We construct an algebra of generalized functions endowed with a canonical embedding of the space of Schwartz distributions.We offer a solution to the problem of multiplication of Schwartz distributions similar to but different from Colombeau’s solution.We show that the set of scalars of our algebra is an algebraically closed field unlike its counterpart in Colombeau theory, which is a ring with zero divisors. We prove a Hahn–Banach extension principle which does not hold in Colombeau theory. We establish a connection between (...) our theory with non-standard analysis and thus answer, although indirectly, a question raised by Colombeau. This article provides a bridge between Colombeau theory of generalized functions and non-standard analysis. (shrink)

“Facts don’t come with their own meaning attached.” Tzvetan Todorov Alex John London is frustrated by the commonly encountered situation of doctors thinking that they know what is bes...

Aux sources du sentiment européen de l'identité se trouverait un héritage contrasté d'idées et de croyances venu des « Lumières » du XVIII siècle. Telle est la thèse développée dans L'Esprit des Lumières, un essai philosophique et politique publié en 2006 par Tzvetan Todorov. Cette mutation radicale de la pensée est un phénomène historique qui se produit en Europe, au XVIII siècle, et est « responsable de [l']identité présente » des Européens. L'auteur en réexamine les acquis, le projet initial, (...) les grands principes et les errements ultérieurs, en insistant sur l'actualité de ce qui serait « la création la plus prestigieuse de l'Europe »: cet idéal, cet « esprit » éclairé, lucide, de « libre examen [...] critique ». Il termine par un acte de foi: « l'identité de l'Europe [et] donc sa "volonté générale" [ne] pourr[ont] s'affirmer [que] si l'on s'appuie sur les analyses faites à l'époque des Lumières. "Aux Européens de s'unir pour y parvenir!"The sources of feeling European identity would be a legacy of contrasting ideas and beliefs came from the "Enlightenment" of the eighteenth century. This is the thesis of The Spirit of Enlightenment, a philosophical essay and policy published in 2006 by Tzvetan Todorov. This radical change of thought is a historical phenomenon that occurs in Europe in the eighteenth century, and is "responsible for [the] present identity" of Europeans. The author reviews the achievements, the initial project, the principles and the subsequent wanderings, stressing the relevance of this would be "creating the most prestigious of Europe": this ideal, this "spirit" informed lucid, "free examination [...] criticism." It ends with an act of faith: "Europe's identity [and] hence its" general will "[not] Pourr [have] to say [that] if one relies on the analyzes made the Enlightenment. "For the Europeans to unite to achieve!". (shrink)

Sentences with slifting parentheticals The formal analysis of natural language, Mouton, The Hague, 1973) grammaticalize an intriguing interaction between truth-conditional meaning and speech act function. In such sentences, the assertion strength of the slifted clause is modulated by the parenthetical, which provides evidential support :480–496, 1952; Asher in J Semant 17:31–50, 2000; Rooryck in Glot Int 5:125–133, 2001; Jayez and Rossari in: Corblin, de Swart Handbook of French semantics, CSLI, Stanford, 2004; Davis et al. in Proc Semant Linguist Theory 17:71–88, (...) 2007; Simons in Lingua 117:1034–1056, 2007; Murray in Semant Pragmat 7:1–53, 2014; Maier and Bary in: Brochhagen et al. Proceedings of the 20th Amsterdam colloquium, 2015; AnderBois in Semant Pragmat 9:1–55, 2016; Hunter in Dialogue Discourse 7:1–35, 2016). Starting with the idea that assertability comes in degrees, this paper develops a probabilistic updatemodel that captures the role of parentheticality as a language tool for qualifying commitments. A crucial role here is played by the rule of Jeffrey conditionalization, which factors in the uncertainty of the parenthetical information itself. The model also derives certain effects of parenthetical modification not found in regular embedding constructions, including the fact that slifting parentheticals are limited to creating upward-entailing environments. (shrink)

This paper discusses the evolutionary origin and adaptive functions of emotions, in line with contemporary evolutionary psychology. Drawing upon Charles Darwin’s study of emotional expressions, it is argued that there is an evolutionary continuity among animals in emotional capacities, and that the differences between humans and animals are differences in degree and not in kind. The focus is on basic or primary emotions (joy, fear, sadness, anger), as it has been consistently shown that they are universal and shared among many (...) different species. Basis for this view is the neuroscientific research on brain mechanisms underlying the emotions, especially subcortical brain regions that are proven to be the evolutionary old loci of emotions, homologous across many species. These neuroscientific data provide convincing empirical evidence for the existence of emotional experiences in animals and the evolutionary continuity among species. (shrink)

