Le concept de continuité est fondamental pour l’analyse mathématique contemporaine. Cependant, la définition actuellement employée, apparemment bien fondée de ce concept, n’est que l’une des nombreuses versions historiquement énoncées, utilisées et affinées par les mathématiciens au travers des siècles. Cet article présente la façon dont William Kingdon Clifford (1845-1879) a façonné ce concept en lui donnant des bases physiques. La présentation de l’effort de Richard Dedekind (1831-1916) pour établir mathématiquement cette notion dans une perspective conventionnaliste permettra de mieux apprécier la (...) spécificité de chacune des deux démarches. Cette étude montrera quel rôle historique la continuité a joué dans plusieurs projets mathématiques et philosophiques, et comment elle a été façonnée à partir des différents centres d’intérêt de ses utilisateurs. (shrink)

U radu se polazi od hipoteze da je osnovni cilj suvremenog razvoja biotehnologije i bioznanosti stvaranje poslijeljudskih oblika inteligentnog života. Time kategorija ljudskoga zadobiva status »konačne granice« poslijeevolucijskog razvoja. Naime, moderni bio-tehno-znanstveni sustav, u postmodernom sociokulturnom kontekstu, nameće kontradiktorna stajališta o nužnosti poslijeljudskoga radi opstanka ljudskoga. Mogućnosti razvoja poslijeljudskog života otvaraju brojna pitanja, prijepore, obećanja i strahove. Od samih početaka ljudskih društava jedan od temeljnih ljudskih strahova bio je strah od postojanja »inteligentnog Drugog« . S druge strane, temeljno obećanje, koje (...) proizlazi iz primjene biotehnoloških i bioznanstvenih istraživanja, jest obećanje besmrtnog života »na ovome svijetu«. U tom kontekstu rad analizira razlikovanja ljudskog i poslijeljudskog, te moguće prijepore razvoja poslijeljudskih oblika života.The starting hypothesis of this paper is creation of posthuman intelligent life forms as a main goal of contemporary biotechnology and bioscience development. With that human category become postevolutional “final frontier”. Namely, in the postmodern sociocultural context, contradictious attitudes about necessity of posthuman for human survival is forcing by modern bio techno-scientific system. Possibilities of posthuman life development are opening many questions, controversies, promises and fears. From the beginning of human societies , one of the basic human fears was fear of “intelligent other” existence . On the other side, the basic promise, resulting from application of biotechnological and bioscientifical researches, is promise of “this-worldly” immortal life. In that context, this paper is analyzing human-post human differentiation and possible problems in the development of post human life forms. (shrink)

Following the idea of the famous Croatian sociologist Željko Mardešić (JakovJukić), this paper analyzes Mardešić’s vision of Christian dialogue and cooperation in thecontext of contemporary sociology of religion. The presented vision of dialogue and cooperationin relation to various social, cultural, and religious changes calls for expandingthe space for dialogue and cooperation. According to Mardešić, dialogue and cooperationpresuppose the existence of opposite ideas and not necessarily identity; otherwise,they would be reduced to mere confirmation. Thus, dialogue and cooperation observedseparately contain an entire (...) program and are key to the realization of Christianity in thefuture. Željko Mardešić sees the future of Christianity along the lines of the Second VaticanCouncil, which remains the “compass” for the Catholic Church, on four council levels:establishing a dialogue with divided Christians, major world religions, non-believers,and the modern world. Importantly, dialogue and cooperation in the Church representan unavoidable prerequisite to establishing four effective dialogues with the world. Inthis context, the authenticity of Christian dialogue and cooperation, according to ŽeljkoMardešić, can be summed up in a few demanding words: kindness, forgiveness, mercy,service, peace, and the joy of hope. A person – not seen as an object but a subject of experience– is certainly changed by every dialogue because the experience itself is dialogicaland open to cooperation. (shrink)

BackgroundThere has been no in-depth research of public attitudes on withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatment, euthanasia, assisted suicide and physician assisted suicide in Croatia. The aim of this study was to examine these attitudes and their correlation with sociodemographic characteristics, religion, political orientation, tolerance of personal choice, trust in physicians, health status, experiences with death and caring for the seriously ill, and attitudes towards death and dying. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a three-stage random sample of adult citizens of (...) the Republic of Croatia, stratified by regions, counties, and locations within those counties. In addition to descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Chi-square tests were used to determine differences, and factor analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis for data analysis.Results38.1% of the respondents agree with granting the wishes of dying people experiencing extreme and unbearable suffering, and withholding life-prolonging treatment, and 37.8% agree with respecting the wishes of such people, and withdrawing life-prolonging treatment. 77% of respondents think that withholding and withdrawing procedures should be regulated by law because of the fear of abuse. Opinions about the practice and regulation of euthanasia are divided. Those who are younger and middle-aged, with higher levels of education, living in big cities, and who have a more liberal worldview are more open to euthanasia. Assisted suicide is not considered to be an acceptable practice, with only 18.6% of respondents agreeing with it. However, 40.1% think that physician assisted suicide should be legalised. 51.6% would support the dying person’s autonomous decisions regarding end-of-life procedures.ConclusionsThe study found low levels of acceptance of withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatment, euthanasia, assisted suicide and physician assisted suicide in Croatia. In addition, it found evidence that age, level of education, political orientation, and place of residence have an impact on people’s views on euthanasia. There is a need for further research into attitudes on different end-of-life practices in Croatia. (shrink)

This edited volume of 13 new essays aims to turn past discussions of natural kinds on their head. Instead of presenting a metaphysical view of kinds based largely on an unempirical vantage point, it pursues questions of kindedness which take the use of kinds and activities of kinding in practice as significant in the articulation of them as kinds. The book brings philosophical study of current and historical episodes and case studies from various scientific disciplines to bear on natural kinds (...) as traditionally conceived of within metaphysics. Focusing on these practices reveals the different knowledge-producing activities of kinding and processes involved in natural kind use, generation, and discovery. -/- Specialists in their field, the esteemed group of contributors use diverse empirically responsive approaches to explore the nature of kindhood. This groundbreaking volume presents detailed case studies that exemplify kinding in use. Newly written for this volume, each chapter engages with the activities of kinding across a variety of disciplines. Chapter topics include the nature of kinds, kindhood, kinding, and kind-making in linguistics, chemical classification, neuroscience, gene and protein classification, colour theory in applied mathematics, homology in comparative biology, sex and gender identity theory, memory research, race, extended cognition, symbolic algebra, cartography, and geographic information science. -/- The volume seeks to open up an as-yet unexplored area within the emerging field of philosophy of science in practice, and constitutes a valuable addition to the disciplines of philosophy and history of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. -/- Contributions from a diverse group of established and junior scholars in the fields of Philosophy and History and Philosophy of Science including Hasok Chang, Jordi Cat, Sally Haslanger, Joyce C. Havstad, Catherine Kendig, Bernhard Nickel, Josipa Petrunic, Samuli Pöyhönen, Thomas A. C. Reydon, Quayshawn Spencer, Jackie Sullivan, Michael Wheeler, and Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther. (shrink)