Hilbert’s choice operators τ and ε, when added to intuitionistic logic, strengthen it. In the presence of certain extensionality axioms they produce classical logic, while in the presence of weaker decidability conditions for terms they produce various superintuitionistic intermediate logics. In this thesis, I argue that there are important philosophical lessons to be learned from these results. To make the case, I begin with a historical discussion situating the development of Hilbert’s operators in relation to his evolving program in the (...) foundations of mathematics and in relation to philosophical motivations leading to the development of intuitionistic logic. This sets the stage for a brief description of the relevant part of Dummett’s program to recast debates in metaphysics, and in particular disputes about realism and anti-realism, as closely intertwined with issues in philosophical logic, with the acceptance of classical logic for a domain reflecting a commitment to realism for that domain. Then I review extant results about what is provable and what is not when one adds epsilon to intuitionistic logic, largely due to Bell and DeVidi, and I give several new proofs of intermediate logics from intuitionistic logic+ε without identity. With all this in hand, I turn to a discussion of the philosophical significance of choice operators. Among the conclusions I defend are that these results provide a finer-grained basis for Dummett’s contention that commitment to classically valid but intuitionistically invalid principles reflect metaphysical commitments by showing those principles to be derivable from certain existence assumptions; that Dummett’s framework is improved by these results as they show that questions of realism and anti-realism are not an “all or nothing” matter, but that there are plausibly metaphysical stances between the poles of anti-realism and realism, because different sorts of ontological assumptions yield intermediate rather than classical logic; and that these intermediate positions between classical and intuitionistic logic link up in interesting ways with our intuitions about issues of objectivity and reality, and do so usefully by linking to questions around intriguing everyday concepts such as “is smart,” which I suggest involve a number of distinct dimensions which might themselves be objective, but because of their multivalent structure are themselves intermediate between being objective and not. Finally, I discuss the implications of these results for ongoing debates about the status of arbitrary and ideal objects in the foundations of logic, showing among other things that much of the discussion is flawed because it does not recognize the degree to which the claims being made depend on the presumption that one is working with a very strong logic. (shrink)

In this paper, we reconstruct Kant’s notion of the practically conditioned, introduced in the Dialectic of Pure Practical Reason, by drawing on Kant’s general account of the faculty of reason presented in the Transcendental Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason. We argue that practical reason’s activity of seeking the practically unconditioned for a given condition generates two different conceptions of the practically unconditioned and identify these as virtue and (the ideal of) happiness. We then account for how and why (...) reason proceeds to combine these two distinct ideas into the composite idea of the highest good. Last, we draw on our discussion to determine more precisely what Kant intends by the ‘supremacy’ of virtue within reason’s idea of the highest good. (shrink)

We discuss the philosophical implications of formal results showing the con- sequences of adding the epsilon operator to intuitionistic predicate logic. These results are related to Diaconescu’s theorem, a result originating in topos theory that, translated to constructive set theory, says that the axiom of choice (an “existence principle”) implies the law of excluded middle (which purports to be a logical principle). As a logical choice principle, epsilon allows us to translate that result to a logical setting, where one can (...) get an analogue of Diaconescu’s result, but also can disentangle the roles of certain other assumptions that are hidden in mathematical presentations. It is our view that these results have not received the attention they deserve: logicians are unlikely to read a discussion because the results considered are “already well known,” while the results are simultaneously unknown to philosophers who do not specialize in what most philosophers will regard as esoteric logics. This is a problem, since these results have important implications for and promise signif i cant illumination of contem- porary debates in metaphysics. The point of this paper is to make the nature of the results clear in a way accessible to philosophers who do not specialize in logic, and in a way that makes clear their implications for contemporary philo- sophical discussions. To make the latter point, we will focus on Dummettian discussions of realism and anti-realism. Keywords: epsilon, axiom of choice, metaphysics, intuitionistic logic, Dummett, realism, antirealism. (shrink)

Beginning from the scientist-philosopher Michael Polanyi's theory of tacit knowing, and drawing upon a remarkably original model of the mind and its workings, Edward Moss develops the thesis that all consciousness is grammatically structured. Comparison is made in detail with the theories of Daniel Dennett, based on the computer analogy, and with the neurophysiological theories of Gerald Edelman. It is suggested that Moss's top-down psychological model can be integrated with Edelman's bottom-up analysis. Two final chapters explore the philosophical implications (...) of this discussion. (shrink)

A thorough examination of many aspects of morality through the lens of Christianity, this book, originally published in 1939, is philosophical in its approach to assessing religion. It compares moral traditions of many world religions and describes their changes over time as well. Written accessibly, this is a fascinating outlay of moral theology.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Leibniz suggested that deontic modalities can be defined in terms of the alethic modalities; according to him, the permitted (licitum) is what possible for a good man to do and the obligatory (debitum) is what is necessary for a good man to do. The paper starts from specifying a connection of deontic concepts with the moral values. The connection comes down to define an isomorphism of two Boolean algebras: from deontic one onto axiological one. The work presents theories of two (...) algebras of deontic notions: the algebra of sets and the Boolean algebra. The theory of deontic set is based on the two axioms: x∈V (an act x is an element of the set of acts subordinated to some norm or law) and x\'\'=x (an act x is identical with double denial of x). By means of definitions following notions are introduced: Λ (the empty set of acts), N (the set of ordered acts), Z (the set of forbidden acts), P (the set of obligatory acts), F (the set of optional acts), D (the set of permitted acts), I (the set of indifferent acts).The calculus is structured by rules of the Słupecki-Borkowski’s suppositional deduction. Forty five theorems are proven in this calculus. The second theory presented in the paper, is a Boolean algebra of deontic notions. Added to the theory of equality, it takes axioms from the theory of Boolean algebras with addition of a specific axiom for the deontic system i.e., N = N∩D. Sixty four theorems are proven in this calculus. (shrink)

