We reconsider some classical natural semantics of integers in the perspective of Kolmogorov complexity. To each such semantics one can attach a simple representation of integers that we suitably effectivize in order to develop an associated Kolmogorov theory. Such effectivizations are particular instances of a general notion of “self-enumerated system” that we introduce in this paper. Our main result asserts that, with such effectivizations, Kolmogorov theory allows to quantitatively distinguish the underlying semantics. We characterize the families obtained by such effectivizations (...) and prove that the associated Kolmogorov complexities constitute a hierarchy which coincides with that of Kolmogorov complexities defined via jump oracles and/or infinite computations . This contrasts with the well-known fact that usual Kolmogorov complexity does not depend on the chosen arithmetic representation of integers, let it be in any base n ≥ 2 or in unary. Also, in a conceptual point of view, our result can be seen as a mean to measure the degree of abstraction of these diverse semantics. (shrink)

We consider the question of randomness of the probability ΩU[X] that an optimal Turing machine U halts and outputs a string in a fixed set X. The main results are as follows: ΩU[X] is random whenever X is $\Sigma _{n}^{0}$-complete or $\Pi _{n}^{0}$-complete for some n ≥ 2. However, for n ≥ 2, ΩU[X] is not n-random when X is $\Sigma _{n}^{0}$ or $\Pi _{n}^{0}$ Nevertheless, there exists $\Delta _{n+1}^{0}$ sets such that ΩU[X] is n-random. There are $\Delta _{2}^{0}$ sets (...) X such that ΩU[X] is rational. Also, for every n ≥ 1, there exists a set X which is $\Delta _{n+1}^{0}$ and $\Sigma _{n}^{0}$-hard such that ΩU[X] is not random. We also look at the range of ΩU as an operator. We prove that the set {ΩU[X]: X ⊆ 2<ω} is a finite union of closed intervals. It follows that for any optimal machine U and any sufficiently small real r, there is a set X ⊆ 2<ω recursive in ∅′ ⊕ r, such that ΩU[X] = r. The same questions are also considered in the context of infinite computations, and lead to similar results. (shrink)

We obtain a large class of significant examples of n-random reals (i.e., Martin-Löf random in oracle $\varphi ^{(n - 1)} $ ) à la Chaitin. Any such real is defined as the probability that a universal monotone Turing machine performing possibly infinite computations on infinite (resp. finite large enough, resp. finite self-delimited) inputs produces an output in a given set O ⊆(ℕ). In particular, we develop methods to transfer $\Sigma _n^0 $ or $\Pi _n^0 $ or many-one completeness results of (...) index sets to n-randomness of associated probabilities. (shrink)

Using possibly infinite computations on universal monotone Turing machines, we prove Martin-Löf randomness in ∅' of the probability that the output be in some set.

We introduce a notion of syntactical truth predicate (s.t.p.) for the second order arithmetic PA 2 . An s.t.p. is a set T of closed formulas such that: (i) T(t = u) if and only if the closed first order terms t and u are convertible, i.e., have the same value in the standard interpretation (ii) T(A → B) if and only if (T(A) $\Longrightarrow$ T(B)) (iii) T(∀ x A) if and only if (T(A[x ← t]) for any closed first (...) order term t) (iv) T(∀ X A) if and only if (T(A[X ←▵]) for any closed set definition $\triangle = \{x \mid D(x)\}$ ). S.t.p.'s can be seen as a counterpart to Tarski's notion of (model-theoretical) validity and have main model properties. In particular, their existence is equivalent to the existence of an ω-model of PA 2 , this fact being provable in PA 2 with arithmetical comprehension only. (shrink)

This chapter addresses the relationship between Rorty's pragmatist philosophy and his view of literature and literary writing. It begins by examining the relationship between philosophy and literature, construed by Rorty in terms of the opposition between “normal,” professionalized, argument‐centered philosophical discourse and the kind of cultural criticism which emphasizes human finitude and contingency, seeking through the use of irony and literary inventiveness to transform our prevalent visions of what it means to be human. This humanist side of Rorty's argument is (...) further developed through the discussion of the role that literature plays in intellectual self‐formation and moral edification, by educating moral sensibility and providing transformational shifts of conceptual perspective. These dynamics of literary innovation are then shown to dovetail nicely with Rorty's naturalistic, evolutionary conception of cultural development as well as his views regarding the indispensable role of the personal, the private, and the unshared in producing genuine cultural innovation. (shrink)

Qui étaient les gnostiques? Simplement des hérétiques? Ou bien ont-ils, par leurs questionnements, contribué à la redéfinition de la religion monothéiste? Relevaient-ils du judaïsme, du christianisme, du mandéisme, du sabéisme, du manichéisme? Comment le mouvement gnostique a-t-il influencé le développement du christianisme dans l’Antiquité? L’Église a-t-elle rejeté ce mouvement? L’ouvrage de Serge Hutin répond à ces questions essentielles.

