The paper compares Comenius’ usage of the terms unum, verum and bonum in his metaphysical writings both with the expression of the image of the Trinity in De civitate dei by Aurelius Augustinus and with the concept of existence as three basic movements in the philosophical work of Jan Patočka. The purpose of the text is to show, despite the differences in historical periods, language and life experience, the possible similarity or connection of the vision that Augustine, Comenius and (...) Patočka mediate in their works. (shrink)

This article deals with Kant’s intentions in adding § 12 of the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason. Here, Kant remarks on the so-called transcendentals (unum, verum, bonum) in the metaphysical or ontological tradition. This article focuses on their trans-categorial character to clarify their role in the system formation of Kant’s three critiques. In order to clarify Kant’s difficult terminology in § 12, fragments from his reflections and transcripts of his lectures are analyzed. Furthermore, an examination of (...) Kant’s references to qualitative unity, plurality, and perfection reveals that these logical criteria of cognition in general help him to organize the content of the three critiques. (shrink)

A new axiomatization of set theory, to be called Bernays-Boolos set theory, is introduced. Its background logic is the plural logic of Boolos, and its only positive set-theoretic existence axiom is a reflection principle of Bernays. It is a very simple system of axioms sufficient to obtain the usual axioms of ZFC, plus some large cardinals, and to reduce every question of plural logic to a question of set theory.

New Blackfriars, Volume 102, Issue 1101, Page 728-744, September 2021.

The idea that there are conceptual schemes, relative to which we conceptualize experience, and empirical content, the “raw” data of experience that get conceptualized through our conceptual schemes into beliefs or sentences, is not new. The idea that there are neither conceptual schemes nor empirical content, however, is. Moreover, it is so new, that only four arguments have so far been given against this dualism, with Donald Davidson himself presenting versions of all four. In this paper, I show that in (...) both the general and Davidson’s specific form the first three arguments against scheme-content dualism rely on the fourth. From many there is just one. Then I show that the fate of the first three arguments against scheme-content dualism hangs on that of the fourth. Finally I present four reasons why the fourth argument fails. For the sake of the dualism’s detractors, therefore, one can only hope that forthcoming arguments against scheme-content dualism fare better than those given so far. (shrink)

Regulatory schema has shifted from government to governance-based systems. One particular form that has emerged at the international level is the multi-stakeholder voluntary code of conduct (MSVC). We argue that such codes are not only simply mechanisms by which various stakeholders attempt to govern the action of the corporation but also systems by which each stakeholder attempts to gain or retain some legitimacy goal. Each stakeholder is motivated by strategic legitimacy goal to join the code, and once a member, is (...) also required to assist in maintaining the institutional legitimacy of the code, resulting in “networked legitimacy.” We begin our analysis of these systems by first exploring the growth and structure of such MSVCs, and then building an analytical framework using strategic and institutional legitimacy as they apply to such MSVCs. We contribute to the codes of conduct literature by developing the construct of networked legitimacy from strategic and institutional legitimacy. We then apply our framework to the United Nations Global Compact, one of the predominant MSVCs today. In doing so, we: (1) demonstrate how different stakeholders are pursuing different types of legitimacy through their participation in the code, (2) examine the specific opportunities and risks in terms of what we have called “networked legitimacy” posed by the institutional design of actual MSVCs, and (3) create an argument for three pillars supporting the legitimacy of MSVCs. (shrink)

Differenti sono i modi di conoscere che sono emersi nel corso della storia umana. Ian Hacking ha proposto una nozione, quella di "stile di pensiero" ("style of reasoning"), che fornisce un modello per caratterizzarli ed esaminare la loro genesi e il loro sviluppo. L'articolo mette in luce alcune implicazioni di questa nozione concernenti l'evoluzione del nostro sapere.

1 Il trapianto di norme e l’apporto della comparazione Così come altre discipline che si fondano sull’interpretazione, anche il diritto è stato interessato, negli ultimi decenni del Novecento, da tentazioni di “debolezza” e di relativismo critico. L’attrazione per le forme più radicali di relativismo ermeneutico pare oggi superata a favore di progetti di ricostruzione del significato degli enunciati giuridici: una nuova sistematica che si legittima nella comparazione esalta la ricerca di “pri...

Neuroscientists and psychologists have proposed a variety of well-supported theories to explain addiction. Many of these theories suggest that addiction results from a single process or dysfunction across all of its forms. The authors of the current review, in contrast, have used a well-defined theoretical account of decision-making to outline the variety of dysfunctions that could account for addictive behavior.

