We offer a review of some of the most influential views on the status of Reichenbach’s Principle of the Common Cause (RPCC) for genuinely indeterministic systems. We first argue that the RPCC is properly a conjunction of two distinct claims, one metaphysical and another methodological. Both claims can and have been contested in the literature, but here we simply assume that the metaphysical claim is correct, in order to focus our analysis on the status of the methodological claim. We briefly (...) review the most entrenched or classical positions, including Salmon’s ‘interactive forks’, van Fraassen’s scepticism, and Cartwright’s generalisation of the fork criterion. We then go on to review the results of the ‘Budapest school’ on the existence of formally defined screening­ off events for any correlation —by means of the ideas of probability space extensibility and (Reichenbachian common cause) completability. We distinguish the Budapest doctrine clearly from any of the classical conceptions, and thus present an overall framework for discussions of causal inference in quantum mechanics. We argue that this review is preliminary essential work for a thorough assessment of the conditions under which RCCP may be a reliable tool for causal inference in a genuinely probabilistic (indeterministic) context. (shrink)

It is still a matter of controversy whether the Principle of the Common Cause (PCC) can be used as a basis for sound causal inference. It is thus to be expected that its application to quantum mechanics should be a correspondingly controversial issue. Indeed the early 90’s saw a flurry of papers addressing just this issue in connection with the EPR correlations. Yet, that debate does not seem to have caught up with the most recent literature on causal inference generally, (...) which has moved on to consider the virtues of a generalised PCC-inspired condition, the so-called Causal Markov Condition (CMC). In this paper we argue that the CMC is an appropriate benchmark for debating possible causal explanations of the EPR correlations. But we go on to take issue with some pronouncements on EPR by defenders of the CMC. (shrink)

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are reinterpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need (...) not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations. (shrink)

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are re-interpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need (...) not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations. (shrink)

The paper analyses in some depth the distinction by Paul Humphreys between "epistemic opacity" —which I refer to as "weak epistemic opacity" here— and "essential epistemic opacity", and defends the idea that epistemic opacity in general can be made sense as coming in degrees. The idea of degrees of epistemic opacity is then exploited to show, in the context of computer simulations, the tight relation between the concept of epistemic opacity and actual scientific (modelling and simulation) practices. As a consequence, (...) interesting questions arise in connection with the role of agents dealing with epistemically opaque processes such as computer simulations. (shrink)

In this paper, I challenge the widespread view that Measurement Independence adequately represents the requirement that EPR experimenters have free will. Measurement Independence is most commonly taken as a necessary condition for free will. A number of implicit assumptions can be identified in this regard, all of which can be challenged on their own grounds. As a result, I conclude that Measurement Independence-type conditions are not to be justified by appealing to the preservation of the EPR experimenters’ free will.

Se discuten en este trabajo las implicaciones ontológicas de un posible modelo de causa común para las correlaciones EPR, cuya característica principal radica en el hecho de que las operaciones de medida en ambas alas del experimento son explícitamente relevantes para las causas comunes. Gracias precisamente a este tipo de dependencias entre causas comunes y operaciones de medida, el modelo sortea las implicaciones del teorema de Bell. El modelo, sin embargo, resulta patentemente no local, lo que se refleja bien en (...) una ontología en que las causas comunes se conciben como eventos deslocalizados espacio-temporalmente o, en caso contrario, en la existencia de interacciones causales no locales. (shrink)

We offer a review of some of the most influential views on the status of Reichenbach’s Principle of the Common Cause (PCC) for genuinely indeterministic systems. We first argue that the PCC is properly a conjunction of two distinct claims, one metaphysical and another methodological. Both claims can and have been contested in the literature, but here we simply assume that the metaphysical claim is correct, in order to focus our analysis on the status of the methodological claim. We briefly (...) review the most entrenched or classical positions, including Salmon’s ‘interactive forks’, van Fraassen’s scepticism, and Cartwright’s generalisation of the fork criterion. We then go on to review the results of the ‘Budapest school’ on the existence of formally defined screening-off events for any correlation —by means of the ideas of probability space extensibility and (Reichenbachian common cause) completability. We distinguish the Budapest doctrine clearly from any of the classical conceptions, and thus present an overall framework for discussions of causal inference in quantum mechanics. The framework, however preliminary, is essential work for a thorough assessment of the conditions under which PCC may be a reliable tool for causal inference in a genuinely probabilistic (indeterministic) context. (shrink)

