We propose and investigate a uniform modal logic framework for reasoning about topology and relative distance in metric and more general distance spaces, thus enabling the comparison and combination of logics from distinct research traditions such as Tarski’s for topological closure and interior, conditional logics, and logics of comparative similarity. This framework is obtained by decomposing the underlying modal-like operators into first-order quantifier patterns. We then show that quite a powerful and natural fragment of the resulting first-order logic can be (...) captured by one binary operator comparing distances between sets and one unary operator distinguishing between realised and limit distances . Due to its greater expressive power, this logic turns out to behave quite differently from both and conditional logics. We provide finite axiomatisations and ExpTime-completeness proofs for the logics of various classes of distance spaces, in particular metric spaces. But we also show that the logic of the real line is not recursively enumerable. This result is proved by an encoding of Diophantine equations. (shrink)

This book is not only a major twentieth-century contribution to Dostoevsky’s studies, but also one of the most important theories of the novel produced in our century. As a modern reinterpretation of poetics, it bears comparison with Aristotle.“Bakhtin’s statement on the dialogical nature of artistic creation, and his differentiation of this from a history of monological commentary, is profoundly original and illuminating. This is a classic work on Dostoevsky and a statement of importance to critical theory.” Edward Wasiolek“Concentrating on the (...) particular features of ‘Dostoevskian discourse,’ how Dostoevsky structures a hero and a plot, and what it means to write dialogically, Bakhtin concludes with a major theoretical statement on dialogue as a category of language. One of the most important theories of the novel in this century.” The Bloomsbury Review. (shrink)

Is the science of moral cognition usefully modelled on aspects of Universal Grammar? Are human beings born with an innate 'moral grammar' that causes them to analyse human action in terms of its moral structure, with just as little awareness as they analyse human speech in terms of its grammatical structure? Questions like these have been at the forefront of moral psychology ever since John Mikhail revived them in his influential work on the linguistic analogy and its implications for (...) jurisprudence and moral theory. In this seminal book, Mikhail offers a careful and sustained analysis of the moral grammar hypothesis, showing how some of John Rawls' original ideas about the linguistic analogy, together with famous thought experiments like the trolley problem, can be used to improve our understanding of moral and legal judgement. (shrink)

Scientists from various disciplines have begun to focus attention on the psychology and biology of human morality. One research program that has recently gained attention is universal moral grammar (UMG). UMG seeks to describe the nature and origin of moral knowledge by using concepts and models similar to those used in Chomsky's program in linguistics. This approach is thought to provide a fruitful perspective from which to investigate moral competence from computational, ontogenetic, behavioral, physiological and phylogenetic perspectives. In this article, (...) I outline a framework for UMG and describe some of the evidence that supports it. I also propose a novel computational analysis of moral intuitions and argue that future research on this topic should draw more directly on legal theory. (shrink)

У статті аналізується вплив спорту на духовно-екзистенційну культуру молоді та на цій основі досліджується освітній аспект спорту. Адже спорт підтримує здатність до зміни, до духовної самореалізації суб’єктів. Особливо це стосується такого суб’єкта, як учнівська та студентська молодь. Її духовна культура в цілому являє собою систему, що саморозвивається. Спортивна діяльність ціннісно орієнтує особистість, будучи включеною в ширший життєвий контекст. Збереження духовного і фізичного здоров’я має своєю передумовою певний компроміс між обов’язковістю розв’язання освітніх завдань і необхідністю збереження та відтворення при цьому фізичного (...) й душевного здоров’я. А саме збереження здоров’я молоді багато в чому залежить від форм і методів навчального процесу, психологічного клімату в навчальному закладі і від організації спеціалізованої системи його (здоров’я) формування та відтворення. (shrink)

У статті висвітлюється етичне вчення митрополита Андрея Шептицького про природні чесноти, яке є важливою складовою його етичної системи. Природні чесноти митрополит розуміє як довершений вираз людської природи. Їх він нараховує чотири: розсудливість як чеснота розуму, мужність як чеснота емоційності, стриманість як чеснота чуттєвості та справедливість як чеснота волі. Вони є природними, оскільки мають бути властивими людині як істоті розумній. Але чесноти виникають у особистостей не автоматично чи за необхідністю, а з набуттям ними певних звичок вільно вчиняти моральним чином, згідно із (...) нормами, які розумом визнані за природні. Етика природних чеснот у Шептицького є творчим процесом самотворення особистості. Вона побудована на основі етичного вчення Томи Аквінського та цілком перебуває у межах раннього неотомізму. Шептицький дає їй не екзистенціальну, як у Ж. Марітена і Е. Жильсона інтерпретацію, а метафізичну. Таким чином, митрополит не переходить від ранньонеотомістського до екзистенціального типу етики чеснот томізму. Його вчення про чесноти як довершеності природних властивостей душі суттєво відрізняється від сучасного феноменологічного розуміння цих чеснот як цінностей (М. Шелер, Н. Гартман, Д. Гільдебранд). Андрей Шептицький максимально повно використав вчення Томи Аквінського про природні чесноти для обґрунтування загальноідеалістичного і християнського гуманізму. (shrink)

