This work addresses the autonomous organization of biological systems. It does so by considering the boundaries of biological systems, from individual cells to Home sapiens, in terms of the presence of Markov blankets under the active inference scheme—a corollary of the free energy principle. A Markov blanket defines the boundaries of a system in a statistical sense. Here we consider how a collective of Markov blankets can self-assemble into a global system that itself has a Markov (...) blanket; thereby providing an illustration of how autonomous systems can be understood as having layers of nested and self-sustaining boundaries. This allows us to show that: (i) any living system is a Markov blanketed system and (ii) the boundaries of such systems need not be co-extensive with the biophysical boundaries of a living organism. In other words, autonomous systems are hierarchically composed of Markov blankets of Markov blankets—all the way down to individual cells, all the way up to you and me, and all the way out to include elements of the local environment. (shrink)

The free energy principle, an influential framework in computational neuroscience and theoretical neurobiology, starts from the assumption that living systems ensure adaptive exchanges with their environment by minimizing the objective function of variational free energy. Following this premise, it claims to deliver a promising integration of the life sciences. In recent work, Markov blankets, one of the central constructs of the free energy principle, have been applied to resolve debates central to philosophy (such as demarcating the boundaries of the (...) mind). The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we trace the development of Markov blankets starting from their standard application in Bayesian networks, via variational inference, to their use in the literature on active inference. We then identify a persistent confusion in the literature between the formal use of Markov blankets as an epistemic tool for Bayesian inference, and their novel metaphysical use in the free energy framework to demarcate the physical boundary between an agent and its environment. Consequently, we propose to distinguish between “Pearl blankets” to refer to the original epistemic use of Markov blankets and “Friston blankets” to refer to the new metaphysical construct. Second, we use this distinction to critically assess claims resting on the application of Markov blankets to philosophical problems. We suggest that this literature would do well in differentiating between two different research programmes: “inference with a model” and “inference within a model.” Only the latter is capable of doing metaphysical work with Markov blankets, but requires additional philosophical premises and cannot be justified by an appeal to the success of the mathematical framework alone. (shrink)

It is still a matter of controversy whether the Principle of the Common Cause (PCC) can be used as a basis for sound causal inference. It is thus to be expected that its application to quantum mechanics should be a correspondingly controversial issue. Indeed the early 90’s saw a flurry of papers addressing just this issue in connection with the EPR correlations. Yet, that debate does not seem to have caught up with the most recent literature on causal inference generally, (...) which has moved on to consider the virtues of a generalised PCC-inspired condition, the so-called Causal Markov Condition (CMC). In this paper we argue that the CMC is an appropriate benchmark for debating possible causal explanations of the EPR correlations. But we go on to take issue with some pronouncements on EPR by defenders of the CMC. (shrink)

Bruineberg and colleagues argue that a realist interpretation of Markov blankets inadvertently relies upon unfounded assumptions. However, insofar as their diagnosis is accurate, their prescribed instrumentalism may ultimately prove insufficient as a complete remedy. Drawing upon a process-based perspective on living systems, we suggest a potential way to avoid some of the assumptions behind problems described by Bruineberg and colleagues.

This is a report of the international workshop «Transcendental Turn in Contemporary Philosophy 2: Kant’s Appearance, Its Ontological and Epistemic Status» (April 27—29, 2017, Moscow), the tasks of which was (1) to discuss the specificity of transcendental idealism, (2) to study the nature of one of Kant’s important concepts — that of appearance — within the framework of the essential conceptual triad of transcendentalism: thing in itself (Ding an sich) — appearance (Erscheinung) — representation (Vorstellung), (3) to analyse the distinction (...) between Kant’s concepts of appearance and phenomenon, and (4) to examine the concepts of appearance and phenomenon in relation to Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. (shrink)

This paper contributes to the understanding of economic strategic behaviors in inter-temporal settings. Comparing the MPE and the OLNE of a widely used class of differential games it is shown: (i) what qualifications on behaviors a markov (dynamic) information structure brings about compared with an open-loop (static) information structure, (ii) what is the reason leading to intensified or reduced competition between the agents in the long run. It depends on whether agents’ interactions are characterized by markov substitutability or (...) markov complementarity, which can be seen as dynamic translations of the ideas of strategic substitutability and strategic complementarity (Bulow et al. 1985, Journal of Political Economy 93:488–511). In addition, an important practical contribution of the paper for modelers is to show that these results can be directly deduced from the payoff structure, with no need to compute equilibria first. (shrink)

