We investigate the problem of “wave packet reduction” in quantum mechanics by solving the Schrödinger equation for a system composed of a model measuring apparatusM interacting with a microscopic objects. The “instrument” is intended to be somewhat more realistic than others previously proposed, but at the same time still simple enough to lead to an explicit solution for the time-dependent density matrix. It turns out that,practically, everything happens as if the wave packet reduction had occurred. This is a consequence of (...) the fact that the apparatus is made up of a very large number of microsystems interacting withs. More precisely, our model shows that the “macroscopic size” of a measuring apparatus can lead by itself to a density matrix for the systemM + s which is physically equivalent to the density matrix of a statistical mixture corresponding to the reduced wave packet. (shrink)

The question of how inequality is generated and how it reproduces over time has been a major concern for social scientists for more than a century. Yet the relationship between inequality and the process of economic development is far from being well understood. These Raffaele Mattioli Lectures have brought together two of the world's leading economists, Professors Philippe Aghion and Jeffrey Williamson, to question the conventional wisdom on inequality and growth, and address its inability to explain recent economic experience. (...) Professor Aghion assesses the affects of inequality on growth, and asks whether inequality matters: if so why is excessive inequality bad for growth, and is it possible to reconcile aggregate findings with macroeconomic theories of incentives? In the second part Jeffrey Williamson discusses the Kuznets hypothesis, and focuses on the causes of the rise of wage and income inequality in developed economies. (shrink)

This paper corresponds to the first of two parts that make up a study on the question of teleology in the notes of the young Nietzsche between 1867 and 1869. On the whole, the study intends to offer a reading of three sets of notes written by the philosopher in that period: Zu Schopenhauer, Zur Teleologie, and Vom Ursprung der Sprache, with a clear focus on the notes on teleology of 1868. My aim is to try to show that, despite (...) Nietzsche's various criticisms of teleology and his apparent adherence (via Lange) to Darwinism, his position is best understood as a kind of vitalism, which is receptive to the idea of an unconscious intentionality in nature, but which explicitly rejects the anthropomorphically inflated conception of a divine designer. In this first part of the study, I focus on an analysis of the text Zu Schopenhauer and part of the set of notes collected under the title Zur Teleologie. (shrink)

Neste artigo, pretendo discutir alguns problemas que emergem da associação, já comum na literatura secundária, entre o último dualismo pulsional freudiano, baseado na oposição entre pulsões de vida e de morte, e as teses schopenhauerianas sobre a vida e a morte derivadas de sua metafísica da vontade. A partir de uma confrontação com as leituras de Marcel Zentner e Stephan Atzert, argumentarei a favor da hipótese de que a diferença mais relevante entre os modelos de Freud e de Schopenhauer não (...) diz respeito à distinção no plano ontológico entre dualismo das pulsões e monismo da vontade, mas sim entre sentido biológico e sentido ético da suposta finalidade associada à morte, como “fim” ou “objetivo” da vida. Minha discussão, portanto, gira em torno de uma distinção quanto ao estatuto teleológico que se pode atribuir à dinâmica da relação entre vida e morte nos dois autores. (shrink)

In this paper, I intend to argue that the emergence of the material conditions for the suppression and denial of the will in the human organism is not something like an “accident on the way” of will's manifestation in the world. It is rather, as it were, an intentional result of the whole process of objectivation of the will, a result that emerges from a teleological order. This teleological order is primary and more fundamental than the teleological order of nature (...) that produces each phenomenon and each organic structure according to its ability to promote the emergence, conservation and expansion of life. This means that we have to understand the problematic principle of nature's purposiveness in Schopenhauer's thought as containing two distinct and largely contradictory orders of purpose. We can call these two orders of purposiveness “order of nature” and “order of salvation”. These two orders of purpose correspond to what I understand to be two forms of teleology that coexist in constant tension in his system: a functional and an ethical-soteriological teleology. (shrink)

