The concept of facticity denotes conditions of experience whose necessity is not logical yet whose contingency is not empirical. Although often associated with Heidegger, Fichte coins ‘facticity’ in his Berlin period to refer to the conclusion of Kant’s metaphysical deduction of the categories, which he argues leaves it a contingent matter that we have the conditions of experience that we do. Such rhapsodic or factical conditions, he argues, must follow necessarily, independent of empirical givenness, from the I through a process (...) of ‘genesis.’ I reconstruct Fichte’s argument by tracing the origin of his neologism, presenting his Jena critique of Kant’s rhapsodic appeal to the forms of judgment, and illustrating the Jena period’s continuity with the Berlin period’s genetic method, while noting a methodological shift whereby Fichte directs his critique against his own doctrine of intellectual intuition in order to eliminate its ‘factical terms.’. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to present a constructive solution to Frege's puzzle (largely limited to the mathematical context) based on type theory. Two ways in which an equality statement may be said to have cognitive significance are distinguished. One concerns the mode of presentation of the equality, the other its mode of proof. Frege's distinction between sense and reference, which emphasizes the former aspect, cannot adequately explain the cognitive significance of equality statements unless a clear identity criterion for (...) senses is provided. It is argued that providing a solution based on proofs is more satisfactory from the standpoint of constructive semantics. (shrink)

This paper discusses the prospects of a comprehensive philosophical account of promising that relies centrally on the notion of trust. I lay out the core idea behind the Trust View, showing how it convincingly explains the normative contours and the unique value of our promissory practice. I then sketch three distinct options of how the Trust View can explain the normativity of promises. First, an effect based-view, second, a view drawing on a wider norm demanding respect to those whom one (...) has invited to something, and finally, as a new suggestion, a Normative Interest View. This view holds that promising is a normative power that serves our interest in facilitating or enabling the relationship of trust between promisor and promisee. I argue that only those embracing the third view can fully account for the distinctive obligation that results from the giving of a valid promise in all cases. (shrink)

While the idea that philosophy requires self-transformation is historically pervasive, it exerts considerable influence on the post-Kantians who first aim to systematize Kant’s idealism by grounding it on a first principle. In the 1790s, Fichte and Schelling offer competing accounts of the self-transformation that they regard as essential to positing a first principle. Their accounts raise two central questions. First, what makes this kind of self-transformation possible? Second, are there different possible expressions of philosophical self-transformation? In what follows, I will (...) articulate the Fichtean and Schellingian answers to these central questions. For Fichte, the one who summons me to posit a first principle makes possible my philosophical self-transformation, although the latter has an exclusively idealist expression in that I can only genuinely posit the I as first principle, which is to say that philosophical self-transformation depends on mutual recognition and vindicates precisely one philosophical system (Section 1). For Schelling, a brute act of will makes possible my philosophical self-transformation, although the latter has either an idealist or a realist expression in that I can genuinely posit either the I or the not-I as first principle, which is to say that philosophical self-transformation does not depend on mutual recognition and vindicates one of two possible philosophical systems (Section 2). Thus, whereas Fichtean self-transformation is recognitive and non-pluralistic, Schellingian self-transformation is pluralistic and non-recognitive. I conclude with a discussion of how Jacobi poses a challenge to Fichte’s and Schelling’s answers to the two central questions (Section 3). (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to argue that all—or almost all—logical rules have exceptions. In particular, it is argued that this is a moral that we should draw from the semantic paradoxes. The idea that we should respond to the paradoxes by revising logic in some way is familiar. But previous proposals advocate the replacement of classical logic with some alternative logic. That is, some alternative system of rules, where it is taken for granted that these hold without exception. (...) The present proposal is quite different. According to this, there is no such alternative logic. Rather, classical logic retains the status of the ‘one true logic’, but this status must be reconceived so as to be compatible with (almost) all of its rules admitting of exceptions. This would seem to have significant repercussions for a range of widely held views about logic: e.g. that it is a priori, or that it is necessary. Indeed, if the arguments of the paper succeed, then such views must be given up. (shrink)

One of the most formidable challenges to the Error Theory is the Normative Objection, according to which the Error Theory ought to be rejected because of its deeply implausible first-order normative implications. Recently, Bart Streumer has offered a novel and powerful defence of the Error Theory against this objection. Streumer argues that the Error Theory’s plausibility deficit when viewed against the background of our normative beliefs does not show the theory’s falsity. Rather, it can be explained by the fact that (...) this theory, though true, cannot be believed. In this paper, I argue that Streumer’s defence does not succeed. I show that, even if we grant Streumer that we cannot believe the Error Theory, we can still formulate what I call the Undermining Normative Objection, an argument that proceeds only from believable premises to a believable conclusion and shows that the arguments supporting the Error Theory cannot all be sound. (shrink)