We exploit properties of certain directed graphs, obtained from the families of sets with special effective enumeration properties, to generalize several results in computable model theory to higher levels of the hyperarithmetical hierarchy. Families of sets with such enumeration features were previously built by Selivanov, Goncharov, and Wehner. For a computable successor ordinal α, we transform a countable directed graph into a structure such that has a isomorphic copy if and only if has a computable isomorphic copy.A computable structure is (...) categorical if for all computable isomorphic copies of , there is an isomorphism from onto , which is . We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is a computable, categorical structure, which is not relatively categorical. This generalizes the result of Goncharov that there is a computable, computably categorical structure, which is not relatively computably categorical.An additional relation R on the domain of a computable structure is intrinsically on if in all computable isomorphic copies of , the image of R is . We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is an intrinsically relation on a computable structure, which not relatively intrinsically . This generalizes the result of Manasse that there is an intrinsically computably enumerable relation on a computable structure, which is not relatively intrinsically computably enumerable.The dimension of a structure is the number of computable isomorphic copies, up to isomorphisms. We prove that for every computable successor ordinal α and every n≥1, there is a computable structure with dimension n. This generalizes the result of Goncharov that there is a structure of computable dimension n for every n≥1.Finally, we prove that for every computable successor ordinal α, there is a countable structure with isomorphic copies in just the Turing degrees of sets X such that relative to X is not . In particular, for every finite n, there is a structure with isomorphic copies in exactly the non- Turing degrees. This generalizes the result obtained by Wehner, and independently by Slaman, that there is a structure with isomorphic copies in exactly the nonzero Turing degrees. (shrink)

Personal branding has become an important concept in management literature in recent years. Yet, with more than 100 scholarly papers published on the concept to date, it has developed into a fragmented area of research with a diversity of definitions and conceptual boundaries. This paper posits that this heterogeneity of extant research impedes theoretical and empirical advancement. To strengthen the foundation for future work, we review the extant literature and offer an integrative model of personal branding. Through our systematic literature (...) review we identify the key attributes of the construct, establish its clarity by comparing it with similar concepts in its nomological network, and suggest the definitions of personal branding and personal brand based on the reviewed literature. Further, we propose a theoretical model of personal branding summarizing the findings from the reviewed papers. The proposed model outlines the trends conducive to personal branding, as well as its drivers, processes, and outcomes. Finally, we discuss ethical implications of personal branding for both scholarly work and practice. In conclusion, we outline a further research agenda for studying personal branding as a critical career and organizational behavior activity in contemporary working environment. (shrink)

We consider HA*, that is Heyting's Arithmetic extended with transfinite induction over all recursive well orderings, which may be viewed as defining constructive truth, since PA* agrees with classical truth. We prove that Markov's Principle, as a schema, is not provable in HA*, but that HA* is closed under Markov's Rule.

We develop a general theory of FDE-based modal logics. Our framework takes into account the four-valued nature of FDE by considering four partially defined modal operators corresponding to conditions for verifying and falsifying modal necessity and possibility operators. The theory comes with a uniform characterization for all obtained systems in terms of FDE-style formula-formula sequents. We also develop some correspondence theory and show how Hilbert-style axiom systems can be obtained in appropriate cases. Finally, we outline how different systems from the (...) literature can be expressed in our framework. (shrink)

The paper explores the role of competing notions of what does it mean to have a testament of the law of the past in Christian and Rabbinic corpora of text and thought. The argument probes and renegotiates the complex relationships of the Christian suspension of Old Testament by the New Testament and the Rabbinic suspension of new testament in the two Talmudim. It consequently draws implications of that analysis for understanding the relationships of the two Talmudim to the tradition of (...) hermeneutics of texts, as influenced as the latter has been by theological and literary approaches of various Christian theologies of the two Testaments. As a part of that analysis the articles justifies the task of advancing and providing a critique of political theology and political philology as modes of thought and investigation. That provides a way to ask anew the question about relationships between theology, literary theory, and political thought. (shrink)

