The aim of this chapter is to develop a semantics for Calculus CL. CL is a diagrammatic calculus based on a logic machine presented by Johann Christian Lange in 1714, which combines features of Euler-, Venn-type, tree diagrams, squares of oppositions etc. In this chapter, it is argued that a Boolean account of formal ontology in CL helps to deal with logical oppositions and inferences of extended syllogistics. The result is a combination of Lange’s diagrams with an algebraic semantics of (...) terms: Bit-CL, in which any ordered objects are identified by characteristic bitstrings. Then, a number of objections to Bit-CL are answered to, and the process of inference is explained in this new logical framework. (shrink)

This article develops a historico-critical analysis of uncertainty and accuracy in measurement through a case-study of the adjustment of the fundamental physical constants, in order to investigate the sceptical “problem of unknowability” undermining realist accounts of measurement. Every scientific result must include a “measurement uncertainty”, but uncertainty cannot be be eval- uated against the unknown, and therefore cannot be taken as an assessment of “accuracy”, defined in the metrological vocabulary as the closeness to the truth. The way scientists use and (...) interpret uncertainty in the adjustment activity illustrates how they try to overcome this predicament. I iden- tify two operative roles of measurement uncertainty, in the comparison and in the combination of measurement results. This duality implies a tension between selection and combination when aggregating results, leading to a crucial question: should the evaluation of uncertainties favour safety over precision? I present contrasting answers and identify a specific account of physicists who implicitly try to conciliate realism with the problem of unknowability. I argue that this invites us to reconsider accuracy from a dynamical standpoint, as the gradual achievement of scientific progress through error correction. Finally, I present two interpretations of measurement uncertainty, objective and epistemic, which I criticize and suggest improvements to. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to develop a faith development perspective on corporate sustainability. A firm’s management of sustainability is arguably determined by the way decision-makers relate to the other and the natural environment, and this relationship is fundamentally shaped by faith. This study advances theoretical understanding of the approach managers take on sustainability issues by explaining how four distinct phases of faith development—improvidence, obedience, irreverence and providence—determine a manager’s disposition towards sustainability. Combining insights from intentional and relational faith (...) development theories, the analysis reveals that a manager’s faith disposition can be measured according to four interrelated process criteria: (1) connectivity as a measure of a manager’s actual engagement and activities aimed at relating to sustainability; (2) inclusivity as a measure of who and what is included or excluded in a manager’s moral consideration; (3) emotional affinity as a measure of a manager’s sensitivity and affection towards the well-being of others and ecological welfare; and (4) reciprocity as a measure of the degree to which a manager is rewarded for responding to the needs and concerns of ‘Others’, mainly in the form of a positive emotional (and relational) stimulus. The conceptual model consolidates earlier scholarly works on the psychological drivers of sustainability management by illuminating our search for a process of faith development that connects with an increasingly complex understanding of the role of business in society. (shrink)

A general framework for translating various logical systems is presented, including a set of partial unary operators of affirmation and negation. Despite its usual reading, affirmation is not redundant in any domain of values and whenever it does not behave like a full mapping. After depicting the process of partial functions, a number of logics are translated through a variety of affirmations and a unique pair of negations. This relies upon two preconditions: a deconstruction of truth-values as ordered and structured (...) objects, unlike its mainstream presentation as a simple object; a redefinition of the Principle of Bivalence as a set of four independent properties, such that its definition does not equate with normality. (shrink)

Science communication, as a field and as a practice, is fundamentally about knowledge distribution; it is about the access to, and the sharing of knowledge. All distribution brings with it issues of ethics and justice. Indeed, whether science communicators acknowledge it or not, they get to decide both which knowledge is shared, and who gets access to this knowledge. As a result, the decisions of science communicators have important implications for epistemic justice: how knowledge is distributed fairly and equitably. This (...) paper presents an overview of issues related to epistemic justice for science communication, and argues that there are two quite distinct ways in which science communicators can be just in the way they distribute knowledge. Both of these paths will be considered before concluding that, at least on one of these accounts, science communication as a field and as a practice is fundamentally epistemically unjust. Possible ways to redress this injustice are suggested. (shrink)

