This paper deals with the political philosophy of Václav Havel, mainly its relation to ethics and what Michel Foucault called governmentality. Besides using his analytical framework, Foucault’s politics are engaged with to highlight similar trajectories of two intellectuals dealing with related dilemmas of ethics and politics. As a dissident of communist Czechoslovakia Havel, developed a profound critique of modernity, but also discovered technologies of the self, exclusive to dissidents, which empowered them in their moral struggle against the regime. The (...) Velvet Revolution in 1989 ascended Havel to the presidency of the republic, a position from which he quickly embraced and disseminated neoliberal governmentality. The final section deals with Havel’s use of human rights in the later years of his presidency, being a justification for military interventions and comparing them to Foucault’s conceptualisation of rights. Human rights discourse is the culmination of Havel’s lifelong quest for the ethical foundation of politics and it is the source of most difficulties and potentialities associated with this project. (shrink)

This study reviews the current information concerning the measurement of the situation awareness (SA) of the teleoperated drivers of remotely controlled cars. The teleoperated drivers who drive these cars are in a remote location, and they control the cars through a communication interface. The objective methods with probes are beneficial in measuring SA on a closed circuit without real traffic. Questions specifically should address the information provided on the road by haptic sensations, such as the slope of the road and (...) the vehicle's speed. Methods for measuring SA that involve probes and interruptions obviously are not suitable for use on public roads. A stable environment for the display and control of the communication interface is suitable for an eye tracker in measuring SA. These features also facilitate the use of subjective observer-rating methods. Both of these methods are suitable for driving on real roads because they are not intrusive. SA research in a real-road environment also should demonstrate how the SA of other drivers is affected by seeing a car without a driver. Given the remote character of driving, cultural differences in cognition may have a significant influence on the SA of the teleoperated driver. (shrink)

Kant’s Metaphysical Deduction of the Categories justifies their apriority, i.e. that their contents originate in the understanding itself, while the Transcendental Deduction justifies their objectivity, both in that they purport to represent objects of experience and that they do so successfully. The apriority of the categories, as explained in terms of acts of synthesis required for having sensible intuitions of objects, is justified by establishing their generic identity with logical functions of judgment, i.e. acts of judgment required for referring concepts (...) to objects. The objective purport of the categories is justified by establishing that sensible intuitions fall under them. To finally justify that the categories represent successfully, i.e. that the objects of our intuitions fall under them, it is established that the representations of space and time do, namely by showing that the features addressed in their Metaphysical Expositions, too, are to be explained in terms of acts of synthesis. (shrink)

In the classical account of knowledge, S knows that P if and only if S believes that P, S is justified in believing that P, and P is true (JTB).. In 1963, Gettier presented two problems that casted doubt on this account. Since then, numerous authors proposed modifications or clarifications of JTB, however, these efforts have not produced a satis-factory solution. In this paper, the focus is on logical properties of justification. The Get-tier problem Case II is expressed in sentential (...) logic and Gettier Minimal Assumption (GMA) is introduced. It is shown that Gettier must have used GMA or some other as-sumption that entails GMA in his construction of Case II. Rejection of GMA solves Get-tier problem Case II and it is a step towards a better understanding of the logical proper-ties of justification and knowledge. (shrink)

The most successful games today do not use a pay-for-product model, but involve complex and aggressive modes of monetizing their content (downloadable content, skins, in game currencies and markets, seasonal passes, etc.). While this has already been scrutinized, there are further consequences for games themselves and the economization of play. In my paper, I show how this strategy creates a conceptually novel situation, where playing can be considered to constitute reproductive labor-power and behavioral capital. In other words, playing here represents (...) not only consumption but also the very production of such consumption, insofar as the main reason behind the massive success of these games is precisely their massive pool of players and data concerning their activity. Firstly, I analyse PUBG: Battlegrounds as an example of the most successful model of monetizing games and maintaining a large number of players and interaction. I focus both on the economic incentives as well as on the gameplay that is generated or tailored towards aggressive monetization. Later, I set a theoretical context for my analysis stemming from ludocapitalist discourse (itself combining Marx with poststructuralism) and the concept of surveillance capitalism. I conclude my text with a systematization and definition of my original concept of behavioral capital and an attempt to formulate art critique and usage of games as a form of cultural production exposing several examples from contemporary art. (shrink)

A review of Owen Hulatt´s Aesthetic and Artistic Autonomy.

