Gregory Vlastos je v svoji znani rekonstrukciji argumenta »tritos anthropos« menil, da je regres tretjega človeka usodna napaka platonske teorije idej, saj vpeljuje najmanj dve protislovni logični značilnosti tega nauka: predpostavlja namreč dve načeli, samopripis in neistovetnost. Argument tretjega človeka zato obravnavam na podlagi upoštevanja omenjenih načel in njune veljavnosti v dveh inačicah, ki ju je podal Aleksander Afrodizijski. V prvi, ki je tradicionalno pripisana Aristotelu pod imenom O idejah in jo najdemo v Aleksandrovem komentarju (...) k Metafiziki, in nato še v Evdemovi inačici, kakršno domnevno ta navaja pri svoji aristotelski kritiki Platonove teorije idej. V drugem delu prispevka je narejena primerjava med Aristotelovima inačicama tretjega človeka in Platonovim pripoznanjem neskončnega regresa v obeh verzijah iz njegovega Parmenida: regres iz ideje velikega in regres iz idej kot vzorov, ki prav tako končujeta v neskončnem regresu novih idej: te po svojem bistvu ne bodo več ene, ampak brezmejno mnoge. (shrink)

Dieses Buch stellt sich die Aufgabe, Wege und Umwege nachzuzeichnen, die die philosophia practica universalis - Ethik, Politik, Okonomik - seit ihren Anfangen bis in unsere Tage zuruckgelegt hat. Dieses Programm setzt eine Kontinuitat voraus, die schon allein durch die Massgabe der praktischen Philosophie, namlich tugendhaft und gut zu leben, hinreichend gesichert ist. Gleichwohl sind Spannungen und Bruche zwischen Theorie und Lebenspraxis unumganglich, sofern praktische Philosophie, wenn sie glaubhaft sein will, ihre Argumente stets anlassbezogen im Blick auf sich andernde aussere (...) Umstande vortragen muss. So verkurzten die Stoiker in Abkehr von Platon und Aristoteles die praktische Philosophie notgedrungen auf die Ethik, weil ihr Spielraum aufgrund der Machtverhaltnisse eingeschrankt war. Dagegen war die unverkurzte Wiederkehr der praktischen Philosophie mitsamt ihrem methodischen Rustzeug geradezu ein Gebot der Stunde, als in den Tagen der Franzosischen Revolution sowie in den Jahren nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg die Herstellung der Rechtsstaatlichkeit zum essentiellen Thema wurde. Tragende Saulen der philosophischen Begleitung dieses weltgeschichtlichen Geschehens wurden Ethik und Politik und ganz besonders die Okonomik als Ethik mit anderen Mitteln. Neben Sokrates, Platon und Aristoteles bezieht sich Armin Muller vor allem auf die antiken Denker Zenon, Chrysipp und Cicero sowie auf Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Joachim Ritter, Gunther Bien, Hermann Lubbe und Odo Marquard. (shrink)

In the epistemology of his middle period, Plato repeatedly describes the alleged ‘intellection of true reality’ in terms of sight, vision, illumination, or touch. Does this show more than Plato’s preference for optic and haptic metaphors? Should we assume that this goes back to a specific reason to be found in his underlying epistemological position? On the traditional reading, Plato actually wants to defend a sort of intuitionism. According to this still wide-spread reading, he claims that there is a very (...) particular way of grasping Forms: Philosophers manage to come into a sort of direct contact with intelligible objects. Intellection is thus conceived as a quasi-visual presence of intelligible Forms. In our contribution, we want to challenge this interpretation by raising several objections against it. Surprisingly, there exists a close parallel in Aristotelian scholarship: Although Aristotle’s epistemology is built on considerably different foundations, there is an interpretative tradition according to which one has to assume a strict discontinuity between the methodical procedure and the intellection of the highest epistemic objects. As for Plato, we want to refuse an interpretation of Aristotle based on a concept of intuition characterized by the following features: Intuition is a specific way of gaining knowledge. It is independent of empirical conditions and leads to apriori knowledge. It consists of some experience of evidence or is accompanied by it. Knowledge gained by this kind of intuition does not need any further argument or justification. (shrink)

