A key question in contemporary metaphilosophy of thought experiments is the “wheat from chaff” problem: How can we separate the good and trustworthy thought experiments from the untrustworthy ones? This article examines this problem by viewing thought experimentation as a form of mental simulation. It argues that we should approach the limitations of thought experiments in light of the general shortcomings of our capacity to run mental simulations. Furthermore, the article proposes an answer to the wheat from chaff problem by (...) presenting three danger signals for untrustworthy thought experiments. These are (1) high counterfactuality of the imagined scenario, (2) complexity of the imagined scenario, and (3) a large psychological distance to the imagined scenario. (shrink)

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

1. Number and magnitude.--2. Space.--3. Force.--4. Nature.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Bergson's famous study of the philosophical implications of biological evolutionary theory, presenting the idea of a creative life force shaping both the world and itself.

This paper assesses the prospects of combining the distinctive strengths of the two major educational research programs of critical thinking and critical pedagogy—or, described more accurately, overcoming their shared limitations—in a new and superior educational objective called criticality. Several recent proposals explore the possibilities of engaging in bridge-building between these camps. The plan is that the distinctive strengths of these paradigms—the logical and epistemological precision of critical thinking together with the socio-political consciousness of critical pedagogy—could complement each other, while the (...) associated adjustments to the overall picture could also help us to address their shared shortcomings. This gives us a new and more grounded educational goal of criticality, as suggested and developed independently by a growing number of thinkers. This article joins the ongoing conversation but provides a more counterreactionary tone by striving to vindicate the traditional mainstream conception of critical thinking. I maintain that despite their admirable ambitions, the various expressions of criticality do not succeed in combining the best parts of critical thinking and critical pedagogy, since on a deep metatheoretical level these two paradigms have irreconcilable core principles. First, I argue that the depiction of the failures of critical thinking used to motivate criticality is to a large degree a straw man: in actuality, the existing conceptualization of critical thinking can already do the desired extra socio-political educational work, so there really is no pressing need for the suggested augmentations. Second, the traditional worries of indoctrination, which have followed critical pedagogy since the inception of this educational movement, still remain unresolved within criticality. The only way to address this concern successfully is to lean on critical thinking as the core of our educational theory, bringing us right back to where we started. (shrink)

The article by Dupras and Bunnik. makes a fundamental contribution in the context of the current boom in personalized medicine. We propose an additional crit...

Ce livre n'est pas un expose de la metaphysique cartesienne, mais s'attache a la pensee qui l'anime et qui cherche en elle son expression. Ce mot expression introduit un premier postulat: une philosophie n'a de sens que par reference a une certaine vision du monde dont precisement elle veut etre l'expression. A l'origine il y a un esprit qui regarde l'univers, l'homme, Dieu et qui s'etonne de les voir comme on ne les a encore jamais vus: c'est cette vision neuve (...) qu'il veut exprimer dans un texte qui est, a la fois, pensee coherente et parole communicable. Qui dit expression dit donc volonte de communication. La vision du monde - c'est le second postulat - n'est en aucune facon une sorte d'essence intemporelle et elle ne peut etre separee de son environnement historique. Ainsi tout texte a deux contextes: l'ensemble ordonne d'idees duquel il tient son sens et un certain dialogue qu'il doit rendre propice a la transmission de ce sens, les interlocuteurs n'appartenant pas tous au meme milieu culturel, comme on dit aujourd'hui. (shrink)

La philosophie n'est pas seulement le retour de l'esprit à lui-même, la coïncidence de la conscience humaine avec le principe vivant d'où elle émane, une prise de contact avec l'effort créateur. Elle est l'approfondissement du devenir en général, l'évolutionnisme vrai, et par conséquent le vrai prolongement de la science - pourvu qu'on entende par ce dernier mot un ensemble de vérités constatées ou démontrées, et non pas une certaine scolastique nouvelle qui a poussé pendant la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle (...) autour de la physique de Galilée, comme l'ancienne autour d'Aristote. (shrink)

We present here a new method for bioethics: systemic modelling. In this method, the complex phenomenon being studied (e.g. personalized medicine, genetic testing, gene therapy, genetically modified organisms) is modelled as a whole, to shed light on its organization and functioning, and major (bio)ethical issues and solutions for their resolution are then identified. This systemic modelling method is ideal for use in the identification of solutions, rather than their validation, with other methods then used to test the solutions found. We (...) provide a description and reproducible instructions for the application of systemic modelling in bioethics, together with a brief example of the application of this method to the study of the impact of personalized medicine on French society. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 7, July 2020, Page W1-W1.

