This landmark work provides a systematic introduction to systems of modal logic and stands as the first presentation of what have become central ideas in philosophy of language and metaphysics, from the "new theory of reference" and non-linguistic necessity and essentialism to "Kripke semantics.".

Within the realm of structures of society, the caste system, a unique example among all the aspects of human adventure, represents at the level of social morphology, that is in the manner of grouping characteristic of a society, India's most original contribution to human history within all great civilizations, to the point that India's civilization is generally identified by the principal feature of its morphology.

Since time immemorial, the most varied divinatory practices have flourished in India. Their prognostications were supplied by the interpretation of quite diverse omina and portenta: Thus “meteors” (lightning, rain or comets) earthquakes, the flight and cries of crows and other birds, the degree of clarity of a subject's image reflected in melted butter (gharta), lines and marks on a body, the direction taken by smoke rising from the altar once the rite had condensed a certain magic power from it (prabhāva), (...) dreams, all were thought to furnish the diviner with presages. As the abundant lists of the Garga samhitā and the Brhat Sarnmitā testify, for a conscience attentive to the intersigns there is no reality, even the most insignificant, that does not lend itself directly or by contiguity to systematic interpretation. (shrink)

La question des rapports entre philosophie et poésie n'a cessé de solliciter la réflexion comme s'il y avait entre elles affinité et hostilité secrètes. Qu'en est-il du rapport sans séparation ni confusion entre philosophie et poésie? Penseurs et poètes peuvent-ils se rencontrer? Et quels sont les voies et moyens de leur possible conciliation? L'affinité secrète entre métaphysique et poésie est d'abord élucidée à la lumière de la philosophie de Schelling. Il est ensuite fait droit à la secrète hostilité entre poésie (...) et philosophie en se référant à la conception du poète et penseur Yves Bonnefoy. Enfin sont explorées les voies d'une conciliation par l'analyse de l'intuition créatrice dans l'art et la poésie développée par Jacques Maritain, et par la conception de la « fonction Méta » proposée par Stanislas Breton. En définitive, il se pourrait que la poésie aille plus loin que la métaphysique, ainsi que le proclama R. W. Emerson célébrant l'office de la poésie et n'hésitant pas à comparer le Poète au Créateur. Since Plato, the question of the relation between philosophy and poetry is a vexed one. The consideration of this question presupposes a knowledge on our part : what are we to expect from philosophy conceived as the theoretical activity of mind and what are we to expect from poetry conceived as a higher kind of aesthetic experience? The purpose of this paper is to determine the relation between philosophy and poetry, which are apt to be regarded as hostile to each other, by discussing some approaches to the problem held by thinkers in this respect. While a metaphysician like Schelling advocated the affinity between philosophy and poetry, a poet and a thinker like Yves Bonnefoy maintains the separation between them. But according to the views of Jacques Maritain and Stanislas Breton their separation is altogether unwarranted. It is to draw ourselves closer to the intrinsic truth and beauty of the universe that we seek the aid of poetry. Thus the poet is often found compared to the Creator and the Creator to the poet. (shrink)

Appearing in English for the first time, Schelling’s 1842 lectures develop the idea that many philosophical concepts are born of religious-mythological notions.

With precision and profundity born of 30 years of devoted study, John Boyle offers an essential introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas on Scripture, shedding helpful light on the goals, methods, and commitments that animate the Angelic Doctor's engagement with the sacred page. Because the genius of St. Thomas's approach to the Bible lies not so much in its novelty but rather in the fidelity and clarity with which he recapitulates the riches of the preceding interpretive Tradition, this initiation into St. (...) Thomas's vision of Scripture is itself an orientation to the Church's vision of Scripture, from the Fathers through and beyond the Middle Ages. St. Thomas's embeddedness within the Church's Tradition and his own historical context is integral to his approach to Scripture, yet it sets him at some distance from modern readers, for whom his interpretive vision may seem perplexing or even impenetrable. In this Primer, Boyle first provides an acclimation to this medieval context through a survey and explanation of pertinent technical terminology used by St. Thomas and characteristic of the scholastic theology of the time. With an eye to the medieval practice of considering Scripture according to the fourfold division of causes, Boyle builds on this initial foundation by exploring in turn St. Thomas's accounts of the end or use of Scripture (final cause), its divine and human authorship (efficient cause), its order and division (material cause), and its literary styles or genres (formal cause). Drawing on writings from across St. Thomas's corpus, but especially his work On the Commendation and Division of Sacred Scripture and the prologues to his biblical commentaries, Boyle masterfully elucidates both the hermeneutical principles and deep wisdom of the Angelic Doctor's approach to Scripture, imparting invaluable guidance not only for reading and understanding St. Thomas and other great masters of the Tradition, but also-and ultimately-for understanding Scripture in light of this Tradition and reading it with greater benefit and joy. (shrink)

