While it is known that Euclid’s five axioms include a proposition that a line consists at least of two points, modern geometry avoid consistently any discussion on the precise definition of point, line, etc. It is our aim to clarify one of notorious question in Euclidean geometry: how many points are there in a line segment? – from discrete-cellular space (DCS) viewpoint. In retrospect, it may offer an alternative of quantum gravity, i.e. by exploring discrete gravitational theories. To elucidate our (...) propositions, in the last section we will discuss some implications of discrete cellular-space model in several areas of interest: (a) cell biology, (b) cellular computing, (c) Maxwell equations, (d) low energy fusion, and (e) cosmology modelling. (shrink)

In "De anima" 3.5, Aristotle argues for the existence of a second intellect, the so-called "Agent Intellect." The logical structure of his argument turns on a distinction between different types of soul, rather than different faculties within a given soul; and the attributes he assigns to the second species make it clear that his concern here -- as at the climax of his other great works, such as the "Metaphysics," the "Nicomachean" and the "Eudemian Ethics" -- is the difference between (...) the human and the divine. If this is right, we needn't go on a wild goose chase trying to invent a role for the so-called Agent Intellect to play. God moves our intellects as he moves the heavenly spheres, "as a beloved": he constitutes the complete actualization towards which all of our intellectual striving is directed. Aristotle regards such final causation as an efficient cause, but not in a way that would make it part of what we would call the causal processes or mechanisms of human psychology. But, he would insist, it is essential for appreciating who we are and what our place is in the world. (shrink)

In this fascinating and accessible book, physicist Victor J. Stenger guides the lay reader through the key developments of quantum mechanics and the debate over its apparent paradoxes. In the process, he critically appraises recent metaphysical fads. Dr. Stenger's knack for elucidating scientific ideas and controversies in language that the nonspecialist can comprehend opens up to the widest possible audience a wealth of information on the most important findings of contemporary physics.

The aim of the article is to formulate a proposal for the conceptual analysis of the notion of predictability of law, in order to make clear its theoretical and practical implications. To achieve this goal, I will explain the theoretical (what conceptual implications it has) and practical (what decisions it requires us to make) commitments that this conceptualization requires. Specifically, I analyze the commitments to the types of receivers of predictions and issuers of predictions; then I identify what kinds of (...) relationship can be assumed between the predictability of law and its effectiveness; next I indicate what the use of predictions as a means of assessing the degree of satisfaction of legal certainty commits us. Finally I indicate what commitments must be made in adopting a methodology for making predictions. (shrink)

Intellectualist theories attempt to assimilate know how to propositional knowledge and, in so doing, fail to properly explain the close relation know how bears to action. I develop here an anti-intellectualist theory that is warranted, I argue, because it best accounts for the difference between know how and mere “armchair knowledge.” Know how is a mental state characterized by a certain world-to-mind direction of fit (though it is non-motivational) and attendant functional role. It is essential of know how, but not (...) propositional knowledge, that it makes possible performance errors and has the functional role of guiding action. The theory is attractive, in part, because it allows for propositional, non-propositional and perhaps even non-representational varieties of know how. (shrink)

In the article we can read about the interpretation of Hegel’s philosophical system in the philosophy of the XXth century. Author states that modern social reality can be considered as a consequence of philosophical reflection concerning questions, which were self-evident in pre-Modern times and didn’t need any reflection. At the same time examples of modern reflection became a canon that needed its own interpretation. Considering this fact, it has been show how relations between subject and object were comprehended in different (...) interpretive traditions of Hegel’s philosophy and how it influenced the legitimization of a new form of social reality, which is called Modernity. There are three ways of interpreting Hegel’s philosophy depending on the fact what is understood as a subject, which should coincide with a substance: anthropologic, in which a person is understood as a subject, ontological, in the case of which subject is understood as an objective reality, and theological, in which subject is a God. Basing on such classification, author proves that by expounding the system in Hegel’s philosophy understanding of a subject as a substance and at the same time as self-consciousness is legitimized. Subject becomes a reason and world’s logic and its history is a Spirit’s self-detection. After that an imanentization of reality and its transformation into one-dimensional one takes place, in which any other dimension is impossible in principle and the main sense of this subject is a maximum “realization” of itself in the earthly world with the greatest mastery of objectivity. (shrink)

Borges has a rare ability to put wild ideas into detective stories with reporting style. At least that is the impression that we got on his short stories. In particular, one of his short story is worthnoting: Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. The story told us about a mysterious country called Uqbar, in apparently an unofficial reprint of Encyclopedia Britannica. It also tells about Tlon, a mysterious planet, created purely by imaginative minds. While this story clearly criticizes Berkeley view and may (...) be not related to our daily reality, a reinterpretation of this story leads us to a long standing discourse in the philosophy of science: to how extent the entire modern physics follow such a Berkeley-antirealism tendency? This paper is intended to bring this subject into our attention. We will also discuss shortly on antirealism in certain trends in theoretical physics and cosmology. (shrink)

This hefty volume amounts to a chronological encyclopedia on the history and culture of a region that draws its other name “Anatolia” from a European perspective, “Land of the Sunrise.” It ranges f...

