From religion to philosophy to science, all human systems of definition are formed by human brains. The nature and limits of the human brain are the nature and limits of those systems. This essay shows how the human brain works normally then unusually, and what this reveals about the limits of human knowledge. There are many conditions and instances where the brain processes information unusually, including mental disorders, physical events, and drug use. This essay focuses on the neurological events called (...) mystical experiences. (shrink)

This short peer-reviewed text is a concise look at the psychology of how human beings make decisions, including how they form their worldviews and make arguments.

This paper aims to provide two abductive considerations adducing in favor of the thesis of Necessitism in modal ontology. I demonstrate how instances of the Barcan formula can be witnessed, when the modal operators are interpreted 'naturally' -- i.e., as including geometric possibilities -- and the quantifiers in the formula range over a domain of natural, or concrete, entities and their contingently non-concrete analogues. I argue that, because there are considerations within physics and metaphysical inquiry which corroborate modal relationalist claims (...) concerning the possible geometric structures of spacetime, and dispositional properties are actual possible entities, the condition of being grounded in the concrete is consistent with the Barcan formula; and thus -- in the geometric setting -- merits adoption by the Necessitist. (shrink)

Part of the appeal of the biological approach to personal identity is that it does not have to countenance spatially coincident entities. But if the termination thesis is correct and the organism ceases to exist at death, then it appears that the corpse is a dead body that earlier was a living body and distinct from but spatially coincident with the organism. If the organism is identified with the body, then the unwelcome spatial coincidence could perhaps be avoided. It is (...) argued that such an identification would be a mistake. A living organism has a different part/whole relationship and persistence conditions than the alleged body. A case will be made that the concept ‘human body’ is a conceptual mess, vague in an unprincipled manner, and that an eliminativist stance towards dead bodies is the appropriate response. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

This book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds. Lewis argues that the philosophical utility of modal realism is a good reason for believing that it is true.

In the Garden of Eden, we had unmediated contact with the world. We were directly acquainted with objects in the world and with their properties. Objects were simply presented to us without causal mediation, and properties were revealed to us in their true intrinsic glory.

What happens when machines become more intelligent than humans? One view is that this event will be followed by an explosion to ever-greater levels of intelligence, as each generation of machines creates more intelligent machines in turn. This intelligence explosion is now often known as the “singularity”. The basic argument here was set out by the statistician I.J. Good in his 1965 article “Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine”: Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far (...) surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an “intelligence explosion”, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. The key idea is that a machine that is more intelligent than humans will be better than humans at designing machines. So it will be capable of designing a machine more intelligent than the most intelligent machine that humans can design. So if it is itself designed by humans, it will be capable of designing a machine more intelligent than itself. By similar reasoning, this next machine will also be capable of designing a machine more intelligent than itself. If every machine in turn does what it is capable of, we should expect a sequence of ever more intelligent machines. This intelligence explosion is sometimes combined with another idea, which we might call the “speed explosion”. The argument for a speed explosion starts from the familiar observation that computer processing speed doubles at regular intervals. Suppose that speed doubles every two years and will do so indefinitely. Now suppose that we have human-level artificial intelligence 1 designing new processors. Then faster processing will lead to faster designers and an ever-faster design cycle, leading to a limit point soon afterwards. The argument for a speed explosion was set out by the artificial intelligence researcher Ray Solomonoff in his 1985 article “The Time Scale of Artificial Intelligence”.1 Eliezer Yudkowsky gives a succinct version of the argument in his 1996 article “Staring at the Singularity”: “Computing speed doubles every two subjective years of work.. (shrink)

Technophobia is an irrational fear of either technological influence or\ntechnological artifacts. Philosophical interest for technophobia is\nthreefold: epistemological, existential and\nphilosophical-anthropological. In the last five decades, computers have\nchanged in major many areas of human life, including philosophy. The\nauthors have started rendering technophobical issues in philosophy with\nemergence of technophobical objections to each leap forward in\ncommunication medium. Next area of analysis is speculative fiction.\nDetermining the philosophical importance of speculative fiction, authors\noffered an overview of technophobical thesis in some of anthological\nworks.

