Philosophical ability, so that the principles chosen for formalization are not trivial or absurd.

An argument opposing the unrestricted use of quantification in modal logic has been put forward by Quine. Central to this argument are the two phrases, The Morning Star, The Evening Star.One form of the argument is obtained by considering the following two statements: It is necessary that the Morning Star is identical with the Morning Star. It is not necessary that the Evening Star is identical with the Morning Star.

Si la forme est la condition de toute pensée et si la matière est informe, comment Plotin peut-il la penser ? Le recours à la négation accompagné d'une orientation du regard vers l'extériorité permet de faire signe vers l'informité de la matière ; cette négation cependant ne doit pas conduire à un nom vide, mais à un résidu ; l'image apparaît comme une aide qui évite l'évanouissement de la pensée dans le néant. Plotin développe en particulier l'image du miroir pour (...) donner à penser la matière ; comme elle, il est créateur d'illusions et impassible. Cependant, comme toute image, le miroir a ses limites pour illustrer le statut paradoxal de la matière. Proclus, lorsqu'il essaye de penser la participation, met en évidence ces limites : le miroir suppose l'extension, l'extraversion et l'altération de celui qui s'y mire. L'image ne demeure qu'une aide et doit donc rester subordonnée à la négation. If form is the condition of all thought and if matter has no form, how is it possible for Plotinus to think it ? Using negation and considering exteriority allows to lead to the formless nature of matter ; however, this negation must not lead up to an empty name, but to a residue ; the image appears as a help which saves thought from vanishing into nothingness. Plotinus uses especially the image of the mirror to help to think matter ; the mirror is, like matter, an illusion-maker and impassive. Nevertheless, like every image, the mirror has its limits to illustrate the paradoxical status of matter.Proclus, when he tries to think the participation, shows these limits : the mirror presupposes the expanse, extraversion and alteration of he who gazes at himself in it. The image is only a help and must be subordinated to negation. (shrink)

This paper is a tentative step toward formalizing in symbolic logic some of the central assumptions of Clark L. Hull's theory of behavior. There will be noticeable deviations from Hull's own terminology and form of statement, but this will be largely in the interest of greater logical simplicity. The notation of symbolic logic will not be used, but the behavioral axioms will be so stated as to admit of easy translation into such notation. Such easy translatability seems to be a (...) prerequisite if theorems are to be derivable with genuine deductive rigor. (shrink)

Most traditional systems of metaphysics do not seem to assert that there are such things as propositions. This appears to me to be a defect in such systems, especially as each such system is really itself a class of propositions or a single complex proposition.

The following text is a translation of Semyon Frank’s “L’intuition fondamentale de Bergson” published in Henri Bergson: Essais et témoignages inédits, edited by Albert Béguin and Pierre Thévenaz, Neuchâtel: Éditions de la Baconnière, 1941. In this article, Frank addresses Bergson’s notion of intuition, his anti-intellectualism, his mysticism, his closeness to Lebensphilosophie, the notion of lived experience, the distinction between intuition as pure contemplation and intuition as living knowledge, the distinction between cognition of the atemporal essence of reality and cognition of (...) the world of becoming, pragmatism, the disinterested and open intuitive spiritual attitude vs the utilitarian attitude of social groups closed in on themselves, the transrational vs the irrational, spiritual life, psychic life, the Absolute, and the temporal flux. The article contains criticisms of Bergson on the issues of time and intuition: the durée, the intuitive time, is incomprehensible without an atemporal foundation. Therefore, according to Frank, Plato was correct—contra Bergson—to define time as the moving image of eternity. And, if there is such an atemporal foundation, then, contrary to what Bergson seems to think, intuition as living knowledge cannot be the sole mode of intuition. Moreover, unlike what Bergson appears to think, an intuition of the Absolute would be an intuition of the transrational rather than of the irrational. The translation is preceded by an introduction tracing the genesis of the article, which was commissioned by the Swiss philosopher Pierre Thévenaz. (shrink)

The idea that deep brain stimulation (DBS) induces changes to personality, identity, agency, authenticity, autonomy and self (PIAAAS) is so deeply entrenched within neuroethics discourses that it has become an unchallenged narrative. In this article, we critically assess evidence about putative effects of DBS on PIAAAS. We conducted a literature review of more than 1535 articles to investigate the prevalence of scientific evidence regarding these potential DBS-induced changes. While we observed an increase in the number of publications in theoretical neuroethics (...) that mention putative DBS-induced changes to patients’ postoperative PIAAAS, we found a critical lack of primary empirical studies corroborating these claims. Our findings strongly suggest that the theoretical neuroethics debate on putative effects of DBS relies on very limited empirical evidence and is, instead, reliant on unsubstantiated speculative assumptions probablyin lieuof robust evidence. As such, this may reflect the likelihood of a speculative neuroethics bubble that may need to be deflated. Nevertheless, despite the low number of first-hand primary studies and large number of marginal and single case reports, potential postoperative DBS changes experienced by patients remain a critical ethical concern. We recommend further empirical research in order to enhance theoretical neuroethics work in the area. In particular, we call for the development of better instruments capable of capturing potential postoperative variations of PIAAAS. (shrink)