We introduce the Causal Compatibility Conjecture for the Events, Trees, Histories approach to Quantum Theory in the semi-classical setting. We then prove that under the assumptions of the conjecture, points on closed causal curves are physically indistinguishable in the context of the ETH approach to QT and thus the conjecture implies a compatibility of the causal structures even in presence of closed causal curves. As a consequence of this result there is no observation that could be made by an observer (...) to tell any two points on a closed causal curve apart. We thus conclude that closed causal curves have no physical significance in the context of the ETH approach to QT. This is an indication that time travel will not be possible in a full quantum theory of gravity and thus forever remain a fantasy. (shrink)

O principal objetivo desse artigo é interpretativo. Trata-se de historiar as tradicionais teorias descritivistas dos nomes próprios sugeridas por Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein e Searle, demonstrando que, diversamente do que é suposto, elas não constituem teorias diversas a competir entre si, mas apresentações algo diversas de um mesmo modo de ver.

Costa-Claudio_Philosophy-as-a-protoscience.

In this paper an improved formulation of the classical tripartite view of knowledge is proposed and defended. This formulation solves Gettier's problem by making explicit what is concealed by the symbolic version of the tripartite definition, namely, the perspectival context in which concrete knowledge claims are evaluated.

Nesse artigo o conceito de consciência é definido como o da experiência verídica do mundo, quer seja ele externo ou interno. A experiência verídica é a das coisas tal como elas realmente sáo para nós. Conceitos como os de experiência e realidade precisam ser aqui adequadamente analisados para que tal definiçáo seja corretamente compreendida.

This paper provides a new compatibilist definition of free will, which is an elaboration of the classic compatibilist view of free will as absence of restriction, with the help of the causal theory of action and some special categories. This new definition enables us to neutralize a very wide range of counterexamples in a systematic and compelling way, including those left unanswered by hierarchical definitions.1.

In der Arbeit wird eine "konservative" Lösung von Gettiers Problem entwickelt, wonach die klassische Wissensdefinition nicht erweitert oder ersetzt wird, sondern auf eine vereinigende Weise interpretiert. Die Hauptidee ist, daß Gettiers Beispielen prinzipiell geantwortet werden können, wenn die logische Verbindung zwischen der Bedingung der Wahrheit der Aussage und die Bedingung der Rechtfertigung des Glaubens an dieser Wahrheit explizit gemacht wird.

This paper aims to show that the ‘I'm thinking’, to really be the awareness of an act of thought, must refer to or indicate particular thought‐contents that are not actually being focused on in the consciousness. A consequence of this is that the ‘I'm thinking’ lacks the absolute incorrigibility necessary to justify its role as a premise for the cogito.

Existem dois tipos de criterio de identidade pessoal, criterios de continuidade mental (geralmente memoria) e criterios de continuidade fisica (como continuidade corporal). Depois de examinar os papeis desempenhados pelos criterios principais, 0 autor sugere uma regra criterial (RECIP) que quando aplicada a urn conjunto de criterios fundamentais fisicos e mentais parece adequar-se a nossas intuicoes acerca do que e ou nao ser a mesma pessoa.

Este artigo contém uma refutação do argumento da terra-gêmea de Putnam, do qual se conclui que o significado está “fora da cabeça”, além de uma breve refutação à sugestão de Kripke de que “Água é H2O” exprime uma identidade necessária a posteriori. Essas refutações baseiam-se no desenvolvimento de uma análise neofregeana e neodescritivista mais elaborada do conceito de água no início do artigo.

Neste artigo o conceito de sentido da vida é analisado em termos da felicidade ou do bem que a vida de uma pessoa trás para ela mesma e para as outras pessoas. No curso do argumento essa tese é discutida e justificada em algum detalhe.

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 O objetivo desse artigo é mostrar que o princípio da verificaçáo náo está táo morto quanto geralmente se acredita. Retornando à metodologia e assunções de Wittgenstein, que afinal foi quem primeiro sugeriu o princípio, respostas às principais objeções sáo sugeridas.