Originally published: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932.

[This is an edited version of a keynote talk at the conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) on November 28, 2022, with some minor additions and subtractions.] -/- There has recently been widespread discussion of whether large language models might be sentient or conscious. Should we take this idea seriously? I will break down the strongest reasons for and against. Given mainstream assumptions in the science of consciousness, there are significant obstacles to consciousness in current models: for example, their (...) lack of recurrent processing, a global workspace, and unified agency. At the same time, it is quite possible that these obstacles will be overcome in the next decade or so. I conclude that while it is somewhat unlikely that current large language models are conscious, we should take seriously the possibility that successors to large language models may be conscious in the not-too-distant future. (shrink)

We investigate how people ascribe responsibility to an agent who caused a bad outcome but did not know he would. The psychological processes for making such judgments, we argue, involve finding a counterfactual in which some minimally benevolent intention initiates a course of events that leads to a better outcome than the actual one. We hypothesize that such counterfactuals can include, when relevant, epistemic intentions. With four vignette studies, we show that people consider epistemic intentions when ascribing responsibility for a (...) bad outcome. We further investigate which epistemic intentions people are likely to consider when building counterfactuals for responsibility ascription. We find that, when an agent did not predict a bad outcome, people ascribe responsibility depending on the reasons behind the agents’ lack of knowledge. People judge agents responsible for the bad outcome they caused when they could have easily predicted the consequences of their actions but did not care to acquire the relevant information. However, when this information was hard to acquire, people are less likely to judge them responsible. -/- . (shrink)

How should one react when one has a belief, but knows that other people—who have roughly the same evidence as one has, and seem roughly as likely to react to it correctly—disagree? This paper argues that the disagreement of other competent inquirers often requires one to be much less confident in one’s opinions than one would otherwise be.

This volume is devoted to Lewis's work in metaphysics and epistemology. Topics covered include properties, ontology, possibility, truthmaking, probability, the mind-body problem, vision, belief, and knowledge. The purpose of this collection, and the volumes that precede and follow it, is to disseminate more widely the work of an eminent and influential contemporary philosopher. The volume will serve as a useful work of reference for teachers and students of philosophy.

In Liberating Oedipus?: Psychoanalysis as Critical Theory, Dr. Filip Kovacevic demonstrates how psychoanalytic theory can join political theory in designing alternative political norms and values. Kovacevic proves that political practice without an emancipatory psychology to guide it is potentially dangerous.

Religion, science, and naturalism -- Perception and religious experience -- Panexperientialism, freedom, and the mind-body relation -- Naturalistic, dipolar theism -- Natural theology based on naturalistic theism -- Evolution, evil, and eschatology -- The two ultimates and the religions -- Religion, morality, and civilization -- Religious language and truth -- Religious knowledge and common sense.

The main idea behind this article is that in order to understand themeaning that Kant’s political philosophy is rendered to by the givensocio-historical context of a community we need to turn for help toartistic genius whose subjective “I” holds a general feeling of the worldand life. It is in this sense that authors of great novels can help us in twoways. First, their works summarise for our imagination artistic truth aboutman’s capacity for humanity, the very thing that Kant considers to (...) bethe scientifically improvable “fact of reason”. Second, works of greatwriters offer for our insight destinies of individuals who decide to pursuemoral dictate in a society, thus actualising the potential that lies hiddenin all of us, making us worthy of respect. As we lack objective scientificstandard of measurement, artist’s universal feeling of the world is impressedupon us through a narrative about a man who, in a given society and ina given moment, decides to exercise his autonomy and seek the divinein himself. Contemporary social scientists’ attempts to prove historicalprogress is characterised by the very lack of humbleness. Referring tothe great novelists’ works in this article is aimed to remind scientists ofrestraint and self-control demanded from them by the citizen of Konigsberg. (shrink)

