This book explains how the logic of theory change employs formal models in the investigation of changes in belief states and databases. The topics covered include equivalent characterizations of AGM operations, extended representations of the belief states, change operators not included in the original framework, iterated change, applications of the model, its connections with other formal frameworks, and criticism of the model.

The 1985 paper by Carlos Alchourrón, Peter Gärdenfors, and David Makinson, “On the Logic of Theory Change: Partial Meet Contraction and Revision Functions” was the starting-point of a large and rapidly growing literature that employs formal models in the investigation of changes in belief states and databases. In this review, the first twenty-five years of this development are summarized. The topics covered include equivalent characterizations of AGM operations, extended representations of the belief states, change operators not included in the original (...) framework, iterated change, applications of the model, its connections with other formal frameworks, computatibility of AGM operations, and criticism of the model. (shrink)

Since the early 1980s, logical theories of belief revision have offered formal methods for the transformation of knowledge bases or “corpora” of data and beliefs. Early models have dealt with unconditional acceptance and integration of potentially belief-contravening pieces of information into the existing corpus. More recently, models of “non-prioritized” revision were proposed that allow the agent rationally to refuse to accept the new information. This paper introduces a refined method for changing beliefs by specifying constraints on the relative plausibility of (...) propositions. Like the earlier belief revision models, the method proposed is a qualitative one, in the sense that no numbers are needed in order to specify the posterior plausibility of the new information. We use reference beliefs in order to determine the degree of entrenchment of the newly accepted piece of information. We provide two kinds of semantics for this idea, give a logical characterization of the new model, study its relation with other operations of belief revision and contraction, and discuss its intuitive strengths and weaknesses. (shrink)

This paper examines ethics in organizations in relation to the subjectivity of managers. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault we seek to theorize ethics in terms of the meaning of being a manager who is an active ethical subject. Such a manager is so in relation to the organizational structures and norms that govern the conduct of ethics. Our approach locates ethics in the relation between individual morality and organizationally prescribed principles assumed to guide personal action. In this way (...) we see ethics as a practice that is powerfully intertwined in an individual’s freedom to make choices about what to do and who to be, and the organizational context in which those choices are situated, framed and governed. (shrink)

In this note we shall argue that Milne’s new effort does not refute Truthmaker Maximalism. According to Truthmaker Maximalism, every truth has a truthmaker. Milne has attempted to refute it using the following self-referential sentence M: This sentence has no truthmaker. Essential to his refutation is that M is like the Gödel sentence and unlike the Liar, and one way in which Milne supports this assimilation is through the claim that his proof is essentially object-level and not semantic. In Section (...) 2, we shall argue that Milne is still begging the question against Truthmaker Maximalism. In Section 3, we shall argue that even assimilating M to the Liar does not force the truthmaker maximalist to maintain the ‘dull option’ that M does not express a proposition. There are other options open and, though they imply revising the logic in Milne’s reasoning, this is not one of the possible revisions he considers. In Section 4, we shall suggest that Milne’s proof requires an implicit appeal to semantic principles and notions. In Section 5, we shall point out that there are two important dissimilarities between M and the Gödel sentence. Section 6 is a brief summary and conclusion. (shrink)

Five types of constructions are introduced for non-prioritized belief revision, i.e., belief revision in which the input sentence is not always accepted. These constructions include generalizations of entrenchment-based and sphere-based revision. Axiomatic characterizations are provided, and close interconnections are shown to hold between the different constructions.

This paper argues that an explanation of the role of aesthetic patterning in human action needs to be part of any “qualitative” social theory. It urges the social sciences to move beyond contextualism and to see art as visual, acoustic and other media that lead to heightened sensory perception and the coordination of feelings through symbols. The article surveys the argument that art provides a basic model of how the self learns to interact with external environments; and the complementary thesis (...) that art could be seen as integral to the emergence of systems of human knowledge, communication and economy. Ornamentation and stylization are advanced as two concrete devices through which human attention is captured and experience is ordered through aesthetic patterns. The conclusion is drawn that art offers the social sciences a meaningful account of the perceptual or “qualitative” dimensions of social interactions; and that this is much needed today. (shrink)

