The paper discusses the philosophical and historical doctrine of the Russian philosopher and historian George Petrovich Fedotov. The author focuses on the analysis of imperial issues in the works of G.P. Fedotov, especially of his views on the cultural history of the Russian empire and the essence of imperial project in Russia. Fedotov reconsiders the historical experience and revolutionary catastrophe of Russia and searches for the foundations of the social and cultural processes determining the events of Russian history. Fedotov’s (...) works offer a variety of interpretations of the political and cultural phenomenon of empire. This reflects his evolution as a philosopher of history: the focus of his vision shifts from the Medieval Rus to the Empire of Peter the Great, then to the collapsed empire of Nicholas II and finally to the USSR. Fedotov’s concept of Empire evolves into a timeless cultural-philosophical phenomenon but originates from the historical description of the centralization of power in the feudal monarchy of Ivan the Terrible. The evolution of the philosophical and historical views of Fedotov is influenced by the changes of his attitude to the historical conception of Klyuchevsky. In the 1940s Fedotov considers the empire as a universal idea. The concept of empire proposed by Fedotov gives an understanding of the Russian historical development, especially the causes of the decline and fall of the Russian Empire. Fedotov associates the cause of the salvation of Russia with the study of ancient Russian culture, in which he founds a moral and political ideal of the “Republic of Saint Sophia.” The paper shows heuristic potential of Fedotov’s cultural and philosophical ideas on the vocation of spiritual elite and the creative role of personality in the process of nation-building. (shrink)

Epistemic logic is one of the most exciting areas in medieval philosophy. Neglected almost entirely after the end of the Middle Ages, it has been rediscovered by philosophers of the twentieth century. Epistemic Logic in the Later Middle Ages provides the first comprehensive study of the subject. Ivan Boh explores the contrast between epistemic and alethic conceptions of consequence, the general epistemic rules of consequence, the search for conditions of knowing contingent propositions, the problems of substitutivity in intentional contexts, (...) the considerations of epistemic/doxastic iterated modalities, and the problems of composite and divided senses in authors ranging from Abelard to Frachantian. Boh concludes with a comparison between medieval endeavors and the epistemic logic of our own times. Written in a clear and readable style with minimal symbolic apparatus, this book employs modern symbolism and conceptual frameworks, and complements the studies of the syntacticand semantic dimensions of medieval logic. (shrink)

_Epistemic Logic_ studies statements containing verbs such as 'know' and 'wish'. It is one of the most exciting areas in medieval philosophy. Neglected almost entirely after the end of the Middle Ages, it has been rediscovered by philosophers of the present century. This is the first comprehensive study of the subject. Ivan Boh explores the rules for entailment between epistemic statements, the search for the conditions of knowing contingent propositions, the problems of substitutivity in intentional contexts, the relationship between (...) epistemic and modal logic, and the problems of composite and divided senses in authors ranging from Abelard to Frachantian. (shrink)

_Epistemic Logic_ studies statements containing verbs such as 'know' and 'wish'. It is one of the most exciting areas in medieval philosophy. Neglected almost entirely after the end of the Middle Ages, it has been rediscovered by philosophers of the present century. This is the first comprehensive study of the subject. Ivan Boh explores the rules for entailment between epistemic statements, the search for the conditions of knowing contingent propositions, the problems of substitutivity in intentional contexts, the relationship between (...) epistemic and modal logic, and the problems of composite and divided senses in authors ranging from Abelard to Frachantian. (shrink)

This paper addresses the two interpretations that a combination ofnegative indefinites can get in concord languages like French:a concord reading, which amounts to a single negation, and a doublenegation reading. We develop an analysis within a polyadic framework,where a sequence of negative indefinites can be interpreted as aniteration of quantifiers or via resumption. The first option leadsto a scopal relation, interpreted as double negation. The secondoption leads to the construction of a polyadic negative quantifiercorresponding to the concord reading. Given that (...) sentential negationparticipates in negative concord, we develop an extension of thepolyadic approach which can deal with non-variable binding operators,treating the contribution of negation in a concord context assemantically empty. Our semantic analysis, incorporated into agrammatical analysis formulated in HPSG, crucially relies on theassumption that quantifiers can be combined in more than one wayupon retrieval from the quantifier store. We also considercross-linguistic variation regarding the participation ofsentential negation in negative concord. (shrink)

