The present article was partly inspired by G. Pollack’s book, and also Dadoloff, Saxena & Jensen (2010). As a senior physicist colleague and our friend, Robert N. Boyd, wrote in a journal (JCFA, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2022), for example, things and Beings can travel between Universes, intentionally or unintentionally [4]. In this short remark, we revisit and offer short remark to Neil Boyd’s ideas and trying to connect them with geometry of musical chords as presented by D. Tymoczko and (...) others, then to Escherian staircase and then to Jacob’s ladder which seems to pointto possibility to interpret Jacob’s vision as described in the ancient book of Genesis as interdimensional staircase, e.g. an interdimensional bridge between heaven and earth (cf. classic book: Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach). Jacob’s vision of angels going down to earth from that staircase has been depicted for instance in William Blake art etc. In our communication with others via physics literature and discussions etc, we came to several conclusions as follows: Firstly, possibility of wormhole effect to mirror particle universe, which sometimes it is termed non-orientable wormhole. While such mirror particles effect have been more than 50 years predicted with the so-called parity violation (cf. Lee & Yang, 1950s), and that is called symmetry breaking. Secondly, a series of extended experiments on laser irradiated cold water may suggest possible transition from a phase of water to be at least partially fourth phase of water, which may be composed of crystalline water (see e.g. Gerald Pollack, and also Harold Aspden on liquid crystalline). If we can imagine laser cooling effect can be done in protracted time, then we can achieve a physical representation of Aspden‘s liquid crystalline. Therefore, in this article we outline a series of simple experiments of laser irradiated iced-water along with beryl and selenite crystals in order to see possibility of such a quantum tunneling via quantum liquid crystalline Universe hypothesis, which may likely be modeled with iced-water. It is interesting to remark here that certain experiments by Stockholm University scientists have shown that X-ray triggered water can exhibit properties just like liquid crystal (cf. PRL, 2020). That is why we consider it possible that there can be quantum phase transition where liquid water (comprised of iced cubes and water) can exhibit effects such as tunneling in quantum liquid crystalline Universe. Last but not least, we admit that what we outlined here is just aninitial phase; and if you wish, perhaps we can call such experiments as “wormhole-at-lab” experiments (abbreviated: WHALE). (shrink)

Diese zweisprachige Ausgabe bietet in übersichtlicher Präsentation die zentralen Texte des Cusaners, versehen mit einer Einleitung, die gründlich in das Gesamtwerk einführt. Sie basiert auf den in der PhB erschienenen Studienausgaben, die der historisch-kritischen Ausgabe der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften folgen. Die Übersetzungen stammen von namhaften Cusanusforschern, Anmerkungen, Literaturverzeichnisse und Indices erschließen die Texte. Band 1: Einleitung. De docta ignorantia / Die belehrte Unwissenheit Band 2: De coniecturis / Mutmaßungen · Idiota de sapientia / Der Laie über die Weisheit · (...) Idiota de mente / Der Laie über den Geist Band 3: Trialogus de possest / Dreiergespräch über das Können-Ist · De beryllo / Über den Beryll · Tu quis es / Über den Ursprung · De ludo globi / Gespräch über das Globusspiel Band 4: De venatione sapientiae / Die Jagd nach Weisheit · Compendium / Kompendium · De apice theoriae / Die höchste Stufe der Betrachtung "In der Geschichte der Philosophie nimmt das Werk des Nikolaus von Kues (1401–1464), das zugleich die letzte eigenwüchsige Synthese mittelalterlicher Weisheit und die gedankliche Grundlegung der großen Systeme der beginnenden Renaissance der neueren Zeit darstellt, eine epochemachende Stellung ein. Die Kühnheit seiner Fragestellungen, deren Nachwirkung noch im Denken eines Descartes, Spinoza und Leibniz und in manchen der tiefsten Ansätze des deutschen Idealismus spürbar ist, wird das philosophische Denken der Gegenwart dazu führen, sich in zunehmendem Maße mit dem Gedankengebäude des Cusanus zu beschäftigen." Raymond Klibansky. (shrink)

