Analysis of the quotations from Leo Tolstoy’s «What I Believe», that Nietzsche copied out and worked on in late 1887-early 1888, shows that after reading this book Nietzsche significantly changed his attitude toward Christianity. Before that he did not see any difference between the teachings of Jesus Christ and historic Christianity, but from that moment on, following Tolstoy, he draws a sharp opposition between them. Still persisting in a very negative assessment of historical Christianity, he acknowledges the teaching of Christ (...) as positive insofar as it contributes to the unfolding of the internal capabilities of the human being. (shrink)

Les descriptions du déroulement des événements dans la nature à partir du bing bang utilisent les concepts d’énergie et de matière. Une troisième composante manque systématiquement : l’information. Ce qui pose la question de savoir où se trouve alors l’information dans ces descriptions et précède-t-elle peut-être à l’énergie. Cette analyse s’appuie sur la théorie générale des systèmes, une puissante méthode scientifique contemporaine. Pour décrire la technique générale , depuis le bing bang jusqu’au point final – l’état de repos absolu –, (...) elle utilise son propre concept, fondé sur deux considérations : celle que la technique n’a rien de particulier , et celle de l’origine fractale de la nature . Dans ces descriptions, les réponses à la question de l’origine du système informationnel, dont l’action débute avec le bing bang, font défaut. L’entrée de l’information se sous-divise en commande et en données. À l’aide des connaissances philosophiques comme celles de Platon, d’Aristote ou de Thomas d’Aquin, il a été déduit que quelqu’un a dû élaborer les lois naturelles transmises à l’énergie au cours du bing bang, avant l’inflation et la création de la matière. La question de savoir qui a ordonné l’élaboration des lois naturelles et le commencement du bing bang est particulièrement importante. Ce texte n’indique pas explicitement qui est le commanditeur de cette élaboration et qui l’élaborateur des informations transmises. (shrink)

Résumé — Cet article se propose de fournir une contribution au débat interprétatif sur le principe de la limitation de l’acte par la puissance dans la démonstration de l’infinité de Dieu de la Summa theologiae de Thomas d’Aquin à travers une enquête à caractère historique qui expose quelques-unes des étapes capitales de l’histoire de cette preuve. Le désaccord qui divise les interprètes contemporains à propos du rôle joué par le principe susdit hérite, en réalité, d’une opposition séculaire parmi les commentateurs (...) de Thomas qui remonte à la discussion qui suivit l’intervention de Tommaso de Vio et de Francesco Silvestri. D’autre part, l’incontestable présence chez certains commentateurs classiques de Thomas, Jean de Saint-Thomas in primis, d’une position qui sépare la preuve de la Summa du principe de la limitation de l’acte par la puissance réceptive, loin d’exprimer une orthodoxie par rapport à la tradition la plus ancienne, constitue un renversement par rapport à la lecture de Cajetan et de Silvestre de Ferrare, qui s’était affirmée comme l’interprétation canonique du texte de Thomas.— Questo articolo si propone di fornire un contributo al dibattito interpretativo sul principio della limitazione dell’atto attraverso la potenza nella dimostrazione dell’infinità di Dio nella Summa theologiae di Tommaso d’Aquino attraverso un’indagine di carattere storico che espone alcune delle tappe capitali della storia di questa prova. Il disaccordo che divide gli interpreti contemporanei sul ruolo giocato dal principio suddetto eredita, in realtà, un’opposizione secolare fra i commentatori di Tommaso che risale alla discussione che seguî gli interventi di Tommaso de Vio e di Francescio Silvestri. D’altra parte, la presenza, incontestabile, in alcuni commentatori classici di Tommaso, primo fra tutti Giovanni di san Tommaso, di una posizione che separa la prova della Summa dal principio della limitazione dell’atto attraverso la potenza recettiva, lungi dal configurarsi nei termini di una posizione ortodossa rispetto alla tradizione più antica, costituisce un ribaltamento della lettura di Cajetano e di Silvestro da Ferrare, che si era affermata come l’interpretazione canonica del testo di Tommaso. (shrink)