With examples from around the world, renowned wildlife photographer Edward Parker reveals the skills and techniques needed to improve your photographs with little or no adjustments to the automatic settings or those which you are comfortable using. The first part of the book explains how the brain perceives an image and how to use this to produce great photos through better composition, better use of light and conscious use of foreground and background. For more advanced photographers, Parker then explains (...) techniques on how to take control of the camera though understanding exposure, focus, aperture, shutter speed, and using flash. The final part of the book looks at the many way in which trees can be photographed, putting all of this into practice, illustrated by stunning images from around the world along with anecdotes on how they were captured. (shrink)

This paper looks at the history of identification in England over the past 1,000 years. It contends that techniques and technologies of identification do not identify a single entity but a number of forms of personality, including the juridical person, the citizen and the deviant. Individuals can be the bearers of more than one of these personalities at the same time, or over the course of their life. These personalities are created by social performances to which people are trained to (...) react conventionally. As such identity, and its identification, is a social and cultural phenomenon, rather than a ‘thing’. Each of the personalities noted above has been identified historically in differing ways -through possessions or techniques in the case of the juridical person, though the community in the case of the citizen, and on, or through, the body in the case of the deviant. In the contemporary world these distinctions are being effaced, as all forms of identification are being reduced to the body and the database. This levelling of social forms of being has implication for what it means to be a person in our society, and for public perceptions of new techniques and technologies of identification. (shrink)

Christos Yannaras wrote The Inhumanity of Right in 1998 in the wake of NATO’s bombing of Serbs “who were defending their ancestral homes from the machinations of Croats and Bosnian Muslims (1992–96...

George Grant’s bleak assessment of the prospects of technological civilization owed a lot to his reading of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Ellul. However, Grant understood technological development within the context of liberal theory and capitalist practice. Grant explained why liberalism is the doctrine most appropriate to the development of productive forces, or the most complete exploitation of natural and human resources. Unlike most North American conservatives, Grant was not a friend of capitalism but of civil servants who restrain capitalist accumulation (...) in the name of the common good or national community. Grant was what Gad Horowitz called a Red Tory and offered a unique perspective of how American technique has closed us off from love and contemplation, leaving us with the one-dimensional problem-solving mentality of the social engineer. (shrink)

Music to create a universe -- Theme, Part 1: the haunting melody -- Theme, Part 2: creativity -- Theme, Part 3: Freud and Mahler -- Coda -- Interlude -- Tender is the night -- Interlude -- Ingmar Bergman's persona -- Coda: Saraband -- Music and alchemy : Beethoven -- Gallery of the soul : Munch, Kahlo, Rivera -- To the lighthouse -- The fisher king and the handless maiden -- Prelude: the Alexandria quartet -- The Alexandria quartet -- Interlude: industrialization (...) as seen by Antonioni and Lawrence -- Gustav Mahler -- Epilogue -- The end of boundaries -- Georgia O'Keeffe: the touch of desire -- Music in film : introduction to chapters 14 & 15 -- The piano -- Tim winton's the riders -- Maeterlinck, Ibsen, Strindberg -- Pelleas and Melisande -- Finale: why I wrote this book. (shrink)

The thematization of writing has often been seen as Derrida's personal contribution to modern philosophy, but it is significant that in his earliest extended discussions of it, he presented it as a sign of the times. This chapter focuses on Derrida's discussion of writing in the first part of Of Grammatology and provides an analysis of its stakes by bringing it into conversation with Althusser's new theory of reading. Althusser was the most powerful figure in the philosophy department. Derrida's first (...) publication, the “Introduction” was a contribution to the history and philosophy of science, a fact recognized by the Société des Amis de Jean Cavaillès, which awarded it their book prize in 1964. Writing, especially mathematical writing, for instance in algebra, seemed to represent best the formal systems of mathematics. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Contributions to science, natural philosophy, and mathematics Attitude towards nature.

Scientific values embodied in Aristotle’s natural philosophy and the civic virtues embedded in his practical sciences, were used to improve the quality of government in the 14th century by King Charles V of France. This was readily feasible because of the separation of church and state, the favorable attitude toward natural philosophy by medieval theologians, and the institutionalization of the study of Aristotle’s theoretical and practical sciences in the medieval universities, which relied heavily on reasoned argumentation and a rejection of (...) arguments from authority, as exemplified by Nicole Oresme. The intellectual habits developed in this process shaped a “scientific temperament” that ushered in early modern science. In stark contrast, Islam was a theocracy with no separation of church and state. Natural philosophy was viewed as a potential threat to religious faith and was marginalized, leading eventually to a gradual deterioration in the study of the exact sciences, which had previously attained the highest level in the civilized world. (shrink)

Leavis’s turn from a preoccupation with poetry to a preoccupation with the novel in the second part of his career has long been recognized. There is a consensus that he had a wonderful feeling for the textual particularity of poetry, the way that a poem is not just its paraphrasable content, in that the meaning is carried by the movement, rhythm, tone, and tempo of the speaking voice. Poetry intended for the eye and print reading only passed him by. It (...) is not surprising, then, that when Leavis’s concern turned from poetry to the novel, he wanted to assimilate the novel as much as possible to poetry. He preferred to think of the novel as a “dramatic poem” and claimed... (shrink)