In Philosophies of Space and Time, Howard Congdon presents a collection of readings from antiquity to the present, showing how philosophers have thought about and understood the concepts of space and time. This examination shows how human thinking has evolved in attempting to answer the questions embedded in the concepts of space and time.

Krebs (philosophy, U. of Frankfurt, Germany) provides a systematic study of whether nature has intrinsic value or is only valuable for human beings, with an ...

In order to account fully for morality, Dennis Krebs departs from traditional approaches to morality that suggest that children acquire morals through ...

Refinements in Darwin’s theory of the origin of a moral sense create a framework equipped to organize and integrate contemporary theory and research on morality. Morality originated in deferential, cooperative, and altruistic ‘‘social instincts,’’ or decision-making strategies, that enabled early humans to maximize their gains from social living and resolve their conflicts of interest in adaptive ways. Moral judgments, moral norms, and conscience originated from strategic interactions among members of groups who experienced confluences and conflicts of interest. Moral argumentation buttressed (...) by moral reasoning is equipped to generate universal and impartial moral standards. Moral beliefs and standards are products of automatic and controlled information-processing and decision making mechanisms. To understand how people make moral decisions, we must understand how early evolved mechanisms in the old brain and recently evolved mechanisms in the new brain are activated and how they interact. Understanding what a sense of morality is for helps us understand what it is. (shrink)

Implications of algorithmic mediation can be studied through the artefact itself, peoples’ practices, and the social/political/economical arrangements that affect and are affected by such interactions. Most studies in Academic social media (ASM) focus on one of these elements at a time, either examining design elements or the users’ behaviour on and perceptions of such platforms. We take a multi-faceted approach using affordances as a lens to analyze practices and arrangements traversed by algorithmic mediation. Following our earlier studies that examined the (...) artefact, this study’s aim is to understand how algorithmic mediation in ASM may shape researchers’ perceptions. We conducted online in-depth interviews with show and tell (n = 11) with ASM users from four countries, about their use of ASM. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and the codes were clustered in themes and validated via peer debriefing process. Four themes—related to exposure to content, visibility, ethical or legal infringements, and engagement—are discussed considering implications of datafication and findability. We conclude that algorithmic mediation constructs a narration of the relevant other in ASM, configuring the other as participatory and productive. (shrink)

Books reviewed:John Skorupski, Ethical ExplorationsPeter Hallward, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of EvilBernard P. Dauenhauer, Paul Ricoeur: The Promise and Risk of Politics.

The Digital Revolution is transforming the way in which we interact with one another and relate to experience. The superabundance and superfluity of the virtual world, the fleeting moment and instantaneous pleasure it provides, begin to prevail as a cultural value and determine an attitude of detachment and indifference that extends to all aspects of our life. For Søren Kierkegaard this is a “demoniacal temptation” that leads to a life devoid of spiritual depth. In the midst of the undeniable bounties (...) of technology, reflection on this paradoxical nature of the technological in our lives becomes an urgent task. (shrink)

Biological, cognitive, and learning explanations of altruism, selfishness, and self-control can be integrated in terms of adaptive strategies. The key to understanding why humans and other animals sometimes resist temptation and sacrifice their immediate interests for the sake of others lies in mapping the design of the evolved mental mechanisms that give rise to the decisions in question.

In seinen Vorlesungen über Ethik tritt Ernst Tugendhat u.a. dafür ein, daß sich das moralische "alle" auf alle kooperationsfähigen Wesen bezieht. Hätte Tugendhat recht, gehörten z.B. Tiere und Foeten nicht zum moralischen Universum. Wer ihnen Leid zufügte, täte ihnen kein Unrecht.Die These dieses Artikels ist, daß Tugendhat in dieser Sache fehlgeht. Das moralische "alle" bezieht sich auf alle leidensfähigen und nicht nur auf alle kooperationsfähigen Wesen. Der Artikel sucht den Fehler in Tugendhats Argumentation, findet ihn in einem doppeldeutigen Gebrauch des (...) Begriffes "Kooperation" und zeigt auf ansonsten Tugendhatscher Basis, daß alle leidensfähigen Wesen zum moralischen Universum gehören. Das heißt dann aber auch, daß die alte Kantische und auch Tugendhatsche Dichotomie von "Pflichten in Ansehung" versus "Pflichten gegenüber" durch eine Trichotomie ersetzt werden muß. (shrink)

Those who invoke the word self-deception to represent one phenomenon often argue that those who use it to represent another are misusing the construct. Better to recognize that self-deception is a fuzzy concept that may be used to represent a variety of mental processes and states, and to direct our energy toward distinguishing empirically among its forms and functions.

