Statements of degree appear to falsify basic doctrines in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. I offer a fresh formulation of the challenge and assess a solution proposed on Wittgenstein’s behalf by Sarah Moss. I find that Moss’s proposal fails. The proposal rides in part on novel interpretations of pronouncements by Wittgenstein on the nature of the elementary proposition. I find that the interpretations cannot be sustained but that Moss’s textual case hints at important and overlooked features of the Tractarian program. I develop Wittgenstein’s (...) comparison of propositions to measuring instruments and apply it throughout, showing that it captures philosophical commitments in Tractatus that otherwise tend to slip from view. (shrink)

Frege's account of indirect proof has been thought to be problematic. This thought seems to rest on the supposition that some notion of logical consequence ? which Frege did not have ? is indispensable for a satisfactory account of indirect proof. It is not so. Frege's account is no less workable than the account predominant today. Indeed, Frege's account may be best understood as a restatement of the latter, although from a higher order point of view. I argue that this (...) ascent is motivated by Frege's conception of logic. (shrink)

In this paper we offer a new argument for the existence of God. We contend that the laws of logic are metaphysically dependent on the existence of God, understood as a necessarily existent, personal, spiritual being; thus anyone who grants that there are laws of logic should also accept that there is a God. We argue that if our most natural intuitions about them are correct, and if they are to play the role in our intellectual activities that we take (...) them to play, then the laws of logic are best construed as necessarily existent thoughts -- more specifically, as divine thoughts about divine thoughts. We conclude by highlighting some implications for both theistic arguments and antitheistic arguments. (shrink)

Contemporary philosopher Alvin Plantinga is best known for tackling the problem of evil and rationality of belief in God from a Calvinist perspective. Welty provides a Reformed intro and analysis.

Researchers in areas such as artificial intelligence, formal and computational linguistics, biomedical informatics, conceptual modeling, knowledge engineering and information retrieval have come to realise that a solid foundation for their research calls for serious work in ontology, understood as a general theory of the types of entities and relations that make up their respective domains of inquiry. In all these areas, attention is now being focused on the content of information rather than on just the formats and languages used to (...) represent information. The clearest example of this development is provided by the many initiatives growing up around the project of the Semantic Web. And, as the need for integrating research in these different fields arises, so does the realisation that strong principles for building well-founded ontologies might provide significant advantages over ad hoc, case-based solutions. The tools of formal ontology address precisely these needs, but a real effort is required in order to apply such philosophical tools to the domain of information systems. Reciprocally, research in the information sciences raises specific ontological questions which call for further philosophical investigations. The purpose of FOIS is to provide a forum for genuine interdisciplinary exchange in the spirit of a unified effort towards solving the problems of ontology, with an eye to both theoretical issues and concrete applications. This book contains a wide range of areas, all of which are important to the development of formal ontologies. (shrink)

The spirit in you -- We are one -- The Druid path -- Rebirth into spirit -- Starting your journey -- Becoming a bard -- Mastering awareness -- Ritual and ceremony -- Spiritual cleansing -- Sacred creativity -- The power of manifestation -- The freedom of transformation -- Magical adventures -- The spirit of Gaia -- The four elements -- Earth -- Water -- Air -- Fire -- Spirit dancer -- The continuing life of Ivan Mcbeth.

Издание содержит: из истории Химкинского леса; Химкинский лес как памятник природы; выбор трассы; начало гражданского сопротивления; рождение "Экообороны" и многое другое. Для широкого круга читателей.

Sulla base di una straordinaria analisi dei problemi deontologici riconducibili alla crisi della professione medica, Ivan Cavicchi e un gruppo di lavoro multidisciplinare – promosso e organizzato dall’Ordine dei Medici Chirurghi e Odontoiatri della Provincia Autonoma di Trento, in collaborazione con il programma FBK per la salute della Fondazione Bruno Kessler e il gruppo di Biodiritto del l’Università di Trento – hanno rielaborato le basi concettuali della tradizionale deontologia medica per mettere in condizione gli Ordini dei Medici di riformare (...) il proprio codice deontologico. Si tratta di una vera e propria «rivoluzione» destinata a modificare nei prossimi anni la deontologia nel nostro Paese, a influenzare la redazione dei futuri codici di tutte le professioni medico-sanitarie, ma soprattutto a cambiare radicalmente i rapporti tra medici e cittadini, tra professione e società, tra medicina ed economia. Assumendo il malato come «archè», la proposta di rielaborazione cambia postulati, presupposti, linguaggi, concetti, soluzioni e obiettivi, affrontando problematiche usualmente ignorate dalla deontologia convenzionale. Lo scopo di fondo è definire una nuova figura di medico capace di recuperare il rapporto fiduciario con i malati e con la società e di farsi carico dei problemi di sostenibilità economica che ormai da anni gravano su tutti i sistemi di tutela sanitaria. (shrink)

