This article seeks to historicize both the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the debate on realism occasioned by Russian aggression in Ukraine since 2014. Using the research of Gerard Toal on Russia’s construction of its security interests in the post-Soviet spaces that include Ukraine, the article argues that neorealist geopolitical explanations fail to do justice to the roles of contingency and culture in setting Russia’s so-called ‘red lines.’ It also identifies an agency problem in realism: realists (...) not only fail to do justice to the agency of small states like Ukraine in this conflict but elide the moral and practical agency of decisionmakers like Russian President Vladmir Putin. The article also suggests that the current realism debate is the tip of an iceberg: realism has long had a problem specifying the relation of its theory to its practice. The article concludes by discussing the long shadow of 19th century imperial history over contemporary discussions of spheres of influence and great power status. (shrink)

This book presents the deterministic view of quantum mechanics developed by Nobel Laureate Gerard 't Hooft. Dissatisfied with the uncomfortable gaps in the way conventional quantum mechanics meshes with the classical world, 't Hooft has revived the old hidden variable ideas, but now in a much more systematic way than usual. In this, quantum mechanics is viewed as a tool rather than a theory. The book presents examples of models that are classical in essence, but can be analysed by (...) the use of quantum techniques, and argues that even the Standard Model, together with gravitational interactions, might be viewed as a quantum mechanical approach to analysing a system that could be classical at its core. He shows how this approach, even though it is based on hidden variables, can be plausibly reconciled with Bell's theorem, and how the usual objections voiced against the idea of 'superdeterminism' can be overcome, at least in principle. This framework elegantly explains - and automatically cures - the problems of the wave function collapse and the measurement problem. Even the existence of an "arrow of time" can perhaps be explained in a more elegant way than usual. As well as reviewing the author's earlier work in the field, the book also contains many new observations and calculations. It provides stimulating reading for all physicists working on the foundations of quantum theory. (shrink)

This article offers a new theory about how using lotteries to distribute scarce benefits satisfies beneficiaries' claims. In the first section of the article I criticize John Broome's view and on the basis of these criticisms set out four desiderata for a philosophically adequate account of claim satisfaction by lottery. In section II I propose and defend a new view called the dual structure view, so called because it posits that claimants have two types of claims in the relevant scarce (...) benefit distribution cases under discussion. This view meets all the desiderata set out in section I. Section III draws out the practical implications of my view for a variety of temporally extended cases, including the distribution of corneas to patients who have suffered corneal degeneration. (shrink)

The history of the concept of “religion” in Western tradition has intrigued scholars for years. This important collection of eighteen essays brings further light to the ongoing debate. Three of the invited participants, W.C. Smith, M. Despland and E. Feil, has each previously written impressive books treating this subject; the last two acknowledged the impact and continuing influence of Smith’s work, The Meaning and End of Religion. An introduction and a recapitulation of Smith’s contribution as a scholar set the stage (...) for a retrospective look at the published literature. Contributors then examine the transformation of words (the classical religio to the modern religion), particularities of religion in nineteenth-century France, Troeltsch’s concept of religion, the study of religion from an Asian point of view and the categorization of “World Religions.” The concluding essays elaborate contemporary anthropological, cross-disciplinary, semiological, deconstructive and psychoanalytical methodological approaches to the concept and study of “religion.” Exploring critically different aspects of the concept and study of religion, these provocative essays typically reflect the methodological pluralism currently existing in the field of Religious Studies. Of interest to scholars and students alike, this collection also contains a complete bibliography of W.C. Smith’s publications. (shrink)

The globalization of economic activity and human life is the most potent force of the present era. This book examines the impact of this force on human political institutions and ideas. It develops the argument that globalization will erode the nation-state's importance and transform the array of political ideas which accompany it.

Many scientists believe that the universe, including the human brain, is governed by natural laws and that all can be explained by natural processes. In consequence, they believe that all events, including brain events, are determined. From this, they often conclude that free will cannot exist. I believe these views are mistaken and will present several lines of argument to support this position. I conclude that the operation of free will is compatible with determinism, can be explained by natural processes (...) and does not entail immaterial substance. (shrink)