1. bd. Allgemeine moralphilosophie.--2. bd. Besondere moralphilosophie.

The Higgs particle has been detected a few years ago, that is what newspapers tell us. For many physicists, the Standard Model of particle physics has accomplished all the jobs. Or to put it simply: The game is over. Is it true? Then some physicists began to ask: can go beyond the Standard Model? Because the supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model has failed. If you feel that theoretical physics is becoming boring, you are not alone. Fortunately, there is good (...) news: a new generation of physicists are doing table-top experiments in their basements. Can we expect new results later? If so, what will the future of physics look like? This article discusses this question, starting with a blunt look at the relationship between mathematics and physical reality, written from the perspectives of a mathematician and a cosmologist. (shrink)

This new Encyclopedia of Postmodernism is structured with biographical entries on all the key contributors to the postmodernism debate, including Mikhail Bakhtin, Pierre Bourdieum, Jacques Derrida, Jurgen Habermas and Wittgenstein. Providing an all-encompassing and welcome addition to the field, the Encyclopedia contains entries on foundational concepts of postmodernism which have revolutionized thinking in every intellectual discipline. This new Encyclopedia is the first to provide comprehensive A-Z coverage of the key individuals and concepts of postmodernism. The 300+ entries include: * African (...) American studies * Roland Barthes * binary opposition * Buddhism * comparative literature * cyberculture * death of God * Gilles Deleuze * desire * digital culture * end of history * globalization * grand narrative * improvisation * jouissance * logocentrism * metalanguage * sadism * theatre arts * trope * visuality * Cornell West * and much more. Fully cross-referenced and indexed, with suggestionsfor further reading. (shrink)

From recent work on Ingarden it is apparent that values are central to his philosophy, even in the context of his realist ontology. In this evaluation of Ingarden’s work we consider his principal philosophical notions (i.e. his realist ontology, his aesthetics, his reflections on language, and his consideration of values) in the light of what Nietzsche referred to in his own philosophy as the “reevaluation” or the “inversion” of all values. It is argued that two of Ingarden’s most fundamental values (...) are the notion of communication and the aesthetic dimension of thought. (shrink)

In this study Victor Ouimette shows an inner logic in Unamuno's thought centered on his concept of heroic fulfillment as the goal of human existence.

Monica A. Coleman achieves remarkable rigor in bringing together in one volume her long-standing interests in process philosophy and theology, womanist theology and ethics, African diaspora studies, West African religions, and African American women’s literature. Making a way out of No Way (2008) is a tour de force in contemporary African American constructive theology and especially in womanist discourse on the religious experience(s) of African American women. Coleman insists on understanding black women’s religious experience through the lens of their complex (...) subjectivity, which is irreducible to singularity or totality. As typically found in academic womanist theology, Coleman does not begin her theology with .. (shrink)

The epoch of changes is characterized as an epoch of structural changes in society and education is a process of getting realized independence in exploring the space and time in his life. In the center is a mechanism of influence of social changes in the quality of system of education as a system phenomen. The basicelements of educational system are educational, productional and leisure activity. The characteristic feature of out present life is the accordance of rational and irrational in our (...) life. The Internet PR, advertising influences on the strengthening of irrational in the life of society Rational beginning in limited by productive sphere. Changes in the content and methods of education at school and high educational establishments leads to the shortening of reflexive knowledge as a result we see the descries of degree of self-dependance of students, workers and citizens’. Russia is in need of the development of new educational strategies. (shrink)

Let HA be Heyting's arithmetic, and let CS denote the conjunction of Kreisel's axioms for the creative subject: \begin{eqnarray*} {\rm CS}_1.&&\quad \,\forall\, x (\qed_x A \vee \; \neg \qed_x A)\; ,\nn {\rm CS}_2. &&\quad \,\forall\, x (\qed_x A\to A)\; ,\nn {\rm CS}_3^{\rm S}. &&\quad A\to\,\exists\, x \qed_x A\; ,\nn {\rm CS}_4.&&\quad \,\forall\, x\,\forall\, y (\qed_x A & y \ge x\to\qed_y A)\; .\nn \end{eqnarray*} It is shown that the theory HA + CS with the induction schema restricted to arithmetical (i.e. not (...) containing $\qed$ ) formulas is conservative over HA. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem como propósito central expor uma das aspirações mais caras à filosofia de Espinosa: a liberação da faculdade de julgar, tanto como perspectiva hermenêutica como em seu significado político. A partir deste conceito, pretendese reconstruir alguns tramos do programa do filósofo, sempre enfático a respeito da liberdade, tanto no âmbito ético como no político, e os diversos significados que esta tem em sua obra. Há uma liberdade concebida sub specie aeternitatis e uma liberdade sub specie durationis? A questão (...) leva a estabelecer a relação que este filósofo tem com as coisas do mundo político, sempre movido a partir de paixões e interesses e, frequentemente, afastado de um sentido virtuoso da liberdade. Sem abandonar as aspirações de um sentido superior da liberdade, o autor sustenta que Espinosa se propõe examinar o problema da liberdade em um contexto no qual há mais prejuízos que idéias adequadas, mais temores que esperanças, mais superstição que sabedoria. (shrink)