En este trabajo, me propongo discutir la plausibilidad de la tesis de que es posible captar las características modales del concepto intuitivo de consecuencia a través de un concepto de consecuencia definido generalizando sobre interpretaciones. Desde mi perspectiva, las argumentaciones que han ofrecido aquellos que, como Ray, quieren salvar el salto de lo general a lo modal, mostrando que hay suficientes interpretaciones como para representar las características modales de la noción preteórica de consecuencia, poseen un mismo tipo de limitación. La (...) misma es producto de la imposibilidad de contar con una interpretación de los cuantificadores suficientemente general como para abarcar sin restricción contextual alguna, la totalidad de las interpretaciones. Al mismo tiempo, sostengo que estos problemas están emparentados con los límites expresivos propios de la estrategia que intenta ofrecer una teoría matemática precisa del concepto de interpretación por medio de algún tipo de cuantificación sobre estructuras (sean estas conjuntistas o no). Por eso, tales límites expresivos no tienen que ver especialmente con los rasgos modales propiamente dichos del concepto de consecuencia, sino con la cuantificación irrestricta que el análisis requeriría para ser adecuado. (shrink)

Se desarrolla la concepción normativista de la autoconciencia hegeliana, de acuerdo con los aportes de los denominados “neohegelianos de Pittsburgh” (Robert Brandom, John McDowell), así como de otros autores anglosajones como Robert Pippin, Terry Pinkard y Paul Redding. Se presenta el recorrido de la autoconciencia en el capítulo IVde la Fenomenología del Espíritu, y se desarrollan algunos rasgos que pueden extraerse de dicha presentación, de acuerdo con la lectura normativista de los autores mencionados.

Se desarrolla la concepción normativista de la autoconciencia hegeliana, de acuerdo con los aportes de los denominados "neohegelianos de Pittsburgh", así como de otros autores anglosajones como Robert Pippin, Terry Pinkard y Paul Redding. Se presenta el recorrido de la autoconciencia en el capítulo IV de la Fenomenología del Espíritu, y se desarrollan algunos rasgos que pueden extraerse de dicha presentación, de acuerdo con la lectura normativista de los autores mencionados. The normativist conception of Hegelian self-consciousness according to the contributions (...) of the so-called "Pittsburgh neo-Hegelians" is developed along with the contributions of other English-speaking scholars such as Robert Pippin, Terry Pinkard and Paul Redding. An overview is given of self-consciousness as laid out in chapter IV of the Phenomenology of Spirit, and some of the features that can be extracted from this overview are developed according to a normativist reading of the authors mentioned. (shrink)

In “A new proof of the completeness of the Lukasiewicz axioms” Chang proved that any totally ordered MV-algebra A was isomorphic to the segment \}\) of a totally ordered l-group with strong unit A *. This was done by the simple intuitive idea of putting denumerable copies of A on top of each other. Moreover, he also show that any such group G can be recovered from its segment since \^*}\), establishing an equivalence of categories. In “Interpretation of AF C (...) *-algebras in Lukasiewicz sentential calculus” Mundici extended this result to arbitrary MV-algebras and l-groups with strong unit. He takes the representation of A as a sub-direct product of chains A i, and observes that \ where \. Then he let A * be the l-subgroup generated by A inside \. He proves that this idea works, and establish an equivalence of categories in a rather elaborate way by means of his concept of good sequences and its complicated arithmetics. In this note, essentially self-contained except for Chang’s result, we give a simple proof of this equivalence taking advantage directly of the arithmetics of the the product l-group \, avoiding entirely the notion of good sequence. (shrink)

