Serious actualism is the prima facie plausible thesis that things couldn’t have been related while being nothing. The thesis plays an important role in a number of arguments in metaphysics, e.g., in Plantinga’s argument for the claim that propositions do not ontologically depend on the things that they are about and in Williamson’s argument for the claim that he, Williamson, is necessarily something. Salmon has put forward that which is, arguably, the most pressing challenge to serious actualists. Salmon’s objection is (...) based on a scenario intended to elicit the judgment that merely possible entities may nonetheless be actually referred to, and so may actually have properties. It is shown that predicativism, the thesis that names are true of their bearers, provides the resources for replying to Salmon’s objection. In addition, an argument for serious actualism based on Stephanou, 219–250 2007) is offered. Finally, it is shown that once serious actualism is conjoined with some minimal assumptions, it implies property necessitism, the thesis that necessarily all properties are necessarily something, as well as a strong comprehension principle for higher-order modal logic according to which for every condition there necessarily is the property of being a thing satisfying that condition. (shrink)

General-elimination harmony articulates Gentzen’s idea that the elimination-rules are justified if they infer from an assertion no more than can already be inferred from the grounds for making it. Dummett described the rules as not only harmonious but stable if the E-rules allow one to infer no more and no less than the I-rules justify. Pfenning and Davies call the rules locally complete if the E-rules are strong enough to allow one to infer the original judgement. A method is given (...) of generating harmonious general-elimination rules from a collection of I-rules. We show that the general-elimination rules satisfy Pfenning and Davies’ test for local completeness, but question whether that is enough to show that they are stable. Alternative conditions for stability are considered, including equivalence between the introduction- and elimination-meanings of a connective, and recovery of the grounds for assertion, finally generalizing the notion of local completeness to capture Dummett’s notion of stability satisfactorily. We show that the general-elimination rules meet the last of these conditions, and so are indeed not only harmonious but also stable. (shrink)

In a series of papers, 137–158; 1994, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 23, 61–74, 1999) Fine develops his hylomorphic theory of embodiments. In this article, we supply a formal semantics for this theory that is adequate to the principles laid down for it in. In Section 1, we lay out the theory of embodiments as Fine presents it. In Section 2, we argue on Cantorian grounds that the theory needs to be stabilized, and sketch some ways forward, discussing various choice points (...) in modeling the view. In Section 3, we develop a formal semantics for the theory of embodiments by constructing embodiments in stages and restricting the domain of the second-order quantifiers. In Section 4 we give a few illustrative examples to show how the models deliver Finean hylomorphic consequences. In Section 5, we prove that Fine’s principles are sound with respect to this semantics. In Section 6 we present some inexpressibility results concerning Fine’s various notions of parthood and show that in our formal semantics these notions are all expressible using a single mereological primitive. In Section 7, we prove several mereological results stemming from the model theory, showing that the mereology is surprisingly robust. In Section 8, we draw some philosophical lessons from the formal semantics, and in particular respond to Koslicki’s main objection to Fine’s theory. In the appendix we present proofs of the inexpressibility results of Section 6. (shrink)

La polifacética figura de Dionisio de Rijkel, Dionisio Cartujo (1402-1471), no es tan conocida en España como merece. Hombre inclinado a la Ife intelectual y espiritual, estudió en la Universidad de Colonia e ingresó en la Orden Cartuja, donde escribió numerosas obras y se le encomendaron diversas tareas, destacando por sus experiencias místicas. A grandes rasgos, su pensamiento evolucionó desde el tomismo hacia una "teología mística' cercana a la del otro gran Dionisio, el Pseudo-Dionisio Areopagita.

La antigüedad de la escritura china es bien conocida en Occidente, hasta el punto de constituir uno de los clichés con los que nos representamos al gran país asiático. Pero ¿qué significa para China el acto de escribir? ¿Cómo ha pensado el texto la civilización que desde más antiguo lo cultivó? Liu Xie, uno de los grandes tratadistas de la Antigüedad, monje budista y oficial del Gobierno durante la dinastía Liang, nos ofrece algunas claves fundamentales al respecto. En su célebre (...) obra Wen Xin Diao Long, y tras haber establecido en un primer momento el inestimable valor de las obras del canon confuciano, este autor parece chocar varias veces con el problema del «nuevo texto». Apresado entre el valor literario de la originalidad y la perversidad inaceptable de la desviación (respecto al canon), el letrado va formando un particular sentido de la producción textual, a cuyo procedimiento correspondiente denomino «variación». Esta misma lógica de la producción literaria se puede rastrear en las obras de otros letrados y aún en otras disciplinas distintas de la escritura, constituyendo así una noción trasversal del pensamiento chino. (shrink)