An attempt to re-think, within and for the tradition of Husserl and Heidegger, certain central contributions of Greek thought. Interpretations of the Philebus and of other Platonic and Aristotelian texts concerned with problems arising therefrom are carried out; they culminate in an analysis of the fruitful union of intellectual power and impotence in philosophy. The existentialist framework often provides suggestions for the interpretation of difficult transitions in the classical works; conversely, the adherence to the arguments of the Greek texts strengthens (...) the existentialist position with respect to such concepts as world and rationality.--C. B. (shrink)

In Proclus’Platonic Theology(V 17, 62. 22–63. 2) one can detect a clear recollection of the well-known and much discussed passage 1048b18–35 fromMetaphysicsIX 6. This passage is transmitted in only one branch of the manuscript tradition and some scholars maintain that it is not by Aristotle or that it does not belong to hisMetaphysics. On the other hand, Proclus’ testimony, supported by other passages by Neo-Platonic authors, provides an argument for the original location of the discussed section in Aristotle’sMetaphysics.

When people talk about anarchism, what they have in mind is typically political anarchism, that is, the view that there should be no state. As the philosopher and anarchism scholar David Miller observes, however, anarchism itself is a more general view, namely the view that there should be no rulers. Miller writes that “although the state is the most distinctive object of anarchist attack, it is by no means the only object. Any institution which, like the state, appears to anarchists (...) coercive, punitive, exploitative or destructive is condemned in the same way”—including, for example, religious institutions, schools, or economic systems (Miller 1984: 8). In this sense, one can be an anarchist about different things. Relationship anarchy is anarchism about personal relationships. -/- Several thinkers in the anarchist tradition have held views on personal relationships (e.g., Godwin 1793; Bakunin 1866; Goldman 1910). In what follows, however, our focus is not on the general issue of anarchist views on relationships, but on the ideas of the contemporary movement of self-identifying relationship anarchists. -/- The ideas of relationship anarchy in this sense—hereafter RA—have been developed in queer and countercultural communities over the last two decades. Rather than focusing primarily on mechanisms of political power, RA theorists have been concerned with understanding and challenging the power dynamics at play in close personal relationships. Andie Nordgren, the movement’s central, founding theorist, describes RA as a radical commitment “to avoid defining relationships by attempts to exercise power over each other” (Nordgren 2018). -/- Our aim is to give a concise presentation and defense of RA. We will approach RA as a theory in applied ethics—in particular, as a theory in sexual ethics and relationship ethics—and relate it to ongoing debates in these areas. We, the authors, are both queer men with a background in countercultures where RA is widely practiced and discussed. One of us is an activist working on trans- and sex workers’ rights (Sørlie), the other is a philosophy professor (Moen). Although we make several claims about the scope, content, and justification of RA, we do not claim to speak with any special authority on the issue. Moreover, many of the points that we make here, while not attributable to a specific source, are not original to us, but are the result of several years of fruitful discussion with others in the RA community. -/- We start by considering the cases where, from an RA perspective, current mainstream relationship norms are too restrictive. Then we turn to the cases where current norms are too permissive. Our views on what counts as “mainstream” relationship norms are, no doubt, influenced by the fact that we are writing from a Scandinavian perspective. -/- We then proceed to consider the relationship between RA and polyamory. We argue that RA is compatible with some, but not all, forms of polyamorous practice. We also argue that, from an RA perspective, the increasingly popular term “consensual non-monogamy” is a misleading term that should be avoided. In the conclusion, we explain how RA, as a position in applied ethics, can be justified within consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethical frameworks alike. -/- We have restricted our scope, in what follows, to chosen relationships between adults. Thus, we are not dealing with, for example, kinship relationships into which one is born, nor relationships between adults and minors. Although many issues and arguments deserve to be explored in greater depth than we can do here, we hope, nevertheless, to be able to convey the main nature and thrust of RA. (shrink)

