Biological ontologies are used to organize, curate, and interpret the vast quantities of data arising from biological experiments. While this works well when using a single ontology, integrating multiple ontologies can be problematic, as they are developed independently, which can lead to incompatibilities. The Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies Foundry was created to address this by facilitating the development, harmonization, application, and sharing of ontologies, guided by a set of overarching principles. One challenge in reaching these goals was that the (...) OBO principles were not originally encoded in a precise fashion, and interpretation was subjective. Here we show how we have addressed this by formally encoding the OBO principles as operational rules and implementing a suite of automated validation checks and a dashboard for objectively evaluating each ontology’s compliance with each principle. This entailed a substantial effort to curate metadata across all ontologies and to coordinate with individual stakeholders. We have applied these checks across the full OBO suite of ontologies, revealing areas where individual ontologies require changes to conform to our principles. Our work demonstrates how a sizable federated community can be organized and evaluated on objective criteria that help improve overall quality and interoperability, which is vital for the sustenance of the OBO project and towards the overall goals of making data FAIR. Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. (shrink)

Most people agree that inflicting unnecessary suffering upon animals is wrong. Many fewer people, including among ethicists, agree that painlessly killing animals is necessarily wrong. The most commonly cited reason is that death (without pain, fear, distress) is not bad for them in a way that matters morally, or not as significantly as it does for persons, who are self-conscious, make long-term plans and have preferences about their own future. Animals, at least those that are not persons, lack a morally (...) significant interest in continuing to live. At the same time, some argue that existence itself can be good, insofar as one’s life is worth living. For animals, a good life can offset a quick, if early, death. So, it seems to follow that breeding happy animals that will be (prematurely) killed can be a good thing overall. Insofar as slaughter and sale makes it economically sustainable to raise new ones, who would otherwise not exist, raising and killing animals for food who will have lives worth living is good overall. It benefits them as well as consumers, and makes the world better by adding to the sum of happiness. The process of raising and killing animals with positive welfare produces a sequence of replacement that maintains or increases overall welfare, all else being equal (assuming in particular no overall negative impact on the welfare of other parties). Call this the Replaceability Argument (RA) and the ensuing controversy the Replaceability Problem (RP). This is a problem at the crossroads of the ethics of killing, agricultural ethics, procreation ethics, and population ethics. (shrink)

Intuitively, collective nouns are pseudo-singular: a collection of things (a pair of people, a flock of birds, etc.) just is the things that make ‘it’ up. But certain facts about natural language seem to count against this view. In short, distributive predicates and numerals interact with collective nouns in ways that they seemingly shouldn’t if those nouns are pseudo-singular. We call this set of issues ‘the distribution problem’. To solve it, we propose a modification to cover-based semantics. On this semantics, (...) the interpretation of distributive predicates and numerals depends on a cover, where the choice of cover is strongly semantically constrained by the noun with which they interact. (shrink)

The claim that the observation of a violation of a Bell inequality leads to an alleged alternative between nonlocality and non-realism is annoying because of the vagueness of the second term.

Is suffering really bad? The late Derek Parfit argued that we all have reasons to want to avoid future agony and that suffering is in itself bad both for the one who suffers and impersonally. Nietzsche denied that suffering was intrinsically bad and that its value could even be impersonal. This paper has two aims. It argues against what I call ‘Realism about the Value of Suffering’ by drawing from a broadly Nietzschean debunking of our evaluative attitudes, showing that a (...) recently influential response to the debunking challenge (the appeal to phenomenal introspection) fails. It also argues that a Nietzschean approach is well suited to support the challenge and is bolstered by the empirical literature. As strangers to ourselves, we cannot know whether suffering is really intrinsically bad for us. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates the central role of the Socratic elenchus in the Sophist. In the first part, I defend the position that the Stranger describes the Socratic elenchus in the sixth division of the Sophist. In the second part, I show that the Socratic elenchus is actually used when the Stranger scrutinizes the accounts of being put forward by his predecessors. In the final part, I explain the function of the Socratic elenchus in the argument of the dialogue. By contrast (...) with standard scholarly interpretations, this way of reading the text provides all the puzzles about being (241c4–251a4) with a definite function in the dialogue. It also reveals that Plato’s methodology includes a plurality of method and is more continuous than what is often believed. (shrink)

It is usual to identify initial conditions of classical dynamical systems with mathematical real numbers. However, almost all real numbers contain an infinite amount of information. I argue that a finite volume of space can’t contain more than a finite amount of information, hence that the mathematical real numbers are not physically relevant. Moreover, a better terminology for the so-called real numbers is “random numbers”, as their series of bits are truly random. I propose an alternative classical mechanics, which is (...) empirically equivalent to classical mechanics, but uses only finite-information numbers. This alternative classical mechanics is non-deterministic, despite the use of deterministic equations, in a way similar to quantum theory. Interestingly, both alternative classical mechanics and quantum theories can be supplemented by additional variables in such a way that the supplemented theory is deterministic. Most physicists straightforwardly supplement classical theory with real numbers to which they attribute physical existence, while most physicists reject Bohmian mechanics as supplemented quantum theory, arguing that Bohmian positions have no physical reality. (shrink)

Most physics theories are deterministic, with the notable exception of quantum mechanics which, however, comes plagued by the so-called measurement problem. This state of affairs might well be due to the inability of standard mathematics to “speak” of indeterminism, its inability to present us a worldview in which new information is created as time passes. In such a case, scientific determinism would only be an illusion due to the timeless mathematical language scientists use. To investigate this possibility it is necessary (...) to develop an alternative mathematical language that is both powerful enough to allow scientists to compute predictions and compatible with indeterminism and the passage of time. We suggest that intuitionistic mathematics provides such a language and we illustrate it in simple terms. (shrink)