It is still a controversial issue whether Reichenbach’s Principle of the Common Cause (RPCC) is a sound method for causal inference. In fact, the status of the principle has been a subject of intense philosophical debate. An extensive literature has been thus generated both with arguments in favor and against the adequacy of the principle. A remarkable argument against the principle, first proposed by Elliott Sober (Sober, 1987, 2001), consists on a counterexample which involves corelations between bread prices in Britain (...) and sea levels in Venice. The aim of this paper is to put into perspective criticisms to RPCC of the kind of Sober’s in the light of recent formal results regarding the so-called extendability and common cause completability. (shrink)

We distinguish two sub-types of each of the two causality principles formulated in connection with the Common Cause Principle in Henson and raise and investigate the problem of logical relations among the resulting four causality principles. Based in part on the analysis of the status of these four principles in algebraic quantum field theory we will argue that the four causal principles are non- equivalent.

It is still a matter of controversy whether the Principle of the Common Cause can be used as a basis for sound causal inference. It is thus to be expected that its application to quantum mechanics should be a correspondingly controversial issue. Indeed the early 90’s saw a flurry of papers addressing just this issue in connection with the EPR correlations. Yet, that debate does not seem to have caught up with the most recent literature on causal inference generally, which (...) has moved on to consider the virtues of a generalised PCC inspired condition, the so called Causal Markov Condition. In this paper we argue that the CMC is an appropriate benchmark for debating possible causal explanations of the EPR correlations. But we go on to take issue with some pronouncements on EPR by defenders of the CMC. (shrink)

This paper discusses archaeological, historical, and contemporary ethnographic evidence for the use of the San Pedro cactus in northern Peru as a vehicle for traveling between worlds and for imparting the “vista” (magical sight) necessary for shamanic healers to divine the cause of their patients' ailments. Using iconographic, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence for the uninterrupted use of this sacred plant as a means of access to the Divine and as a tool for healing, it describes the relationship between (...) San Pedro, ancestor worship, water/fertility cults and also the common symbolic associations between San Pedro and wind-spirits. It closes by suggesting that the more than 2000 year time-depth of using this plant as a means for accessing the realms of Spirit and as a tool for healing should serve to challenge the unfortunate tendency in the contemporary United States to consider this plant as a “recreational drug.”. (shrink)

In a recent paper in this Journal San Pedro I formulated a conjecture relating Measurement Independence and Parameter Independence, in the context of common cause explanations of EPR correlations. My conjecture suggested that a violation of Measurement Independence would entail a violation of Parameter Independence as well. Leszek Wroński has shown that conjecture to be false. In this note, I review Wroński’s arguments and agree with him on the fate of the conjecture. I argue that what is interesting about (...) the conjecture, however, is not whether it is true or false in itself, but the reasons for the actual verdict, and their implications regarding locality. (shrink)

We distinguish two sub-types of each of the two causality principles formulated in connection with the Common Cause Principle in Henson (2005) and raise and investigate the problem of logical relations among the resulting four causality principles. Based in part on the analysis of the status of these four principles in algebraic quantum field theory we will argue that the four causal principles are non-equivalent.

La investigación sobre el trazado intelectual de las rutas latinas europeas hacia la península ibérica con anterioridad al s. XIII está aportando algunos hallazgos particularmente interesantes. En este artículo se aborda un estudio de caso vinculado a la transmisión e intercambio del saber que, muy lejos de haber sido desentrañado, continúa apareciendo como un problema complejo que requiere de nuevas aproximaciones epistemológicas ‒si lo que se pretende es alcanzar un encuadre congruente del problema. El estudio de las rutas de intercambio (...) intelectual en la península ibérica en los siglos IX-XII ‒fundamentalmente, textos doctrinales latinos en circulación dentro del territorio de al-Andalus y entre comunidades de cristianos arabizados‒ nos lleva a pensar que algunas de las conclusiones que se habían propuesto sobre las influencias doctrinales presentes en el Tathlīth al-waḥdāniyyah no pueden constatarse: poner en relación la Theologia Summi boni de Pedro Abelardo con la tríada “poder” (qudrah), “conocimiento” (ʿilm) y “voluntad” (irādah) que el anónimo autor emplea para caracterizar los atributos de las tres personas de la Trinidad. Se han propuesto nuevas hipótesis sobre una vía de influencia que llegaría a través de la tríada empleada por Hugo de san Víctor en el De tribus diebus, cuya línea de influencia habría que situarla en la tríada empleada por Ambrosio de Milán, tal y como ha sido planteado por Dominique Poirel. No obstante, investigaciones más recientes proponen nuevas vías de penetración doctrinal en la Península que, en cierto modo, comparten la tríada de Ambrosio pero que habrían llegado a la Península (al-Andalus en particular) por vías de intercambio textual y doctrinal procedentes de Oriente Próximo y de origen griego. A lo largo de este trabajo se presentan hipótesis y resultados llevados a cabo en investigaciones previas, así como una recapitulación e hipótesis de investigaciones en curso. Se trata de una nota de investigación que no posee un carácter conclusivo, antes bien, pretende aportar nuevas vías de aproximación al problema. (shrink)

