We study function fields over p-adically closed fields in the first-order language of fields. Using ideas of Duret [D], we show that the field of constants is definable, and that the genus is an elementary property.

We study first-order properties of the quotient rings C(V)/P by a prime ideal P, where C(V) is the ring of p-adic valued continuous definable functions on some affine p-adic variety V. We show that they are integrally closed Henselian local rings, with a p-adically closed residue field and field of fractions, and they are not valuation rings in general but always satisfy ∀ x, y(x|y 2 ∨ y|x 2 ).

We consider valued fields with a distinguished isometry or contractive derivation as valued modules over the Ore ring of difference operators. Under certain assumptions on the residue field, we prove quantifier elimination first in the pure module language, then in that language augmented with a chain of additive subgroups, and finally in a two-sorted language with a valuation map. We apply quantifier elimination to prove that these structures do not have the independence property.

In this paper, I argue that the Hole Argument can be formulated without using the notion of isomorphism, and for this reason it is not threatened by the criticism of Halvorson and Manchak (Br J Philos Sci, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1086/719193). Following Earman and Norton (Br J Philos Sci 38, pp. 515–525, 1987), I divide the Hole Argument into two steps: the proof of the Gauge Theorem and the transition from the Gauge Theorem to the conclusion of radical indeterminism. In the analaysis (...) of the first step, I argue that the Gauge Theorem does not rely on the notion of isomorphism but on the notion of the diffeomorphism-invariance of the equations of local spacetime theories; however, for this approach to work, the definition of local spacetime theories needs certain amendments with respect to Earman and Norton’s formulation. In the analysis of the second step, I postulate that we should use the notion of radical indeterminism instead of indeterminism simpliciter and that we should not decide in advance what kind of maps are to be used in comparing models. Instead, we can tentatively choose some kind of maps for this purpose and check whether a given choice leads to radical indeterminism involving empirically indistinguishable models. In this way, the use of the notion of isomorphism is also avoided in the second step of the Hole Argument. A general picture is that physical equivalence can be established by means of an iterative procedure in which we examine various candidate classes of maps, and, depending on the outcomes, we need to broaden or narrow these classes. The Hole Argument can be viewed as a particular instance of this procedure. (shrink)

Le monde n'est pas caché par ses apparences. Il se donne assez clairement, à condition de le regarder et de l'aimer, malgré les violences et les désordres qui occupent presque tout le champ du regard. Il faut parfois cligner des yeux pour renouveler sa vision. En une centaine de courts chapitres, tour à tour narratifs, réflexifs, critiques, ce livre aborde de front le thème de la vérité et du bonheur. Mêlant le récit à l'essai, il explore notre quotidien comme une (...) planète inconnue. Les surprises sont au rendez-vous. Les preuves abondent. Les aventures ne manquent pas."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Probabilistic models have much to offer to philosophy. We continually receive information from a variety of sources: from our senses, from witnesses, from scientific instruments. When considering whether we should believe this information, we assess whether the sources are independent, how reliable they are, and how plausible and coherent the information is. Bovens and Hartmann provide a systematic Bayesian account of these features of reasoning. Simple Bayesian Networks allow us to model alternative assumptions about the nature of the information sources. (...) Measurement of the coherence of information is a controversial matter: arguably, the more coherent a set of information is, the more confident we may be that its content is true, other things being equal. The authors offer a new treatment of coherence which respects this claim and shows its relevance to scientific theory choice. Bovens and Hartmann apply this methodology to a wide range of much discussed issues regarding evidence, testimony, scientific theories, and voting. Bayesian Epistemology is an essential tool for anyone working on probabilistic methods in philosophy, and has broad implications for many other disciplines. (shrink)

What is the difference between the earthly paradise, the Golden Age and the ideal city? This question is most important for whoever is interested in the various ways human societies have had for imagining an ideal state of perfection or social harmony. If we are not to confuse such different systems of representation as mythical thought, millenarianism and Utopia, it is absolutely necessary that we do not reduce the descriptions of an earthly paradise and a Golden Age to simple precursors (...) of the ideal city of the Utopians. It is especially important not to call “Utopian” every representation of the ideal society, Utopia being only one— and the most, recent—of its modalities. The Utopian dream Translated by Jeanne Ferguson takes up and at the same time alters the paradisiacal and millenarian imagination: it would be difficult to believe that the passage of primitive societies to great urban civilizations, then to modern society occurred without major repercussions on the vision of these societies, that the ideal state of social perfection did not vary from one to the other. (shrink)

Can emotions be rational or are they necessarily irrational? Are emotions universally shared states? Or are they socio-cultural constructions? Are emotions perceptions of some kind? Since the publication of Jerry Fodor’s The Modularity of Mind (1983), a new question about the philosophy of emotions has emerged: are emotions modular? A positive answer to this question would mean, minimally, that emotions are cognitive capacities that can be explained in terms of mental components that are functionally dissociable from other parts of the (...) mind. But depending on the kind of modules that are considered, be they Chomskyan, Fodorian, Darwinian, or some other kind, the answer to this question might well be different. The twelve new essays in this volume address the question of whether emotions, or at least some of them, are, in some sense of the word, modules, and explore how this could potentially influence our understanding of emotional phenomena. (shrink)