Many natural languages include plural terms, i.e., terms which denote many individuals at once. Are there also superplural terms, i.e., terms which denote many pluralities of individuals at once? Some philosophers say ‘Yes’, citing a range of sentence-types which apparently can’t be analyzed in a first-order plural logic, but which can be analyzed in a superplural one. We argue that all the data presented in favor of the superplural can, in fact, be analyzed using only first-order resources. The key is (...) to add to ordinary plural logic a new notion of a generalized cover. A generalized cover reflects how interlocutors in a conversation may divide a salient plurality into many subpluralities, which can then be involved in reference and predication. With generalized covers in place, all the apparently troublesome sentences can be easily handled. Our approach can also be extended to account, not only for linguistic data which seem to favor the superplural, but also for other phenomena involving plurals. The result is a unified approach to natural language plurals on which superplurals are analyzed away. (shrink)

A survey of the similarities and differences between BFO and DOLCE, and of the mutual interactions between Nicola Guarino and Barry Smith.

Dominant views about the nature of health and disease in bioethics and the philosophy of medicine have presumed the existence of a fixed, stable, individual organism as the bearer of health and disease states, and as such, the appropriate target of medical therapy and ethical concern. However, recent developments in microbial biology, neuroscience, the philosophy of cognitive science, and social and personality psychology (Ickes...

Revista Cunoașterea Științifică este o publicație trimestrială din domeniile științei și filosofiei, și domenii conexe de studiu și practică. -/- Cuprins: -/- EDITORIALS / EDITORIALE -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Apărarea împotriva atacurilor cibernetice avansate Defense Against Advanced Cyber Attacks -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Ce este inteligența? What is intelligence? -/- Nicolae Sfetcu De la instinctele primitive la cunoașterea avansată: evoluția inteligenței umane From Primitive Instincts to Advanced Cognition: The Evolution of Human Intelligence -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Falsificabilitatea lui Imre Lakatos în contextul programelor (...) științifice de cercetare The Falsifiability of Imre Lakatos in the Context of the Scientific Research Programs -/- NATURAL SCIENCE / ȘTIINȚE NATURALE -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Cosmological Tests Based on General Relativity for Gravity Teste cosmologice bazate pe relativitatea generală pentru gravitație -/- Ștefan-Daniel Florea Integrarea tehnologiei moderne în gestionarea riscului seismic Integrating modern technology into seismic risk management -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Epistemology of Loop Quantum Gravity in the Context of Canonical Quantum Gravity Epistemologia gravitației cuantice în buclă în contextul gravitației cuantice canonice -/- Valentin Ionescu Constante universale, energia vidului și creșterea în timp a găurilor negre în Modelul Big Bangului Rece Universal constants, vacuum energy and the growth of black holes over time in the Cold Big Bang Model -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Discovery of Astatine by Horia Hulubei Descoperirea astatinului de Horia Hulubei -/- Lucian Ștefan Cozma, Cosmin Vasile Țenu, Daniela Georgiana Golea Proiectul Romteleghid între legendă și realitate istorică The Romteleghid project between legend and historical reality -/- Lucian Ștefan Cozma, Daniela Georgiana Golea, Cosmin Vasile Țenu Amestec de combustibil ieftin și ecologic destinat arderii catalitice în cazanele termoenergetice și motoarele de ardere internă, o soluție pentru Europa Inexpensive and environmentally friendly fuel blend for catalytic combustion in power boilers and internal combustion engines - a solution for Europe -/- Nicolae Sfetcu The Evolution of Human Intelligence Throughout a Person's Life - A Lifelong Journey Evoluția inteligenței umane de-a lungul vieții unei persoane - O călătorie pe tot parcursul vieții -/- Lucian Ștefan Cozma, Daniela Georgiana Golea, Cosmin Vasile Țenu Utilizarea bremsstrahlung inversat în obținerea fuziunii nucleare controlate The use of inverted bremsstrahlung in achieving controlled nuclear fusion -/- Adrian Klein Can Extended Human Genome Explain Personality Structures? Poate genomul uman extins să explice structurile personalității? -/- Lucian Ștefan Cozma, Daniela Georgiana Golea Potențiala contribuție a inginerului și inventatorului român George „Gogu” Constantinescu în edificarea Castelului Peleș prin elaborarea teoriei moderne a betonului armat The potential contribution of the Romanian engineer and inventor George "Gogu" Constantinescu in the construction of Peleș Castle by developing the modern theory of reinforced concrete -/- Ioan Vasile Buiu, Bogdan Boreschievici Un submarin pierdut în istorie A Submarine Lost in History -/- SOCIAL SCIENCE / ȘTIINȚE SOCIALE -/- Dan D. Farcaș Câteva opinii privind etnogeneza românilor (2) Some opinions regarding the ethnogenesis of the Romanians (2) -/- Aliona Rozovel UTA Găgăuzia de jure parte integrantă și inalienabilă a Republicii Moldova, de facto tinde spre separatism UTA Gagauzia, de jure an integral and inalienable part of the Republic of Moldova, de facto tends towards separatism -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Provocări și tendințe în războiul electronic – Războiul asimetric Challenges and Trends in Electronic Warfare – Asymmetric Warfare -/- Mădălina Miron Putinjugend: The Pro-Kremlin Youth Movement Nashi Putinjugend: Mișcarea de tineret pro-Kremlin Nashi -/- Alexandru Ș. Bologa; Ana-Maria Grămescu Tropaeum Augusti (France) and Tropaeum Traiani (Romania): A Comparative Study Tropaeum Augusti (Franța) și Tropaeum Traiani (România): Un studiu comparativ -/- Mark C. Lukács Campanii de publicitate inovatoare pentru instituții culturale: Explorarea oportunităților și cadrului de parteneriat public-privat Innovative Advertising Campaigns for Cultural Institutions: Exploring Public-Private Partnership Opportunities and Framework -/- Ana-Maria Perța Information sabotage in the context of the communist regime. Case study on communist informers Sabotajul informațional în contextul regimului comunist. Studiu de caz despre informatorii comuniști -/- Manuela Vasilica Tunca, Alina Mihaela Frățică Dragomir, Raluca Mihaela Rădulescu The Implementation and Benefits of Telework in Various Sectors: Reality or Rhetoric? Implementarea și beneficiile telemuncii în diverse sectoare: realitate sau retorică? -/- Alba Iulia Catrinel Popescu, Laura Ungureanu Un personaj istoric controversat al anilor de cumpănă 1940: generalul de corp de armată Aurel Aldea A Controversial Historical Figure of the 1940s: Army Corps General Aurel Aldea -/- FORMAL SCIENCE / ȘTIINȚE FORMALE -/- Constantin Pomparău Ce este ipoteza Riemann și de ce nu poate fi demonstrată What is the Riemann hypothesis and why it cannot be proved -/- Ana Denisa Cutean, Iulia Denisa Moga Contabilitatea activelor de infrastructură Accounting for infrastructure assets -/- Iulia Denisa Moga Tehnica abordării prin cost: evaluarea construcțiilor The technique of the cost approach: construction evaluation -/- Nicolae Sfetcu Apărarea împotriva atacurilor cibernetice prin învățarea automată Defending Against Cyber Attacks Through Machine Learning -/- Dumitru Mazilu Despre unele prevederi canonice și civile privind gestionarea actuala a bunurilor bisericești parohiale About some canonical and civil provisions regarding the current management of parish church assets -/- Alina Mihaela Frătică-Dragomir The Concept of Electronic Pensioner in Some Countries Versus Romania Conceptul de pensionar electronic în unele țări versus România -/- Andreea Teodora Iacob Phasing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania. Analysis Based on Social Distancing Measures Etapizarea pandemiei de COVID-19 în România. Analiza bazată pe măsurile de distanțare socială -/- Bogdan Boreschievici Castele în Spania Castles in Spain -/- PHILOSOPHY / FILOSOFIE -/- Nicolae Sfetcu The Republic of Plato: A Philosophical Odyssey Republica lui Platon: o odisee filosofică -/- Tănase Tiberiu, Ovidiu Boureanu Intelligence–ul ca domeniu al cunoașterii Intelligence as a Field of Knowledge -/- Dumitru Mazîlu Dezvoltarea subsecventă a termenului de canon în primele secole creștine The subsequent development of the term canon in the early Christian centuries -/- Valentin Ionescu S-ar putea să nu existe infinitul, decât în nostalgia noastră după starea originară, pierdută, din Grădina Edenului Infinity may not exist except in our nostalgia for our original state, lost Garden of Eden -/- ISSN 2971 – 9070 ISSN-L 2821 – 8086, DOI: 10.58679/CS19653. (shrink)