The renewal of the concept of continuous creation follows two steps: (1) an establishment of the concept of novelty in an exercise of philosophy of nature, as a means of interpreting the scientific discourse concerning the evolution of life; (2) starting out from philosophical and theological critiques and from the concept of novelty, this work proposes a reformulation of the concept of continuous creation in its dynamic perspective. If the universe of possibilities of creation proceeds from the Divine Word by (...) the will of the Father, as the first timeless ex nihilo creative moment, the Holy Spirit allows, in a second creative moment, the universe of possibilities to proceed continuously through a creative partnership in which all creatures are involved. Created novelty is the expression of a procession of one possibility among others, which has been selected by creatures during the evolutionary process, due to the interdependence of constitutive interactions and the propensities in which creatures are situated. (shrink)

On cherche ici à saisir la façon dont l'élucidation progressive de la philosophie des formes symboliques devrait conduire Cassirer à s'éloigner de la problématique de la fonction conceptuelle propre à Substance et Fonction. Il apparaîtra que la logique des relations mise en place par l'étude du concept scientifique est reconduite, sous une forme plus subtile, dans l'analyse de toutes les formes symboliques. The goal of this article is to investigate the way in which Cassirer's progressive elucidation of symbolic forms should (...) have caused him to move away from the problem of conceptual function he posed in Substanzbegriff und Fonktionsbegriff. It will be shown, however, that the logic of relations established in his study of the scientific concept pervades, in a more subtle form, his definition of all the symbolic forms. (shrink)

Mise en lumière par des scandales sanitaires récents et par la montée en puissance d'associations se réclamant de l'antispécisme et du droit des animaux, la " question animale " a pris ces dernières années en France une importance inédite. Cette problématique est portée dans l'espace public par un ensemble de groupes et d'acteurs qui entendent représenter politiquement les intérêts des animaux à ne pas souffrir au sein des dispositifs d'exploitation. Quels sont les ressorts émotionnels, intellectuels et théoriques de cet engagement? (...) Le mouvement " animaliste " contemporain constitue-t-il une nouveauté et quelles sont les conditions historiques de son émergence? En quoi son influence croissante change-t-elle nos perceptions des rapports légitimes entre humains et non-humains? Quels sont les enjeux et les futurs possibles de cette entreprise singulière de représentation politique? (shrink)

This article discusses the definitions of ‘‘measurement uncertainty” given in the three editions of the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM) and a fourth definition which was suggested for the next edition of this document. It is argued that none of the definitions is satisfying. First, a thorough definition of measurement uncertainty should supply an explanation about the meaning of the concept, which is missing from the VIM2&3. Secondly, when provided, the meanings are not accurate enough: the VIM1 version is flawed (...) and the possible future definition appeals to an overly restrictive notion of ‘‘belief”. Alternative options are then proposed, based on the conclusions that (i) measurement uncertainty is a statement – an inference – made by the experimenter about the measurand; (ii) it is only based on what is accessible to one’s knowledge, and therefore rests on the hypothesis that no unknown systematic error affects the measurement. (shrink)

Claude Tresmontant (1925-1997) était professeur de philosophie médiévale et d'histoire des sciences à la Sorbonne. Ce livre présente ses thèses en insistant sur l'articulation entre les sciences et la question de l'existence de Dieu. La rationalité de la théologie chrétienne est soutenue. Ses travaux aboutissent à démontrer l'existence de Dieu et soulèvent l'alternative suivante : admettre l'existence du Créateur ou la refuser tout en continuant d'être les héritiers du matérialisme qui fit florès jusqu'aux réductionnistes contemporains. La finalité de l'évolution n'étant (...) autre que l'union de la nature humaine créée à la nature divine incréée, union dont le Christ incarne le Premier-Né. Les sciences donneraient alors accès à la Création en cours d'évolution, tandis que la Bible contiendrait le secret de l'information essentielle sur son avenir. 'Emounah' en hébreu, 'certitude de la vérité', la foi reviendrait ainsi à un acte rationnel, et non à une croyance purement affective"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