This volume, modeled after those published in The Library of Living Philosophers, attempts to provide a coherent statement of the work of Abraham Edel in moral and political theory, and on the impact of his work on such diverse areas as education, law, and social science. The methodological element of Edel's work is to see ethical and social theory in the full context of human life; specifically how twentieth-century modes of analysis impact classical concerns about right and wrong, good and (...) evil. The volume is tightly integrated from start to finish, and has the benefit of Edel's thoughtful and thoroughgoing response to critics. In short, while this work is a tribute to the work of a scholar, it aims to serve as a basic guide through the labyrinthian world of contemporary ethical theory and social practice. Contents: Beryl Harold Levy, "Reflective Culture as Philosophy of Law"; Betty A. Sichel, "Abraham Edel's Contribution to Philosophy of Education"; Gerald E. Myers, "Person and Personality--and Respect for Both"; Mihailo Markovic, "Abraham Edel on the Method of Ethical Theory"; Helen Block Lewis, "Consequences for Ethical Theory of a Focus on the Psychology of Shame and Guilt"; Edmund L. Pincoffs, "Ethics as an Explanatory Undertaking"; Standish Thayer, "The Network of Concepts: A New View of Aristotle"; Mortimer R. Kadish, "Abraham Edel and the Dream of Science"; Michael Levin, "Reflections on Non-Cognitivism"; Ralph W. Sleeper, "Naturalizing Legal Positivism"; Irving Louis Horowitz, "The Political Philosophy of Abraham Edel"; Finbarr W. O'Connor, "Network Analysis in Ethics"; Elizabeth Flower, "A Moral Agenda for Ethical Theory"; Abraham Edel, "Responses to Critics"; "An Edel Bibliography.". (shrink)

Heft 1. Der Laie über die Weishelt, von E. Bohnenstädt.--Heft 2. Über den Beryll. von K. Fleischmann.--Heft 3. Drei Schriften vom verborgenen Gott. De Deo abscondito. De quaerendo Deum. De filiatione Dei. Hrsg. von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft. 5. Von Gottes Sehen. De visione Dei. Von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft 4. Der Laie über Versuche mit der Waage. Idiota de staticis experimentis. Von H. Menzel-Rogner.--Heft 6-7. Sichtung des Alkorans. Cribratio Alkoran. 1. Buch von P. Naumann. 2.-3. Buch von G. Hölscher.--Heft 8. Über den Frieden (...) im Glauben. De pace fidei. Von L. Mohler.--Heft 9. Vom Können-Sein. De possest. Vom Gipfel der Betrachtung. De apice theoriae. Von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft 10. Der Laie über den Geist. Idiota de mente. Von M. Honecker und H. Menzel-Rogner.--Heft 11. Die manthematischen Schriften, übers. von J. Hofmann, mit einer Einführung und Anmerkungen versehen von J.E. Hofmann.-- --Heft 13. Vom Globusspiel. De ludo globi, übers. und mit Einführung und Anmerkungen versehen, von G. von Bredow. --Heft. 15. De docta ignorantia. Die belehrte Unwissenheit. Übers. und mit Vorwort und Anmerkungen von P. Wilpert. (2 v.)--Heft. 16. Compendium. Kompendium. Übers. und mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen hrsg. von B. Decker und K. Bormann.--Heft 17. De coniecturis. Mutmassungen. Übers. und mit Einführung und Anmerkungen hrsg. von J. Koch und W. Happ.--[18] Über den Ursprung. De principio. Deutsch mit Einführung von Maria Feigl.--Heft 19. Die höchste Stufe der Betrachtung. Herausgegeben von Hans Gerhard Senger. (shrink)