In this work, we propose a meaningful extension of description logics for non-monotonic reasoning. We introduce \, a logic allowing for the representation of and reasoning about both typical class-membership and typical instances of a relation. We propose a preferential semantics for \ in terms of partially-ordered DL interpretations which intuitively captures the notions of typicality we are interested in. We define a tableau-based algorithm for checking \ knowledge-base consistency that always terminates and we show that it is sound and (...) complete w.r.t. our preferential semantics. The general framework we here propose can serve as the foundation for further exploration of non-monotonic reasoning in description logics and similarly structured logics. (shrink)

Višestoljetni model Crkve kao zajednice laika i klerika koji ju inspiriraju i vode, ulazi u funkcionalnu krizu. U doba revolucija i liberalizma laici se nalaze u novim, često oprečnim ulogama: vjernika odanih Crkvi i građana lojalnih sekularnom društvu. Tražeći izlaz iz krize, Crkva se oslanja na sposobnost demokratskog djelovanja laika koji svojim društvenim nastupom promiču kršćanske vrijednosti, ali se i bore za politička prava Crkve. Uz političke stranke katoličke inspiracije posebnu ulogu ima organizirani katolički laikat, kulturno i moralno oblikujući laičke (...) staleže. Pretpovijest nastanka katoličkoga laičkog pokreta (Katoličke akcije) daje uvide u složenost društava druge polovice XIX. i početka XX. st., ali i zavidnu razinu inventivnosti i laika i hijerarhije u aktiviranju laika, što će postati epohalni uspjeh Crkve XX. stoljeća. (shrink)

ResumoEste artigo propõe elucidar a relação entre a cibernética e a mecanologia na obra de Simondon, considerando suas duas teses de doutorado e a entrevista concedida em 1968 a Jean Le Moyne, a pedido do Ofício do Filme do Québec, no Canadá, ao longo da qual é predominante o uso de "mecanologia", em contraste com as teses, onde sofre a concorrência dos vocábulos "alagmática" e "organologia", ficando o termo "cibernética" na penumbra. A cibernética é celebrada na França em 1962, no (...) contexto dos famosos Colóquios de Royaumont, quando Norbert Wiener foi homenageado e a cibernética ocupou toda a cena, com a participação ativa de Simondon na organização do evento. Essa situação leva os estudiosos a interrogar-se pelo destino do termo "cibernética" em sua obra, caso estivesse em jogo a segunda cibernética, em vez da primeira, e que só veio a lume mais tarde. Mais do que o interesse historiográfico do assunto, o artigo pretende suscitar um interesse epistemológico na filosofia da tecnologia. O desafio é lançar luz sobre a questão ainda por demais obscura acerca das relações entre a tecnologia, a engenharia e a ciência.This article aims to clarify the relationship between cybernetics and mechanology in Simondon's work, considering his two doctoral theses and the interview he gave in 1968 to Jean Le Moyne, at the request of the Quebec Film Office in Canada. In this interview the use of "mechanology" is predominant, in contrast with the theses, where it suffers from competition with terms such as "allagmatics" and "organology", leaving the term "cybernetics" in the shade. Cybernetics is celebrated in France in 1962, in the context of the famous Royaumont Colloquia, when Norbert Wiener was honored and cybernetics occupies the whole scene, with Simondon's active participation in the event organization, This situation leads experts to question the fate of the word "cybernetics" in his work, in the case the second cybernetics was at stake, instead of the first one, but that only came to light later. More than a subject of historiographical interest, the article aims to evoke an epistemic interest in the philosophy of technology. The challenge is to shed light on a question that still remains obscure: the relationships among technology, engineering and science. (shrink)

