In the fourteenth chapter of The Philosophy of Information, Luciano Floridi puts forth a criticism of ‘digital ontology’ as a step toward the articulation of an ‘informational structural realism’. Based on the claims made in the chapter, the present paper seeks to evaluate the distinctly Kantian scope of the chapter from a rather unconventional viewpoint: while in sympathy with the author’s doubts ‘against’ digital philosophy, we follow a different route. We turn our attention to the concept of construction as used (...) in the book with the hope of raising some additional questions that might contribute to a better understanding of what is at stake in Floridi’s experimental epistemological response to digital ontology. (shrink)

Different why-questions emerge under different contexts and require different information in order to be addressed. Hence a relevance relation can hardly be invariant across contexts. However, what is indeed common under any possible context is that all explananda require scientific information in order to be explained. So no scientific information is in principle explanatorily irrelevant, it only becomes so under certain contexts. In view of this, scientific thought experiments can offer explanations, should we analyze their representational strategies. Their representations involve (...) empirical as well as hypothetical statements. I call this the “representational mingling” which bears scientific information that can explain events. Buchanan’s thought experiment from constitutional economics is examined to show how mingled representations explain. (shrink)

During the Covid-19 pandemic, public policy was not driven by findings from public health research, but by politicians’ desire to pursue their own interests. The media and politicians inflamed mass hysteria and then imposed ill-considered lockdowns to “solve” the problem. Lockdowns not only failed to protect those at risk from the virus, but also caused enormous collateral damage. Public choice theory helps explaining this decision-making. -/- .

Mihalis Matsas situates the specific questions raised by the translation of Deleuze in Greece within the more general context of philosophical translation and the difficulties raised by the translation of Deleuze’s two books on the cinema.

Die gebirgige Halbinsel Athos an der nordwestlichen Küste des Ägäischen Meeres mit ihren zwanzig vom 10. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert datierenden Klosteranlagen ist, obwohl sie mit ihrer langen Geschichte einen bedeutenden Faktor des geistigen und kulturellen Lebens von Byzanz darstellt, bisher wenig durch systematische und umfassende Studien erkundet. Ein Grund dafür ist in dem Umstand zu suchen, dass wissenschaftliches Tun im Zentrum des früheren byzantinischen Mönchtums nur unter vollem Einsatz und nach mehrjährigem fachlichen Austausch zustande kommen kann.

Los abusos sexuales a menores por parte de sacerdotes de la Iglesia Católica desataron gran preocupación en muchos países del mundo en los últimos años. En Chile, específicamente, el tema develó los vínculos existentes entre distintos ámbitos de poder de las élites a través del denominado caso Karadima. Este artículo se enmarca en el ámbito del Análisis Crítico del Discurso y en él se examinan -desde la perspectiva de las estrategias o funciones del discurso político- proposiciones tomadas de doce (...) episodios de una entrevista y en ellas se explora el comportamiento discursivo de la principal autoridad de la Iglesia Católica en el contexto de dicho caso y a quien además le correspondió recibir e investigar las primeras denuncias, el Cardenal Errázuriz. El estudio busca develar qué estrategias discursivas emplea el hablante y cómo éstas son funcionales a los propósitos de protección de la institución que representa. Del análisis se advierte un intento por desacreditar las acusaciones de las víctimas y validar las acciones emprendidas por su institución y algunos de sus representantes. (shrink)

This monograph evaluates public policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic through a public choice lens. The book compares two prominent, albeit mutually exclusive, theories in social sciences—public interest theory and public choice theory—and explores how their predictions perform within the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic. The chapters present different pandemic policies alongside empirical data in order to draw conclusions about their efficacy, and, in turn, draw conclusions about the veracity of each theory. By the end of the volume, the reader (...) will be able to draw their own conclusions about whether the pandemic policy responses served the public interest, as public interest theory suggests, or the personal interests of the politicians who implemented them, as public choice theory holds. (shrink)

Considers Deleuze's ideas on philosophical practice in relation to his work. This book presents analyses of, and aims to provide some context for, this relation in Deleuze's work, by focusing on Deleuze's conception of the relation between thought and practice, the brain and the hand (or mouth).