The main stream of legal theory tends to incorporate unwritten principles into the law. Weighing of principles plays a great role in legal argumentation, inter alia in statutory interpretation. A weighing and balancing of principles and other prima facie reasons is a jump. The inference is not conclusive.To deal with defeasibility and weighing, a jurist needs both the belief-revision logic and the nonmonotonic logic. The systems of nonmonotonic logic included in the present volume provide logical tools enabling one to speak (...) precisely about various kinds of rules about rules, dealing with such things as applicability of rules, what is assumed by rules, priority between rules and the burden of proof. Nonmonotonic logic is an example of an extension of the domain of logic. But the more far-reaching the extension is, the greater problems it meets. It seems impossible to make logical reconstruction of the totality of legal argumentation. (shrink)

English title: Gadamer's interpretation of the Aristotelian Protrepticus. -/- Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present and analyse the main hypotheses of Hans-Georg Gadamer in his 1928 essay Der aristotelische Protreptikos und die entwicklungsgeschichtliche Betrachtung der aristotelischen Ethik, emphasizing the Gadamerian reception of the notions of phrónēsis, hēdonḗ and, to a lesser extent, phýsis. It will be attempted to show that in this early work of Gadamer there is more than a methodological and interpretative debate regarding the Protrepticus (...) and the Aristotelian ethics. Lastly, the paper argues that it is possible to read in the main arguments of this early essay the first intellectual maturation of relevance of Gadamer, expressed in the form of a critical dialogue with his great masters (Paul Natorp, Nicolai Hartmann, Martin Heidegger, Paul Friedländer), departing from the new interpretative possibilities that philology and phenomenology opened to his studies on the ethical-political philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. The theoretical consequences of this early article would have both paved the way of Gadamer’s next theoretical interventions regarding Platonic political philosophy as well as for the future developments of philosophical hermeneutics. /// -/- Resumen: El objetivo de este artículo es presentar y analizar las principales hipótesis de Hans-Georg Gadamer en su ensayo de 1928 Der aristotelische Protreptikos und die entwicklungsgeschichtliche Betrachtung der aristotelischen Ethik, poniendo énfasis en la recuperación gadameriana de las nociones de phrónēsis, hēdonḗ y, en menor medida, phýsis. Se intenta demostrar que en este trabajo temprano de Gadamer hay, en términos metodológicos e interpretativos, más que una discusión con Werner Jaeger con relación al Protréptico y a la ética aristotélica. Finalmente, este artículo sostiene que es posible leer en las principales argumentaciones del ensayo la primera maduración intelectual de relevancia de Gadamer, expresada en forma de diálogo crítico con sus grandes maestros (Paul Natorp, Nicolai Hartmann, Martin Heidegger, Paul Friedländer), a partir de las nuevas posibilidades interpretativas que la filología y fenomenología le abrieron para el estudio de la filosofía ético-política de Platón y Aristóteles. Las consecuencias teóricas de este temprano artículo habrían signado tanto el camino de sus siguientes intervenciones teóricas en tono a la filosofía política platónica como también los futuros desarrollos de la hermenéutica filosófica. (shrink)

Impossible Minds: My Neurons, My Consciousness has been written to satisfy the curiosity each and every one of us has about our own consciousness. It takes the view that the neurons in our heads are the source of consciousness and attempts to explain how this happens. Although it talks of neural networks, it explains what they are and what they do in such a way that anyone may understand. While the topic is partly philosophical, the text makes no assumptions of (...) prior knowledge of philosophy; and so contains easy excursions into the important ideas of philosophy that may be missing in the education of a computer scientist. The approach is pragmatic throughout; there are many references to material on experiments that were done in our laboratories. The first edition of the book was written to introduce curious readers to the way that the consciousness we all enjoy might depend on the networks of neurons that make up the brain. In this second edition, it is recognized that these arguments still stand, but that they have been taken much further by an increasing number of researchers. A post-script has now been written for each chapter to inform the reader of these developments and provide an up-to-date bibliography. A new epilogue has been written to summarize the state-of-the art of the search for consciousness in neural automata, for researchers in computation, students of philosophy, and anyone who is fascinated by what is one of the most engaging scientific endeavours of the day. This book also tells a story. A story of a land where people think that they are automata without much in the way of consciousness, a story of cormorants and cliffs by the sea, a story of what it might be like to be a conscious machine... (shrink)

