In his most recent book, Ermanno Bencivenga offers a stylistically and conceptually exciting investigation of the nature of language, mind, and personhood and the many ways the three connect. Bencivenga, one of the most iconoclastic voices to emerge in contemporary American philosophy, contests the basic assumptions of analytic (and also, to an extent, postmodern) approaches to these topics. His exploration leads through fascinating discussions of education, courage, pain, time and history, selfhood, subjectivity and objectivity, reality, facts, the empirical, power (...) and transgression, silence, privacy and publicity, and play—all themes that are shown to be integral to our thinking about language. Relentessly bending the rules, Bencivenga frustrates our expectations of a "proper" theory of language. He invokes the transgressions of Nietzsche and Wittgenstein even as he appropriates the aphoristic style of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. Written in a philosophically playful and experimental mode, A Theory of Language and Mind draws the reader into a sense of continual surprise, therapeutic discomfort, and discovery. (shrink)

Logic is often seen as the bedrock of intellectual life. It aims to be straight-forward, true, clear. But in this provocative book of postmodern philosophy, Ermanno Bencivenga presents an extended reflection on the subversive nature of logic--logic that is not stable and certain, but deceptive and tortuous. The author uses Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of the eleventh century, as his case study to show how human reason can be devious. In Anselm's famous texts, his beliefs (...) are not at stake, he is sure of them--he only seeks to under-stand his faith, not to prove it. But by looking at Anselm's writings as a whole, Bencivenga argues that they undermine Anselm's own interpretation. Not only can reason be more effective than force in fighting the unorthodox, but it can also be a subtle way of undermining orthodoxy. Bencivenga demonstrates how reason plays different roles at the different levels of Anselm's project. For its authoritarian subject, reason imposes a limit on its rebellious character. For its subversive subject, reason opens up an infinite arena for experimentation whose end will never be reached. Ultimately, Logic and Other Nonsense asks hard questions about the nature of philosophy in Anselm's world, as well as our own. (shrink)

An eye-tracking while listening study based on the blank screen paradigm was conducted to investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical verbs of motion. The study was based on two assumpti...

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS A THEORY OF REFERENCE AS AN INTENTIONAL ACT, INDEPENDENT OF THE METAPHYSICAL ASSUMPTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A REAL (AND COMMON) WORLD. ACCORDING TO THE THEORY, SPEAKERS REFER TO ENTITIES IN THEIR COGNITIVE SPACES. DIFFERENT SPEAKERS HAVE DIFFERENT SPACES, WHICH AT ANY GIVEN TIME MIRROR THEIR BELIEF-SYSTEMS AT THAT TIME. OBJECTS IN COGNITIVE SPACES ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM IDEAS, "SINNE", AND MEINONGIAN NON-EXISTENTS, AND SEVERAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE THEORY ARE DISCUSSED: AMONG THEM, HOW TO HANDLE COMMUNICATION AND TRUTH.

Tolstoy’s War and Peace is a magnificent work; as any such work, it can be read in a variety of ways and be found to teach us important lessons at a number of independent levels. Here I want to look at it as an extended meditation on historical causality---and, by implication, on causality, period. So I will not be taking it for granted that it is a novel; I will be treating it as if it were an outcome of the (...) conceptual reflection philosophers engage in---though, when all is said and done, I will be able to shed light on some of its structural features as a novel. (shrink)

This is a highly original, wide-ranging, and unorthodox discourse on the idea of philosophy contained in Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason. Bencivenga proposes a novel explanation of the Critique's celebrated "obscurity." This great obstacle to reading Kant, Bencivenga argues, has nothing to do with Kant's being a bad writer or with his having anything very complicated to say; rather, it is the natural result of the kind of operation Kant was performing: a universal conceptual revolution. Bencivenga contends (...) that in rejecting the traditional way of doing philosophy, Kant was proposing a paradigm shift comparable in magnitude to Copernicus's overthrow of the Ptolemaic view of the cosmos. Kant, however, was not successful in establishing his idea of philosophy as the new paradigm, and the old view persists in many contemporary versions. Bencivenga argues in favor of Kant's position, which he sees as entailing the view that the role of philosophy is to offer a plausible story about how objectivity might be grounded in certain principles of coherence of our mental states. This book is the story of Kant's revolutionary turnabout, what motivated it, and where it took him; it reveals Kant not only as a figure of historical importance, but as a source of ideas of great contemporary interest. (shrink)

