Friedrich Meinecke's Die Idee der Staatsräson (1924) is generally seen as the study in which he replaced his monistic-idealistic philosophy of history - as articulated in Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat - by a dualistic worldview. In this article I will argue against this view. I will do so on the basis of a brief analysis of Meinecke's Staatsräson -study. I will show that Meinecke succeeded in combining his monism and his dualism within a so-called (harmonious) 'panentheistic' philosophy. Next, when discussing Meinecke's (...) position in the crisis of historicism, critics generally refer to Meinecke's Die Entstehung des Historismus (1936) or his essays from around the 1920s, but refer rarely to Die Idee der Staatsräson . Yet it is precisely this study - dealing with the theory and practice of statesmanship - that gives us a good grasp of Meinecke's reponse to the crisis of historicism, since it is in the state where idea and reality collide most brutally. Questions of ethical relativism, of the relationship between power and ethics, and of that between politics and history are nowhere more pressing than in the practice of statesmanship. It will become clear that, according to Meinecke, the statesman's (or the historian's) conscience moves him to a sphere of panentheistic harmony enabling him (and the historian) to overcome the aporias of historicism. (shrink)

German historicism continues to be a topic of debate. Discussions range from polemics over the definition of the concept to whether it is a method, program, intellectual tradition or world view. Th...

Existing research shows that people can improve their decision skills by learning what experts paid attention to when faced with the same problem. However, in domains like financial education, effective instruction requires frequent, personalized feedback given at the point of decision, which makes it time‐consuming for experts to provide and thus, prohibitively costly. We address this by demonstrating an automated feedback mechanism that allows amateur decision‐makers to learn what information to attend to from one another, rather than from an expert. (...) In the first experiment, eye movements of N = 100 subjects were recorded while they repeatedly performed a standard behavioral finance investment task. Consistent with previous studies, we found that a significant proportion of subjects were affected by decision bias. In the second experiment, a different group of N = 100 subjects faced the same task but, after each choice, they received individual, machine learning‐generated feedback on whether their pre‐decision eye movements resembled those made by Experiment 1 subjects prior to good decisions. As a result, Experiment 2 subjects learned to analyze information similarly to their successful peers, which in turn reduced their decision bias. Furthermore, subjects with low Cognitive Reflection Test scores gained more from the proposed form of process feedback than from standard behavioral feedback based on decision outcomes. (shrink)

This paper presents sources pertinent to the transmission of Euclid’s Elements in Western medieval civilization. Some important observations follow from the pure description of the sources concerning the development of mathematics, e.g., the text of the Elements was supplemented with new axioms, proofs and theorems as if an “a priori skeleton” lost in Dark Ages was reconstructed and rediscovered during the late Middle Ages. Such historical facts indicate the aprioricity of mathematics.

We demonstrate “economies of experience” in eye-movement patterns—that is, optimization of eye-movement patterns aimed at more efficient and less costly visual processing, similar to the priming-induced formation of sparser cortical representations or reduced reaction times. Participants looked at Mooney-type, degraded stimuli that were difficult to recognize without prior experience, but easily recognizable after exposure to their undegraded versions. As predicted, eye-movement dispersion, velocity, and the number of fixations decreased with each stimulus presentation. Further analyses showed that this effect was contingent (...) on recognition, and the selection of information from the stimulus could be informed by the identity of the presented object. Finally, our study demonstrates that after exposure to the undegraded version of the stimulus, eye-movement patterns associated with its degraded and undegraded versions become more similar. This suggests that eye-movement patterns can evolve to facilitate the optimal processing of a given stimulus via experience-driven perceptual learning. (shrink)

Reproduction has entered a new ice age: the ability to cryopreserve reproductive cells, tissue and embryos are fundamentally changing our understanding of what it means to be a reproductive citizen. This book explores the ways in which opinions of desirable reproductive futures are feared or are being welcomed by advances in freezing technologies, with the authors situating their discussions of cryo-fertility primarily within the Scandinavian region, asking: * How does cryopreservation help mobilize particular understandings of reproductive time, reproductive rights and (...) reproductive autonomy? * What values are embedded within Scandinavian laws that seek to regulate cryotechnologies? * How do men and women who freeze their gamets imagine the preservation of their material? -/- These questions demand a collaborative approach. The authors empirically cut across the areas of bioethics/law, practices/experiences and culture/commerce in order to pin down often comples and far-reaching answers. (shrink)