Working on the assumption that ideas are embedded in socio-technical arrangements which actualize them, this essay sheds light on the way the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) achieves the Lisbon strategic goal: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world . Rather than framing the issue in utilitarian terms, it focuses attention on quantified indicators, comparable statistics and common targets resulting from the increasing practice of intergovernmental benchmarking, in order to tackle the following questions: how does (...) the OMC go about co-ordinating Member States through the benchmarking of national policies? And to what extent does this managerial device impact the path of European construction? Beyond the ideological and discursive construction of the competitive imperative, this technology of government transforms it into an indefinite discipline (Foucault) which constantly urges decision-makers to hit the top of the charts. This contribution thus argues that the practice of intergovernmental benchmarking is far from being neutral in purpose and effect. On the contrary, it lays the foundation for building a competitive Europe which unites Member States through competition. (shrink)

The goal of this study is to characterize observers’ abilities to discriminate between endogenous and exogenous changes. To do so, we developed a new experimental paradigm. On each trial, participants were shown a dot pattern on the screen. Next, the pattern disappeared and participants were to reproduce it. Changes were surreptuously introduced in the stimulus, either by presenting participants anew with the dot pattern they had themselves produced on the previous trial or by presenting participants with a slightly different dot (...) pattern . We analyzed awareness of the changes and behavioral adaptation to them in a dynamical manner. We observe signal attenuation in the presence of endogenous change, dissociation between self-attribution reports and behavioral effect of agency. We discuss the source of this sensitive attenuation as well as the relation between a minimal or core self and an extended, narrative or autobiographical self. (shrink)

Using a metacontrast masking paradigm, prior studies have shown that a target’s color information and form information, can be processed without awareness and that unconscious color processing occurs at early, wavelength-dependent levels in the cortical information processing hierarchy. Here we used a combination of paracontrast and metacontrast masking techniques to explore unconscious color and form priming effects produced by blue, green, and neutral stimuli. We found that color priming in normal observers is significantly reduced when an additional paracontrast mask precedes (...) the target at optimal masking SOAs. However, no reduction of form-priming effects was obtained at similar optimal paracontrast SOAs. We conclude that unconscious color priming depends on an early, wavelength- or stimulus-dependent response of color neurons located at early cortical levels whereas unconscious form priming occurs at later levels. (shrink)

The topic of liberty in Foucault becomes controversial when related to the objections, predicted by the author, for the subjects to be located outside the power networks. However, Foucault also points out potential for resistance and a notion of freedom involved by historical circumstances, which suggests original normative questions. In order to analyze the tension between domination and freedom in his work, and what is normatively reflected, two main directions are noted: the idea of freedom as something inherent in power (...) relations and as the foundation of the critical exercise of knowledge. It is argued that Foucault`s estimation of dimensions of freedom generates singular implications of evaluation of social conditions based on a normative temperance. (shrink)

We evaluate several significant objections to the possibility of group belief. These incredulity objections urge that the very concept of group belief is suspect or incoherent. Although many other...

This book uses the ontological notions of singularity and threshold to deconstruct the myth of the independent individual and address the question of what comes after sovereignty and the subject.

Just War Theory is becoming increasingly important to nations when they contemplate and participate in war. This book recognizes the timeliness of the topic and so seeks, in concrete historical terms, to deal with the issue of constraining war on the basis of moral principles.

From ancient conceptions of becoming a philosopher to modern discussions of psychedelic drugs, the concept of transformation plays a fascinating part in the history of philosophy. However, until now there has been no sustained exploration of the full extent of its role. Transformation and the History of Philosophy is an outstanding survey of the history, nature, and development of the idea of transformation, from the ancient period to the twentieth century. Comprising twenty-two specially commissioned chapters by an international team of (...) contributors, the volume is divided into four clear parts: -/- - Philosophy as Transformative: Ancient China, Greece, India, and Rome - Transformation Between the Human and the Divine: Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy - Transformation After the Copernican Revolution: Post-Kantian Philosophy - Treatises, Pregnancies, Psychedelics, and Epiphanies: Twentieth-Century Philosophy. -/- Each of these sections begins with an introduction by the editors. Transformation and the History of Philosophy is essential reading for students and researchers in the history of western and non-western philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and aesthetics. It will also be extremely useful for those in related disciplines such as religion, sociology, and the history of ideas. (shrink)