У статті висвітлюються погляди о. М. Конрада на націоналізм та пов’язані з ним поняття: національна ідентичність, нація, національна держава у контексті проблеми «націоналізм та католицизм», які він висловив у доповіді під назвою «Націоналізм та католицизм», написаній для виступу на Академічних вечорах Богословського Наукового Товариства. Проведене дослідження дало можливість, на основі аналізу основоположних понять націоналізму, з’ясувати бачення М. Конрадом альтернативного вчення до інтегрального націоналізму Д. Донцова – націоналізму католицького. Також ствердити, що мислителю вдалося розвинути власне ґрунтовне і виважене бачення проблеми, яке (...) можна окреслити як католицький націоналізм. У результаті вивчення його ідей було з’ясовано, що вони містяться на межі двох філософських напрямів – неотомізму та політичної філософії. Однією з причин ідеї розвитку націоналізму на християнських засадах була потреба протиставити її інтегральному націоналізму Д. Донцова, який перебував під впливом філософії Ф. Ніцше. Спільність розуміння поняття національної ідентичності, сутності націоналізму та його видів Конрадом і сучасними мислителями (В. Лісовий, О. Проценко, Е. Сміт) свідчить про далекоглядність та актуальність ідей отця у царині політичної філософії. Порівняння доповіді М. Конрада з працями польських мислителів Я. Воронецького та Ю. Бохенського дало можливість ствердити, що його ідея католицького націоналізму розвивалася у межах політико-філософського дискурсу з розвитку, поширення та впровадження націоналістичних ідей як у польському, так і в українському середовищі. М. Конрад, Я. Воронецький та Ю. Бохенський намагалися розглядати проблему націоналізму на засадах раннього неотомізму, зокрема вчення про природній закон, загальне добро, вчення про державу, застосовуючи його до проблем тогочасного суспільства. (shrink)

The aim of the dissertation is to formulate a research program in moral cognition modeled on aspects of Universal Grammar and organized around three classic problems in moral epistemology: What constitutes moral knowledge? How is moral knowledge acquired? How is moral knowledge put to use? Drawing on the work of Rawls and Chomsky, a framework for investigating -- is proposed. The framework is defended against a range of philosophical objections and contrasted with the approach of developmentalists like Piaget and Kohlberg. (...) ;One chapter consists of an interpretation of the analogy Rawls draws in A Theory of Justice between moral theory and generative linguistics. A second chapter clarifies the empirical significance of Rawls' linguistic analogy by formulating a solution to the problem of descriptive adequacy with respect to a class of commonsense moral intuitions, including those discussed in the trolley problem literature originating in the work of Foot and Thomson. Three remaining chapters defend Rawls' linguistic analogy against some of its critics. In response to Hare's objection that Rawls' conception of moral theory is too empirical and insufficiently normative, it is argued that Hare fails to acknowledge both the centrality of the problem of empirical adequacy in the history of moral philosophy and the complexity of Rawls' approach to the problem of normative adequacy. In response to Nagel's claim that the analogy between moral theory and linguistics is false because whatever native speakers agree on is English, but whatever ordinary men agree in condemning is not necessarily wrong, it is argued that the criticism ignores both Rawls' use of the competence-performance distinction and the theory-dependence of the corresponding distinction in linguistics. In response to Dworkin's claim that Rawls' conception of moral theory is incompatible with naturalism and presupposes constructivism, it is argued that Dworkin's distinction between naturalism and constructivism represents a false antithesis; neither is an accurate interpretation of the model of moral theory Rawls describes in A Theory of Justice. The thesis concludes by situating Rawls' linguistic analogy within the context of broader debates in metaethics, democratic theory, natural law theory, and the theory of moral development. (shrink)

