Over the past four decades, the question of the relationship between divine omniscience and human freedom has led analytic philosophy of religion to analyze medieval thought on foreknowledge. To avoid fatalism, many of them have been inspired by Luis de Molina’s doctrine of middle knowledge. Created to provide a libertarian account of how God knows future contingents, the Molinist solution has divided contemporary interpreters into two camps: those who argue that Molinism implies determinism and those who have developed new analytical (...) strategies to support Molina’s thesis. This study provides a map for moving through the debate. (shrink)

I present an argument proving that there are no fundamental facts, which is similar to an argument recently presented by Mark Jago for truthmaker maximalism. I suggest that this argument gives us at least some prima facie, defeasible reason to believe that there are no fundamental facts.

Giovanni Merlo has argued that a currently popular way to interpret Kit Fine's fragmentalism about tensed facts (which he calls ‘unstructured fragmentalism’) is threatened by the problem of ‘tensed belief explosion’. I argue that such an explosion of belief poses no problem to unstructured fragmentalists.

In the literature on mereology it is often accepted that mereological universalism entails extensionalism. More precisely, many accept that, if parthood is assumed to be a partial order, the thesis that every plurality of entities has a mereological fusion entails the thesis that different composite entities have different proper parts. Central to this idea is the principle known as ‘Weak Supplementation’ which many take to impose an important constraint on the relation of proper parthood. In this paper I argue that (...) this claim is false as the principle that I will call ‘Minimal Supplementation’ appears to be capable of doing all the work done by Weak Supplementation but without entailing extensionalism if conjoined with universalism and core mereology. (shrink)

Joseph Keim Campbell has recently criticized Peter van Inwagen's Third Argument against compatibilism for its reliance on the existence of a remote past. In response, Anthony Brueckner has offered a new version of the Third Argument showing that determinism and free will are incompatible for all times t relative to which there is a past . In this paper I argue that although Brueckner's retooled argument fails to prove anything in favour of incompatibilism, its conclusion can be exploited to provide (...) another version of van Inwagen's original argument that doesn't rely on the existence of past times, thus withstanding Campbell's criticism. (shrink)

We introduce the notion of quantum MV algebra (QMV algebra) as a generalization of MV algebras and we show that the class of all effects of any Hilbert space gives rise to an example of such a structure. We investigate some properties of QMV algebras and we prove that QMV algebras represent non-idempotent extensions of orthomodular lattices.

and in Sect. 5 should be reformulated as follows.

Constellations, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 359-374, September 2022.

(No abstract is available for this citation).

In this paper, we use a ‘normality operator’ in order to generate logics of formal inconsistency and logics of formal undeterminedness from any subclassical many-valued logic that enjoys a truth-functional semantics. Normality operators express, in any many-valued logic, that a given formula has a classical truth value. In the first part of the paper we provide some setup and focus on many-valued logics that satisfy some of the three properties, namely subclassicality and two properties that we call fixed-point negation property (...) and conservativeness. In the second part of the paper, we introduce normality operators and explore their formal behaviour. In the third and final part of the paper, we establish a number of classical recapture results for systems of formal inconsistency and formal undeterminedness that satisfy some or all the properties above. These are the main formal results of the paper. Also, we illustrate concrete cases of recapture by discussing the logics $\mathsf{K}^{\circledast }_{3}$, $\mathsf{LP}^{\circledast }$, $\mathsf{K}^{w\circledast }_{3}$, $\mathsf{PWK}^{\circledast }$ and $\mathsf{E_{fde}}^{\circledast }$, that are in turn extensions of $\mathsf{{K}_{3}}$, $\mathsf{LP}$, $\mathsf{K}^{w}_{3}$, $\mathsf{PWK}$ and $\mathsf{E_{fde}}$, respectively. (shrink)

