Democracy has been a flawed hegemony since the fall of communism. Its flexibility, its commitment to equality of representation, and its recognition of the legitimacy of opposition politics are all positive features for political institutions. But democracy has many deficiencies: it is all too easily held hostage by powerful interests; it often fails to advance social justice; and it does not cope well with a number of features of the political landscape, such as political identities, boundary disputes, and environmental crises. (...) Although democracy is valuable it fits uneasily with other political values and is in many respects less than equal to the demands it confronts. In this volume prominent political theorists and social scientists present original discussions of such central issues. Democracy's Values deals with the nature and value of democracy, particularly the tensions between it and such goods as justice, equality, efficiency, and freedom. (shrink)

This text provides a unique and compelling account of Wittgenstein's impact upon twentieth century analytic philosophy, from its inception at the turn of the ...

The author analyses the sense of virtue at the very heart of Kantian ethical formalism. First, he verifies the difficulty of placing Kantian ethics in one of the three models developed in the history of Western ethics – prescriptive, intentional and virtue ethics –, insofar as Kant places in the centre of moral analysis the notion of “imperative” (a precept), whose function is to show the purity of the “intention” as the only moral value, which deploys in a doctrine of (...) virtue. Then, he studies the “character” as the metaphysical foundation of Kantian ethics throughout the changes that the account of the relationships between the intelligible and the sensible character from the Critique of Pure Reason to Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason suffers in order to show that the doctrine of virtue finds its place in the context of ethic formalism, precisely in the frame of the Kantian conception of moral revolution as an incessant task and progress. In this way, virtue, as a quality of the character, is defined as a moral force of the human will in the compliance of duty. (shrink)

Sobre la base de las Lecciones de Erlangen, se trata de analizar cuál es el procedimiento por el que se construye en la filosofía de Schelling el concepto de libertad. Libertad que, según el Freiheitsschrift, es la capacidad de elegir entre el bien y el mal, no es en el fondo más que el procedimiento por el que el fundamento de la ciencia y el principio de identidad quedan divididos. Esta división no es en cambio una fisura que marca la (...) independencia entre ambos términos, sino que, al contrario, fundamento e identidad guardan una relación de antecedente y de consecuente respectivamente, ocupan dos tareas, dos competencias distintas, y cuyo trabajo conjunto y final es precisamente fruto de la libertad. (shrink)

Ressenya / Reseña / Review Benz, Ernst 2016, Mística y Romanticismo. Las fuentes místicas del Romanticismo alemán, Madrid: Siruela. ISBN 978-84-16638-25-3, 180 páginas.

Nos valemos del concepto de experiencia para tratar de demostrar que la relación entre ésta y lo ideal es indisoluble en Aristóteles y en Schelling en el conjunto de su producción. No existe entre lo real y lo ideal, por tanto, un orden de prioridad en lo tocante a las partes de su sistema, sino que únicamente asumen un orden de anterioridad y posterioridad por lo que hace a una necesidad de tipo metodológico. Con este análisis, por tanto, queremos demostrar (...) que el orden de la experiencia y de lo ideal no es excluyente, sino que, al contario, están en un orden de dependencia gracias al cual tenemos como resultado una filosofía absoluta o la filosofía sin más, lo cual elimina cualquier unilateralismo que quiera conceder cualquier primacía ya bien a lo ideal o a lo real o la existencia en la filosofía de ambos autores. (shrink)

By a theorem of R. Kaye, J. Paris and C. Dimitracopoulos, the class of the Πn+1-sentences true in the standard model is the only consistent Πn+1-theory which extends the scheme of induction for parameter free Πn+1-formulas. Motivated by this result, we present a systematic study of extensions of bounded quantifier complexity of fragments of first-order Peano Arithmetic. Here, we improve that result and show that this property describes a general phenomenon valid for parameter free schemes. As a consequence, we obtain (...) results on the quantifier complexity, finite axiomatizability and relative strength of schemes for Δn+1-formulas. (shrink)

Collection of essays around the work of H.L.A. Hart.