The singularity hypothesis is a radical hypothesis about the future of artificial intelligence on which self-improving artificial agents will quickly become orders of magnitude more intelligent than the average human. Despite the ambitiousness of its claims, the singularity hypothesis has been defended at length by leading philosophers and artificial intelligence researchers. In this paper, I argue that the singularity hypothesis rests on scientifically implausible growth assumptions. I show how leading philosophical defenses of the singularity hypothesis (Chalmers 2010, Bostrom 2014) fail (...) to overcome the case for skepticism. I conclude by drawing out philosophical implications of this discussion for our understanding of consciousness, personal identity, digital minds, existential risk, and ethical longtermism. GPI Working Paper No . 19-2022. (shrink)

A number of philosophers endorse, without argument, the view that there’s something it’s like consciously to think that p, which is distinct from what it’s like consciously to think that q. This thesis, if true, would have important consequences for philosophy of mind and cognitive science. In this paper I offer an argument for it, and attempt to induce examples of it in the reader. The argument claims it would be impossible introspectively to distinguish conscious thoughts with respect to their (...) content if there weren’t something it’s like to think them. This argument is defended against several objections. Then I use what I call “minimal pair” experiences—sentences read without and with understanding—to induce in the reader an experience of the kind I claim exists. Further objections are considered and rebutted. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Conceptual engineering is the design, implementation, and evaluation of concepts. Conceptual engineering includes or should include de novo conceptual engineering (designing a new concept) as well as conceptual re-engineering (fixing an old concept). It should also include heteronymous (different-word) as well as homonymous (same-word) conceptual engineering. I discuss the importance and the difficulty of these sorts of conceptual engineering in philosophy and elsewhere.

"My work has had nothing to do with gay liberation," Michel Foucault reportedly told an admirer in 1975. And indeed there is scarcely more than a passing mention of homosexuality in Foucault's scholarly writings. So why has Foucault, who died of AIDS in 1984, become a powerful source of both personal and political inspiration to an entire generation of gay activists? And why have his political philosophy and his personal life recently come under such withering, normalizing scrutiny by commentators as (...) diverse as Camille Paglia, Richard Mohr, Bruce Bawer, Roger Kimball, and biographer James Miller? David M. Halperin's Saint Foucault is an uncompromising and impassioned defense of the late French philosopher and historian as a galvanizing thinker whose career as a theorist and activist will continue to serve as a model for other gay intellectuals, activists, and scholars. A close reading of both Foucault and the increasing attacks on his life and work, it explains why straight liberals so often find in Foucault only counsels of despair on the subject of politics, whereas gay activists look to him not only for intellectual inspiration but also for a compelling example of political resistance. Halperin rescues Foucault from the endless nature-versus-nurture debate over the origins of homosexuality ("On this question I have absolutely nothing to say," Foucault himself once remarked) and argues that Foucault's decision to treat sexuality not as a biological or psychological drive but as an effect of discourse, as the product of modern systems of knowledge and power, represents a crucial political breakthrough for lesbians and gay men. Halperin explains how Foucault's radical vision of homosexuality as a strategic opportunity for self-transformation anticipated the new anti-assimilationist, anti-essentialist brand of sexual identity politics practiced by contemporary direct-action groups such as ACT UP. Halperin also offers the first synthetic account of Foucault's thinking about gay sex and the future of the lesbian and gay movement, as well as an up-to-the-minute summary of the most recent work in queer theory. "Where there is power, there is resistance," Michel Foucault wrote in The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Erudite, biting, and surprisingly moving, Saint Foucault represents Halperin's own resistance to what he views as the blatant and systematic misrepresentation of a crucial intellectual figure, a misrepresentation he sees as dramatic evidence of the continuing personal, professional, and scholarly vulnerability of all gay activists and intellectuals in the age of AIDS. (shrink)

Tehnofobija je iracionalan strah od utjecaja tehnologije ili tehnoloških artefakata. Filozofski interes za tehnofobiju leži u tri sfere: spoznajnoj, egzistencijalnoj i filozofsko-antropološkoj. U posljednjih pet desetljeća računala su uvelike promijenila i filozofiju. Autori polaze u ocrtavanju problema tehnofobije u filozofiji od pojave tehnofobijskih komentara sa svakim skokom naprijed u sredstvima komunikacije. Sljedeće područje analize je spekulativna fikcija. Utvrdivši značaj spekulativne fikcije za filozofiju, nudi se pregled tehnofobijskih teza u nekim antologijskim djelima spekulativne fikcije.