Este artículo desarrolla la idea que subyace a la obra filosófica de Wittgenstein, por lo menos desde las Investigaciones, del lenguaje como “algo animal” y de nuestras palabras como principalmente expresivas. A partir de esta idea, se propone empezar a mostrar cómo los problemas filosóficos son para él, en última instancia, producto de una desconexión de la dimensión sensible de la cual derivan su sentido nuestras palabras. Se sugiere que el propósito de Wittgenstein es, por lo tanto, propiciar una reconexión (...) del lenguaje con el deseo, lo cual lleva a cabo ejemplificando en sus textos –y así obligándonos como lectores a asumir– una relación distinta con las palabras de aquella que define el pensamiento filosófico convencional. De esta manera, reivindica para la reflexión filosófica modos de saber y de conciencia radicalmente opuestos al tipo de conocimiento científico con el que aún se identifica la disciplina. (shrink)

In February 54b.c. Cicero concludes a missive to his brother with a passing and – for us – tantalizing remark:Lucreti poemata ut scribis ita sunt, multis luminibus ingeni, multae tamen artis. sed cum veneris. virum te putabo si Sallusti Empedoclea legeris; hominem non putabo. Quintus had, it seems, readDe rerum natura, or at least parts thereof, just before he left Rome for an undisclosed location nearby, and he shared his enthusiasm with his brotherper codicillos. Meanwhile, he was corresponding with Julius (...) Caesar, whose staff in Gaul he was about to join. When, a few months later, he was stationed with Caesar, he was involved in another literary affair, this time concerning his brother who wrote to him, inquiring about his autobiographicalDe temporibus suis:quo modo nam, mi frater, de nostris versibus Caesar? nam primum librum se legisse scripsit ad me ante, et prima sic ut neget se ne Graeca quidem meliora legisse; reliqua ad quendam locum ῥᾳθυμότερα (hoc enim utitur verbo). dic mihi verum: num aut res eum aut χαρακτὴρ non delectat?(Q.fr.2.15.5). (shrink)

In 1942 California corporate agribusiness seized upon racist hysteria and pseudo "national security" issues to manipulate social ideology so that it could unlawfully seize tens of thousands of acres of productive farm land from law-abiding American citizens. It was such seizures that then allowed already existing large-scale capital to further consolidate California's agricultural resources while at the same time restructuring and increasing its concentration of the state's agricultural production and food manufacturing capabilities. Meanwhile, in "the most striking mass interference since (...) slavery with the right of physical freedom," over 120,000 Japanese Americans were placed in concentration camps and illegally deprived of their property and human rights. (shrink)

In a companion review1 we discussed the data supporting the conclusion that at least two subtypes of spectrin exist in mammalian brain. One form is found in the cell bodies, dendrites, and post‐synaptic terminals of neurons (brain spectrin(240/235E)) and the other subtype is located in the axons and presynaptic terminals (brain spectrin(240/235)). Our recent understanding of brain spectrin subtype localization suggests a possible explanation for a conundrum concerning brain 4.1 localization. Amelin, an immunoreactive analogue of red blood cell (rbc) cytoskeletal (...) protein 4.1, is localized in neuronal cell bodies and dendrites when brain sections are stained with antibody against rbc protein 4.1. However, it has recently been suggested that synapsin I, a neuron‐specific phosphoprotein associated with the cytoplasmic surface of small synaptic vesicles, is related to erythrocyte 4.1. In this review we hypothesize that there are at least two forms of brain 4.1: a cell body/dendritic form (amelin) which is detected with rbc protein 4.1 antibody, and a unique form found exclusively in the presynaptic terminal (synapsin I). The binding of synapsin I to brain spectrin(240/235), and its ability to stimulate the spectrin/F‐actin interaction in a phosphorylation‐dependent manner suggests a model for the regulation of synaptic transmission mediated by the neuronal cytoskeleton. (shrink)

The question this paper examines is whether or not discourse ethics is an environmentally attractive moral theory. The answer reached is: no. For firstly, nature has nothing to gain from the discourse ethical shift from mono-logical moral reflection to discourse, as nature cannot partake in discourse. And secondly, nature (even sentient animal nature) has no socio-personal integrity, which, according to discourse ethics, it is the function of morality to protect. Discourse ethics is a thoroughly anthropocentric moral theory.