This essential introduction to the philosopher and his thought, combines passages from Wittgenstein with detailed interpretation. Hacker leads us into a world of philosophical investigation in which "to smell a rat is ever so much easier than to trap it". Wittgenstein defined humans as language-using creatures. The role of philosophy is to ask questions which reveal the limits and nature of language. Taking the expression, description and observation of pain as examples, Hacker explores the ingenuity with which Wittgenstein (...) identified the rules and set the limits of language. (shrink)

The classificatory concept of analytic philosophy cannot fruitfully be given an analytic definition, nor is it a family-resemblance concept. Dummett's contention that it is 'the philosophy of thought' whose main tenet is that an account of thought is to be attained through an account of language is rejected for historical and analytic reasons. Analytic philosophy is most helpfully understood as a historical category earmarking a leading trend in twentieth-century philosophy originating in Cambridge. Its first three phases, viz. Cambridge Platonist pluralism, (...) logical atomism, and logical positivism are adumbrated and their interrelations explained. Wittgenstein is argued to have originated the 'linguistic turn' that characterizes the latter two. (shrink)

We characterize the sets of all Π2 and all equation image theorems of IΠ−1 in terms of restricted exponentiation, and use these characterizations to prove that both sets are not deductively equivalent. We also discuss how these results generalize to n > 0. As an application, we prove that a conservation theorem of Beklemishev stating that IΠ−n + 1 is conservative over IΣ−n with respect to equation image sentences cannot be extended to Πn + 2 sentences. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag (...) GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (shrink)

This paper investigates the status of the fragments of Peano Arithmetic obtained by restricting induction, collection and least number axiom schemes to formulas which are Δ1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\Delta_1}$$\end{document} provably in an arithmetic theory T. In particular, we determine the provably total computable functions of this kind of theories. As an application, we obtain a reduction of the problem whether IΔ0+¬exp\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${I\Delta_0 + \neg \mathit{exp}}$$\end{document} implies BΣ1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} (...) \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${B\Sigma_1}$$\end{document} to a purely recursion-theoretic question. (shrink)

Let T be a second-order arithmetical theory, Λ a well-order, λ < Λ and X ⊆ ℕ. We use $[\lambda |X]_T^{\rm{\Lambda }}\varphi$ as a formalization of “φ is provable from T and an oracle for the set X, using ω-rules of nesting depth at most λ”.For a set of formulas Γ, define predicative oracle reflection for T over Γ ) to be the schema that asserts that, if X ⊆ ℕ, Λ is a well-order and φ ∈ Γ, then$$\forall \,\lambda (...) < {\rm{\Lambda }}\,.$$In particular, define predicative oracle consistency ) as Pred–O–RFN{0=1}.Our main result is as follows. Let ATR0 be the second-order theory of Arithmetical Transfinite Recursion, ${\rm{RCA}}_0^{\rm{*}}$ be Weakened Recursive Comprehension and ACA be Arithmetical Comprehension with Full Induction. Then,$${\rm{ATR}}_0 \equiv {\rm{RCA}}_0^{\rm{*}} + {\rm{Pred - O - Cons\ }}\left \equiv {\rm{RCA}}_0^{\rm{*}} + \,{\rm{Pred - O - Cons\ }}\left \equiv {\rm{RCA}}_0^{\rm{*}} + \,{\rm{Pred - O - RFN}}\,_{{\bf{\Pi }}_2^1 } \left.$$We may even replace ${\rm{RCA}}_0^{\rm{*}}$ by the weaker ECA0, the second-order analogue of Elementary Arithmetic.Thus we characterize ATR0, a theory often considered to embody Predicative Reductionism, in terms of strong reflection and consistency principles. (shrink)

Writing from a scientifically and philosophically informed perspective, the authors provide a critical overview of the conceptual difficulties encountered in many current neuroscientific and psychological theories.