Program comprehension is an essential part of software engineering. The paper describes the constructivist theory of comprehension, a process based on assimilation and accommodation of knowledge. Assimilation means that the new facts are either added to the existing knowledge or rejected. Accommodation means that the existing knowledge is reorganized in order to absorb new facts. These processes are illustrated by case studies of knowledge-level reengineering of a legacy program and of incremental change. In both cases, we constructed preliminary knowledge from (...) the program documentation, and then adjusted it by comprehending the actual code. The case studies supported constructivism as a suitable theory of program comprehension. (shrink)

Tento dokument vznikl po nkolikaletm studiu dla vznamnho spoleenskovdnho myslitele dvactho stolet Friedricha Augusta von Hayeka (vychz t z etby jeho interpret a nkterch "inspirtor") a byl sepsn pro ely zvren prce ve vedlej specializaci Filosofie na Vysok kole ekonomick v Praze. Autor se rozebranm tmatm ji v nkolika svch dvjch statch vnoval. Tentokrt vak presentuje ucelenj pohled, jeho clem je vyloit problematiku s akcentem na vzjemn souvislosti jev a mylenek. Pro pehlednost je text strukturovn do kapitol. Po krtkm vodu (...) se vnuje vymezen fundamentlnch (Hayekem resolutn od sebe odliovanch) pojm, ktermi jsou spontnn d a organizace. Navazuje kapitola upozorujc na potky konstruktivistickho racionalismu, resp. na mylen Ren Descarta, Hayekem oznaovanho za filosofa stojcho u zrodu neomezen vry v rozum. Dal kapitola je vnovna Davidu Humovi, jeho teze Hayek astokrt "naden cituje" a kter poskytuje "oporu" jeho anti-racionalistickmu pstupu. Pot se text sousted na spontnn d trhu (zejmna pak na otzku spravedlnosti a svobody) a presentuje Hayekv vznamn koncept ve spolenosti rozptlench znalost. Nakonec autor krtce diskutuje dnen uplatnn Hayekova rozshlho odkazu. Pedkldan prce se primrn zamuje na ideu, kter jednoznan prostupuje celm Hayekovm dlem a poskytuje mu zcela zsadn argument pro vysvtlovn jev ve spolenosti, toti na ideu omezenosti naeho poznn. Clem pspvku je upozornit na Hayekovo mylen prostednictvm vybranch tmat, piem se v ppad tchto soustedit na kritickou reflexi hranic rozumu s poukazem na jej vznam a dsledky. (shrink)