We tend to associate Henry David Thoreau with the renunciation of material possessions, projecting onto him our fantasies of a life lived beyond the modern obsession with "things." But Thoreau's practical philosophy held a special place for tools, artworks, Native American artifacts, and a variety of natural phenomena. In Mindprints, Ivan Gaskell focuses on the material items that were important to Thoreau, using them to reveal Thoreau's unique and profound aesthetics of everyday life and the environment. "Mindprint" was Thoreau's (...) term for a material object that has captured the presence of its maker and first user. Thoreau applied the term to ancient stone artifacts and other objects in an effort to capture something of the relationship between material items and humans. For Thoreau, these relationships contribute to the creation of "worlds." By looking at Thoreau's engagement with material worlds through his writings and his practical philosophical experiment at Walden Pond--but also, importantly, via his work as a designer of improved pencils, as a house builder, as a land surveyor, and as a collector--Gaskell reveals the aesthetics at the heart of Thoreau's thinking. (shrink)

How to Do Things with Myths: A Performative Theory of Myths and How We Got There assembles a radically updated collection of the author's oft-cited publications on myth. Together, they tell how theories of myth have changed and led to a novel "performative" theory of myth.

This introduction to the second international conference on Formal Ontology and Information Systems presents a brief history of ontology as a discipline spanning the boundaries of philosophy and information science. We sketch some of the reasons for the growth of ontology in the information science field, and offer a preliminary stocktaking of how the term ‘ontology’ is currently used. We conclude by suggesting some grounds for optimism as concerns the future collaboration between philosophical ontologists and information scientists.

Et si on appliquait à la philosophie la méthodologie du physicien? L'inexplicable constat des limitations inhérentes à toute réalité expérimentée inciterait à poser en théorie l'hypothèse d'un modèle exempt de ces limitations d'où pourrait procéder la réalité limitée telle que nous la vivons. Et si par déduction on en arrivait à des résultats scientifiquement plausibles, l'aventure à laquelle nous serions alors conviés serait de décoder l'univers comme une anamorphose. Sous la forme d'un dialogue, ce livre met en débat la pensée (...) originale de Pierre Malifaud qui ouvre ensuite à des problématiques plus englobantes. (shrink)

I discuss the role of beauty in physics. Physicists are sometimes described as platonists for their conviction that the fundamental laws are elegant and aesthetic arguments represent an important epistemic tool. After a review of the ideas of Plato and some of the leading figures of modern physics, which suggest that this is indeed the case, I present a list of current aesthetic criteria. I focus on symmetry and unity and demonstrate their increasing relevance in an array of experimentally verified (...) theories. I also deal with an open issue of naturalness as the third criterion. The laws of nature appear increasingly beautiful as we uncover them, and it is important to see if the trend continues in the future. (shrink)

The research deals with the issue of genre hybridization in the novel “Silence – Chronicle of a Killer” written by a contemporary Austrian writer Thomas Raab. An examination of the novel's composition and structure, as a text in motion, has been accomplished in the article. The novel “Silence” is an excellent illustration of how the genre of adventure has been adapted to include elements of science fiction. This novel is a love tale, a rural life saga, a formation narrative, and (...) a psychological thriller all in one. As a fictionalized account of the life of a serial murderer with hypersensitive hearing who became a legend for his mental torment and suffering, it serves both as a biography and a thriller. Novelist Raab uses elements from classic horror novels like Frankenstein, German romantics, in particular, G. Kleist, the tale of Casper Hauser, and detective novels like Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Promise" to tell the story of Casper Hauser's disappearance in his book. A new aesthetic experience may be formed at various degrees of identification ranging from naive perception to higher levels of literary reception. Concentration is required for poetic and philosophical substance. Michel Focalut's nomadism, marginality, and authoritarian power rhetoric have been discussed in this article. The novel's ultimate content has been disclosed as the aphesis torment, emotional sublimation, as the birth of an artwork and, at the same time, death of the author, who exposes discourses, accountable for creating texts that are allocated to him. (shrink)