In this paper, we introduce the variety of $I$-modal ririgs. We characterize the congruence lattice of its members by means of $I$-filters, and we provide a description of $I$-filter generation. We also provide an axiomatic presentation for the variety generated by chains of the subvariety of contractive $I$-modal ririgs. Finally, we introduce a Hilbert-style calculus for a logic with $I$-modal ririgs as an equivalent algebraic semantics and we prove that such a logic has the parametrized local deduction-detachment theorem.

In this paper we introduce the class of weak Heyting–Brouwer algebras (WHB-algebras, for short). We extend the well known duality between distributive lattices and Priestley spaces, in order to exhibit a relational Priestley-like duality for WHB-algebras. Finally, as an application of the duality, we build the tense extension of a WHB-algebra and we employ it as a tool for proving structural properties of the variety such as the finite model property, the amalgamation property, the congruence extension property and the Maehara (...) interpolation property. (shrink)

Distensión de la finitud y belleza son paralelas en Agustín, su deducción y su calificación estética. Ontología de lo finito es, por ello, a la vez, discurso estético en tres grandes dimensiones: a) fundación y estructura de lo finito; b) sucesión temporal ; c) devenir histórico . Podríamos, sin reduccionismo alguno, interpretar su doctrina estética como >?.Distension of the finiteness and beauty are parallel in St. Augustine, its deduction and its aesthetic qualification. Ontology of finiteness is therefore, at the (...) same time, aesthetic thought in three dimensions: a) foundation and structure of the finetenesss; b) temporal succession ; c) historic becoming . Could we, with no reduction, interpret his aesthetic doctrine as >? (shrink)

Forthcoming in Philosophical Compass. I explain why plural quantifiers and predicates have been thought to be philosophically significant.

I propose a way of thinking aboout content, and a related way of thinking about ontological commitment. (This is part of a series of four closely related papers. The other three are ‘On Specifying Truth-Conditions’, ‘An Actualist’s Guide to Quantifying In’ and ‘An Account of Possibility’.).

The aim of this essay is to show that the subject-matter of ontology is richer than one might have thought. Our route will be indirect. We will argue that there are circumstances under which standard first-order regimentation is unacceptable, and that more appropriate varieties of regimentation lead to unexpected kinds of ontological commitment.

According to a model defended by some authors, dispositional concepts can be legitimately used in causal explanations, although such a use is not necessary. I argue, however, that there is a kind of use of dispositions in explanations that does not fall within this model: we will miss some explanations if we forsake dispositional concepts and explanations.

The purpose of this paper is to defend a conception of language that does not rely on linguistic meanings, and use it to address the Sorites and Liar paradoxes.

Las Confesiones de San Agustín son una obra muy peculiar. Lectores e investigadores convienen en ello. No es fácil ‘definir’ ni comprender ese escrito. El presente estudio intenta una aproximación a su contenido mediante un examen de ciertos rasgos característicos de la obra que derivan de su propia singularidad. Y denunciamos también algunos impedimentos de comprensión y lectura. Confiemos en que esta mirada pueda ofrecer una guía inicial, pero orientadora, a la misma. Además, el estudio formal y temático revela (...) una dinámica interna, de su estructura misma, que va del relato autobiográfico a la reflexión , de lo narrativo al pensamiento. Este avance tendencial culmina al concluir el libro IX, donde la dimensión narrativa de la obra termina. Razón por la cual los libros X-XI alcanzan el vértice teorético de las Confesiones, con su investigación de la memoria y del tiempo. El presente estudio concluye con una breve exposición del problema agustiniano de la subjetividad o el yo, en la base de esos dos libros.t. Augustine’s Confessions is a very particular work. Readers and Scholarsagree upon it. Therefore, it’s ‘definition’ and understanding are not so easy. These paper tries to provide an approach to the contents of this difficult writing, by means of an examination of some main special traits, arising from the particular work’s kind. And we betray also some new difficulties for it’s reading and understanding. It is hoped that these brief look to the famous Augustinian writing could offer an initial but adviser guide to it. Moreover, the formal and thematic inquiry reveal an internal dynamics of it’s structure, which moves from the autobiographycal account to the reflection , from the story to the thinking. This aimed advance culminates at the end of the book IX, where the work’s narrative side concludes. That’s why the books X and XI reach the theoretical summit of the Confessions through their search for memory and time. Our paper ends with an exposition of the Augustinian inquiry on the human subiectivity, underlying both these books. (shrink)

We define emergence algebraically in the context of discrete dynamical systems modeled as transformation semigroups. Emergence happens when a quotient structure (coarse-grained dynamics) is not a substructure of the original system. We survey small groups to show that algebraic emergence is neither ubiquitous nor rare. Then, we describe connections with hierarchical decompositions and explore some of the philosophical implications of the algebraic constraints.