This book develops a textually grounded reconstruction of Kant’s argument in the Metaphysical Deduction. The argument proceeds in three steps, developing, first, a concept of judgment on which to base the table of logical functions, next a concept of synthesis of intuition that explains the content of the categories, and finally a concept of the understanding on which the categories belong a priori to the same faculty through which we judge. -/- The investigation presented here is an argumentative reconstruction of (...) Kant’s text. The text in question is the "Guiding Thread to the Discovery of all Pure Concepts of the Understanding" in both the 1781 (A) and 1787 (B) editions of the Critique of Pure Reason (A64-83/B89-113). To illuminate Kant’s reflections in this chapter, the reconstruction also draws on passages from elsewhere in the Critique, from Kant’s writings after the Critique, as well as notes from his Nachlass and student transcriptions of lectures he held during and subsequent to writing the Critique. Four passages, in particular, are of central importance: (i) the retrospective description of the task of the Metaphysical Deduction at B159, (ii) the retrospective description of the procedure of the "Guiding Thread" at A299/B355f., (iii) the section "On the A Priori Grounds for the Possibility of Experience" in the A-edition Transcendental Deduction of the Categories (A95-110), and (iv) §§15-21 in the B-edition Transcendental Deduction (B128-148). -/- The present interpretation of the Metaphysical Deduction thus emerges from a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the "Guiding Thread" that draws on related passages from the indicated portion of Kant’s corpus and, especially, on the aforementioned four passages from the Critique. Viewing these texts together and in a specific relation to one another suggests a reading which leaves little room for doubt. This sort of textually sensitive but charitable reconstruction helps to bring out the enduring force and interest of Kant’s philosophical position. [For Dennis Schulting's review for "Kantian Review" see under "External Links" below.] -/- -- -/- Wie hier durch textnahe und argumentative Rekonstruktion erstmals gezeigt wird, entwickelt Kant in der Metaphysischen Deduktion in drei Schritten: (i) einen Begriff des Urteils, auf dem die Tafel logischer Funktionen beruht; (ii) einen Begriff der Synthesis der Anschauung, der die Inhalte der Kategorien erklärt; und (iii) einen Begriff des Verstandes, demzufolge die Kategorien a priori zu demselben Vermögen gehören, durch das wir auch urteilen. -/- Die vorliegende Untersuchung ist eine argumentative Rekonstruktion von Kants Text. Der rekonstruierte Text ist der „Leitfaden der Entdeckung aller reinen Verstandesbegriffe" auf A 64 bis 83 / B 89 bis 113 der Kritik der reinen Vernunft in ihren beiden Auflagen von 1781 (A) und 1787 (B). Zudem werden andere, für ein Verständnis der Überlegungen in diesem Kapitel erforderliche oder zumindest erhellende Textstellen aus der Kritik herangezogen; aus Schriften, die Kant nach der Kritik geschrieben hat; sowie schließlich aus Kants Nachlass-Notizen und aus Nachschriften zu seinen Vorlesungen jeweils seit der Entstehungszeit der Kritik. Von entscheidender Bedeutung sind dabei vor allem vier weitere Passagen der Kritik selbst: i) die rückblickende Beschreibung der Aufgabe der Metaphysischen Deduktion auf B 159, ii) die rückblickende Beschreibung des Vorgehens im „Leitfaden" auf A 299/B 355 f., iii) der Abschnitt „Von den Gründen a priori zur Möglichkeit der Erfahrung" auf A 95 bis 110 der Transzendentalen Deduktion der Kategorien in der ersten Auflage und schließlich iv) die §§ 15 bis 21 auf B 128 bis 148 der Transzendentalen Deduktion der Kategorien in der zweiten Auflage der Kritik. -/- Vor dem Hintergrund einer umfassenden und detaillierten Analyse des „Leitfadens", bei Hinzuziehung verwandter Stellen aus dem umgrenzten Textbestand und nicht zuletzt bei Berücksichtigung des Verhältnisses des „Leitfadens" zu den genannten vier Passagen der Kritik legt sich eine Interpretation der Metaphysischen Deduktion nahe, die sich nur schwer bestreiten lässt, sobald diese Texte einmal gemeinsam betrachtet und auf eine bestimmte Weise zueinander ins Verhältnis gesetzt werden. Dabei kann eine durchgehend wohlwollende, argumentative Rekonstruktion dazu beitragen, auch die philosophische Überzeugungskraft der Position Kants deutlich zu machen. [Für Dennis Schultings Rezension für "Kantian Review" siehe unten unter "External Links".]. (shrink)

