Online research in philosophy

A robot that is easy to teach not only has to be able to adapt to humans but also has to be easily adaptable to. In order to develop a robot with mutual adaptation ability, we believe that it will be beneficial to first observe the mutual adaptation behaviors that occur in human–human communication. In this paper, we propose a human–human WOZ (Wizard-of-Oz) experiment setting that can help us to observe and understand how the mutual adaptation procedure occurs between human (...) beings in nonverbal communication. By analyzing the experimental results, we obtained three important findings: alignment-based action, symbol-emergent learning, and environmental learning. (shrink)

From the time of its birth, Popper’s theory of falsifiability has been fiercely criticized from various viewpoints. In the author’s view, however, those various criticisms all have the same root in their assumption that a falsification must be certain and conclusive. As the theory of falsifiability has never had such an assumption, it is the source of misunderstanding. By discarding it, we can reply to every criticism and thereby clarify the role of falsifiability in our search for better knowledge; that (...) is, it makes our attitude open to a yet unknown world. Key Words: Popper • falsifiability • openness • inconclusive falsification • second Popper legend. (shrink)

This paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into whether persons in subordinate social contexts possess agency and if they do, how do we recognise and recover their agency given the oppressive conditions of their lives. It aims to achieve this through forging closer links between the philosophical arguments and the ethnographic evidence of women's agency. Through such an exercise, this paper hopes to bridge the existing gap between feminist theoretical interventions and feminist politics as well as to increase 'sociological (...) awareness' within feminist philosophical arguments. In order to think about women's agency in oppressive social contexts, the paper evaluates the suitability of existing theoretical frameworks for examining, describing and capturing the autonomy of persons and concludes that a new and a more complex thinking is required to facilitate thinking about human agency within oppressive transcultural contexts. The social context of subordination, the exhibition of agency within and oppressive context and the application of the new theoretical framework is illustrated in an extensive empirical study of the contact with modernity and its accompanying ideas of autonomy and individual rights of rural women belonging to two districts in Rajasthan, North western India. (shrink)

Joannis Buridani de semantice propositionum doctrinaDissertatio proposita Joannis Buridani de semantice propositionum sententiam, quae in suis operibus logicis continetur, pertractat. Quaestio de semantice propositionali duplici modo sumi potest: scil. vel pure semantice (quarendo definitionem veritatis) vel ontologice (inquirendo de statu ontologico “complexesignificabilium”). In utraque quaestione solvenda Buridanus doctrinam semanticam quae “terminismus” dicitur assumit. Notionem veritatis Buridanus non ex significatione sed ex suppositione explicat, quo pacto possibile redditur, veritatem inductive per valorem semanticum propositionis partium definiri. Quaestionem alteram circa semanticen complexionis (...) “accusativi cum infinitivo” seu “dicti” propositionis Buridanus ad semanticen terminorum reducit, propositionis structuram logicam explicando. Buridani principalis modus procedendi ergo in hoc consistit, quod ipse “obligationibus ontologicis” alicuius discursus evadere studet, abnegando “denotativam” doctrinam semanticam. Translatio: Lukáš NovákJohn Buridan’s Propositional SemanticsThe paper deals with Buridan’s approach to the problems of propositional semantics, contained in his logical works. This question can be conceived both as semantic (definition of truth) and ontological (ontological status of states of affairs). Buridan’s solution of both of these questions is based upon a terminist theory of meaning. Theory of truth is constructed as suppositional, not as significational, which enables the definition of truth in terms of the semantic values of components of a particular kind of proposition. The other important problem, the semantic analysis of accusative and infinitive constructions (i.e. of sentential nominalizations), is solved within the semantics of terms by exhibiting the logical structure of a proposition. Buridan’s crucial strategy is therefore the elimination of the apparent ontological commitments of a particular discourse in terms of dismissing the denotative theory of meaning. (shrink)

Lex naturalis, autonomia et moralitas Quomodo Thomas Aquinas nos in fundamentis doctrinae ethicae ad hoc tempus aptae inveniendis iuvare possitDissertatio haec, doctrina Thomae Aquinatis de lege naturali innitendo, quaestionem movet, quomodo conceptus autonomiae personali pro fundamento doctrinae ethicae sumi possit. Hoc ideo possibile esse videtur, quia lex naturalis, ut dictamen rationis, fines determinat, ad quos unusquisque homo in sua vita seipsum rationabiliter ordinare potest. Ex quo etiam ratio patet, cur in vita humana moralitati obsequendae opera danda est. Est enim (...) homo “animal sociale”, cuius igitur finis naturalis est (praeter alia) in societate humana vivere. Ex hoc duo principia possunt inferri: 1) nulli est nocendum; 2) ius suum cuique est distribuendum. Modus tamen applicandi harum praeceptorum, sicut et ceterorum praeceptorum legis naturalis, a persona agentis eiusque historica et sociali situatione dependet. Translatio: Lukáš NovákNatural Law, Self-Determination and Morality Thomas Aquinas and the Quest for the Foundations for an Up-To-Date EthicsStarting from Aquinas’s natural law theory, the article discusses in which way one can ground an ethical theory relying on the concept of personal autonomy. This is possible because natural law, as a law of reason, determines the ends for which every individual human being reasonably may strive. In this context, it is also possible to justify the role of morality in human life. This is due to the nature of man as a social animal whose natural ends include a life in a human community. From this one can infer the two principles, not to harm others and to attribute his right to everybody. The application of those rules, as of any other rule of natural law, depends upon the person of the agent and his historical and social situation. (shrink)

Św. Tomasz nie napisał nigdy własnego traktatu, w którym wykładałby zasady uprawiania psychologii, podobnie jak nie napisał takiego traktatu odnośnie do innych nauk filozoficznych. Wyjątkiem pozostaje teologia. Pierwsza kwestia, I części Sumy Teologii i piąta oraz szósta kwestia Komentarza do Boecjańskiego dziełka O Trójcy Świętej stanowi bowiem takie traktaty metodologiczne, gdzie Akwinata wyłożył ewidentnie własne poglądy. W przypadku psychologii pozostawił jednak dwie lekcje otwierające Komentarz do Arystotelesowego Traktatu o duszy, w których choć dość literalnie omawia tekst Stagiryty, to formułuje w (...) nim pewien schemat metodologiczny psychologii. Można by sądzić, że przedstawia tam jedynie zawartość komentowanego dzieła, zwłaszcza że styl całej pierwszej części Komentarza jest dość literalny i na pierwszy rzut oka mało znajdujemy tu elementu interpretacyjnego. Uważna analiza pokazuje jednak coś innego. (shrink)