Los marcos de argumentación son modelos de argumentación derrotable desarrollados en el campo de la inteligencia artificial para analizar la justificación de argumentos según su interacción por medio de ataques. Las semánticas de extensiones para los marcos de argumentación son criterios para sancionar uno (punto de vista escéptico) o varios (punto de vista crédulo) subconjuntos de argumentos justificados. Una forma de evaluar diferentes semánticas de extensiones es considerando si satisfacen o no algunos “principios” (es decir, propiedades razonables o deseables). Además (...) de estas semánticas, también se han propuesto enfoques de la argumentación como juegos de diálogos, a modo de teorías de prueba para encontrar argumentos justificados a través de las estrategias ganadoras de un proponente, y se han demostrado correspondencias entre juegos y extensiones. Como consecuencia, los juegos de diálogos argumentativos se pueden poner en correspondencia con los principios de las semánticas de extensiones. Sin embargo, esas correspondencias no siempre se muestran explícitamente. El objetivo de este trabajo es poner de manifiesto tales correspondencias con casos de juegos simples, uno escéptico y dos variantes de crédulos. (shrink)

El modelo de marcos argumentativos abstractos es actualmente la herramienta más utilizada para caracterizar la justificación de argumentos derrotables en Inteligencia Artificial. Las justificaciones se determinan en base a los ataques entre argumentos y se formalizan a través de semánticas de extensiones. Aquí sostenemos que, o bien algunos marcos argumentativos carecen de sentido bajo ciertas concepciones de ataque específicas, o bien las semánticas más usadas en la literatura, basadas en el concepto de defensa conocido como admisibilidad, no resultan adecuadas para (...) justificar, en particular, argumentos para la toma de decisiones.The abstract argumentation frameworks model is currently the most used tool for characterizing the justification of defeasible arguments in Artificial Intelligence. Justifications are determined on a given attack relation among arguments and are formalized as extension semantics. In this work we argue that, contrariwise to the assumptions in that model, either some argumentation frameworks are meaningless under certain concrete definitions of the attack relation, or some of the most used extension semantics in the literature, based on the defense notion of admissibility, are not suitable in particular for the justification of arguments for decision making. (shrink)

El modelo de marcos argumentativos abstractos es actualmente la herramienta más utilizada para caracterizar la justificación de argumentos derrotables en Inteligencia Artificial. Las justificaciones se determinan en base a los ataques entre argumentos y se formalizan a través de semánticas de extensiones. Aquí sostenemos que, o bien algunos marcos argumentativos carecen de sentido bajo ciertas concepciones de ataque específicas, o bien las semánticas más usadas en la literatura, basadas en el concepto de defensa conocido como admisibilidad, no resultan adecuadas para (...) justificar, en particular, argumentos para la toma de decisiones.The abstract argumentation frameworks model is currently the most used tool for characterizing the justification of defeasible arguments in Artificial Intelligence. Justifications are determined on a given attack relation among arguments and are formalized as extension semantics. In this work we argue that, contrariwise to the assumptions in that model, either some argumentation frameworks are meaningless under certain concrete definitions of the attack relation, or some of the most used extension semantics in the literature, based on the defense notion of admissibility, are not suitable in particular for the justification of arguments for decision making. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine the extent of the critiques that La Beaumelle gives to Voltaire in the annotated edition of the Siècle de Louis XIV, published in 1753, and his response in the Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV, published a few months later. This, on the other hand, sheds some light on a number of tensions in the Voltaire’s historiographical project. It is shown that in the historical and historiographical works of the philosopher, there are (...) different methodology criteria and that the joint between them is problematic. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar que existen motivos para pensar que las críticas que Diderot dirige a Rousseau en uno de sus últimos trabajos, Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron, et sur les moeurs et les écrits de Sénèque, ocupan en la estructura de la obra un lugar de mayor relevancia que el que a menudo se les ha otorgado. Esto permite, por otra parte, poner de relieve algunas marcas autobiográficas del texto que acercan llamativamente (...) a los frères ennemis en sus últimos escritos. El trabajo muestra, asimismo, ciertas debilidades de los cuestionamientos de Diderot a Rousseau y de su propia autodefensa. (shrink)

