This volume helps us to understand that the current political disorders in Catalonia have deep cultural roots. It focuses on the rise of Catalan cultural, national and linguistic identity in the 20th century. What is happening in Catalonia? What lies behind its political conflicts? Catalan identity has been evolving for centuries, starting in early medieval ages. It is not a modern phenomenon. The emergence of imperial Spain in the 16 c. and the French Ancien Régime in the 17 c. correlates (...) with a decline of Catalan culture, which was politically absorbed by the Spanish state after the conquest of Barcelona in 1714. However, Catalan language and culture flourished again under the stimulus of the European Romantic Nationalism movement. During the first Dictatorship, the Spanish Civil War, and the long Francoist era, Catalan language and culture were repressed, yet refurbished and reconstructed at the same time. This rise of a plural, complex, and non-homogeneous Catalan identity constitutes the subject matter of this volume. National conflicts that emerged later in the Spanish democratic state leant heavily on the life engagement and vital commitment experienced by the entrenched intellectual movements of the twentieth century in Catalonia, Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands. This book reveals the cultural and literary grassroots of these conflicts. (shrink)

The notion of validity fulfils a crucial role in legal theory. In the emerging Web 3.0, Semantic Web languages, legal ontologies, and normative multi-agent systems are designed to cover new regulatory needs. Conceptual models for complex regulatory systems shape the characteristic features of rules, norms, and principles in different ways. This article outlines one of such multilayered governance models, designed for the CAPER platform, and offers a definition of Semantic Web Regulatory Models . It distinguishes between normative-SWRM and institutional-SWRM. It (...) also compares existing principles in privacy by design, linked open data , legal information institutes , and online dispute resolution . The article concludes by proposing the notion of Relational Law to summarize the ethical dimension of SWRM. Ethics are the only regulatory way to constitute a global space, out of the jurisdictional public domain set by national, international, or transnational law, and opposed to the private one. (shrink)

In the legal domain, ontologies enjoy quite some reputation as a way to model normative knowledge about laws and jurisprudence. This paper describes the methodology followed when developing the ontology used by the second version of the prototype Iuriservice, a web-based intelligent FAQ for judicial use. This modeling methodology has had two important requirements: on the one hand, the ontology needed to be extracted from a repository of professional judicial knowledge (containing nearly 800 questions regarding daily practice). Thus, the construction (...) of ontologies of professional judicial knowledge demanded the description of this knowledge as it is perceived by the judge. On the other hand, due to the distributiveness of the environment, there was a need for controlled discussion and traceability of the arguments used in favor or against the introduction of a concept X as part of the domain ontology. This paper presents the Ontology of Professional Judicial Knowledge (OPJK), extracted manually from the selection of relevant terms from judicial practice questions and modeled according to the DILIGENT methodology. We will show that DILIGENT has proved to be a methodology that facilitates the ontology engineering in a distributed environment, although appropriate tool support needs to be developed. (shrink)

This paper discusses the semiotic dimension of patent interpretation. Patent documents are at the same time disclosure of information and a granting of rights. The claim section expresses the granted rights. In this paper, we view the claims as signs that express the granted rights. The semantics to interpret the signs is given by the all-elements rule, as pragmatics. The description and drawings sections of the patent document provide metapragmatics in the form of lexicon and syntax to help the understanding (...) the claims as signs that express the granted rights. This semiotic approach for patent interpretation has important practical consequences to the correct structuring of a patent document. We highlight this contribution through an instance of a patent application in which a claim includes examples of use. Examples are not allowed in the claim text, as examples do not describe the invention, but consist of metapragmatics to better understand the invention. In this way, examples consist of metapragmatics and belong to the description section of the patent, which has the goal to facilitate the understanding of claims. In the patent application used to highlight our semiotics approach for patent interpretation, the examples initially presented in the claims were rephrased in the final granted patent, significantly reducing the scope of the claim. (shrink)

This paper is a contribution to the study of equality-free logic, that is, first-order logic without equality. We mainly devote ourselves to the study of algebraic characterizations of its relation of elementary equivalence by providing some Keisler-Shelah type ultrapower theorems and an Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé type theorem. We also give characterizations of elementary classes in equality-free logic. As a by-product we characterize the sentences that are logically equivalent to an equality-free one.

I present a notion of invariance under arbitrary surjective mappings for operators on a relational finite type hierarchy generalizing the so-called Tarski-Sher criterion for logicality and I characterize the invariant operators as definable in a fragment of the first-order language. These results are compared with those obtained by Feferman and it is argued that further clarification of the notion of invariance is needed if one wants to use it to characterize logicality.