Reproductive technologies produce new babies and new bioethical concerns. This article analyzes how Danish infertile couples negotiate traveling to Spain for egg donation. Fertility travel is situated in light of Danish bioethical discourses, while feminist cultural analysis is used to understand how Spanish clinical discourses choreograph egg donation to involve an intimate and affective exchange between two like-minded women. The Danish travelers employ love and desire to naturalize transnational egg donation as well as anger and disappointment to invoke notions of (...) reproductive rights. The article concludes that empirical research on fertility travel opens up for discussion bioethical perspectives, such as those involving fair trade and reciprocity. (shrink)

This paper presents sources pertinent to the transmission of Euclid’s Elements in Western medieval civilization. Some important observations follow from the pure description of the sources concerning the development of mathematics, e.g., the text of the Elements was supplemented with new axioms, proofs and theorems as if an “a priori skeleton” lost in Dark Ages was reconstructed and rediscovered during the late Middle Ages. Such historical facts indicate the aprioricity of mathematics.

The greatest challenge with which the Readers of my book had to cope with was the problem of ontological presence. In Srzednicki’s conception ontological presence has two dimensions: a logical and an onto-factual one.Every cognitive perspective is always contingent but this contingency must be limited somehow. Srzednicki restores the ontological dimension of cognition (crossed out by traditional epistemology and philosophy), but avoids ontological fundamentalism. His conception gives rise to a new model of metaphysics understood not as the most general theory (...) of being or a general theory of cognition but as the non-epistemic closure of all epistemological projects and theoretical discourses.The main parameters of the epistemic closure can only be reconstructed theoretically in the logical space of the observer. This non-epistemic closure is marked by three categorical constraints: ontological, formative and normative.Srzednicki overcomes Wittgenstein’s skepticism by understanding transcendentalism much more deeply. (shrink)

Even though the description of the universe in cosmology is known to be given by a smooth 4-dimensional Lorentz manifold for energies below Planck scale, one still can ask about the origins of this phenomenon. In this paper we show that mathematics used for description of quantum systems at micro scale determines smoothness of spacetime at large cosmological scales and indicates the dimension 4 as the only possible dimension for spacetime.

Even though the description of the universe in cosmology is known to be given by a smooth 4-dimensional Lorentz manifold for energies below Planck scale, one still can ask about the origins of this phenomenon. In this paper we show that mathematics used for description of quantum systems at micro scale determines smoothness of spacetime at large cosmological scales and indicates the dimension 4 as the only possible dimension for spacetime.

Recently the cosmological evolution of the universe has been considered where 3-dimensional spatial topology undergone drastic changes. The process can explain, among others, the observed smallness of the neutrino masses and the speed of inflation. However, the entire evolution is perfectly smooth from 4-dimensional point of view. Thus the raison d’être for such topology changes is the existence of certain non-standard 4-smoothness on R4 already at very early stages of the universe. We show that the existence of such smoothness can (...) be understood as a byproduct of the quantumness of the origins of the universe. Our analysis is based on certain formal aspects of the quantum mechanical lattice of projections of infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces where formalization reaches the level of models of axiomatic set theory. (shrink)

This paper explores some variants and aspects of multi-quantificational criteria of existence, examining these in the context of the debate between monism and pluralism in analytical philosophy. Assuming familiarity with the findings to date, we seek to apply to these the newly introduced concepts of “substitution” and “substitutional model”. Possible applications of formal theories involving multiple types of existential quantifier are highlighted, together with their methods of construction. These considerations then lead to a thesis asserting the irrelevance of both multi-quantificational (...) criteria and assumptions involving quantificational ontology to the debate between monism and pluralism in ontology. Many quantifiers cannot properly distinguish different modes of existence–as we aim to show by furnishing a general method for constructing counter-examples to any theory that assumes that different types of existential quantifier correspond to different modes of existence. (shrink)