En este trabajo critico la interpretación moralizada de la obligación política en Hobbes que defiende Luciano Venezia. Exploro una lectura diferente que evita una dicotomía tajante entre las razones prudenciales y las razones morales y subraya en cambio la discontinuidad entre la normatividad subjetiva de la ley natural y la normatividad objetiva de la ley positiva. Sostengo que el contrato de sujeción política establece obligaciones objetivas recién cuando el soberano exige el cumplimiento de los contratos. La obligación política es entonces (...) una forma de obligación jurídica. Además, enfatizo que la comunidad moral de Hobbes solo es posible dentro del Estado. In this paper, I criticize Luciano Venezia's moralized interpretation of the Hobbesian concept of political obligation. I explore a different reading that avoids a clear-cut dichotomy between prudential and moral reasons and underscores instead the discontinuity between natural law's subjective normativity and civil law's objective normativity. I contend that the pact of political subjection establishes objective obligations only when the sovereign requires the fulfillment of contracts. Political obligation is then a form of legal obligation. In addition, I emphasize that Hobbes's moral community is only possible within the State. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es demostrar que el lugar que ocupa la figura de Sócrates en la obra de Diderot es problemático, ambivalente. Ciertas actitudes y escritos de Diderot llevaron a sus coetáneos a trazar un paralelismo entre éste y el filósofo ateniense, sin embargo este artículo revela que el editor de la Encyclopédie se alejó de la figura de Sócrates en diferentes ocasiones. Esto arroja algunas luces, por otra parte, acerca de la posición que Diderot mantuvo en sus (...) trabajos de madurez con respecto a la relación entre el filósofo o el sabio y la sociedad. (shrink)

Los especialistas suelen atribuir a Diderot una concepción pesimista de la historia. Si bien de las obras de madurez del editor de la Encyclopédie se desprende una oscura imagen del porvenir, producto entre otras cosas de su encuentro con Catalina II y de la influencia de Galiani, ese pesimismo parece no agotar sus reflexiones acerca de la historia. De los trabajos de la época anterior a su viaje a Rusia se desprende otra concepción de la historia, la cual, no obstante, (...) no se confunde con las Cándidas especulaciones acerca del futuro del marqués de Condorcet. (shrink)

RESUMENEl objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el alcance del programa de Voltaire para acercar la historia a la nueva ciencia, presentado en sus Nouvelles considerations sur l’histoire. A la luz de las críticas que Larcher le dirige a propósito de su Philosophie de l’histoire y su respuesta en La défense de mon oncle, se demuestra que existen diferentes criterios epistemológicos en los trabajos históricos e historiográficos de Voltaire y que la articulación entre los mismos es problemática. Esto pone de (...) relieve los límites de su proyecto historiográfico.PALABRAS CLAVE HISTORIA–CIENCIA–ILUSTRACIÓN–VOLTAIRE–LARCHERABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to examine the extent of Voltaire’s program, in order to bring the history to the new science, presented in his Nouvelles considerations sur l´histoire. In the light of the critiques that Larcher gives to him about his Philosophie de l´histoire and its response in La défense de mon oncle, it is shown that there are different epistemological criteria in historical and historiographical works of Voltaire and that the joint between them is problematic. This highlights the boundaries of his historiographical project.KEYWORDSHISTORY–SCIENCE–ENLIGHTENMENT–VOLTAIRE–LARCHER. (shrink)

La Mettrie parece rechazar completamente la filosofía de Séneca en su _Anti_-_Sénèque. _El objetivo de este artículo es demostrar que una lectura más atenta del texto muestra que su posición es menos simple de lo que puede parecer en un primer momento. En otras palabras, se intenta exponer los límites de los cuestionamientos que el médico de Saint-Malo dirige a la filosofía y la imagen del filósofo romano. El trabajo, por otra parte, pone de relieve ciertas tensiones que atraviesan el (...) escrito y amenazan el propósito que La Mettrie se había propuesto, a saber, mejorar la vida de los hombres. (shrink)

Entre 1760 y 1770, Voltaire desarrolló una serie de actividades en defensa de la idea de “tolerancia”. El objetivo de este artículo es evaluar, a la luz de las críticas que el filósofo dirige a Jean-Jacques Rousseau en el Sentiment des citoyens (1764), el alcance de dicho concepto en sus escritos durante esa década. Se demuestra que su posición con respecto al tema está atravesada por tensiones y que, en todo caso, de sus textos se desprende una idea de tolerancia (...) limitada, que resulta difícil articular con la imagen que lo presenta como el “apóstol de la tolerancia”, una figura forjada en el mismo siglo XVIII, que se convirtió en un lugar común con el paso del tiempo. (shrink)

