The A to Z of Epistemology provides an overview of this field of study and of the theories, concepts, and personalities through the use of a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and more than 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries, covering notable concepts, theories, arguments, publications, issues, and philosophers. Students and others who wish to acquaint themselves with epistemology will be greatly aided by this reference.

The Historical Dictionary of Epistemology provides an overview of this field of study and of the theories, concepts, and personalities through the use of a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and more than 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries, covering notable concepts, theories, arguments, publications, issues, and philosophers. Students and others who wish to acquaint themselves with epistemology will be greatly aided by this reference.

A case is presented in which the therapeutic interests of the patient conflict with the safety of a community, and in which the surrogate decision maker has very limited knowledge of or concern for the patient’s preferences. The substituted judgment and best interest (or rational patient) standards for surrogate decision making are problematic in this case. It is argued that the interests of even those outside the family ought to be taken seriously when making decisions about such cases, and it (...) is proposed that clinical ethics committees could play a new role here. This case also illustrates the difficulties of making decisions regarding the treatment of a very unlikable patient. (shrink)

In this article i defend the claim that an individual is no more and no less than a bundle of instances of properties against the following objections: (1) the concept of an instance of a property presupposes the concept of an individual. i argue that it presupposes only that no instance of a property exists independently of other instances. (2) if a thing were only a bundle of instances of properties, then properties would qualify properties. this objection commits the fallacy (...) of composition. (3) a bundle constituting an individual needs a component which is not a property to individuate it. i argue that such a bundle individuates itself. (4) the bundle theory makes change impossible. i argue against this claim by distinguishing a thing's numerical identity from its "complete" identity. (5) the bundle theory makes all true statements about individuals analytically true. i show that, at least for one interpretation of 'analytically true', this is not so. (shrink)

Introduction HLA Hart: A biographical sketch Jurisprudence is the theoretical study of a practical subject. Its object is to achieve a systematic and ...

Strange as it may seem, the traditional principle of causality is based on two contradictory assumptions, both of which are generally accepted, explicitly or implicitly, by the contemporary physicists as well as philosophers. That they are not always willing to acknowledge this paradoxical fact, does not save them from the perplexing situation. The two assumptions, in brief, are: That nothing can act at a distance or across an interval of time, without something mediating between the bodies or events; and That (...) every cause precedes its effect and may be located at a distance from it. (shrink)

Some 20 years ago Todd and colleagues proposed that rhythm perception is mediated by the conjunction of a sensory representation of the auditory input and a motor representation of the body (Todd, 1994a, 1995 ), and that a sense of motion from sound is mediated by the vestibular system (Todd, 1992a, 1993b ). These ideas were developed into a sensory-motor theory of rhythm and beat induction (Todd et al., 1999 ). A neurological substrate was proposed which might form the biological (...) basis of the theory (Todd et al., 2002 ). The theory was implemented as a computational model and a number of experiments conducted to test it. In the following time there have been several key developments. One is the demonstration that the vestibular system is primal to rhythm perception, and in related work several experiments have provided further evidence that rhythm perception is body dependent. Another is independent advances in imaging, which have revealed the brain areas associated with both vestibular processing and rhythm perception. A third is the finding that vestibular receptors contribute to auditory evoked potentials (Todd et al., 2014a, b ). These behavioral and neurobiological developments demand a theoretical overview which could provide a new synthesis over the domain of rhythm perception. In this paper we suggest four propositions as the basis for such a synthesis. (1) Rhythm perception is a form of vestibular perception; (2) Rhythm perception evokes both external and internal guidance of somatotopic representations; (3) A link from the limbic system to the internal guidance pathway mediates the “dance habit”; (4) The vestibular reward mechanism is innate. The new synthesis provides an explanation for a number of phenomena not often considered by rhythm researchers. We discuss these along with possible computational implementations and alternative models and propose a number of new directions for future research. (shrink)

Background Most studies on medical reasoning focus on contemporary allopathic practitioners. Here, the significance of diagnostic sense in Nizāmī ‘Arūzī’s Four Discourses (Chahār Maqāle), an influential text that circulated widely throughout the Islamic world, is explored. Methods After a brief introduction, key passages are translated on how doctors should cultivate analytical skills. Results Nizāmī ‘Arūzī cites three sources of diagnostic authority: (1) education in the texts of medical experts, (2) formal logic and (3) belief in the power of God. Conclusions (...) ‘Arūzī’s methods, though rooted in a religious faith that may seem foreign to contemporary doctors and educators, has much to recommend regarding its clarity of approach, its high ethical standards and expectations of doctors, and its commitment to best practices for the patient. Crosscultural studies of medical education and professionalism can offer valuable insights by demonstrating how doctors across history and geography have grappled with the common concerns of diagnosis and treatment. (shrink)

O presente estudo é uma proposta de aplicação do triângulo de Pascal às generalizações das possibilidades de valores de verdade das proposições elementares do Tractatus de Wittgenstein. O Objetivo da aplicação desta notação é facilitar a manipulação e a análise de uma grande quantidade de proposições elementares preservando o escopo de possibilidades de verdade, algo que a notação das tabelas de verdade de Wittgenstein não é capaz de satisfazer. Para realizar esta tarefa, executo os seguintes passos: introduzo a teoria da (...) figuração, apresento como o autor expressa as possibilidades de verdade das proposições, além de expor o método e a notação de generalização das possibilidades de verdade. Em seguida, defino e exemplifico o triângulo de Pascal como notação alternativa e, por fim, verifico a validade da notação do triângulo no contexto das definições de número, soma e produto aritmético do Tractatus, de modo a preservar a consistência da notação com o pensamento do filósofo. (shrink)

The salvation present in and through the person of Jesus is an organic motif of Luke's Gospel. It encompasses the offer of new life and the demand for disciplined living.

This book provides an overview of the entire discipline of world affairs in a way that makes immediate sense. It is also a critique of the limits that rationalism sets on how we know world affairs, showing how we might transcend these limits by augmenting rationalist research with non-rationalist techniques. It should appeal to anyone interested in why analysts so often seem to explain world affairs inaccurately and misunderstand what these affairs mean.