El presente artículo versa sobre la estructura del tratado isidoriano llamado _Liber differentiarum _II. Hasta el momento, los trabajos acerca del contenido de la obra y su distribución han explicado su estructura según consideraciones que podríamos llamar “externas”, en tanto se basan en ideas generales en relación con el género o la lógica del texto. En contraste con ello, el objetivo de este estudio es ofrecer una explicación “interna” de tal estructura, una fundada en su contenido conceptual. Nuestra hipótesis sostiene, (...) pues, que la base para articular el texto entero es la definición de “hombre” que Isidoro desarrolla en _Diff. _II.13, así como su lugar en la escala de seres. En efecto, la posición especial del ser humano, que es considerado tanto por Isidoro como por sus fuentes como una creatura universal intermedia entre Dios y los seres materiales carentes de razón, es de capital importancia para la comprensión y consecuente estructuración de la obra. (shrink)

The Ukrainian photographer Sergey Bratkov started his career in 1987 with his first solo shows in Kharkiv, Cheb, and Tel Aviv. He has since enjoyed international recognition from solo and group exhibitions in Europe an.

This article considers late additions to the miracles of Antichrist as found in fifteenth-century manuscripts such as Wellcome Library, MS 49 and the Antichrist-Bildertext. One of these miracles—a castle hanging by a thread—has a parallel in the German nonsense poetry tradition. The poem ‘Sô ist diz von lügenen’ from a fourteenth-century manuscript depicts a topsy-turvy world where Rome and the Lateran also hang by a thread. Subsequently the same motif occurs in the Emblemata of Théodore de Bèze (1580). A tense (...) interaction of text and image is a characteristic feature of this motif, which seems to be a local German invention. The borrowing from a tall tale into an eschatological legend, unusual as it seems, underscores the closeness of the topsy-turvy world of the popular imagination and the apocalyptical narrative with the Antichrist playing a demonstrably parodical part. (shrink)

Few people have thought so hard about the nature of the quantum theory as has Jeff Bub,· and so it seems appropriate to offer in his honor some reflections on that theory. My topic is an old one, the consistency of our microscopic theories with our macroscopic theories, my example, the Aspect experiments (Aspect et al., 1981, 1982, 1982a; Clauser and Shimony, l978;_Duncan and Kleinpoppen, 199,8) is familiar, and my sirnplrcation of it is borrowed. All that is new here is (...) a kind of diagonalization: an argument that the fundamental principles found to be violated by the quantum theory must be assumed to be true of the experimental apparatus used in the experiments.. (shrink)

La historia política de Rusia y España ofrece una oportunidad para comparar las medidas adoptadas durante la transición de un régimen autoritario a uno democrático, manteniendo la estabilidad política en el Estado. El Estado es un elemento central del sistema político. La estabilidad del Estado se convierte en una cuestión clave para los dirigentes del Estado, para los sujetos del poder político. La estabilidad política en una democracia requiere la preservación del tipo de organización del poder, que corresponde a los (...) sentimientos e intereses fundamentales socioeconómicos de los grupos sociales. A los factores políticos de la estabilidad pertenece la posibilidad de una participación equitativa en la vida política para todos los estratos sociales, en conformidad con el derecho democrático y las tradiciónes, así como la presencia de las instituciones políticas. El Estado debe ser social y servir al ciudadano y a la sociedad. Se ha demostrado que el Estado debe participar en la regulación de la economía y la circulación monetaria. La estabilidad política en el nivel internacional se logra por el equilibrio multipolar y por la diversidad de los Estados soberanos y equitativos. (shrink)

We study connections between four types of modal operators – necessity, possibility, un-necessity and impossibility – over intuitionitstic logic in terms of compositions of these modal operators with intuitionistic negation. We investigate which basic compositions, i.e. compositions of the form ¬δ, δ¬ or ¬δ¬, yield modal operators of the same type over intuitionistic logic as over classical logic. We say that such compositions behave classically. We study which modal properties correspond to each basic compositions behaving classically over intuitionistic logic and (...) also prove that KC constitutes the smallest superintuitionistic logic over which all basic compositions behave classically. (shrink)

The article focuses the possibility of elaboration of a cross-disciplinary methodological approach to formation of the semiotics of power. Four possible forms of relation of semiotic research to the problem of power are revealed upon the basis of Drechsler’s typology. The approaches of Mandoki and Siefkes to formation of the methodological basis of the semiotics of power are analyzed and compared. The author designates the perspective directions of a further research and formulates methodological prerequisites for realization of the specified directions.

