This book argues that we can only understand transformations of nature studies in the Scientific Revolution if we take seriously the interaction between practitioners and scholars. These are not in opposition, however. Theory and practice are end points on a continuum, with some participants interested only in the practical, others only in the theoretical, and most in the murky intellectual and material world in between. It is this borderland where influence, appropriation, and collaboration have the potential to lead to new (...) methods, new subjects of enquiry, and new social structures of natural philosophy and science. The case for connection between theory and practice can be most persuasively drawn in the area of mathematics, which is the focus of this book. Practical mathematics was a growing field in early modern Europe and these essays are organised into three parts which contribute to the debate about the role of mathematical practice in the Scientific Revolution. First, they demonstrate the variability of the identity of practical mathematicians, and of the practices involved in their activities in early modern Europe. Second, readers are invited to consider what practical mathematics looked like and that although practical mathematical knowledge was transmitted and circulated in a wide variety of ways, participants were able to recognize them all as practical mathematics. Third, the authors show how differences and nuances in practical mathematics typically depended on the different contexts in which it was practiced: social, cultural, political, and economic particularities matter. Historians of science, especially those interested in the Scientific Revolution period and the history of mathematics will find this book and its ground-breaking approach of particular interest. (shrink)

The long-standing conflict between the two theories centers about the question whether time can exist independently of that which is in it. Those who advocate absolute time answer in the affirmative while the relationists take the opposite position claiming that temporal relations, and thus time, have no reality apart from the things and events which they order. In the terminology of Paul Weiss, relational time is "concrete." The considerable emphasis placed upon this issue of the concreteness of time has adversely (...) affected the absolute theory, leading to presentations of the absolutist position that are confusing, if not erroneous. Absolute time, as interpreted by philosophers such as Broad, Gunn, and Whitehead, posits the existence of abstract moments which are arranged in serial order one before the other by virtue of relations of precedence between them. Things and events participate in time only vicariously, so to speak, being joined to their respective moments by another kind of relation which Whitehead calls "occupation." The overall structure presented by the absolute theory is therefore thought to be as follows: one event is before another if both are respectively bound by relations of occupation to moments which are in turn so related as to be one before the other. Relational time mercifully simplifies this picture by a neat bit of surgery, cutting away the abstract moments and tying the relations of precedence directly to things and events themselves. As a consequence, the parasitic relations of occupation wither away. (shrink)

Since the late 1980s, the affinity between irony and postmodernity has been addressed in several studies that apply semiotic approaches to cultural postmodernity generally and to postmodern literature specifically. The following article contributes to the branch of semiotics of postmodern literature by proposing the notion of bi-paradigmatic irony as a special postmodern sign. Whereas mono-paradigmatic irony establishes its ironic contrast within the same paradigm, in bi-paradigmatic irony, said and meant meanings belong to two different paradigms. On the basis of two (...) semiotic paradigmatic perspectives and three semiotic paradigmatic ideologies , six types of bi-paradigmatic irony are possible. Two of the six types of postmodern irony are applied to theoretical-literary texts by Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes as well as to literary texts by the Austrian writers Christoph Ransmayr and Hans Carl Artmann. (shrink)

En nuestro trabajo analizamos la propuesta de una norma del gusto por parte de David Hume en el marco de su filosofía escéptica. Nuestra investigación parte de la premisa de que el filósofo no logra consolidar los principios básicos de una Ciencia del Hombre tal como él mismo propone en la Introducción del Tratado de la naturaleza humana y que, por lo tanto, en varios ámbitos del saber no es posible distinguir cuáles son los principios últimos que rigen el entendimiento (...) y la conducta de los seres humanos. La experiencia estética no escapa a esta dificultad. En este sentido, en nuestro estudio indagamos cuál es el objetivo y la finalidad de Hume en los Ensayos morales políticos y literarios al proponer el dictamen de jueces idóneos como guía de las valoraciones estéticas. Nuestra atención está puesta en determinar por qué un pensador escéptico estaría interesado en regular los juicios de gusto. Al mismo tiempo, y a fin de desentrañar en toda su complejidad la propuesta humeana, nos detendremos a examinar los rasgos característicos de la esfera de la sensibilidad teniendo en cuenta sus semejanzas y diferencias con el pensamiento de Hutcheson. (shrink)