Necessitism, Contingentism, and Theory Equivalence is a dissertation on issues in higher-order modal metaphysics. Consider a modal higher-order language with identity in which the universal quantifier is interpreted as expressing universal quantification and the necessity operator is interpreted as expressing metaphysical necessity. The main question addressed in the dissertation concerns the correct theory formulated in this language. A different question that also takes centre stage in the dissertation is what it takes for theories to be equivalent.The whole dissertation consists of (...) an extended argument in defence of the truth of two seemingly inconsistent higher-order modal theories, specifically: 1.Plantingan Moderate Contingentism, a theory based on Plantinga’s [1] modal metaphysics that is committed to, among other things, the contingent being of some individuals and the necessary being of all possible higher-order entities;2.Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism, a theory advocated by Williamson [3] which is committed to, among other things, the necessary being of every possible individual as well as of every possible higher-order entity.Part of the case for these theories’ joint truth relies on defences of the following metaphysical theses: Thorough Serious Actualism, the thesis that no things could have been related while being nothing, and Higher-Order Necessitism, the thesis that necessarily, every higher-order entity is necessarily something. It is shown that Thorough Serious Actualism and Higher-Order Necessitism are both implicit commitments of very weak logical theories. The defence of Higher-Order Necessitism constitutes a powerful challenge to Stalnaker’s [2] Thorough Contingentism, a theory committed to, among other things, the view that there could have been some individuals as well as some entities of any higher-order that could have been nothing.In the dissertation it is argued that Plantingan Moderate Contingentism and Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism are in fact equivalent, even if they appear to be jointly inconsistent. The case for this claim relies on the Synonymy account, a novel account of theory equivalence developed and defended in the dissertation. According to this account, theories are equivalent just in case they have the same commitments and conception of logical space.By way of defending the Synonymy account’s adequacy, the account is applied to the debate between noneists, proponents of the view that some things do not exist, and Quineans, proponents of the view that to exist just is to be some thing. The Synonymy account is shown to afford a more nuanced and better understanding of that debate by revealing that what noneists and Quineans are really disagreeing about is what expressive resources are available to appropriately describe the world.By coupling a metatheoretical result with tools from the philosophy of language, it is argued that Plantingan Moderate Contingentism and Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism are synonymous theories, and so, by the lights of the Synonymy account, equivalent. Given the defence of their extant commitments made in the dissertation, it is concluded that Plantingan Moderate Contingentism and Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism are both correct. A corollary of this result is that the dispute between Plantingans and Williamsonians is, in an important sense, merely verbal. For if two theories are equivalent, then they “require the same of the world for their truth.”Thus, the results of the dissertation reveal that if one speaks as a Plantingan while advocating Plantingan Moderate Contingentism, or as a Williamsonian while advocating Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism, then one will not go wrong. Notwithstanding, one will still go wrong if one speaks as a Plantingan while advocating Williamsonian Thorough Necessitism, or as a Williamsonian while advocating Plantingan Moderate Contingentism.On the basis of a conception of the individual constants and predicates of second-order modal languages as strongly Millian, i.e., as having actually existing entities as their semantic values, in the appendix are presented second-order modal logics consistent with Stalnaker’s Thorough Contingentism. Furthermore, it is shown there that these logics are strong enough for applications of higher-order modal logic in mathematics, a result that constitutes a reply to an argument to the contrary by Williamson [3]. Finally, these logics are proven to be complete relative to particular “thoroughly contingentist” classes of models. (shrink)

The most common first- and second-order modal logics either have as theorems every instance of the Barcan and Converse Barcan formulae and of their second-order analogues, or else fail to capture the actual truth of every theorem of classical first- and second-order logic. In this paper we characterise and motivate sound and complete first- and second-order modal logics that successfully capture the actual truth of every theorem of classical first- and second-order logic and yet do not possess controversial instances of (...) the Barcan and Converse Barcan formulae as theorems, nor of their second-order analogues. What makes possible these results is an understanding of the individual constants and predicates of the target languages as strongly Millian expressions, where a strongly Millian expression is one that has an actually existing entity as its semantic value. For this reason these logics are called ‘strongly Millian’. It is shown that the strength of the strongly Millian second-order modal logics here characterised afford the means to resist an argument by Timothy Williamson for the truth of the claim that necessarily, every property necessarily exists. (shrink)