Beall and Restall 2000; 2001; 2006 advocate a comprehensive pluralist approach to logic, which they call Logical Pluralism, according to which there is not one true logic but many equally acceptable logical systems. They maintain that Logical Pluralism is compatible with monism about metaphysical modality, according to which there is just one correct logic of metaphysical modality. Wyatt 2004 contends that Logical Pluralism is incompatible with monism about metaphysical modality. We first suggest that if Wyatt were right, Logical Pluralism would (...) be strongly implausible because it would get upside down a dependence relation that holds between metaphysics and logic of modality. We then argue that Logical Pluralism is prima facie compatible with monism about metaphysical modality. (shrink)

World food production is facing exorbitant challenges like climate change, use of resources, population growth, and dietary changes. These, in turn, raise major ethical and political questions, such as how to uphold the right to adequate nutrition, or the right to enact a gastronomic culture and to preserve the conditions to do so. Proposals for utopic solutions vary from vertical farming and lab meat to diets filled with the most fanciful insects and seaweeds. Common to all proposals is a polarized (...) understanding of food and diets, famously captured by Warren Belasco in the contraposition between technological fixes and anthropological fixes. According to the first, technology will deliver clean, just, pleasurable, affordable food; future generations will not need to adjust much of their dietary cultures. According to the second, future generations should dramatically change their dietary habits (what they eat and how they eat it) to achieve a sustainable diet. The two fixes found remarkably distinct perspectives over dietary politics and the ethics of food production and consumption. In this paper we argue that such polarized thinking rests on a misrepresentation of the ontological status of food, which in turn affects the underlying ethical and political issues. Food is a socially constructed object that draws in specific ways on habits, norms, traditions, geographical, and climatic conditions. Although this thesis seems somewhat obvious, its consequences on the ethical and political perspectives on the future of food have not been derived properly. After introducing the issue at stake (¤1), we point out the polarities that characterize food utopias (¤2) and their ontological faults (¤3). We hence suggest that a socio-ontological analysis of food can better deliver the principles for a foundation of food utopias (¤4). (shrink)

We propose a novel ontological analysis of relations and relationships based on a re-visitation of a classic problem in the practice of knowledge repre- sentation and conceptual modeling, namely relationship reification. Our idea is that a relation holds in virtue of a relationship's existence. Relationships are therefore truthmakers of relations. In this paper we present a general theory or reification and truthmaking, and discuss the interplay between events and rela- tionships, suggesting that relationships are the focus of events, which emerge (...) from the context (the scene) they occur in. (shrink)

A translation and analysis of a short ethical treatise written in Tibet in the late 18th or early 19th century. The Khache Phalu includes references to both Buddhist and Islamic thought in providing ethical and spiritual advice. The analysis gives an overview of the secondary literature in both Tibetan and English that is accessible to non-specialists and defends the claim that many passages are deliberately ambiguous. The translation was done with Tenzin Norbu Nangsal and also includes the full Tibetan text.