En L’ouvrage de Pénélope, ou Machiavel en médecine (1748‒1750), La Mettrie ataca el maquiavelismo de los médicos de su época y presenta los rasgos del médico ideal, una figura que en sus últimos escritos se confunde con la del filósofo materialista. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar que la relación entre ambas figuras es menos simple de lo que puede parecer en un primer momento. Esto, por otra parte, pone de relieve los límites del anti‒maquiavelismo de los buenos médicos. (...) En un plano más general, el trabajo arroja algunas luces acerca de las polémicas y controversias que se produjeron en el terreno de la medicina y las ciencias de la vida en el siècle des Lumières. (shrink)

En los últimos años, la relación entre la filosofía de la Ilustración y el cinismo ha logrado atraer la atención de los especialistas. En ese marco, los críticos suelen identificar las filosofías de Diógenes y Diderot. El objetivo del presente trabajo es revisar el vínculo que existe entre ambos con el fin de demostrar que el mismo es problemático y que, por esa razón, desborda las interpretaciones que se han presentado hasta el momento. Esto, por otra parte, arrojará luces sobre (...) la relación entre el materialismo de Diderot y su teoría ético-política. In recent years the relationship between the philosophy of the Enlightenment and cynicism has managed to attract the attention of scholars. In this framework, critics often identify Diogenes and Diderot's philosophy. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between Diderot and Diogenes in order to demonstrate that it is a problematic relationship that goes beyond the interpretations that have been presented so far. This, on the other hand, will shed light on the relationship between Diderot's materialism and his ethical and political theory. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, contrary to what experts generally consider, that the criticism that Diderot has directed at Rousseau in the Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron goes beyond the biographical level, and it is deeply rooted in central structures of Diderot’s philosophy. This, on the other hand, sheds light on the place Seneca occupies in the book and on the criticism that Diderot had made to the Roman philosopher in 1745.

RESUMEN En las primeras páginas de la Histoire de l'empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, publicada entre 1759 y 1763, Voltaire presenta una serie de reflexiones acerca del método que se debería seguir al escribir un trabajo histórico y de las características que debería tener un historiador ideal. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar en qué medida el texto se ajusta a la metodología que Voltaire se propone seguir. Se intenta mostrar que el autor se aleja por momentos (...) de la misma, poniendo en riesgo el plan de la obra. Por otra parte, el artículo pone de relieve ciertas diferencias ideológicas y epistemológicas entre Voltaire y Diderot a propósito de la historia rusa, algo que puede resultar llamativo, en la medida en que sus textos son colocados, en general, bajo las mismas categorías historiográficas. En un plano más general, el texto arroja algunas luces acerca de la teoría de la historia en el siècle des Lumières. ABSTRACT On the first pages of Voltaire's Histoire de l'empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, published between 1759 and 1763, he reflects upon the method which should be used when writing a historical work and the characteristics an ideal historian should have. The aim of this paper is to assess to what extent the text follows the methodology Voltaire is proposing. This article attempts to demonstrate that the author himself, occasionally, does not respect his own methodology, jeopardizing the objective of his work. On the other hand, the paper highlights some ideological and epistemological differences between Voltaire and Diderot as regards Russian history, something which may be noteworthy, since their texts are usually studied within the same historiogra-phical categories. In a more general sense, this work sheds some light on the theory of history during the siècle des Lumières. (shrink)

La Histoire de Charles XII, roi de Suède es un texto a menudo desvalorizado por los especialistas en los trabajos históricos e historiográficos de Voltaire, en la medida en que ven en él una obra menor, que se encontraría más cerca de la Henriade, el poema épico que el filósofo había publicado en 1728 en honor a Enrique IV, que de sus grandes trabajos históricos, el Siècle de Louis XIV y el Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations. El (...) objetivo de este trabajo es demostrar que la Histoire de Charles XII anticipa, a pesar de ser uno de los primeros escritos históricos de Voltaire, el método que utilizaría a partir de los años 40 en sus obras mayores. Además, el texto pone de relieve la existencia de cierta distancia entre el programa que el filósofo se propone ejecutar en el escrito y su materialización. Por otra parte, el artículo arroja algunas luces sobre el papel de los “grandes hombres” en la filosofía de la historia de Voltaire. (shrink)