Bell’s theorem is based on the assumptions of local causality and measurement independence. The last assumption is identified by many authors as linked to the freedom of choice hypothesis. In this sense the human free will ultimately can ensure the measurement independence assumption. The incomplete experimental conditions for supporting this assumption are known in the literature as “freedom-of-choice loophole” (FOCL). Although there is no consensus among the scientists that the measurement independence is linked to human choices, in a recent paper, (...) published in a prestigious journal, signed by more than a hundred authors, this assumption was seriously taken for the first time in an experiment known as Big Bell Test (Abellán et al. 2018). Using photons, single atoms, atomic ensembles and superconducting devices, this experiment was performed in five continents, and involved twelve laboratories, adopting human choices to close the FOCL. Nevertheless, the possibility of human freedom of choice has been a matter of philosophical debate for more than 2000 years, and there is no consensus among philosophers on this topic. If human choice is not free, this solution would not be sufficient to close FOCL. Therefore, in order to support the basic assumption of this experiment, it is necessary to argue that human choice is indeed free. In this paper, we present a Kantian position on this topic and defend the view that this philosophical position is the best way to ensure that Big Bell Test can in fact close the loophole. (shrink)

We study the groups Gal L and Gal KP, and the associated equivalence relations EL and EKP, attached to a first order theory T. An example is given where EL≠ EKP. It is proved that EKP is the composition of EL and the closure of EL. Other examples are given showing this is best possible.

The most interesting biological molecules are long polymers. In analogy with human alphabetic languages, they can be called texts and analysed, as to the primary structure, as sequences of letters or of words . It is considered that the study of words, in a linguistic approach, may contribute positively to the understanding of molecular interactions . The molecular and human languages and dialects are contrasted. The molecular one is peculiarly distinct from the human, for instance, by its use of a (...) tridimensional morphology, temporal dynamics, absence of spacings and punctuation, and overlapping messages. A mathematical method is presented, for discovering words in texts. The word AAA was studied in the evolution of the 5S ribosomal RNA. It was shown that this word is more frequent in less complex organisms and less frequent in the more complex ones, in the fungi, plants, and vertebrates lineages. In the two latter ones, the degree of genie variability was also reduced. To the contrary, a moderate degree of usage of this word persisted in the whole invertebrates lineage, where a high degree of genie variability was maintained. In mitochondria, plastids and mycoplasmas, the frequency of the word AAA was increased, consistently with their need for interactions with a wider range of variation. These behaviors indicate that the monotonous AAA word allows for ambiguity in interactions. With the evolution of organic complexity and of greater molecular specificity, ambiguous words were progressively avoided.As moléculas biológicas mais interessantes são longos polímeros. Em analogia com a linguagem humana alfabética, estes podem ser chamados de textos, e analisados, quanto à estrutura primária, como sequência de letras ou de palavras . Considera-se que o estudo das palavras, em abordagem de tipo lingüístico, possa contribuir para o entendimento das interações moleculares. As linguagens e dialetos, moleculares e humanos, são contrastados. A linguagem molecular se distingue peculiarmente da humana, por exemplo, por utilizar forma tridimensional, dinâmica temporal, ausência de espaçamento e pontuação, e sobreposição de significados. Apresenta-se um método matemático para descoberta, de palavras em textos. A palavra AAA foi estudada na evolução do RNA ribossômico 5S. Observou-se que esta palavra é mais freqüente em organismos menos complexos e menos freqüente nos mais complexos, das linhagens de fungos, plantas e vertebrados. Nas duas últimas, reduziu-se também o grau de variabilidade gênica. Pelo contrário, grau moderado de freqüência da palavra persistiu em toda a linhagem dos invertebrados, com manutenção paralela de alto nível de variabilidade gênica. Nas mitocôndrias, plastídeos e micoplasmas, a freqüência da palavra AAA foi aumentada, de acordo com sua necessidade de interações com maior amplitude de variação. Esses comportamentos indicam que a palavra monótona AAA permite ambigüidade de interações. Com a evolução da complexidade orgânica e da maior especificidade molecular, as palavras ambíguas foram progressivamente evitadas. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present article is to provide a comparative introduction to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism by exploring her most significant intellectual interactions with some of the leading figures of the libertarian movement. While revolving around Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Robert Nozick, it nevertheless pays attention to Rand’s and Objectivism’s relationship, affinities, and differences with additional authors belonging to this tradition.