This paper gives a logical characterization of the interrelation between law and morals. To this purpose it first outlines a logic for defeasible reasoning with rules and principles and illustrates the operation of this logic in the field of law. Then it offers a brief argument why law and morals are interrelated. This paper ends by showing how the logic for defeasible reasoning provides tools to logically characterize some aspects of the interrelation between law and morals.

The aim of this paper is to show the main thesis concerning the theory of cognition of the eminent neo-Kantian Heinrich Rickert, as presented in his work “Der Gegenstand der Erkenntnis”. On the one hand, Rickert finds out that thinking is fated to “clash with nothingness”, thus creating a temptation to reject all rigours and to yield to complete discretion. On the other hand, he attributes axiological status to nothingness which subjects thinking to a particular kind of “ought”. In his (...) view, the cognizing subject is faced with an axiological choice: either discretion or truth and argues that it is worth opting for truth. His argumentation could be an interesting point of reference for contemporary culture gradually moving away from the type of thinking rooted in objectively existing principles. (shrink)

Tanto Platón, Aristóteles y Cicerón ven en la retórica una conexión con las emociones. La retórica clásica es persuasión y aquél que domine el rango de disposiciones humanas puede adecuar su discurso para lograr su cometido. Es por ello que para estos tres autores el ámbito de las emociones tiene gran importancia. Para Platón, la retórica es psicagogía (_Fedro_ 271d), es la dirección de las almas por medio de las palabras. Luego, para Aristóteles, la retórica consta de tres elementos: _ethos, (...) logos _y _pathos _(_Ret. _1356a). Cada una de ellas versa sobre la relación entre el orador y el oyente: ¿qué debe hacer el orador para mover a quién escucha? Finalmente, con Cicerón el orador se transforma en un verdadero estratega, perfeccionando “las armas” de las que se servirá para cada discurso. El objetivo de este escrito es mostrar como la retórica es una forma de manipulación. Para ello hay que partir de la base, amparada por Aristóteles, de que las emociones influencian nuestros juicios (_Ret. _1377b30) y a partir de ello, con los tres autores mencionados, mostraré como el saber de la retórica, las emociones y la manipulación están estrechamente relacionados. _Palabras clave: _retórica, discurso, manipulación, emociones, juicio. (shrink)

The author adopts a coherentist approach to legal argumentation.Ceteris paribus, the degree of coherence of argumentation depends on answers to such questions as: How many statements belonging to the justification are supported by reasons, that is, not arbitrary?, How profound is the justification, that is, how long are the chains of reasons it contains?, How closely interconnected are the reasons, for example in such a way that the same conclusion follows from various independent reasons?, How relevant are the reasons in (...) the context in question?, etc.A reasonable legal argumentation is a special case of a reasonable moral argumentation. Both contain moral substantive reasons and legal authority reasons. On the other hand, some particularities of legal argumentation must be noticed, as well. Among other things, the lawyers take for granted that legal reasoning is based on valid law and that some sources of law, such as statutes, are binding.There exist various juristic roles and corresponding types of argumentation, e.g., judicial and doctrinal ones. Yet, all kinds of legal argumentation must use weighing and balancing in order to make the law coherent and morally acceptable. Consequently, all general principles and criteria of coherence are applicable to all these types but their weight varies between them. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze what kind of understanding of justice prevails at the beginning of the 21st century. I will shortly show the evolution of justice, concerning on the ancient and Enlightenment understandings of this concept. I shall attempt to justify the thesis that in the contemporary world the factors that play the most important part in the evaluation of justice are aesthetic ones. The essence of the aesthetic evaluation I will describe by refer to the (...) Kant’s “Critique of Judgment” where he analyses the specific character of the judgments of beauty. I will try to show that the characteristics which Kant ascribed to beauty havebeen transferred by modern philosophy to moral judgments and categories – specially to the judgment concerning justice. Finally I will focus on the contemporary dispute concerning economic human rights – this is a good concrete example for my thesis that today our understanding of justice (or better “social justice”) is based on the aesthetics arguments. (shrink)

