Cedric Boeckx focuses on two core components of grammar: phrase structure and locality.

Defined and formalized several decades ago, widely used in philosophy and game theory, the concept of common knowledge is still considered as problematic, although not always for the right reasons. I suggest that the epistemic status of a group of human agents in a state of common knowledge has not been thoroughly analyzed. In particular, every existing account of common knowledge, whether formal or not, is either too strong to fit cognitively limited individuals, or too weak to adequately describe their (...) state. I provide a realistic definition of common knowledge, based on a formalization of David Lewis’ seminal account and show that it is formally equivalent to probabilistic common belief. This leads to a philosophical analysis of common knowledge which answers several common criticisms and sheds light on its nature. (shrink)

This article argues that the concept of deliberation is construed too narrowly in political corporate social responsibility (CSR) and that a concept of deliberation for political CSR should err toward useful speech acts rather than reciprocity and charity. It draws from the political philosophy, labor relations, and business ethics literatures to outline a framework for an extended notion of deliberative engagement. The characters of deliberative behavior and deliberative environment are held to generate four modes of engagement: strategic deliberation, unitarist deliberation, (...) pluralist deliberation, and deliberative activism. The article concludes by arguing that political CSR will be better positioned to realize its potential by moving away from primarily consensus-centered objectives to a more responsive range of deliberative goals and practice. (shrink)

In 1962, Ernst Scheidegger published his first book using his own name as an imprint. This book was the German edition of Jean Genet's essay on Alberto Giacometti. The great artist and close personal friend of Ernst Scheidegger has been subject of a number of books published by Verlag Ernst Scheidegger and Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess since. The most successful of them has been "Traces of a Friendship - Alberto Giacometti", first published in 1990 and reprinted (...) several times. To mark the 50th anniversary of Verlag Ernst Scheidegger / Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess present a new, completely revised and expanded edition of this classic. It includes around 40 previously unpublished colour images which have recently been discovered in Ernst Scheidegger's archive. (shrink)

Photographs by Ernst Scheidegger of Alberto Giacometti and his art work.

Seneca the Younger's tragedies are adaptations from the Greek. C. A. J. Littlewood emphasizes the place of these plays in the Latin literature and in the philosophical context of the reign of the emperor Nero. Stoics dismissed public reality as theatre, as illusion. The artificiality of Senecan tragedy, the consciousness that its own dramatic worlds are literary constructs, responds to this contemporary philosophical perception.

The Minimalist Program for linguistic theory is Noam Chomsky's boldest and most radical version of his naturalistic approach to language. Cedric Boeckz examines its foundations, explains its underlying philosophy, exemplifies its methods, and considers the significance of its empirical results. He explores the roots and antecedents of the Program and shows how its methodologies parallel those of sciences such as physics and biology. He disentangles and clarifies current debates and issues around the nature of minimalist research in linguistics and shows (...) how the aims and ambitions of the Minimalist Program lie at the centre of the enterprise to understand how the human language faculty operates in the mind and is manifested in the world's languages.Professor Boeckx writes for advanced and graduate students of linguistics and for all those, in fields such as cognitive science and evolutionary biology, who want to know more about current developments in theoretical linguistics. (shrink)

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This essay tries to show how Michel Henry’s Phenomenology of Life can be understood as a valuable criticism of hermeneutical philosophy and especially of hermeneutical phenomenology in the manner Martin Heidegger and Paul Ricoeur had conceptualized it. Using Michel Henry’s concept of phenomenological distance, it will be shown here that on the basis of every hermeneutics there lies the classical topos of the auctorial intention that was once gained by the interpretation of texts and is simply ontologized by hermeneutical philosophers. (...) What follows from such a perspective is that human life seems to be ontologically separated form itself, against which Michel Henry tries to show that each life can only be humane, both in relation to itself as well as to others, if it affects itself without any distance. (shrink)

Les concepts de sens commun et de connaissance commune, bien qu’intuitivement proches, divergent selon leurs analyses philosophiques traditionnelles. Le sens commun est polysémique et possède une dimension sociologique, tandis que la connaissance commune est un état épistémique collectif qui a reçu des définitions formelles. Cet article montre que ces divergences ne sont qu’apparentes en révélant plusieurs points de convergence significatifs entre les deux concepts. En particulier, le sens commun inclut souvent une connaissance commune ; et la connaissance commune ne saurait (...) exister sans un certain sens commun sous-jacent. De façon secondaire, l’analyse montre par l’exemple que les différences entre les versions d’un concept en philosophie analytique formelle et en philosophie non formelle peuvent être artificielles et nuire à sa bonne compréhension. (shrink)