Sont ici rassemblés dix-sept textes qui reflètent un travail délibérément orienté sur plusieurs champs du savoir. Celui de la philosophie, ses œuvres et ses auteurs, antiques et modernes, comme Augustin, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant ou Derrida. Celui de la littérature, et sa critique, comme Blanchot, Duras ou Deguy. Celui du religieux, comme l'exorcisme avec le Malleus maleficarum, la cruentation avec Ranchin, le miracle avec Augustin, ou la Bible et langue hébraïque avec Spinoza. Enfin celui du cinéma, avec les voix fantômes de (...) Duras, les spectres de Farocki, la question des genres d'Akerman, les utopies de Kluge, et la fin du monde de Bela Tarr. Tous ces textes sont philosophiques, dans leur effort de pensée, dans le but de faire l'expérience d'une écriture de la pensée, d'une invention d'un langage de la pensée ou du regard. Ils cherchent à penser le travail de la lettre, dans un livre, une croyance religieuse, un événement surnaturel, une pratique déviante, une voix narrative, la description d'un personnage, un plan-séquence, etc. Chacun d'eux se concentre sur un détail qui aurait pu passer inaperçu. En somme, ces textes proposent des argumentations précises, analysent des récrits et décryptent des séquences, dans le désir d'en poursuivre l'écriture par le seul jeu de la pensée."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Various four- and three-valued modal propositional logics are studied. The basic systems are modal extensions BK and BS4 of Belnap and Dunn's four-valued logic of firstdegree entailment. Three-valued extensions of BK and BS4 are considered as well. These logics are introduced semantically by means of relational models with two distinct evaluation relations, one for verification and the other for falsification. Axiom systems are defined and shown to be sound and complete with respect to the relational semantics and with respect to (...) twist structures over modal algebras. Sound and complete tableau calculi are presented as well. Moreover, a number of constructive non-modal logics with strong negation are faithfully embedded into BS4, into its three-valued extension B3S4, or into temporal BS4, BtS4. These logics include David Nelson's three-valued logic N3, the four-valued logic N4 bottom, the connexive logic C, and several extensions of bi-intuitionistic logic by strong negation. (shrink)

St. Thomas Aquinas never commented on the Song of Songs. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate, however, that he meditated on it and absorbed it, so that the words of the Song are for him a familiar repertoire and a theological source. His work contains numerous citations of the Song, not counting his borrowings of vocabulary and images from it. In total, there are 312 citations of the Song in Aquinas's corpus, along with citations of the Song that (...) are found in citations that Aquinas makes of other authors (as for example in the Catena aurea). Understanding the purpose and placement of these citations significantly enriches our understanding of Aquinas as a theologian, biblical exegete, and spiritual master. The book contains an Appendix listing and contextualizing each citation. The study of the citations of the Song especially illuminates Aquinas's spiritual doctrine. By citing the Song, Aquinas emphasizes the spiritual life's path of dynamic ascent, through an ever increasing participation in the mystery of the nuptial union of Christ and the Church through love. The Song also highlights the eschatological tension or yearning present in the spiritual life, which is ordered to the fullness of beatific vision. Although Aquinas's theology is highly "intellectual," by citing the Song he brings out the affective character of the spiritual life and conveys the centrality of love in the soul's journey toward Christ. He also draws together contemplation and preaching through his use of the Song. (shrink)

A far-reaching reinterpretation of Plato’s Timaeus and its engagement with time, eternity, body, and soul that in its original French edition profoundly influenced Derrida The Tomb of the Artisan God provides a radical rereading of Timaeus, Plato’s metaphysical text on time, eternity, and the relationship between soul and body. First published in French in 1995, the original edition of Serge Margel’s book included an extensive introductory essay by Jacques Derrida, who drew on Margel’s insights in developing his own concepts (...) of time, the promise, the world, and khōra. Now available in English with a new preface by Margel, this engagement with Platonic thought proceeds from two questions that span the history of philosophy: What is time? What is the body? Margel’s twinned interrogation centers around Plato’s concept of the demiurge (divine artisan or craftsman): its body, its anthropomorphic attributes, its productive capacities and regulatory functions in the ordering/organization/assembling of the world. He posits that this paradoxical figure is not merely a cosmological metaphor for the living body but also the site of its destruction, dissolution, and disappearance. Torn between the finite and the infinite, being and becoming, the concept of demiurge also poses metaphysical questions about time, time before time, and the end of time. The ontological status of the demiurge’s body, Margel argues, would become increasingly decisive in the history of philosophy, particularly in Christianity and the dogma of incarnation. (shrink)