»Sve što postoji u onom drugom je drugačije nego u sebi« . Ljudski svijet je posredovani svijet te može biti posve odvojen od onoga što je svijet u sebi, a što se danas naziva neposrednošću, životom, autentičnom egzistencijom. Racionalnost, simboličko mišljenje, jezik, povezuju nas s realnošću, ali prepušteni sebi samima zarobljavaju beskonačnu različitost stvarnosti i supstituiraju bogatstvo života hiperrealnošću i ekstenzijama .Izgubljeni smo u simbolima jer nam nedostaje, kaže Kuzanski, tankoćutnost za razlikovanje simbola od onoga što oni simboliziraju. Kant to (...) proširuje na razlikovanje svijeta za nas od svijeta po sebi, upozoravajući da je naše iskustvo svijeta određeno naočalama kroz koje ga gledamo. Kuzanski nam nudi naočale koje omogućuju spomenutu tankoćutnost. Uspoređuje ih s dragocjenim kamenom berilom kroz koji postaje vidljivo ono što je inače nevidljivo. To je medij tankoćutniji od jezika. Za Platona njegovo poznavanje bijaše uvjet da se uđe u Akademiju.“Whatever exists, exists otherwise in something else than it exist in itself” . The world of man is a mediated indirect world and it can exist completely separate from what the world in itself is, the latter being referred to today as immediacy, Life, authentic existence. Rationality, symbolic thought, and language connect us to the reality, but when they are left to themselves they reduce otherwise infinite variety within the reality and substitute the richness of life with hyperreality ad extensions .We are lost in the world of symbols, according to Cusanus, because we lack the sensibility to differentiate the symbol from the signified symbolized. Kant extends this to the opposition between the worldforus and the worldperse, thereby pointing out that our experience of the world is determined by the spectacles through which we see it. Cusanus on the other hand offers the spectacles that enable us to achieve the before mentioned sensibility, comparing them to the semiprecious stone beryl, which enables otherwise invisible objects to become visible if observed through the stone. The concerned medium is thus more sensible than language. Plato made the cognition of this medium a prerequisite for entry into his Academy. (shrink)

Is there any such thing as the Cusan view of the relationship between faith and reason? That is, does Nicholas present us with clear concepts of fides and ratio and with a unique and consistent doctrine regarding their interconnection? If he does not, then the task before us is surely an impossible one: viz., the task of finding, describing, and setting in perspective a doctrine that never at all existed. For even with spectacles made of beryl stone or through (...) the looking glass of Lewis Carroll, we could not descry the totally nonexistent. Four lines of argument purport to show that the task before us is fundamentally impossible. 1. First of all, it may be argued that Nicholas of Cusa can have a coherent doctrine of faith and reason only if he has a generally coherent theory of knowledge and that since his theory of knowledge is generally incoherent, so too must be the aforesaid doctrine, which is an intrinsic part of the theory of knowledge. Let us grant—for the sake of the argument—the disputable logic of this reasoning, and let us focus on the question of whether Nicholas does or does not have a viable general theory of knowledge. Many philosophers judge the theory to be unviable. For example, the philosopher Hans Blumenberg writes: “I will not make what I believe would have to be a futile attempt at a unitary interpretation of the Cusan theory of knowledge. Here in particular the inner consistency of his philosophical accomplishment is doubtful. The reason for this can be specified: it lies, again, in the inability to deal with or successfully to evade the consequences of nominalism.” 2 Other philosophers are quick to agree that Cusa’s epistemology consists of a host of glaring contradictions: Cusa’s theory of representative perception is said to be incompatible with his doctrine of homo mensura—i.e., with his doctrine that man is the measure of the reality that is perceived and conceived by him. Cusa’s notion that empirical concepts are abstracted from perceptual and imaginative images is asserted to be contradicted by his further claim that all concepts are derived a pri- ori from the mind itself. (shrink)