The transfer of tasks with sometimes far-reaching implications to autonomous systems raises a number of ethical questions. In addition to fundamental questions about the moral agency of these systems, behavioral issues arise. We investigate the empirically accessible question of whether the imposition of harm by an agent is systematically judged differently when the agent is artificial and not human. The results of a laboratory experiment suggest that decision-makers can actually avoid punishment more easily by delegating to machines than by delegating (...) to other people. Our results imply that the availability of artificial agents could provide stronger incentives for decision-makers to delegate sensitive decisions. (shrink)

Historical Narrative: A Dispute Between Constructionism and Scientific Realism An intense discussion about the issue of historical narrative arose during the time when the naïve realism of classical historiography was being critiqued and led to a dispute, in the last century, between constructionism and critical or scientific realism. We can distinguish between constructionism and noetic constructivism. According to ontological constructionism all facts are human constructions; according to noetic constructivism, our notions and theories are constructs with objective meaning (sense and reference); (...) they refer to objective reality. Scientific realism recognizes the existence of noetic construction but does not regard facts as our constructions, as pure fictions. The point of contention is the question over whether historical narrative is merely a discursive construction or whether it is also a scientific reconstruction of the past. Resolving the dispute over whether historical narrative can be objectively true, or whether it is subject to empirical control or not, is dependent on finding the answer to this question. (shrink)

The topic of the article is the aporia of Bentham’s ethics. I point to the deeper philosophical foundations of Bentham’s ethical thought which draw on the materialist and empiricist traditions of the Enlightenment. I show how these foundations lead to a naturalistic reduction of all normative concepts, and I present the aporetic implications of this reduction with respect to the duality of Bentham’s basic ethical principle and his theory of the motivation of human action.

Od pojednání o referenčních soustavách, o souřadnicových soustavách a o jejich transformacích přechází autor k mechanice Newtonově a k Maxwell-Lorentzovým rovnicím, jejichž řešením se zabývá. Ukazuje, jak bezvýsledné pokusy ourčení pohybu Země vůči éteru vedly k principu relativity v Einsteinově formulaci a objasňuje jeho geometrické zobrazení Minkowského čtyřrozměrným prostoročasem. Ukazuje dále, jaké změny způsobila Einsteinova teorie ve fyzice, aprobírá relativistickou elektrodynamiku a relativistickou mechaniku hmotných částic. Pozornost věnuje variačním principům relativistické fyziky a úloze principu relativity ve fyzice fenomenologické. Závěrem uvádí (...) základní idejeEinsteinovy obecné teorie relativity a význam prostoročasového kontinua v dnešní fyzice. (shrink)

There is a popular idea that archaic humans commonly used wooden clubs as their weapons. This is not based on archaeological finds, which are minimal from the Pleistocene, but rather on a few ethnographic analogies and the association of these weapons with simple technology. This article presents the first quantitative cross-cultural analysis of the use of wooden clubs and throwing sticks for hunting and violence among foragers. Using a sample of 57 recent hunting-gathering societies from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, it (...) is shown that the majority used clubs for violence (86%) and/or hunting (74%). Whereas in hunting and fishing the club usually served only as a secondary tool, 33% of societies used the club as one of their main fighting weapons. The use of throwing sticks was less frequent among the societies surveyed (12% for violence, 14% for hunting). Based on these results and other evidence, it is argued that the use of clubs by early humans was highly probable, at least in the simplest form of a crude stick. The great variation in the forms and use of clubs and throwing sticks among recent hunter-gatherers, however, indicates that they are not standardized weapons and that similar variation may have existed in the past. Many such prehistoric weapons may therefore have been quite sophisticated, multifunctional, and carried strong symbolic meaning. (shrink)

The present study addresses language ostracism in intercultural communication, a phenomenon when someone speaks a language but some members of this language community don’t speak to him in this language. This phenomenon is illustrated by language behaviour towards visually distinct bilingual minorities in Taiwan. Visually distinct minorities in Taiwan reported that they had been spoken to in English by small children or people who did not believe and accept that they really understood Mandarin when they spoke it. They might be (...) spoken to in English despite actually speaking good Mandarin. Taiwanese people behave this way because of two conditions existing in Taiwan: an English-speaking foreigner stereotype where people assume that every foreign-looking person speaks English, and English privilege in Taiwanese society which leads to people being treated better if they can speak English. (shrink)