Based on formal arguments from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory we develop the environment for explaining and resolving certain fundamental problems in physics. By these formal tools we show that any quantum system defined by an infinite dimensional Hilbert space of states interferes with the spacetime structure M. M and the quantum system both gain additional degrees of freedom, given by models of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. In particular, M develops the ground state where classical gravity vanishes. Quantum mechanics distinguishes set-theoretic random forcing (...) such that M and gravitational degrees of freedom are parameterized by extended real line. The large scale smooth geometry compatible with the forcing extensions is one of exotic smoothness structures of \. The amoeba forcing makes the old real line to have Lebesgue measure zero in the extended one. We apply the entire procedure to the cosmological constant problem, especially to discard the zero-modes contributions to the gravitational vacuum density. Moreover, there exists certain exotic smooth \ from which one determines the realistic, agreeing with observation, small value of the vacuum energy density. (shrink)

Quantum mechanics (QM) predicts probabilities on the fundamental level which are, via Born probability law, connected to the formal randomness of infinite sequences of QM outcomes. Recently it has been shown that QM is algorithmic 1-random in the sense of Martin–Löf. We extend this result and demonstrate that QM is algorithmic $$\omega$$ -random and generic, precisely as described by the ’miniaturisation’ of the Solovay forcing to arithmetic. This is extended further to the result that QM becomes Zermelo–Fraenkel Solovay random on (...) infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Moreover, it is more likely that there exists a standard transitive ZFC model M, where QM is expressed in reality, than in the universe V of sets. Then every generic quantum measurement adds to M the infinite sequence, i.e. random real $$r\in 2^{\omega }$$, and the model undergoes random forcing extensions M[r]. The entire process of forcing becomes the structural ingredient of QM and parallels similar constructions applied to spacetime in the quantum limit, therefore showing the structural resemblance of both in this limit. We discuss several questions regarding measurability and possible practical applications of the extended Solovay randomness of QM. The method applied is the formalization based on models of ZFC; however, this is particularly well-suited technique to recognising randomness questions of QM. When one works in a constant model of ZFC or in axiomatic ZFC itself, the issues considered here remain hidden to a great extent. (shrink)

This article employs the concept of affective assemblage to discuss how fertility travelers make sense of their decision to travel to Spain for oöcyte donation. Motherhood is brought into being through racialized and gendered discourses on ova exchange; idealized and feminized Spanish donor bodies. In their accounts, fertility travelers employ a narrative in which oöcytes become necessary spare parts, yet also, exotic substances with temperament and racialized nationality as well as collective bodies – shaped by the recipient woman’s body, intent, (...) and desire. In this manner, kinship is created through shared blood and space, desire and intent while differences between recipients and donors are minimized. The directionality of desire, hope, and imagination has the effect of naturalizing transnational egg donation and transforming it into a shared western European femininity of sorts. (shrink)

This paper seeks to determine the intuitive meaning of the concept of information by indicating its essential (definitional) features and relations with other concepts, such as that of knowledge. The term “information” – as with many other concepts, such as “process”, “force”, “energy” and “matter” – has a certain established meaning in natural languages, which allows it to be used, in science as well as in everyday life, without our possessing any somewhat stricter definition of it. The basic aim here (...) is thus to explicate what it amounts to in the context of its intuitive meaning as encountered in natural languages, what the subject of cognition implicitly presumes when using the term, and to which ontological situations it can be applied. I demonstrate that the essential features of the notion of information include the presence of a material medium, its transformation, the recording and reading of information encoded in the medium, and the grasp of what is recorded, coded and transmitted as an intentional object, where the latter is construed in terms broadly in line with the ontologies of Husserl and Ingarden. Along the way, a number of issues relating to the notion of information are also pointed out: the problem of informational identity, of the existence of virtual objects, and of the choice of an adequate information carrier, as well as formal-ontological problems, including those which concern relations between information carriers and intentional objects. (shrink)

We consider consciousness attributed to systems in space-time which can be purely physical without biological background and focus on the mathematical understanding of the phenomenon. It is shown that the set theory based on sets in the foundations of mathematics, when switched to set theory based on ZFC models, is a very promising mathematical tool in explaining the brain/mind complex and the emergence of consciousness in natural and artificial systems. We formalise consciousness-supporting systems in physical space-time, but this is localised (...) in open domains of spatial regions and the result of this process is a family of different ZFC models. Random forcing, as in set theory, corresponds precisely to the random influence on the system of external stimuli, and the principles of reflection of set theory explain the conscious internal reaction of the system. We also develop the conscious Turing machines which have their external ZFC environment and the dynamics is encoded in the random forcing changing models of ZFC in which Turing machines with oracles are formulated. The construction is applied to cooperating families of conscious agents which, due to the reflection principle, can be reduced to the implementation of certain concurrent games with different levels of self-reflection. (shrink)