This paper proposes and partially defends a novel philosophy of arithmetic—finitary upper logicism. According to it, the natural numbers are finite cardinalities—conceived of as properties of properties—and arithmetic is nothing but higher-order modal logic. Finitary upper logicism is furthermore essentially committed to the logicality of finitary plenitude, the principle according to which every finite cardinality could have been instantiated. Among other things, it is proved in the paper that second-order Peano arithmetic is interpretable, on the basis of the finite cardinalities’ (...) conception of the natural numbers, in a weak modal type theory consisting of the modal logic $\mathsf {K}$, negative free quantified logic, a contingentist-friendly comprehension principle, and finitary plenitude. By replacing finitary plenitude for the axiom of infinity this result constitutes a significant improvement on Russell and Whitehead’s interpretation of second-order Peano arithmetic, itself based on the finite cardinalities’ conception of the natural numbers. (shrink)

In this paper we propose and defend the _Synonymy account_, a novel account of metaphysical equivalence which draws on the idea (Rayo in _The Construction of Logical Space_, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013) that part of what it is to formulate a theory is to lay down a theoretical hypothesis concerning logical space. Roughly, two theories are synonymous—and so, in our view, equivalent—just in case (i) they take the same propositions to stand in the same entailment relations, and (ii) they (...) are committed to the truth of the same propositions. Furthermore, we put our proposal to work by showing that it affords a better and more nuanced understanding of the debate between Quineans and noneists. Finally we show how the _Synonymy account_ fares better than some of its competitors, specifically, McSweeney’s (Philosophical Perspectives 30(1):270–293, 2016) epistemic account and Miller’s (Philosophical Quarterly 67(269):772–793, 2017) hyperintensional account. (shrink)

The present research paper aims at clarifying the relationship between systematic thinking and historiographical practices in the works of the Neo-Kantian philosopher Wilhelm Windelband. According to the judgment of his successors, Windelband’s work is characterized by a systematical deficit grounded on an excess of historiographical labors. The aim of this study is to show that, in Windelband’s case the history of philosophy becomes a true impulse for systematical thinking. Besides, an attempt is made to show how Windelband's works make a (...) contribution to the elaboration of a concept of historical philosophy, that is, to carry out the historicization of philosophical thought. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper is an analysis of the manner Nishida Kitarô, in the process of construction of his own philosophy of religion, enters into dialogue with Leibniz's thought concerning Pre-established Harmony. Although the philosophy of religion is an important theme and Nishida goes back to Leibniz at some points in his textual career, there are relatively few studies that touch on the relationship between these two thinkers. I study Nishida's approach under three headings. The first section concerns ten main aspects (...) of the world of pre-established harmony. The second tries to show the manner in which such a world becomes a guide towards a philosophy of religion, placing the emphasis on three characteristically Christian aspects: a created, fallen, and Trinitarian world. The third section includes some elements such as the entrance into religion, metanoia, satori and a comparison between Christian agape and Buddhist maha-kruna. These are themes on which Nishida elaborates in his 1945 masterpiece, The Logic of Basho and a Religious Worldview. RESUMO Este trabalho é uma análise da forma pela qual Nishida Kitarô, no processo de construção de sua própria filosofia da religião, entra em diálogo com o pensamento de Leibniz relativo à Harmonia Pré-Estabelecida. Embora a filosofia da religião seja um tema importante, e Nishida retome Leibniz em alguns pontos em sua carreira textual, existem relativamente poucos estudos que abordem a relação entre esses dois pensadores. Estudo a abordagem de Nishida sob três categorias. A primeira seção refere-se a dez principais aspectos do mundo de harmonia preestabelecida. A segunda busca demonstrar o modo pelo qual esse mundo se torna um guia para uma filosofia da religião, colocando a ênfase em três aspectos caracteristicamente cristãos: um mundo criado, caído e trinitário. A terceira seção inclui alguns elementos, tais como a entrada na religião, a metanoia, o satori e uma comparação entre o Ágape cristão e o Maha-Kruna budista. Estes são temas sobre os quais Nishida elabora em sua obra-prima de 1945, A Lógica de Basho e uma Visão Religiosa do Mundo. (shrink)

Este artículo estudia la interpretación del comienzo de la filosofía en términos de una correlación entre sujeto y objeto, desarrollada por el filósofo neokantiano Heinrich Rickert. En primer lugar, se reconstruyen el contexto problemático que conduce a Rickert al problema del comienzo de la filosofía y su distinción entre tres acepciones diferentes del concepto de ‘comienzo’. En segundo lugar, se ofrece una interpretación del comienzo correlacional de la filosofía como una respuesta a la paradoja formulada por Hegel en las primeras (...) páginas de la _Ciencia de la Lógica_. Finalmente, se evalúa la propuesta de un comienzo correlacional en función del proyecto general de una filosofía transcendental. (shrink)

En el nº 1 de RAPHIR, Revista de Antropología y Filosofía de las Religiones (Año I. Nº 1, julio-diciembre (2014) pp.: 7-8) se hicieron unas consideraciones que mantienen toda su validez para la presentación de RAPHISA, Revista de Antropología y Filosofía de lo Sagrado.