In this paper we continue the study of the theories IΔ n+1 (T), initiated in [7]. We focus on the quantifier complexity of these fragments and theirs (non)finite axiomatization. A characterization is obtained for the class of theories such that IΔ n+1 (T) is Π n+2 –axiomatizable. In particular, IΔ n+1 (IΔ n+1 ) gives an axiomatization of Th Π n+2 (IΔ n+1 ) and is not finitely axiomatizable. This fact relates the fragment IΔ n+1 (IΔ n+1 ) to induction (...) rule for Δ n+1 –formulas. Our arguments, involving a construction due to R. Kaye (see [9]), provide proofs of Parsons’ conservativeness theorem (see [16]) and (a weak version) of a result of L.D. Beklemishev on unnested applications of induction rules for Π n+2 and Δ n+1 formulas (see [2]). (shrink)

Writing from a scientifically and philosophically informed perspective, the authors provide a critical overview of the conceptual difficulties encountered in many current neuroscientific and psychological theories.

By a result of L.D. Beklemishev, the hierarchy of nested applications of the $$\Sigma _1$$ -collection rule over any $$\Pi _2$$ -axiomatizable base theory extending Elementary Arithmetic collapses to its first level. We prove that this result cannot in general be extended to base theories of arbitrary quantifier complexity. In fact, given any recursively enumerable set of true $$\Pi _2$$ -sentences, S, we construct a sound $$(\Sigma _2 \! \vee \! \Pi _2)$$ -axiomatized theory T extending S such that the (...) hierarchy of nested applications of the $$\Sigma _1$$ -collection rule over T is proper. Our construction uses some results on subrecursive degree theory obtained by L. Kristiansen. (shrink)

The book "Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience" is an engaging criticism of cognitive neuroscience from the perspective of a Wittgensteinian philosophy of ordinary language. The authors' main claim is that assertions like "the brain sees" and "the left hemisphere thinks" are integral to cognitive neuroscience but that they are meaningless because they commit the mereological fallacy—ascribing to parts of humans, properties that make sense to predicate only of whole humans. The authors claim that this fallacy is at the heart of Cartesian (...) dualism, implying that current cognitive neuroscientists are Cartesian dualists. Against this claim, we argue that the fallacy cannot be committed within Cartesian dualism either, for this doctrine does not allow for an intelligible way of asserting that a soul is part of a human being. Also, the authors' Aristotelian essentialistic outlook is at odds with their Wittgensteinian stance, and we were unconvinced by their case against explanatory reductionism. Finally, although their Wittgensteinian stance is congenial with radical behaviorism, their separation between philosophy and science seems less so because it is based on a view of philosophy as a priori. The authors' emphasis on the a priori, however, does not necessarily commit them to rationalism if it is restricted to conceptual or analytical truths. (shrink)

Pineda Canabal, Aníbal (2021)Le concept de non-contemporanéité dans la philosophie d’Ernst BlochHildesheim: OLMS, 355 p.ISBN 978-3-487-16067-2.

A well known theorem proved by J. Paris and H. Friedman states that BΣn +1 is a Πn +2-conservative extension of IΣn . In this paper, as a continuation of our previous work on collection schemes for Δn +1-formulas , we study a general version of this theorem and characterize theories T such that T + BΣn +1 is a Πn +2-conservative extension of T . We prove that this conservativeness property is equivalent to a model-theoretic property relating Πn-envelopes and (...) Πn-indicators for T . The analysis of Σn +1-collection we develop here is also applied to Σn +1-induction using Parsons' conservativeness theorem instead of Friedman-Paris' theorem.As a corollary, our work provides new model-theoretic proofs of two theorems of R. Kaye, J. Paris and C. Dimitracopoulos : BΣn +1 and IΣn +1 are Σn +3-conservative extensions of their parameter free versions, BΣ–n +1 and IΣ–n +1. (shrink)