The extended mind thesis claims that a subject’s mind sometimes encompasses the environmental props the subject interacts with while solving cognitive tasks. Recently, the debate over the extended mind has been focused on Markov Blankets: the statistical boundaries separating biological systems from the environment. Here, I argue such a focus is mistaken, because Markov Blankets neither adjudicate, nor help us adjudicate, whether the extended mind thesis is true. To do so, I briefly introduce Markov Blankets and the (...) free energy principle in Section 2. I then turn from exposition to criticism. In Section 3, I argue that using Markov Blankets to determine whether the mind extends will provide us with an answer based on circular reasoning. In Section 4, I consider whether Markov Blankets help us track the boundaries of the mind, answering in the negative. This is because resorting to Markov Blankets to track the boundaries of the mind yields extensionally inadequate conclusions which violate the parity principle. In Section 5, I further argue that Markov Blankets led us to sidestep the debate over the extended mind, as they make internalism about the mind vacuously true. A brief concluding paragraph follows. (shrink)

From descriptive interpretation of "understanding" to abstract-gnosiological understanding of mentality. The historical deconstruction of the existential understanding introduced as ontologic property of constantly becoming stable "Being-in-the-World" allows us to interpret this concept as mentality. Through theprism of existential philosophy in general and its interpreters such as Jacque Le Goff it allows us to make a conclusion that mentality is one of complete formations of public consciousness. But in the course of such interpretation of mentality it is important to avoid the (...) methodological situation in which Plato deadlocked, when he had decided to find out, what was beautiful itself. For the way out from this situation he had to introduce independently existing ideas and special space of ideas which define all the things and even gods. We, unfortunately, do not have such an opportunity which the history gave to Plato. Somehow to define structural and historical conditions for breaking out of mentality we shall be limited to the instruction that it is more complex, compound, but in the same time integrally complete formation historically actualized, unlike traditionally allocated kinds and forms of consciousness. Another important question is whether the concept "mentality" is acceptable for analysis of the current modern processes or it can only be used for the reconstruction of the completed formations. The mentality cannot be analyzed from inside. And we are inclined to consider that to operate the concept "mentality" in relation to a modern representative of civilization is inappropriate. (shrink)

Sobre la base de la teoría de “los mejores” de J. Ortega y Gasset el autor trató de investigar el papel de los estratos superiores de la sociedad, de la élite nacional en la modernización del régimen político en los principios de la democracia y la poliarquía. Fue revelado el papel en los procesos del gobierno y la administración del poder político y ejecutivo del aparato estatal, que consiste en los funcionarios públicos, profesional y moralmente preparados y capaces asegurar el (...) funcionamiento sostenible y soberano de las instituciones del Estado. En Rusia en el inicio del 2012 se comenzón las actividades socio-políticas llamadas en la ciencia política como la tecnología “de nacionalizaciόn” de las élites. Se produce una armonización de los intereses de los grupos políticos y empresariales de alto nivel social con los intereses del Estado y la sociedad civil. Fue realizado el análisis comparativo del impacto de las élites políticas de España y Rusia sobre la estabilidad política para garantizar el desarrollo socio-económico soberano de sus países. En la soberanía del Estado se refleja la plenitud de la autoridad governamental de los grupos sociales más altos, la élite nacional. Por separado se destacó la función de la élite político-militar como un aparato coercitivo legítimo, que asegura el bienestar del Estado democrático. Los modelos actuales de los regímenes políticos democráticos – no es una meta, sino un instrumento para lograr el bienestar del Estado y nación. Los acontecimientos en Rusia contemporánea comproban la actualidad científica de las obras del gran pensador J.Ortega y Gasset. (shrink)

MARKOVIČ, P. : Slovenský literárny klasicizmus a preromantizmus. Prešov : Vydavateľstvo Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove, 144 s. ISBN 978-80-555-2496-2.

Volume 57, Issue 1, February 2019, Page 1-2.

Globalna świadomość jako pojęcie kulturowe i historyczne Artykuł stanowi analizę idei głoszonych przez przedstawicieli filozofii kosmicznej. Przedstawiony zostaje kulturowy, historyczny i cywilizacyjny charakter zjawiska świadomości globalnej. Dowodzi się w nim, że świadomość globalna jest częścią społecznego i kulturowego potencjału globalnych sieci informacyjnych oraz że może ona wskazywać perspektywę rozwoju obdarzonej rozumem ludzkości.