Among the one-word fragments from unknown plays of Sophocles, fr. inc. 1111 R. (φίλανδρον) has been treated as one of the more straightforward. It derives from a passage in Hermogenes of Tarsos’ treatise Περὶ Ἰδεῶν (late second centuryc.e.), which includes the Sophoclean adjective, its referent and a brief gloss: … ὁ Σοφοκλῆς … φίλανδρόν που τὴν Ἀταλάντην εἶπε διὰ τὸ ἀσπάζεσθαι σὺν ἀνδράσιν εἶναι (‘… Sophocles called Atalantephilandrossomewhere because she enjoyed being with men’). Brunck assigned the fragment to Sophocles’ tragicMeleagros; (...) most subsequent editors have edited the fragment assedis incertaewhile commenting favourably on Brunck's ascription. This suggestion has also found support beyond Sophoclean scholarship, and, to my knowledge, no alternative has been brought forward. While the ascription of the fragment to theMeleagrosis prima facie not implausible, I shall argue that a thorough analysis of the difficult passage in Hermogenes calls for a revision of the current lexicographical accounts of the word φίλανδρος—as well as φιλανδρία—and suggests that fr. 1111 may in fact originate in a satyr-play. (shrink)

Generic oppositions create an interplay of different voices in Satires 12, particularly between the genus tenue, variously nuanced, and the big genres of epic and tragedy. The integrity of the poetic idylls of a lyric Horace is contrasted with the more compromised sanctuary of Juvenal, struggling to accommodate his luxurious friends or, less kindly, practising friendship in a world in which everything is negotiable. Beyond an ahistorical opposition of generic voices emerges a narrative of intertextual influence in which Juvenal is (...) drawn from an idyll of Augustan purity into the mercantile space of his contemporary Martial. (shrink)

We investigate some common points between stable structures and weakly small structures and define a structureMto befineif the Cantor-Bendixson rank of the topological space${S_\varphi }\left} \right)$is an ordinal for every finite subsetAofMand every formula$\varphi \left$wherexis of arity 1. By definition, a theory isfineif all its models are so. Stable theories and small theories are fine, and weakly minimal structures are fine. For any finite subsetAof a fine groupG, the traces on the algebraic closure$acl\left$ofAof definable subgroups ofGover$acl\left$which are boolean combinations of (...) instances of an arbitrary fixed formula can decrease only finitely many times. An infinite field with a fine theory has no additive nor multiplicative proper definable subgroups of finite index, nor Artin-Schreier extensions. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:This paper argues that, although stakeholder engagement occurs within the context of power, neither market-centered CSR nor the deliberative model of political CSR adequately addresses the specter of power asymmetries and the inevitability of conflict in stakeholder relations, particularly for powerless stakeholders. Noting that the objective of stakeholder engagement should not be benevolence toward stakeholders, but mechanisms that address power asymmetries such that stakeholders are able to protect their own interests, I present a framework of stakeholder engagement based on agonistic (...) pluralism that seeks to structure and utilize discord rather than reduce or eliminate it. I then propose arbitration as an agonistic mechanism to address power asymmetries in stakeholder engagement and explore its implications. (shrink)

We analyse the computational complexity of comparing informational structures. Intuitively, we study the complexity of deciding queries such as the following: Is Alice’s epistemic information strictly coarser than Bob’s? Do Alice and Bob have the same knowledge about each other’s knowledge? Is it possible to manipulate Alice in a way that she will have the same beliefs as Bob? The results show that these problems lie on both sides of the border between tractability (P) and intractability (NP-hard). In particular, we (...) investigate the impact of assuming information structures to be partition-based (rather than arbitrary relational structures) on the complexity of various problems. We focus on the tractability of concrete epistemic tasks and not on epistemic logics describing them. (shrink)

La 4e de couverture indique: "Une synthèse paradoxale s'opère en France, au tournant du XXe siècle, entre les notions de liberté et de convention, de création et d'accord. En partant de la tension critique qui accompagne l'introduction du concept poincaréen de convention en mathématiques et en physique, Cédric Chandelier montre comment se forme un nouveau positivisme. La crise de la conscience née des transformations de la science a le caractère structurel d'un état qui se prolonge à travers la philosophie (...) bachelardienne, et jusqu'à la récente tentative de conciliation entre l'épistémologie historique et la tradition analytique. La thèse défendue est que le positivisme a survécu à sa remise en cause au nom de la liberté. En revenant aux origines du conventionnalisme, l'auteur soutient qu'il est cependant possible de mesurer la dimension cosmique de l'action réflexive de la conscience.". (shrink)