À la fin de Surveiller et Punir, Foucault indique qu’il faudrait étudier les débats révolutionnaires sur le droit des parents à faire enfermer leurs enfants, pour prolonger son analyse de la discipline comme « forme de société ». Cet article se propose d’étudier ces débats, en retraçant la manière dont l’autorité familiale a été constituée comme forme de pouvoir et objet de savoir, entre la fin du xviii e siècle et le début du xix e siècle français. L’analyse des discours (...) juridiques, pédagogiques et politiques sur l’autorité familiale permet de retracer l’émergence d’une forme inédite de gouvernementalité, dont la spécificité ne peut être appréhendée qu’à la condition de passer d’une approche généalogique à une perspective sociohistorique sur les rapports entre les groupes qui s’affrontent au sein de la société. À la lumière de ce constat, le problème du rapport entre la méthode de la « pratique historico-philosophique » et la méthode de l’enquête sociohistorique peut être réexaminé. (shrink)

Cette contribution se propose d’étudier la place qu’occupe la renommée au sein du stoïcisme. Considérée par les stoïciens comme un indifférent préférable, elle a fait l’objet de discussions approfondies au cours de l’histoire de l’école. Cet article tente ainsi de proposer, à partir des sources conservées, une reconstitution terminologique diachronique des différentes notions théorisées par les stoïciens à propos de la bonne réputation. Il cherchera aussi à restituer les débats portant sur son statut au sein de la catégorie des préférables.

Il s’agit de comprendre dans cet article l’opposition formulée par Gilles-Gaston Granger entre deux types de négation : la négation « radicale », d’un côté, et les négations « appliquées » de l’autre. Nous examinerons les propriétés de cette opposition, ainsi que les enseignements à en tirer sur la philosophie de la logique de Granger. Puis nous proposerons une théorie constructive des valeurs logiques considérées comme des objets structurés, consolidant à la fois l’unité de la théorie logique de Granger et (...) son pluralisme philosophique. (shrink)

We present the Jaina theory of sevenfold predication as a 7-valued logic, in which every logical value consists in a 3-tuple of opinions. A question-answer semantics is used in order to give an intuitive characterization of these logical values in terms of opinion polls. Two different interpretations are plausible for the latest sort of opinion, depending upon whether "non-assertability" refers to incompleteness or inconsistency. It is shown hat the incomplete version of JL_{G} is equivalent to Kleene's logic K3, whereas the (...) inconsistent version of JL_{M} is equivalent to Priest's Logic of Paradox LP. Finally, it is argued that the Indian logics depart from Western logics by conflating truth and justified belief: the different preconditions for belief ascription accounts for the difference between pluralist and skeptic logics. (shrink)

The present paper wants to develop a formal semantics about a special class of formulas: quantifying statements, which are a kind of predicative statements where both subject- and predicate terms are quantifier expressions like ‘everything’, ‘something’, and ‘nothing’. After showing how talking about nothingness makes sense despite philosophical objections, I contend that there are two sorts of meaning in phrases including ‘thing’, viz. as an individual (e.g. ‘some thing’) or as a property (e.g. ‘something’). Then I display two kinds of (...) logical forms for quantifying statements, depending on how these ‘thing’s are ordered into a whole predication. Finally, an algebraic semantics is proposed for the finite set of quantifying statements to order these into a (fragmentary) dodecagon of logical relations. The corresponding Sub-Model Semantics (hereafter: $$\mathbb {SMS}$$ ) aims to update the usual theory of opposition whilst leading to a research program for other kinds of statement like categorical and even modal propositions. (shrink)