Ontology as a branch of philosophy is the science of what is, of the kinds and structures of objects, properties, events, processes and relations in every area of reality. ‘Ontology’ is often used by philosophers as a synonym for ‘metaphysics’ (literally: ‘what comes after the Physics’), a term which was used by early students of Aristotle to refer to what Aristotle himself called ‘first philosophy’. The term ‘ontology’ (or ontologia) was itself coined in 1613, independently, by two philosophers, Rudolf Göckel (...) (Goclenius), in his Lexicon philosophicum and Jacob Lorhard (Lorhardus), in his Theatrum philosophicum. The first occurrence in English recorded by the OED appears in Bailey’s dictionary of 1721, which defines ontology as ‘an Account of being in the Abstract’. (shrink)

In a world that is overflowing with journals and other outlets for scientific publication, the appearance of any new periodical requires some justification. There are already more journals than we can read and more conferences than we can attend. In the case of applied Ontology, we believe that the creation of anew journal not only is completely justifiable, it is downright exciting. For too long, workers in computer science have assumed that content comes for free. “Theory” in computer science has (...) always meant the theory of processes and of computation. We measure the complexity of computer programs in terms of how long it takes machines to execute them, not in terms of how long it takes people to understand and to represent the data on which those programs might operate. We typically describe computer code in terms of algorithms that operate on formal parameters, often without pausing to discuss where the data that might satisfy those parameters come from. This journal was founded on the premise that workers in computer science, informatics, and information science are overdue in paying as much attention to contents as they do to algorithms. (shrink)

If panpsychism is true, it suggests that consciousness pervades not only our brains and bodies but also the entire universe, prompting a reevaluation of our existential attitudes. Hence, panpsychism potentially fulfills psychological needs typically addressed by religious beliefs, such as a sense of belonging and purpose but also transcendence. The discussion is organized into two main areas: the implications of panpsychism for basic human existential needs, such as feelings of kinship, ommunication, and loneliness; and for greater existential questions relating to (...) mystical experiences including transcendent unity and alleviation of the fear of death. In conclusion panpsychism may provide a deeper meaning in life for some people but its broader impact depends on individual dispositions and the cultural context in which it is embedded. (shrink)

In this article we argue that the social value of health research should be conceptualized as a function of both the expected benefits of the research and the priority that the beneficiaries deserve. People deserve greater priority the worse off they are. This conception of social value can be applied for at least two important purposes: in health research priority setting when research funders, policy-makers, or researchers decide between alternative research projects; and in evaluating the ethics of proposed research proposals (...) when research ethics committees assess whether the social value of the research is sufficient to justify the risks and burdens to research participants and others. In assessing how far a proposed research project will advance the interests of people who are more disadvantaged, research priority setters and RECs should examine the diseases that the research targets and the type of research. Just as certain diseases impose a greater burden on people who are more disadvantaged, so certain types of intervention and forms of research are more likely to benefit people who are more disadvantaged. We outline which populations are likely to be representative of the global worst off and identify what types of health research, and which disease categories, are priorities for these populations. (shrink)

We present in this paper a novel ontological theory of events whose central tenet is the Aristotelian distinction between the object that changes and the actual subject of change, which is what we call an individual quality. While in the Kimian tradition events are individuated by a triple ⟨ o, P, t ⟩, where o is an object, P a property, and t an interval of time, for us the simplest events are qualitative changes, individuated by a triple ⟨ o, (...) q, t ⟩, where q is an individual quality inhering in o or in one of its parts. Detaching the individuation of events from the property they exemplify results in a fine-grained theory that keeps metaphysics and semantics clearly separate, and lies between the multiplicative and the unitarian approaches. We discuss then the way language refers to events, observing that, in most cases, event descriptions refer to complex, cognitively relevant clusters of co-occurring qualitative changes, which exhibit a synchronic structure depending on the way they are described. Contra Bennett, who famously argued that the semantics of event names ultimately depends on “local context and unprincipled intuitions”, we show how the lexicon provides systematic principles for individuating such clusters and classifying them into kinds. Finally, we address some open challenges in the semantics of locative and manner modifiers. (shrink)

What can be more fascinating than experimental metaphysics, to quote one of Abner Shimony’s enlightening expressions? Bell inequalities are at the heart of the study of nonlocality. I present a list of open questions, organised in three categories: fundamental; linked to experiments; and exploring nonlocality as a resource. New families of inequalities for binary outcomes are presented.

How do plurals and mass nouns refer? What kind of logic should be used in order to account for the truth-conditions of the sentences they appear in? For linguists, first-order predicate logic is adequate, provided it is supplemented by a notion of mereological sum for plurals and for mass nouns. On the contrary, according to some philosophers, new logics must be used, plural logic for plurals and mass logic for mass nouns. We survey these debates in this entry.

The picture of moral development defended by followers of Aristotle takes moral cultivation to be like playing a harp; one gets to be good by actually spending time playing a real instrument. On this view, we cultivate a virtue by doing the actions associated with that virtue. I argue that this picture is inadequate and must be supplemented by imaginative techniques. One can, and sometimes must, cultivate virtue without actually performing the associated actions. Drawing on strands in Buddhist philosophy, I (...) explain several methods of moral development that rely on imagination and visualization rather than overt action. These techniques are essential in cases where cultivating virtue the way one practices the harp is impossible. In particular, I focus on single-event virtues, first-time virtuous acts, and morally dangerous situations. (shrink)

There seems to be an inconsistency at the heart of Aristotle’s Metaphysics: a differentia is said both to presuppose its genus (in vii 12) and to be logically independent from it (in x 7). I argue that the relation of analogy resolves this inconsistency, restores the coherence of the concepts of differentia and species, and gives x 7 its rightful place in the development of the Metaphysics.