El debate de la reciente filosofía de la imagen está estructurado en la oposición entre enfoques semióticos y perceptualistas. Entre estos últimos, los especialistas suelen incluir a la fenomenología. Ahora bien, ¿es correcto caracterizar a la fenomenología como una posición perceptualista acerca de la imagen? Defenderé la tesis de que la fenomenología representa un perceptualismo indirecto o débil. Con todo, el lugar que pueda ocupar la fenomenología en el debate no se restringe a su cercanía con el perceptualismo. Intentaré mostrar (...) que la fenomenología plantea temáticas puntuales, tales como la relación entre sentido y presencia, las cuales puede conducir hacia un análisis crítico de los supuestos en los que se apoya el encuadre actual de la discusión. The debate of the recent philosophy of the image is organized in the opposition between semiotic and perceptualistic approaches. Scholars often include the phenomenology into the perceptualistic view. Yet, ¿is it right to characterize the phenomenology as a kind of perceptualism about the image? The first goal of the paper is to demonstrate that phenomenology represents an indirect or weak perceptualism. Anyway, the place of the phenomenology in the debate does not consist only in being a kind of perceptualism. The second goal of the paper is to show that phenomenology raises certain questions, like the relationship between sense and presence, which can lead us to criticize the assumptions the current articulation of the debate is based on. (shrink)

Ce travail expose et discute la réception de Hans Jonas effectuée au sein de la « science de l’image » (Bildwissenschaft). On présente, en premier lieu, le débat actuel sur l’image dans le cadre de cette Bildwissenschaft. En second lieu, on expose les principaux moments de la réception de Jonas dans ledit contexte et on analyse les positions fondamentales de Jonas à propos de l’image et de l’imagination. Enfin, on évalue les avancées et les limites de la réception de Jonas (...) et on prend en considération quelques positions jonassiennes qui peuvent représenter un apport au débat actuel sur l’image. (shrink)

Nonhuman animals are the most prominent alterity with which humans have engaged in interaction and in comparative self-definition. The reference point of nonhuman alterity is central both to the development of humanism and of posthumanism. In the complex and nonlinear interfaces with nonhumans, humans are extensively hybridized in a process that defines their very humanity. Understanding humans as open and interactive animals rather than as closed and autarchic entities is indispensable to the dismantling of humanism and the development of posthuman (...) thought. Nonhuman and human animals host and are hosted by one another in dynamic and emergent relations. (shrink)

The objective of the research is focused on the study of the evolution of sexism as a cultural parameter in the Roma population whose people maintain recognition as an ethnic minority in Europe. The design selected for this study is descriptive. This study involves testing the reliability of the reduced version of the ambivalent sexism inventory (ASI; Glick and Fiske, 1996) scale among a representative group of the Roma population belonging to the city of Toledo. A representative sample of 44 (...) people aged between 16 and 40 years was selected, with an average of 27.3. The results confirm the reliability of the scale and provide little differentiation and sex-disaggregated results. The responses on the items show a high degree of sexism among the participants. The obtained results give a better understanding of the scope of gender roles and, therefore, can help us to reorient interventions in the prevention of gender inequalities or early school dropouts among Roma girls. (shrink)

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence, such as large language models and text-to-image models, has had a profound impact on society. The ability of these systems to simulate human capabilities such as text writing and image creation is radically redefining a wide range of practices, from artistic production to education. While there is no doubt that these innovations are beneficial to our lives, the pervasiveness of these technologies should not be underestimated, and raising increasingly pressing ethical questions that require a (...) radical resemantization of certain notions traditionally ascribed to humans alone. Among these notions, that of technological intentionality plays a central role. With regard to this notion, this paper first aims to highlight what we propose to define in terms of the intentionality gap, whereby, insofar as, currently, (1) it is increasingly difficult to assign responsibility for the actions performed by AI systems to humans, as these systems are increasingly autonomous, and (2) it is increasingly complex to reconstruct the reasoning behind the results they produce as we move away from good old fashioned AI; it is now even more difficult to trace the intentionality of AI systems back to the intentions of the developers and end users. This gap between human and technological intentionality requires a revision of the concept of intentionality; to this end, we propose here to assign preter-intentional behavior to generative AI. We use this term to highlight how AI intentionality both incorporates and transcends human intentionality; i.e., it goes beyond (preter) human intentionality while being linked to it. To show the merits of this notion, we first rule out the possibility that such preter-intentionality is merely an unintended consequence and then explore its nature by comparing it with some paradigmatic notions of technological intentionality present in the wider debate on the moral (and technological) status of AI. (shrink)