This article has four main objectives. First, it introduces the ideal types of domination of Weber. Contrary to the received wisdom, which knows only “three ideal types” (traditional, charismatic and legal rational) I present the “fourth” type of domination, Weber called “Wille der Beherrschten” as an important correction of his ideal type of legal-rational authority. Next I make a novel, critical distinction between patrimonial and prebendal types of traditional authority. Third, I discuss various ways that communist regimes tried to legitimate (...) themselves and how they entered eventually a legitimation crisis, leading to the collapse of communism. In the next section, I explore the different ways post-communist capitalisms seek legitimacy (with various combinations of legal rational authority and patrimonialism), and finally I conclude with a trend of re-convergence of some post-communist systems (especially Russia and Hungary, but with signs for similar trends elsewhere) into an illiberal, prebendal quasi-democratic system. (shrink)

Karl Polanyi’s scholarship is interpreted in radically different ways. The “hard” reading of Polanyi sees him as a radical socialist; the “soft” reading presents him as a theorist of mixed economy. This article sides with the soft interpretation. It uses Polanyi’s biography to explain his theoretical “elusiveness,” presents a novel interpretation of his three types of economic integration, claiming all economies are “mixed.” While it acknowledges Polanyi as one of the major sources of world system theory, it claims that Polanyi (...) saw not only the dangers, but also the necessity and positive consequences of globalization. Finally, it shows that, in spite of Polanyi’s life-long commitment to the political left, his scholarly work did not offer an apology of socialism. Instead this article uses Polanyi’s theory of economic integration to build a critical political economy of state socialism. (shrink)

O artigo visa pensar a relação entre ética, ciência e tecnologia, enfatizando o problema de sua revinculação depois da cisão entre os juízos de fato e os juízos de valor, ocorrida no início dos tempos modernos. Uma vez examinada a ética da aristocracia guerreira e a moral do santo, procura-se delinear o caminho tomando como referência a ética da responsabilidade, cujo protótipo é a moral do sábio, desaparecido no curso dos tempos modernos, em razão da fragmentação do saber e do (...) advento do especialista. Ao fim do estudo, é discutida a relação entre a ética e a metafísica, com o intuito de ajustar a questão antropológica à perspectiva cosmológica, bem como de fornecer as bases de um novo humanismo, objetivando a humanização da técnica e a geração de um novo homem, alfabetizado em ciência, tecnologia e humanidades.The article aims at thinking the relation among ethics, science and technology, emphasizing the problem of their re-tying, after the division into judgments of fact and judgments of value, wich happened in the begininning of modern times. Since the warlike aristocracy's ethics and the saint man's moral are examined, it tries to outline its way, taking as a reference the ethics of responsability, whose prototype is the wise man's moral, which disappeared in the course of modern times, due to the fragmentation of knowing and the advent of the specialist. At the end of the study, the relationship between ethics and metaphysics is discussed, aiming at adjusting the anthropological question to the cosmological perspective, as well as at providing the bases of a new humanism, objectifying the humanization of the technique and the generation of a new man, literate at science, technology and the humanities. (shrink)

In this article we give some elements of the debate between the liberationist, decolonialist and deconstructivist currents around the problem of Eurocentrism. In the first place, we identify some of the contributions of Jacques Derrida's thought to this debate from his reading of three representative authors of European thought: Husserl, Hegel and Heidegger. Secondly, we give some elements on the way in which certain forms of decolonialism and liberationism conceive not only their difference with Eurocentrism, but also the difference between (...) European thinkers to whom they feel linked and this same Eurocentrism. Finally, in the third place, we briefly review two versions of deconstructivism that seem able to dialogue despite the distance, two versions of wandering between Latin America and Europe. (shrink)