This paper addresses the issue of the moral standing of nonhuman animals and their moral and legal rights. First of all, two most prominent views arguing for moral significance of animals are discussed. Peter Singer’s utilitarian view is that animals are sentient beings and therefore deserve equal consideration of their interests. Next, Tom Regan’s standpoint is that many animals have inherent value as experiencing subjects of a life, and consequently an equal right to be treated with respect. This is followed (...) by a discussion about legislation and legal practice in our country and abroad. Finally, it is argued that animals should have at least some basic rights guaranteed by the law. (shrink)

We prove that the additive group of the rationals does not have an automatic presentation. The proof also applies to certain other abelian groups, for example, torsion-free groups that are p-divisible for infinitely many primes p, or groups of the form ⊕ p∈I Z(p ∞ ), where I is an infinite set of primes.

This article discusses the Bulgarian response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bulgarian case is characterized by an ineffective constitution of the individuals as subjects of responsibility for the health of the population, which resulted in a vaccine coverage considerably lower than the European average. The article argues that the fragile responsibilization is an effect of the response to the pandemic that, building on older post-socialist regulations of the access to healthcare, instead of restricting the circulation of bodies in general, tried (...) to differentiate between economically productive and unproductive circulation and to limit only the latter by progressively increasing its differential costs (both in terms of time and efforts and in terms of risks). An analysis of the legal actions against quarantine violators, however, suggests that such a strategy stimulated the public to respond to the pandemic by calculating risks, and if the social actors nevertheless behaved irresponsibly, it was often because they took into account not only the risks posed by the virus but also smaller-scale risks affecting their social support networks. The authorities, however, tried to repair the unreliable responsibilization by articulating an ad hoc right to health defined at the level of the population. That biopolitical right to health was crucial to the implementation of certificate requirements. It was harmonized with individual rights by opening up fields of choice such as the choice between vaccination and daily testing. However, since the differential costs of the higher-risk options seemed irrational, the constellation of individual rights and right to health left a growing residue of irresponsible conducts justifying a further intensification of control. (shrink)

This paper deals with the latent religious aspects of the tremendous impact that the Inter­net manifests in every single segment of contemporary culture. Through comparative research of the ways primordial, archetypal cognitive matrices migrated throughout different modalities of our thinking and behavior in the 20th and 21st centuries, the following research argues that deep religious longings might have been hidden (ignored, even abused) in the various ways the planetary informational network is exploited in our times. As a consequence, an alarming (...) need for philosophical and theological rethinking and re-inspiring of this prodigious, unprecedented and omnipresent social prosthesis is recognized. (shrink)

This concise book from internationally renowned historian Tzvetan Todorov establishes the Enlightenment as the philosophical cornerstone of the modern world and argues that the wisdom of those times is just as relevant today.

The paper problematizes the work and evolution of a Bulgarian artist from the point of view of the biographical approach, his artistic interventions and his re-legitimization as a contemporary artist. It discusses various aspects of contemporary art from the point of view of the artist, his interventions, market demands, the underlying contradictions, as well as the transformative tendencies in the small graphics. The paper argues that it is necessary to expand the understanding of contemporary art with certain actions of artists.

Review of H. Biesenbach: Anspielungen und Zitate im Werk Ludwig Wittgensteins (2011).

One of Hume's most well-known works and a masterpiece of philosophy, A Treatise of Human Nature is indubitably worth taking the time to read.