Is there any such thing as the Cusan view of the relationship between faith and reason? That is, does Nicholas present us with clear concepts of fides and ratio and with a unique and consistent doctrine regarding their interconnection? If he does not, then the task before us is surely an impossible one: viz., the task of finding, describing, and setting in perspective a doctrine that never at all existed. For even with spectacles made of beryl stone or through (...) the looking glass of Lewis Carroll, we could not descry the totally nonexistent. Four lines of argument purport to show that the task before us is fundamentally impossible. 1. First of all, it may be argued (a) that Nicholas of Cusa can have a coherent doctrine of faith and reason only if he has a generally coherent theory of knowledge and (b) that since his theory of knowledge is generally incoherent, so too must be the aforesaid doctrine, which is an intrinsic part of the theory of knowledge. Let us grant—for the sake of the argument—the disputable logic of this reasoning, and let us focus on the question of whether Nicholas does or does not have a viable general theory of knowledge. Many philosophers judge the theory to be unviable. For example, the philosopher Hans Blumenberg writes: “I will not make what I believe would have to be a futile attempt at a unitary interpretation of the Cusan theory of knowledge. Here in particular the inner consistency of his philosophical accomplishment is doubtful. The reason for this can be specified: it lies, again, in the inability to deal with or successfully to evade the consequences of nominalism.”2 Other philosophers are quick to agree that Cusa’s epistemology consists of a host of glaring contradictions: Cusa’s theory of representative perception is said to be incompatible with his doctrine of homo mensura—i.e., with his doctrine that man is the measure of the reality that is perceived and conceived by him. Cusa’s notion that empirical concepts are abstracted from perceptual and imaginative images is asserted to be contradicted by his further claim that all concepts are derived a pri- ori from the mind itself.. (shrink)

This volume, modeled after those published in The Library of Living Philosophers, attempts to provide a coherent statement of the work of Abraham Edel in moral and political theory, and on the impact of his work on such diverse areas as education, law, and social science. The methodological element of Edel's work is to see ethical and social theory in the full context of human life; specifically how twentieth-century modes of analysis impact classical concerns about right and wrong, good and (...) evil. The volume is tightly integrated from start to finish, and has the benefit of Edel's thoughtful and thoroughgoing response to critics. In short, while this work is a tribute to the work of a scholar, it aims to serve as a basic guide through the labyrinthian world of contemporary ethical theory and social practice. Contents: Beryl Harold Levy, "Reflective Culture as Philosophy of Law"; Betty A. Sichel, "Abraham Edel's Contribution to Philosophy of Education"; Gerald E. Myers, "Person and Personality--and Respect for Both"; Mihailo Markovic, "Abraham Edel on the Method of Ethical Theory"; Helen Block Lewis, "Consequences for Ethical Theory of a Focus on the Psychology of Shame and Guilt"; Edmund L. Pincoffs, "Ethics as an Explanatory Undertaking"; Standish Thayer, "The Network of Concepts: A New View of Aristotle"; Mortimer R. Kadish, "Abraham Edel and the Dream of Science"; Michael Levin, "Reflections on Non-Cognitivism"; Ralph W. Sleeper, "Naturalizing Legal Positivism"; Irving Louis Horowitz, "The Political Philosophy of Abraham Edel"; Finbarr W. O'Connor, "Network Analysis in Ethics"; Elizabeth Flower, "A Moral Agenda for Ethical Theory"; Abraham Edel, "Responses to Critics"; "An Edel Bibliography.". (shrink)

Die Ergiebigkeit einer philosophischen Theorie wird in bedeutendem Maße dadurch bestimmt, wie in ihr das Problem der Natur aufgeworfen und gelöst wird. Die Theorie gleicht in dieser Hinsicht dem transparenten und hellen Beryll, mit dessen Hilfe man sehen kann, was früher verborgen geblieben war. Die transzendentale Naturlehre Fichtes erinnert an einen solchen geistigen Beryll, der allerdings bis heute für viele ein verborgenes Geheimnis geblieben ist.

Die Ergiebigkeit einer philosophischen Theorie wird in bedeutendem Maße dadurch bestimmt, wie in ihr das Problem der Natur aufgeworfen und gelöst wird. Die Theorie gleicht in dieser Hinsicht dem transparenten und hellen Beryll, mit dessen Hilfe man sehen kann, was früher verborgen geblieben war. Die transzendentale Naturlehre Fichtes erinnert an einen solchen geistigen Beryll, der allerdings bis heute für viele ein verborgenes Geheimnis geblieben ist.