Resumen: En el presente artículo planteamos la existencia, en el Derrida de La diseminación, de cierto pensamiento sobre la bio-política. Incluyendo la figura animal, este pensamiento es también el pensamiento de una soberanía más allá de la instancia del poder y del dominio. El Seminario La bestia y el soberano publicado postumamente, parece ser su más acabada expresión. En primer lugar, seguimos las indicaciones realizadas por Derrida acerca de la pintura como zôgraphia en La diseminación. La deconstrucción derridiana de lo (...) que llamamos "la secuencia soberana", nos permite analizar la relación entre el problema de "la animalidad de la escritura" y de la soberanía como corolario del pensamiento de una cierta bio-política o zoo-política tempranamente discernida. En segundo lugar, exploramos en algunos de los pliegues de la discusión de Derrida con Agamben y con Foucault sobre el concepto de vida, los términos de una cierta politicidad de la vida que incluye la animalidad y susceptible de ser situada más allá de la instancia del poder y del dominio. Finalmente, y en tercer lugar, tras confrontar los conceptos de soberanía de Foucault y de Derrida a propósito del Leviatán de Hobbes, retomamos el problema inicial de la zôgraphia en relación con la cual buscamos aproximarnos a lo que Derrida va a llamar en el Seminario La bestia y el soberano "la doble y contradictoria figuración".: In the present article we try to find in the Derrida of La dissemination a certain bio-political thinking that includes the figure of the animal, and in relation to which the concept of sovereignty can be thought of in a way that goes beyond instances of power and domination. The Seminar The Beast and the Sovereign, published posthumously, seems to be the Derrida's most finished expression of this line of thinking. First we follow Derrida's discussion of painting as zoography in La dissemination. On the basis of a deconstruction of what we call here the "sovereign sequence", we analyze the relationship between sovereignty and "the animality of writing" as a corollary of bio-politics or zoopolitics. Second, we explore Derrida's discussion with Agamben and with Foucault on the concept of life, and discuss a politicity of life that includes animality and that can be situated beyond power and domination. Third, we compare Foucault's and Derrida's ideas on sovereignty as expounded in Hobbes' Leviathan. Three question raised by Foucault about the Leviathan are treated: whether it is purely manufactured, whether it is purely unitary, and whether it is purely central. In conclusion, we return to the initial problem of zoography and what Derrida calls "the double and contradictory figuration". A concept of sovereignty that includes animal figuration can not avoid de-figuration and, consequently, it is no longer possible to think of sovereignty only in terms of the political. (shrink)

У статті досліджуються питання формування та сутності державного боргу. Визначається місце державного боргу в системі державних фінансів. Окреслено концептуальні засади формування державного боргу в умовах кризового стану економіки. На основі аналізу теоретичних підходів наукових шкіл до реалізації державної боргової політики автор робить висновок, що сучасна теорія державного боргу характеризується як компроміс різних теоретичних поглядів з проблем дефіцитного фінансування державних витрат. Розвивається системний підхід до аналізу державного боргу, заснований на визнанні як його позитивного впливу на розвиток економіки, так і негативних факторів, (...) пов'язаних зі зростанням заборгованості уряду. (shrink)

Endosomes, which comprise a diverse population of membrane vesicles and tubules, sort proteins and lipids to various cellular destinations. The organization and functions of these pleiomorphic cellular organelles have been extensively studied. Matsuo et al.1 now provide new exciting evidence on the role of lysobiphosphatidic acid (LBPA), a resident phospholipid of internal vesicles of the late endosome, in the control of membrane invagination and endosome biogenesis. In vivo, LBPA functions are controlled by the adaptor protein Alix and depend on pH (...) gradients along the endosomal compartments. BioEssays 26:604–607, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Soluble components of Notch signalling can be applied to manipulate a central pathway essential for the development of metazoans and often deregulated in illnesses such as stroke, cancer or cardiovascular diseases. Commonly, the Notch cascade is inhibited by small compound inhibitors, which either block the proteolysis of Notch receptors by γ‐secretases or interfere with the transcriptional activity of the Notch intracellular domain. Specific antibodies can also be used to inhibit ligand‐induced activation of Notch receptors. Alternatively, naturally occurring endogenous inhibitors of (...) Notch signalling might offer a specific way to block receptor activation. Examples are the soluble variants of the canonical Notch ligand Jagged1 and the non‐canonical Notch ligand Dlk1, both deprived of their transmembrane regions upon ectodomain shedding, or the bona fide secreted molecule EGFL7. We present frequently used methods to decrease Notch signalling, and we discuss how soluble Notch inhibitors may be used to treat diseases. (shrink)