The development of a biological notion of “population” over the first century of the theory of evolution has been commented upon by a number of historians and philosophers of biology. Somewhat less commonly discussed, however, is the parallel development of the statistical concept of a population over precisely the same period, in some cases driven by the same historical actors (such as Francis Galton and R. A. Fisher). We explore here these parallel developments, first from the perspective of a reconstruction (...) of the historical development of each concept, then with the aid of a digital analysis of a corpus of literature drawn from the journals Biometrika and Journal of Genetics, between 1900 and 1960. These twin analyses show both points of interesting overlap between these two historical trends as well as points of important divergence. The biological and statistical notions of “population” seem to be relatively clearly distinguishable over these six decades, in spite of the fact that a number of authors contributed clearly to both traditions. The complex interplay of continuity and discontinuity across these two notions of “population” makes them a particularly interesting case study of scientific conceptual change. (shrink)

In this article, I show that the semantics one adopts for mass terms constrains the metaphysical claims one can make about mixtures. I first expose why mixtures challenge a singularist approach based on mereological sums. After discussing an alternative, non-singularist approach, I take chemistry into account and explain how it changes our perspective on these issues.

The empirical study of belief is emerging at a rapid clip, uniting work from all corners of cognitive science. Reliance on belief in understanding and predicting behavior is widespread. Examples can be found, inter alia, in the placebo, attribution theory, theory of mind, and comparative psychological literatures. Research on belief also provides evidence for robust generalizations, including about how we fix, store, and change our beliefs. Evidence supports the existence of a Spinozan system of belief fixation: one that is automatic (...) and independent of belief rejection. Independent research supports the existence of a system of fragmented belief storage: one that relies on large numbers of causally isolated, context-sensitive stores of belief in memory. Finally, empirical and observational data support at least two systems of belief change. One system adheres, mostly, to epistemological norms of updating; the other, the psychological immune system, functions to guard our most centrally held beliefs from potential inconsistency with newly formed beliefs. Refining our under- standing of these systems can shed light on pressing real-world issues, such as how fake news, propaganda, and brainwashing exploit our psychology of belief, and how best to construct our modern informational world. (shrink)

We aim to do two things in this article. On the positive end, our goal is to explain how some seemingly incompatible aspects of belief live together, by presenting distinct mechanistic explanations of each of them: in particular we want to show how belief can be discerning, credulous, rational, and irrational. After clarifying our positive view, we take aim at some competitor views in the second half of the paper, particularly offering critiques of epistemic vigilance and social marketplace accounts of (...) belief. We conclude by inviting proponents to provide an architecture for belief that can be tested against existing models. (shrink)

Această carte explorează utilizarea inteligenței artificiale de către serviciile de informații din întreaga lume și rolul său critic în domeniul analizei intelligence, în apărare și securitatea națională. Serviciile de informații joacă un rol crucial în securitatea națională, iar adoptarea tehnologiilor inteligenței artificiale a avut un impact semnificativ asupra operațiunilor lor. De asemenea, examinează diferitele aplicații ale inteligenței artificiale în serviciile de informații, implicațiile, provocările și considerațiile etice asociate cu utilizarea acesteia. Cartea subliniază necesitatea cercetării și dezvoltării continue în domeniul inteligenței (...) artificiale pentru a se asigura că serviciile de informații. și în general apărarea și securitatea națională se pot adapta în mod eficient la amenințările emergente. (shrink)

Războiul electronic este o componentă critică a operațiunilor militare moderne și a suferit progrese semnificative în ultimii ani. Această carte oferă o privire de ansamblu asupra războiului electronic, a dezvoltării sale istorice, a componentelor cheie și a rolului său în scenariile de conflict contemporane. De asemenea, se discută tendințele și provocările emergente în războiul electronic și și relevanța sa contemporană într-o eră a tehnologiei avansate și a amenințărilor cibernetice, subliniind necesitatea cercetării și dezvoltării continue în acest domeniu. Cartea explorează intersecția (...) în plină dezvoltare dintre inteligența artificială și războiul electronic, evidențiind peisajul evolutiv al conflictelor moderne și implicațiile integrării tehnologiilor avansate. Se evidențiază rolurile cu mai multe fațete ale inteligenței artificiale în războiul electronic, examinând avantajele sale potențiale, considerentele etice și provocările asociate cu integrarea acesteia. (shrink)

This article provides a philosophical response to the need for truth-telling about colonial history, focussing on the Australian context. The response consists in inviting philosophers and the public to engage in social-justice practices specified by a model called Distributed Truth-Telling (DTT), which integrates the historiography of injustices affecting Indigenous peoples with insights from social philosophy and cultural evolution theory. By contrast to official and large-scale truth commissions, distributed truth-telling is a set of non-elitist practices that weave three components: first, multisite, (...) multiformat, and multiscale inquiries into injustices; second, remedial imaginings and reasoning about moral repair and reconciliated futures; and finally, emotions suitable for motivating agents to cooperatively plan and implement moral revolutions. Distributed truth-telling can entrench virtuous feedback loops that contribute to moral revolutions. However, vicious feedback loops associated with collective denial and biases can impair distributed truth- telling and thwart moral revolutions. (shrink)

Peer commentary on: Blumenthal-Barby, J. S. (2016). Biases and heuristics in decision making and their impact on autonomy. The American Journal of Bioethics, 16(5), 5-15.