Este artículo presenta primero las objeciones que John Crosby y Josef Seifert han opuesto a la noción boeciana de persona. Responde después a dichas objeciones mediante (a) una crítica a la metafísica que esas objeciones presuponen, (b) un mostrar cómo se puede atender a las principales preocupaciones de los fenomenólogos sin abandonar la noción boeciana, (c) un señalar algunos problemas teológicos que podría suscitar la metafísica fenomenológica y que, sin duda, esos dos autores desearían evitar.

Dans la Biblioteca de Mujeres – une collection de brèves biographies de femmes éminentes, éditée grâce à l’aide de l’Institut de la Femme et dirigée par Cristina Segura Graiño –, a été publiée en 2004 une étude consacrée à Isabelle la Catholique, l’auteure, Maria Isabel del Val Valdivieso, comptant parmi les plus grandes spécialistes de ce personnage. Isabelle la Catholique, considérée depuis des siècles comme le symbole des origines de l’Espagne moderne, du catholicisme le plus intransigeant...

Theories of the genetics underlying punctuated equilibrium (PE) have been vague to date. Here the developmental gene hypothesis is proposed, which states that: 1) developmental regulatory (DevReg) genes are responsible for the orchestration of metazoan morphogenesis and their extreme conservation and mutation intolerance generates the equilibrium or stasis present throughout much of the fossil record and 2) the accumulation of regulatory elements and recombination within these same genes—often derived from transposable elements—drives punctuated bursts of morphological divergence and speciation across metazoa. (...) This two‐part hypothesis helps to explain the features that characterize PE, providing a theoretical genetic basis for the once‐controversial theory. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/C-fu-ks5yDs. (shrink)

Reseña de / Review of: New Vico Studies, 11, 1993.

Explora-se o conceito de que a diversidade propicia robutez nos sistemas processadores de informação e como seria aplicável às areas neurais e sociais, incluindo o fenômeno religioso. Avaliação de estatísticas populacionais indica que o último não é essencial ao humano, apesar de ser praticamente constante nas culturas. Discutem-se os aspectos cognitivos e afetivos na ciência e na religião, sob a proposta de que demarcação adequada pode auxiliar na redução de conflitos. Nesse mesmo sentido pode contribuir a elaboração sobre as tensões (...) entre verdades – determinismos – e liberdades, que decorreriam do uso dos conceitos de crenças fortes e fracas, ou seja, entre crenças e hipóteses que parecem promissoras – merecedoras de créditos de confiança. Indica-se a possibilidade de se considerar um sistema de culturas distintas e diversas, apesar das tendências globalizadoras que podem incidir sobre os aspectos mais materiais. Palavras-chave : Estabilidade; Sistema; Evolução; Biologia; Sociedade; Cognição; Afetividade; Essência; Transcendência; Hipótese; Verdade.The concept that diversity propitiates robustness in information processing systems is explored and indicated to be applicable in the neural and social areas, including the religious phenomenon. Evaluation of statistics in populations indicates that the latter is not essential to the human, in spite of being a constant among cultures. Cognitive and affective aspects in science and religion are discussed under the proposition that adequate demarcation may help in reducing conflicts. Elaboration on the tensions between truths – deterministic – and freedom may contribute in the same direction. Tensions may arise from the utilization of the concepts of strong and weak concepts of belief, that is, between beliefs and seemingly fruitful hypotheses – deserving credits of trustfulness. The possibility of considering a system of distinct and diverse cultures is indicated, in spite of the globalizing tendencies that may prevail over other more material aspects. Key words : Stability; System; Evolution; Biology; Society; Cognition; Affection; Essence; Transcendence; Hypothesis; Truth. (shrink)