Hume's Reception in Early America: Expanded Edition brings together the original American responses to one of Britain's greatest men of letters, David Hume. Now available as a single volume paperback, this new edition includes updated further readings suggestions and dozens of additional primary sources gathered together in a completely new concluding section. From complete pamphlets and booklets, to poems, reviews, and letters, to extracts from newspapers, religious magazines and literary and political journals, this book's contents come from a wide variety (...) of sources published in colonial America and the early United States between 1758 and 1850. As well as classics by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, it contains scores of unknown and hard-to-locate items, many of which have not been reprinted since their original publication. These responses are divided into four parts covering Hume's Essays; his Philosophical Writings; his History of England; and his Character and Death. Each of those parts has a separate introductory essay, and every selection is introduced by a short headnote that sets the piece in its historical context and provides bibliographical references. Packed with new insights into Hume and American thought and culture, Hume's Reception in Early America reveals the relevance and impact of Hume on American political, philosophical, historical, religious, and aesthetic debates. (shrink)

Neste artigo, pretendo discutir o problema da vida em Schopenhauer a partir da perspectiva de sua metafísica da natureza, que implica uma concepção teleológica da evolução das formas de manifestação da vontade segundo uma hierarquia de seus graus de objetivação. Meu ponto de partida é a fórmula schopenhaueriana mediante a qual o autor apresenta sua concepção básica acerca da essência de todo fenômeno: a “vontade de vida”. Investigarei se e em que medida a noção de vida que encontramos em sua (...) filosofia da natureza, a partir do conceito de “força vital”, o compromete ou ao menos o aproxima de uma posição que podemos chamar de vitalista, e isso com base na distinção entre três sentidos e graus de abrangência que podemos atribuir a uma tal posição: desde uma posição menos onerosa do ponto de vista metafísico e mais moderada no que diz respeito às suas pretensões, a uma posição mais radical, estrita, universalista e metafisicamente mais robusta. O trabalho que se segue é a primeira parte de um estudo sobre o problema da vida e da força vital em Schopenhauer, que será continuado numa segunda parte. (shrink)

Resenha de: BIGNOTTO, Golpe de Estado: História de uma idéia. Rio de Janeiro, Bazar do Tempo, 2021.

In this paper I will point out and analyze an ambiguity in the notion of “justification” in Nietzsche's first book: The Birth of Tragedy. This ambiguity concerns the psychological and metaphysical element that allows the world to appear as justified through the process of transfiguration, the act of redemption, and the state of metaphysical solace, which come about either by the discharge of the sufferings of the “Primordial-One” into sublimating appearances and images (which occurs by the effect of the Apollonian (...) Drive), or by the return to the maternal heart of nature through the tearing-apart of the principle of individuation (which occurs by the effect of the Dionysian). An analysis of different passages in which the terms “justification”, “redemption” and “metaphysical solace” appear in the text will allow us to see that, in confrontation with Schopenhauer's pessimism, Nietzsche elaborates two distinct conceptions of aesthetic justification of existence, linked to a teleological interpretation of nature that admits a specific telos for each of its fundamental drives. (shrink)

Resumo: Este artigo corresponde à segunda de duas partes que perfazem um estudo sobre a questão da teleologia nos apontamentos do jovem Nietzsche entre 1867 e 1869. No seu todo, o trabalho pretende oferecer uma leitura de três conjuntos de notas escritos pelo filósofo nesse período: Zu Schopenhauer, Zur Teleologie e Vom Ursprung der Sprache, com um claro enfoque nas notas sobre a teleologia, de 1868. Meu objetivo é tentar mostrar que, apesar das diversas críticas de Nietzsche à teleologia e (...) de sua aparente adesão ao darwinismo, sua posição é melhor compreendida como um tipo de vitalismo, que é receptivo à ideia de uma intencionalidade inconsciente na natureza, mas que recusa explicitamente a concepção antropomorficamente inflacionada de um designer divino. Nesta segunda parte do estudo, encerro minha análise, iniciada na primeira parte, do conjunto de notas reunidas sob o título Zur Teleologie e as contextualizo no horizonte das teses defendidas por Nietzsche no texto Vom Ursprung der Sprache, escrito cerca de um ano depois.: This paper corresponds to the second of two parts that make up a study on the question of teleology in the notes of the young Nietzsche between 1867 and 1869. On the whole, the study intends to offer a reading of three sets of notes written by the philosopher in that period: Zu Schopenhauer, Zur Teleologie, and Vom Ursprung der Sprache, with a clear focus on the notes on teleology of 1868. My aim is to show that, despite Nietzsche’s various criticisms of teleology and his apparent adherence to Darwinism, his position is best understood as a kind of vitalism, which is receptive to the idea of an unconscious intentionality in nature, but explicitly rejects the anthropomorphically inflated conception of a divine designer. In this second part of the study, I close my analysis of the set of notes collected under the title Zur Teleologie and contextualize them in the horizon of the theses defended by Nietzsche in the text Vom Ursprung der Sprache, written a year later. (shrink)