Il s’agit ici de présenter une version raffinée du libéralisme de la peur de Judith Shklar : le libéralisme de la prudence. Après en avoir brièvement présenté les grandes lignes et les principales faiblesses, j’esquisse les contours du libéralisme de la prudence et montre comment il réalise, mieux que libéralisme de la peur, le programme minimaliste poursuivi par Shklar. Je montre ensuite comment le libéralisme de la prudence nous permet de sortir du dilemme libéral posé par la tradition postrawlsienne : (...) justifier le libéralisme sur des bases morales, au risque de le priver de neutralité, ou le justifier sur des bases réalistes hobbesiennes, au risque d’en faire l’otage des rapports de force changeants. Enfin, j’examine comme le principal défaut apparent du libéralisme de la prudence – à savoir son ascétisme programmatique – est en fait son principal mérite. (shrink)

În această lucrare analizez posibilitatea călătoriei în timp pe baza mai multor lucrări de specialitate, printre care cele ale lui Nicholas J.J. Smith ("Time Travel", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy”), William Grey (”Troubles with Time Travel”), Ulrich Meyer (”Explaining causal loops”), Simon Keller și Michael Nelson (”Presentists should believe in time-travel”), Frank Arntzenius și Tim Maudlin ("Time Travel and Modern Physics") și David Lewis (“The Paradoxes of Time Travel”). Lucrarea începe cu o Introducere în care fac o scurtă prezentare a (...) călătoriei în timp, și continuă cu o Istoria conceptului de călătorie în timp, prezentarea principalelor Aspecte fizice ale călătoriei în timp, inclusiv călătoria în timp în trecut în relativitatea generală și în fizica cuantică și călătoria în timp în viitor, apoi o prezentare a Paradoxul bunicului care este abordat în aproape toate lucrările de specialitate, urmat de o secțiune dedicată Filosofiei călătoriei în timp, și o secțiune în care analizez Buclele cauzale pentru călătoria în timp. Finalizez lucrarea cu Concluzii, în care expun opiniile personale privind călătoria în timp, și Bibliografia pe care se bazează lucrarea. (shrink)

Revista IT & C este o publicație trimestrială din domeniile tehnologiei informației și comunicații, și domenii conexe de studiu și practică. -/- Cuprins: -/- EDITORIAL / EDITORIAL -/- The Importance of Big Data Research Importanța cercetării big data -/- TEHNOLOGIA INFORMAȚIEI / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY -/- Radar technology, the backbone of modern electronic warfare defense systems Tehnologia radar, coloana vertebrală a sistemelor moderne de apărare în războiul electronic -/- Human Capital changes during COVID-19 Pandemic. Why software development methodologies shifted from Waterfall (...) to Agile. Capitalul uman se schimbă în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19. De ce metodologiile de dezvoltare software au trecut de la waterfall la agile. -/- TELECOMUNICAȚII / TELECOMMUNICATIONS -/- Security Considerations in 5G Telecommunications Networks Considerații de securitate în rețelele de telecomunicații 5G -/- PROGRAMARE / PROGRAMMING -/- The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Balancing Innovation and Responsibility Etica inteligenței artificiale: echilibrarea inovației și a responsabilității -/- SECURITATE CIBERNETICĂ / CYBER SECURITY -/- Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and Posthumanism: A Convergence of Frontiers? Securitatea cibernetică, inteligența artificială, și postumanismul: o convergență a frontierelor? -/- ISSN 2821-8469 ISSN-L 2821-8469, DOI: 10.58679/IT94613. (shrink)

In a number of papers, Kit Fine introduced a theory of embodiment which distinguishes between rigid and variable embodiments, and has been successfully applied to clarify the ontological nature of entities whose parts may or may not vary in time. In particular, he has applied this theory to describe a process such as the erosion of a cliff, which would be a variable embodiment whose manifestations are the different states of erosion of the cliff. We find this theory very powerful, (...) and especially appropriate to capture the intuition that the same process may go on at different times. However, its formal principles have been subject to some criticisms, mainly concerning the mereological structure of a variable embodiment. Moreover, since the notion of variable embodiment is very general, simply saying that processes are variable embodiments is not enough to understand their ontological nature. To address these concerns, in this paper we proceed in two phases: first, we propose a revised version of Fine’s original theory adapted to the case of processes, which adopts a classical mereology instead of Fine’s hylomorphic mereology, and a temporalized constitution relation in place of Fine’s function of variable embodiment; second, we go deeper into the ontological nature of processes by revisiting the notions of homogeneity, intentionality, and telicity discussed in the literature, and propose an account based on ontological principles and not on semantic properties of predicates. This allows us to organize processes into a novel taxonomy based exclusively on their unity and individuation principles. (shrink)

Peer commentary on: Goering, S., Klein, E., Dougherty, D. D., & Widge, A. S. (2017). Staying in the loop: Relational agency and identity in next-generation DBS for psychiatry. AJOB Neuroscience, 8(2), 59-70.

