Humanitarian organisations often work alongside those responsible for serious wrongdoing. In these circumstances, accusations of moral complicity are sometimes levelled at decision makers. These accusations can carry a strong if unfocused moral charge and are frequently the source of significant moral unease. In this paper, we explore the meaning and usefulness of complicity and its relation to moral accountability. We also examine the impact of concerns about complicity on the motivation of humanitarian staff and the risk that complicity may lead (...) to a retreat into moral narcissism. Moral narcissism is the possibility that where humanitarian actors inadvertently become implicated in wrongdoing, they may focus more on their image as self-consciously good actors than on the interests of potential beneficiaries. Moral narcissism can be triggered where accusations of complicity are made and can slew decision making. We look at three interventions by Médecins Sans Frontières that gave rise to questions of complicity. We question its decision-guiding usefulness. Drawing on recent thought, we suggest that complicity can helpfully draw attention to the presence of moral conflict and to the way International Non-Governmental Organisations can be drawn into unintentional wrongdoing. We acknowledge the moral challenge that complicity presents to humanitarian staff but argue that complicity does not help INGOs make tough decisions in morally compromising situations as to whether they should continue with an intervention or pull out. (shrink)

This book will be a rewarding reading for everybody who is interested in logical aspects of scientific knowledge acquisition. The presentation of the issues discussed in the book is exemplary. The author was able to present in parallel way three different perspectives under which the issues discussed in the book might be approached.

In this paper, using definability of types over indiscernible sequences as a template, we study a property of formulas and theories called "uniform definability of types over finite sets" (UDTFS). We explore UDTFS and show how it relates to well-known properties in model theory. We recall that stable theories and weakly o-minimal theories have UDTFS and UDTFS implies dependence. We then show that all dp-minimal theories have UDTFS.

The aim of this thematically unified anthology is to track the history of epistemic logic, to consider some important applications of these logics of knowledge and belief in a variety of fields, and finally to discuss future directions of research with particular emphasis on 'active agenthood' and multi-modal systems. It is accessible to researchers and graduate students in philosophy, computer science, game theory, economics and related disciplines utilizing the means and methods of epistemic logic.

We introduce the notion of positive local combinatorial dividing-lines in model theory. We show these are equivalently characterized by indecomposable algebraically trivial Fraïssé classes and by complete prime filter classes. We exhibit the relationship between this and collapse-of-indiscernibles dividing-lines. We examine several test cases, including those arising from various classes of hypergraphs.

This paper critically discusses recent objections that have been raised against the contextual understanding of fundamental physical objects advocated by non-eliminative ontic structural realism. One of these recent objections claims that such a purely relational understanding of objects cannot account for there being a determinate number of them. A more general objection concerns a well-known circularity threat: relations presuppose the objects they relate and so cannot account for them. A similar circularity objection has also been raised within the framework of (...) the weak discernibility claims made in the last few years about quantum particles. We argue that these objections rely either on mere metaphysical prejudice or on confusing the logico-mathematical formalism within which a physical theory is formulated with the physical theory itself. Furthermore, we defend the motivations for taking numerical diversity as a primitive fact in this context. (shrink)

In de filosofische traditie is de materiële aarde als thema altijd onderbelicht gebleven. Van Aristoteles en Descartes tot Nietzsche en Heidegger blijkt de aarde altijd te zijn gedacht vanuit de vorm, vanuit het denken of vanuit de wereld. Hierdoor is de aarde als passief, inert of zelfs niet-bestaand beschouwd, maar niet vanuit zichzelf. In tijden van ecologische crisis en klimaatverandering is deze manier van denken niet langer toereikend. We moeten toe naar een nieuwe omgang met de aarde. Van wereld naar (...) aarde biedt hiertoe een eerste aanzet. -/- Ecologische ontologie Vincent Blok ontwikkelt een ecologische ontologie van de aarde in tijden van klimaatverandering. Hij gaat in tegen de filosofische traditie door zijn ontologie niet antropocentrisch, maar eco-centrisch te oriënteren. Vervolgens presenteert hij een speculatieve ecologie van de aarde als mogelijkheidsvoorwaarde voor de menselijke bewoning van de wereld. Zijn nieuwe perspectief op onze zorg voor de aarde biedt relevante inzichten voor de milieu- en techniekfilosofie. (shrink)

A proper understanding of some of John Stuart Mill's most distinctive ideas cannot eschew the consideration of his relations to France: besides his affective attachment to France and the French, Mill was indeed driven by an intense intellectual curiosity towards French society, its political, social, philosophical, moral and artistic life. This continued engagement with French thought must be viewed as a key element in his emancipation from the narrow‐minded utilitarianism inherited from his father and Bentham, and a crucial step in (...) the shaping of a philosophy of his own, and most notably an original social and historical philosophy of liberty. (shrink)

The goal with these questions is to gain a sense of what contemporary epistemology is up to and its broader intellectual environment , with particular emphasis on the meeting point between mainstream and formal epistemology.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how methodological insights from formal and modal learning theory have a significant bearing on the classical definition of knowledge as true justified belief.

Raymond Aron is best known for his intellectual sparring with Jean-Paul Sartre and for his stature as the pre-eminent Cold War liberal in France. He is credited with establishing an aut...

(1) Assuming the significates of non-complex terms, in this treatise I intend to investigate certain properties of terms, [properties] that are applicable to them only insofar as they are parts of propositions. (2) Now I divide this tract into three parts. The first is about the supposition of terms, the second about appellation, and the third about copulation. Supposition belongs to the subject, appellation to the predicate. Copula-.