Growing concern has been expressed that we have entered a “post-truth” era in which each of us willfully believes whatever we choose, aided and abetted by alternative and social media that spin alternative realities for boutique consumption. A prime example of the belief in alternative realities is said to be acceptance of “conspiracy theories”—a term that is often used as a pejorative to indict claims of conspiracy that are so obviously absurd that only the unhinged could believe them. The epistemological (...) standard often involved in this indictment, however—the standard of “obvious” falsity—invites subjectivity in its application, because what is obviously false to one person can be common sense to another. This is not just a truism; considerable research suggests that people’s political beliefs, in general, and their acceptance or rejection of conspiracy theories in particular, tends in large part to be determined by partisan, ideological, and other priors. (shrink)

The title of this paper reflects the fact truthmaking is quite frequently considered to be expressive of realism. What this means, exactly, will become clearer in the course of our discussion, but since we are interested in Armstrong’s work on truthmaking in particular, it is natural to start from a brief discussion of how truthmaking and realism appear to be associated in his work. In this paper, special attention is given to the supposed link between truthmaking and realism, but it (...) is argued that this link should not be taken too seriously, as truthmaking turns out to be, to a large extent, ontologically neutral. Some consequences of this are studied. (shrink)

It is now possible to have a child without sexual intercourse. The history of this apparently new statement has been breefly synthetised.The new perspectives open ethical problems for the scientific community and a new social context for single women.

The main aim of this paper is to introduce the logics of evidence and truth $$LET_{K}^+$$ and $$LET_{F}^+$$ together with sound, complete, and decidable six-valued deterministic semantics for them. These logics extend the logics $$LET_{K}$$ and $$LET_{F}^-$$ with rules of propagation of classicality, which are inferences that express how the classicality operator $${\circ }$$ is transmitted from less complex to more complex sentences, and vice-versa. The six-valued semantics here proposed extends the 4 values of Belnap-Dunn logic with 2 more values (...) that intend to represent (positive and negative) reliable information. A six-valued non-deterministic semantics for $$LET_{K}$$ is obtained by means of Nmatrices based on swap structures, and the six-valued semantics for $$LET_{K}^+$$ is then obtained by imposing restrictions on the semantics of $$LET_{K}$$. These restrictions correspond exactly to the rules of propagation of classicality that extend $$LET_{K}$$. The logic $$LET_{F}^+$$ is obtained as the implication-free fragment of $$LET_{K}^+$$. We also show that the 6 values of $$LET_{K}^+$$ and $$LET_{F}^+$$ define a lattice structure that extends the lattice L4 defined by the Belnap-Dunn four-valued logic with the 2 additional values mentioned above, intuitively interpreted as positive and negative reliable information. Finally, we also show that $$LET_{K}^+$$ is Blok-Pigozzi algebraizable and that its implication-free fragment $$LET_{F}^+$$ coincides with the degree-preserving logic of the involutive Stone algebras. (shrink)

Argues that there can be interaction without breaking physical laws: e.g. by basic psychic forces, or by varying physical constants, or especially by arranging fractal trees of physical causation leading to behavior.

Between 1873 and 1876, Felix Klein published a series of papers that he later placed under the rubric anschauliche Geometrie in the second volume of his collected works (1922). The present study attempts not only to follow the course of this work, but also to place it in a larger historical context. Methodologically, Klein’s approach had roots in Poncelet’s principle of continuity, though the more immediate influences on him came from his teachers, Plücker and Clebsch. In the 1860s, Clebsch reworked (...) some of the central ideas in Riemann’s theory of Abelian functions to obtain complicated results for systems of algebraic curves, most published earlier by Hesse and Steiner. These findings played a major role in enumerative geometry, whereas Plücker’s work had a strongly qualitative character that imbued Klein’s early studies. A leitmotif in these works can be seen in the interplay between real curves and surfaces as reflected by their transformational properties. During the early 1870s, Klein and Zeuthen began to explore the possibility of deriving all possible forms for real cubic surfaces as well as quartic curves. They did so using continuity methods reminiscent of Poncelet’s earlier approach. Both authors also relied on visual arguments, which Klein would later advance under the banner of intuitive geometry (anschauliche Geometrie). (shrink)