Despre analogia existentă între aspectele epistemologice şi metodologice ale activităţii serviciilor de informaţii şi unele discipline ştiinţifice, pledând pentru o abordare mai ştiinţifică a procesului de culegere şi analiză de informaţii din cadrul ciclului de informaţii. Afirm că în prezent aspectele teoretice, ontologice şi epistemologice, în activitatea multor servicii de informaţii, sunt subestimate, determinând înţelegere incompletă a fenomenelor actuale şi creând confuzie în colaborarea inter-instituţională. După o scurtă Introducere, care include o istorie a evoluţiei conceptului de serviciu de informaţii după (...) al doilea război mondial, în Activitatea de informaţii definesc obiectivele şi organizarea serviciilor de informaţii, modelul de bază al acestor organizaţii (ciclul informaţional), şi aspectele relevante ale culegerii de informaţii şi analizei de informaţii. În secţiunea Ontologia evidenţiez aspectele ontologice şi entităţile care ameninţă şi sunt ameninţate. Secţiunea Epistemologie include aspecte specifice activităţii de informaţii, cu analiza principalului model (Singer) folosit în mod tradiţional, şi expun o posibilă abordare epistemologică prin prisma conceptului de cunoaştere tacită dezvoltat de omul de ştiinţă Michael Polanyi. În secţiunea Metodologii prezint diverse teorii metodologice cu accent pe tehnicile analitice structurale, şi câteva analogii, cu ştiinţa, arheologia, afacerile şi medicina. Lucrarea se încheie cu Concluziile privind posibilitatea unei abordări mai ştiinţifice a metodelor de culegere şi analiză a informaţiilor din cadrul serviciilor de informaţii. -/- Cuvinte cheie: servicii de informaţii, agenţii de informaţii, informaţii, intelligence -/- CUPRINS -/- Abstract 1. Introducere 1.1. Istorie 2. Activitatea de informaţii 2.1. Organizaţii 2.2. Ciclul informaţional 2.3. Colectarea informaţiilor 2.4. Analiza informaţiilor 2.5. Contrainformatii 2.6. Comunităţi epistemice 3. Ontologia 4. Epistemologia 4.1. Cunoaşterea tacită (Polanyi) 5. Metodologii 6. Analogii cu alte discipline 6.1. Stiinta 6.2. Arheologia 6.3. Afaceri 6.4. Medicina 7. Concluzii Bibliografie -/- ISBN: 978-606-033-160-5 , DOI: 10.58679/TW56764. (shrink)

This article defends a relational account of personhood. I argue that the structure of personhood consists of dyadic relations between persons who can wrong or be wronged by one another, even if some of them lack moral competence. I draw on recent work on directed duties to outline the structure of moral communities of persons. The upshot is that we can construct an inclusive theory of personhood that can accommodate nonhuman persons based on shared community membership. I argue that, once (...) we unpack the internal relation between directed duties, moral status, and flourishing, relations can ground personhood and include nonhuman animals. (shrink)

Animals who live in cities must coexist with us. They are, as a result, entitled to the conditions of their flourishing. This article argues that, as the boundaries of cities and urban areas expand, the boundaries of our conception of captivity should expand too. Urbanization can undermine animals’ freedoms, hence their ability to live good lives. I draw the implications of an account of “pervasive captivity” against the background of the Capabilities Approach. I construe captivity, including that of urban animals, (...) as affecting a range of animal capabilities, understood as freedoms, and I address some tensions within Nussbaum’s treatment of human-animal conflicts. Using the Capabilities Approach as a guide, I will attempt to motivate a convergence between habitat preservation in urbanized environments, urban design guided by justice, and the individual freedoms of animals. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es indagar en la fundamentación schmittiana del individuo y de la reserva de conciencia. En la actualidad, buena parte de la recepción contemporánea considera al jurista renano como un antiliberal y, por lo tanto, como un antiindividualista. Sin embargo, nuestra hipótesis es que es posible encontrar en su obra no solo una crítica a la noción liberal de individuo, sino también una concepción propositiva a través de sus reflexiones sobre la crítica frente a la autoridad (...) y al poder público. Para demostrarla, se propone un abordaje hermenéutico-exegético de sus obras —principalmente, de las conferencias sobre El Leviatán en la teoría del Estado de Thomas Hobbes y del artículo "La visibilidad de la Iglesia. Una reflexión escolástica”— para indagar la acción humana como fundadora del orden político y las posibilidades del individuo de criticar a la autoridad. El artículo sostiene que Carl Schmitt formula una noción de individualidad de signo distinto a la liberal y que se vincula íntimamente con la idea de Derecho, el entramado institucional-estatal y el sustrato comunitario. (shrink)

This article explores the phenomenology of time and eschatology in the thought of Jean-Yves Lacoste, including his recent book on the philosophy of history. Lacoste’s idea of “the hidden present” is examined within the context of his broader theological and philosophical framework, with a particular focus on the way it addresses the intersection of temporality and eternity. Human temporality is characterized by finitude and death, which are interpreted both philosophically—under the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy—and theologically. Using Husserlian and Heideggerian concepts, (...) Lacoste proposes a theologically inspired conceptual network: phenomenological reduction versus theological reduction, world versus creation, death versus resurrection, care (Sorge) versus eschatological restlessness, and time versus eschaton. All of these describe the liturgical experience of man before God and the possibility of an eternity which, from the point of view of the world and of our experience in the world, can only take on the ever-provisional figure of anticipation. The present article argues for the existence of a theological paradox of eschatology in the writings of the French phenomenologist: even if eschatology is only anticipated, the liturgical man, situated before God (coram Deo), experiences it in an incomplete and apophatic manner. (shrink)

Despre necesitatea şi utilitatea dezvoltării unei filosofii specifice tehnologiei blockchain, accentuând pe aspectele ontologice. După o Introducere în care evidenţiez principalele direcţii filosofice pentru această tehnologie emergentă, în Tehnologia blockchain explicitez modul de funcţionare al blockchain, punând în discuţie direcţiile ontologice de dezvoltare în Proiectarea şi Modelarea acestei tehnologii. Următoarea secţiune este dedicată principalei aplicaţii a tehnologiei blockchain, Bitcoin, cu implicaţiile sociale ale acestei criptovalute. Urmează o secţiune de Filosofie în care identific tehnologia blockchain cu conceptul de heterotopie dezvoltat de (...) Michel Foucault şi o interpretez în lumina tehnologiei notaţionale dezvoltată de Nelson Goodman ca sistem notaţional. În secţiunea Ontologii dezvolt două direcţii de dezvoltare considerate de mine ca importante: Ontologia narativă, bazată pe ideea de ordine şi structură a istoriei transmise prin naraţia istoriei a lui Paul Ricoeur, şi un sistem ontologic bazat pe Ontologiile de intreprindere, bazat pe conceptele şi modelele de intreprindere specifice webului semantic, şi pe care eu îl consider cel mai bine dezvoltat şi cel care va deveni, probabil, sistemul ontologic formal, cel puţin în ceea ce priveşte aspectele economice şi juridice ale tehnologiei blockchain. În Concluzii vorbesc despre direcţiile viitoare de dezvoltare a filosofiei tehnologiei blockchain în general ca o teorie explicativă şi robustă din punct de vedere fenomenologic, consistentă şi care să permită testabilitatea, şi a ontologiilor în special, argumentând pentru necesitatea unei adopţii globale a unui sistem ontologic pentru a dezvolta soluţii transversale şi a rentabiliza tehnologia. -/- Cuvinte cheie: filosofie, blockchain, ontologie, bitcoin, proiectare, modele -/- CUPRINS -/- Abstract Introducere Tehnologia blockchain - - - Proiectare - - - Modele Bitcoin Filosofia Ontologii - - - Ontologii narative - - - Ontologii de intreprindere Concluzii Note Bibliografie -/- DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25492.35204. (shrink)