Like most goods‐producing sectors in the West, modern health‐care systems have been profoundly changed by globalization and the neoliberal policies that attend it. Since the 1970s, the role of the welfare state has been considerably reduced; funding and management of health systems have been subjected to wave upon wave of reorganization and assimilated to the private sector. At the same time, neoliberal policy has imposed the notion of patient empowerment, thus turning patients into consumers of health. The literature on nursing (...) has accordingly reported on the significant repercussions on all aspects of the profession, from delivery of care and treatment, through training for new nurses, to legislated policy reforms regarding the role and responsibilities of modern nurses. In light of these developments, this paper analyses and theorizes about the way the injection of neoliberal policy is linked to and affects the practice of nursing. Drawing on a number of Nietzschean arguments, we begin with an exploration of the complex effects of neoliberalism, bureaucratization, and technocratization on the health system and the practice of nursing. Our main theoretical point here is that neoliberal policy engenders and promotes a neoliberal tide, which results in the conversion of the values that drive modern nursing practice. We then examine this tide in the light of Nietzsche's concepts. Starting with an analysis based on the ontology of the will to power, we show that nurses are dominated by neoliberal values embedded in technocratic and bureaucratic ideologies. Finally, we argue that the application of neoliberal policy constitutes a form of domestication from which one might potentially be freed through the Nietzschean concept of transvaluation of values. This transvaluation, as its freeing from some of the neoliberal tide, may be accomplished in accordance with a hierarchy of specific life‐affirming values for nursing culture and practice. (shrink)

Braddon-Mitchell and Miller put forward the claim that the relation of being-the-same-person is gradable: a person can be the same person tomorrow as today, but only half the same. To justify their thesis, they propose a model of persons that is intended to be metaphysically neutral. This article sets out to show that such a model implicitly contains strong metaphysical assumptions that run contrary to the authors’ own statements. Using Roman Ingarden’s phenomenological ontology, we aim to demonstrate that within the (...) model in question persons exist intentionally, where this leads to a caricature rather than an adequate account of persons. In opposition to Braddon-Mitchell and Miller, we argue that the justification presented for the thesis of the gradability of the relation of being-the-same-person in fact makes it reasonable to demand that an adequate model of persons be posited. We present Kurt Lewin’s holistic topological-dynamic model, and show that in this context it is not being-the-same-person that is gradable, but rather the characteristic (of persons) that is dimension. Thus, we reject the thesis of the gradability of the relation of being-the-same-person involved in personal identity. (shrink)

We aim to show from a new perspective that Quine’s ontological relativity, based largely on his so-called “proxy-function argument”, falls short of being a rigorously coherent philosophical conception, as it exhibits significant formal defects. This new perspective enables exposing the shortcomings of Quine's position and suggests a possible reformulation of the original position. Moreover, we argue that his ontological relativity is inconsistent with the empirical data associated with some of our best physical theories, such as quantum mechanics. We refer to (...) fundamental concepts of philosophy and the foundations of mathematics in order to clarify our critique of Quine’s position concerning the relation between formalized theories and both what we can know about the real world and how we come to know it. (shrink)

The beauty contest game is widely used to study the determinants of strategic thinking. Here, we examine the role of theory of mind in strategic reasoning by comparing both performance and the reas...

We build a topological model, based on intuitionistic logic, for multi-agent biological systems (such as _Physarum polycephalum_, bacterial colonies or any other swarm), reacting to external nourishment stimuli. Our construction follows the topological description of brain activity, where particles (neurons) are activated by an external environment, represented by a topological space _X_ with an open cover \(\{U_i:i\in I\}\). The brain builds the model of this external space via the nerve (trace) of a topological space _X_. Here the body of _Physarum (...) polycephalum_ or a swarm made of networks of tubular structures represents a nerve (trace) of _X_ also which means that _Physarum polycephalum_ or a swarm gains orientation in the space of external stimuli even in the absence of any neural system. The logic of living organisms is based on open subsets of _X_ and thus can be represented by Heyting algebra (i.e. intuitionistically). We also consider the generalisation of the nerve construction to a categorical context, where the category is determined by the network structures of multi-agent biological system. This model can be generalised up to simulating the behaviour of any swarm by means of intuitionistic logic. (shrink)

Cognitive Science, Volume 46, Issue 4, April 2022.