By freedom, classical liberals meant non-interference, independence from the state, the personal and proprietary liberty of the governed. It is negative freedom as the antithesis both to absolutism and anarchy. In the republican interpretations, the freedom of a free political community is made possible and guaranteed by the institutionalization of the liberty of the political community. Political liberty is the medium, stage and precondition for the freedom of its members. That, in turn, is conditional upon the readiness of its members (...) to protect the liberty of their community and themselves, i.e. upon the virtue of the free citizen. In this article I engage with four different interpretations of both kinds of liberty concepts in different discourses of the 20th-century UK and US and 20th—21st-century Hungary. (shrink)

This paper focuses on Brazilian contemporary philosophy and aims to introduce [i] the conceptual tools on the philosophical-theoretical plan, emphasizing the problem of the nature of Brazilian philosophy and taking the ideas of authoriality / originality as a starting point; [ii] the analytical tools on the epistemic-methodological plan, when associating the metaphilosophical methods, operating and giving expression to the philosophical ratio, and the intellectual history methods, when operating and giving expression to philosophy’s historical realization and the philosophical intelligentsia. The discussions (...) field is that of metaphilosophy, in the sense of philosophy of philosophy, when designing an argumentative course where metaphilosophy, history of philosophy and intellectual history go together. We will then have, in the intellectual history branch, in terms of the hypotheses to operate the historical processes, the formation and post-formation paradigms, and in the metaphilosophical branch, with focus on the ethos, in order to distinguish the different stances taken towards the European matrix in the XX-XXIst centuries, the attitudes of: alignment and reverence; assimilation and critical independence; ideological appropriation and political instrumentalization; suspicion and defenestration. (shrink)

O artigo trata da relação entre Humanidades, Ciências Humanas e Sociais e Filosofia, considerada à luz dos projetos pedagógico e epistêmico das humanidades clássicas, tendo por fio condutor a Renascença italiana e os Studia Humanitatis, com a Filosofia como disciplina-piloto. Ao fazer o trânsito para a modernidade, com o surgimento das ciências humanas e sociais e o descentramento da filosofia, haverá o colapso dos projetos pedagógico e epistêmico dos Studia dos renascentistas, num ambiente de pesada cultura disciplinar, tendo por resultado (...) a ultrafragmentação do conhecimento, levada a cabo sem qualquer perspectiva de unificação. O resultado é o mal-estar epistemológico, que vai junto com a ideia de perda de relevância da filosofia, ao se ver afastada dos processos pedagógico e epistêmico das ciências, e, paralelamente, das próprias disciplinas científicas, impedidas, em razão da ultrafragmentação, de nos dar uma visão unificada da humanidade e da realidade humana circundante. Tal situação levará ao questionamento acerca da oportunidade de relançamento do projeto pedagógico-epistêmico das Humanidades Clássicas, visando vencer o mal-estar epistemológico e a síndrome da irrelevância da filosofia e das ciências empíricas do homem. Contudo, como mostraremos, tal relançamento não poderá consistir numa volta aos Studia ou em sua retomada pura e simples, mas deverá dar-se em novas bases científicas e filosóficas, levado a cabo em bases interdisciplinares, e não mais holísticas, com a filosofia como disciplina-piloto, como na Renascença. Neste cenário, o Brasil será considerado e uma proposta condizente com o nosso contexto acadêmico e a realidade nacional nos dias de hoje será feita. (shrink)