A questão sobre o homem e a II Meditação Resumo: Neste artigo, analiso a noção pré-filosófica de “homem” discutida por Descartes na Segunda Meditação. Apesar da atenção dirigida a esse tópico pelos contemporâneos de Descartes, em particular Bourdin, os pesquisadores não se demoram sobre tal questão. Argumentarei nas páginas seguintes que a análise da noção pré-filosófica de homem, por parte de Descartes, constitui um caso paradigmático do procedimento seguido na Segunda Meditação para encontrar a distinção. Esse procedimento consiste, de fato, (...) em um movimento que, retomando uma noção pré-filosófica, encontra, através da atenção e, por conseguinte, da clareza, a distinção: concentrando a atenção na noção pré-filosófica de homem em que “descobre” a cogitatio, o meditador torna tal noção clara; depois, a separa das determinações às quais está unida, tornando-a distinta. Palavras-chave: Descartes; Meditações; Homem; Clareza e distinção. La domanda sul l’uomo e la II Meditazione Riassunto: In questo articolo analizzo la nozione pre-filosofica di ‘uomo discussa da Descartes nella Seconda Meditazione. A dispetto dell’attenzione rivolta su questo punto dai contemporanei di Descartes, in particolare Bourdin, gli studiosi non si sono particolarmente soffermati su tale questione. Argomenterò nelle pagine seguenti che l’analisi, da parte di Descartes, della nozione pre-filosofica di uomo costituisce un caso paradigmaico della procedura seguita nella seconda Meditazione per giungere alla distinzione. Questa procedura consiste, infatti, in un movimento che, regredendo da una nozione pre-filosofica, giunge, attraverso l’attenzione e, quindi, la chiarezza, alla distinzione: dentro la nozione pre-filosofica di uomo in cui il meditante ‘scopre’ la cogitatio, egli sofferma l’attenzione rendendo tale nozione chiara, poi la separa dalle determinazioni cui è unita nella medesima nozione rendendola distinta. Parole-chiave: Descartes; Meditações; Homem; Clareza e distinção. The question about man and II Meditation Abstract: In this paper I will focus on the pre-philosophical notion of ‘man’ discussed by Descartes in the Second Meditation. In spite of the attention addressed on this very point by Descartes’s contemporaries, especially by Bourdin, scholars have not much dealt with this topic. In what follows, I will argue that Descartes’s analysis of the pre-philosophical notion of ‘man’ constitutes a paradigmatic case of the procedure followed in the Second Meditation in order to attain distinction. This procedure consists in a movement by which the meditator, by regressing from a pre-philosophical notion, obtains clearness through attention, and therefore distinctness through clearness: by focusing his attention on the pre-philosophical notion of ‘man’, in which he discovers the ‘cogitatio’, the meditator makes such a notion clear; then, by internal means of separation, he makes this notion distinct as well. Keywords: Descartes; Meditações; Homem; Clareza e distinção. (shrink)

Dans son écrit tardif, Les progrès de la métaphysique (1791), Kant résume toute sa métaphysique en critiquant la métaphysique traditionnelle et, avant tout, le « système leibniziano-wolffien » (qui en est, selon lui, le sommet). La finitude de la pensée humaine s’avérant, la métaphysique traditionnelle – affaire de la raison et de la logique – se révèle être vide. Kant refonde alors la métaphysique sur ce qui est donné (les intuitions pures, la loi morale de la liberté et, en un (...) certain sens, l’empirie du monde sensible) afin de l’empêcher de «sombrer dans le néant ». Il distingue trois stades de la métaphysique: son «progrès assuré » dans l’« ontologie » critico-transcendantale, son « arrêt sceptique » dans la cosmologie spéculative et son progrès pratico-moral jusqu’aux idées suprasensibles (surtout celles de Dieu et de l’immortalité). La métaphysique, s’élevant ainsi au suprasensible et considérant à partir de lui le monde sensible, s’avère alors être un savoir fondamentalement autre que tout savoir ontico-empirique. (shrink)

L'Auteur dégage et expose d'abord le modèle explicite proposé par Hobbes pour l'analyse des phénomènes sémioti- que, puis le contexte dans lequel ce modèle est élaboré, tout en montrant en quoi cette analyse peut encore intéresser les philosophes du langage contemporains. Il met ensuite en évi- dence les diverses perspectives empruntées par Hobbes dans son analyse, formule les principes sur lesquels elles reposent et décèle les problèmes de cohérence qui en résultent. Il propose enfin une interprétation qui permet de lever (...) certaines contradictions apparentes rencontrées dans l'analyse du mo- dèle proposé par Hobbes en réexaminant le contexte initial de cette analyse et les catégories ontologiques fondamentales qu'elle met en cause.The Author extricates and exposes at first the explicit model proposed by Hobbes to analyse semiotical phenomena, and the context in which this model is developped, showing by the way how this model, in many respects, might still be interesting for contemporary philosophers of language. Then, he reconstructs the approaches adopted by Hobbes, formulates the basic principles on which they rest, and identifies some problems of coherence resulting from the whole approach. He proposes, at last, an interpretation which enables us to solve some apparent contradictions met in the analysis of the model proposed by Hobbes by exploring anew the initial context of this model and the basic ontological categories which are implicated in Hobbes' semiotical analysis. (shrink)