Inhalt Von Götzen und Göttern Jutta Georg-Lauer: Das tauschende Tier. Simmels Philosophie des Geldes erklärt die Dependenz zwischen Begehren und Weltzugang Andreas Urs Sommer: Ein philosophisch-historischer Kommentar zu Nietzsches Götzen-Dämmerung. Probleme und Perspektiven Andreas Woyke: Antike Konzepte einer eudämonistischen Ethik und ihre Beziehungen zum mythischen Glücksverständnis. Exemplarische Interpretationen zu Platon, Aristoteles, Epikur und Plotin Salvatore Lavecchia: Selbsterkenntnis und Schöpfung eines Kosmos. Dimensionen der σοφια in Platons Denken Edgar Früchtel: Die Welt zur Sprache bringen. Überlegungen zur Ätiologie des antiken Weltentwurfs Sinnwelten (...) und Weltsinn Thorsten Sindermann: Der Takt und seine Moral Dagmar Fenner: Anthropozentrische Naturethik. Wie überzeugend sind ihre Argumente? Kurt Mager: Mensch und Welt im Spiegel der Uhrenmetapher Dimitri Ginev: Das Komplementaritätsprinzip in hermeneutischer Hinsicht Im Angesicht des Todes Harald Seubert: Akroamatik und spekulative Hermeneutik. Zum Gedenken an Manfred Riedel (1936-2009) Peter Böhm: Schritte der Versöhnung und Momente der Hoffnung. Die Rückkehr jüdischen Lebens in die Bundesrepublik nach 1945: Eine philosophische Suche Christian Fernandes: Liegt die Menschenwürde im Verzweifelnkönnen? Zu Sören Kierkegaards Die Krankheit zum Tode Cathrin Nielsen: Pathologie des Todes. Zu den Arbeiten der Künstlerin Teresa Margolles. (shrink)

To clarify Aristotle’s “Identity Thesis” in Metaphysics Z 6, according to which each strictly definable item must be identical to its own essence (1031a15-16, 1032a4- 6), I show that it is a simple corollary of some “logical” theorems drawn from the Organon, which have a direct impact on Z 4’s explanation that identity is based on the possession of essence. As I claim, Z 6’s innovation consists of a clarification about substance as that which - because of having essence - (...) can fulfill the identity- condition. Therefore, Z 6’s argument targets principally “non-Identity” as a consequence of Platonic separation. Further, I argue against the commonly held view that the Identity Thesis stands on the hylomorphism of Z’s later chapters. (shrink)

Legal doctrine in Continental European law (scientia iuris) consists of professional legal writings, e.g., handbooks, monographs, etc., whose task is to systematize and interpret valid law. By production of general and defeasible theories, legal doctrine aims to present the law as a coherent net of principles, rules, meta‐rules, and exceptions, at different levels of abstraction, connected by support relations. The argumentation used to achieve coherence involves not only description and logic but also evaluative (normative) steps. However, sceptics criticise juristic doctrine (...) for its normative character, ontological obscurity, vagueness, fragmentation, and locality. The author answers this criticism pointing out the following. Normative reason is possible. Liberal ontology, admitting such entities as morally justified law, is possible as well. The vagueness of legal doctrine can be construed as defeasibility. Defeasibility is inevitable in the law and in human thinking in general. Fragmentation of legal doctrine is not absolute. Its theories are linked to overarching moral theories. Finally, locality is not absolute either. Though sometimes restricted to a given state, theories of legal doctrine display relevant similarities to corresponding theories in other states. (shrink)