One of the requirements in the Dutch regulation for euthanasia and assisted suicide is that the doctor must be satisfied ‘that the patient's suffering is unbearable, and that there is no prospect of improvement.’ In the notorious Chabot case, a psychiatrist assisted a 50 year old woman in suicide, although she did not suffer from any somatic disease, nor strictly speaking from any psychiatric condition. In Seduced by Death, Herbert Hendin concluded that apparently the Dutch regulation now allows physicians to (...) assist anyone in suicide simply because he or she is unhappy.In this paper, I reject Hendin's conclusion and in particular his description of Mrs Boomsma as someone who was ‘simply unhappy.’ After a detailed narration of her lifestory, I turn to the American philosopher Harry Frankfurt's account of volitional incapacity and love for a more accurate characterization of her suffering. Having been through what she had, she could only go on living as another person than the one she had been when she was a happy mother. That would have violated her integrity, and that she could not bring herself to do. (shrink)

SummaryThis paper is divided into two parts. The first sketches an interpretation of the thing in itself, the noumenon and the transcendental object which clarifies the connection between these conceptions and shows that each has a “critical” function. This is accomplished by linking them with transcendental reflection. It is shown that such reflection requires the distinction between two ways of considering an object and that “noumenon” and “transcendental object” characterize alternative descriptions of an object considered as it is in itself. (...) The second part deals with the problem of affection. Although the theory of “transcendental” or “double affection” is rejected, it is argued that affection, like objects, can be considered from two points of view . Thus, while there is no distinct event entitled “transcendental affection”, there is a transcendental consideration of affection. Moreover since such a consideration involves analytic judgments about how the affecting object must be thought, the appeal to categories such as causality does not violate “critical” structures. (shrink)

The practice and development of modern medicine requires large amounts of data, particularly in the domain of cancer. The future of personalized medicine lies neither with “genomic medicine” nor with “precision medicine”, but with “data medicine”. The establishment of this DM has required far-reaching changes, to establish four essential elements connecting patients and doctors: biobanks, databases, bioinformatic platforms and genomic platforms. The “transformation” of scientific research areas, such as genetics, bioinformatics and biostatistics, into clinical specialties has generated a new vision (...) of care. Molecular tumor boards are one response to these changes and are now providing better access to next-generation sequencing and new cancer treatments to patients with inoperable or metastatic cancers, and those for whom the usual treatment has failed. However, MTB face a crucial ethical challenge: maintaining and improving the trust of patients, clinicians, researchers and industry in academic medical centers supported by private or public funding rather than providing genetic data directly to private companies. We believe that, in this era of DM, appropriate modern digital communication networks will be required to maintain this trust and to improve the organization and effectiveness of the system. There is, therefore, a need to reconsider the form and content of informed consent documents at all academic medical centers and to introduce dynamic and electronic informed consent. (shrink)

Introduction: Myth and reality, by H. and H. A. Frankfort.--Egypt: The nature of the universe. The function of the state. The values of life. By J. A. Wilson.--Mesopotamia: The cosmos as a state. The function of the state. The good life. By Thorkild Jacobsen.--The Hebrews: God. Man. Man in the world. Nation, society, and politics. By W. A. Irwin. Conclusion: The emancipation of thought from myth, by H. and H. A. Frankfort.

Cet ouvrage n'est ni un commentaire ni une explication d'obedience historiciste ou deterministe. Par questionnement, lecture et interpretation, l'auteur a voulu produire une semantique philosophique. La doctrine des idees est ainsi reexaminee a la convergence des problemes du langage, de la science et de la cite (logos, episteme, polis). Elle ne peut plus des lors etre interpretee sous l'hypothese de l' idealisme. Elle se manifeste comme une serie de questions de sens ou s'indique une philosophie de la raison. Partout ou (...) le logos nous porte, c'est la qu'il faut aller, tel en serait le mot d'ordre, mais avec la precision qu'a l'articulation du mythique et du theorique, du tragique et du philosohique, et plus profondement de la deraison et du logos, le rationalisme platonicien n'est fait que de raison. (shrink)

This review of Turner’s “Computational Artifacts” focuses on one of the key novelties of the book, namely the proposal to understand the nature of computer programs as a “trinity” of specification, symbolic program, and physical process, replacing the traditional dualist views of programs as functional/structural or as symbolic/physical. This trinitarian view is found to be robust and helpful to solve typical issues of dualist views. Drawing comparisons with Simon’s view of the artifact as an interface, the author suggests that this (...) trinitarian view may characterize not only computational artifacts but also artifacts in general. One ambiguity is however noticed on the denotation of what Turner actually calls the “physical process.”. (shrink)

Facelifts, tummy tucks and breast enlargements are no longer the privilege of the rich and the famous. Any woman can have all these and many more cosmetic surgical treatments, and an increasing number of women do. Are they having cosmetic surgery because they are duped by a male-dominated beauty system, or do they genuinely choose these operations themselves? Feminists give diametrically opposed answers to this question. At the heart of the controversy, or so I claim in this article, lies a (...) conceptual problem about free choice; therefore, the only thing that can settle it is a conceptual analysis of “freedom”. After having briefly outlined the views of both sides of the debate, I offer such an analysis. (shrink)

Idées politiques et économiques au XVIe siècle.--Vie et écrits de Jean Bodin.--Analyse et commentaire de la République.