Name der Zeitschrift: Millennium Jahrgang: 10 Heft: 1 Seiten: 349-372.

The article starts with the Catholic and ecumenical reception of the invitation of Ut Unum Sint to establish a fraternal and patient dialogue in order to «find a way of exercising the primacy, which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation» . It concludes with the proposal of ordo communionis primatus, the order of communion of primacy, where one would more formally distinguish between «habitual and daily» exercise of (...) primacy and the extraordinary and ultimate Petrine ministry in the Church. The hope is this «new situation» may provide a complete realisation of the ardent prayer of Jesus, which indeed is the title of the encyclical Ut Unum Sint, «that all may be one». (shrink)

Anselm of Cantorbery wrote Proslogion, where is formulated the famous ‘Unum argumentum’ about the existence of God. This argument was been disputed and criticized by numerous logicians from an extensional view point. The classical predicate logic is not able to give a formal frame to develop an adequate analysis of this argument. According to us, this argument is not an ontological proof; it analyses the meaning of the “quo nihil maius cogitari posit”, a characterization of God, and establish, by (...) absurd, that “quod non posit cogitare non esse” by using the hypothesis: “to think in re” is taller than “to think in solo intelectu”. We discuss this relation and the difference between the meanings of the elementary predicates ‘to be in re’, ‘to be in intellectu’ and ‘to be in solo intellectu’. We propose a new logical approach of this ‘Unum argumentum’ of Anselm by using Curry’s Combinatory Logic. Indeed, Combinatory Logic is an abstract applicative formalism of operators applied to operands; in this formalism, the predicates, viewed as specific operators, can be composed and can be transformed, by an intrinsic way, into more complex predicates, by means of abstract operators, called “combinators”, studied by Combinatory Logic. We show that this formalism is a logical frame where it becomes possible to discuss and to formulate cognitive representations of the meanings of predicates used inside of the ‘Unum argumentum’ and to explain how the argument runs. (shrink)

English abstract: This paper discusses the delicate relationship between traditional epistemology and the increasingly influential probabilistic (or ‘Bayesian’) approach to epistemology. The paper introduces some of the key ideas of probabilistic epistemology, including credences or degrees of belief, Bayes’ theorem, conditionalization, and the Dutch Book argument. The tension between traditional and probabilistic epistemology is brought out by considering the lottery and preface paradoxes as they relate to rational (binary) belief and credence respectively. It is then argued that this tension can (...) be alleviated by rejecting the requirement that rational (binary) beliefs must be consistent and closed under logical entailment. Instead, it is suggested that this logical requirement applies to a different type of binary propositional attitude, viz. acceptance. (shrink)

W&S correctly ask if groups can be like individuals in the harmony and cooperation of their parts, but in their answer, they ignore the importance of the difference between genetically related and unrelated components, and also misconstrue the import of the Hutterites.

Kant and Leibniz are interested in explaining how a number of individuals can come together and form a single unified composite substance. Leibniz does not have a convincing account of how this is possible. In his pre-critical writings and in his later metaphysics lectures, Kant is committed to the claim that the idea of a world is the idea of a real whole, and hence is the idea of a composite substance. This metaphysical idea is taken over into his ethical (...) writings and becomes the idea of a realm of ends. I explain why a realm of ends, should be thought of as both a unum per se and as a real whole. A realm of ends is a whole of individuals unified by laws they have given themselves, that is, it is a community of autonomous individuals. Only such a community can be thought of as a composite individual. Such a whole will be real rather than ideal because the source of the unity of the whole is intrinsic to the whole, for what gives unity to the realm are laws and the sources of the laws are the individual members of the whole. It will be a unum per se because both the laws and the individuals constituting the realm are incomplete without one another. If this reading is correct, this requires a fundamental reevaluation of Kant’s notion of autonomy. To be autonomous is not, primarily, to be understood in terms of ruling oneself, but instead must be thought of primarily in terms of being a generative source of laws for an ideal community. (shrink)