Es un lugar común considerar a Voltaire como un crítico de Castel de Saint‒Pierre y uno de los principales responsables de la recepción de su imagen como la de un promotor de ideas impracticables, en particular su proyecto de paz permanente entre las naciones. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar que, en cualquier caso, la interpretación que hace de los escritos del abate es menos simple de lo que se puede pensar en un primer momento. El trabajo busca poner (...) de relieve los desplazamientos y torsiones que la figura de éste sufre en los escritos del filósofo francés, especialmente a partir de los años 50’, momento en el que revaloriza algunos aspectos de su obra. Por otra parte, el texto arroja algunas luces acerca de lo que podría considerarse el proyecto de paz del propio Voltaire. (shrink)

Estudio bibliográfico de: / A Bibliographical Study of: D.P. Verene, Vico e il mondo anglosassone (1995); Gustavo Costa, Vico e I'Europa. Contro la boria delle nazioni (1996); Aniello Montano, Storia e convenzione. Vico contro Hobbes. (1996); E. Grassi, Arte e mito (1996); AA.VV., Studi in memoria di Ernesto Grassi, Emilio Hidalgo-Serna & Massimo Marassi eds. (1996).

Recent epistemology has reflected a growing interest in issues about the value of knowledge and the values informing epistemic appraisal. Is knowledge more valuable that merely true belief or even justified true belief? Is truth the central value informing epistemic appraisal or do other values enter the picture? Epistemic Value is a collection of previously unpublished articles on such issues by leading philosophers in the field. It will stimulate discussion of the nature of knowledge and of directions that might be (...) taken by the theory of knowledge. The contributors are Jason Baehr, Michael Brady, Berit Brogaard, Michael DePaul, Pascal Engel, Catherine Elgin, Alvin Goldman, John Greco, Stephen Grimm, Ward Jones, Martin Kusch, Jonathan Kvanvig, Michael Lynch, Erik Olsson, Wayne Riggs and Matthew Weiner. (shrink)

Recent epistemology has reflected a growing interest in issues about the value of knowledge and the values informing epistemic appraisal. Is knowledge more valuable that merely true belief or even justified true belief? Is truth the central value informing epistemic appraisal or do other values enter the picture? Epistemic Value is a collection of previously unpublished articles on such issues by leading philosophers in the field. It will stimulate discussion of the nature of knowledge and of directions that might be (...) taken by the theory of knowledge. The contributors are Jason Baehr, Michael Brady, Berit Brogaard, Michael DePaul, Pascal Engel, Catherine Elgin, Alvin Goldman, John Greco, Stephen Grimm, Ward Jones, Martin Kusch, Jonathan Kvanvig, Michael Lynch, Erik Olsson, Wayne Riggs and Matthew Weiner. (shrink)

Inspired by the writings of J. M. Hinton (1967a, 1967b, 1973), but ushered into the mainstream by Paul Snowdon (1980–1, 1990–1), John McDowell (1982, 1986), and M. G. F. Martin (2002, 2004, 2006), disjunctivism is currently discussed, advocated, and opposed in the philosophy of perception, the theory of knowledge, the theory of practical reason, and the philosophy of action. But what is disjunctivism?

This dictionary, the first dedicated to the work of Gilles Deleuze, offers an in-depth and lucid introduction to one of the most influential figures in continental philosophy. It defines and contextualizes more than 150 terms relating to Deleuze's philosophy, including "becoming," "body without organs," "deterritorialization," "difference," "repetition," and "rhizome." The entries also explore Deleuze's intellectual influences and the ways in which his ideas have shaped philosophy, feminism, cinema studies, postcolonial theory, geography, and cultural studies. More than just defining and describing (...) specific terms, the dictionary elaborates on Deleuze's ideas to reveal the varied applications of his philosophy. The contributors, who include some of the most prominent Deleuze scholars, bring their expert knowledge and critical opinion to bear on the entries. Their work provides a range of theoretical, historical, and aesthetic contexts for anyone interested in Deleuzian thought. Contributors include: Ronald Bogue, University of Georgia; Rosi Braidotti, Utrecht University; Claire Colebrook, University of Edinburgh; Tom Conley, Harvard University; Eugene Holland, Ohio State University; Tamsin Lorraine, Swarthmore College; Paul Patton, University of New South Wales; Kenneth Surin, Duke University; Alberto Toscano, Goldsmiths College. (shrink)

-- 2. La Gnoseología como filosofía de la ciencia (parte I, sección 2) ; Historia de la teoría de la ciencia (parte I, sección 3) -- 3. El Sistema de las doctrinas gnoseológicas ; Las cuatro familias básicas (parte II, sección 1) -- 4. El sistema de las doctrinas gnoseológicas ; Descripcionismo (parte II, sección 2) ; Teoreticismo (parte II, sección 3) -- 5. Adecuacionismo (parte II, sección 4) ; Circularismo (parte II, sección 5) ; Glosario.