On the nature of mathematical reasoning -- Mathematical magnitude and experience -- Non-Euclidian geometries -- Space and geometry -- Experience and geometry -- Classical mechanics -- Relative and absolute motion -- Energy and thermodynamics -- Hypotheses in physics -- Theories of modern physics -- Probability calculus -- Optics and electricity -- Electrodynamics -- The end of matter.

RésuméNous introduisons la notion de structure algébrique dynamique, inspirée de l'évaluation dynamique et de la théorie des modèles. Nous montrons comment cette notion constructive permet une relecture de la théorie d'Artin-Schreier, avec la modification capitale que le résultat final est alors établi de manière constructive. Nous pensons que ce que nous avons réalisé ici sur un cas d'école peut être généralisé à des parties significatives de l'algèbre classique, et est donc une contribution à la réalisation du programme de Hilbert pour (...) l'algèbre classique.We introduce the notion of “Dynamic Algebraic Structure” inspired by Dynamic Evaluation and Model Theory. We show that this constructive notion allows a rereading of the Artin-Schreier-Robinson solution for the 17th Hilbert Problem. So, once we know how to reread the proofs, this kind of abstract theory contains an algorithm which computes the concrete result . Our method gives a constructive semantic for certain parts of abstract classical mathematics.The idea is the following: replace the classical algebraic structures “constructed” by Choice and Principle of Third Excluded Middle , by DAS and dynamic evaluations of these DAS. Then TEM is replaced by construction of branching in the trees of dynamic evaluation of the DAS. If Choice is used in the form of Godel completeness theorem, it is not really necessary to use it for obtaining concrete results: in DAS, Choice is simply replaced by … nothing!. This is because the classical proof is by contradiction: “if there were not a sum of squares then some formal theory would admit a pathological model”. The constructive reasoning is more direct: since the pathological theory proves 0 = 1 we know how to construct the sum of squares … and classical models have disappeared in the proof. They are replaced by dynamic evaluations of DAS. We think that we have given, for an academic example, a new method, realizing a kind of Hilbert Program for significant parts of classical algebra. (shrink)

The Löwenheim-Hilbert-Bernays theorem states that, for an arithmetical first-order language L, if S is a satisfiable schema, then substitution of open sentences of L for the predicate letters of S...

Self-organization -- Organisms, finalisms, programs, machines -- Spinoza -- Judaism, determinism, and rationalities -- Fabricating the living -- Ethics.

This volume presents a collection of about 80 very brief, accessible essays written by international experts from medicine, social sciences, and the humanities, ...

RésuméL'auteur analyse la conception de la méthode dialectique chez Gaston Bachelard et Ferdinand Gonseth qui est à L'origine de la «philosophie ouverte». Lorsqu'il s'est agi de donner un nom à la revue qu'ils allaient fonder avec Paul Bernays, le choix s'est porté sur celui de Dialectica, en accord avec L'orientation qu'ils comptaient donner à leurs publications.SummaryThe author describes Gaston Bachelard's and Ferdinand Gonseth's dialectical method which is at the origin of their so‐called open philosophy. When faced with the task of (...) giving a name to a planned review, edited together with Paul Bernays, they settled their choice on Dialectica in order to announce the orientation of the future publications.ZusammenfassungEs werden Gaston Bachelards und Ferdinand Gonseths Auffassungen der dialektischen Methode dargelegt, die zur Entwicklung der «offenen Philosophie» geführt hat. Die Tatsache, dass sich die beiden Philosophen, die gemeinsam mit Paul Bernays Dialectica gegründet haben, über die Vorzüge dieser Methode einig waren, hat für die Wahl des Namens der Zeitschrift den Ausschlag gegeben. (shrink)