This paper is dedicated to developing a formalism that takes rejection seriously. Bilateral notation of signed formulas with force indicators is adopted to define signed consequences which can be viewed as the bilateral counterpart of Tarskian consequence relations. Its relation to some other bilateral approaches is discussed. It is shown how David Nelson’s logic N4 can be characterized bilaterally and the corresponding completeness result is proved. Further, bilateral variants of three familiar notions are considered and investigated: that of a fragment, (...) of definitional equivalence, and of a conservative extension. (shrink)

What follows is a two-part review of Günther Witzany’s two-part book, The Logos of the Bios. The first part of the review is written by Sergey Chebanov, and it approaches the text as a source of ideas on biosemiotics and biohermeneutics. The second part is written by Anton Markoš, and it estimates the biological pithiness of the book and the correctness of the reflection of the included data of modern biology.

The article discusses the importance of strength training in the training process and its impact on the technical skills of athletes. The use of strength exercises during training sessions and rational planning of strength training in the training process are considered. Practical and methodological recommendations are given on the use of various strength physical exercises to improve the technique of basic competitive movements. Examples of the use of various physical loads during certain exercises in order to improve the technical readiness (...) of athletes are shown. (shrink)

According to Popper, democracy, and the one of the western type at that, is the best form of the state system which makes open society possible. At the same time, democratic traditions and institutions have been historically developing not only in the West but also in the East. A number of crucial principles of Buddhistcivilization forming throughout the millennium appear to be quite corresponding to the model of open society. The principles of universal humanism and compassion as the staple of (...) the world; the principle of universal responsibility for forming social institutes and organizations aimed to solve problems common to all people; the principle of tolerance and common ethical direction of all world religions can be attributed to such principles. The humanistic ideal of Buddhism is an individual satisfied with life in society and living in harmony with nature. Buddhism encourages self-restriction and social solidarity, justice and equality, pure thoughts and deeds. Buddhist civilization lies “in between” since in most cases it acts a close-to-perfect mediator among other cultures and civilizations, various ethnic groups and peoples. (shrink)

We study semi-isolation as a binary relation on the locus of a complete type and prove that—under some additional assumptions—it induces the strict order property.

This article considers how people judge the identity of objects (e.g., how people decide that a description of an object at one time, t₀, belongs to the same object as a description of it at another time, t₁). The authors propose a causal continuer model for these judgments, based on an earlier theory by Nozick (1981). According to this model, the 2 descriptions belong to the same object if (a) the object at t₁ is among those that are causally close (...) enough to be genuine continuers of the original and (b) it is the closest of these close-enough contenders. A quantitative version of the model makes accurate predictions about judgments of which a pair of objects is identical to an original (Experiments 1 and 2). The model makes correct qualitative predictions about identity across radical disassembly (Experiment 1) as well as more ordinary transformations (Experiments 2 and 3). (shrink)

The logic with independent truth and falsehood operators TFL is proposed. In TFL(→) standard truth-conditions for the implication are adopted. Nevertheless the laws of classical logic are not valid. In this language more then 107 different binary connectives can be defined. So this logic can be treated as universal logic relatively to the class of sentential logics.

Philosophy of science is the object of metaphilosophical investigations. Metaphilosophy is the philosophy of philosophy. Philosophy is an archetypical thinking of being or an experience-of-being. History of Greek-European tradition of philosophy has three archetypes of thinking: objectivity, subjectivity, and inter-subjectivity. They are three archetypical contexts of interpretations of the concept of a philosophy of science too. Is philosophy of science part of philosophy? Is philosophy ofscience part of epistemology? What are methods of philosophy of science? These questions are the topics (...) of metaphilosophy. The topic of a scientific fact is a focal point of contemporary epistemology and philosophy of science. Is a scientific fact a fallible knowledge? The nature of a scientific fact is discussed in keeping with to the opposition of fallibilism and infallibilism. If fallibilism is universal quality of knowledge then there is a problem: is a scientific fact a fallible knowledge too? We are understanding and make clear the nature of a scientific fact by correlation of facts with: (1) data and evidence; (2) languages and theories; (3) methods of empirical investigations; (4) values, norms, and conventions of scientific investigations. Philosophy of science communicates with philosophy ofeconomics as the contemporary branch of philosophy. Its problems arise from the relationship of philosophy and philosophy of science with economics and practice. (shrink)

We prove that a propositional Linear Temporal Logic with Until and Next has unitary unification. Moreover, for every unifiable in LTL formula A there is a most general projective unifier, corresponding to some projective formula B, such that A is derivable from B in LTL. On the other hand, it can be shown that not every open and unifiable in LTL formula is projective. We also present an algorithm for constructing a most general unifier.