This paper makes first steps toward a systematic investigation of how pertinence to topic contributes to determine deductively valid reasoning along with preservation of designated values. I start from the interpretation of Weak Kleene Logic WKL as a reasoning tool that preserves truth and topic pertinence, which is offered by Jc Beall. I keep Beall’s motivations and I argue that WKL cannot meet them in a satisfying way. In light of this, I propose an informal definition of a topic-sensitive logic (...) and I proceed to turn it into a formal one by deploying the topic-algebraic framework from the Topic-Sensitive Intentional Modalities project by Francesco Berto. I apply the framework in order to define semantically a ‘classical topic-sensitive logic’ CTSL that meets Beall’s motivations and proves topic-sensitive. Then, I prove results that connect CTSL and any possible topic-sensitive logic to the tradition of containment logics and provide a unification tool for a wide range of recent proposals in philosophical logic. A topic-theoretical interpretation of WKL is then offered without prejudice to the fact that the logic is not topic-sensitive. Finally, the paper discusses some conceptual issues and research perspectives. (shrink)

The early examples of self-directing robots attracted the interest of both scientific and military communities. Biologists regarded these devices as material models of animal tropisms. Engineers envisaged the possibility of turning self-directing robots into new “intelligent” torpedoes during World War I. Starting from World War II, more extensive interactions developed between theoretical inquiry and applied military research on the subject of adaptive and intelligent machinery. Pioneers of Cybernetics were involved in the development of goal-seeking warfare devices. But collaboration occasionally turned (...) into open dissent. Founder of Cybernetics Norbert Wiener, in the aftermath of World War II, argued against military applications of learning machines, by drawing on epistemological appraisals of machine learning techniques. This connection between philosophy of science and techno-ethics is both strengthened and extended here. It is strengthened by an epistemological analysis of contemporary machine learning from examples; it is extended by a reflection on ceteris paribus conditions for models of adaptive behaviours. (shrink)

Most discussions of Rawls’s philosophy tend to neglect the strong communitarian strand of his theory: so much so that in the debate between liberals and communitarians Rawls’s account of community has been for the most part intriguingly absent. This article is an attempt to fill in the gap by offering a discussion of the Rawlsian understanding of community as it was presented in A Theory of Justice and its possible implications for a pluralist society. At the same time, I want (...) to take issue with one of the most influential critiques leveled against Rawls’s conception of the self: namely, Sandel’s critique of the ‘individuated subject’ that, in his view, underlies justice as fairness. Rawls’s constructions, so Sandel argues, rest on an unencumbered self that is individuated in advance and whose identity is fixed once and for all. (shrink)

In this paper I start from a definition of “culture of the artificial” which might be stated by referring to the background of philosophical, methodological, pragmatical assumptions which characterizes the development of the information processing analysis of mental processes and of some trends in contemporary cognitive science: in a word, the development of AI as a candidate science of mind. The aim of this paper is to show how (with which plausibility and limitations) the discovery of the mentioned background might (...) be dated back to a period preceding the cybernetic era, the decade 1930–1940 at least. Therefore a somewhat detailed analysis of Hull's “robot approach” is given, as well as of some of its independent and future developments. (shrink)