There is no general agreement among scholars that Aristotle had a unified concept of phantasia. That is evident from the most cursory glance through the literature. Freudenthal speaks of the contradictions into which Aristotle seems to fall in his remarks about phantasia, and explains the contradictions as due to the border position which phantasia occupies between Wahrnehmung and thinking. Ross, in Aristotle, p. 143, talks of passages on phantasia in De Anima 3. 3 which constitute ‘a reversal of his doctrine (...) of sensation’ and perhaps do not ‘represent his deliberate view’. This is a serious state of affairs, since De Anima 3. 3 is Aristotle’s main discussion of phantasia. Of passages on phantasia, appearances and images in De Anima 3. 3, Hamlyn says: ‘There is clearly little consistency here’. Even Schofield, who is more optimistic about saving the unity of Aristotle’s concept than the last two scholars, grants that ‘some of the inconsistencies of Aristotle’s account seem more than merely apparent’.1 He thinks of Aristotle’s phantasia as a ‘loose-knit, family concept’. My purpose here is to suggest that Aristotle is more consistent in his use of phantasia than his critics will allow him to be. The translation of the term as imagination frequently adds unnecessarily to the confusion, so I shall avoid it and use transliteration instead. (shrink)

This paper describes a novel perspective on the foundations of mathematics: how mathematics may be seen to be largely about “information compression via the matching and unification of patterns”. That is itself a novel approach to IC, couched in terms of nonmathematical primitives, as is necessary in any investigation of the foundations of mathematics. This new perspective on the foundations of mathematics reflects the facts that mathematics is almost exclusively the product of human brains, and has been developed, as an (...) aid to human thinking, mathematics is likely to be consonant with much evidence for the importance of IC in human learning, perception, and cognition. This perspective on the foundations of mathematics has grown out of a long-term programme of research developing the SP Theory of Intelligence and its realization in the SP Computer Model, a system in which a generalised version of ICMUP—the powerful concept of SP-multiple-alignment—plays a central role. This paper shows with an example how mathematics, without any special provision, may achieve compression of information. Then, it describes examples showing how variants of ICMUP may be seen in widely used structures and operations in mathematics. Examples are also given to show how several aspects of the mathematics-related disciplines of logic and computing may be understood as ICMUP. Also discussed is the intimate relation between IC and concepts of probability, with arguments that there are advantages in approaching AI, cognitive science, and concepts of probability via ICMUP. Also discussed is how the close relation between IC and concepts of probability relates to the established view that some parts of mathematics are intrinsically probabilistic, and how that latter view may be reconciled with the all-or-nothing, “exact,” forms of calculation or inference that are familiar in mathematics and logic. There are many potential benefits and applications of the mathematics-as-IC perspective. (shrink)

This essay explores how it might be possible to recover a more pluralistic and therefore participatory understanding and exercise of the teaching office in the Christian Church by, first, briefly reflecting upon the historical backdrop to the emergence and development of the role of authoritative ecclesial teacher. Second, I identify some of the ecclesial fault lines and tensions that emerged in the modern and contemporary periods pertaining to teaching authority. Third, I raise the issue of the impact of such developments (...) upon the manner in which Christian churches have sought to offer teachings on ethical issues in recent times. Fourth, I explore, via an ecclesiological analysis that is both a comparative and ecumenical in nature, three visions for retrieving a more participatory and life-giving understanding of the teaching office and practice of the teaching function for our times. The visions explored come from a Reformed, Roman Catholic, and ecumenical standpoint: respectively, those of Richard Robert Osmer, Richard R. Gaillardetz, and Willem Visser 't Hooft. The final section offers some brief conclusions about the potential for truly ecumenical collaboration in moral discernment in the light of such considerations. (shrink)

THE most influential figure in Aristotelian scholarship in modern times was undoubtedly Werner Jaeger. There had been great original thinkers about Aristotle in the hundred years before Jaeger: one need only mention Brandis in Germany and Case in England. There were also fine scholars contemporary with Jaeger, like Sir David Ross, the editor and commentator on Aristotle. But no Aristotelian scholar made such an impact as Jaeger. His arguments for Aristotle’s development, for his declining Platonism and growing empiricism, started a (...) sort of revolution in Aristotelian studies. Jaeger’s position has been very much questioned since but it would be ungenerous to call his work on Aristotle anything other than a great contribution to scholarship. But Jaeger did not attempt an extended analysis and criticism of central problems in Aristotle’s philosophy. And the same must be said of other prominent contributors to Aristotelian scholarship in this century. Ross’s editions and commentaries on Aristotle are invaluable but his commentary often seems to leave off just when the problem is getting interesting. This may be explained by his reported answer to the question of whether he actually agreed with Aristotle: ‘Oh, my dear child, I am a scholar, not a philosopher’. This might not be the answer of Ingemar During who has written the latest big scholarly book covering all aspects of Aristotle’s thought but one feels at times that it should be, and particularly when Düring is dealing with Aristotle’s metaphysics. (shrink)