The present paper deals with the notion of essence in Thomas Aquinas. Part 1 focuses on the main points of Aquinas’s doctrine of essence set out in his De ente et essentia, and especially on the concept of essence as the “form of the whole” and the concept of the “nature considered absolutely”. The comparison with the teaching of Aristotle and Aquinas’s Arabic predecessors in Part 2 shows that Thomas’s notion of essence is an innovative re-interpretation, which he largely owes (...) to Avicenna, of the original Peripatetic doctrine. Nevertheless, it is shown that this re-interpretation is to be understood as a result of Avicenna’s and Aquinas’s effort to provide a consistent explanation of various statements in Aristotle’s writings, not always compatible with each other. (shrink)

An objective, comprehensive treatment of the world's energy situation assesses the major trends in energy consumption across the globe while examining the potential of wind, solar, hydroenergy, and biomass energy.

The Making of the Economy uses Husserl's critique of formalism in natural science in The Crisis of the European Sciences work as the template for an analogous critique of formalism in economic science. The historical narrative focuses on the emergence of formal economic analysis out of a series of successive life-worlds, or concrete historical situations. This generates new substantive understanding of both the historical material and the current discourse of crisis surrounding economics. It will appeal to historians and philosophers of (...) economics, as well as scholars of history, philosophy, and sociology. (shrink)

Accurate, balanced AND imaginative.Jesse H. Anusubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University.

An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible--a scientist's investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish. We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its (...) future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check--because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts. In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn't inevitable--the foolishness of allowing 70 per cent of the world's rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020--and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions. Ultimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future. (shrink)

ArgumentIn the decades following World War II, the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics came to represent new technical standards that informed most advances in economic theory. The public emergence of this community was manifest at a conference held in June 1949 titledActivity Analysis of Production and Allocation. New ideas in optimization theory, linked to linear programming, developed from the conference's papers. The authors’ history of this event situates the Cowles Commission among the institutions of postwar science in-between National Laboratories (...) and the supreme discipline of Cold War academia, mathematics. Although the conference created the conditions under which economics, as a discipline, would transform itself, the participants themselves had little concern for the intellectual battles that had defined prewar university economics departments. The authors argue that the conference signaled the birth of a new intellectual culture in economic science based on shared scientific norms and techniques un-interrogated by conflicting notions of the meaning of either science or economics. (shrink)

We study logic translations from an abstract perspective, without any commitment to the structure of sentences and the nature of logical entailment, which also means that we cover both proof- theoretic and model-theoretic entailment. We show how logic translations induce notions of logical expressiveness, consistency strength and sublogic, leading to an explanation of paradoxes that have been described in the literature. Connectives and quantifiers, although not present in the definition of logic and logic translation, can be recovered by their abstract (...) properties and are preserved and reflected by translations under suitable conditions. (shrink)