A recepção de Nietzsche da filosofia transcendental de Kant é intermediada por diversos autores de diferentes tendências filosóficas que se viam em continuidade com o projeto kantiano de uma filosofia crítica. Um desses autores é Afrikan Spir, filósofo que levou a cabo um programa de renovação da filosofia crítica que ia na contramão da tendência hegemônica na segunda metade do século XIX de naturalização do kantismo. A influência de Spir na construção de algumas das teses epistemológicas centrais do pensamento de (...) Nietzsche é variada, assim como sua importância no que tange à recepção e à crítica nietzscheana ao idealismo transcendental. Nietzsche se apropriou e reinterpretou várias teses e temas presentes na reformulação da teoria kantiana do transcendental proposta por Spir. O objetivo do presente trabalho é investigar o alcance e a importância dessa apropriação e suas consequências para a crítica de Nietzsche ao transcendentalismo. Esta crítica é formulada a partir do pensamento do devir, que constitui a base do seu programa de uma filosofia histórica. Nietzsche's reception of Kant's transcendental philosophy is mediated by various authors from different philosophical tendencies who saw themselves in continuity with the kantian project of critical philosophy. One of these authors is Afrikan Spir, a philosopher who undertook a program of renovation of critical philosophy that went against the tendency of naturalization of kantianism which was hegemonic in the second half of the 19th century. Spir's influence on some of Nietzsche's central epistemological theses is variegated, as well as his importance concerning Nietzsche's reception and criticism of transcendental idealism. Nietzsche appropriated and reinterpreted many theses and themes that featured Spir's reformulation of Kant's theory of the transcendental. The objective of this paper is to investigate the reach and the importance of this appropriation and their consequences for Nietzsche's criticism of transcendentalism. This critique is formulated on the basis of the thought of becoming, which provides, on its part, the basis for his program of a historical philosophy. (shrink)

Neste artigo, pretendo desenvolver algumas ideias em torno da relação entre as noções de sonho, sublimação e transfiguração no pensamento do jovem Nietzsche, mais especificamente, no âmbito da metafísica de artista elaborada por ele no Nascimento da tragédia. As reflexões que se seguem desdobram-se à luz do que considero ser a “teoria” do inconsciente presente neste momento de sua obra. Mesmo que o termo “sublimação” não ocorra nos textos do período, acredito que seu sentido esteja presente em diversas formulações do (...) autor acerca do processo mediante o qual o sofrimento e os impulsos violentos e destrutivos são refreados, deslocados, transformados e como que reintegrados em torno de uma imagem consolatória capaz de amenizar o sofrimento e harmonizar as forças em atividade no indivíduo e na cultura. Minha hipótese central é que Nietzsche enxerga, na produção inconsciente do sonho, o exemplo emblemático do processo de sublimação, enquanto evento psicológico, e que este funciona como paradigma para a formulação do importante conceito de transfiguração, que assume então uma função propriamente metafísica, no interior da proposta ética de justificação estética da existência. (shrink)

Emotion recognition, and in particular acial emotion recognition (FER), is among the most controversial applications of machine learning, not least because of its ethical implications for human subjects. In this article, we address the controversial conjecture that machines can read emotions from our facial expressions by asking whether this task can be performed reliably. This means, rather than considering the potential harms or scientific soundness of facial emotion recognition systems, focusing on the reliability of the ground truths used to develop (...) emotion recognition systems, assessing how well different human observers agree on the emotions they detect in subjects’ faces. Additionally, we discuss the extent to which sharing context can help observers agree on the emotions they perceive on subjects’ faces. Briefly, we demonstrate that when large and heterogeneous samples of observers are involved, the task of emotion detection from static images crumbles into inconsistency. We thus reveal that any endeavour to understand human behaviour from large sets of labelled patterns is over-ambitious, even if it were technically feasible. We conclude that we cannot speak of actual accuracy for facial emotion recognition systems for any practical purposes. (shrink)