My aim in this book is to propose a comparativist, Buddhist-Neoplatonic interpretation of the idea of “logos” in the Prologue to the Gospel according to John. To do so, I proceed in three steps. I begin with Nāgārjuna’s doctrine of emptiness. Nāgārjuna thinks that that all things are empty because they depend on causes and conditions in a way that makes it impossible for them to genuinely exist. Nevertheless, they are not completely non-existent, for they possess the appearance of something (...) that exists. This corresponds, in turn, to Vasubandhu’s response to Nāgārjuna. Emptiness is not ultimate because there is the appearance of empty things. The place where this appearance unfolds is the mind, which, in an absolute sense, exists, but which, in the sense of external, objectifiable reality does not exist. Vasubandhu thus thinks of the mind as an entity that does not conform to the categories of ordinary existence. This, then, corresponds to what Meister Eckhart says about God. God is a Mind ("intellectus"). But due to his fundamental ontological role, God transcends ordinary existence and cannot be compared to any specific being. God is the mind of which Vasubandhu states that it is non-dual, transcendent knowledge. To conclude, I use this triadic constellation of Buddhist and Neoplatonic concepts to read John’s Prologue. The Prologue describes the generation of a foundational concept, “logos,” by a primordial, divine Mind. Since this Mind is, in a Buddhist sense, “empty,” the concept that it generates can be said to be absolute. It has no beginning and no cause. Against this background of Buddhist and Neoplatonic ideas, John’s Prologue can thus be interpreted as a narrative describing the foundation of reality as an intellectual process. (shrink)

Evagrius famously characterises divine nature as γνῶσις οὐσιώδης, ‘substantial knowledge’. In the Alexandrian, Cappadocian, and other intellectual contexts informed by Platonic, Aristotelian, and Philonic thought, characterisations of God as a noetic or intellectual being are fairly common. However, these traditions concur in using the term νοῦς rather than γνῶσις. How can we explain that Evagrius deviates from the metaphysical mainstream? In this paper, I review this question from an historical and systematic point of view. I propose to examine ancient theories (...) of Mind about the function and structure of the νοῦς, compare them to the Evagrian theory, and identify a possible explanation for the substitution of γνῶσις to the νοῦς. Since God is the key element in Evagrius's metaphysics, a clearer vision of the divine essence will help us appreciate the whole system more fully. (shrink)

Key activities in biomedicine and related research rely on collections of biological samples and related files. Access to such resources in industry and in academic contexts has become strategic and represents a central issue in the general framework of rising patenting practices and in debates about the knowledge economy. It raises important issues concerning the organisation of scientific and medical work, the outline of data-sharing guidelines, and science policy's contribution to the elaboration of an adapted framework. This paper presents an (...) ethnographic study of three French human biobanks. Building on field work (participant observation and in-depth interviews), the study focuses on data access in the concrete practices in biobanks. The paper develops a perspective based on an analysis of different exchange regimes. We argue that access practices are submitted to the different regimes that can coexist and be articulated within the daily activities of each biobank. We also discuss how this perspective can further our understanding of biomedical research, and how it might inform data access policy. (shrink)

A partir de la définition fonctionnelle du « néo-kantisme », dégagée par Cassirer dans un article de 1928, est ici tentée une évaluation des divers rapports que La Philosophie des formes symboliques entretient avec ce concept et quelquesuns de ses représentants historiques. Based on an examination of the functionnal definition of « neokantianism », explicated by Cassirer in a paper of 1928, this article focuses on his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, addressing its relationship to this definition and to several historical (...) proponents of neokantianism. (shrink)

Quels furent les relations de Christiaan Huygens avec les chimistes qu'il eut l'occasion de fréquenter pendant son séjour parisien? A l'examen, elles furent moins distantes que ne le laissent supposer les quelques déclarations fracassantes qui parsèment sa correspondance. Néanmoins, il est difficile d'affirmer qu'il y eut, entre Huygens et la pensée chimique en général, une sympathie qui aurait pu aller au-delà des rencontres individuelles.

