Here the philosopher and physicist David Z Albert argues, among other things, that the difference between past and future can be understood as a mechanical phenomenon of nature and that quantum mechanics makes it impossible to present the entirety of what can be said about the world as a narrative of “befores” and “afters.”.

In this eloquent guide to the meanings of the postmodern era, Albert Borgmann charts the options before us as we seek alternatives to the joyless and artificial culture of consumption. Borgmann connects the fundamental ideas driving his understanding of society's ills to every sphere of contemporary social life, and goes beyond the language of postmodern discourse to offer a powerfully articulated vision of what this new era, at its best, has in store. "[This] thoughtful book is the first remotely (...) realistic map out of the post modern labyrinth."—Joseph Coates, _The Chicago Tribune_ "Rather astoundingly large-minded vision of the nature of humanity, civilization and science."—_Kirkus Reviews_. (shrink)

In this paper we formulate a version of Second Incompleteness Theorem. The idea is that a sequential sentence has ‘consistency power’ over a theory if it enables us to construct a bounded interpretation of that theory. An interpretation of V in U is bounded if, for some n , all translations of V -sentences are U -provably equivalent to sentences of complexity less than n . We call a sequential sentence with consistency power over T a pro-consistency statement for T (...) . We study pro-consistency statements. We provide an example of a pro-consistency statement for a sequential sentence A that is weaker than an ordinary consistency statement for A . We show that, if A is $${{\sf S}^{1}_{2}}$$ , this sentence has some further appealing properties, specifically that it is an Orey sentence for EA . The basic ideas of the paper essentially involve sequential theories. We have a brief look at the wider environment of the results, to wit the case of theories with pairing. (shrink)

In this paper we show that the degrees of interpretability of finitely axiomatized extensions-in-the-same-language of a finitely axiomatized sequential theory—like Elementary Arithmetic EA, IΣ1, or the Gödel–Bernays theory of sets and classes GB—have suprema. This partially answers a question posed by Švejdar in his paper (Commentationes Mathematicae Universitatis Carolinae 19:789–813, 1978). The partial solution of Švejdar’s problem follows from a stronger fact: the convexity of the degree structure of finitely axiomatized extensions-in-the-same-language of a finitely axiomatized sequential theory in the degree (...) structure of the degrees of all finitely axiomatized sequential theories. In the paper we also study a related question: the comparison of structures for interpretability and derivability. In how far can derivability mimic interpretability? We provide two positive results and one negative result. (shrink)

The concept of community of persons, which focuses on both persons and the whole, helps understand solidarity. The latter is based on the social nature of persons. Community of persons and solidarity seems to be able to move away from the individualist perspective or the individualism-collectivism dichotomy. Using autopraxeography in a pragmatic constructivism epistemological paradigm, this article aims to explore how organizations can develop solidarity in a workplace. The experience presented takes place in a bank. It shows that communities of (...) persons with employees and customers are both ethical and financially efficient. These communities build a dialogue between persons and organizations. Nevertheless, it is impossible to force solidarity because it could generate derision that is contrary to the wished goal. Finally, while this model is based on solidarity, it focuses solely on internal solidarity. (shrink)

In this contribution the socalled Meno-Problem will be discussed. With respect to theories the problem is the following question: Why is it epistemologically more valuable to know a true theory than to simply believe it? A classical answer in reabilist accounts to this problem refers to the value of the operation which is used for gathering knowledge. But there is a gap in the argumentation as far as one is not allowed to derive from this assumption the conclusion that also (...) the result of the operation is valuable. We are going to show a difference between true theories which are just believed and theories which are also known to be true. This difference seems to allow one to close the mentioned gap. (shrink)

To single out "time" or "temporality" as the most important concept within a philosophical framework attempting to delineate "reality" immediately raises the question of how to situate temporality itself. I will distinguish only two ways of situating time, because they both appear to be simple and straightforward, and because they establish a sufficient framework for the incipient theory I propose briefly elaborating. On the one hand, temporality can certainly be situated in terms of cosmological and biological evolution. And on the (...) other hand, it is certainly the case that temporality has been situated in terms of the evolution of mind or of the development of consciousness. It is of interest to note that these two ways of situating time are analogous to the two sides of what is frequently called "the body/mind problem," and they seem to carry analogous implications. (shrink)

Life, and therefore evolution, is a creative process; creativity is not an attribute of a few gifted people. The way we think obscures this truth. Three ways of dealing with a problem are creativity, calculation, and choice. Creativity can occur when a single idea is held in two contradictory frames of reference. Thus to be creative we have to put aside our usual ways of thinking, which are based on either/or. When we put aside this way of thinking we will (...) see that things do not change: they are change. (shrink)

At some point, most people will have to face difficult moral decisions that arise due to advances in the world of science and technology. Resolving these problems in ways faithful to Christian values requires a special commitment. This book shows how to make and keep that commitment.