First, Mahtani argues that both in the game The Mug and in the Sleeping Beauty we should not defer to a trusted person under a particular designation if they do not self-identify under this designation. This invites a more complex Reflection Principle. I respond that there are more parsimonious ways to avoid the challenges posed to the Reflection Principle. Second, Mahtani argues that preferences create a hyperintensional context, which poses a challenge to the Ex-Ante Pareto Principle that can be averted (...) by supervaluation. I respond that such an appeal to supervaluation would block randomization as a fair allocation device. (shrink)

In Essai sur le don (Essay on Gifts), a work that the author himself noted was only indicative and incomplete, Marcel Mauss recommended in his conclusions on general sociology and morality that the analysis should be taken further and future research should focus on certain cultural areas that he had not been able to take into account: Micronesia, Indochina, Tibet, Burma, and North Africa, among others. And he stressed the existence, among the Berbers, of “remarkable practices of taoussa,” the study (...) of which, he said, had been the business of Doutté and Maunier (Mauss 1968b: 274, n. 1). (shrink)

" Le point de départ de ce livre est une conférence dans laquelle j'ai présenté à un large public les points essentiels de mon livre, Apprendre à vivre.

In a work that appeared in 1967 but which has lost none of its interest today, P. Alexandre gave a list of the 51 languages of Black Africa (or homogeneous dialectical and linguistic groups) that approached or surpassed a million speakers. For each of them he evaluated available documentation, on a scale of from 1 to 6. He gave the rating 1 to languages for which the documentation was poor (outdated grammars and dictionaries, incomplete or absurd systems of unscientific transcription) (...) and the rating 6 to languages for which works conforming to modern requirements were available (correctly noted sound systems, phonological and phonetic descriptions, annotated texts, dictionaries, stylistic and dialectological studies, audio material). Only three languages merited the rating 6 and only four were rated 5. This means that only seven languages out of about 1200 could be considered as accurately described, that is, offering all the necessary guarantees to the specialist. (shrink)

This article presents the results of an evaluative research on the impacts of collaborative research in the evolution of the practices of researchers and associated teachers. It was a question of understanding how the collaborative approach was useful and relevant to the participants, how it enabled them to better take ownership of their role as an associate teacher, and how to transform their practices.

Un vent de collapsologie souffle aujourd'hui sur l'écologie politique. Le réchauffement climatique, la raréfaction des ressources fossiles, l'érosion de la biodiversité, la prolifération nucléaire se poursuivent, année après année, décennie après décennie. L'effondrement n'est-il pas la fin logique de cette fuite en avant? Depuis les premières alertes des années 1970 jusqu'aux débats contemporains sur l'Anthropocène, Luc Semal retrace l'émergence et l'évolution des mobilisations aux prises avec les limites à la croissance et la perspective d'un effondrement global. Leur catastrophisme est envisagé (...) non pas comme une fascination paralysante pour le désastre, mais comme une pensée politique propice à la délibération et à l'action. Des mouvements comme ceux de la décroissance et des Transition Towns réinventent des projets écologistes entre sobriété heureuse et désastres annoncés. Par leurs luttes et leurs expérimentations locales, ces mobilisations à l'ombre des catastrophes esquissent les contours d'une démocratie post-pétrole et post-croissance. (shrink)

The article is a close reading of a Talmudic commentary by Levinas. Its purpose is to deconstruct the concept of creation in order to demonstrate the radical passivity preceding human freedom. In ‘And God Created Woman’ Levinas points to the orthographic issue of the duplication of the yod in ‘vayyitzer’. This issue is radicalized to distinguish two moments in creation. In the first creation out of nothing, humanity is at stake. Creation is the condition in which man appears as totally (...) visible in the eyes of God. This passivity, without refuge, makes ethics possible. This is called the mystery of the human psyche. In the second act of creation, the relation between man and woman is established as the concrete shape of the first creation. Here Levinas deepens responsibility to unconditional responsibility. Being created means being made responsible. The two concepts of creation are sharpened starting from the thinking of Derrida and Nancy. The relation with the alterity of the son is the incarnation of the created responsibility. This aspect is elaborated in dialogue with Kierkegaard’s and Cathérine Chalier’s commentary of the Abraham story. The son teaches by asking the question about the reality of the covenant that registers itself in being created. From the reality of the covenant, the question of creation appears in its ultimate passivity. (shrink)

The last and most poignant of these essays is The Intruder, Nancys philosophical meditation on his heart transplant.