The natural law is a overempiric law that does not owe his dignity to the legal norm than to the intrinsic qualities of a human being. This paper presents a different hierarchical position of the natural law in the critics of capitalism from K. Marx to our days and its different intonation as a superpositive framework of justice. One should analytically differentiate between theoretical search for social justice in the philosophy of the natural law and empirical identification of power relations (...) that allowed or hindered social justice in the reality. The paper provides analysis of historically different relationships between positive and radical natural law in both the compressed 20th century epochal conscience and today?s neoliberal one. In addition, it compares role of the natural law in capitalism and socialism and differentiates between social justice from above and social justice from below. The first one is gratuitous, paternalistic and limited, the second one is radical and has to be conquered. Radical natural law should express itself as a fully developed social justice liberated from capitalism. Critic of social unjustice from the viewpoint of natural law has no practical effects in our days, and in spite of it, it is not anachronistic. (shrink)

Rad je deo kritike vladajuceg diskursa o smrti i o umiranju. Razmotreni su dublji segmenti kod poimanja smrti u ideologiji levice i desnice. Kao neosnovano je uoceno i problematizovano antitotalitarno izjednacavanje vidjenja smrti kod komunista i fasista. Mistifikovanja i pravdanja zrtve koja je pala u slavu bozje volje, rasne krvi ili klase nisu istovetna. Razlicit je stupanj iracionalizacije i drugaciji je sadrzaj nade u spasenje. Razlicita politicka upotreba smrti prikazana je na primerima ideologije i prakse fasizma i socijalizma. Za razliku (...) od konzervativnog i melanholicnog gledanja da je smrt pravedna i nepotkupljiva otuda sto nas sve pogadja, levica istice da su smrt i umiranje nerazdvojivo povezani sa uslovima zivljenja. Vlast, a ne bog, ideoloski uoblicava strah od smrti, tumaci ga i koristi. Kriticka teorija vidi suocavanje sa smrcu kao deo emancipatorske prakse i kritike kapitalizma. Izneta kritika antitotalitarne neoliberalne tanatologije deo je istog nastojanja. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 149005: Drustveni akteri i drustvene promene u Srbiji 1990-2010. (shrink)

Der folgende Text geh?rt zur kritischen Thanatologie. In allen bekannten Kulturen wurden Normen f?r den guten und den schlechten Tod von der herrschenden normativen Thanatologien aufgestellt und Kontrollmechanismen installiert. Pr?mortales und postmortales soziales Sterben ist eine Art der Exklusion der Anderen und wird unter?schiedlich bestimmt: als damnatio memoriae, atlantische Sklaventum, Randst?ndigkeit, Isolation oder als Rollenverlust. Das soziale Tod hat einen Klassenaspekt, als den ganzen Klassen Ged?chtnis entnommen wurde. Hier werden nur einige Arten und Beispilen des sozialen Mord kritisch er?rtert: damnatio (...) memoriae, politische Mord und Sklaventum. Es handelt sich um die institutionelle Verarbeitung und Kodierung von Sterben und Tod durch Staat, Religion und Politik. In der Geschichte sind verschieden V?lkern und Klasssen einem intensiveren sozialen Sterbeprozess und der sozialen T?tung unterworfen. Mit Identit?tszerst?rung der Beherrschten ist das soziale mit dem physischen Sterben harmonischer zu verbinden. Es ist auch auf die Differenz zwischen sozialen und politischen T?tung hingewiesen. Am Ende sind einige Aspekte der heutigen geheimen T?tung erw?hnt. (shrink)

Der folgende Text geh?rt zur kritischen Thanatologie. In allen bekannten Kulturen wurden Normen f?r den guten und den schlechten Tod von der herrschenden normativen Thanatologien aufgestellt und Kontrollmechanismen installiert. Pr?mortales und postmortales soziales Sterben ist eine Art der Exklusion der Anderen und wird unter?schiedlich bestimmt: als damnatio memoriae, atlantische Sklaventum, Randst?ndigkeit, Isolation oder als Rollenverlust. Das soziale Tod hat einen Klassenaspekt, als den ganzen Klassen Ged?chtnis entnommen wurde. Hier werden nur einige Arten und Beispilen des sozialen Mord kritisch er?rtert: damnatio (...) memoriae, politische Mord und Sklaventum. Es handelt sich um die institutionelle Verarbeitung und Kodierung von Sterben und Tod durch Staat, Religion und Politik. In der Geschichte sind verschieden V?lkern und Klasssen einem intensiveren sozialen Sterbeprozess und der sozialen T?tung unterworfen. Mit Identit?tszerst?rung der Beherrschten ist das soziale mit dem physischen Sterben harmonischer zu verbinden. Es ist auch auf die Differenz zwischen sozialen und politischen T?tung hingewiesen. Am Ende sind einige Aspekte der heutigen geheimen T?tung erw?hnt. (shrink)