The variety \ of semi-Heyting algebras was introduced by H. P. Sankappanavar [13] as an abstraction of the variety of Heyting algebras. Semi-Heyting algebras are the algebraic models for a logic HsH, known as semi-intuitionistic logic, which is equivalent to the one defined by a Hilbert style calculus in Cornejo :9–25, 2011) [6]. In this article we introduce a Gentzen style sequent calculus GsH for the semi-intuitionistic logic whose associated logic GsH is the same as HsH. The advantage of this (...) presentation of the logic is that we can prove a cut-elimination theorem for GsH that allows us to prove the decidability of the logic. As a direct consequence, we also obtain the decidability of the equational theory of semi-Heyting algebras. (shrink)

En este artículo exponemos los presupuestos que permiten una reflexión crítica sobre la esfera pública desde una perspectiva marxista. Hemos partido de la consideración del contexto de discusión reciente sobre las ideas políticas de Marx y de la relevancia del concepto de esfera pública para mostrar la importancia de algunos de sus conceptos críticos para la filosofía política. El texto es producto de una investigación dedicada a la elaboración de un marco conceptual que persigue el desarrollo de un análisis crítico (...) de la esfera pública en la actualidad y en el que se ha establecido que algunas cuestiones claves, vinculadas a los conceptos de lenguaje y experiencia, se encontraban presentes en la obra de Marx. En este sentido, el texto presenta una novedosa reflexión al tratar la actualidad del pensamiento de Marx desde el análisis de un problema político contemporáneo que permite poner en evidencia las implicaciones críticas y radicales que poseen sus fundamentos filosófico-críticos para los discursos y las instituciones políticas contemporáneas como la esfera pública. (shrink)

This book offers insight into the nature of meaningful discourse. It presents an argument of great intellectual scope written by an author with more than four decades of experience. Readers will gain a deeper understanding into three theories of the logos: analytic, dialectical, and oceanic. The author first introduces and contrasts these three theories. He then assesses them with respect to their basic parameters: necessity, truth, negation, infinity, as well as their use in mathematics. Analytic Aristotelian logic has traditionally claimed (...) uniqueness, most recently in its Fregean and post-Fregean variants. Dialectical logic was first proposed by Hegel. The account presented here cuts through the dense, often incomprehensible Hegelian text. Oceanic logic was never identified as such, but the author gives numerous examples of its use from the history of philosophy. The final chapter addresses the plurality of the three theories and of how we should deal with it. The author first worked in analytic logic in the 1970s and 1980s, first researched dialectical logic in the 1990s, and discovered oceanic logic in the 2000s. This book represents the culmination of reflections that have lasted an entire scholarly career. (shrink)

If graduate school is a kind of professional school, then graduate school in philosophy should train students in the many facets of the profession. This paper describes the nature of the “philosophy workshop” by comparing and contrasting it to two other components of graduate school: lecture courses and research seminars. In contrast to lecture courses that provide a large quantity of information in a succinct and well-guided fashion, and research seminars that concentrate on a specific topic or line of argument, (...) philosophy workshops offers students (and instructors) a more exploratory and more open-ended approach to learning philosophy. (shrink)

In this article we’ll analyze Hobbes’s theory of knowledge. Following Yves Charles Zarka, we’ll divide his epistemology in two: the antepredicative and the predicative knowledge. The main difference between them is that the second uses the benefits of language to create science, so we’ll have to describe Hobbes’s theory of language too. We’ll also explain the method of science: some kind of compositive-resolutive method but with a linguistic basis.

