No one in philosophy has paid much attention to the virtue of honesty in recent years. Here is a trait for which it is easy to find consensus that it is a virtue, and furthermore, a very important virtue. It also has obvious relevance to what we see going on in contemporary politics, for instance, or in sports, the entertainment world, and education. Yet as far as I can tell, only one article in a philosophy journal has appeared in several (...) decades which discusses this virtue at any length. -/- In this chapter I have two central aims: (i) to sketch some of the conceptual parameters of the virtue of honesty in general, as well as its subordinate virtues, and then (ii) to draw on leading work in psychology to determine, at least in a preliminary way, whether we should think that most people instantiate this virtue or not. (shrink)

The irreducibility of language : the history of rhetoric in the age of typewriters -- The failures of empiricism : language, science, and the philosophical tradition -- What is a trope? : the discourse of metaphor and the language of the body -- The nervous systems of modern consciousness : metaphor, physiology, and mind -- Interpretation and life : outlines of an anthropology of knowledge.

This essay considers and evaluates recent results and arguments from classical chaotic systems theory and non-relativistic quantum mechanics that pertain to the question of whether our world is deterministic or indeterministic. While the classical results are inconclusive, quantum mechanics is often assumed to establish indeterminism insofar as the measurement process involves an ineliminable stochastic element, even though the dynamics between two measurements is considered fully deterministic. While this latter claim concerning the Schrödinger evolution must be qualified, the former fully depends (...) on a resolution of the measurement problem. Two alleged proofs that nature is indeterministic, relying, in turn, on Gleason's theorem and Conway and Kochen's recent 'free will theorem', are shown to be wanting qua proofs of indeterminism. We are thus left with the conclusion that the determinism question remains open. (shrink)

Information theory presupposes the notion of an epistemic agent, such as a scientist or an idealized human. Despite that, information theory is increasingly invoked by physicists concerned with fundamental physics, physics at very high energies, or generally with the physics of situations in which even idealized epistemic agents cannot exist. In this paper, I shall try to determine the extent to which the application of information theory in those contexts is legitimate. I will illustrate my considerations using the case of (...) black hole thermodynamics and Bekenstein's celebrated argument for his formula for the entropy of black holes. This example is particularly pertinent to the theme of the present collection because it is widely accepted as `empirical data' in notoriously empirically deprived quantum gravity, even though the laws of black hole thermodynamics have so far evaded direct empirical confirmation. (shrink)

Als die zwei auch für die Wissenschaftstheorie relevantesten Konversionen der letzten Jahre gelten die von Holzkamp hin zum Marxismus sowie die von Feyerabend hin zum Anarchismus oder Dadaismus. Beide Forscher haben autobiographische Notizen publiziert, die ihre Konversion plausibel machen sollen. Darüberhinaus liegt durch jüngste Publikationen auch bei Feyerabend inzwischen genügend theoretisches Material vor, aufgrund dessen eine erste Bilanz gewagt werden kann. Mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Feyerabend lautet die Hauptfrage, warum er "nur" zum Anarchismus konvertierte, nicht aber zum Marxismus. Bezogen auf (...) die Auseinandersetzung zwischen emanzipatorischer Anthropologie und nomothetischer Methodologie wird zunächst die Kritik der Forschungspraxis aufgezeigt, wie sie vom frühen Holzkamp und von Feyerabend geübt wurde. Spätestens bei dem seit den Analysen von Kuhn aktuellem Bruch zwischen Wissenschaftstheorie und -praxis ist Feyerabend im Unterschied zu Holzkamp nicht mehr motiviert, diesen Bruch rational zu rekonstruieren. Vielmehr tut Feyerabend alles dafür, die Autorität der Wissenschaft zu erschüttern. Die Überführung seines durchaus teilbaren Kampfes gegen ein Falsifikationsprinzip in einen Kampf für pluralistische Methodologie ist letztlich ein Zeichen der Hilflosigkeit einer idealistischen und voluntaristischen Philosophie. Seine radikaldemokratische Konzeption der Wissenschaft als Abstimmungsgeschäft etabliert jene 'Mob'-Herrschaft, die er in seiner Auseinandersetzung mit Lakatos' Basisurteilen noch ablehnte. Als Ursache für den Unterschied in der Konversion bei Holzkamp und Feyerabend wird herausgestellt: Das liberalistische Privatindividuum Feyerabend ist im Unterschied zu Holzkamp nie in der Lage, seine Interessen an Wissenschaft von der Praxis her disziplinieren zu lassen und die positiven Ansätze zu einer "kosmologischen" Analyse in einer umfassenden Reflektion des Zusammenhangs von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft aufzuheben. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Um den normativen Erwartungen an die soziale Position des Schiedsrichters gerecht zu werden, müssen Schiedsrichter als geachtete Autorität auf dem Spielfeld anerkannt werden. Ihre Autorität setzt sich dabei aus der institutionell vom Deutschen Fußball-Bund abgeleiteten Amtsautorität, der funktionalen Sachautorität und der persönlichen Autorität zusammen. In der Selbstwahrnehmung wird der Regelkenntnis und Ernsthaftigkeit die höchste Bedeutung beigemessen. Für Schiedsrichte­rinnen ist im Selbstbild die Physis ein signifikant bedeutenderer Faktor als bei Schiedsrichtern, die wiederum die Regelauslegung als signifikant wichtiger erachten als die (...) Schiedsrichterinnen. Über alle Spielklassen ist die Regelkenntnis und Ernsthaftigkeit der wichtigste Faktor, während die Bedeutung der Physis in höheren Spielklassen stärker betont wird als in niedrigeren Spielklassen. (shrink)