This brief review of Mario Bunge’s research on physics begins with an analysis of his masterpiece Foundations of Physics, and then it discusses his other contributions to the philosophy of physics. Following that is a summary of his more recent reactions to scientific discoveries in physics and a discussion of his position about non-locality in quantum mechanics, as well as his changing opinions on the nature of spacetime. The paper ends with a brief assessment of Bunge’s legacy concerning the foundations (...) of physics. (shrink)

A Brief History of the Philosophy of Time is a concise and accessible survey of the history of philosophical and scientific developments in understanding time and our experience of time. It discusses prominent ideas about the nature of time, plus many subsidiary puzzles about time, from the classical period through the present.

An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past. -/- The “historical sciences”—geology, paleontology, and archaeology—have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work with offers mere traces of the past? In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scientists are “methodological omnivores,” with a variety of strategies (...) and techniques at their disposal, and that this gives us every reason to be optimistic about their capacity to uncover truths about prehistory. Creative and opportunistic paleontologists, for example, discovered and described a new species of prehistoric duck-billed platypus from a single fossilized tooth. Examining the complex reasoning processes of historical science, Currie also considers philosophical and scientific reflection on the relationship between past and present, the nature of evidence, contingency, and scientific progress. -/- Currie draws on varied examples from across the historical sciences, from Mayan ritual sacrifice to giant Mesozoic fleas to Mars's mysterious watery past, to develop an account of the nature of, and resources available to, historical science. He presents two major case studies: the emerging explanation of sauropod size, and the “snowball earth” hypothesis that accounts for signs of glaciation in Neoproterozoic tropics. He develops the Ripple Model of Evidence to analyze “unlucky circumstances” in scientific investigation; examines and refutes arguments for pessimism about the capacity of the historical sciences, defending the role of analogy and arguing that simulations have an experiment-like function. Currie argues for a creative, open-ended approach, “empirically grounded” speculation. (shrink)

Las teorías que usamos para representar el mundo pueden ser extremadamente complejas. Abordan temas tales como electrones, campos cuánticos, estrellas de neutrones, materia oscura, redes neuronales, mercados económicos, la atmósfera y muchas otras entidades que suponemos existen en el universo. Al formular nuestras teorías, recurrimos a lenguajes exactos que nos permiten minimizar la vaguedad y expresarnos lo más precisa y cuantitativamente posible. Recurrimos a la matemática. Cuando formulamos nuestras teorías fácticas en lenguaje matemático, estas se refieren no solamente a objetos (...) que nosotros interpretamos como materiales, tales como partículas o personas, sino también a entidades más raras de un mundo abstracto: conjuntos, números, funciones, espacios algebraicos, variedades, topologías, y otras entidades similares. Estos objetos no son materiales en el sentido en que nosotros decimos que una manzana es material. Ellos no existen en el espacio-tiempo, no interactúan, no cambian o evolucionan. Sin embargo, allí están, profundamente arraigados en nuestras teorías más apreciadas acerca del mundo. (shrink)

