If any single controlling principle can be derived from what R. P. Blackmur has called the most sustained, eloquent, and original piece of literary criticism in existence, Henry James's Prefaces, it is that criticism is a creative act. This principle seems both sufficiently important and ambiguous to warrant a close examination of its meaning and consequences. In what follows, then, I propose to examine a theory of criticism as creativity, referring not only to James's remarks but also, and in particular, (...) to an earlier and some ways more accessible version which we find in Robert Browning's work. Undoubtedly, in the great realm of speculation open to the critical theorist there are grander tasks which one could set oneself. Whether there are more difficult ones is another question. As it is, despite their peculiar particularity, both Browning and James are ambitious writers who refuse to be contained within narrow limits. Both demand an awareness of the context of critical theory, a sense of the problematical nature of criticism and the perplexities of the creative act. It is these latter considerations with which I propose to begin. (shrink)

This paper is based on a semantic foundation of quantum logic which makes use of dialog-games. In the first part of the paper the dialogic method is introduced and under the conditions of quantum mechanical measurements the rules of a dialog-game about quantum mechanical propositions are established. In the second part of the paper the quantum mechanical dialog-game is replaced by a calculus of quantum logic. As the main part of the paper we show that the calculus of quantum logic (...) is complete and consistent with respect to the dialogic semantics. Since the dialoggame does not involve the 'excluded middle' the calculus represents a calculus of effective (intuitionistic) quantum logic. In a forthcoming paper it is shown that this calculus is equivalent to a calculus of sequents and more interestingly to a calculus of propositions. With the addition of the 'excluded middle' the latter calculus is a model for the lattice of subspaces of a Hilbert space. (shrink)

This contribution is concerned with a particular model theoretic semantics of the object language of quantum physics. The object language considered here comprises logically connected propositions, sequentially connected propositions and modal propositions. The model theoretic semantics arises from the already established dialogic semantics, if the pragmatic concept of the dialog-game is replaced by a "metaphysical" concept of the game. The game is determined by a game tree, the branches of which constitute a set, the set of "possible worlds" of an (...) individual quantum physical system. The semantic concepts like truth, falsity and valuation are defined with respect to this set. (shrink)

Modern philosophical biology has been dominated by the idea of mechanism. Even the attempts to escape from mechanism, such as the theories of vitalism and holism, covertly assume the mechanistic hypothesis while surrounding it with an aura of mysticism. The mechanistic approach is the result of applying the methods of physics to the realm of biology. The immense prestige of physics has tended to disguise the fact that biology is a science in its own right, with autonomous principles. The purpose (...) of the article is to develop the philosophy of organism, first systematically elaborated by Whitehead, and to seek to demonstrate that organic being is unintelligible without the concept of purposiveness and hence of value. This necessarily leads to the return of metaphysics in the form of metabiology.RésuméLa biologie philosophique moderne est dominée par l'idée de mécanisme. Il n'est pas jusqu'aux tentatives d'échapper au mécanisme, telle par exemple la théorie du vitalisme et celle du holisme, qui n'assument implicitement l'hypothése mécaniste tout en l'entourant d'une aura de mysticisme. La conception mécaniste résulte de l'applicatio n des méthodes de la physique au domaine de la biologie. L'immense prestige de la physique a tendu à déguiser le fait pourtant reel que la biologie est une science qui jouit de sa propre souveraineté et de principes autonomes. Le but de cet article est d'exposer une philosophie de l'organisme élaborée systématiquement par Whitehead pour la premiére fois et de chercher ensuite à démontrer que tout être organique est inintelligible en dehors du concept de finalité et, par conséquent, de valeur. Ceci conduit nécessairement à un renouveau de la métaphysique sous forme de métabiologie. (shrink)

An examination of Cassirer’s conception of symbolizing, which is born in his critique of Kant, will show that objectifying human experience without external absolutes is grounded in affect, not cognition. When there is no external absolute to guide objectifying, then the roots of objectifying begin with how we are affected by experience and led to reflect. Affect formulates how we become conscious of what there is and express this consciousness so as to objectify it. Affect thus has an indirect influence (...) on consciousness and objectifying. Cassirer expands the scope of the free play of the imagination, which Kant restricted to aesthetic judgments, to account for how order arises through any modality when a rule is not given. He anchors this generative source in human expression itself, and thereby prevents objectifying from sinking into relativism. Affect is thus shown to play a regulative role in consciousness when we objectify human experience without external absolutes. (shrink)