O presente texto versa sobre as utilizações políticas que a conversão dos grupos indígenas suscitou na fronteira amazônica. A fronteira a que aludimos aqui diz respeito aos rios Marañon, Solimões e Negro, onde os limites das colônias europeias se encontravam. Se por um lado havia o caráter espiritual, em reduzir os indígenas a fé católica, por outro, as conversões foram amplamente utilizadas pelos estados ibéricos para garantir sua zona de influência, além de garantir a supremacia econômica no vale amazônico. E (...) além dos ibéricos, a conversão foi uma política na qual os indígenas se aproveitaram para tirar vantagens da condição de “vassalo do rei”, que o fato de se tornar católico expressava. Desse modo, o presente trabalho dialoga com os estudos de fronteira, sobretudo, com a noção de Missão como instituição de fronteira, além do Protagonismo Indígena, em demonstrar a perspectiva dos grupos nativos, frente ao processo de conversão. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article reviews the book Ayn Rand e il fascismo eterno. Una narrazione distopica, by Diana Thermes. This is the first Italian book specifically devoted to Rand’s thought and novels. Thermes has conducted her study in a remarkably original way, profusely interrelating Rand’s fiction works with the long-standing tradition of dystopian literature and her analysis of collectivism with the most significant contributions on the nature and causes of totalitarianism, as well as illustrating the relevance of Rand’s ideas in the (...) face of present-day challenges. (shrink)

We characterize omissibility of a type, or a family of types, in a countable theory in terms of non-existence of a certain tree of formulas. We extend results of L. Newelski on omitting $ non-isolated types. As a consequence we prove that omissibility of a family of $ types is equivalent to omissibility of each countable subfamily.

Research into artificial intelligence has increased significantly in recent years. However, the fundamental question of what intelligence is and how it works remains open to some extent. Traditional definitions of intelligence are broad and lack clarity regarding its nature and mechanisms. The nature of consciousness is another matter that has been widely explored with multiple theories but for which we do not have a final agreed theory, especially in terms of its relation to intelligence. In this work, we present a (...) preliminary theory of the nature of intelligence and its working mechanisms. We contrast it against observations to show that our theory is consistent with observed reality. We also use our theory of intelligence to offer a theory on the nature of consciousness, as well as its relation to human understanding and intent. We then show that our theories can be consistent with the theory of evolution. Similarly, we explore examples of how our theory applies to specific cases to show its consistency across applications. Lastly, we outline how our theory can pave the way towards artificial general intelligence. Our theory is unproven. (shrink)

This paper presents an example of a supersimple nonlow theory and characterizes its independence relation.

O artigo tem o propósito de problematizar a designação de “realismo fantástico” geralmenteatribuída ao estilo literário de Franz Kafka. Isto se faz de modo a questionar a presença docomponente fantástico na própria realidade, interrogando pelos pressupostos fundamentais em jogona composição de realidade e fantasia. O presente problema, e outros que dele derivam, pretendeser respondido não apenas diante da consideração dos escritos do autor tcheco, especialmente noconto A Metamorfose, mas na interface da filosofia de Martin Heidegger. O filósofo alemão nosoferece, em (...) sua obra Ser e tempo, elementos para darmos os seguintes passos: delimitar o lugar dohomem a partir da constituição singular do espaço de transcendência que o mundo é; considerar asexperiências de singularidade e aversão em face da noção de poder-ser; abordar as assim chamadas“metamorfoses do corpo” e como tais transformações físicas do personagem impõem-lheconcomitantemente uma mudança do seu próprio modo de ser. (shrink)

We obtain a chain condition for dividing in an arbitrary theory and a new and shorter proof of a chain condition result of Shelah for simple theories.

El artículo contiene una exposición general del De Motu Animalium que se ordena a mostrar que no puede usarse esta obra como fundamento de la la opinión según la cual el silogismo práctico culmina en una acción y no en un juicio. Se refuta, además, la tesis contraria, del modo como la defienden diversos autores, tales como Martha Nussbaum, Elizabeth Anscombe y Alejandro Vigo. This paper contains a general exposition of De Motu Animalium , particularly chapters 6-11. The goal is (...) to prove that this Aristotelian work cannot be used to ground the opinion according to which practical syllogism concludes in an action and not in a judgment. The contrary thesis, as it is held by several authors such as Elizabeth Anscombe, Martha Nussbaum, and Alejandro Vigo, is refuted. (shrink)

Este artículo constituye una investigación sobre el estatuto ontológico de las categorías. Examina cuatro tesis: que las categorías son lingüísticas, que son meramente lógicas, que son reales todas y que algunas son reales y otras lógicas con fundamento en la realidad. Prueba que la cuarta tesis es la correcta y muestra algunos de sus presupuestos más importantes, desarrollos e implicaciones.

This paper first expounds the Aristotelian conception of universals. Afterwards, it determines (a) that in the metaphysics of the Stagirite there is place for divine Ideas as archetypes, and (b) which are the relations that exist between things and Ideas. It concludes, in the light of the above, with a reconsideration of the Aristotelian critique of Plato’s theory of anamnesis.