El presente artículo se introduce en la cuestión de la reversión del poder a partir de las posiciones de Suárez sobre el origen de la potestad política. A continuación aborda el problema en autores representativos de la segunda escolástica. Por último, con el ejemplo de los sucesos posteriores a 1808 en los reinos americanos de la monarquía castellana, intenta determinar si es dable sostener en la realidad objetiva alguna forma de reversión del poder a la comunidad.

In this paper we study the subdirectly irreducible algebras in the variety of pseudocomplemented De Morgan algebras by means of their De Morgan p‐spaces. We introduce the notion of the body of an algebra and determine when is subdirectly irreducible. As a consequence of this, in the case of pseudocomplemented Kleene algebras, two special subvarieties arise naturally, for which we give explicit identities that characterise them. We also introduce a subvariety of, namely the variety of bundle pseudocomplemented Kleene algebras, fully (...) describe its subvariety lattice and find explicit equational bases for each subvariety. In addition, we study the subvariety of generated by the simple members of, determine the structure of the free algebra over a finite set in this variety and their finite weakly projective algebras. (shrink)

Este artículo, siguiendo al filósofo francés Vladimir Jankélévitch, desvela la ética de la resistencia como una vía frente a la imposibilidad de perdonar en casos de violencia extrema y, en particular, cuando no hay arrepentimiento por parte del victimario. La senda de la resistencia configura, entonces, no solo el compromiso y la necesidad de mantener vivo el recuerdo del horror y la preciosa ipséité, sino la posibilidad de re-sentir y re-significar el silencio como un modo de dignificar a las víctimas, (...) sin permitir que el lugar de lo moral sea usurpado por lo jurídico o lo legal. La tesis central que queremos sostener aquí se rige por la siguiente afirmación: si no podemos perdonar, por lo menos podemos resistir. La resistencia está relacionada con el deber de la memoria y con la recuperación de la voz silenciada de las víctimas en el espacio público. This article, following the teachings of the French philosopher Vladimir Jankélé-vitch, presents the ethics of resistance as a path facing the impossibility of pardon in cases of extreme violence and, in particular, when there is no remorse on the part of the violence performer. The path of resistance shapes, therefore, not only the commitment and the need to keep alive the memory of the horror and the cherished ipséité, but also the possibility to feel again and redefine silence as a way to honour the victims without allowing the moral stance to be usurped by the judicial system or the rule of law. The central thesis that we would like to hold here is based on the following statement: If we cannot forgive at least we can resist. Resistance concerns the duty of memory and the recovery of the silenced voice of victims in the public space. (shrink)

Stories, in pictorial format, orally narrated, and later on as narrative texts, have played a key role in human evolution and to this day continue to surreptitiously teach us things and skills. In recent decades, psychologists and cognitive scientists have begun documenting the role of stories, and particularly fiction, in refining our sociocognitive skills. In this essay, I focus specifically on how stories, particularly written fiction, hone our emotion recognition skills. I present a brief overview of existing theorizing and research (...) findings, and propose the less-is-more hypothesis, according to which emotion recognition skills are sharpened by stories that do not tell us, but rather show us the emotional life of fictional characters. (shrink)

Con il presente lavoro l'A. si propone di dimostrare che l'introduzione nel lessico tecnico latino di materia, come traduzione di hyle, è antecedente al De inventione ciceroniano e al De rerum natura di Lucrezio, i primi testi a presentare questa innovazione nei campi rispettivamente della retorica e della filosofia. Dall'esame dei passi più significativi delle due opere, tra quelli in cui compare materia, e da considerazioni esterne ai testi stessi, si ricava, a giudizio dell'A., che il termine venne utilizzato come (...) parte integrante de/lessico tecnico preesistente, poiché mancano quegli elementi che accompagnano una neoformazione semantica alla sua prima comparsa certificandone, esplicitamente o implicitamente, la valenza traslata. (shrink)

In this paper we prove that the free pseudocomplemented residuated lattices are decomposable if and only if they are Stone, i.e., if and only if they satisfy the identity ¬ x ∨ ¬¬ x = 1. Some applications are given.