Dès les premières études sur les usages sociaux des dispositifs télématiques, l’un des chemins empruntés par la recherche fut celui de l’analyse des nouvelles modalités de lien social. Aujourd’hui, le succès des sites de réseaux sociaux relance cet intérêt. La possibilité de constitution de cercles relationnels étendus dont les membres peuvent potentiellement appartenir à des espaces sociaux éloignés des milieux de sociabilité ordinaires a notamment conduit à ce que se développent des recherches portant sur la constitution de ces réseaux d’« (...) Amis », leur morphologie sociale, leur structure topographique ou, plus rarement, sur les motivations et le sens social de ces engagements numériques de soi couplés à des mobilisations d’autrui. S’intéressant au rôle que joue l’informatique connectée dans la construction du lien social, la recherche anglo-saxonne a notamment privilégié des approches s’inspirant des théories du capital social. Cet article rend compte des principaux résultats de ces études et souligne certaines de leurs limites. Quelques pistes de travail qui permettent d’aborder la question du lien social sur les sites de réseaux sociaux depuis des perspectives plus critiques sont également envisagées.From the very first studies on social uses of computer communication systems, researchers were already analysing the new kinds of social ties that were emerging. Today, the success of social networking sites has brought renewed interest in this topic. Possibilities for creating wide-ranging relational networks whose members may move in circles that are very far removed from ordinary social life have given rise in particular to studies on how these networks of “ friends” come into being, on their social morphology, their topographical structure and, more rarely, on the motivations and social significance of online engagement, which goes hand in hand with other people’s motivations. Looking into the role of online communication in the creation of social ties, research in the UK and USA has focused in particular on approaches based on theories of social capital. This article describes the main results of these studies and shows some of their limitations. We also consider several avenues for further research, from a more critical perspective, on the question of social ties on social networking sites. (shrink)

Comment définir la mystique chrétienne au regard de la psychanalyse? Dans L'avenir d'une illusion, Freud inscrit la genèse de toute croyance religieuse dans l'angoisse et le vécu de la petite enfance. Illusoire, la religion tient sa force de la force des désirs qu'elle réalise. Les états et phénomènes mystiques, insolites, relèvent ainsi d'une angoisse portée à son paroxysme. Ce livre étudie deux profils mystiques présentés comme « cas cliniques », et qui semblent corroborer parfaitement le diagnostic du fondateur de la (...) psychanalyse. La vie mystique pourrait ainsi être ramenée à l'histoire de vie du sujet, dans le nouage de la relation triangulaire père-mère-enfant. La clinique dégage notamment, dans l'approche de la relation mère-enfant, le rôle déterminant du narcissisme, qui fait apparaître dans la mentalité chrétienne une polarité maternelle, fusionnelle, convoquée comme explication du désir d'union mystique sur le plan étiologique. L'approche clinique traditionnelle, pour pertinente qu'elle soit, accuse l'hétérogénéité manifeste avec cet objet déconcertant que constitue la vie mystique. Le mystique semble essentiellement démis du sens qui informe sa responsabilité dans l'expérience mystique, au profit d'une approche exclusivement libidinale de son discours et de ses affects. Viktor Frankl. qui fut élève et correspondant de Freud, souligne la limite de l'approche psychanalytique freudienne en proposant la notion d'un inconscient psychique qui soit avant tout et fondamentalement spirituel, de façon à rendre toute son intelligibilité à l'expérience mystique. (shrink)

The concept of continuous creation is now widely used in the context of reflections on the dialogue between science and religion. The first part of this research work seeks to understand its meaning through a twofold elaboration: (1) the historical setting of the three philosophical trends in which this concept was developed: scholastic (conservation), Cartesian (conservation through repetition of the creative act at each instant), and dynamic (interpreting the emergence of radical and contingent novelty in nature as a sign of (...) the continuity of creation); (2) a philosophical and theological critique of the concept of continuous creation regarding the question of the relationship between change and creation, in the light of its highly polymorphous contemporary use, and, in opposition, its absence within the Catholic Magisterium. This work opens the field a further step toward reflection on a renewed concept of continuous creation. (shrink)

Misunderstanding occurs between speakers when they disagree about the meaning of words in use. In the case of truth-values, Frege took these to be referents of sentences which consist of classes of accepted (i.e. “true”) or rejected (i.e. “false”) sentences. From this usual depiction of truth and falsity, a general algebraic framework is proposed to systematize the use of truth-values from a dialogical point of view of logic. A special attention will be paid to two radically opposed pseudo-speakers: Heraclites and (...) Nagarjuna, according to whom truth-values respectively refer to everything or nothing. Finally, dialectical (pseudo-Hegelian) negation will be rendered as a very special function: an ontological object-forming operator, similar to the arithmetic successor-forming operator Sn+1(x) on integers and consistent within our generalized theory of truth-values as variable referents. (shrink)