My primary aims in this paper are to explain what exploitation is, when it’s wrong, and what makes it wrong. I argue that exploitation is not always wrong, but that it can be, and that its wrongness cannot be fully explained with familiar moral constraints such as those against harming people, coercing them, or using them as a means, or with familiar moral obligations such as an obligation to rescue those in distress or not to take advantage of people’s vulnerabilities. (...) Its deepest wrongness, I argue, lies in our moral obligation not to extract excessive benefits from people who cannot, or cannot reasonably, refuse our offers. (shrink)

Depuis longtemps, la recherche met en relief les influences françaises et allemandes de la pensée de Georges Gurvitch. De récents travaux ouvrent désormais la voie à l’étude de ses sources russes. Cet article vise à poser les bases de l’étude des sources russes de la pensée de Gurvitch. Pour ce faire, il recourt à onze articles publiés par Gurvitch, entre 1924 et 1931, dans la revue russe de l’émigration Annales contemporaines, dont il dégage une propension marquée à l’endroit des totalités (...) sociales. L’article comprend, en outre, une brève étude du parcours russe de Gurvitch ainsi qu’une traduction intégrale de la dernière partie de l’article « Éthique et religion ». (shrink)

When is it immoral to take advantage of another person for one's own benefit? For some, such as Ruth Sample, John Roemer, and Will Kymlicka, the answer at least partly depends on whether what one takes advantage of is the fact that this person is, or has been, the victim of injustice. I argue, however, that whether person A wrongly exploits person B is wholly unrelated to whether A takes advantage of the fact that B is, or was, the victim (...) of injustice. I also develop a positive account regarding which personal attributes one should not exploit for personal gain. (shrink)

Adequality, or παρισóτης (parisotēs) in the original Greek of Diophantus 1 , is a crucial step in Fermat’s method of finding maxima, minima, tangents, and solving other problems that a modern mathematician would solve using infinitesimal calculus. The method is presented in a series of short articles in Fermat’s collected works (1891, pp. 133–172). The first article, Methodus ad Disquirendam Maximam et Minimam 2 , opens with a summary of an algorithm for finding the maximum or minimum value of an (...) algebraic expression in a variable A. For convenience, we will write such an expression in modern functional notation as f (a). 3 The algorithm can be broken up into six steps in the following way:Introduce an auxiliary .. (shrink)

This paper discusses the role of Law and Legal Thinking in Critical Theory with specific reference to the arguments that Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri offer in their book Commonwealth. The core idea is that Critical Theory is no less radical, but much more concrete, when it is performing not only an external, but also an internal critique of the Law. It shows that the role of the law in critical theory emerges as a problem when the latter claims that (...) ‘there is no outside’ and that ‘the legal base of the system structures our lives.’ It then discusses optimistic and pessimistic strategies to overcome the problem, and argue for a demanding strategy which consist in articulating the external and the internal critique of the law. To make this point, the paper goes back to the epistemic context in which critical attitudes are deployed (the ‘Conflict of the Faculties’), describes the four theoretical moves constitutive of the historical moment in which, at the end of the 18th Century, modern law as we know it was conceived of and founded; and sketches the key moments of the history of the internal critique of the law. It then illustrates the demanding strategy with examples taken from the field of Intellectual Property, and concludes that the Law is malleable and open enough to allow the thinking and practicing of radical alternatives from within the legal system and also that alternatives spoken in the language of the law are no less radical, but certainly, more concrete than others. (shrink)

In this paper, the predicate counterparts, defined both axiomatically and semantically by means of Kripke frames, of the modal propositional logics $\textbf {GL}$, $\textbf {Grz}$, $\textbf {wGrz}$ and their extensions are considered. It is proved that the set of semantical consequences on Kripke frames of every logic between $\textbf {QwGrz}$ and $\textbf {QGL.3}$ or between $\textbf {QwGrz}$ and $\textbf {QGrz.3}$ is $\Pi ^1_1$-hard even in languages with three (sometimes, two) individual variables, two (sometimes, one) unary predicate letters, and a single (...) proposition letter. As a corollary, it is proved that infinite families of modal predicate axiomatic systems, based on the classical first-order logic and the modal propositional logics $\textbf {GL}$, $\textbf {Grz}$, $\textbf {wGrz}$ are not Kripke complete. Both $\Pi ^1_1$-hardness and Kripke incompleteness results of the paper do not depend on whether the logics contain the Barcan formula. (shrink)

