Se constructions designate a set of polysemous constructions along a transitivity continuum marked by the clitic se that perform various functions: reflexive/reciprocal, middle, anticausative, passive, and impersonal. A counterpart of these constructions without the clitic – the null se construction – is also attested. Based on an extensive usage-feature and profile-based analysis, and using multivariate statistical methods, we analyze, considering Cognitive Grammar, the conceptual, structural, and lectal factors that determine the choice between overt and null se constructions. The results of (...) the study show that the null constructions are far more frequent in Brazilian (BP) than in European Portuguese (EP). In BP, the focus on the moment of change is a crucial factor for the overt/null variation in reflexive/reciprocal, middle, anticausative, and impersonal constructions. If the moment of the change of state is profiled, the overt se construction is usually produced. If the moment of change is not profiled, the null se construction is preferred. External factors also play a role in the variation. Register is an important predictor for the observed variation of the anticausative construction, and the only predictor for the overt/null variation in the case of the passive construction. In EP, the null se variant is mainly limited to anticausative constructions. In all cases of null constructions, there is a shift to an absolute construal, which has an impact on the way that the transitivity continuum is conceptualized. (shrink)

This article is the result of research on the occurrences of the terms suppositio, supponere and their linguistic derivations in the literature on fallacies of the second half of the thirteenth century. The authors analysed are Albert the Great, Giles of Rome, Simon of Faversham, the so-called Incerti Auctores, the Anonymous of Prague and John Duns Scotus. The central elements that emerge are the role played by the notion of suppositum and by the linguistic context to determine the denotation of (...) an expression, and the importance of the metaphysical problem of the unity and identity of suppositum in both the theory of predication and the theory of inference. Both subjects, obviously, are closely connected. (shrink)

Proboj zapadne europske filozofske misli na čijem se začelju pojavljuje ime francuskog mislioca R. Descartesa za sobom je donijelo oživljavanje čovjekove svijesti – tzv. post-renesansno intelektualno buđenje koje je navijestilo i označilo početak novog – modernoga doba, koje je na spoznajnoteorijskoj razini prepoznato kao početak vladavine instrumentalnog uma, odnosno, hegemonije Descartesovog cogita.U ovome radu nastoji se istražiti, pojasniti i protumačiti ulogu i značaj cogita u odnosu na moralno djelovanje modernoga čovjeka u percepciji suvremenog i glasovitog kanadskog filozofa, teoretičara i mislioca (...) Charlesa Taylora. Ima li um doista ekskluzivni primat nad čovjekovim djelovanjem, te kako u svjetlu uma objasniti i razumjeti krizu ethosa suvremenog čovjeka i pokušati pronaći adekvatno rješenje za pitanje globalne krize morala koja je zahvatila kompletnu civilizaciju našeg doba? – samo su neka među sličnim pitanjima koja će se propitati u ovome radu.The breakthrough of the Western European philosophic thought, whose final name is that of the French theorist R. Descartes, brought with it the revival of man’s conscience or the so-called post-Renaissance intellectual awakening, which announced and signified the beginning of a new – modern age, that was recognized on the cognitive-theoretical level as the beginning of the rule of instrumental reason, that is, the hegemony of the Descartean cogito.This presentation tends to research, clarify and interpret the role and the significance of the cogito in relationship with man’s moral action and generally, with the theory of morality of the modern Canadian philosopher, theorist and thinker Charles Taylor. Does reason indeed hold exclusive supremacy over man’s actions and how does one explain and understand the crisis of the modern man’s ethos in the light of reason, and try to find an adequate solution for the issue of a global morality crisis, which has taken over the entire civilization of our time? – are only some among a number of similar questions that will be discussed in this paper. (shrink)

The Cambridge Companion to Socrates is a collection of essays providing a comprehensive guide to Socrates, the most famous Greek philosopher. Because Socrates himself wrote nothing, our evidence comes from the writings of his friends (above all Plato), his enemies, and later writers. Socrates is thus a literary figure as well as a historical person. Both aspects of Socrates' legacy are covered in this volume. Socrates' character is full of paradox, and so are his philosophical views. These paradoxes have led (...) to deep differences in scholar's interpretation of Socrates and his thought. Mirroring this wide range of thought about Socrates, this volume's contributors are unusually diverse in their background and perspective. The essays in this volume were authored by classical philologists, philosophers, and historians from Germany, Francophone Canada, Britain, and the United States, and they represent a range of interpretive and philosophical traditions. (shrink)

This book offers an Arabic edition, English translation, study and glossaries of ʿUbaidallāh Ibn Buḫtīšūʿ’s important work on apparent death; an appendix moreover provides the Arabic and Hebrew recensions of ʿUbaidallāh’s lost Greek _Vorlage_.

Based on the novel data collected through original fieldwork on five syntactic phenomena (the position of the finite verb in embedded clauses, in sentences with a modal verb, negative concord, position of focused light/heavy objects in main clauses with a complex tense, scrambling) in the heritage language Mòcheno, we show that i) there exist two populations – one exhibiting intra-speaker variation between German and Italian word orders, and one lacking it; ii) these two populations are the result of diatopic variation (...) and, to a lesser extent, of diastratic variation. The results reached through quantitative statistical analysis are partially convergent with those arrived at by traditional theoretical syntax on Mòcheno, but our analysis has allowed us to shed new light on a series of so-far neglected or poorly understood phenomena. More specifically, we discovered that there exists micro-variation fed by diastratic (age) variation within the Roveda variety, which represents the only case in Mòcheno in which age is a relevant factor in determining variation. We also showed that the traditional claim that the Palù variety is “more German” than the other Mòcheno variety is surely to be confirmed, but we could refine it by showing that German word orders are also accepted by speakers of other varieties and that the acceptability of these word orders in competition with the Italian syntax is not fed by the age of speakers (no diastratic variation). Finally, we showed that the acceptance of German word orders across speakers varies according to the phenomenon investigated: negation is the phenomenon in which German word orders are more likely to be accepted, whereas embedded clauses are the phenomenon in which German word orders are more likely to be rejected. (shrink)