In diesem Texte werden die Kriterien zur Differenzierung von historischen, politischen und heroischen Generationen und ihren Hauptarten in USA, BR Deutschland, China, Serbien und Croatien er?rtert. Kriege und Revolutionen werden als zentrale generationsschaffende Ereignisse markiert. Es werden auch die konstruierten wie auch zugeschriebenen Generationsidentit?tsarten dargestellt. Die Generation ist als eine mehr oder wenig klare Gruppe aufgefa?t, die durch Zusammensetzung von biographischem und kollektivem Ged?chtnis entstanden ist. Die Generation als eine Art von Zeitstruktur ist bei der Reduktion und Erkl?rung der Vergangenheit (...) anwendbar. Es ist immer eine offene Frage in welchem Masse die Generationen die realen handelnden Subjekte, oder blo?e symbolische Heimat, dh. eine durchg?ngige Erinnerungsgemeinschaft sind? Es wird auf die Gr?nden der Entstehung der balkanischen heroischen Generationen hingewiesen, auf ihre Natur und Aktualit?t. In Westeuropa ist diese Art von Generation schon lange nicht mehr aktuell. Es wird auch darauf hingewiesen, dass durch die Heroisierung einer Generationserfahrung die Herrschaftsgruppen eigene Werte oktroyieren k?nnen. Razmotreni su kriteriji razlikovanja istorijskih, politickih i herojskih generacija i prikazani njihovi konkretni primeri u SAD, SR Nemackoj, NR Kini Srbiji i Hrvatskoj. Ratovi i revolucije su uoceni kao glavni generacijski formativni dogadjaji, ali su prikazani i oblici konstruisanog i pripisanog generacijskog samoopisa. Generacija je rastumacena kao manje ili vise prepoznatljiva grupa formirana prozimanjem biografskog i kolektivnog pamcenja. Kao jedna od kategorija u mrezi slozenih vremenskih struktura generacija je korisna kod redukovanja i objasnjenja slozenosti proslosti. Otvoreno je pitanje koliko su generacije realni akteri promena, a koliko tek simbolicki vremenski zavicaj, tj. efemerna zajednica secanja? Blize su analizirani uzroci nastanka, priroda i aktuelnost balkanskih herojskih generacija. U Zapadnoj Evropi ova vrsta generacija odavno nije aktuelna. Uoceno je da se heroizacijom iskustva jedne generacije mogu uspesno nametati vrednosti vladajucih grupa. (shrink)

U radu se analizira slika danasnjeg hegemonog secanja na titoizam. Prikazane su raznovrsne instrumentalne redukcije u domacoj kulturi secanja koje obuhvataju demonizacije i negativne simbolizacije titoizma. Blize su razmotreni raznovrsni mitovi i ideologizacije kod pamcenja titoizma, zatim cinioci selektivnog secanja i novi sklop secanja na titoizam. Uoceno je da su privatizacija i retradicionalizacija glavni cinioci kreiranja novih okvira za pamcenje socijalizma i za novu negativnu simbolizaciju titoizma.

This paper considers the epistemological value of the concept of political theology in thanatopolitics. The concept can be useful if one wants to interpret political usage of death. In addition to blurred boundaries between politics and theology, there is a more general and deeper socially integrative affinity between the two. In addition, there have been various politicizations of salvation in the past and in the present. Every political theology accentuates obedience as an immanent condition of salvation, although interpretation of death (...) in political theology has a different function than in secular ideologies. In the centre of politically theological ideas one can find crosscutting of the divisions between public friend and public enemy from political world with similar divisions from religious world. Finally, beside the theological influence on politics, this paper considers some analogies between theology and the secular judiciary. (shrink)

U radu se analizira slika danasnjeg hegemonog secanja na titoizam. Prikazane su raznovrsne instrumentalne redukcije u domacoj kulturi secanja koje obuhvataju demonizacije i negativne simbolizacije titoizma. Blize su razmotreni raznovrsni mitovi i ideologizacije kod pamcenja titoizma, zatim cinioci selektivnog secanja i novi sklop secanja na titoizam. Uoceno je da su privatizacija i retradicionalizacija glavni cinioci kreiranja novih okvira za pamcenje socijalizma i za novu negativnu simbolizaciju titoizma.