Una de las cuestiones más llamativas de las obras de Platón y Aristóteles estriba en su silencio acerca de la historia. Leyeron y criticaron a físicos, filósofos, matemáticos, biólogos, poetas, retóricos, políticos, etc. Sin embargo, sus citas a propósito de los historiadores de su momento cabrían en una cuartilla. En este breve artículo tratamos de ofrecer una explicación a propósito de tal omisión. Así mismo, aprovechamos para ofrecer una razón del Menéxeno y aportar una confirmación de las razones que condujeron (...) a L. Edelstein a cuestionar la autenticidad de las cartas séptima y octava atribuidas a Platón. One of the most showy questions about the works of Plato and Aristotle rests on them silence brings over of the history. They read and criticized physicists, philosophers, mathematicians, biologists, poets, rhetorical, political, etc. Nevertheless, their appointments about the historians of that moment would fit in a sheet of paper. In this brief article we try to offer an explanation about such an omission. Likewise, we are useful to offer a reason of the Menexenus and to contribute a confirmation of the reasons that L. Edelstein led to questioning the genuineness of seventh and eighth letters attributed to Plato. (shrink)

El propósito de la investigación es profundizar en los fundamentos filosóficos de la teoría arquitectónica de Leon Battista Alberti en el tratado _De re aedificatoria_, en particular en el Prefacio y el libro I, donde se discuten aspectos centrales del proceso de diseño entendido como creación intelectual y estética a través de los conceptos de _pulchritudo_ y _lineamenta_. El punto de partida del análisis se sitúa en la relación establecida entre los principios de _lineamenta_ y _forma_ en la teoría retórica (...) ciceroniana y en los conceptos de espacio, lugar, _forma_, cuerpo y proporción que tienen su origen en la tradición filosófica platónica y aristotélica, la geometría euclidiana y la teoría arquitectónica vitruviana. Se considera que desde la Antigüedad, la arquitectura estaba ligada a conceptos de naturaleza filosófica de los que derivaban sus principios. (shrink)

Die philosophische Untersuchung der Platonischen Dialoge.-Elemente der Platonischen Philosophie.-Die Reform des menschlichen Erkennens.-Das Wesen des Denkens.-Definition des Satzes.

Das Glücksverständnis des griechischen Mythos lässt sich als ,,tychisch" charakterisieren, da es die Unverfügbarkeit und Wandelbarkeit des Glücks betont. Bei unterschiedlichen Autoren der archaischen Dichtung finden wir den Appell zur emotionalen Beherrschtheit angesichts des wandelbaren Schicksals, die Betonung der ästhetischen Erfahrung, die Heroisierung der Jugend und die Vorstellung des Hereinragens des Göttlichen ins eigene Dasein angesichts von persönlichem Erfolg. Die Konzepte einer eudämonistischen Ethik greifen dieses Glücksverständnis auf und verknüpfen es in unterschiedlicher Weise mit den Prämissen einer vernünftigen Lebensorientierung. Ihre (...) Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede werden vor dem Hintergrund der mythischen Ontologie näher beleuchtet. Im Einzelnen geht es um das Verhältnis zwischen Ideenschau, Ästhetik und Erotik bei Platon, um die immanentistische Ethik des Aristoteles, um den negativen Hedonismus bei Epikur und um den Sprung in die Transzendenz bei Plotin. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to illustrate some difficulties connected with the global ethic. The author shows mutual relations between socio-economic domain and the public health. Beginning with Peter Singer’s argumentation, the author points that the inequality is the main factor hampering moral action. The inequality generated by contemporary capitalism has an immediate influence on the health of people. Individual charity is not sufficient to solve such problems like life expectancy, health care, starvation or global warming. According to the (...) author, liberation of medical practices from the power of capital is a condition of the possibility of the public health. (shrink)