This paper examines Dharmakīrti's arguments against Cārvāka physicalism in the Pramāṇasiddhi chapter of his magnum opus, the Pramāṇavārttika, with a focus on classical Indian philosophical attempts to address the mind-body problem. The key issue concerns the relation between cognition and the body, and the role this relation plays in causal-explanatory accounts of consciousness and cognition. Drawing on contemporary debates in philosophy of mind about embodiment and the significance of borderline states of consciousness, the paper proposes a philosophical reconstruction that builds (...) on two important features of the Buddhist account: an expanded conception of causality and a robust account of phenomenal content. (shrink)

The standard of proof in criminal trials should require that the evidence presented by the prosecution is robust. This requirement of robustness says that it must be unlikely that additional information would change the probability that the defendant is guilty. Robustness is difficult for a judge to estimate, as it requires the judge to assess the possible effect of information that the he or she does not have. This article is concerned with expert witnesses and proposes a method for reviewing (...) the robustness of expert testimony. According to the proposed method, the robustness of expert testimony is estimated with regard to competence, motivation, external strength, internal strength and relevance. The danger of trusting non-robust expert testimony is illustrated with an analysis of the Thomas Quick Case, a Swedish legal scandal where a patient at a mental institution was wrongfully convicted for eight murders. (shrink)

_The Lamp that Integrates the Practices_ is a systematic and comprehensive exposition of the most advanced yogas of the Esoteric Community Tantra as espoused by the Noble Tradition, an influential school of interpretation within the Mahayoga traditions of Indian Buddhist esoterism. Equal in authority to Nagarjuna's famous Five Stages, Aryadeva's work is perhaps the earliest prose example of the "stages of the mantra path" genre in Sanskrit. Its studied gradualism exerted immense influence on later Indian and Tibetan tradition, and it (...) is widely cited by masters from all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume presents the _Lamp_ in a tri-lingual format: its Sanskrit original critically-edited from recently-identified manuscripts, a critical edition of the eleventh-century Tibetan translation by Rin-chen Bzang-po, and a thoroughly-annotated English translation. Includes an introductory study discussing the history of the Guhyasamaja and its exegetical traditions, surveying the scriptural and commentarial sources of the Noble Tradition, and analyzing in detail the contents of the _Lamp_. Features a detailed, tri-lingual glossary. Published by American Institute of Buddhist Studies. (shrink)

The Contemporary Artist and the Consciousness of His/Her Era. We examine the changed conditions under which artists accomplish their work, and the consciousness they now have of their work, and of the forms which it takes. If the ideal of a revolutionary consciousness is no longer part of the artistic agenda, this does not necessarily imply that artists have abandoned the aim of opening up the reality of the current moment to a space where the intimation of something other is (...) preserved. (shrink)