Socially responsible consumption reflects a consumer's political and ethical act. Its measurement is dependent on the socio-economic and cultural context. Consequently, measurement instruments reflecting various behaviour profiles of global consumers have been developed. This study employs a Latin-American-specific measurement instrument to compare socially responsible consumption behaviours in Colombia, Mexico and Peru, countries with the same cultural cluster, that is they reflect a set of values shaped by religion, family, a sense of authority and a nationalist bias in their cultural pattern. (...) The empirical test included confirmatory factorial analysis exercise, factorial invariance analysis and a contrast analysis of variance. The results for the three Latin American countries show the following. (i) The Mexican consumer, compared to the Peruvian and Colombian one, exhibits a stronger tendency to evaluate external practices of corporate social responsibility as a criterion of consumption. (ii) The rationality of the Mexican consumer is better in terms of consumption volume of products, resources and services. Finally, (iii) Peruvian and Mexican consumers (vs. Colombian consumers) exhibit a tendency to assess the responsible practices of companies in labour matters more as a consumption criterion. This study provides empirical evidence of the context-dependent nature of measuring socially responsible consumption. For practitioners, identifying consumer profiles based on the market context enables them to customise goods and services. Moreover, policymakers should implement a sustainable consumption agenda with public policy guidelines tailored to the specific context. (shrink)

I may feel guilty for situations and events in which I seemed to play no causal role, which (it would seem) would have been exactly the same had I never existed. What is the reason for this guilt? The paper argues that it is to be found in a sense of universal connectedness: I take myself to always make a difference, no matter how distant I appear to be from anything that happens.

La historiografía ha revisado el falso mito de la «idílica convivencia» de las tres culturas. Para ello, ha alejado la cohabitación pacífica entre las tres religiones del imaginario colectivo medieval. Los vínculos entre la mayoría cristiana y la minoría judía sufrieron una serie de alteraciones a lo largo de la Edad Media como consecuencia de la coexistencia y de los episodios de violencia. Así pues, el objetivo de este trabajo es identificar los sustantivos y adjetivos que hacen referencia a los (...) judíos en los discursos medievales de los siglos XIV y XV. (shrink)

In My Kantian Ways, Ermanno Bencivenga, one of the most creative and iconoclastic practitioners of American philosophy, sets out to explore Kant's legacy for contemporary thought. Seeking to extricate the German philosopher's work from the stranglehold of the prevailing analytic tradition, he presents his own defamiliarizing and unique interpretation of Kantianism. Kant emerges as a master thinker whose emphasis on judgment provides the basis for a new approach to the practice of philosophy as a vehicle for learning. Ranging from (...) speculations on the electronic self to a tour-de-force critique of the postmodern thought of Richard Rorty, Bencivenga's book is an inviting blend of styles and genres. Plucky, irritating, and sometimes wickedly funny, My Kantian Ways calls attention to the frequent mediocrity and false piety of much of today's professional philosophy. Through these intensely personal essays, Bencivenga reminds us just how much philosophy can matter. In My Kantian Ways, Ermanno Bencivenga, one of the most creative and iconoclastic practitioners of American philosophy, sets out to explore Kant's legacy for contemporary thought. Seeking to extricate the German philosopher's work from the stranglehold of the prevailing analytic tradition, he presents his own defamiliarizing and unique interpretation of Kantianism. Kant emerges as a master thinker whose emphasis on judgment provides the basis for a new approach to the practice of philosophy as a vehicle for learning. Ranging from speculations on the electronic self to a tour-de-force critique of the postmodern thought of Richard Rorty, Bencivenga's book is an inviting blend of styles and genres. Plucky, irritating, and sometimes wickedly funny, My Kantian Ways calls attention to the frequent mediocrity and false piety of much of today's professional philosophy. Through these intensely personal essays, Bencivenga reminds us just how much philosophy can matter. (shrink)

Kant was very proud of his Copernican revolution. So it is a bit ironical that the exact nature of this revolution should have turned out to be as obscure and controversial as it has. In the present paper I will try to provide a new way of looking at the issue. It is my hope that this new perspective will prove not only historically but also theoretically valuable; in particular, that it will present Kant's revolution as one that we might (...) want to take seriously, and maybe even think we still need. (shrink)