Psycholinguistics as a discipline can be traced back further than one would think, but what we refer to as modern psycholinguistics emerged in the 1950s. The gradual accumulation of interdisciplinary knowledge, cross-linguistic research, and the development of ideas formed the foundation for new approaches. Indeed, interdisciplinarity, multi-methodology, and linguistic diversity are to this day inevitable and integral parts of psycholinguistics. The aim of this paper is to argue the interplay of different approaches and methodologies, namely in relation to syntactic processing. (...) The paper provides a general overview of former state-of-the-art and newer research trends, discusses the challenges of new approaches, and presents them in the context of a recently performed attachment preference study in Croatian. Using multiple methodologies, the study shows that Croatian is a high attachment preference language. More importantly, it illustrates the significance of a carefully planned research design and the relevance of obeying the properties of the studied language. These considerations are crucial in order to avoid that someone’s choice of theoretical framework and methods influences results. (shrink)

Allowing pupils to choose the content of their learning is an important step towards individualized development. Despite the need proclaimed by society for the development of competences in STEM area, educational cycles in this field are the least represented in the Croatian general education curriculum. This research was conducted in order to gain insight into pupils’ interests in the contents of technical culture and for school activities. The research was conducted on a stratified sample of primary school pupils in Croatia (...) aged 11 to 15 years. The analysis of the research results showed that the activities from ICT, robotics, programming and woodworking are the most attractive. When it comes to school activities, pupils most prefer sports activities, computer activities, experiments in science subjects and then technical activities. This result suggests that the school curricula needs to be redesigned so that pupils can develop according to their interests. Učenikova mogućnost izbora sadržaja učenja tijekom općeg obveznog obrazovanja važan je korak ka individualiziranom razvoju. Unatoč proklamiranim potrebama društva za razvojem kompetencija u tzv. STEM području, u hrvatskom su obrazovnom sustavu aktivnosti iz ovog područja najmanje zastupljene u kurikulumu općeg obrazovanja. Stoga je provedeno istraživanje interesa učenika za izbornu nastavu tehničke kulture te za aktivnosti koje bi odabrali kad bi mogli birati što će u školi učiti i raditi. Istraživanje je provedeno na stratificiranom uzorku učenika osnovnih škola u Hrvatskoj u dobi od 11. do 15. godine života. Analizom rezultata istraživanja ustanovljeno je da su aktivnosti iz IKT-a, robotike, programiranja i modelarstva najatraktivnija područja za izbornu nastave tehničke kulture. Kad je riječ o aktivnostima u školi, učenici bi najradije odabrali sportske aktivnosti, a potom slijede informatičke, prirodoznanstvene i tehničke aktivnosti. Ovakav nalaz ukazuje na nužnu preobrazbu školskog kurikuluma koji će učenicima omogućiti razvoj u skladu s njihovim interesima. (shrink)

Učenikova mogućnost izbora sadržaja učenja tijekom općeg obveznog obrazovanja važan je korak ka individualiziranom razvoju. Unatoč proklamiranim potrebama društva za razvojem kompetencija u tzv. STEM području, u hrvatskom su obrazovnom sustavu aktivnosti iz ovog područja najmanje zastupljene u kurikulumu općeg obrazovanja. Stoga je provedeno istraživanje interesa učenika za izbornu nastavu tehničke kulture te za aktivnosti koje bi odabrali kad bi mogli birati što će u školi učiti i raditi. Istraživanje je provedeno na stratificiranom uzorku učenika osnovnih škola u Hrvatskoj u (...) dobi od 11. do 15. godine života. Analizom rezultata istraživanja ustanovljeno je da su aktivnosti iz IKT-a, robotike, programiranja i modelarstva najatraktivnija područja za izbornu nastave tehničke kulture. Kad je riječ o aktivnostima u školi, učenici bi najradije odabrali sportske aktivnosti, a potom slijede informatičke, prirodoznanstvene i tehničke aktivnosti. Ovakav nalaz ukazuje na nužnu preobrazbu školskog kurikuluma koji će učenicima omogućiti razvoj u skladu s njihovim interesima. (shrink)