O analiză cuprinzătoare a Amenințărilor Persistente Avansate (Advanced Persistent Threats, APT), inclusiv caracteristicile, originile, metodele, consecințele și strategiile de apărare ale acestora, cu accent pe detectarea acestor amenințări. Se explorează conceptul de amenințări persistente avansate în contextul securității cibernetice și al războiului cibernetic. APT reprezintă una dintre cele mai insidioase și provocatoare forme de amenințări cibernetice, caracterizate prin sofisticarea, persistența și natura lor țintită. Această carte analizează originile, caracteristicile și metodele folosite de actorii APT. De asemenea, explorează complexitățile asociate cu (...) detectarea APT, analizând tacticile evolutive folosite de actorii amenințărilor și a progreselor corespunzătoare în metodologiile de detectare. Cartea subliniază importanța abordării cu mai multe fațete, care integrează inovații tehnologice cu strategii proactive de apărare pentru a identifica în mod eficient și atenua APT. (shrink)

Revista Cunoașterea Științifică este o publicație trimestrială din domeniile științei și filosofiei, și domenii conexe de studiu și practică. -/- Cuprins: -/- EDITORIAL / EDITORIAL -/- Nicolae SFETCU Defense Against Advanced Cyber Attacks Apărarea împotriva atacurilor cibernetice avansate -/- ȘTIINȚE NATURALE / NATURAL SCIENCE -/- Nicolae SFETCU Cosmological Tests Based on General Relativity for Gravity Teste cosmologice bazate pe relativitatea generală pentru gravitație -/- Ștefan-Daniel FLOREA Integrating modern technology into seismic risk management Integrarea tehnologiei moderne în gestionarea riscului seismic -/- (...) ȘTIINȚE SOCIALE / SOCIAL SCIENCE -/- Dan D. FARCAȘ Some opinions regarding the ethnogenesis of the Romanians (2) Câteva opinii privind etnogeneza românilor (2) -/- Aliona ROZOVEL UTA Gagauzia, de jure an integral and inalienable part of the Republic of Moldova, de facto tends towards separatism UTA Găgăuzia de jure parte integrantă și inalienabilă a Republicii Moldova, de facto tinde spre separatism -/- ȘTIINȚE FORMALE / FORMAL SCIENCE -/- Constantin POMPARĂU What is the Riemann hypothesis and why it cannot be proved Ce este ipoteza Riemann și de ce nu poate fi demonstrată -/- Ana Denisa CUTEAN și Iulia Denisa MOGA Accounting for infrastructure assets Contabilitatea activelor de infrastructură -/- Iulia Denisa MOGA The technique of the cost approach: construction evaluation Tehnica abordării prin cost: evaluarea construcțiilor -/- FILOSOFIE / PHILOSOPHY -/- Nicolae SFETCU The Republic of Plato: A Philosophical Odyssey Republica lui Platon: o odisee filosofică -/- ISSN 2821-8086 ISSN-L 2821-8086, DOI: 10.58679/CS26154. (shrink)

Singularitățile la care se ajunge în relativitatea generală prin rezolvarea ecuațiilor lui Einstein au fost și încă mai sunt subiectul a numeroase dezbateri științifice: Există sau nu, singularități? Big Bang a fost o singularitate inițială? Dacă singularitățile există, care este ontologia acestora? Este teoria generală a relativității o teorie care și-a arătat limitele în acest caz? În acest eseu argumentez faptul că există singularități, iar teoria generală a relativității, ca de altfel oricare altă teorie științifică din prezent, nu este valabilă (...) în interiorul orizontului evenimentelor. Dar asta nu presupune, așa cum consideră unii oameni de știință, că ea trebuie considerată ca fiind perimată. După o scurtă prezentare a aspectelor specifice din teoria clasică newtoniană și teoria specială a relativității, și o scurtă prezentare a teoriei generale a relativității, în capitolul Ontologia relativității generale prezint aspectele ontologice specifice relativității generale. Următorul capitol, Singularități, este dedicat prezentării singularităților care rezultă în relativitatea generală, a aspectelor specifice ale găurilor negre și orizontul evenimentelor, inclusiv dezbaterea despre Big Bang ca singularitate inițială, și argumentele în favoarea existenței singularităților. În Ontologia singularităților vorbesc despre posibilitățile de încadrare ontologică a singularităților în general și a găurilor negre în special, despre argumentul găurii pus în evidență de Einstein, și argumentele prezentate de oamenii de știință că nu există singularități și deci că teoria generală a relativității este în impas. Închei cu Concluziile în care expun și reiau pe scurt argumentele care ămi susțin opiniile prezentate mai sus. Aceasta este o traducere din limba engleză a lucrării: Sfetcu, Nicolae, "The singularities as ontological limits of the general relativity". (shrink)