Social responsibility is addressed to corporations, but can also be applied to other powerful organizations. This study tests the impact of labor union social responsibility on key measures of labor union attachment. After developing a scale of labor union social responsibility, craft union apprentice workers were surveyed and their responses analyzed with structural equation modeling. Labor union social responsibility was directly and positively related to union commitment and job satisfaction. Union commitment and job satisfaction fully mediated the negative relationship between (...) labor union social responsibility and propensity to withdraw from the union, and the positive relationship between labor union social responsibility and union participation. The results suggest that labor union social responsibility can enhance union attachment and inform union strategy. (shrink)

The role intellectual virtues play in scientific inquiry has raised significant discussions in the recent literature. A number of authors have recently explored the link between virtue epistemology and philosophy of science with the aim to show whether epistemic virtues can contribute to the resolution of the problem of theory choice. This paper analyses how intellectual virtues can be beneficial for successful resolution of theory choice. We explore the role of virtues as well as vices in scientific inquiry and their (...) beneficial effects in the context of theory choice. We argue that vices can play a role in widening the set of potential candidate theories and support our claim with historical examples and normative arguments from formal social epistemology. We argue that even though virtues appear to be neither necessary nor sufficient for scientific success, they have a positive effect because they accelerate successful convergence amongst scientists in theory choice situations. (shrink)

Recent years have witnessed an increased number of game-theoretic approaches to social norms, which apparently share some common vocabulary and methods. We describe three major approaches of this kind (due to Binmore, Bicchieri and Gintis), before comparing them systematically on five crucial themes: generality of the solution, preference transformation, punishment, epistemic conditions and type of explanation. This allows us to show that these theories are, by and large, less compatible than they seem. We then argue that those three theories struggle (...) to account for three phenomena pertaining to social norms (namely context-dependence, conflicting norms and self-evidence), with which any complete game-theoretic account should in principle be able to deal. (shrink)

There exist many competing philosophical definitions of joint action and no clear criteria to decide between them; so far the search for definitions has by and large been a semantical enterprise rather than an empirical one. This chapter describes and assesses several constraints that could help converge towards a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for joint action. The tightness constraint favours definitions that fit joint actions in which the links between agents are as relaxed as possible, so as to (...) better pinpoint the conceptual core of jointness. The developmental constraint asks for definitions based on realistic psychological states that could be entertained by agents less cognitively developed than ideal human beings. The motor constraint holds that definitions should refer to psychological mechanisms involved in actual human coordination. These first three constraints are discussed and dismissed, mainly because they manage to establish vague limits at best (for various reasons). I then introduce a fourth one, the efficiency constraint, based on the fact that most of our joint actions are generally successful, and according to which definitions should involve conditions that help justify this success. Finally, the rational and evolutionary versions of the efficiency constraint are examined and defended against objections. (shrink)

Formal learning theory constitutes an attempt to describe and explain the phenomenon of learning, in particular of language acquisition. The considerations in this domain are also applicable in philosophy of science, where it can be interpreted as a description of the process of scientific inquiry. The theory focuses on various properties of the process of hypothesis change over time. Treating conjectures as informational states, we link the process of conjecture-change to epistemic update. We reconstruct and analyze the temporal aspect of (...) learning in the context of dynamic and temporal logics of epistemic change. We first introduce the basic formal notions of learning theory and basic epistemic logic. We provide a translation of the components of learning scenarios into the domain of epistemic logic. Then, we propose a characterization of finite identifiability in an epistemic temporal language. In the end we discuss consequences and possible extensions of our work. (shrink)

In this article, I will discuss possible differences between ecosystems and organisms on the basis of their intrinsic complexity. As the concept of complexity still remains highly debated, I propose here a practical and original way to measure the complexity of an ecosystem or an organism. For this purpose, I suggest using the concept of logical depth (LD) in a specific manner, in order to take into account the difficulty as well as the time needed to generate the studied object. (...) I illustrate this method with fully controlled Daisyworld simulations (i.e., simulations based on the Gaia hypothesis) that have often been proposed to mimic living systems. The method consists of the following sequential stages: (1) identification of the shortest program able to numerically model the studied system (also called the Kolmogorov–Solomonoff complexity); (2) running the program, once if there are no stochastic components in the system, several times if stochastic components are there; and (3) computing the time needed to generate the system with LD complexity. This measure is supposed to estimate the system complexity. It appears in this study that LD estimations fit well with the intuition we have of complex systems, with higher complexities being found for more realistic Daisyworlds. With such a method of capturing the time needed to build a system, we expect to detect in future studies any quantified differences between complex ecosystems and organisms. (shrink)