Prestándole especial atención a sus reflexiones en tomo a la estética, en este artículo se sostiene que Wittgenstein, en su última obra, lejos de rechazar la cuestión de lo trascendente de su discurso filosólico como usualmente se lo lee, intenta más bien recuperar y darle un nuevo sentido a esa problemática, respondiendo así a una necesidad real de la filosofía que se sigue definiendo, aún en nuestro siglo, por criterios de conocimiento que no le pertenecen. En particular, se arguye que (...) el recurso wittgensteiniano a la invención de "casos intermedios" e "historias naturales" ficticias logra este objetivo al activar mediante su introducción de la imaginación modos diferentes de conciencia, que permiten reubicar lo trascendente en el pensar filosófico sin necesidad de recurrir a un ámbito sobrenatural ni a un conocimiento místico. (shrink)

¿Debería gobernar la justicia en las relaciones personales cercanas, como por ejemplo en el dar y recibir entre hombres y mujeres? ¿O es que estas relaciones se hallan más allá de la justicia? El presente artículo defiende, basándose en Aristóteles, el llamado feminista por la justicia sexual, (aun) en las relaciones personales cercanas, en oposición, entre otras, a la objeción de perversión de Hugh LaFollette planteada en 1996. De acuerdo a esta objeción, el llamado por la justicia en relaciones personales (...) cercanas socava o pervierte el amor y la amistad, dando Jugar a relaciones de intercambio interesadas. (shrink)

In his proem to the Bellum Catilinae, Sallust elaborates the metaphorical theme of "the way," which is further supported by words that allow for the association of the same image. It is easily grasped by Roman readers because of the well-established parable of the choice between two paths of life, and particularly appropriate in the historian's case, as he justifies his turning away from the cursus honorum towards a new career. The particular imagery reflects the general theme.

This paper reconstructs Van Parijs’ core argument for an unconditional basic income and presents three objections against it. The first and most theoretical objection attacks the egalitarian basis of Van Parijs’ argument and suggests an alternative, humanitarian theory of justice. The second and third more concrete objections accuse Van Parijs of selling-out the right to work as well as the right to recognition of work, for example of family work. The conclusion drawn from these three objections, however, is not that (...) an unconditional basic income cannot be defended. Instead the paper ends by indicating an alternative, humanitarian argument for an unconditional basic income. (shrink)

This is the introduction to Seeing Wittgenstein Anew, eds. William Day & Victor J. Krebs (Cambridge UP, 2010), a collection of essays on Ludwig Wittgenstein's remarks on aspect-seeing. Section 1: Why Seeing Aspects Now?; Section 2: The Importance of Seeing Aspects; Section 3: The Essays. (The front matter to Seeing Wittgenstein Anew appears above under "Books.").

The implications of game theory models of the evolution of strategies of exchange are explored with respect to the evolution of moral dispositions. I argue that dispositions to practice tit for tat strategies could have evolved, but the moral behaviours to which they give rise do not fare well on criteria of morality. Inasmuch as the strategy implicit in the Golden Rule is unconditional, it could not have evolved in environments containing strategies that exploit it. However, dispositions to invoke conditional (...) principles such as those that prescribe that people cooperate with those they observe cooperating and shun those they observe behaving selfishly, could have been selected in some conditions and may have given rise to the evolution of indirect reciprocity. The key to the evolution of morality is discrimination in favour of cooperators and against cheaters and selfish individualists. The limitations of game theory in the explanation of human morality are acknowledged. (shrink)

El Naturalismo Trascendental del Ultimo Wittgenstein The present article considers an internal tension in Wittgenstein's late philosophy. In what I call his 'naturalism', Wittgenstein circumscribes philosophical reflection to natural objects, to «making natural history». In his 'transcendentalism' he focuses on the «possibility of phenomena» and distinguishes philosophical method from the method of the natural sciences. I show that his 'transcendentalism' is present in his discussion of rules and prívate language, arguing for an interpretation in terms of a kantian type of (...) transcendental synthesis. But far from contradicting his 'naturalism', both tendencies are inseparable and essential to the main purpose of his Philosophical Investigations. (shrink)

“¿Principio de caridad o hybris?” La intuición de Wittgenstein, de que el significado lingüístico se constituye dentro de la trama de vida pareciera hacer posible un acercamiento entre la tradición hermenéutica continental y la filosofía analítica del lenguaje. En el presente artículo se sostiene que esta intuición debe ir acompañada de una revisión de la concepción del sujeto implícita en el “principio de caridad” de Donald Davidson. Sin esa reconcepción, el principio de caridad se convierte en una forma encubierta de (...) imperialismo conceptual incompatible con el espíritu de la hermenéutica continental. Se concluye el artículo con algunas observaciones sobre el relativismo a la luz de las consideraciones anteriores. (shrink)

McKay & Dennett (M&D) have done an admirable job of distinguishing among various forms of misbelief and evaluating the idea that they stem from evolved mental mechanisms. We argue that a complete account of misbeliefs must attend to the role that others play in creating and maintaining positive illusions.