La relation de Deleuze à Gueroult est paradoxale. Car sur un plan strictement philosophique, Gueroult professait un rationalisme qui n’avait pas grand-chose à envier à celui d’Alquié ou d’Hyppolite que Deleuze ne manquera pas de critiquer sévèrement. Simplement, non seulement Deleuze n’a pas critiqué les positions de Gueroult, mais il les a même constamment reprises à son compte. Comment l’expliquer? La raison nous semble la suivante : c’est que Gueroult n’a cessé d’accompagner et de porter l’exigence d’un « ordre synthétique (...) » ou d’un « dynamisme génétique » en philosophie ; or, avant d’être une méthode pour l’historien de la philosophie, cette exigence exprime une certaine conception de la philosophie, dont découlent et la pratique et la philosophie de l’histoire de la philosophie ; et si Deleuze a repris à son compte les positions de Gueroult, c’est qu’il n’a cessé d’alimenter son propre travail philosophique à l’exigence portée par Gueroult, et à la conception de la philosophie qu’elle exprimait. Dans l’œuvre de Deleuze, cette exigence a même rendu possible un geste décisif, au-delà de l’ambition de Gueroult : la critique du rationalisme au nom d’un empirisme transcendantal. Avec Gueroult, au-delà de Gueroult. Le disciple s’est fait créateur. C’est peut-être en ce sens qu’il faut entendre la remarque d’Olivier Revault d’Allonnes : « J’ai toujours trouvé que Gilles [Deleuze] a été un grand élève de Gueroult ». (shrink)

Nécessité vitale de l’écriture et refus de la métaphore : il existe, dans l’œuvre littéraire de Franz Kafka, un rapport intérieur entre ces deux aspects qui est à même d’éclairer l’originalité de la lecture que Deleuze et Guattari en proposent. Dans Kafka. Pour une littérature mineure, en examinant les conditions sociolinguistiques de l’écriture littéraire, en cherchant à dégager la logique générale de l’œuvre d’après le fonctionnement du journal, des lettres, des nouvelles et des romans, en critiquant les interprétations tragiques en (...) termes de Dieu absent, de transcendance de la loi et de culpabilité a priori, en leur substituant enfin une analyse machinique attachée aux trajectoires du désir et une étude du style centrée sur la création d’images hallucinées, Deleuze et Guattari entendent promouvoir une approche littérale de l’œuvre de Kafka, à même de capter l’humour diabolique et vital qu’elle déploie. (shrink)

« En 1976, Deleuze et Guattari publient aux éditions de Minuit un petit livre intitulé Rhizome. Ce livre est un point de passage entre les deux tomes de Capitalisme et schizophrénie : il enregistre d’une part l’écriture à deux de L’Anti-Œdipe publié en 1972, et il annonce d’autre part le programme de Mille plateaux auquel il servira d’introduction en 1980. Moment décisif de leur collaboration, Deleuze et Guattari y théorisent en effet pour la première fois la nouvelle image de la (...) pensée qu’ils mobilisent – une image nomadique de la pensée (nomadologie) – et la nouvelle pratique de la philosophie qu’ils mettent en œuvre – une philosophie des multiplicités. Mais pourquoi Deleuze et Guattari ont-ils choisi d’exprimer ce renouvellement philosophique à travers un système végétal jusque-là privé de toute dignité conceptuelle? Quel rapport peut-il bien y avoir entre le rhizome – l’igname, le manioc, la patate douce, etc. – et la nomadologie? ». (shrink)

Peut-on sentir et expérimenter que l'on est éternel? On dit parfois que l'art, la philosophie ou la religion peuvent nous permettre d'échapper à notre condition temporelle, et nous faire accéder à l'éternité. Mais sait-on alors ce qu'on dit? Prétendre à une telle expérience de l'éternité, ne serait-ce pas plutôt une marque de folie? Ce livre ne veut pas en préjuger. À l'écoute de la littérature, de la philosophie, de la théologie, mais aussi de la clinique psychiatrique, il veut saisir les (...) contours de ces expériences de l'extrême pour les évaluer et tâcher d'en tirer les enseignements pour la compréhension de l'expérience, de l'éternité et de notre condition temporelle. De Spinoza aux tatouages des individus borderline, de la deep ecology à Simone Weil, ce livre explore les manières de faire sentir et résonner l'éternité."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