Hermodorus of Syracuse, a Sicilian disciple of Plato, is reported by Simplicius to have set out a classification of beings, which is of a piece with an argument for principle monism (in Ph. 247.30–248.18 > F 5 IP2; 256.28–257.4 = F 6 IP2). A similar classification appears in Sextus Empiricus’ Aduersus mathematicos X (262–75), where it is officially ascribed to some ‘Pythagoreans’ (Πυθαγορικοί) or ‘children of the Pythagoreans’ (Πυθαγορικῶν παῖδες), but seems ultimately based on Early Academic material. Virtually all commentators (...) have read these classifications conjointly. More radically, both have been taken to record Plato's oral teaching and to give essentially the same categorial scheme, which is regarded as the most developed instance of a so-called ‘Academic doctrine of the categories’. This article re-examines these texts and provides an alternative reading. Section 1 focusses on Hermodorus and defends three theses: (1) there was never such a thing as an ‘Academic doctrine of the categories’; (2) Hermodorus does not seem to recount what Plato said, but to propose an integrated interpretation and defence of aspects of his thought; (3) Hermodorus’ pronouncements about principles are incompatible with other testimonies on Plato's unwritten teaching, notably Aristotle's. Section 2 moves to Sextus and defends a fourth thesis: (4) despite their similarities, the classifications of Hermodorus and Sextus’ Pyrhagoreans are considerably different, though perhaps originated from the same debate. (shrink)

El presente esfuerzo se encuentra animado por la factura de un análisis comparativo entre Ernst Cassirer y Eduardo Nicol en torno al fenómeno de la expresión. Ambos autores tienen en común la preocupación precisamente por el tema de la expresión. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista de Cassirer, ésta posee dos notas sobresalientes, a saber, por un lado, la expresión queda constreñida al ámbito del lenguaje, y por otro, ésta posee diferentes estratos, por así decirlo, geológicos de evolución. Por (...) su parte en Eduardo Nicol, la expresión no es reductible al lenguaje, ni va a tener estratos geológicos, sino más bien va a poseer un matiz estrictamente ontológico, es decir, la expresión va a ser la manera como el hombre va intentar en todo momento paliar su insuficiencia ontológica. Nicol va esbozar una nueva imagen del conocimiento a partir precisamente de una metafísica de la expresión. (shrink)

In this work I reconstruct the physical and mental descriptions of perception in Aristotle. I propose to consider the thesis that αἴσθησις is a μεσότης (DA II 11) as a description of the physiological aspect of perception, meaning that perceiving is a physical act by which the sensory apparatus homeostatically counterbalances, and thence measures, the incoming affection produced by external perceptible objects. The proposal is based on a revision of the semantics of the word mesotês in Plato, Aristotle and later (...) Greek mathematicians (mostly Nicomachus of Gerasa). I show how this interpretation fits the text, and how it solves problems that afflict the rival interpretations. I further develop a ‘non-dephysiologizing’ spiritualist reading of the additional description of perception as reception of forms without the matter (DA II 12). I show that Aristotle uses the expression ‘forms without matter’ to describe actually abstracted items in one’s mind rather than the way in which the form are received. In opposition to forms-in-matter, such items are causally powerless and metaphysically sterile: an F-without-matter somewhat determines the subject it is in (one’s mind content F) without qualifying or identifying it as an F-subject. Thus, we have a second ‘mental’ description of perception. Further parts of the thesis are devoted to settle interpretive questions raised by controversial statements about perception found in De Anima II 5 and III 2, and to discuss the question of how the mental and physiological descriptions of perception Aristotle offers are related. My conclusion is that Aristotle’s views combines a form of quasi-dualist vitalism about powers (the faculty of perception, and more generally the soul, are not just irreducible to matter, but also primitive and non-supervenient) which is nonetheless compatible with hylomorphism, and a form of epiphenomenalism (and thence the ‘bottom-up’ determination typical of modern supervenience) with regard to perceptual events (i.e., the activity of perceiving). (shrink)

El presente trabajo intenta mostrar la importancia del Esquematismo Trascendental Kantiano para el programa de “Ser y Tiempo”. El hilo conductor de la argumentación es el siguiente: La pregunta por el sentido del ser interroga por el ser en su darse en cuanto sentido. El tiempo, como sentido del ser, es la dinámica unitaria de la formación de sentido (Sinnbildung). El artículo explica de qué modo Heidegger encuentra en la teoría kantiana acerca de los esquemas trascendentales y de la imaginación (...) trascendental elementos decisivos para elaborar la función ontológica del tiempo como formación y configuración de sentido. (shrink)