Le présent article se donne comme tâche démontrer que la reprise dionysienne de l’hénologie néoplatonicienne ne se fait pas sans quelques déplacements dus à l’influence de la théologie chrétienne sur le néoplatonisme. Le plus important d’entre eux étant la revalorisation du discours positif sur la divinité, rendue possible grâce à la négation par transcendance qui permet d’affirmer de Dieu qu’il est, tout en tenant compte du fait que l’Etre divin, à cause de sa transcendance, est au-delà de nos connaissances. Le (...) premier enjeu de la problématique de la négation en régime néoplatonicien a moins été de dépasser la définition aristotélicienne de la négation que de rompre avec le primat supposé de l’affirmation, en démontrant qu'il n'est pas ontologiquement fondé, lorsque l'on a affaire à la pensée de l'Un. Mais aussi et surtout, on retrouve dans la théologie dionysienne, une réhabilitation de la positivité des attributs divins révélés dans l’Ecriture, ouvre la pensée du néant suressentiel à la non-opposition. L’entrée ici du concept de révélation est d’une importance capitale, car, désormais en régime chrétien, s’il faut préserver le secret, l’obscurité et faut aussi la concilier avec la révélation, bref, il faut maintenir transcendance, il ne faut pas négliger l’immanence. Ce geste de l'Aréopagite s'avère être d'une grande fertilité au Moyen Age. (shrink)

Cet article a comme objetif analyser les liens possibles entre deux thèmes de grande relevance de la philosophie de Nicolas de Cues : la théophanie comme manifestation de Dieu et la filiatione dei ou visio Dei, comme modes de clairvoyance de l'infini divin. Cette « voie divine » de la connaissance est la fin d'un voyage où la créature « court » vers le fondement radical qui se révèle em tant que présence infinie dans le fini grâce une « vision (...) » intellectuelle. Le principe de la non-contradiction doit donc être remplacé par celui de la coïncidence des contraires ; cependant, ce dernier doit finalement être dépassé par l'ignorance savante. A son tour, selon Nicolas de Cues, dans cette vision théophanique, le « ne pas savoir » de la créature coincide avec le « savoir » que Dieu a de lui-même, c'est-à-dire de sa connaissance de soi comme infini et non pas en tant qu’une chose parmi d’autres. Dans la tradition néoplatonicienne latine, l’univers théorique où gravitent les concepts de monè, proódos et epistrophé (manence, procession et retour), Nicolas de Cues apporte cependant des nouveautés par rapport à ses prédécesseurs, comme Jean Scot Erigène, puisqu'il se lance dans une tentative ambitieuse d’utiliser la négativité comme outil d'un « discours ignorant » radical, c'est-à-dire un discours qui cherche une expression positive de la « racine » de cette relation paradoxale Créateur-créature. A travers l'itinéraire d'élaboration des noms divins et des énigmes de plus en plus « capables » d'orienter l'intellect vers cette vision du principe incompréhensible dans sa relation active de création/vision avec l'Univers, le Cardinal parcourt le chemin philosophique proposé dans son De coniecturis : une recherche sans fin de l'expression positive de Dieu à travers la négativité visant dépasser l’anonymat classique qui caractérise la tradition néoplatonicienne. Mots-clés : Nicolas de Cues, Visio de Dieu, Docte ignorance, infini, néoplatonisme. (shrink)

A secondary analysis was performed on preliminary data from an ongoing cross-cultural study on assortative pairing. Independently sampled pairs of opposite-sex romantic partners and of same-sex friends rated themselves and each other on Life History (LH) strategy and mate value. Data were collected in local bars, clubs, coffeehouses, and other public places from three different cultures: Tucson, Arizona; Hermosillo, Sonora; and San José, Costa Rica. The present analysis found that slow LH individuals assortatively pair with both sexual and social partners (...) more strongly than fast LH individuals. We interpret this phenomenon as representing (1) an adaptation for preserving coadapted genomes in slow LH strategists to maintain high copying fidelity genetic replication while producing a lower number of offspring in stable, predictable, and controllable environments and (2) a bet-hedging adaptation in fast LH strategists, favoring the genetic diversification of a higher number of offspring in unstable, unpredictable, and uncontrollable environments. (shrink)