Through the Erasmus+ Program, in Key Activity 2 – “Strategic Partnerships in Education and Training” – association for promotion of non-formal education, critical thinking and philosophy in practice “Petit Philosophy” has implemented or is implementing seven projects closely related to ethical education. The characteristics of these projects are that they are directed to ethical education in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools. Partners of “Petit Philosophy” in these projects were/are universities, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, associations and institutions from thirteen (...) countries. Project “ETHOS: Ethical Education in Primary and Pre-primary Schools for a Sustainable and Dialogic Future” is one of the first of these projects. ETHOS was successfully implemented under the Comenius Program from 2012–2014, and afterwards, projects under the Erasmus+ KA2 followed: ETHIKA – Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, LITTLE – Learning Together to Live Together: Teachers Leading Ethical Education for an Inclusive Society, AVAL – Added Value Learning for Preschool Teachers & Pedagogical Coordinators, COMET – A Community of Ethics Teachers in Europe, Integrating Ethics of Sport in Secondary School Curriculum, BEAGLE – Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living Environment and TRACE – Traditional Children’s Stories for a Common Future. In this article, we will briefly present the projects’ activities, with particular emphasis on materials created for educators, teachers, and students. Kroz program Erasmus+, u Ključnoj aktivnosti 2 – “Strateška partnerstva u području obrazovanja i osposobljavanja ” – Udruga “Mala filozofija” provela je ili upravo provodi ukupno sedam projekata koji su usko vezani uz etičko obrazovanje. Tu valja pridodati i projekt “ETHOS: Ethical Education in Primary and Pre-Primary Schools for a Sustainable and Dialogic Future”, koji je uspješno proveden pod programom Comenius od 2012. do 2014. godine. Karakteristika je ovih projekata usmjerenost na obrazovanje u vrtićima te osnovnim i srednjim školama. Uz “Malu filozofiju”, u projektima sudjeluju sveučilišta, osnovne i srednje škole, vrtići, udruge i institucije iz trinaest zemalja. Navedeni Erasmus+ KA2 projekti su: ETHIKA – Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, LITTLE – Learning Together to Live Together: Teachers Leading Ethical Education for an Inclusive Society, AVAL – Added Value Learning for Preschool Teachers & Pedagogical Coordinators, COMET – A Community of Ethics Teachers in Europe, Integrating Ethics of Sport in Secondary School Curriculum, BEAGLE – Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living Environment, TRACE – Traditional Children’s Stories for a Common Future. U članku ćemo ukratko prikazati projektne aktivnosti u navedenim projektima, s posebnim naglaskom na materijale koji su namijenjeni odgajateljima, nastavnicima i učenicima. (shrink)

Kroz program Erasmus+, u Ključnoj aktivnosti 2 – “Strateška partnerstva u području obrazovanja i osposobljavanja ” – Udruga “Mala filozofija” provela je ili upravo provodi ukupno sedam projekata koji su usko vezani uz etičko obrazovanje. Tu valja pridodati i projekt “ETHOS: Ethical Education in Primary and Pre-Primary Schools for a Sustainable and Dialogic Future”, koji je uspješno proveden pod programom Comenius od 2012. do 2014. godine. Karakteristika je ovih projekata usmjerenost na obrazovanje u vrtićima te osnovnim i srednjim školama. Uz (...) “Malu filozofiju”, u projektima sudjeluju sveučilišta, osnovne i srednje škole, vrtići, udruge i institucije iz trinaest zemalja. Navedeni Erasmus+ KA2 projekti su: ETHIKA – Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, LITTLE – Learning Together to Live Together: Teachers Leading Ethical Education for an Inclusive Society, AVAL – Added Value Learning for Preschool Teachers & Pedagogical Coordinators, COMET – A Community of Ethics Teachers in Europe, Integrating Ethics of Sport in Secondary School Curriculum, BEAGLE – Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living Environment, TRACE – Traditional Children’s Stories for a Common Future. U članku ćemo ukratko prikazati projektne aktivnosti u navedenim projektima, s posebnim naglaskom na materijale koji su namijenjeni odgajateljima, nastavnicima i učenicima. (shrink)