In this paper, we show that VC-minimal ordered fields are real closed. We introduce a notion, strictly between convexly orderable and dp-minimal, that we call dp-small, and show that this is enough to characterize many algebraic theories. For example, dp-small ordered groups are abelian divisible and dp-small ordered fields are real closed.

This book examines the work of Ernst Jünger and its effect on the development of Martin Heidegger’s influential philosophy of technology. Vincent Blok offers a unique treatment of Jünger’s philosophy and his conception of the age of technology, in which both world and man appear in terms of their functionality and efficiency. The primary objective of Jünger’s novels and essays is to make the transition from the totally mobilized world of the 20 th century toward a world in which (...) a new type of man represents the gestalt of the worker and is responsive to this new age. Blok proceeds to demonstrate Jünger’s influence on Heidegger’s analysis of the technological age in his later work, as well as Heidegger’s conceptions of will, work and gestalt at the beginning of the 1930s. At the same time, Blok evaluates Heidegger’s criticism of Jünger and provides a novel interpretation of the Jünger-Heidegger connection: that Jünger’s work in fact testifies to a transformation of our relationship to language and conceptualizes the future in terms of the Anthropocene. This book, which arrives alongside several new English-language translations of Jünger’s work, will interest scholars of 20 th -century continental philosophy, Heidegger, and the history of philosophy of technology. (shrink)

This book identifies the criteria for successful constitutions in both theory and practice using the research and methodology of Vincent Ostrom.

In this article I offer a critical analysis and evaluation of Thomas Fuchs' concept of corporealization, as well as the Leib/Körper distinction (i.e. the distinction between the lived and corporeal body) that it is founded upon. First, I show that the foundational concepts -- Leib and Körper -- are problematically heterogeneous, each including a diverse set of phenomena requiring further delineation and clarification. Second, I consider the historical origins of this heterogeneity and ambiguity within Fuchs' work. I show that Fuchs' (...) Leib/Korper distinction, while owing more to Plessner than Merleau-Ponty, is to a great extent his own development. Third, I delineate five senses of the body, or of embodiment. These senses of the body are meant to (1) clarify the diverse phenomena included under Fuchs' label of corporealization and (2) offer examples of features of embodiment that challenge Fuchs' Leib/Körper polarity. Fourth, I argue that the concepts of Leib, Körper, and corporealization will need to be more rigorously defined before they can adequately illuminate the phenomena to which they are applied. (shrink)

We discuss the challenges that the standard (Humean and non-Humean) accounts of laws face within the framework of quantum gravity where space and time may not be fundamental. This paper identifies core (meta)physical features that cut across a number of quantum gravity approaches and formalisms and that provide seeds for articulating updated conceptions that could account for QG laws not involving any spatio-temporal notions. To this aim, we will in particular highlight the constitutive roles of quantum entanglement, quantum transition amplitudes (...) and quantum causal histories. These features also stress the fruitful overlap between quantum gravity and quantum information theory. (shrink)

Juist in tijden van dreigende catastrofes wijzen romans ons de weg. Ze slaan ons uit onze groef en zetten ons aan tot denken en handelen. Zo helpen ze ons op weg naar een nieuwe zin van het leven. 00In dit essayistische boek bespreekt filosoof Vincent Blok meer dan tachtig moderne en hedendaagse romans. Hij recenseert ze niet, maar laat zien hoe ze ons aanzetten om ons wereldbeeld te kantelen. De romans tonen ons het einde van de wereld waarvan we (...) afscheid moeten nemen, en wijzen ons de weg naar nieuwe werelden.0. (shrink)

In Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, Gambuto gives us a radical blueprint for the ways we can take a deep breath, renew, and commit to a life that we really want, individually and collectively, from unsubscribing to emails and automated subscriptions to reevaluating the presence of people and ideas and habits that no longer serve us or make us happy. Infused with the practical advice in James Clear's Atomic Habits and the humor of Sarah Knight's The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a (...) F**k, Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! helps us focus on where we find joy in our lives and encourages us to toss out what doesn't bring us joy in this modern world. (shrink)

We develop a theoretical model of network formation where actors are limitedly farsighted. In this way we extend current models with a new set of micro-foundations. Computer simulations are used to predict the stable network structures that are likely to emerge under the new assumptions. The co-author model by Jackson/wolinsky (1996) is used as an example. The co-author model formulates a tension between stability and efficiency when actors are myopic. Limitedly farsighted actors can overcome this tension but only if the (...) network is small enough. Thus, changing the micro-foundations of the network formation model leads to new implications at the macro-level in the sense that different networks are predicted to be stable than for existing micro-foundations. (shrink)

Esta reseña invita a la lectura del ensayo de Dorte Katrin Jansen, dramaturga e investigadora teatral, quien presenta una cartografía de las dramaturgas mexicanas de mediados del siglo pasado hasta su fecha de publicación en 2018. Toma como punto de partida el trabajo de Elena Garro, Luisa Josefina Hernández y Sabina Berman para continuar con los procesos de más de ciento cincuenta dramaturgas. El esfuerzo de la autora por distinguir a las creadoras de acuerdo con su lugar de enunciación, así (...) como, la diferenciación entre escritura de las mujeres, femenina y feminista son tan solo algunos de los aportes que subrayo como relevantes en esta reseña. Con este trabajo la autora obtuvo el Premio Internacional de Ensayo Teatral. (shrink)