This article explores what ‘plausible’ means in statements about legal evidence and shows that it is highly ambiguous. Twelve different meanings of ‘plausibility’ are identified and distinguished from each other by definitions. Contrary to what has been claimed by some evidence scholars (Allen and Pardo, 2019), the article shows that all uses of ‘plausibility’ can be captured in terms of probability. The author also shows that the exposed ambiguity is deeply problematic for legal practice and legal scholarship. The fundamental principle (...) of justice that ‘like cases should be treated alike’ is endangered when the standard of proof is expressed in an ambiguous way, and the scientific testability of hypotheses about legal fact-finding is undermined when these hypotheses are formulated in ambiguous terms. (shrink)

Aryeh Kosman’s The Activity of Being is the fruit of a lifetime of work on some of the most difficult and challenging texts of ancient philosophy.

Guest editorial to a special symposium on New Media and Risky Behavior of Children and Young People: Ethics and Policy Implications.

English summary: Was Paul of Tarsus a philosopher? Does he even rank amongst those philosophers who influenced occidental live and thought? The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben says, that the Epistle to the Romans is the fundamental messianic text of the western culture. The Jewish scholars Jacob Taubes and Daniel Boyarin insist on the philosophical and political Force of Pauline thinking. Long before that, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger dealt intently with the Epistle. Was Paul a Philosopher? In any case he (...) received a lot of attention from the modern philosophers. The collection of contributions by theologians and philosophers gives profound insights into his thinking. German description: War Paulus aus Tarsus ein Philosoph? Zahlt er gar zu jenen bedeutenden Philosophen, die das abendlandische Leben und Denken massgeblich mit pragten? Der italienische Philosoph Giorgio Agamben bezeichnet jedenfalls den Romerbrief des Apostels als "grundlegenden messianischen Text der westlichen Kultur". Nachdrucklich weisen auch judische Gelehrte wie Jacob Taubes und Daniel Boyarin auf die philosophisch-politische Sprengkraft paulinischen Denkens hin. Lange zuvor setzten sich bereits Friedrich Nietzsche und Martin Heidegger intensiv mit den Briefen des Apostels auseinander. War Paulus ein Philosoph? In jedem Fall geniesst er unter den Philosophen der Moderne und Spatmoderne eine bemerkenswert grosse Aufmerksamkeit. Die hier versammelten Beitrage von Philosophen und Theologen geben einen profunden Einblick in sein denkerisches Potential. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é delimitar a relação entre educação e política na obra de John Locke, considerando as atribuições que o magistrado exerce. Nesse sentido, detalhar qual a função que o magistrado tem na manutenção dos direitos individuais e quais são as atribuições do poder legislativo e do poder executivo, torna-se necessário. Para tal intuito, iremos expor inicialmente a teoria lockeana da divisão dos poderes; em seguida, demonstraremos que o magistrado deve ser um indivíduo que elabora e execute as (...) leis imparcialmente; e, por fim, relacionar esta argumentação com seus escritos sobre educação. Por ser resultado de uma pesquisa qualitativa e de cunho filosófico empregamos a hermenêutica como metodologia. Consequentemente, o procedimento metodológico adotado foi a análise de texto. (shrink)

I. Allgemeine werttheorie, psychologie des begehrens.--II. Grundzüge einer ethik.

The aim of this paper is to focus on the specificities of the creative processes in taste industries: industries that have connected the artistic and industrial dimensions to supply goods and services—demand for which derives not from the logic of needs and necessity, but from the logic of pleasures, tastes, ethic preferences and hedonism. These taste industries belong to the creative industries but, unlike scientific and technological production, they work not on the basis of cumulative knowledge but through the creation (...) of ideas, drawings, recipes, goods and services which pass through time, and which constitute heritages. Thus, creativity works on the basis of heritages: that is, past and accumulated creativity. The paper considers how the different types of heritage contribute to creative process. It concludes on the double-edged effect of heritages, which while bestowing competitive advantages and favouring the development of creativity, do orient development along a given path, promoting a certain kind of creativity that may lead to lock-in effects, and build obstacles in the way of development. (shrink)