Em 24 de agosto de 1572, Paris viveu um fato sangrento em sua história: “O Massacre da Noite de São Bartolomeu”, como ficou historicamente conhecido o evento, remete ao assassinato de milhares de huguenotes, a mando da casa real francesa, nas ruas da cidade. Mais um episódio dos conflitos religiosos que dividiram a França do século XVI, o banho de sangue protestante a mando da realeza católica seria, no século seguinte, louvado pelos teóricos seiscentistas da razão de Estado. Seguindo essa (...) linha, Gabriel Naudé, na obra Considérations politiques sur les coups-d'état, elogia o golpe que motivou o massacre, defendendo-o das acusações de tirania e o glorificando como ação legítima e necessária por parte dos governantes franceses. Examinar a apologia de Naudé ao referido massacre, e nela buscar a influência da obra de Nicolau Maquiavel exercida sobre o autor, é o escopo de nosso artigo. (shrink)

Problema clássico da filosofia política, a razão de Estado trata do uso da derroga por parte do governante, em vista da segurança e conservação do Estado. Essa questão – é legítimo ao príncipe descumprir as leis por um bem maior? – remonta à antiguidade, mas encontra seu ápice nos séculos XVI e XVII, acompanhando o nascimento da nova estrutura estatal de poder. Nesse período, o maquiavelismo e suas práticas dão o tom do debate, refletido nos gabinetes políticos da época, solo (...) do absolutismo europeu. A maior parte dos estudos sobre esse tema se concentra na Europa, na segunda metade do século XX, formando a base de comentários para os trabalhos contemporâneos sobre a razão de Estado moderna. As contribuições brasileiras, porém, são raras. O intuito deste artigo, portanto, é duplo: expor, brevemente, o percurso que caracteriza a formulação do conceito, e posteriormente apresentar os principais estudos recentes sobre o assunto, procurando enriquecer o debate brasileiro. (shrink)

This is a welcome reprint of a book that continues to grow in importance.

Editor James Fetzer presents an analytical and historical introduction and a comprehensive bibliography together with selections of many of Carl G. Hempel's most important studies to give students and scholars an ideal opportunity to appreciate the enduring contributions of one of the most influential philosophers of science of the 20th century.

This entirely new work guides the reader through the most basic systems of modal propositional logic up to systems of modal predicate with identity, dealing with both technical developments and discussing philosophical applications.

Biological evolution is a complex blend of ever changing structural stability, variability and emergence of new phe- notypes, niches, ecosystems. We wish to argue that the evo- lution of life marks the end of a physics world view of law entailed dynamics. Our considerations depend upon dis- cussing the variability of the very ”contexts of life”: the in- teractions between organisms, biological niches and ecosys- tems. These are ever changing, intrinsically indeterminate and even unprestatable: we do not know ahead of (...) time the ”niches” which constitute the boundary conditions on selec- tion. More generally, by the mathematical unprestatability of the ”phase space”, no laws of mo- tion can be formulated for evolution. We call this radical emergence, from life to life. The purpose of this paper is the integration of variation and diversity in a sound concep- tual frame and situate unpredictability at a novel theoretical level, that of the very phase space. Our argument will be carried on in close comparisons with physics and the mathematical constructions of phase spaces in that discipline. The role of symmetries as invariant preserving transformations will allow us to under- stand the nature of physical phase spaces and to stress the differences required for a sound biological theoretizing. In this frame, we discuss the novel notion of ”enablement”. Life lives in a web of enablement and radical emergence. This will restrict causal analyses to differential cases. Mutations or other causal differ- ences will allow us to stress that ”non conservation princi- ples” are at the core of evolution, in contrast to physical dynamics, largely based on conservation principles as sym- metries. Critical transitions, the main locus of symmetry changes in physics, will be discussed, and lead to ”extended criticality” as a conceptual frame for a better understanding of the living state of matter. (shrink)

Includes bibliographical references and index.