Partiendo de una reflexión sobre los distintos modos de nombrar el seguimiento de Cristo y de algunas de las principales formas en que se ha concretado en el Ife del cristiano a lo largo de la historia (martirio, vida monástica, vida contemplativa, vida activa, etc.), llegamos a las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica, como un camino original y genuino, cuya primera manfestación se encuentra en el Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. En las dos notas siguientes (pp. 579-602 y 603-618) se hace (...) una breve descripción histórica sobre este peculiar santo, señalando, al mismo tiempo, los rasgos más distintivos de su espiritualidad y de su obra. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 false false false ES-CO X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:CalistoMT;} This paper presents two views regarding democracy and its relationship with liberal thought. Specifically it shows the main features of radical democracy and how this one can make a proper contact between individual and social aspects and respects the minimum guarantees that must be given to all individuals (...) in order to carry out its own conception of good. It fosters adequate conditions of participation and control over public affairs. So, the paper shows the visions of Hayek and Nozick confronted to the conception of radical democracy proposed by other authors. (shrink)

Les travaux de Margareth Rago, historienne assez connue du public brésilien, portent sur l’histoire des femmes et des rapports entre les genres, dans une perspective marquée par les travaux de Michel Foucault. Dans ce livre, l’auteure utilise ce cadre théorique pour analyser la vie et l’œuvre de Luce Fabbri, intellectuelle anarchiste, sans cacher une certaine sympathie pour son sujet. Sur un ton alerte, l’ouvrage raconte la vie de cette femme-écrivain italienne qui a vécu 92 ans. Le savant mé...

Este artículo se apoya en los estudios realizados en las últimas décadas respecto a la categoría conceptual de religión, pero defiende una postura novedosa al respecto: aunque la evolución histórica de la palabra religio fue paulatina, el cambio conceptual comenzó ya con la traducción de la Vetus Latina. Por otra parte, sin menoscabar el papel de Lactancio, reivindicado por la investigación desde antiguo, se analiza aquí la importancia de su maestro Arnobio y de San Jerónimo.

En el articulo se argumenta la distancia que separa la concepción apinoziana de lo religioso y de lo político respecto de las tesis mantenidas por los “libertinos” franceses de la primera mitad del XVII, y se cifra la profundúingnlaridad de su pen-samiento en la afirmación de lo “teológico-político” como instancia desde la que, sin mediación de ningún tipo, se articula la trabazón social del “conatus”. Dans l‘article nous faisons voir la distance qui sépare la conception apinozienne a propos de ce (...) qui est réligieux et ce qui est politique par rapport aux théses soutenues par les “libertins” ftan9ais de la premiére moitié du xvnéme siécle. La singularité de la pensée spinozienne est congue A partir de ¡‘aflirmation de ce qui est “théologico-politique” comme réalité A travers laquefle, sans aucune médiation, le “conatus”, dans son fonctionnement, se manifeste comme sociéte. (shrink)

The purpose of the book "No sea así entre ustedes: ensayo sobre política y esperanza". PICO, Juan Hernández. No sea así entre ustedes: ensayo sobre política y esperanza. San Salvador, El Salvador, UCA editores, 2010. 700p.

En el articulo se argumenta la distancia que separa la concepción apinoziana de lo religioso y de lo político respecto de las tesis mantenidas por los “libertinos” franceses de la primera mitad del XVII, y se cifra la profundúingnlaridad de su pen-samiento en la afirmación de lo “teológico-político” como instancia desde la que, sin mediación de ningún tipo, se articula la trabazón social del “conatus”. Dans l‘article nous faisons voir la distance qui sépare la conception apinozienne a propos de ce (...) qui est réligieux et ce qui est politique par rapport aux théses soutenues par les “libertins” ftan9ais de la premiére moitié du xvnéme siécle. La singularité de la pensée spinozienne est congue A partir de ¡‘aflirmation de ce qui est “théologico-politique” comme réalité A travers laquefle, sans aucune médiation, le “conatus”, dans son fonctionnement, se manifeste comme sociéte. (shrink)