This paper offers a new account of Kant`s metaphysical deduction of the categories in the Critique of Pure Reason. This is accomplished by way of a new interpretation of Kant`s notion of function and his theory of mental activity, which is presented in terms of a logic and theory of intentional reference. A detailed discussion of the definition and use of the notion of function in the “Leading Thread” leads to an interpretation of the notion of function as a complex, (...) triparted unity of intentional reference. Kant´s thesis that the unity of judgment and the unity of intuition rest on the very same function is thus explained as the thesis of the structural identity of analysis and synthesis. The presented interpretation of the notion of function and the corresponding theory of intentional reference make it possible to deduce the titles of quality, quantity, and relation of the tables of judgments and the categories, and to justify their necessity. The conception of a logic of reference to particulars then establishes the respective three moments of these titles. The title and the moments of modality finally are grounded in the cognitive constitution of finite beings. Thus Kant`s claim for completeness of the tables of judgments and the categories can be elucidated as well as justified. -- Die vorliegende Abhandlung bietet einen neuen Zugang zu Kants metaphysischer Deduktion der Kategorien in der Kritik der reinen Vernunft. Erreicht wird dieser vermittels einer Neuinterpretation von Kants Begriff der Funktion sowie seiner Theorie mentaler Aktivität, die als eine Logik und Theorie intentionalen Bezugs dargestellt wird. Eine detaillierte Untersuchung der Definition und Verwendung des Begriffs der Funktion im „Leitfaden“ führt zu einer Interpretation des Begriffs der Funktion als komplexe, dreiteilige Einheit intentionalen Bezugs. Kants These, dass die Einheit des Urteils und die Einheit der Anschauung auf derselben Funktion beruhen , wird auf diese Weise als die These der strukturellen Identität von Analysis und Synthesis verständlich gemacht. Die vorgelegte Interpretation des Funktionsbegriffs sowie die entsprechende Theorie intentionalen Bezugs ermöglichen es, die Titel der Qualität, Quantität und Relation der Urteils- und Kategorientafel herzuleiten und ihre Notwendigkeit zu rechtfertigen. Die Konzeption einer Logik des Bezugs auf Einzeldinge begründet dann die jeweils drei Momente dieser Titel. Der Titel und die Momente der Modalität schließlich haben ihren Grund in der kognitiven Verfasstheit endlicher Wesen. Auf diese Weise kann Kants Anspruch der Vollständigkeit der Urteils- und Kategorientafel sowohl verständlich gemacht als auch begründet werden. (shrink)

“It is certainly no accident that precisely here, in this region of continual threats to, and continual defence of one's own identity — whether personal, cultural or national identity — there is such a long tradition of the idea of truth, a truth for which one must pay, the truth as a moral value. One constantly runs up against this tradition, from Cyril and Methodius to Hus and Masaryk, Stefanik and Patocka”. This citation from a lecture entitled “Morality and Politics” (...) provides a brief sketch of the background to the thought of the current Czech president, Vaclav Havel.Though lacking any academic training in philosophy, Havel was strongly influenced by the ideas of the philosophy professor from Prague, and founder of Charta 77, Jan Patocka. Inspired by some of Patocka's last writings, in 1978 Havel wrote an essay on Charta 77 which was dedicated to Patocka. The title of this essay was taken from one of Patocka's central statements: Attempt to Live in the Truth. Patocka's influence is also clearly evident in `Letters to Olga', in his speeches as president and in his thinking on Europe.Havel's thought, via the thought of Patocka, must be situated within a dual tradition. On the one hand it is rooted in Czech history. Patocka had already in his early writings thematized the ideas of Thomas Masaryk. The work of Masaryk, who became the first president of the new Czech republic after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, is characterized by an awareness of the crisis of rationality, like in the later Husserl. On the other hand Havel's thought, again by way of Patocka, is rooted in a phenomenology that is primarily oriented toward Germany. Patocka is often regarded as the interpreter par excellence of the dialogue between Husserl and Heidegger.This article is based on a speech given by President Havel during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, in Geneva, March 16, 1998. (shrink)

The following paper discusses Schiller’s interpretation of the German concept of Bildung. Bildung appears to be a central term in Germany’s culture, especially (but not limited to) the educational realm. As Bildung underwent massive transformations and has been re-interpreted multiple times throughout German history, this paper will start with a definitory exercise trying to organize the dynamics surrounding the term. Secondly, a two-fold historical context – firstly regarding the wider political and social dynamics of the time and secondly, a more (...) biographical approach focusing on Schiller – will be provided. These contextualizing efforts will be succeeded by elaborations on Schiller’s concept of Herzensbildung. The paper closes with a summary of key insights and further potential endeavors. (shrink)