Although the few references to the term, Nietzsche's notion of perspectivism is an important assumption of his philosophical reflection. It is a notion, as it will be tried to demonstrate, significant for the understanding of many theoretical positions of the author concerning science and knowledge and decisively for the interpretation of both notions as interpretative perspectives The following argument aims to analyze the influences and assumptions of this notion, highlighting its Kantian (Neokantian), Schopenhaurian background, but also considering influences outside of (...) philosophy, such as Ruggero Boscovich's theoretical physics, which plays a decisive role in the formulation of the notions of perspectivism and perspectivist interpretation in Nietzsche's philosophy. (shrink)

Heidegger's philosophy between Being and Time and «The Origin of the Work of Art» shows a twofold consideration of production. On the one hand, Heidegger criticizes the ontological tradition for its orientation to the produced-being . On the other hand, he develops his own ontological conception of production. This paper focuses on the analysis of the latter consideration by showing its motivations, characteristics and scope. The main thesis is that the transition from Heideggerian Schematism to Heidegger's reflections on art is (...) a transition from a visual to a plastic conception of the production of pictures. (shrink)

Taxonomy of philosophical theories of Sound: proximal theories; medial theories; distal theories. A distal theory: The Located Event Theory (LET) of sound. Understanding sound and the cognition of sounding objects; ontology of sound according to the LET; epistemology of the perception of sound and sounding objects; auditory images according to the LET; conceptual revisions entailed by distal theories and the LET; replies to objections.

Welfare capitalism is going through a deep crisis, and alternative models to welfare state capitalism such as liberal socialism and property-owning democracy are once again becoming prominent in public debates. The aim in this article is to compare the merits and the limits of liberal socialism and of property-owning democracy through the specific case of the distribution of educational capital, by comparing two educational systems: the Pay It Forward (PIF) system and the Tax-subsidy scheme (TS) system. Based on the analysis (...) of these two educational systems, we provide three arguments in favor of liberal socialist institutions in general and the PIF educational system in particular: (1) the individual common assets argument, (2) the principle of reciprocity argument, and (3) the predistribution argument. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is twofold: to consider in detail the objections against the existentialist view of the content of visual experience and to develop and defend a version of it that avoids these objections, solving, specifically, the so-called "particularity problem." The main thesis is that the existential content of visual experience must be understood as relativized, incomplete content (rather than a classical, complete proposition), modeled as a function of the sextuple of object, agent, time, location, causal relation, and (...) world to truth-values. (shrink)

In textbook illustrations of migrating cells, actomyosin contractility is typically depicted as the contraction force necessary for cell body retraction. This dogma has been transformed by the molecular clutch model, which acknowledges that actomyosin traction forces also generate and transmit biomechanical signals at the leading edge, enabling cells to sense and shape their migratory path in mechanically complex environments. To fulfill these complementary functions, the actomyosin system assembles a gradient of contractile energy along the front‐rear axis of migratory cells. Here, (...) we highlight the hierarchic assembly and self‐regulatory network structure of the actomyosin system and explain how the kinetics of different nonmuscle myosin II (NM II) paralogs synergize during contractile force generation. Our aim is to emphasize how protrusion formation, cell adhesion, contraction, and retraction are spatiotemporally integrated during different modes of migration, including chemotaxis and durotaxis. Finally, we hypothesize how different NM II paralogs might tune aspects of migration in vivo, highlighting future research directions. (shrink)