Roy Clouser’s reply to my article on John Paul II’s 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio is learned, engaging, clear--and, respectfully put, full of errors on many points regarding John Paul’s understanding of faith and reason.1 On this matter, he attacks a straw man. Indeed, at times I wondered whether Clouser and I had read the same encyclical. Despite this, however, let me underscore my genuine appreciation of Clouser for pressing me to be clearer on my view of the encyclical’s position (...) on faith and reason.My reply is organized in two parts. First, I argue that in FR faith is a form of knowing; John Paul II is not a rationalist; and the impact of the fall into sin on human reason is integral. Second, I defend the view of FR that a metaphysical theology is necessary in order to give an account of the intelligibility of the Christian revelation. Indeed, one of the biblical requirements for a “Scriptural philosophy” is a philosophy of a truly metaphysical range, according to John Paul. (shrink)

This article focuses on two largely ignored aspects of the understanding of strong metaphors: the visual dimension and the emotional factors. Particularly, I intend to offer answers to the following questions: 1) What does it mean to understand a visual metaphor? 2) Can Wittgenstein’s ideas about the vision of aspects help to better understand this understanding? 3) In what sense does his notion of secondary sense enrich the philosophical reflection on the understanding of metaphors? 4) In what sense may emotions (...) be an important factor in the understanding of certain metaphors? The article is framed in a methodological proposal: I defend a phenomenology of the metaphor, that is, an accurate description of our experiences with metaphors, and in this case, its understanding. (shrink)

Este trabajo se centra en dos aspectos poco estudiados de la comprensión de metáforas fuertes: la dimensión visual y factores emocionales. En concreto, intento responder las siguientes preguntas: 1) ¿Qué significa comprender una metáfora visual? 2) ¿Es posible que las ideas de Wittgenstein sobre la ..

This thesis consists in six articles and a comprehensive summary. • The pourpose of the summary is to introduce the AGM theory of belief change and to exemplify the diversity and significance of the research that has been inspired by the AGM article in the last 25 years. The research areas associated with AGM was divided in three parts: criticisms, where we discussed some of the more common criticisms of AGM. Extensions where the most common extensions and variations of AGM (...) are presented and applications where we provided an overview of applications and connections with other areas of research. • Article I elaborates on the connection between partial meet contractions [AGM85] and kernel contractions [Han94a] in belief change theory. Also both functions are equivalent in belief sets, there are notequivalent in belief bases. A way to define incision functions from selection functions and vice versa is presented. It is explained under which conditions there are exact correspondences between selection and incision functions so that the same contraction operations can be obtained by using either of them. • Article II proposes an axiomatic characterization for ensconcement-based contraction functions, belief base functions proposed byWilliams and relates this function with other kinds of base contraction functions. • Article III adapts the Fermé and Hansson model of Shielded Contraction [FH01] as well as Hansson et all Credibility-Limited Revision [HFCF01] for belief bases, to join two of the many variations of the AGM model [AGM85], i.e. those in which knowledge is represented through belief bases instead of logic theories, and those in which the object of the epistemic change does not get the priority over the existing information as it is the case in the AGM model. • Article IV introduces revision by comparison a refined method for changing beliefs by specifying constraints on the relative plausibility of propositions. Like the earlier belief revision models, the method proposed is a qualitative one, in the sense that no numbers are needed in order to specify the posterior plausibility of the new information. The method uses reference beliefs in order to determine the degree of entrenchment of the newly accepted piece of information. Two kinds of semantics for this idea are proposed and a logical characterization of the new model is given. • Article V focuses on the extension of AGM that allows change for a belief base by a set of sentences instead of a single sentence. In [FH94], Fuhrmann and Hansson presented an axiomatic for Multiple Contraction and a construction based on the AGM Partial Meet Contraction. This essay proposes for their model another way to construct functions: Multiple Kernel Contraction, that is a modification of Kernel Contraction,proposed by Hansson [Han94a] to construct classical AGM contractions and belief base contractions. • Article VI relates AGM model with the DFT model proposed by Carlos Alchourrón [Alc93]. Alchourrón devoted his last years to the analysis of the notion of defeasible conditionalization. His definition of the defeasible conditional is given in terms of strict implication operator and a modal operator f which is interpreted as a revision function at the language level. This essay points out that this underlying revision function is more general than AGM revision. In addition, a complete characterization of that more general kind of revision that permits to unify models of revision given by other authors is given. (shrink)