Les mots philosophie du Christianisme correspondent tres exactement a ce qui apparait dans l'avant-dernier chapitre des Deux Sources de la Morale et de la Religion, publiees en 1932. Comprendre ces pages, ce sera evidemment voir leur rapport a l'oeuvre qui les precede; or, c'est trop peu dire qu'elles la supposent: elles la contiennent et l'expriment. Chercher leur sens, c'est donc se demander comment elles signifient le bergsonisme tout entier. L'impression que laisse l'itineraire de Bergson est celle d'une constante originalite. Originalite (...) dont s'aureole chacun de ses livres, avec cette difference, toutefois, qu'elle semble avoir ete moins immediatement et moins vivement sentie pour le dernier d'entre eux. Faire ressortir la signification profondement bergsonienne des Deux Sources sera, du meme coup, reconnaitre que, jusqu'a la fin, cette nouvelle philosophie n'a cesse d'etre une philosophie nouvelle. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage reprend dans une redaction nouvelle six articles anterieurs a 1962. On y trouve six etudes relativement independantes les unes des autres, mais mises bout a bout elles esquissent une histoire lacunaire de l'esprit de Pascal, et plus particulierement de son dessein apologetique. S'appuyant sur une erudition rigoureuse, ces six approches concretes rattachent les textes a leur support materiel et les situent dans leur contexte culturel, ce qui permet au lecteur de rencontrer un Pascal vivant au milieu des siens (...) et de son epoque. (shrink)

La relation de Descartes a saint Augustin a souvent ete etudiee. Tous les historiens de Descartes y font plus ou moins allusion, en particulier a l'occasion du cogito, quand ils pensent aux sources de sa philosophie: ceux de saint Augsuti aussi, quand ils envisagent l'influence de sa doctrine. Si le present livre reprend les diverses questions que cette relation peut poser, c'est evidemment avec la volonte de les voir sous un autre eclairage.

The great French Marxist philosopher weighs up the contributions of the three major critics of modernity With the translation of Lefebvre's philosophical writings, his stature in the English-speaking world continues to grow. Though certainly within the Marxist tradition, he consistently saw Marx as an 'unavoidable, necessary, but insufficient starting point'. Unsurprisingly, Lefebvre always insisted on the importance of Hegel to understanding Marx. But the imposing Metaphilosophy also suggested the significance he ascribed to Nietzsche, in the 'realm of shadows' through which (...) philosophy seeks to think the world. Lefebvre proposes here that the modern world is at the same time Hegelian in terms of the state; Marxist in terms of the social and society; and Nietzschean in terms of civilization and its values. As early as 1939, Lefebvre pioneered a French reading of Nietzsche that rejected the philosopher's appropriation by fascism, bringing out the tragic implications of Nietzsche's proclamation that 'God is dead' long before this approach was followed by such later writers as Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze. Forty years later, in the last of his philosophical writings, Lefebvre juxtaposes the contributions of the three great thinkers, in a text whose themes remain surprisingly relevant today. (shrink)

Brillant geschriebenes und nobelpreisgekröntes Hauptwerk Bergsons, das weit über die Lebensphilosophie hinaus auf die Literatur und Ästhetik der Folgezeit wirkte und auf Autoren wie Proust, Gide, T. S. Eliot und Musil großen Einfluß ausübte. Mit seinem epochemachenden Hauptwerk "L'évolution créatrice", für das er 1927 den Nobelpreis für Literatur erhielt, greift Bergson unmittelbar in die Diskussion über zeitgenössische Evolutionstheorien ein, die die Biologie um die Jahrhundertwende beherrschten. Gegenüber mechanistischen Konzepten wie dem Neo-Darwinismus, die er - mit großer Sachkenntnis im Detail - (...) als unzureichend für das Verständnis der Komplexität evolutionärer Prozesse kritisiert, versucht Bergson für die Philosophie die Deutungshoheit über den Lebensbegriff zurückzugewinnen. Die Grundfrage des Werks lautet: Gibt es etwas, das alle Lebewesen in ihrer Entwicklung gemeinsam haben und das insofern ein bestimmendes Merkmal des Lebens selbst ist? Bergson findet die Antwort im titelgebenden Begriff der "schöpferischen Evolution". Nicht nur ist die Evolution als schöpferisch zu denken, sondern zugleich der schöpferische Akt als "evolutiv". Als treibende Kraft und Ursache aller Veränderungen macht Bergson dabei den ursprünglichen "élan vital" (Lebensimpuls) aus, der zu einem Zentralbegriff seiner Philosophie wurde. Die Kritik am Szientismus seiner Zeit führt Bergson darüber hinaus zu einem neuen Zugang zur Lebenswirklichkeit, den er in der (methodisch präzise bestimmten) "Intuition" entdeckt. So wird die Auseinandersetzung mit der Evolutionstheorie zugleich zu einer großangelegten Neubestimmung der philosophischen Methode. L'évolution créatrice wurde 1912 von Gertrud Kantorowicz zum ersten Mal ins Deutsche übertragen. Ihre in Sprache und Terminologie stark vom George-Kreis geprägte Übersetzung wurde für diese Neuausgabe vollständig überarbeitet und enthält jetzt auch die in der ersten deutschen Ausgabe fehlenden Anmerkungen und Nachweise Bergsons. (shrink)