Mit ›religiösem Glauben‹ kann man die gesamte religiöse Lebensform einer Person meinen: ihre Weltanschauung, ihre religiöse Praxis, ihre Identifizierung mit einer religiösen Gemeinschaft, ihr religionsinspiriertes Empfinden, Handeln und Reagieren. Mit ›religiösem Glauben‹ meint man aber oft auch nur den weltanschaulichen Anteil einer religiösen Lebensform, und um religiösen Glauben in diesem engeren Sinn wird es hier gehen. Ziel des folgenden Beitrags ist es, in die wichtigsten Fragen einzuführen, die sich in der analytischen Philosophie an der Untersuchung des religiösen Glaubens im engeren (...) Sinn entzündet haben. (shrink)

We examined the updating of decisions made during visuo-motor processing when two sequentially presented stimuli, Prime1 and Prime2, primed discriminative responses to a following probe. In Experiment 1, the visibility of the two primes was suppressed or left intact by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony of the stimuli immediately following them. In Experiment 2, the visibility of Prime2 was suppressed or left intact by varying its spatial separation from the following probe. We found that Prime2 dominated the effects of Prime1; (...) that Prime2’s updating was stronger when the Prime2–probe SOA was 200 as compared to 53 ms; and that Prime2’s updating was weaker when the Prime2–probe spatial separation was 58 as compared to 0 minarc. We conclude that these effects are due to an interaction of spatial attention and the state of processing of Prime2. (shrink)

Summary André-Jacob Roubo, author of Art du menuisier (Art of the Woodworker), included in the famous series of the Descriptions des arts et métiers published by the Paris Academy of Sciences, was a true worker whose craft was based on first-hand experience of the trade. At the same time, he was a literate artist, who shared the ideas and values of the Enlightenment and dedicated himself to writing technical treatises. Roubo was on the fringe of the guild system by virtue (...) of his training and his first steps in the trade. From the start, his connections with the circle of the learned elite were much more developed than with the world of the Parisian ‘maîtres menuisiers’. Yet Roubo considered himself to be a member of the community of woodworkers, and he addressed his treatise to his fellow workers, as if it were the masterpiece required to be received into the guild. So, who was Roubo? By training and status, he was certainly an artisan. But at the same time, we can see him as a sort of member of the Republic of Letters, whose fame rested on his expertise in woodworking and joinery. His case illustrates the fact that the gulf between ‘gens de métiers’ and ‘gens de lettres’ in the eighteenth century was less wide than is usually asserted. (shrink)

The goal of this study is to characterize observers’ abilities to detect gradual changes and to explore putative dissociations between conscious experience of change and behavioral adaptation to a changing stimulus. We developed a new experimental paradigm in which, on each trial, participants were shown a dot pattern on the screen. Next, the pattern disappeared and participants had to reproduce it. In some conditions, the target pattern was incrementally rotated over successive trials and participants were either informed or not of (...) this change. We analyzed both awareness of the changes and the dynamics of behavioral adaptation, in a way that makes it possible to assess both variability and accuracy as they change over time. Results indicate a dissociation between change awareness and behavioral adaptation to the changes, and support the notion that unconscious representations of visual stimuli are more precise and detailed than previously suggested. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of change detection. (shrink)

Dans deux études à paraître, José Luis Garcia Ramón et moi avons proposé de nouvelles interprétations de quelques épiclèses de la déesse thessalienne Ennodia : Ennodia est Κορουταρρα, « celle qui fait grandir », et plus précisément « celle qui dote de nourriture / de croissance », Στροπικά, déesse « aux éclairs », porteuse de lumière, et encore Μυκαικα, « déesse des tombeaux ». Cette interprétation nouvelle de l’épiclèse Μυκαικα apporte un témoignage supplémentaire sur le caractère de déesse protectrice des (...) tombeaux qu’il faut reconnaître à Ennodia. Ce caractère d’Ennodia peut être confirmé encore par la réinterprétation d’une autre inscription thessalienne, la dédicace IG IX 2, 592, de Larisa. L’on peut en effet reconnaître dans ce texte fragmentaire une consécration à Ennodia d’un enclos funéraire et l’on peut y restituer de plus une autre épiclèse de la déesse, épiclèse qu’a fait connaître une dédicace d’Azôros récemment publiée par P. Chrysostomou, pour Ἐννοδία Ἰλιάδι.In two studies currently awaiting publication, José Luis Garcia Ramón and I have proposed new interpretations of some epithets of the Thessalian goddess Ennodia: Ennodia is Κορουταρρα, ‘the one who makes grow’ and, more precisely, ‘the one who provides food’, Στροπικά ‘the goddess who carries lightning’, and Μυκαικα, ‘goddess of the tombs’. This new interpretation of this last epiclesis gives us new evidence on the character of Ennodia as protectress of the tombs. This character of Ennodia can now be confirmed by the reinterpretation of another votive inscription, IG IX 2, 592, from Larisa. It is possible to recognize in this fragmentary inscription the consecration of a funerary enclosure to Ennodia; here we can make the restitution of another epiclesis of Ennodia, an epiclesis which is now seen in a votive inscription coming from Azoros in northern Thessaly and recently published, with the formula Ἐννοδία Ἰλιάδι. (shrink)

