The Master Argument, recorded by Epictetus, indicates that Diodorus had deduced a contradiction from the conjoint assertion of three propositions. The Argument, which has to do with necessity and contingency and therefore with freedom, has attracted the attention of logicians above all. There have been many attempts at reconstructing it in logical terms, without excessive worry about historical plausibility and with the foregone conclusion that it was sophistic since it directly imperilled our common sense notion of freedom. This text takes (...) exception to recent tradition, translating the propositions into logical terms. The propositions figuring in The Master Argument are interpreted in terms of temporal modal logic where both the modalities and the statements they govern have chronological indices. This means that the force of the argument comes not from purely logical or modal considerations, but from our experience of time. (shrink)

This book presents a learned and ingenious attempt to understand the origin and nature of philosophical inquiry. It draws on material from numerous disciplines and from all periods of philosophy and provides challenging arguments on a wide range of topics. The author constructs a hierarchy of ontological claims, beginning with perceptual experience, moving to language and science. He traces subtle and unexpected relations among these and concludes by offering a system for classifying philosophical theories which reveals why they take the (...) form they do and why philosophical dispute is ineradicable. The book offers many fresh insights into such topics as the nature of experience, the nature of language and that of philosophy itself. It will interest a wide range of philosophers, in particular those concerned with categorical schemes, grammar and ontology. (shrink)

The "Duhem-Quine thesis" says that isolated hypotheses are not singularly verifiable by experience, only the whole body of a theory being able to be subjected to the test of experience. I first examine the rather divergent meanings this thesis takes when it is replaced in the different contexts of Duhem's and Quine'sphilosophies. Secondly, questions are asked about the acceptability of the thesis, its logical strength and its historical soundness. Finally, the consequences of some doubts raised by this inquiry are examined (...) especially with respect to Quine's philosophy. (shrink)

Introduction Première partie – Réflexions sur le développement de la théorie des équations algébriques Section première. Les règles de la méthode Chapitre premier. Le théorème de Lagrange Chapitre II. Le théorème de Gauss Chapitre III. La « méthode générale » d'Abel : preuves « pures » et démonstrations d'impossibilité Chapitre IV. La théorie de Galois Section deuxième – Mathématique universelle Chapitre V. La théorie de Klein Chapitre VI. La théorie de Lie Conclusion. La mathématique universelle Notes Note I. Sur la (...) notion mathématique de l'infini Note II. Sur les constructions géométriques dans les Eléments d'Euclide Note III. Le « principe des relations internes » Bibliographie. (shrink)

This book presents a learned and ingenious attempt to understand the origin and nature of philosophical inquiry. It draws on material from numerous disciplines and from all periods of philosophy and provides challenging arguments on a wide range of topics. The author constructs a hierarchy of ontological claims, beginning with perceptual experience, moving to language and science. He traces subtle and unexpected relations among these and concludes by offering a system for classifying philosophical theories which reveals why they take the (...) form they do and why philosophical dispute is ineradicable. (shrink)

The "Duhem-Quine thesis" says that isolated hypotheses are not singularly verifiable by experience, only the whole body of a theory being able to be subjected to the test of experience. I first examine the rather divergent meanings this thesis takes when it is replaced in the different contexts of Duhem's and Quine'sphilosophies. Secondly, questions are asked about the acceptability of the thesis, its logical strength and its historical soundness. Finally, the consequences of some doubts raised by this inquiry are examined (...) especially with respect to Quine's philosophy. (shrink)

The "Duhem-Quine thesis" says that isolated hypotheses are not singularly verifiable by experience, only the whole body of a theory being able to be subjected to the test of experience. I first examine the rather divergent meanings this thesis takes when it is replaced in the different contexts of Duhem's and Quine'sphilosophies. Secondly, questions are asked about the acceptability of the thesis, its logical strength and its historical soundness. Finally, the consequences of some doubts raised by this inquiry are examined (...) especially with respect to Quine's philosophy. (shrink)

This book is an English version of a book published in 1984 in French, the aim of which was to give a reconstruction of Diodorus Cronus's Master Argument, together with a historical analysis of some of the central modal notions on which it draws. In preparing the English text, Vuillemin has made some changes to the logic of his reconstruction of Diodorus's Argument and added an epilogue. The Master Argument consisted of three premises: Every past truth is necessary, The impossible (...) does not follow from the possible, and Something is possible which neither is nor will be true. Diodorus claimed that these premises are inconsistent, and purported to derive the negation of the third premise, which is plausibly to be identified with the principle of plenitude, from the first two premises. (shrink)

Article SUR LA DIFFERENCE ET L’IDENTITE DES METHODES DE LA METAPHYSIQUE ET DES MATHEMATIQUES CHEZ DESCARTES ET LEIBNIZ ET SUR LA CONCEPTION CLASSIQUE DES PRINCIPES DE CAUSALITE ET DE CORRESPONDANCE was published on January 1, 1961 in the journal Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (volume 43, issue 3).