Because of the widespread feminine priority that makes it the receptacle of śakti, India is definitely “one of the last bastions of the Mother,” as is pointed out in a recent book. If in fact there is a “maternalistic” culture it is certainly that of India, in spite of the legal regime, in which the element of affectionate magic characterizing all life and all organic intimacy is affirmed through the warm symbiosis of mother-child love. A miracle of that absolute love (...) incarnated with a natural serenity by millions of mothers dispensing a felicitous affectionate security, instilled in the Indian soul throughout its entire life. The traits of the Hindu personality and the principle content of its culture are organized and ordered around this center, characterized by an extraordinary coherence. Since its construction begins with this “dual unity” the Hindu personality has necessarily the popolarity of fusion-separation as a pivot. This is the central theme of S. Kakar, who, basing his conclusions on results of clinical psychoanalyses of Hindu individuals as well as on contributions from the collective imagination (folklore and myths) claims to discern the ontogenetic source of the supreme ideal of deliverance (mokṣa) in early childhood and, more specifically, in the strong unconscious desire to find again the benevolent presence of the “good mother”. (shrink)

Many countries are experimenting with planned (or quasi-) markets to discover if they can efficiently deliver health care in keeping with societal objectives. This paper examines the information requirements of this approach. Information is necessary in order to compare the performance of providers, to support billing, and to monitor access to care. It should be accurate, unambiguous, and resistant to manipulation. We draw on a project to find out how information on hospitalisation could be used in contracting in the British (...) National Health Service. We conclude that the existing British system fails to provide robust measures of how many patients are treated, for what conditions, and with what treatments. We identify some promising remedies, others that are more difficult, and some which may be impossible to implement in any planned market, given the uncertainty of clinical practice. (shrink)

"The chief business of twentieth-century philosophy” is “to reckon with twentieth-century history," claimed R. G. Collingwood. In this remarkable collection of essays, Frank Ankersmit demonstrates the prescience of that remark and goes a long way toward meeting its challenge. Responding to the work of Hayden White, Arthur Danto, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, he examines such issues as the difference between historical representation and artistic expression, the status of metaphor in historical description, and the relation of postmodernism to historicism. Ankersmit's fluent grasp (...) of European thought and his ability to incorporate concepts from literary theory, art history, the philosophy of science, and political thought into his analyses assure that this collection will interest readers throughout the humanities. (shrink)

I present a possible worlds semantics for a hyperintensional belief revision operator, which reduces the logical idealization of cognitive agents affecting similar operators in doxastic and epistemic logics, as well as in standard AGM belief revision theory. (Revised) belief states are not closed under classical logical consequence; revising by inconsistent information does not perforce lead to trivialization; and revision can be subject to ‘framing effects’: logically or necessarily equivalent contents can lead to different revisions. Such results are obtained without resorting (...) to non-classical logics, or to non-normal or impossible worlds semantics. The framework combines, instead, a standard semantics for propositional S5 with a simple mereology of contents. (shrink)

Huck Finn’s emotional responses constitute perfectly good moral reasons not to betray his friend, even though Huck is unable to recognise them as such.

The essays in this collection address different aspects of Dewey's philosophy of logic, from his work at the beginning of the twentieth century to the culmination of his logical thought in the 1938 volume, Logic: The Theory of Inquiry.

Laughter as superiority -- The elements of laughter -- The one necessary thing -- Objections to the normative thesis -- Comic virtues and vices -- The social virtues -- The charismatic virtues -- Machine law -- Machine scholarship -- Machine art and machine cities -- The battle of the norms -- Resistance to laughter -- The sociability thesis -- Conclusion.

razdel I. Istoriko-filosofskie issledovanii︠a︡ -- razdel II. Filosofskie i sot︠s︡ialʹno-politicheskie problemy -- razdel III. Istorii︠a︡ v lit︠s︡akh.