Over the last three decades, joint action has received various definitions, which for all their differences share many features. However, they cannot fit some perplexing cases of weak joint action, such as demonstrations, where agents rely on distinct epistemic sources, and as a result, have no first-hand knowledge about each other. I argue that one major reason why the definition of such collective actions is akin to the classical ones is that it crucially relies on the concept of common knowledge. (...) To this end, I first argue for the necessity of common knowledge for joint action in general due to the increased reliability of success it entails. I then defend the relevance of common knowledge against several criticisms, point at an adequate weakening, and discuss alternative approaches. Although structurally weaker, the common knowledge has a richer content in weak joint actions. As a result, even if the links between individuals are seriously stretched, much is still shared among them. Weak joint actions still require considerable cognitive abilities indeed. (shrink)

Most syntacticians, no matter their theoretical persuasion, agree that features are the most important units of analysis. Within Chomskyan generative grammar, the importance of features has grown steadily and within minimalism, it can be said that everything depends on features. They are obstacles in any interdisciplinary investigation concerning the nature of language and it is hard to imagine a syntactic description that does not explore them. For the first time, this book turns grammar upside down and proposes a new model (...) of syntax that is better suited for interdisciplinary interactions, and shows how syntax can proceed free of lexical influence. The empirical domain examined is vast, and all the fundamental units and properties of syntax are rethought. Opening up new avenues of investigation, this book will be invaluable to researchers and students in syntactic theory, and linguistics more broadly. (shrink)

Major depression is associated with a decrease of 1st person visual perspective in autobiographical memory, even after full remission. This study aimed to examine visual perspective in healthy never-depressed subjects presenting with either genetic or psychological vulnerability for depression. Sixty healthy participants performed the Autobiographical Memory Test with an assessment of visual perspective. Genetic vulnerability was defined by the presence of at least one S or LG allele of the polymorphism of the serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region . Psychological vulnerability was defined (...) by high scores of harm avoidance measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory. Life stress exposure, depressive mood, rumination, and familial history of depression were assessed through standardized procedures. Visual perspective for positive memories was independently predicted by both harm avoidance and a gene by environment interaction between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and life stress exposure. Visual perspective and vulnerability for depression may share some biological bases. (shrink)

In 2013, Bennett proposed a mereological theory in which the parthood relation is defined on the basis of two primitive relations: a is a part of b iff a fills a slot owned by b. However, this theory has issues counting how many parts an entity has. We explore the various counting problems and propose a new theory to solve them. Keeping the core idea of Bennett’s slots, this theory introduces mereological relations between slots. This theory enables us to solve (...) all known counting problems and to go beyond the limits of Bennett’s theory by theorising expected features of mereological theories: supplementation principles and mereological sum and fusion. The theory is illustrated on ontological issues on the nature of structural universals and informational entities. (shrink)

The paper argues that an ethical firm has cause to realize and to respect, in good faith, the decision of workers regarding labor unions, and proceeds along the following lines. First, the employer is due appropriate deference the bounds of which should be determined in conjunction with employees, as they are the most closely affected party. Second, employee preferences for defining the employment relation and appropriate deference are best reflected through autonomous voice. Third, autonomous voice is assured by the right (...) to free association and generally achieved through labor unions. Fourth, because employment is so important to a dignified existence, an economically just system of employment requires respect for workers’ choice regarding labor unions. And fifth, there are concerns and contradictions that arise from labor union operations, but they do not justify impeding a morally valid prerogative. (shrink)

La plupart des nombreuses définitions existantes d’une action coopérative en fournissent des conditions suffisantes plutôt que nécessaires. Nous définissons ici une forme minimale de coopération, correspondant aux actions de masse, telles des manifestations. Nous en détaillons les aspects intentionnel, épistémique, stratégique et téléologique, généralement obtenus par affaiblissement spécifique de concepts classiques. Parallèlement, nous soulignons le rôle crucial de concepts issus de la théorie des jeux pour la définition d’une action coopérative. Enfin, nous soutenons que la rationalité d’une action coopérative minimale (...) est cruciale à sa réalisation et pas seulement possible ou souhaitable comme le soutiennent les analyses habituelles. (shrink)