El presente artículo pretende mostrar que ha significado ser un intelectual, poniendo el acento en su función originaria en contraste con lo que se considera la traición de los mismos. El artículo comienza recordando el Affaire Dreyfus y, con Benda y Chomsky, se buscará matizar la tarea del intelectual así como su responsabilidad. Las discusiones aquí ofrecidas nos llevarán a observar las dinámicas ideológicas del siglo XX y se prestará atención al estilo de vida del intelectual, atendiendo a las críticas (...) que recogió Barthes sobre Poujade así como los dardos envenenados que lanzó Schopenhauer a los filósofos de su tiempo. Dardos que, atendiendo a la posverdad, se revelan con bastante actualidad. (shrink)

Review of Jean Lassègue, Cassirer’s transformation: From a transcendental to a semiotic philosophy of forms. Cham: Springer Nature, 2020.

In diesem Beitrag wird die philosophische Konzeption des Anfangs der Philosophie als Beziehung zum Verhältnis von Subjekt und Objekt untersucht, die der Neukantianer Heinrich Rickert entwickelt hat. Die Untersuchung rekonstruiert erstens den problematischen Hintergrund, der Rickert zum Problem des Anfangs und zu seiner Unterscheidung zwischen drei Bedeutungen des Begriffs ‘Anfang’ führte. Dieser Hintergrund steht im Zusammenhang mit der Wiederbelebung der dialektischen Philosophie zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Zweitens wird eine Konzeption des korrelativen Anfangs der Philosophie als Antwort auf das von (...) Hegel zu Beginn der Wissenschaft der Logik formulierte Paradoxon vorgeschlagen. Auf diese Weise wird Rickerts Argumentation als Antwort auf die drei wichtigsten Kritikpunkte Hegels am Anfang der Philosophie durch den Begriff des Ich analysiert. Um die Argumente zu verdeutlichen, die Rickert in seinem Aufsatz über den Begriff des Anfangs der Philosophie entwickelt, werden wir die wesentlichen Hinweise auf Rickerts Konzeption des heterologischen Denkens geben. Schließlich wird der Ansatz eines korrelativen Anfangs im Hinblick auf das allgemeine Projekt einer Transzendentalphilosophie bewertet. Wir werden aufzeigen, wie das, was Rickert die Wendung zum Objekt nennt, Rickert zu einer paradoxen Position verpflichtet, die er selbst als ‘transzendentalen Empirismus’ charakterisiert. Jenseits dieser Schwierigkeit will die vorliegende Untersuchung zeigen, dass Rickerts Position eine der originellsten Positionen der Transzendentalphilosophie darstellt, die sich mit der Hegelschen Frage nach dem wahren Anfang der philosophischen Wissenschaft auseinandersetzt. (shrink)

Volume 29, Issue 6, December 2021, Page 1192-1197.

Resumen: 1.- El axis mundi y la tópica paleolítica. 2.- Las diosas paleolíticas y el canon ovoide. 3.- El juego de la rayuela y la geometría sagrada. 4.- Las esferas celestes de Pitágoras a Ptolomeo. El modelo “matriuska”. Palabras clave: Cosmogonía paleolítica, geometría sagrada, “matriuska”, templo.

La agregación del extranjero a la propia comunidad entre las tribus de cazadores recolectores paleolíticos, consiste en un rito de reconocimiento y aceptación recíproco entre la divinidad protectora de la tribu y el extranjero. Este sentido religioso del rito se mantiene en las sociedades neolíticas y posteriores. En el pueblo hebreo el extranjero se integra cuando acepta los valores supremos de la comunidad mediante los ritos correspondientes. Eso mismo ocurre cuando la comunidad integra a todos los pueblos conocidos, desde la (...) constitutio Antoniniana de Caracalla de 212 hasta la constitución de la Sociedad de Naciones de 1919. La forma suprema de hospitalidad es dar sepultura a los muertos, que se practica con los extranjeros de una manera bastante general. (shrink)

1. The axis mundi and the Paleolithic topical. 2.- The Paleolithic goddesses and ovoid canon 3.- The hopscotch and sacred geometry. 4.- The heavenly spheres from Pythagoras to Ptolemy. The “matrioshka” model.Key words: Paleolithic cosmogony, sacred geometry, “matrioshka”, temple.