El autor fantasea una lectura de la ciencia nueva como gaya ciencia imaginando que su metaforología casi común responde al problema del nihilismo: introducir sentido en un mundo caracterizado por la ausencia de Dios.

Trata sobre los presupuestos metafísicos de aceptar la Biblia como Palabra de Dios. En particular, trata sobre la posibilidad de las intervenciones divinas, de los milagros y profecías. Responde al argumento de Hobbes por el determinismo, al principio de la clausura causal del mundo, a la crítica de Hume a la posibilidad de probar un milagro y a la negación de las profecías. This paper deals with the metaphysical presuppositions which underlie the acceptance of the Bible as the Word of (...) God. In particular, it deals with the possibility of divine interventions, miracles and prophecies. It answers to the Hobbesian argument for determinism, to the principle of the causal closure of the world, to Hume’s criticism of the possibility to prove miracles and to the negation of prophecies. (shrink)

The politics of nativism directed at Catholic immigrants in 19th-century America offer a fruitful comparative perspective through which to analyze the discourse and the politics of Islam in contemporary Europe. Anti-Catholic nativism constituted a peculiar North American version of the larger and more generalized phenomenon of anti-immigrant populist xenophobic politics which one finds in many countries and in different historical contexts. What is usually designated as Islamo-phobia in contemporary Europe, however, manifests striking resemblances with the original phenomenon of American nativism (...) that emerged in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. In both cases one finds the fusion of anti-immigrant xenophobic attitudes, perennial inter-religious prejudices, and an ideological construct setting a particular religious-civilizational complex in essential opposition to Western modernity. Although an anti-Muslim discourse emerged also in the United States after 11 September, it had primarily a geo-political dimension connected with the ‘war on terror’ and with American global imperial policies. But it lacked the domestic anti-immigrant populist as well as the modern secularist anti-Muslim dimensions. This explains why xenophobic anti-Muslim nativism has been much weaker in the United States than in Europe. (shrink)

If Zarathustra were to descend once again from the mountain, what would he make of the recent religious revival? Would he admit that he had been wrong, that “Deus absconditus” has now reappeared? Does this revival mean that the Enlightenment theory of religion was wrong? In view of the significance of religion, it is necessary to reassess that Enlightenment theory of religion and to inquire into the possible role jf religion in a reconstructed project of modernity. Yet, to overestimate the (...) importance of religion in the modern world can result in two extreme and equally unsatisfactory consequences. An unreconstructed secularism, assuming that the criticism of religion is not yet complete, would postulate again the criticism of religion as the premise and the primary task of critique. (shrink)

Ernst Bloch formulated problems of enormous philosophical and human relevance. He held that in our contemporary situation we have but two questions concerning the fundamental direction of our lives and history: we must choose, first, between hopeless nihilism and transcendent hope; and, second, between transcendent hope with transcendence and transcendent hope without transcendence. Bloch opted for the transcendent hope without transcendence and formulated a hard critique of hope with transcendence. Josef Pieper and Bernard Schumacher have offered a competent response to (...) Bloch from the Catholic perspective. However, we offer here a little explored aspect of the problem by demonstrating that Bloch’s metaphysical arguments do not consider that (a) a material reality necessarily has the concrete potentiality of dissolving, and (b) therefore, left to itself, it will dissolve necessarily in infinite time; and that (c) no effect can have a reality disproportionate to its cause, which is the reason why (d) no immortal reality can proceed from mortal reality without the intervention of a higher cause. (shrink)

Current research on construction of the female body focuses on non-Hispanic women in the United States. The idealized Latina body, however, is rapidly becoming commodified and objectified in global popular culture. Using standardized and open-ended surveys and group and individual interviews, the author examines the negotiation of sociocultural ideals and body image by adolescents at the intersection of gender, race, and beauty. These young women hold racist beauty ideals but are flexible when judging the appearance of real-life women. They perceive (...) two competing or complementary prototypes of beauty, one white and one Latina. This study fills a gap in the literature on beauty and the body by examining a non-U.S. sample that does not fit into the usual Black-white dichotomy of race. (shrink)

We study the degree of elimination of imaginaries needed for the three main applications: to have canonical bases for types over models, to define strong types as types over algebraically closed sets and to have a Galois correspondence between definably closed sets B such that A ⊆ B ⊆ acl and closed subgroups of the Galois group Aut/A). We also characterize when the topology of the Galois group is the quotient topology.