There are communities in which disadvantaged groups experience severe inequality. For instance, poor and indigent families face many difficulties accessing their social rights. Their condition is largely the consequence of the wrong choices of those in power, either historical or more recent choices. The lack of opportunities of these deprived citizens is due to state omissions. In such communities, it is not unusual for homeless members of these particular groups to occupy abandoned lands and build their shelters there. However, almost (...) everywhere, these actions constitute a crime. The typical response to this situation is prosecution and punishment. In this paper, I will defend the occupation of public places as a consequence of the failure of governments to solve the problem of housing, and I will argue that we must distinguish a social claim from a crime and avoid the use of criminal law in these “occupation cases”. I will also argue that our right—as a community—to blame and punish these “squatters” is eroded by the fact that we perpetrated their situation of injustice. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone dos objetivos, uno descriptivo y otro propositivo. El descriptivo consiste en el análisis de la crítica que realiza E. Cioran, a lo largo de su obra, a la concepción humanista del ser humano Nuestro filósofo pone en cuestión la arrogancia del hombre que se coloca en el lugar fundamental y de supremacía en el ámbito de la vida, lugar que le sirve de justificación para conquistar, apropiarse y aniquilar a la naturaleza y al resto de los (...) vivientes. Por otro lado, en términos propositivos, me interesa plantear la cuestión de la animalidad(el animal que es el ser humano, y los animales no humanos) porque permite poner en cuestión esa concepción humanista, y pensar nuevos modos de ser-con lo viviente. En este sentido, sostengo a lo largo del trabajo que la filosofía de Cioran permite pensar una noción de lo humano atravesada por la animalidad, noción cioraneana que desarma("descompone") la arrogancia de los humanismos. Para ello me serviré de la problemática de la muerte como inmanente a la vida y de la crítica de Cioran a la noción de propiedad. (shrink)

Aesthetics is thought of as not only a theory of art or beauty, but also includes sensibility, experience, judgment, and relationships. This paper is a study of Bernard Stiegler’s notion of Aesthetic War (stasis) and symbolic misery. Symbolic violence is ensued through a loss of individuation and participation in the creation of symbols. As a struggle between market values against spirit values human life and consciousness within neoliberal hyperindustrial society has become calculable, which prevents people from creating affective and meaningful (...) attachments to symbols in relation to our retentional apparatuses, technology and memory. Such tension can be thought of as a dissonance between overlapping domains of social life, private and public. New Media is a reflection of aesthetic dissonance, an experience such as being bored and entertained at the same time, between antagonistic experiences, values, and behavior. Moreover, new media is at once a medium of customizing aesthetic experience individually as well as the threat and practice of prioritizing calculability and modeling of consumer behavior in favor of capitalistic effectiveness, which results in the simultaneous categorization of an individual as a data point, putting those who do not fit an algorithm’s premises at a disadvantage. (shrink)

The concept of ideology is central to the understanding of the many political, economic, social, and cultural processes that have occurred in the last two centuries. And yet, what is the nature of the different ideologies remains a vague, open, and much disputed question. Many political, sociological, and ideological studies have been devoted to ideology. Very little, on the other hand, has been done from the philosophical field. And this despite the fact that there are undoubtedly many philosophical questions related (...) to ideology and its role in modern industrialized societies. Just a few examples of ideology-related philosophical questions suffice to prove the point: What objects do ideologies deal with? Are the ideologies testable? Are there true ideologies? Do they evolve? How are ideologies related to societies? Is the existence of ideologies inevitable in modern societies? What is the relation of ideology to science? Is science just another kind of ideology? Are we, as human beings, innately predisposed to believe in ideologies? Or, instead, ideologies proliferate through indoctrination and propaganda? Are ideologies necessarily harmful?...and much more. In this article I try to answer some of these questions from a philosophical point of view, taking a materialist approach. I begin by characterizing ideology as a complex, multi-layered concept. Then, I briefly discuss the material systems on which ideological movements operate, that is, societies and concrete human groups. I identify at least 11 different elements that seem to be present in most ideologies, and I compare these characteristics with those of contemporary science and technology. Although some superficial similarities can be identified, there are deep differences that make ideology completely different from science. The similarities, however, are stronger with technology. Ideologies continually evolve with technological advances, social changes, and even with mere fashion. The current fragmentation of ideologies caused by the widespread use of new technologies and social networks has given rise to new phenomena of ideological propagation which, in my opinion, are very dangerous, particularly for open societies. I discuss these processes, within the context of the nature vs nurture debate, along with the question of whether we can get rid of ideologies. (shrink)

Historical sciences like paleontology and archaeology have uncovered unimagined, remarkable and mysterious worlds in the deep past. How should we understand the success of these sciences? What is the relationship between knowledge and history? In Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past: History Matters, Adrian Currie examines recent paleontological work on the great changes that occurred during the Cretaceous period - the emergence of flowering plants, the splitting of the mega-continent Gondwana, and the eventual fall of the dinosaurs - to analyse (...) the knowledge of historical scientists, and to reflect upon the nature of history. He argues that distinctively historical processes are 'peculiar': they have the capacity to generate their own highly specific dynamics and rules. This peculiarity, Currie argues, also explains the historian's interest in narratives and stories: the contingency, complexity and peculiarity of the past demands a narrative treatment. Overall, Currie argues that history matters for knowledge. (shrink)