The present paper investigates the essential tenets of the Southwestern Neo-Kantians? take on the philosophy of religion. Specifically, I concentrate on two diverse aspects of Windelband and Rickert?s approaches to religion. In the first place, I look at the way in which they determine religious values. In the second place, I focus on the manner in which they confront religion with the systematic structure of culture. As a result of the analysis of the texts of both authors, we see that (...) it is possible to detect at least three possible roads to elaborate a philosophy of religion. In spite of this plurality of paths, I argue that they exhibit a similar underlying problem, namely, the problematic relationship between transcendental philosophy and metaphysics. It is for this reason that the philosophy of religion takes the form of a reflection on the limits of knowledge, and with it, on the limits of transcendental philosophy. (shrink)

This paper examines the transformation of Windelband’s Neo-Kantian program into a variety of Neo-Hegelianism. The paper shows that, for Windelband, the rehabilitation of philosophy in terms of a theory of knowledge is insufficient in the face of the pervasive crisis-consciousness of 19th-century philosophy. By Windelband’s account, the overcoming of this crisis requires the appropriation of distinctive Hegelian themes and a new understanding of the role of history in philosophical reflection. Based on this exposition, the final section of the paper advances (...) an interpretation on the meaning and conditions for the renewal of philosophy. (shrink)

El alma bella representa en la obra de Hegel un momento en el que la acción y la moralidad pueden entrar en un conflicto con la realidad y con el otro, provocando en el sujeto moral la inactividad y la evasión de su _selbst_ en su pura abstracción, enajenándose de toda actividad y toda crítica. Se pretende mostrar, pues, el desarrollo de esta figura hegeliana para poder asumir que toda actividad dirigida al mundo deja de pertenecer al sujeto que la (...) ejecuta y se vuelve algo para el mundo e interpretado por éste. (shrink)

Los ritos de paso prehistóricos son la matriz de los ordenamientos jurídicos modernos, que determinan la identidad y la ciudadanía de los individuos. La cancelación de la confesionalidad del Estado y la regulación de algunos factores del derecho de familia y de educación son la clave de los derechos humanos referentes a la libertad religiosa.

Resumen:En el paso del paleolítico al neolítico tiene lugar la gran producción de los símbolos sagrados vinculados a los calendarios solares y lunisolares. Este tránsito lleva consigo un tránsito de la hegemonía de la sensación a la hegemonía de la imaginación en el conocimiento humano. Los símbolos religiosos se refieren cada vez menos a los poderes cósmicos visibles en el cielo y cada vez más a poderes sagrados representados imaginativa y conceptualmente. Así empieza a desarrollarse un culto interior, que da (...) lugar a diversos tipos de símbolos religiosos.Palabras clave: neolítico, símbolo religioso, historicidad del símbolo religioso, estructura del símbolo religioso.Abstract: In the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic the great production of sacred symbols linked to solar and lunisolar calendars takes place. This transition involves a transition from the hegemony of sense to hegemony of imagination in human knowledge. Religious symbols refers less and less visible cosmic powers in the sky and increasingly sacred powers represented imaginatively and conceptually. So it begins to develop an interior worship, which leads to various kinds of religious symbols.Key words: Neolithic, religious symbol, historicity of religious symbol, religious symbol structure. (shrink)

Desde el neolítico, y quizá desde antes, la fiesta tiene un sentido escatológico, de anticipo de la vida en la eternidad, y especialmente la fiesta de año nuevo. Desde sus inicios en la cultura sumeria hasta sus manifestaciones en la navidad cristiana, pasando por las saturnales romanas y los carnavales antiguos y modernos, la fiesta de Año Nuevo expresa que el comienzo está en lo eterno.La fiesta de Año Nuevo manifiesta que el tiempo es proceso de cambio en el que (...) todo es donación y regalo, y en el que se produce la transmutación de todos los valores: los reyes se convierten en esclavos y los esclavos en reyes, los hombres en mujeres y las mujeres en hombres, los ángeles en sirvientes y los pastores en cortesanos, Dios se convierte en hombre y los hombres en custodios de Dios. La fiesta confirma que el ciclo de los acontecimientos temporales pertenece a la eternidad. (shrink)

The Masks of the self. The rising of human self-consciousness is developed in six steps: 1) Looking at the face; 2) Visible and audible masks; 3) Tattoos and acting; 4) The mask of the "Proto-agonist"; 5) The mirror of Narcissus; 6) Feelings speculations. Eros and Psyche.