The concept of legal gap is tackled from a number of logical perspectives and semantic methods. After presenting our own goal (Section 1), a first introduction into legal logic refers to Bobbio’s works and his formalization of legal statements (Sections 2 and 3). Then Woleński’s contribution to the area is taken into account through his reference to the distinction between two juridical systems (viz. Common Law vs Civil Law) and the notion of conditional norms (Section 4). The notion of reason (...) is also highlighted in the case of Raz’s legal logic, thereby leading to a future connection with von Wright’s logic of truth and an analogy made with an anti-realist reading of truth-values and norms (Section 5). Our personal contribution is introduced through a reflection on how logic should deal with the logical form of norms (Section 6), before entering a number of crucial definitions and distinctions for the concepts of norm, legal statement, and promulgation (Section 7). The final point is a proposed semantics for legal statements, which is both many-valued and gap-friendly (Section 8). A distinction between a number of requirements for permission and forbiddance leads to a set of non-classical juridical systems in which non-permission and forbiddance are not equivalent with each other any more; this does justice to Woleński’s former distinction between Common Law and Civil Law, also leading ultimately to a non-classical square of legal oppositions in which several legal operators may collapse into other ones (Section 9). (shrink)

A general theory of logical oppositions is proposed by abstracting these from the Aristotelian background of quantified sentences. Opposition is a relation that goes beyond incompatibility (not being true together), and a question-answer semantics is devised to investigate the features of oppositions and opposites within a functional calculus. Finally, several theoretical problems about its applicability are considered.

Entre les premiers developpements de la mecanique galileenne et la publication des Principia de Newton, s'est jouee une transformation radicale de la philosophie naturelle des modernes. Mathematiques, sciences de la nature et techniques de precision ont faconne d'une part une nouvelle maniere, active et operatoire, d'interroger la nature, et d'autre part une image du monde fondee sur l'idee d'une rationalite integrale des phenomenes. Interlocuteur infatigable de Mersenne, Galilee, Descartes, Leibniz ou Newton, Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) a assure un lien necessaire pour (...) son epoque entre l'assimilation critique des Principes de la philosophie de Descartes, dont il retient l'exigence d'intelligibilite dans la conduite de la science, et la reception - critique elle aussi - des Principes mathematiques newtoniens. La methode de Huygens se structure dans les apports cartesien et galileen: choc des corps, oscillations du pendule, etude de la force et du mouvement en tant qu'expression de rapports geometriques, caracterisation de la nature de la lumiere sont autant de champs dans lesquels il est impossible de ne pas voir l'impregnation d'un questionnement philosophique permanent. C'est donc en philosophe tout autant qu'en physicien qu'il s'oppose aux definitions newtoniennes de la lumiere et de la pesanteur. (shrink)

Dans le sillage de Chris Marker ou de Grégory Chatonsky, de plus en plus d’artistes contemporains pratiquent la réappropriation, le détournement, l’usage critique de l’intelligence artificielle. Grand connaisseur des arts numériques, Fabien Zocco est l’un d’entre eux. Il est l’auteur, avec le réalisateur Gwendal Sartre, d’ Attack The Sun, film dont des dialogues ont été générés par une IA au cours même du tournage qui suit la dérive d’un youtuber californien paraissant sombrer dans une folie de tuerie. L’enjeu : (...) éprouver « de l’intérieur » des outils contemporains comme l’IA pour « escompter ensuite analyser et déconstruire leurs effets ». (shrink)

Ces études voudraient inviter le public francophone à la découverte de la philosophie de l'école de Marbourg et de son apport au site pratique de la philosophie. La réflexion morale, juridique et politique s'est trouvée fort enrichie par les écrits de Friedrich Albert Lange, Hermann Cohen et Paul Natorp. Ernst Cassirer a poursuivi la réflexion de ses maîtres en théorie de la connaissance, mais aussi dans le site pratique, ici dominé par un socialisme d'inspiration kantienne.