analytical assembly. (shrink)