Os argumentos, neste artigo, são desenvolvidos afim de mostrar que há três níveis básicos de ação: os níveis das ações atonomas, ação volitiva e ação racional. Além disso, é mostrado que estas distinções têm uma base evolucionária e neurofisiológica. Consequentemente, elas correspondem respectivamente ao archipallium, ao cérebro palleomammalium, e ao neopallium. In this paper arguments are developed in order to show that there are three basic levels of action:the levels of autonomous action, volitional action, and reasoned action. It is shown (...) further thatthese distinctions have an evolutionary and neurophysiological basis, since they correspondrespectively to the archipallium, the palleomammalium brain, and the neopallium. (shrink)

Esse artigo contém uma leitura da semântica fregeana na qual sentidos são parafraseados como regras cognitivas e a existência e a verdade em termos da aplicabilidade dessas regras. Nesse contexto ideias objetáveis da semântica fregeana são substituídas por outras mais intuitivas e plausíveis, sendo as consequências disso especulativamente consideradas.

Resenha do livro de: COLLIN, McGinn, The Making ofa Philosopher: My Journey through Twentieth-Centurv Philosophy. New York: Harper Collins, 2002. 241 paginas.

The article addresses the treatment given to the notion of subject in Slavoj Žižek and Robert Kurz. Without aiming at a synthesis between the two radically opposed positions, they are played against one another in order to reveal the unidimensional stances and false steps in the field of the constitution of the struggle for a concrete negation of capitalist society.

Bertrand Russell: The Colours of Pacifism analyzes the tenacious commitment of one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary intellectuals to the cause of civilization, progress, and human rights. Through his active and pragmatic pacifism, Russell sought to confront the problems stemming from the unstable and dramatic political conditions of his age: the beginning of the Great War, the establishment of the League of Nations, the rise of totalitarian regimes, the outbreak of the Second World War, the dawn of the Atomic (...) Age, the escalation of the Cold War, the weakness of the United Nations, and the need for world government. His reflections on the subject of peace, which constitute the main focus of this book, led Russell into dialogue with some of the greatest figures of his time, including Romain Rolland, Albert Einstein, Woodrow Wilson, Leon Trotsky, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nikita Khrushchev, and J. F. Kennedy. Shining new light on a lifelong preoccupation in Russell's work and thinking, The Colours of Pacifism is a landmark study that will appeal to students, scholars and anyone curious about the philosopher's engagement with the world around him. (shrink)

By an unfounded chain for a function f:X→X we mean a sequence nω of elements of X s.t. fxn+1=xn for every n. Unfounded chains can be regarded as a generalization of fixed points, but on the other hand are linked with concepts concerning non-well-founded situations, as ungrounded sentences and the hypergame. In this paper, among other things, we prove a lemma in general topology, we exhibit an extensional recursive function from the set of sentences of PA into itself without an (...) unfounded chain, and we prove that every term in a Magari algebra has an unfounded chain. (shrink)