The thought that empathy plays an important role in moral motivation is almost a platitude of contemporary folk psychology. Parallel themes were mooted in German moral philosophy and aesthetics in the 1700s, and versions of the empathy construct remained prominent in continental accounts of moral motivation through the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. This chapter elucidates the Empathic Motivation Hypothesis (EMH) and sets out some of the conceptual and empirical challenges it faces. It distinguishes empathic concern from other dimensions (...) of empathy (e.g., resonance, attunement, distress, and non-empathic concern) and examines the merits of EMH as a developmental thesis, focusing on evidence from psychopathology and attachment theory. (shrink)

Discusses the rationality of the Christian religion and examines the philosophical arguments for the existence of God.

This original and lively book explores Greek ideas about health and disease and their influence on Greek thought. Fundamental issues such as causation and responsibility, purification and pollution, mind-body relations and gender differences, authority and the expert and who can challenge them, reality and appearances, good government, happiness, and good and evil themselves are deeply implicated. Using the evidence not just from Greek medical theory and practice but also from epic, lyric, tragedy, historiography, philosophy, and religion, G. E. R. Lloyd (...) offers the first comprehensive account of the influence of Greek thought about health and disease on the Greek imagination. (shrink)

The main scientific problems of chemical bonding were solved half a century ago, but adequate philosophical understanding of chemical combination is yet to be achieved. Chemists routinely use important terms ("element," "atom," "molecule," "substance") with more than one meaning. This can lead to misunderstandings. Eliminativists claim that what seems to be a baseball breaking a window is merely the action of "atoms, acting in concert." They argue that statues, baseballs, and similar macroscopic things "do not exist." When macroscopic objects like (...) baseballs move, exceedingly large numbers (1025) of microscopic components coordinate their activities. Understanding how this happens requires attention to the interactions that link parts into larger units. Eliminativists say that everything that truly exists has causal relationships in addition to those of its components—"nonredundant causality." This paper holds that if a number of entities interact in such a way that the effect of that collection on test objects is different than it would have been in the absence of the interaction, then identification of that collection as a single composite agent is warranted, for purposes to which that difference is relevant. Ordinary "chemical substances" (both elementary materials such as dihydrogen and compounds such as water) fulfill this version of the requirement of nonredundant causality. Other sorts of chemical coherences, including chemical dissipative structures (e.g., flames), also fulfill that criterion. All these types of coherences qualify as "substances" (as that term is used in philosophy) even though they are not all "chemical substances.". (shrink)

This review shows the various tools used to implemente the food quality system in food establishments. Presenting the various laws that subsidize this process, establishing criteria and instrumentes for a correct implementation of the quality system in order to offer adequate hygiene processes in the production of safe food, in addition to favoring the maintenance of companies in the consumer market. The implementation of food safety management systems such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) e Hazard Analysis (...) and Critical Control Points (HACCP), in order to guarantee the safety of the food served and portray the organization of the company. It is essential to implement these systems ensuring the quality of the servisse (planning, control and improvement). In order to achieve healthy criteria related to foodstuffs, it is necessary to implement quality programs as prerequisites of the Hazard Analysis System and Critical Control Points in food services. Regulating and inspecting are just a few points that guarantee food security, since food that does not pose a health hazard to consumers is considered safe. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to explore how nurses perceive patient participations of patients over 75 years old undergoing hemodialysis treatment in dialysis units, and of their next of kin. Ten nurses told stories about what happened in the dialysis units. These stories were analyzed with critical discourse analysis. Three discursive practices are found: (1) the nurses’ power and control; (2) sharing power with the patient; and (3) transferring power to the next of kin. The first and the predominant (...) discursive practice can be explained with an ideology of paternalism, in which the nurses used biomedical explanations and the ethical principle of benefice to justify their actions. The second can be explained with an ideology of participation, in which the nurses used ethical narratives as a way to let the patients participate in the treatment. The third seemed to involve autonomous decision-making and the ethical principle of autonomy for the next of kin in the difficult end-of-life decisions. (shrink)