Οι πρώτοι λογαριασμοί του ιερού τον Απόλλωνα στο Δήλων και οι πανβοιωτικοί αγώνες των Δηλίων Μια στήλη από ασβεστόλιθο, που φέρει τρεις επιγραφές και ανακαλύφθηκε το 1992 στο Δήλεσι της ανατολικής Βοιωτίας, περιέχει τους πρώτους λογαριασμούς του ιερού του Δηλίου Απόλλωνα, που βρίσκεται στην επικράτεια της πόλεως της Τανάγρας. Η κύρια και καλύτερα διατηρημένη επιγραφή, που χαράχθηκε στην πρόσθια όψη της πέτρας, είναι ένα αντίγραφο της απόδοσης των λογαριασμών στο τέλος της θητείας ενός αγωνοθέτη, ο οποίος ήταν υπεύθυνος για τη (...) διοργάνωση των Δηλίων, του καλλιτεχνικού και αθλητικού διαγωνισμού ολόκληρης της Βοιωτίας προς τιμήν του Απόλλωνα. Η επιγραφή αυτή, η οποία χρονολογείται στις τελευταίες δεκαετίες του 2ου αι. π.Χ., μας πληροφορεί επίσης για την κυκλοφορία των νομισμάτων στη Βοιωτία εκείνη την εποχή, καθώς και για τις σχέσεις μεταξύ των πόλεων της Βοιωτίας μετά τη διάλυση της πολιτικής και στρατιωτικής συμπολιτείας το 172/1 και την επανίδρυσή της με άλλη μορφή τη δεκαετία του 140 π.Χ. (shrink)

Non-classical views about important issues in logic and its philosophy are a distinctive trait of Shahid Rahman's work. This volume has been designed, on the occasion of his 50th birthday, as a gathering place for unconventional approaches, original ideas and attempts to question well-established standards. Some of the world top philosophers and logicians contributed to a brilliant collection of papers, some of which doubtlessly leave their mark on the work to come in logic and in philosophy of formal sciences. Contributors (...) are: Philippe Balbiani, Diderik Batens, Johan van Benthem, Giacomo Bonanno, Walter A. Carnielli, Newton C. A. Da Costa, Michel Crubellier, Francisco A. Doria, Dov M. Gabbay, Olivier Gasquet, Gerhard Heinzmann, Andreas Herzig, Jaakko Hintikka, Justine Jacot, Reinhard Kahle, Erik C. W. Krabbe, Decio Krause, Franck Lihoreau, Kuno Lorenz, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Graham Priest, Stephen Read, Manuel Rebuschi, Greg Restall, Gabriel Sandu, Gerhard Schurz, Francois Schwarzentruber, Yaroslav Shramko, Goran Sundholm, John Symons, Christian Thiel, Nicolas Troquard, Tero Tulenheimo, Jean Paul Van Bendegem, Daniel Vanderveken, Yde Venema, Heinrich Wansing, Jan Wolenski and John Woods. (shrink)

Comment écrit-on l'histoire des sciences et des techniques? Ce livre présente les réponses que plusieurs générations successives ont apportées à ce problème essentiel des sciences humaines contemporaines. A partir du domaine extrêmement controversé de la biologie et de la paléontologie évolutionnistes, il étudie les débats épistémologiques et idéologiques entre historiens, philosophes, scientifiques et journalistes, qui développent des thèses souvent opposées à partir de l'étude de la dynamique culturelle. Peut-on parler de «précurseur» dans l'histoire des idées? Quel est le rôle du (...) milieu social dans la genèse des hypothèses scientifiques? L'idéologie imprègne-t-elle forcément toute théorie biologique? Doit-on rester neutre pour analyser objectivement un texte, un fait ou un procédé scientifique? Faut-il partir des connaissances actuelles pour comprendre les théories du passé? Quelle est la portée des révolutions dans l'histoire des sciences de la vie et de la Terre? Autant de thèmes revus aussi à la lumière du nouveau paradigme unificateur des sciences sociales: le modèle sélectif multipolaire. Pages de début Introduction Première partie. Les historiens de l'évolutionnisme Une histoire institutionnelle Les écoles philosophiques Jean Rostand et l'histoire scientifique modernisée Jacques Roger et la méthode historique Denis Buican et l'épistémologie évolutionniste Conclusion de la première partie Deuxième partie. Les questions de méthode La diversification des sources Internalisme contre externalisme Continuité et discontinuité L'objectivité en question L'historien et l'actualité scientifique Conclusion de la deuxième partie Troisième partie. Les sujets explorés Les « précurseurs » de l'évolutionnisme des lumières : mythe ou réalité? Cuvier : modèle ou anti-modèle scientifique? Le rôle de Lamarck dans la révolution transformiste Le néolamarckisme et l'affaire Lyssenko Le néodarwinisme et la sociobiologie sont-ils réductibles? Conclusion Une brève histoire de l'évolutionnisme en France Construction de l'arbre généalogique des idées aux xixe et xxe siècles Construction de l'arbre généalogique des idées auXVIIIe siècle Bibliographie Index Pages de fin. (shrink)