Con la entrada en el Collège de France, en 1953, Merleau-Ponty comienza una reflexión sobre el problema de la filosofía que no cesa hasta sus últimos cursos en la célebre institución. Termina su conferencia, Elogio de la filosofía, poniendo énfasis en la filosofía como expresión, a la luz de las aportaciones de la lingüística, y sobre la voluntad de hablar del filósofo. Ni una palabra sobre la fenomenología y el existencialismo en esta ocasión. Pero seis años más tarde elogia la (...) filosofía de la existencia, como mirada al mundo de una época y sus problemas. Dedica los últimos cursos en el Collège a justificar la posibilidad de la filosofía, a partir de Husserl sobre todo; entiende que la nueva filosofía, como interrogación del saber (de los saberes) y del ser, es por ello una nueva ontología. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo, enmarcado dentro de una consideración antropológico-ética de las virtudes sociales, nos proponemos mostrar el desarrollo de Santo Tomás de Aquino en torno al concepto de objeto de una acción, el cual presta a ésta su cualidad moral de ser una virtud o un vicio y la relación existente entre el sentido objetivo del obrar social humano y la ley natural.

Se pretende dar cuenta de la crítica a Ser y tiempo que Lévinas formula en Totalidad e infinito, crítica centrada en la omisión de dos formas primordiales de estancia en el mundo: el goce y el habitar. Tal omisión es sintomática: Ser y tiempo, al querer ser una crítica de la modernidad, internaliza ..

Contemporary Europe is facing this chal- lenge when redefining its own identity and socializing institutions. This paper focuses on how current discus- sions on the adequacy of a reference to Judeo- Christian heritage in the new European Constitution or on the teaching of religions at schools show the resilience of old-age notions and stereotypes with respect to cultural diversity. In order to explain this resilience, the paper explores how hierarchical percep- tions of otherness (mainly of Muslims) are flourishing within a (...) dichotomized system of representing other- ness. This system is analyzed from the neo- Durkeimian perspective of cultural sociology and placed in connection with the spiritual leadership of fundamentalist conservatism after the fall of the Berlin Wall and with the old trend of Orientalism underlying pervading dominant Western discourses. (shrink)

El artículo pretende preparar el terreno conceptual para el uso correcto de la atribución de libertad. Se defiende en él la importancia de considerar la complementariedad de la libertad de la acción y la libertad de la voluntad, y se aboga a favor de una concepción no metafísica de la adscripción de..

Pragmatism has been called "the chief glory of our country's intellectual tradition" by its supporters and "a dog's dinner" by its detractors. While acknowledging pragmatism's direct ties to American imperialism and expansionism, Chad Kautzer, Eduardo Mendieta, and the contributors to this volume consider the role pragmatism plays, for better or worse, in current discussions of nationalism, war, race, and community. What can pragmatism contribute to understandings of a diverse nation? How can we reconcile pragmatism's history with recent changes in (...) the country's racial and ethnic makeup? How does pragmatism help to explain American values and institutions and fit them into new national and multinational settings? The answers to these questions reveal pragmatism's role in helping to nourish the fundamental ideas, politics, and culture of contemporary America. (shrink)

The present paper attempts to clarify the meaning of consumption in Hegel’s philosophy. For this purpose I start from the full-blown concept of consumption, as it appears in the Philosophy of Right, in the section on the system of needs. Afterwards I present the less developed form of consumption in the Phenomenology of Spirit, as the first spiritual manifestation of consumption. In the conclusion I explain why consumption in the Philosophy of Right should be understood as the fully developed form (...) of consumption, insofar as the Philosophy of Right presupposes a full intersubjectivity, whereas the Phenomenology of Spirit does not. Finally, I enumerate the contributions of the Phenomenology of Spirit for the understanding of consumption in the system of needs of the Philosophy of Right. (shrink)

Hegel’s Philosophy of Right can be analyzed whether independently from the Science of Logic or on the basis of the metaphysical premises developed in the latter work. In the present paper we enumerate different positions about this question, and we classify a number of attempts which were recently carried out in order to actualize the PhR. the differentiation of five levels of analysis of the articulation of the ethical and the logical in the PhR allows us to conclude that both (...) the thesis on the dependence and the thesis of the independence can be compatible, since they refer to different levels of analysis. (shrink)