Este artículo investiga dos problemas principales en los conocidos argumentos de San Agustín en pro de la certeza, contra los escépticos. En realidad, son más bien dos niveles de una misma cuestión "metodológica": la interioridad del conocimiento y la reflexión, como vía de certeza. Conclusión principal de este estudio es que ambas dimensiones son correlativas: la reflexión supone interioridad, N la interioridad exige reflexión, como ría de certeza. La última parte del artículo examina la doctrina agustiniana de la reflexión, (...) en el contexto de su "filosofía del espíritu". La presente investigación intenta mostrar en este punto que, de hecho, San Agustín tematiza o supone, a lo largo de su obra tres grandes modos de reflexión, correspondientes a otros tantos modos de autoconocimiento del alma: el noticial, el cogitativo y el fenomenológico. (shrink)

Příspěvek se zaměřuje na otázky týkající se statusu filozofie na počátku 21. století – její pozice v oblasti lidského poznání a vymezení jejího vztahu ke speciálněvědním oborům. Akcentuje a mapuje ten rozměr filozofie 20. století, který se obrátil k jazyku a inicioval a formuloval debaty o vědní metodologii a o úloze filozofie při stanovování základů vědeckého poznání (tj. jeho filozofického fundamentu). Modelovým příkladem uvedených otázek bude v příspěvku analýza vývoje vztahu mezi tzv. analytickou filozofií jazyka a lingvistikou: bude stručně vymezena (...) jejich (vzájemná) pozice v procesu poznávání lidského jazyka a řeči a zkoumány možnosti stanovení hranice mezi těmito dvěma přístupy. Zároveň bude charakterizována povaha jejich nepochybných kontaktů a budou diskutovány důvody těchto procesů. V souhlasu s Lakoffovou tezí, že „na filosofii záleží také v akademickém světě, protože pojmové rámce, na nichž jsou založeny celé akademické disciplíny, mají obvykle své kořeny ve filosofii a […] zcela jistě to platí i v [...] lingvistice,“ poukážeme na historicky danou (explicitní či implicitní) filozofickou fundaci lingvistických teorií a nastolíme otázku, co činí tuto fundaci fundací filozofickou, co ji činí předmětem filozofie a co tedy v posledku znamená věnovat se filozofii jazyka (ve vztahu k lingvistickému zkoumání téhož předmětu). Podrobíme analýze hypotetickou odpověď na výše uvedené otázky – do jaké míry představuje filozofii jazyka reflexe/tematizace základních předpokladů o předmětu a metodě zkoumání, kterou provádějí lingvisté, do jaké míry je možné filozofii jazyka redukovat na metodologii lingvistiky a co by se nabízelo jako alternativa k této redukci. Na uvedeném základě se pokusíme vymezit prostor pro filozofické zkoumání související s jazykem. Analýza podoby tohoto prostoru by pak měla přinést odpověď na otázku po významu slovního spojení „specificky filozofický přístup a přínos“. (shrink)

Why did Kierkegaard prefer to write his masterpieces under different pseudonyms and what was the theatrical logic behind the constant playfulness of an author otherwise doomed to melancholy? What were the reasons of his ongoing philosophical, theological and aesthetic hide-and-seek that he did not want to finish until the very last, nearly tragic phase of his authorship? How much inspiration did Kierkegaard receive from theatrical performances, from playwrights and even from actors and actresses of 19th-century Copenhagen, which seemed to be (...) sometimes stronger than the influence exercised on him by his professors, masters and theologians of Denmark’s “Golden Age”? Can the difference between direct and indirect communication that basically characterized Kierkegaard’s oeuvre be described in theatrical terms or even to approach it as an ongoing dramatic dialogue? Should we rather call it a “polylogue” as different actors are present throughout the texts that were often polemic with each other, simultaneously reflecting certain issues from different angles and finally Kierkegaard denying that any of those were written by him? Could his own name be a pseudonym, as his brother suggested when giving the eulogy on the prodigal son, who learned to doubt from Socrates and from Descartes, yet could not give up his intention to question even the final axioms of human existence? The author tries to find answers to these questions by reconstructing the very special Kierkegaardian method, so familiar from the stage, in the spiritual, cultural and theatrical context of Kierkegaard’s Denmark. (shrink)