Following the spread of Platonic anthropology, Christianity has started, already since the 2nd century A.D., to be dominated by dualism – a trend undisturbed by somewhat more holistic Thomism, and further strengthened by Cartesianism, which distanced Christian theology and soul even further away from the body. During the 1960s, theologians have become aware of the far more positive and inclusive attitude that the Bible has towards the body. Yet, a century before, the Adventist movement was born in conditionalism such as (...) presented by Hobbes in Leviathan (XLIV). Man does not have a soul; he is a “living soul” – a body vivified by the “breath of life” (Gen 2:7). Without the body, there is no life, nor, consequentially, eternal hell. To this Adventists have also conjoined a philosophy of health reform in which the care of the body has a key role, and upon which depends man’s intellectual and spiritual wellbeing. On this foundation, they have built a rich healthcare and educational practice. This physicalist version of Christian anthropology is a unique worldview contribution to philosophy of the body and a subject worthy of academic attention. (shrink)

*[[This paper appears in _Toward a Science of Consciousness II: The Second Tucson Discussions and Debates_ (S. Hameroff, A. Kaszniak, and A.Scott, eds), published with MIT Press in 1998. It is a transcript of my talk at the second Tucson conference in April 1996, lightly edited to include the contents of overheads and to exclude some diversions with a consciousness meter. A more in-depth argument for some of the claims in this paper can be found in Chapter 6 of my (...) book _The Conscious Mind_ (Chalmers, 1996). ]]. (shrink)

Confronted with the apparent explanatory gap between physical processes and consciousness, there are many possible reactions. Some deny that any explanatory gap exists at all. Some hold that there is an explanatory gap for now, but that it will eventually be closed. Some hold that the explanatory gap corresponds to an ontological gap in nature.

In this innovative study, Lea David critically investigates the relationship between human rights and memory, suggesting that, instead of understanding human rights in a normative fashion, human rights should be treated as an ideology. Conceptualizing human rights as an ideology gives us useful theoretical and methodological tools to recognize the real impact human rights has on the ground. David traces the rise of the global phenomenon that is the human rights memorialization agenda, termed 'Moral Remembrance', and explores what (...) happens once this agenda becomes implemented. Based on evidence from the Western Balkans and Israel/Palestine, she argues that the human rights memorialization agenda does not lead to a better appreciation of human rights but, contrary to what would be expected, it merely serves to strengthen national sentiments, divisions and animosities along ethnic lines, and leads to the new forms of societal inequalities that are closely connected to different forms of corruptions. (shrink)

Liberal thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were alert to the political costs and human cruelties involved in European colonialism, but they also thought that European expansion held out progressive possibilities. In Progress, Pluralism, and Politics David Williams examines the colonial and anti-colonial arguments of Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, and L.T. Hobhouse. Williams locates their ambivalent attitude towards European conquest and colonial rule in a set of tensions between the impact of colonialism on European states, the (...) possibilities of progress in distant and diverse places, and the relationship between universalism and cultural pluralism. In so doing he reveals some of the central ambiguities that characterize the ways that liberal thought has dealt with the reality of an illiberal world. Of particular importance are appeals to various forms of universal history, attempts to mediate between the claims of identity and the reality of difference, and the different ways of thinking about the achievement of liberal goods in other places. Pointing to key elements in still ongoing debates within liberal states about how they should relate to illiberal places, Progress, Pluralism, and Politics enriches the discussion on political thought and the relationship between liberalism and colonialism. (shrink)

As a continuation of the work of the third author in [5], we make further observations on the features of Galois cohomology in the general model theoretic context. We make explicit the connection between forms of definable groups and first cohomology sets with coefficients in a suitable automorphism group. We then use a method of twisting cohomology (inspired by Serre’s algebraic twisting) to describe arbitrary fibres in cohomology sequences—yielding a useful “finiteness” result on cohomology sets. Applied to the special case (...) of differential fields and Kolchin’s constrained cohomology, we complete results from [3] by proving that the first constrained cohomology set of a differential algebraic group over a bounded, differentially large, field is countable. (shrink)