In the first chapter of the Origin of species and in two chapters of the Variation of animals and plants under domestication, Darwin discusses the origin of domestic pigeons, claiming that all the known breeds were produced from a single species: Columba livia, the rock pigeon. The detailed defense of this point is of high relevance in Darwin’s argumentation strategy, since the differences between the several domestic breeds is so large that, if they were found in the wild, they could (...) be classified as different species or genera. If man was able to produce such large differences, it becomes plausible that nature can produce even larger differences, and therefore the process of natural selection becomes acceptable. Darwin emphasizes the enormous differences between the several domestic breeds (that may have dissimilar cranial structures and a varying number of vertebrae), and at the same time he attempts to show that there are connections and transitions between the extreme types, arguing for their common origin. One of the several interesting parts of his argument is an experiment of crossing between widely different breeds, which led him to obtain pigeons similar to the wild species. The detailed analysis of Darwin’s study of pigeons shows the extreme care he took in his attempt to provide strong arguments for his theory. RESUMO: No primeiro capítulo do Origin of species, e em dois capítulos do Variation of animals and plants under domestication, Darwin discute a origem dos pombos domésticos, defendendo que todas as raças conhecidas provêm de uma única espécie: Columba livia, o pombo de rocha. A defesa detalhada desse ponto é de grande importância na estratégia argumentativa de Darwin, pois as diferenças entre as várias raças de pombos são tão grandes que, se fossem encontradas em estado selvagem, poderiam ser classificadas como espécies ou gêneros diferentes. Se o homem foi capaz de produzir mudanças tão grandes como essas, torna-se plausível que a natureza possa produzir diferenças ainda maiores, e assim o processo de seleção natural se torna aceitável. Darwin enfatiza as grandes diferenças entre as raças de pombos (que chegam a possuir, por exemplo, diferentes estruturas cranianas e diferentes números de vértebras), e ao mesmo tempo procura mostrar a existência de nuances e transições entre os tipos extremos, para defender a origem comum. Um dos aspectos interessantes de sua argumentação é um experimento de cruzamento entre raças bem diferentes, através da qual obtém pombos semelhantes à espécie selvagem. A análise detalhada desse estudo de Darwin mostra o extremo cuidado que ele tomava para tentar proporcionar fortes argumentos a favor de sua teoria. (shrink)

The idea that what we perceive are tropes is anything but new. In fact, it was one of the reasons why the ontology of tropes was postulated in the first place. Still, the claim that we perceive tropes is invariably and purely based on pre-philosophical intuitions or, indirectly, either as a supporting argument for the advantages of content view when compared to the relational view of experience, or as a supporting argument in favor of the irreducible subjective character of experience. (...) In this paper, I take the content view for granted and argue in favor of what is herein referred to as the trope-content view of experience. My defense is a case of inference to the best explanation. The trope-content view can meet all reasonable desiderata on the experience and its content without assuming gaps or making the ad hoc assumption that there are different layers of content, or so shall I argue. (shrink)

Bataille and Blanchot figure among the authors who influenced Foucault the most. In this article we show how close Foucault was to these authors and to what extent his proximity to them permitted him to deviate from the prevailing university culture, i.e from those great philosophical machines called Hegelianism and phenomenology. The questions we pose are the following: How important were these experiences for Foucault? How did he receive them? How did he transform their theoretical stakes? In the first part (...) of this article we argue that the encounter with Bataille’s work and Blanchot’s was for Foucault a kind of experience of the self. In Bataille and Blanchot, experience has the function of wrenching the subject from itself: it is a project of desubjectivation and of destruction of the notion of the foundational subject and system in philosophy. The second part focuses on the contemporary experience of the death of God. According to Foucault, such an experience discloses the limitless reign of the Limit. We show how the work of Bataille, his discovery of the categories of irreversible expenditure, death, sacrifice, excess, limit, negativity pushes the system beyond its limit. In the third part we take into account the literary experience of Blanchot. According to Foucault, Blanchot’s work focuses on the disappearance of the subject: the being of language emerges in the exclusion of the subject. How is it possible to have a language stripped of dialectics? (shrink)

A selection of papers presented at the III South Cone Meeting of Philosophy and History of Science. Papers are in Portuguese and Spanish.