Dans une conférence prononcée à Oxford en 1966 ou 1967, Jules Vuillemin décrit l’état de la philosophie française contemporaine en l’opposant à la philosophie analytique anglaise. Afin de promouvoir l’usage de méthodes rigoureuses en philosophie, Vuillemin analyse la philosophie de Russell au moyen de la méthode de Martial Gueroult, pose le problème des relations entre abstraction et monde sensible et intervient dans la discussion de la théorie d’Austin par Benveniste.

Résumé: Cet article inédit reconstruit systématiquement les conceptions platoniciennes et aristotéliciennes du mouvement (sa nature, son statut physique et théologique, ses différentes formes). Les ressemblances et divergences des deux systèmes sont ensuite examinées, en insistant sur leur contribution à l’évolution ultérieure de la physique, avec laquelle la méthode négative de la physique platonicienne s’avère plus en affinité que le réalisme aristotélicien du sensible, qui est fondé sur une division du monde physique en deux règnes.

The most valuable trends in contemporary philosophy were inspired by the will to make philosophy a science. Under the general label of Analytic philosophy they succeeded in introducing new methods using the extensive development of logic. A paradigm is afforded by Russell when he explains inexistent objects away by analyzing definite descriptions.

1 [Manuscrit 8*.9] [1] Qu’on tente de déterminer par l’expérience le point de rupture entre l’animal et l’homme : tous les vivants possédant à quelque degré des formules élémentaires qui permettent de percevoir le milieu, de réagir à ses sollicitations et de s’adapter à ses exigences, on cherchera un critère dans les manifestations d’une organisation plus complexe. Mais, observé du dedans ou du dehors, l’homme lui-même ne laisse pas apercevoir d’une façon précise et directe comment se fait le...

1 [Manuscrit 8*.9] [1] Qu’on tente de déterminer par l’expérience le point de rupture entre l’animal et l’homme : tous les vivants possédant à quelque degré des formules élémentaires qui permettent de percevoir le milieu, de réagir à ses sollicitations et de s’adapter à ses exigences, on cherchera un critère dans les manifestations d’une organisation plus complexe. Mais, observé du dedans ou du dehors, l’homme lui-même ne laisse pas apercevoir d’une façon précise et directe comment se fait le...

This volume contains the new version of Jules Vuillemin's Five Studies on Aristotle, which first appeared in 1967. Topics include: the types of analogy in Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas; the economy of the Categories and their logical articulation; the legitimacy of the refutations by the regression towards the infinite; the Aristotelian concept of knowledge as relationship; the structure of the proofs for the existence of the Prime mover. French text.

[1] Les paléontologues constatent que, mesuré en genres, le taux d’évolution de nos ancêtres et collatéraux directs a été exceptionnellement rapide. En 160 millions d’années, on compte seulement huit genres d’ammonites. Il faut encore 60 millions d’années pour huit genres de chevaux, mais il n’en faut plus que 12 millions pour quatre genres d’hominoïdes et un seul, le dernier, pour trois genres d’hominidés. Pour expliquer une telle accélération, on suppose que la sélection a dû agir sur un no...

[1] Les paléontologues constatent que, mesuré en genres, le taux d’évolution de nos ancêtres et collatéraux directs a été exceptionnellement rapide. En 160 millions d’années, on compte seulement huit genres d’ammonites. Il faut encore 60 millions d’années pour huit genres de chevaux, mais il n’en faut plus que 12 millions pour quatre genres d’hominoïdes et un seul, le dernier, pour trois genres d’hominidés. Pour expliquer une telle accélération, on suppose que la sélection a dû agir sur un no...

RésuméA partir ?une expérience de mécanique quantique, on pose la question de la table des catégories requises et ľon esquisse la comparaison entre trois tables de catégories: celle ? Aristote, celle de Kant et celle de Dirac. On tente ? analyser ce qu'a de spécifique le concept contemporain ?être‐en‐puissance compareéà son homologue aristotélicien pour caractériser l'état ? un système physique.SummaryStarting from a mechanical quantum experiment, the table of categories required is questioned and the comparison of three tables of categories, those (...) of Aristotle, Kant and Dirac, has been sketched in. The author attempts to analyse what is specific in the contemporary concept of “power potential” compared with its corresponding homologue in the Aristotle approach in order to characterise the state of a physical system. (shrink)