Aus dem Inhalt: Justice in General: E. Attwooll: Is the Idea of Justice Asymmetric? u C. L. Sheng: Injustice in Law Caused by Conflict between Equality and Equity u G. Barden: Approaches to Justice: The Economy and the State u C. Schmidt: The Concept of Justice in Economic Theory u M. Milde: Rawls, Pluralism and the Value of Contract Theory u J. Tasioulas: M. Walzer on Justice u L. Cedroni: An Ethological Approach to Law, Justice and the State uaR. Kevelson: (...) Justice as Artifice and Sign u A. Makolkin: Semiotics and Poeticity of Law and Justice u D. Ginev: Law and Morality from a Hermeneutic-Semiotic Perspective Rights in General: F. Viola: Personal Identity in the Human Rights Perspective u J.-R. Sieckmann: Justice and Rights u P. Comanducci: Justice and Rights u D. Wayand: Aboriginal Rights - Then and Now u M. Pavcnik: Argument der Grundrechte u D. B. Boersema: What's Wrong with Rights? u E. E. Dais: A Kantian Critique of Justice Holmes's Rights Theory Social and Environmental Rights: B. M. Baker: The Welfare State: Objectives, Subordinate Principles and Justifying Grounds u U. Penski: Zur Begruendung und Struktur sozialer Rechte u H. LaFolette: Two Forms of Paternalism u L. J. Mazor: Social Justice / Asocial Injustice u D. Wood: Constitutional Minimalism and the Discretionary Power of the Welfare State u u.a. (shrink)

One debate that occupied Pratyabhijñā philosophers and their Buddhist interlocutors was the question of the reality of _sambandha_, or relation. A central treaty on the topic is Utpaladeva’s (∼10th c.) _Sambandhasiddhi_ [SS] (‘_Proof of Relation_’), a response to Dharmakīrti’s (∼7th c.) _Sambandhaparīkṣā_ [SP] (‘_Analysis of Relation_’). As the contrasting titles suggest, Dharmakīrti held that relations are merely conceptual constructions (_kalpanā_), inferred _post hoc_ from discrete perceptual cognitions (_pratyakṣa_)—and thus ultimately _unreal_. Utpaladeva, on the other hand, attempted to ‘prove’ (_siddhi_) the (...) truth (_satya_) of relation as a genuine ‘division-non-division,’ or ‘unity-in-diversity’ (_bhedābheda_). In this article, I reconstruct Utpala’s ‘proof’ as a pragmatic argument to the effect that Dharmakīrti, in virtue of his nominalist metaphysics, mistakenly treats the general form of relation as an inferential _concept_, rather than the mode of ‘intentional’ _action_ (_śakti_) manifest in reflexive judgment (_vimarśa_). In doing so, Utpala suggests that Dharmakīrti inadvertently renders the relational conditions for the recognition of determinate intentional content unintelligible. (shrink)

Herbert Morris argues in his influential retributivist paper, "Persons and Punishment," that criminals deserve punishment because their actions represent an unfair distribution of benefits and burdens in society. The proper distribution of benefits and burdens is important, in part, to restore law abiding citizens’ confidence that others will follow the law. In this paper I show that Morris's argument for why criminals deserve punishment morally requires us to set up an institution of rehabilitation in addition to the institution of (...) punishment. Such an institution is morally required because neither pure punishment systems nor punishment systems that incorporate quasi-rehabilitative aspects have ever worked to uphold the necessary confidence that Morris tells us law abiding citizens must have in order to protect the social order. Moreover, we cannot abandon Morris's appeal to the duty to maintain social order without also abandoning a plausibly Morrisian framework. (shrink)

Fred Adams and Charlotte Shreve ABSTRACT: Last year Charlotte Shreve and I presented an argument that synesthesia contains evidence against higher order thought theories of consciousness. Rocco Gennaro took up the challenge and argued that H.O.T. theories like his could handle the example and dismiss the argument. Below we suggest...

