" Waldie speculates on the meanings and implications of the snapshots in this book and of snapshots generally, which he sees as expressions of "the hunger of memory.".

Multiple -conclusion logic extends formal logic by allowing arguments to have a set of conclusions instead of a single one, the truth lying somewhere among the conclusions if all the premises are true. The extension opens up interesting possibilities based on the symmetry between premises and conclusions, and can also be used to throw fresh light on the conventional logic and its limitations. This is a sustained study of the subject and is certain to stimulate further research. Part I reworks (...) the fundamental ideas of logic to take account of multiple conclusions, and investigates the connections between multiple - and single - conclusion calculi. Part II draws on graph theory to discuss the form and validity of arguments independently of particular logical systems. Part III contrasts the multiple - and the single - conclusion treatment of one and the same subject, using many-valued logic as the example; and Part IV shows how the methods of 'natural deduction' can be matched by direct proofs using multiple conclusions. (shrink)

This paper is written in an analytic style, but it is meant to deprive analysis of an important prop. The title needs a short introduction. The mistake is to take ‘real’ as governed in its separate uses by criteria; and this paper is meant to show that this is a mistake and that Ausin makes it. In the course of the argument I try to develop my own account and, although I am not altogether satisfied with it, the result gives (...) something to build upon. I believe the mistake is by no means confined to Austin, but that it is connected with a particular conception of philosophy. (shrink)

Avec son livre r cent, Locke and French materialism (Oxford 1991), John Yolton - connu de longue date pour avoir le premier focalis le contexte th ologique et moral du nouveau 'way of ideas' chez Locke - a donn le signal de d part d'une exploration de la place de Locke dans la lutte philosophique en France au dix-septi me si cle. Prenant acte que le th me, pourtant majeur, des id es inn es dans la r ception fran aise (...) de Locke n'a pas encore re u l'attention qu'il m rite, le pr sent livre poursuit une analyse approfondie de la fortune de la pol mique contre les id es inn es chez les philosophes fran ais, de Jean Le Clerc (1688) Saint-Lambert (1801). Apr s une pr sentation du sc nario mis en place au dix-septi me si cle (Descartes, Malebranche, Locke), on suit dans un ordre chronologique l' volution de la critique des id es inn es chez les philosophes fran ais jusqu' la defense d'une tabula rasaabsolue la fin du si cle (Helv tius, d'Holbach), passant par plusieurs tapes qui marquent chacune la fois un aboutissement et un nouveau point de d part dans la radicalisation progressive du leitmotiv lanc par Locke: consid r es comme le pilier m me de la m taphysique chr tienne, les id es inn es sont d nonc es de fa on de plus en plus radicale, d'abord dans le Refuge, ensuite en France sur une route jalonn e d'affaires' (Voltaire 1734, Prades 1751, Helv tius 1758, d'Holbach 1770). Or, si la pol mique contre les id es inn es semble voluer selon une logique interne n cessaire, ce livre d voile en m me temps l'existence d'une critique des id es inn es plus proche de la cause apolog tique par son souci de pr server l'immat rialit de l' me, l'existence de Dieu et celle d'une loi naturelle (morale) objective et absolue. Enfin, on voit par les r sultats de cette enqu te comment, aujourd'hui, le d bat entre l'inn et l'acquis, toujours d'actualit, trouve ses origines dans l'histoire retrac e ici - comme d'ailleurs plus g n ralement la s cularisation et ses diff rents avatars, mat rialisme, nihilisme, ath isme. Remerciements. (shrink)

Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging of patients in a vegetative state have raised the possibility that such patients retain some degree of consciousness. In this paper, the ethical implications of such findings are outlined, in particular in relation to decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. It is sometimes assumed that if there is evidence of consciousness, treatment should not be withdrawn. But, paradoxically, the discovery of consciousness in very severely brain-damaged patients may provide more reason to let them die. (...) Although functional neuroimaging is likely to play an increasing role in the assessment of patients in a vegetative state, caution is needed in the interpretation of neuroimaging findings. (shrink)

The effects in a quantum-mechanical system form a partial algebra and a partially ordered set which is the prototypical example of the effect algebras discussed in this paper. The relationships among effect algebras and such structures as orthoalgebras and orthomodular posets are investigated, as are morphisms and group- valued measures (or charges) on effect algebras. It is proved that there is a universal group for every effect algebra, as well as a universal vector space over an arbitrary field.