The character of computational modelling of cognition depends on an underlying theory of representation. Classical cognitive science has exploited the syntax/semantics theory of representation that derives from logic. But this has had the consequence that the kind of psychological explanation supported by classical cognitive science is " _conceptualist_: " psychological phenomena are modelled in terms of relations that hold between concepts, and between the sensors/effectors and concepts. This kind of explanation is inappropriate for the Proper Treatment of Connectionism.

Propõe o ensino das duas linguagens fundamentais - de Língua Materna e de Matemática - através da argumentação para que se articule o ensino de todas as disciplinas. Ao final, faz uma proposta global de avaliação para a escola, centrada em textos argumentativos, transformando a "cola" consentida em consulta necessária.

Dung’s argumentation frameworks have been applied for over twenty years to the analysis of argument justification. This representation focuses on arguments and the attacks among them, abstracting away from other features like the internal structure of arguments, the nature of utterers, the specifics of the attack relation, etc. The model is highly attractive because it reduces most of the complexities involved in argumentation processes. It can be applied to different settings, like the argument evaluation of an individual agent or the (...) case of dialectic disputes between two agents (pro and con), or even in multi-agent collective argumentation. The latter case involves agents with possibly different arguments and/or opinions on how to evaluate them, leading to the possibility of considering multiple sets of arguments and attack relations. Two basic questions can be asked here, namely ‘what to aggregate’ and ‘how to aggregate’. The former concerns what kinds of entities do the agents intend to choose (arguments, attacks, assessments, etc.), while the second one focuses on which aggregation mechanisms yield rational choices (voting on arguments, merging procedures to obtain a common argumentation framework, deliberation processes, etc.). In particular, the question about the rationality of a collective argument choice relates this topic to Social Choice and Judgment Aggregation theories, while its associated strategic issues relate it to Game Theory. The research efforts on the disparate problems elicited by collective argumentation have generated a considerable corpus of literature that deserves an orderly evaluation. This survey is intended as a contribution to that end. (shrink)

This volume is a wide-ranging examination of denial and ideological denialism. It offers a readable overview of the psychology and social science of bias, self-deception, and denial, and examines the role of ideological denialism in conflicts over science and public policy, politics, and culture.

This volume will be an essential resource for anyone working in the central areas of philosophy, and the starting point for future research in this fascinating ...

John Scottus Eriugena (d. ca. 877) is regarded as the most important philosopher and theologian in the Latin West from the death of Boethius until the thirteenth century. He incorporated his understanding of Latin sources, Ambrose, Augustine, Boethius and Greek sources, including the Cappadocian Fathers, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Maximus Confessor, into a metaphysics structured on Aristotle's Categories, from which he developed Christian Neoplatonist theology that continues to stimulate 21st-century theologians. This collection of essays provides an overview of the latest scholarship on (...) various aspects of Eriugena's thought and writings, including his Irish background, his use of Greek theologians, his Scripture hermeneutics, his understanding of Aristotelian logic, Christology, and the impact he had on contemporary and later theological traditions. Contributors: David Albertson, Joel Barstad, John Contreni, Christophe Erismann, John Gavin, Adrian Guiu, Michael Harrington, Catherine Kavanagh, A. Kijewska, Stephen Lahey, Elena Lloyd-Sidle, Bernard McGinn, Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi, Dermot Moran, Giulio D'Onofrio, Willemien Otten, and Alfred Siewers. (shrink)

Andre Gorz is one of the most important contemporary socialist thinkers, acquiring the reputation of an iconoclastic theorist who poses radical questions about the future of the Left. This full length assessment of his work is the first to critically evaluate all of his writings from the 1950s to the '90s. Highlighting the eclectic nature of Gorz's intellectual heritage beginning with his existentialist-Marxist roots in post-war France, Adrian Little creates a unique perspective, arguing that Gorz is primarily a theorist of (...) individual freedom and autonomy. In this context he can be regarded not only as a post-Marxist thinker but as a unique purveyor of individualistic socialism. This view offers a challenge to all on the Left who are concerned with the reproduction of welfare capitalism and the future of democratic socialism. (shrink)