The present paper examines the arguments and data presented by Nisbett and Wilson relevant to their thesis that subjects do not have access to their own cognitive processes. It is concluded that their review of previous research is selective and incomplete and that the data they present in behalf of their thesis does not withstand a demand characteristics analysis. Furthermore, their use of observer-subject similarity as evidence of subjects' inability to access cognitive processes makes tests of their hypothesis confounded and, (...) at the same time, reveals limitations in the application of the pre-inquiry quasi-control to research on social behavior. Problems with postexperiment questionnaires, such as the demand characteristics of the inquiry procedure are also considered. Although there are difficulties in assessing subjects' cognitive processes, many of these may be overcome through the application of novel techniques and research conducted on more traditional methods. In contrast to the view that subjects have limited access to cognitive processes and that their verbal reports are not valid, it is concluded that subjects' verbalizations are a rich source of psychological data which must be pursued if we are to tap their cognitive processes and are to gain an adequate understanding of human behavior. (shrink)

Vagueness has gotten some attention in aesthetics, but deserves more. Vagueness is universally acknowledged to be ubiquitous. It has played a substantive role in some recent writing on the definition of art. It has figured importantly in analyses of the concept of literature, and (in connection with a thought experiment of Arthur Danto’s), of the ontology of art. Vagueness was a locus of contention in a debate between Alan Goldman and Eddy Zemach about the reality of aesthetic properties. This paper’s (...) aim is to advance that debate, by focusing on the relevance of vagueness to the familiar argument that moves from premises about aesthetic disagreement to the conclusion that aesthetic properties are not real. In what follows, it is argued that, vis-á-vis aesthetic disagreement, the vagueness of aesthetic properties can do important theoretical work for aesthetic realism. (shrink)

For Socrates, philosophy is not like Christian conversion from error to truth, but rather it is like the pagan process whereby a young man is initiated into cult mysteries by a more experienced man - the mystagogos - who prepares him and leads him to the sacred precinct. In Greek cult religion, the mystagogos prepared the initiate for the esoteric mysteries revealed by the hierophant. Socrates treats traditional wisdom with scepticism, and this makes him appear ridiculous or dangerous in the (...) eyes of cultural conservatives. Nevertheless, his scepticism is not radical: custom is not something on which we must turn our backs if we are to pursue the truth. Socrates assumes an epistemology and employs a method by which he induces his companions to begin the critical and self-critical process of philosophical inquiry, not ignoring conventional wisdom, but thinking through and reinterpreting it as they make constructive progress towards the truth. He provides conclusive and convincing arguments in support of controversial answers to some of the most important moral questions he poses. (shrink)

There has long been a politics around the way in which women are represented, with objection not so much to specific images as to a regime of looking which places the represented woman in a particular relationship to the spectator's gaze. Artists have sometimes avoided the representation of women altogether, but they are now producing images which challenge the regime. How do these images succeed in their challenge? The Emptiness of the Image offers a psychoanalytic answer. Parveen Adams argues that, (...) despite flaws in some of the details of its arguments, psychoanalytic theory retains an overwhelming explanatory strength in relation to questions of sexual difference and representation. She goes on to show how the issue of desire changes the way we can think of images and their effects. Throughout she discusses the work of theorists, artists and filmmakers such as Helene Deutsch, Catherine MacKinnon, Mary Kelly, Francis Bacon, Michael Powell and Della Grace. The Emptiness of the Image shows how the very space of representation can change to provide a new way of thinking the relation between the text and the spectator. It shows how psychoanalytic theory is supple enough to slide into and transform the most unexpected situations. (shrink)

L'édification spatio-temporelle dont se sert un observateur isolé pour représenter ses résultats de mesures comporte la construction d'un espace physique qui, quoique non catégorique, est applicable sur l'espace euclidien à trois dimensions. Aucun argument ne permet de décider si l'espace est euclidien ou non euclidien. Les expériences permettent seulement à l'observateur d'affirmer que l'espace est pratiquement euclidien en son voisinage.