The paper is devoted to the reconstruction of some stage of the proces leading to the emergence in modern science the concept of Infinite „Euclidean” space to geometry of the Elements in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some historical medieval sources and views concerning Archytas, Cleomedes, Proclus, Simplicius, Aganis, al-Nayrizi and the Arabs, Boetius, Gerard of Cremona, Albertus Magnus et al., are described analyzed and compared. The small changes in the understanding of geometry in the Elements during the ages (...) are reconstructed up to the first explicit use of the concept of infinity in geometry by Nicole Oresme. (shrink)

In this paper the final stages of the historical process of the emergence of actual infinity in mathematics are considered. The application of God’s point of view – i.e. the possibility to create mathematics from a divine perspective, i.e. from the point of view of an eternal, timeless, omniscience and unlimited subject of cognition – is one of the main factors in this process. Nicole Oresme is the first man who systematically used actual infinity in mathematical reasoning, constructions and proofs (...) in geometry. (shrink)

This article is a discussion of Tadeusz Ślipko’s considerations concerning “the origins of human being” or, in other words, his theory of animation. One of the characteristic features of Ślipko’s Thomistic anthropology is an experimental orientation: i.e. using and referring to the data of the sciences as these relate to material, physical and biological reality. As the starting point of his position he adopts the concept of man: being composed of a material substrate, determined in his human form by the (...) immortal soul as the vital principle of his/her existence. In line with this orientation, Ślipko focuses his investigations around the idea of man conceived “as a personal being and the subject of morality as a whole, constituted in what determines his/her proper humanity.” Therefore, asking about the origins—so to say—the initial moment of human substance, Ślipko examines this issue in the context of philosophical assumptions about God as the Creator of the universe, and about man as a self-aware and self-acting being who is the cause of a series of effects. (shrink)

We give an almost explicit presentation of exotic functions corresponding to some exotic smooth structure on topologically trivial R4. The construction relies on the model-theoretic tools from the previous paper. We can formulate unexpected, yet direct connection between ‘‘localized’’ exotic small R4’s and some noncommutative spaces. The formalism of QM can be interpreted in terms of exotic smooth R4’s localized in spacetime. A new way of looking at the problem of decoherence is suggested. The 4-dimensional spacetime itself has built-in means (...) which may enforce a kind of decoherence. (shrink)

A general duality connecting the level of a formal theory and of a metatheory is proposed. Because of the role of natural numbers in a metatheory the existence of a dual theory is conjectured, in which the natural numbers become formal in the theory but in formalizing non-formal natural numbers taken from the dual metatheory these numbers become nonstandard. For any formal theory there may be in principle a dual theory. The dual shape of the lattice of projections over separable (...) Hilbert space is exhibited. The crucial ingredient of this dual theory is set-theoretical (Cohen) forcing. Then, some attempts have been made to exhibit the dual shape of the exotic smooth (small) structures on topological ℝ4. There are striking similarities of both pictures. Nonstandard solutions of the equations of motion of 10-dimensional superstring of IIB type are described as a model theoretic extension of standard ones. Based on Brans conjecture one can predict the existence of sources of gravity in 4 dimensions. By their dual origins they carry quantum information as well. The generalized Maldacena conjecture appears naturally, which sheds light on a definition of background independent string theory. (shrink)

This paper is devoted to the reconstruction of the implicit logic of Plato’s Par-menides. The reconstructed logic, F, makes it possible to form a new semi-intuitionistic system of logic of predicates, FN. The axioms of Peano Arithmetic (PA) and an axiom of infinity follow from FN. Therefore, FN can be seen as a new attempt at the realization of Frege’s logicist program. Some very strong systems can be seen as other variants of FN, e.g. Leśniewski’s ontology. The hypothesis from Parmenides (...) II contains proof of the existence of the two highest principles, i.e. the One and the Dyad, their mutual relationship, their relations to other things, and the reasoning regarding the mutual relationship follows some exact formal rules. Six types of Plato’s negation of a predicate are defined. The system is a first-order logic with non-classical negation of a predicate (local negation) that is non-definable by classical sentential negation. Therefore, the implicit logic of Plato’s Parmenides differs from classical syllogistics (formed in the Łukasiewicz’s style) as well as from the classical predicate calculus. (shrink)