While attention to research integrity has been growing over the past decades, the processes of signalling and denouncing cases of research misconduct remain largely unstudied. In this article, we develop a theoretically and empirically informed understanding of the causes and consequences of reporting research misconduct in terms of power relations. We study the reporting process based on a multinational survey at eight European universities. Using qualitative data that witnesses of research misconduct or of questionable research practices provided, we aim to (...) examine actors’ rationales for reporting and not reporting misconduct, how they report it and the perceived consequences of reporting. In particular we study how research seniority, the temporality of work appointments, and gender could impact the likelihood of cases being reported and of reporting leading to constructive organisational changes. Our findings suggest that these aspects of power relations play a role in the reporting of research misconduct. Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of research misconduct in an academic context. Specifically, we elucidate the processes that affect researchers’ ability and willingness to report research misconduct, and the likelihood of universities taking action. Based on our findings, we outline specific propositions that future research can test as well as provide recommendations for policy improvement. (shrink)

En 1517, il y a cinq cents ans, la réforme de Luther fracture l'Europe. La même année, les conquistadores espagnols s'en prennent au Mexique, qu'ils colonisent et christianisent. Ils y introduisent aussi notre façon d'écrire l'histoire. Les vainqueurs ignorent tout des sociétés indigènes. Or pour imposer leur loi, ils doivent impérativement connaître les coutumes et donc le passé des vaincus. Mais que sont l'histoire et le temps dans l'esprit des Indiens? Le temps n'est pas encore une valeur universelle. Comment les (...) Espagnols formatés dans une Europe chrétienne où l'histoire est chronologique et orientée auraient-ils pu concevoir et accepter la cosmologie méso-américaine? Civilisés contre barbares? En quelques décennies, la machine à remonter le temps des envahisseurs s'emploie à capturer les mémoires des sociétés amérindiennes pour leur fabriquer un passé qui puisse être rattaché au patrimoine antique de la chrétienté. Du côté des Indiens, le souvenir de leur monde au sein duquel les êtres, les choses et les dieux étaient liés se dilue avec le passage des générations même si, dans les codex ou dans les mystérieux cantares, subsistent quelques pans secrets de leur mémoire. Serge Gruzinski propose ici une exploration inédite des débuts de l'expansion coloniale et nous explique comment, sur le terrain, religieux et Indiens se mettent à écrire l'histoire du monde. (shrink)

This first book in English by Serge-Christophe Kolm provides an overview of his far-reaching vision of distributive justice. Kolm derives justice from considerations of rationality.

How can an enterprise, such as Sloterdijk defines in his You Must Change Your Life and its satellite The Art of Philosophy, be “Enlightenment-conservative”? That is the question leading these reflections on the key terms that contain both works in nuce – practice of course, but also perspective and retrospective, transition, extension, explicitation, turn, return, and quarter turn –, reflections that shed light on Sloterdijk’s non-revolutionary conception of Enlightenment as a continuing modernity, without postmodernity, but in need of a curator, (...) a conservateur, and that expose the ontologico-ethical question of the authoritative or sublime imperative (you must) in its Heideggerian, Nietzschean, and finally pseudo-Kantian, even apocalyptic tones, and in its attempt to preserve not only the Enlightenment, but the Renaissance and Antiquity at the same time. (shrink)

Active ending of the life of a newborn baby is a crime. Yet its clandestine practise is a reality in several European countries. In this paper, we defend the necessity to institute a proper legal frame for what we define as active neonatal euthanasia. The only legal attempt so far, the Dutch Groningen protocol, is not satisfactory. We critically analyse this protocol, as well as several other clinical practises and philosophical stances. Furthermore, we have tried to integrate our opinions as (...) clinicians into a law project, with the purpose of pinpointing several issues, specific of perinatality that should be addressed by such a law. In conclusion, we argue that the legalisation of neonatal euthanasia under exceptional circumstances is the only way to avoid all the “well-intentioned” malpractices associated with ending life at the very dawn of it. (shrink)