Dieser Band versammelt eine Auswahl von Vorträgen, die auf dem Platonicum XII Symposium über Platons Parmenides gehalten wurden, vom 15. bis 19. Juli 2019 in Paris. Der Band beinhaltet fünfzig Beiträge, die von der Lebendigkeit und Vielfalt der platonischen Studien zu diesem schwierigen Dialog zeugen. Er gliedert sich in sechs Abschnitte, die einen Weg durch den Dialog nach seinen wichtigsten Artikulationen darstellen: I. An der Schwelle zum Parmenides II. Parmenides im Kontext III. Dialog, Dialektik, Übungen IV. Die Theorie der Formen (...) V. Die Hypothesen VI. Parmenides und seine Rezeption. (shrink)

"Ne croyez surtout pas qu'il s'agisse de science-fiction : 18 avril 2015, une équipe de généticiens chinois entreprenait d'"améliorer" le génome de quatre-vingt-trois embryons humains. Jusqu'où ira-t-on dans cette voie? Sera-t-il possible un jour (bientôt? déjà?) d'"augmenter" à volonté tel ou tel trait de caractère de ses enfants, d'éradiquer dans l'embryon les maladies génétiques, voire d'enrayer la vieillesse et la mort en façonnant une nouvelle espèce d'humains "augmentés"? Nous n'en sommes pas (tout à fait) là, mais de nombreux centres de (...) recherche "transhumanistes" y travaillent partout dans le monde, avec des financements colossaux en provenance de géants du Web tel Google. Les progrès des technosciences sont d'une rapidité inimaginable, ils échappent encore à toute régulation. En parallèle, cette "infrastructure du monde" qu'est le Web a permis l'apparition d'une économie dite "collaborative", celle que symbolisent des applications comme Uber, Airbnb ou BlaBlaCar. Selon l'idéologue Jeremy Rifkin, elles annoncent la fin du capitalisme au profit d'un monde de gratuité et de souci de l'autre. N'est-ce pas, tout à l'inverse, vers un hyperlibéralisme, vénal et dérégulateur, que nous nous dirigeons? Certaines perspectives ouvertes par les innovations technoscientifiques sont enthousiasmantes, d'autres effrayantes. Ce livre cherche d'abord à les faire comprendre, et à réhabiliter l'idéal philosophique de la régulation, une notion désormais vitale, tant du côté de la médecine que de l'économie.". (shrink)

La Siris de Berkeley est peu lue et souvent jugée inutilement obscure et érudite. La replacer dans le contexte de la chimie du XVIIIe siècle permet d'en montrer l'intérêt. Berkeley y propose d'accorder à la chimie une place de plein droit au sein de la philosophie naturelle. À partir de là, il développe une théologie naturelle originale. Mais il n'est pas question de fonder en métaphysique la chimie ni de développer une métaphysique à partir de la chimie.

Kant's aim in the transcendental deduction is to show that the categories, i.e., a specific set of categories, are a necessary condition for all possible experience. Some philosophers have extended this idea in the following way: Kant solely identified a set of a priori concepts, which are a necessary condition for all possible epistemic claims within a framework of Newtonian physics; however, there exist other sets of epistemic claims, which can solely be justified by means of alternative sets of a (...) priori concepts. In this paper I will address the following questions: (1) What claims are precisely involved in this alleged extension of Kant's results of the transcendental deduction? (2) Is it merely an historical accident that Kant could only identify one set of categories, or, are there, apart from Kant's explicit commitment to one particular set of categories, any other claims within the Transcendental Analytic, which are incompatible with this extension of Kant's view? (shrink)

Des scientifiques, de plus en plus nombreux, nous promettent que la "révolution de la longévité" est pour demain, que nos petits-enfants pourront vivre cent cinquante ans, voire davantage, encore jeunes et en bonne santé physique et psychique. Ce livre fait le point sur ces recherches, sépare science et fantasmes et pose la question de fond : à quoi bon vivre aussi longtemps? Face à cette interrogation, deux conceptions de la vie heureuse s'opposent. La première nous vient de ces sagesses anciennes (...) que la psychologie positive remet au goût du jour. Elles nous invitent à dire "oui au réel", à nous résigner à l'ordre naturel des choses afin d'accepter dans la sérénité la vieillesse et la mort. Les modernes philosophies de l'histoire et de la liberté plaident pour une tout autre spiritualité : si une éducation tout au long de la vie, voire une perfectibilité potentiellement infinie, sont le propre de l'Homme, allonger la vie en bonne santé pourrait offrir à l'humanité l'occasion de devenir enfin moins bornée, moins violente, et, pourquoi pas, plus sage qu'elle ne le fut au XXe siècle. Ce sont les termes de ce débat désormais crucial que présente ce livre."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

From the timeless wisdom of ancient Greece through to Christianity, the Enlightenment, existentialism and postmodernism, A Brief History of Thought brilliantly and accessibly explains the enduring teachings of philosophy - including its profound relevance in today's world as well as its essential role in achieving happiness and living a meaningful life. This lively journey through the great thinkers challenges every one of us to learn to think for ourselves and asks us the most important question of all: how can we (...) live better? (shrink)

We present an age-structured model for erythropoiesis in which the mortality of mature cells is described empirically by a physiologically realistic probability distribution of survival times. Under some assumptions, the model can be transformed into a system of delay differential equations with both constant and distributed delays. The stability of the equilibrium of this system and possible Hopf bifurcations are described for a number of probability distributions. Physiological motivation and interpretation of our results are provided.