In what sense do people doubt their understanding of reality when subject to gaslighting? I suggest that an answer to this question depends on the linguistic order at which a gaslighting exchange takes place. This marks a distinction between first-order and second-order gaslighting. The former occurs when there is disagreement over whether a shared concept applies to some aspect of the world, and where the use of words by a speaker is apt to cause hearers to doubt their interpretive abilities (...) without doubting the accuracy of their concepts. The latter occurs when there is disagreement over which concept should be used in a context, and where the use of words by a speaker is apt to cause hearers to doubt their interpretive abilities in virtue of doubting the accuracy of their concepts. Many cases of second-order gaslighting are unintentional: its occurrence often depends on contingent environmental facts. I end the article by focusing on the distinctive epistemic injustices of second-order gaslighting: metalinguistic deprivation, conceptual obscuration, and perspectival subversion. I show how each reliably has sequelae in terms of psychological and practical control. (shrink)

Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

We prove that the positive fragment of first-order intuitionistic logic in the language with two individual variables and a single monadic predicate letter, without functional symbols, constants, and equality, is undecidable. This holds true regardless of whether we consider semantics with expanding or constant domains. We then generalise this result to intervals \ and \, where QKC is the logic of the weak law of the excluded middle and QBL and QFL are first-order counterparts of Visser’s basic and formal logics, (...) respectively. We also show that, for most “natural” first-order modal logics, the two-variable fragment with a single monadic predicate letter, without functional symbols, constants, and equality, is undecidable, regardless of whether we consider semantics with expanding or constant domains. These include all sublogics of QKTB, QGL, and QGrz—among them, QK, QT, QKB, QD, QK4, and QS4. (shrink)

I argue against the view that there is intrinsic value in making one's own decisions about the direction and shape of one's life.

The paper proposes an idea of explicating the invariant universal structure of dialogue through the mathematics of knots and braids, which is relevant, both for the development of particular models of communication and/or dialogue, and for constructing a general theory of dialogue, or the theory of utterances. The possibility of modeling dialogue with the help of the mathematics of braids and knots—categories, entities and their attributes—is shown by use of some well-known examples such as parts of the sentence in grammar. (...) Entities and their attributes can be considered as knots, either right or false. The idea is to visualize the chains of these entities: to formalize them not to keep in mind, neither in the text, but to work with them graphically.Nodes, as final structures, and braids that generate them, allow to reveal paradigmatic anomies, conflicts, logical and ethical disagreements, etc., and vice versa: “synonimies,” mutual understanding, unanimity, in a fundamentally new format of perception and understanding of the context of genesis (braids) and results (knots) of dialogue.The visualization of verbal utterance on the basis of the knot and braid mathematics is a significant step towards formalizing the theories of dialogue, both in general theoretical and purely practical plans. The latter is analyzed by the example of the person’s inner dialogue with herself/himself in making decisions: rational and/or irrational (emotional), which allows conducting a specific work with clients of psychotherapy, coaching, management consulting, mediation, etc. (shrink)

Could a computer be programmed to make moral judgments about cases of intentional harm and unreasonable risk that match those judgments people already make intuitively? If the human moral sense is an unconscious computational mechanism of some sort, as many cognitive scientists have suggested, then the answer should be yes. So too if the search for reflective equilibrium is a sound enterprise, since achieving this state of affairs requires demarcating a set of considered judgments, stating them as explanandum sentences, and (...) formulating a set of algorithms from which they can be derived. The same is true for theories that emphasize the role of emotions or heuristics in moral cognition, since they ultimately depend on intuitive appraisals of the stimulus that accomplish essentially the same tasks. Drawing on deontic logic, action theory, moral philosophy, and the common law of tort, particularly Terry's five-variable calculus of risk, I outline a formal model of moral grammar and intuitive jurisprudence along the foregoing lines, which defines the abstract properties of the relevant mapping and demonstrates their descriptive adequacy with respect to a range of common moral intuitions, which experimental studies have suggested may be universal or nearly so. Framing effects, protected values, and implications for the neuroscience of moral intuition are also discussed. (shrink)

In this comment on Joshua Greene's essay, The Secret Joke of Kant's Soul, I argue that a notable weakness of Greene's approach to moral psychology is its neglect of computational theory. A central problem moral cognition must solve is to recognize (i.e., compute representations of) the deontic status of human acts and omissions. How do people actually do this? What is the theory which explains their practice?

In the paper we consider complexity of intuitionistic propositional logic and its natural fragments such as implicative fragment, finite-variable fragments, and some others. Most facts we mention here are known and obtained by logicians from different countries and in different time since 1920s; we present these results together to see the whole picture.

This article examines the origin of the concept of medium and of media theory as an area of knowledge. It claims that the concept of medium in the modern sense was first introduced in the works of...