Comme le disent le titre et le sous-titre de l'article, l'auteur centre son attention sur la «proposition» faite par l'encyclique Ut Unum Sint aux responsables d'Eglises et aux théologiens, d'approfondir, en dialogue avec le successeur de Pierre, la distinction entre la «substance» du ministère de Pierre et les «formes d'exercice» qu'il pourrait prendre en fonction de la «nouvelle situation». L'article ne se propose pas de faire un commentaire, encore moins d'analyser en détails, le contenu doctrinal de l'encyclique; il se (...) contente d'examiner la «proposition papale» dans le contexte immédiat de l'encyclique. Cela implique certaines coordonnées quant à la méthode et au contenu, pour qu'un thème aussi brûlant soit situé en vue de porter une lumière nouvelle sur la «fonction papale». Approfondir l'essence du ministère. de Pierre représente un désir profond de la «conscience oecuménique», tant de Paul VI que de Jean Paul II. Celui-ci annonça, dès le début de son pontificat, que la «cause oecuménique» était -comme le rappelle la UUS, n. 99 - «une des priorités pastorales» de son pontificat. L'encyclique réaffirme l'«engagement oécuménique» de toute l'Eglise et du pape en personne. La UUS, «de caractère essentiellement pastoral» , ne se préoccupe pas tant de développer les principes doctrinaux contenus dans les décrets conciliaires que de faire appel avec insistance à la conscience des fidèles chrétiens, afin d'avancer ve. (shrink)

Comme le disent le titre et le sous-titre de l'article, l'auteur centre son attention sur la «proposition» faite par l'encyclique Ut Unum Sint aux responsables d'Eglises et aux théologiens, d'approfondir, en dialogue avec le successeur de Pierre, la distinction entre la «substance» du ministère de Pierre et les «formes d'exercice» qu'il pourrait prendre en fonction de la «nouvelle situation». L'article ne se propose pas de faire un commentaire, encore moins d'analyser en détails, le contenu doctrinal de l'encyclique; il se (...) contente d'examiner la «proposition papale» dans le contexte immédiat de l'encyclique. Cela implique certaines coordonnées quant à la méthode et au contenu, pour qu'un thème aussi brûlant soit situé en vue de porter une lumière nouvelle sur la «fonction papale». Approfondir l'essence du ministère. de Pierre représente un désir profond de la «conscience oecuménique», tant de Paul VI que de Jean Paul II. Celui-ci annonça, dès le début de son pontificat, que la «cause oecuménique» était -comme le rappelle la UUS, n. 99 - «une des priorités pastorales» de son pontificat. L'encyclique réaffirme l'«engagement oécuménique» de toute l'Eglise et du pape en personne. La UUS, «de caractère essentiellement pastoral» , ne se préoccupe pas tant de développer les principes doctrinaux contenus dans les décrets conciliaires que de faire appel avec insistance à la conscience des fidèles chrétiens, afin d'avancer ve. (shrink)

“A major scholarly achievement”; “The long awaited result of painstaking and careful work, which surpasses all expectations and justifies all the effort and funds invested in it”; “An indispensable tool for understanding Leibniz’s thinking”; “A landmark in Leibniz research”; “A gift that contains hitherto unpublished pearls and reveals hitherto unsuspected patterns in the thinking of one of the greatest and most complex human minds”; “An inexhaustible treasure whence generations of philosophers will draw profound insights and wisdom”— these and many other (...) superlatives have been competing in my mind as I perused again and again the 3500++ pages of Volume 4 of Series VI of the Academy Edition of Leibniz’s writings, the work I am about to review here. (shrink)

In his commentary on the Elementatio theologica of Proclus, Berthold von Moosburg claims that the Proclean supersapientia is superior to Aristotelian metaphysics because it has a cognitive principle that is superior to the intellect. This unum in nobis also establishes a cognitive habitus, which consists in the union with the divine. This article shows how Proclean science leads to deification and to what extent it is the expression and conscious realization of deification. Examining the relationship between the “one in (...) us” and the intellect, it becomes clear that Berthold does not equate them with each other. Nevertheless, the intellectus adeptus, in whose conception Berthold is more oriented to Albertus Magnus than to Dietrich von Freiberg, is a necessary and never fully obsolete precursor for the union with the divine. With this view, Berthold integrates the Arabic-Peripatetic doctrine of the acquired intellect into the Proclean doctrine of the five modes of knowledge, thus returning them to their historical and systematic origin. (shrink)

“A major scholarly achievement”; “The long awaited result of painstaking and careful work, which surpasses all expectations and justifies all the effort and funds invested in it”; “An indispensable tool for understanding Leibniz’s thinking”; “A landmark in Leibniz research”; “A gift that contains hitherto unpublished pearls and reveals hitherto unsuspected patterns in the thinking of one of the greatest and most complex human minds”; “An inexhaustible treasure whence generations of philosophers will draw profound insights and wisdom”— these and many other (...) superlatives have been competing in my mind as I perused again and again the 3500++ pages of Volume 4 of Series VI of the Academy Edition of Leibniz’s writings, the work I am about to review here. (shrink)