The game of Go was the last great challenge for artificial intelligence in abstract board games. AlphaGo was the first system to reach supremacy, and subsequent implementations further improved the state of the art. As in chess, the fall of the human world champion did not lead to the end of the game. Now, we have renewed interest in the game due to new questions that emerged in this development. How far are we from perfect play? Can humans catch up? (...) How compressible is Go knowledge? What is the computational complexity of a perfect player? How much energy is really needed to play the game optimally? Here, we investigate these and related questions with respect to the special properties of Go (meaningful draws and extreme combinatorial complexity). Since traditional board games have an important role in human culture, our analysis is relevant in a broader context. What happens in the game world could forecast our relationship with AI entities, their explainability, and usefulness. (shrink)

The problem of absolute generality has attracted much attention in recent philosophy. Agustin Rayo and Gabriel Uzquiano have assembled a distinguished team of contributors to write new essays on the topic. They investigate the question of whether it is possible to attain absolute generality in thought and language and the ramifications of this question in the philosophy of logic and mathematics.

Evolution of Human Behavior is the first text to synthesize and compare the major proposals for human behavioral evolution from an anthropological perspective. Ideal for courses in the evolution of human behavior, human evolutionary ecology, evolutionary psychology, and biological anthropology, this unique volume reviews a wide array of approaches on how and why humans evolved behaviorally.

Computational implementations are special relations between what is computed and what computes it. Though the word “isomorphism” appears in philosophical discussions about the nature of implementations, it is used only metaphorically. Here we discuss computation in the precise language of abstract algebra. The capability of emulating computers is the defining property of computers. Such a chain of emulation is ultimately grounded in an algebraic object, a full transformation semigroup. Mathematically, emulation is defined by structure preserving maps (morphisms) between semigroups. These (...) are systematic, very special relationships, crucial for defining implementation. In contrast, interpretations are general functions with no morphic properties. They can be used to derive semantic content from computations. Hierarchical structure imposed on a computational structure plays a similar semantic role. Beyond bringing precision into the investigation, the algebraic approach also sheds light on the interplay between time and computation. (shrink)

As performativity within the academy continues to escalate, this paper considers the place for building research capacities through a scholarship in teaching and learning initiative at an Australian university. While the tensions that exist between discipline research and scholarship in teaching and learning remain, evaluation data for a central higher education research group suggests that an alternative research pathway is possible through collegial structures. The drive towards performativity is not unique to Australia and the evidence presented provides insights that may (...) be useful for a broader audience that may be considering research capacity building. (shrink)

Este artículo hace una reflexión sobre la importancia de la divulgación de los derechos humanos en América Latina. El autor menciona que fuera de los am­bientes académicos y organizaciones de derechos humanos, se sabe poco acerca de los derechos humanos, su concepto, fundamentación, historia y sistemas de protección en la región. El autor resalta la labor de divulgación ilustrada de Gregorio Peces Barba en la cultura jurídica y política de España y otros países y sostiene que en América Latina se (...) necesita hacer algo similar. El autor men­ciona que en Chile, recientemente el tema de los derechos humanos ha vuelto al primer plano en el contexto del proceso constituyente y se han producido deba­tes públicos de mucho interés sobre los derechos fundamentales, incluyendo los de carácter social. (shrink)

Dan Greco and Jason Turner wrote two fantastic critiques of my book, The Construction of Logical Space. Greco’s critique suggests that the book can be given a Kuhnian interpretation, with a Carnapian twist. Here I embrace that interpretation. Turner criticizes one of the views I develop in the book. Here I identify an avenue of resistance.

Phenomenology is supposed to provide an intrinsic account of the possible types of conscious acts and of their relationship to each other. Husselr's enduring frame on this subject rests on the distinction between "objectifying acts" -representations- and "non-objectifying acts" -emotions and volitions-. But the sense of the dependence of every act on representations, suffered a deep change from Logical Investigations -the intentional reference of non-objectifying acts proceeds completely from cognitive reference- to Ideas -the peculiar emotional reference to values needs preferably (...) a doxic-objectifying modality-. Both theories remain, in the end, problematic. (shrink)