This paper addresses the reception of Hegel’s philosophy in Argentina from an exploratory point of view. For this, it offers a preliminary state of the art in which the sources and materials for a study of this type are determined, and a periodization of the reception is proposed that includes the following periods: 1) from the 19th century to the Argentine University Reform of 1918, the time of Hegel’s indirect presence; 2) from 1918 to the First National Congress of Philosophy (...) in 1949, the true beginning of the reception of Hegel; 3) from 1949 to 1982/83, a period of dispute between the existentialist, Marxist, theological and Peronist interpretations of Hegel; and 4) from the democratic restoration to the present, when an institutional consolidation of Hegelian Studies is perceived in the country. As first conclusions, the federal character of the reception of Hegel’s philosophy and the two main moments of the institutionalization of Hegelian Studies in 1931 and 1983 stand out. The first one, in the context of the anti-positivist reaction and the vindication of German philosophy, and the second one, in the framework of the stabilization of academic activity due to the democratic transition. (shrink)

RESUMEN En este artículo se exponen dos espacios de la esfera pública donde pueden ser percibidas con claridad las tensiones propias de la vida ética moderna según las entiende Hegel en los Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. En primer lugar se expone la publicidad de la asamblea estamental, la cual tiene la función de mediar y superar las tensiones características de la esfera privada por medio de la representación política de los intereses particulares de la sociedad civil. En segundo lugar (...) se analiza la ambivalente posición de Hegel con respecto a la opinión pública. Según el filósofo, el pueblo conoce sus intereses verdaderos solo por medio de la representación política. La publicidad de los debates parlamentarios es una condición necesaria para la formación del pueblo. Esta original concepción de la representación política anticipa desarrollos actuales de la teoría política y se distingue con claridad de las concepciones clásicas de la representación. ABSTRACT In this paper, we explain two dimensions of public sphere where the tensions of modern ethical life are clearly perceived, according to Hegel's Girundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. First, we present the public side of the states assembly, which has the function of mediating and overcoming the tensions characteristic of the private sphere by means of the political representation of particular interests of civil society. Second, we analyze Hegel's ambivalent position regarding public opinion. According to Hegel, a people knows its true interests only through political representation. The publicity of the parliamentary debates is a necessary condition for the constitution of a people. This original perspective ofpolitical representation anticipates current political theories and clearly differentiates itself from classic understandings of representation. (shrink)

RESUMENEn el presente trabajo se realiza una presentación de los conceptos y categorías principales de la Segunda Parte de Dialéctica negativa de Theodor W. Adorno. A partir de dicha presentación se plantean una serie de críticas a la posición de Adorno con el fin de demostrar la necesidad de reconocer un nivel inmediato de la realidad en base al cual actúen las diferentes mediaciones dialécticas. Al mismo tiempo, se señala la posibilidad de hacer esto dentro del propio marco de la (...) dialéctica negativa, como una radicalización de la misma, en la tradición dialéctica inaugurada por Hegel.PALABRAS CLAVEADORNO, HEGEL, DIALÉCTICA NEGATIVA, MEDIACIÓN/INMEDIATEZABSTRACTThis paper gives a presentation of the main concepts and categories of Part II of Negative dialectics by Theodor W. Adorno. As from this presentation a series of criticisms to Adorno’s position is offered in order to demonstrate the need of acknowledging an immediate level of reality which is at the basis of the action of different dialectical mediations. At the same time the possibility of doing this inside the limits of the negative dialectics is explained as a radicalization of it in the dialectical tradition inaugurated by Hegel.KEYWORDSADORNO, HEGEL, NEGATIVE DIALECTICS, MEDIATION/IMMEDIACY. (shrink)

Trilogia da ancestralidade : ensaios de filosofia Africana -- Introdução -- I. Verso e re-verso da pureza nagô -- II. Da pureza nagô à (re) Africanização -- III. Da (re) Africanização à ancestralidade -- Considerações finais.