The basis of the paper is a logic of analytical consequential implication, CI.0, which is known to be equivalent to the well-known modal system KT thanks to the definition A → B = df A ⥽ B ∧ Ξ (Α, Β), Ξ (Α, Β) being a symbol for what is called here Equimodality Property: (□A ≡ □B) ∧ (◊A ≡ ◊B). Extending CI.0 (=KT) with axioms and rules for the so-called circumstantial operator symbolized by *, one obtains a system CI.0*Eq (...) in whose language one can define an operator ↠ suitable to formalize context-dependent conditionals (so to counterfactual conditionals) via the definition (Def ↠) A ↠ B = df *A ⥽ B ∧ Ξ (Α, Β).. The central problem of the paper is to identify inside CI.0*Eq + Def ↠ a set of axioms yielding the fragment consisting of all and only theorems in which only truth-functional operators and the two operators → and ↠ occur. This system, here called CI.0, is introduced in §3. In view of the intended purpose, it is introduced a complete and tableau-decidable system KTw, which is an extension of KT with axioms for the so-called quasi-variables w(A), w(B)… Three translation functions among the three languages used in the paper are then introduced. The first, Tr, maps every wff of form *A into wffs of form w(A) ∧ A and translates theorems of CI.0*Eq into theorems of KTw. The second, t°, translates theorems of CI.0 into theorems of CI.0*Eq by applying Def↠. A third one, t, translates theorems of CI.0 into theorems of KTw. As a consequence, it follows that t°A = TrtA. In §4 it is proved that CI.0 is complete w.r.t. the class of CI.0-models of form where f is a selection function and R an access relation. It is then proved (i) that CI.0 models may be converted into KTw-models; (ii) that the truth-value of a proposition in a world of a CI.0-model is preserved in the same world of the derived KTw-model; (iii) that A is a CI.0-thesis iff its translation tA is KTw-thesis. It follows that, if A is not a CI.0-thesis, tA is not a KTw-thesis, so also that TrtA is not a CI.0*Eq-thesis. Since t°A = TrtA and t°A is a function built on Def↠, this proves that every t°-translation of a CI.0-wff that is a CI.0*Eq-theorem is a CI.0-theorem. Since the converse proposition is proved in §2, their conjunction establishes the desired result. In the final section, it is proved that CI.0 is tableau-decidable, that ↠ is not a trivial operator and that ↠ enjoys the positive and negative properties required in §1 for context-dependent conditionals. Some final remarks suggest that studying the relations between CI.0 and systems of classical conditional logic may be a promising line of investigation. (shrink)

The Italian translation of writings by W. von Humboldt recently edited by G. Moretto and F. Tessitore makes it possible to obtain a picture of Humboldt’s philosophy more complete than those which have been for a long time dominating. The results of Tessitore’s researches, which are summarized in his Introduction, underline the most fundamental aspects of Humboldt’s thought, i.e. the pivotal role played in it, as in Schiller’s, by an anthropology based on the ideas of force, energy and individuality; and (...) a vision of history, hostile to the apriorism and the teleological bent of the philosophy of history originating in Kant and carried on by Schelling, Fichte, Hegel, and centering on the notion of an individuality irreducible to any abstract and deterministic scheme, which inaugurates that historicistic conception of philosophy and life which has to be regarded as the other great current of thought born in the Goethezeit, alternative to the idealist one. (shrink)

Classification of sciences; Moslem scholars; Africa, North.

Accountability is a cornerstone of the governance of artificial intelligence (AI). However, it is often defined too imprecisely because its multifaceted nature and the sociotechnical structure of AI systems imply a variety of values, practices, and measures to which accountability in AI can refer. We address this lack of clarity by defining accountability in terms of answerability, identifying three conditions of possibility (authority recognition, interrogation, and limitation of power), and an architecture of seven features (context, range, agent, forum, standards, process, (...) and implications). We analyse this architecture through four accountability goals (compliance, report, oversight, and enforcement). We argue that these goals are often complementary and that policy-makers emphasise or prioritise some over others depending on the proactive or reactive use of accountability and the missions of AI governance. (shrink)

Recent developments within genetics are encouraging. Many ill people have already been treated with genetic therapy with positive results and virtually no negative side effects. Parallel to this positive prospect, worries have been expressed about the possible application of the new medical techniques for enhancement purposes. The use of genetic technology in the world of sports has been conceived of as especially problematic, since in some cases it might violate the present ban on gene doping. Gene therapy may be applied (...) to re‐engineer a sportperson's body thereby enhancing athletic performance. This chapter presents a brief account of current discussion on the enhancement of human physical capacities, particularly in (elite) sports. First the natural scientific picture is described, followed by a discussion of the ethical implications of enhancement technologies. (shrink)

Much has been written about recidivist punishments, particularly within the area of criminology. However there is a notorious lack of penal philosophical reflection on this issue. This book attempts to fill that gap by presenting the philosopher’s view on this matter as a way of furthering the debate on recidivist punishments.