Un décret de Trikka trouvé en 1987, le premier que l'on connaisse pour cette cité, honore un Cretois de Tylissos, Orthotimos, fils de Kélaithos, qui devait être un officier au service de la Macédoine. Vers la fin du nr" siècle av. J.-C, il a été honoré par une autre cité thessalienne, Atrax. Le décret de Trikka présente deux particularités de formulaire : la mention d'un privilège appelé isomoiria, celle de tages «à Trikka». L'étude de ces deux expressions conduit à reposer (...) le problème des groupes d'exilés accueillis en Étolie, qui devaient former des communautés auxquelles les Étoliens reconnaissaient un statut de «polis» organisée. Ce décret apporte ainsi un éclairage nouveau sur l'histoire politique de la Thessalie à la fin du ni· siècle av. J.-C. (shrink)

Researches on the funerary stelai of Demetrias I. Lykidas son of Thrasyménès of Zakynthos : a comic actor at Delphi and Demetrias in the middle of the third century BC. The epitaph of Λυκίδας Θρασυμένους Ζακύνθιος on a funeral column is that of a κωμωιδός who participated at the Soteria at Delphi in 254/ 3 BC. This Lykidas must have performed at Demetrias towards the middle of third century BC. — II. A monumental exedra in the sanctuary of Artemis Iolkia (...) at Iolkos (Demetrias). Two blocks from the Kastro Volou carry the dedications made by a Demetrian in the second century BC, Diogenes son of Nikolaos, for his wife, daughter of Menandros, and his daughter, priestesses of Artemis Iolkia. — III. The family or families of Menandros and Diogenes at Demetrias, Korakai-Koropè and Iolkos. To a stela which carries the epitaph of an Archidikè, daughter of Menandros, one may associate the stela of Kleinô, daughter of Menandros, and follow from the second century BC to the second century AD several holders of this name who appear to belong to the same family. (shrink)

Le décret IG IX 2, 103, qui ne nous est connu que par une transcription imprimée publiée par un érudit voliote du siècle dernier, Zosimas Esphigménitis, est, à n'en pas douter, un décret de la Confédération thessalienne et il atteste clairement qu'au moment où il a été pris, les cités de Mélitaia en Achaïe Phthiotide et d'Héracleia Trachinia, capitale des Oitaiens, appartenaient à la Confédération thessalienne. Il doit dater du IIe siècle av. J.-C, mais la disparition de la pierre laisse (...) peu de chance de préciser davantage. Ce que l'on sait de l'histoire de Mélitaia et d'Héracleia conduit à identifier deux périodes au cours desquelles ces deux cités ont pu se retrouver ensemble sous l'autorité des Thessaliens : soit pendant quelques années, entre 190 et 184 av. J.-C, soit à partir de 146 ; toutefois il paraît plus probable de placer le document dans la seconde moitié du IIe siècle, ce qui permet d'avancer l'hypothèse qu'Héracleia est devenue thessalienne bien avant l'époque d'Auguste, contrairement à l'opinion reçue. L'intégration de cette cité à l'ensemble thessalien a dû intervenir dès 146 av. J.-C. Le décret IG 103 semble indiquer qu'il a été nécessaire de régler un ou des différends qui opposaient Héracleia et Mélitaia, dans le cadre fédéral, en faisant appel à des arbitres que l'on a demandés à Démétrias, une cité non thessalienne mais assez proche pour avoir des relations avec chacune des parties et connaître leur situation. Les trois stratèges de la ville ont été chargés de constituer un tribunal et le fait d'avoir sollicité à cette occasion les citoyens les plus en vue de Démétrias dit assez l'importance qu'on attachait à cette affaire. (shrink)