Peer review of journal submissions has become one of the most important pillars of quality management in academic publishing. Because of growing concerns with the quality and effectiveness of the system, a host of enthusiastic innovators has proposed and experimented with new procedures and technologies. However, little is known about whether these innovations manage to convince other journal editors. This paper will address open questions regarding the implementation of new review procedures, the occurrence rate of various peer review procedures and (...) their distribution over scientific disciplines or academic publishers, as well as the motivations for editors or publishers to engage in novel review procedures. It shows that in spite of enthusiastic innovation, the adoption of new peer review procedures is in fact very slow, with the exception of text similarity scanners. For now, peer review innovations appear to be restricted to specific niches in academic publishing. Analysing these niches, the article concludes with a reflection on the circumstances in which innovations might be more widely implemented. (shrink)

Deux classiques de l’un des plus importants précurseurs de l’écologie politique au Québec réunis en seul volume! Dans L’écosophie ou la sagesse de la nature, Serge Mongeau nous invite, à partir de ses propres expériences, à une profonde réflexion sur une éthique écologique. Au lieu de voir la nature comme extérieure à nous, comme un réservoir de ressources, il faut l’envisager comme un processus de vie dans lequel nous avons un rôle à jouer. C’est donc un autre mode de (...) relation qu’il faut développer et ce sont les voies pour y arriver qu’explore ce texte dans lequel l’auteur préconise un respect sans idolâtrie de la nature et propose un certain nombre de balises pour que s’établisse une véritable symbiose entre la Terre vivante et les êtres humains. Dans La belle vie, Serge Mongeau s’interroge. Tous souhaitent faire « la belle vie », tous veulent être heureux, tous cherchent le bonheur. Mais... prend-on les bons moyens pour y arriver? Quel pourrait être notre rapport au plaisir et au désir, émancipé du besoin de possession? La société de consommation offre de multiples biens à acquérir, une foule de services et une grande variété de moyens d’évasion. Cependant, bien des gens découvrent aujourd’hui qu’on ne peut tout attendre de la consommation, que la voie de la simplicité volontaire leur ouvre des portes vers un plus grand épanouissement, mais aussi qu’il ne suffit pas de simplifier sa vie pour trouver le bonheur. C’est donc à une réflexion plus globale que l’auteur a voulu donner accès en écrivant ce texte d’une grande beauté. Serge Mongeau esquisse divers chemins pour trouver le bonheur : vivre le moment présent, aimer, prendre le temps de vivre, jouer, se rapprocher de la nature, donner un sens à sa vie, simplifier sa vie, cultiver sa vie intérieure et s’investir dans des actions significatives pour changer ce qui n’est plus acceptable. Quand je relis aujourd’hui La belle vie et L’écosophie ou la sagesse de la nature, je constate qu’ils demeurent d’une actualité étonnante. Il ne s’agit pas là d’un constat réjouissant ; nous écrivons, nous constatons, nous suggérons des voies d’action et, vingt ans plus tard, nous voyons que nous avons été si peu écoutés. Il faut donc relancer la réflexion. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage porte sur la notion de surface, ses plans, ses dimensions et ses propriétés, mais surtout sur ses fonctions dans l'univers artistique. Dès les premiers collages cubistes, ce sont les avant-gardes du début du XXe siècle qui ont fait de cette entité l'élément principal de l'art, de ses opérations et de ses visions. Avec l'invention du cinématographe, du phonographe, et la nouvelle typographie, elle a été repensée en profondeur, vouée à une existence renouvelée au travers de procédés artistiques comme (...) le collage et le montage. C'est dire qu'elle n'a rien d'une catégorie figée et qu'il s'agit d'en faire l'histoire en même temps que la théorie. C'est ce à quoi s'attache cette étude, véritable traversée des avant-gardes occidentales (arts plastiques, cinéma, théâtre, poésie) élaborée au filtre d'une logique des surfaces généralisée. De Picasso à Abel Gance, de Braque à Fernand Léger, d'Apollinaire à Eisenstein, c'est tout un pan de la pensée et de la création qui est ici mis puissamment en perspective au moyen d'analyses aussi précises dans la saisie de leurs objets que dans la traversée de la littérature qu'ils ont suscitée. On y découvrira non seulement une nouvelle histoire des avant-gardes, largement critique par rapport à l'approche formaliste des surfaces (celle de Clement Greenberg notamment), mais aussi une nouvelle histoire de la quatrième dimension, enjeu majeur d'un grand nombre de travaux modernistes. Des surfaces donc ou d'une vision profondément renouvelée du sens et des effets de la création."--back cover. (shrink)