El artículo tiene como objetivo realizar un análisis del mercado de la pornografía y su impacto en la desigualdad y subordinación de las mujeres. Partiendo del estudio teórico de Debra Satz respecto a la prostitución (2010), sostendremos que la pornografía es un mercado nocivo. A partir de esta afirmación, estudiaremos la diferencia entre este mercado y otros que tienen efectos similares. Luego consideraremos los costos y beneficios en términos de derechos, así como las posibilidades fácticas y la eficiencia de medidas (...) prohibitivas para su regulación. Concluiremos que, por más que la pornografía sea un mercado moralmente objetable, su prohibición estatal no es una derivación obvia de esta afirmación. (shrink)

This essence is the philosophy of knowledge for personal and social well-being aspects of the contribution. In the Introduction to "What is philosophical counseling practice or philosophy?", I described the ancient philosophy has been caring for the soul and tradition of self, in the last twenty-five years has been the revitalization of philosophers and others up. "Philosophy of psychological analysis," "philosophical counseling hotline", and "personal well-being and Philosophy Cafe" is a contemporary German philosopher Gerd B. Achenbach, British theologian Chad Varah, (...) and the French philosopher Marc Sautet these ideas for specific application situation. In the "philosophy of charity", I argue, the possibility for all practical philosophy, the charity as a necessary test of suspicion. (shrink)

Outlined are several ways in which philosophical knowledge can contribute to personal and social well-being. In the introduction, "What is Philosophical Practice, Counseling, and Psychoanalysis" I describe how the ancient philosophical tradition of care for the soul or self has been revived among philosophers and others in the last twenty-five years. The sections "The Philosophical Counseling Hotline" and "Personal Well-being and the Philosophical Café '" are accounts of specific applications of ideas of the contemporary German philosopher Gerd B. Achenbach, the (...) founder of the international philosophical practice movement. In the conclusion "Philosophical Benevolence" I argue for benevolence as a skeptical touchstone for philosophy in practice. (shrink)

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine client demographics and expectations, reasons for use, sensations during treatment, and perceived outcomes of Pranic Healing, an energy healing system lacking in scientific documentation but whose use in the general population is becoming more widespread internationally. This study consisted of a cross-sectional survey of adults (18+ years of age) receiving care from 12 Pranic Healing practices in four different states in the U.S. (N = 179) completing online questionnaires. Closed-ended response sets (...) were analyzed descriptively, while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Reasons to use the therapy included physical, mental/emotional, and metaphysical issues, dissatisfaction with conventional care, and overall well-being. Expectations of care included enhanced abilities, cure or relief, or unsure. Respondents were more likely to cite a specific problem from which they needed alleviation than to cite overall health or wellness as their goal. Sensations experienced were reported to be of a relaxing nature and not, as was hypothesized, of an energizing nature. Results show that those who use Pranic Healing fit the sociodemographic profile of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) users in the United States, that their reasons for use are not homogeneous, and that preliminary descriptive data from a selective subsample of respondents indicated that some respondents are experiencing positive outcomes attributed to this modality. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft Jahrgang: 25 Heft: 1 Seiten: 53-70.

In dieser Arbeit werden Ansätze aus der Hirnforschung, der Künstliche-Intelligenz-Forschung und der Chaostheorie sowie der Psychologie und der Physik kritisch hinsichtlich ihrer Aussagekraft zu bewussten mentalen Phänomenen diskutiert. Zentrale Fragestellungen richten sich dabei auf die Phänomene der Qualia und der Privatheit, das Bindungsproblem, die psycho-physische Stetigkeit und die multiple Realisierung. Während die Diskussion von Hirnforschung und Künstliche-Intelligenz-Forschung sowie Psychologie und Physik vorwiegend vor dem Hintergrund bestehender Modelle geführt wird, wird außerdem der Versuch unternommen, einen neuen Verständnisansatz auf der Grundlage chaostheoretischer (...) Begriffe zu formulieren. (shrink)

The intersection of a linearly ordered set of total subrelations of a total relation with range 2 need not be total, constructively.

This book bridges the gaps between logic, mathematics and computer science by delving into the theory of well-quasi orders, also known as wqos. This highly active branch of combinatorics is deeply rooted in and between many fields of mathematics and logic, including proof theory, commutative algebra, braid groups, graph theory, analytic combinatorics, theory of relations, reverse mathematics and subrecursive hierarchies. As a unifying concept for slick finiteness or termination proofs, wqos have been rediscovered in diverse contexts, and proven to be (...) extremely useful in computer science. The book introduces readers to the many facets of, and recent developments in, wqos through chapters contributed by scholars from various fields. As such, it offers a valuable asset for logicians, mathematicians and computer scientists, as well as scholars and students. (shrink)

No topic in Descartes scholarship has more troubled historians of science and philosophy than his method. Even now, four hundred years since young René first enthused about it, there is no consensu...