Sexual difference must be recognized in thought and human interactions to enable people to find their real source of jouissance. The Lacanian finding of ‘masculine phallic desire’ and ‘feminine libidinal desire’ in all human beings, irrespective of their biological sex-gender, paved the way for rethinking gender identities. It calls for reforming inter-human relations from the presently predominant utilitarian mode to the one based on love and recognition of the other. Gender is an arbitrary construct to serve the interests of males (...) in finding phallic sexual pleasure, power and recognition in their social life. Assertion of sexual difference and gender multiplicity will enable human beings to find the other human being as their actual desired object, beyond the pleasures offered by wealth, comforts and commodities. (shrink)

An analysis of the way of further development of artificial intelligence similar to human was carried out, namely its intermediate stage, a state when he can communicate freely with people, can realistically imitate a some personality, freely change it, and thus become convenient for large-scale use in everyday life. An approximate view of the system was described, which it may become in the near future, given the recent technologies. The list of possible settings, which will be actual for similar systems, (...) is resulted. The possible areas of application of this artificial intelligence are listed. (shrink)

Russell's objections to object-theory have been refuted by the proofs of the consistency of Meinong's system given by various writers. These proofs exploit technical distinctions that Meinong apparently uses very little if at all. Instead, Meinong introduces a theoretical postulate called the modal moment. I describe this postulate and its place in Meinong's system, and I argue that it has been much under-rated by Meinong's logician expositors.

The problem of combinatorial optimization is considered in relation to the choice of the location of the location of power supplies when solving the problem of the development of urban distribution networks of power supply. Two methods have been developed for placing power supplies and assigning consumers to them to solve this problem. The first developed method consists in placing power supplies of the same standard sizes, and the second - of different standard sizes. The fundamental difference between the created (...) methods and the existing ones is that the proposed methods take into account all the material of the problem and have specialized methods for coding possible solutions, modified operators of crossing and selection. The proposed methods effectively solve the problem of low inheritance, topological unfeasibility of the found solutions, as a result of which the execution time is significantly reduced and the accuracy of calculations is increased. In the developed methods, the lack of taking into account the restrictions on the placement of new power supplies is realized, which made it possible to solve the problem of applying the methods for a narrow range of problems. A comparative analysis of the results obtained by placing power supplies of the same standard sizes and known methods was carried out, and it was found that the developed method works faster than the known methods. It is shown that the proposed approach ensures stable convergence of the search process by an acceptable number of steps without artificial limitation of the search space and the use of additional expert information on the feasibility of possible solutions. The results obtained allow us to propose effective methods to improve the quality of decisions made on the choice of the location of power supply facilities in the design of urban electrical. (shrink)

A feature of the agro-industrial sphere is the high probability of distribution of production or research sites in areas far from each other for a considerable distance. Moreover, the center for collecting information and processing it, as a rule, is concentrated in one compact place. For research institutions, this feature often acquires a state of rather urgent problem, which requires the search for new innovative approaches. The paper proposes elements of the concept of construction and technological solutions for methods of (...) operational data transfer of field research from agricultural areas to a remote database for data storage with the possibility of feedback. As an example, the procedure of qualification examination of plant varieties with the definition of the criteria of "difference, homogeneity and stability" and "suitability for propagation of the variety in Ukraine" was chosen. (shrink)

A feature of the agro-industrial sphere is the high probability of distribution of production or research sites in areas far from each other for a considerable distance. Moreover, the center for collecting information and processing it, as a rule, is concentrated in one compact place. For research institutions, this feature often acquires a state of rather urgent problem, which requires the search for new innovative approaches. The paper proposes elements of the concept of construction and technological solutions for methods of (...) operational data transfer of field research from agricultural areas to a remote database for data storage with the possibility of feedback. As an example, the procedure of qualification examination of plant varieties with the definition of the criteria of "difference, homogeneity and stability" and "suitability for propagation of the variety in Ukraine" was chosen. (shrink)

The editor has arranged forty-nine essays on and by Santayana into eight chapters representing major areas of Santayana's thought such as "Materialism and Idealism," "Essence, Substance, and Existence," "Art and Beauty." The essays supposedly speak to their chapter titles and to each other to create "the sense of dialogue"; with a few exceptions they were not written as deliberate conversation. This "dialogue" treats the reader to a fine display of the variety of minds and interests at work in philosophy and (...) illustrates the fact that one man's philosophical arena is rarely another man's. From J. H. Randall, Jr. to John Crowe Ransom, a recurring point of contention is Santayana's conception of Essences and their relationship to Matter. The range of interpretation on this issue goes from plaintive objections that "Essences don't do anything!" to appreciative acknowledgment that "Essences don't do anything!". Arguments over "isms" abound; realism, idealism, epiphenominalism are examined from many angles besides Santayana's. Santayana is highlighted nicely, arranged in this way beside his critics. His ability to locate the vital force behind an idea and to indicate where specific thrusts of thought will lead evinces his title of philosopher and master critic. This collection is not limited in appeal to Santayana aficionados.--A. K. T. (shrink)

As his subtitle indicates, Keith Graham's book is more than a reappraisal of Austin's work. It offers a general critique of ordinary language philosophy, with Austin as its representative exponent, and, as the dustjacket adds, "it will also serve as an introduction both to philosophical questions in general and to the alternative techniques available within the analytic tradition for answering them." The first fifty pages or so are devoted to staking out these broad claims, particularly a long chapter-essay entitled "Philosophy (...) of Language as a Method.". (shrink)

The twenty-two essays collected for this book range widely in theme, style, and quality. The essays, a majority of which were previously unpublished, are arranged in three sections: 1) Early Essays, containing one particularly fine essay, "The Soul at Play," originally intended as part of Santayana's Soliloquies in England; 2) Later Essays, in which the title essay and "Friendship" are outstanding; and 3) Philosophical Essays, offering commentaries on Russell, Dewey, and James, on his own philosophy, and "On the False Steps (...) of Philosophy." The book's last article, "What is the Ego?", is an elaboration of his criticism of those "German Prophets" who return from self-contemplation "as greedy as children and as stubborn as Inquisitors." Santayana's manner of exposition often involves the elaboration of a single image or metaphor. When an image or metaphor is employed which can bear the weight of subtle distinctions, he is brilliant; but when the metaphor is too weak to encompass his thinking, then his writing becomes flowery and decadent. The essays, unfinished and fragmentary for the most part, are frequently little more than a single extended metaphor--sometimes over-extended. The fragmentary, possibly only experimental, ideas in these essays invite comparison with their use in his completed works. The book will be of special interest to someone already familiar with Santayana.--A. K. T. (shrink)