This article discusses adult conversion in the Russian Baptist community as the unlearning of old sinful ways of living. Russian Baptists see conversion as an act of repentance, surrendering to Christ, and becoming born again, and as a life-long process of growing in faith. Based on an ethnographic study of the Baptist community in north-western and central Russia, the article discusses the glocal nature of the Russian Baptist community that attracts the kind of people that convert to this faith and (...) the circumstances of their conversion. Russian Baptist conversion is viewed as an act and a process, and conversion is seen as an ethical choice and an unlearning of the old ways of living. (shrink)

We argue that the most‐promising area of clinical application of microarrays in the foreseeable future is the diagnostics and monitoring of infectious diseases. Microarrays for the detection and characterization of human pathogens have already found their way into clinical practice in some countries. After discussing the persistent, yet often underestimated, importance of infectious diseases for public health, we consider the technologies that are best suited for the detection and clinical investigation of pathogens. Clinical application of microarray technologies for the detection (...) of mycobacteria, Bacillus anthracis, HIV, hepatitis and influenza viruses, and other major pathogens, as well as the analysis of their drug‐resistance patterns, illustrate our main thesis. BioEssays 30:673–682, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

A paper on how to adapt your probabilisitc beliefs when learning a conditional.

In this text, I intend to follow Franklin Leopoldo e Silva’s reflections on the Teaching of Philosophy in Secondary Schools. Along the way, I try to show the central role that Franklin Leopoldo e Silva attributes to the History of Philosophy in order to understand the Teaching of Philosophy, with regard to both the function and the content of this teaching, and how this ensures the fundamental role for the critical power of Philosophy in the formation of high school students.

This book is not only a major twentieth-century contribution to Dostoevsky’s studies, but also one of the most important theories of the novel produced in our century. As a modern reinterpretation of poetics, it bears comparison with Aristotle.“Bakhtin’s statement on the dialogical nature of artistic creation, and his differentiation of this from a history of monological commentary, is profoundly original and illuminating. This is a classic work on Dostoevsky and a statement of importance to critical theory.” Edward Wasiolek“Concentrating on the (...) particular features of ‘Dostoevskian discourse,’ how Dostoevsky structures a hero and a plot, and what it means to write dialogically, Bakhtin concludes with a major theoretical statement on dialogue as a category of language. One of the most important theories of the novel in this century.” The Bloomsbury Review. (shrink)

The article analyzes the effectiveness of quantum theories of mental experience in relation to two ontological problems - the problem of the existence of consciousness in the material world and the problem of the interaction of consciousness and body. A critical analysis of the quantum theories of consciousness by Penrose-Hameroff, M. Tegmark, G. Stapp, M. Fischer and M.B. Mensky shows that they fail to fully explain how complex physical systems generate mental experience without violating the principle of causal closure of (...) the physical world and the principle of epistemological completeness of physics. Quantum mechanics provides specific processes that are the physical basis of the psyche, but do not explain the phenomenal aspect of subjective reality. Nevertheless, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle gives an understanding of how the interaction of consciousness and body within the scientific picture of the world can be carried out without violating the law of energy conservation. It is shown that the quantum theories of consciousness currently being developed have a predominantly panprotopsychic character, which faces a problem due to the fact that the protomental property of physical systems must be expressed quantitatively and correspond to the value included in the physical equations. As a result, it is concluded that in order to develop quantum theories of consciousness more effectively, it is necessary to give an emergent character, not jumping from the quantum level to the psychic, but explaining the mechanism of the emergence of systemic properties during the sequential transition between different ontological regions of existence, including physical, chemical, biological, neurophysiological and psychic. (shrink)

This position paper advocates combining formal epistemology and the new paradigm psychology of reasoning in the studies of conditionals and reasoning with uncertainty. The new paradigm psychology of reasoning is characterized by the use of probability theory as a rationality framework instead of classical logic, used by more traditional approaches to the psychology of reasoning. This paper presents a new interdisciplinary research program which involves both formal and experimental work. To illustrate the program, the paper discusses recent work on the (...) paradoxes of the material conditional, nonmonotonic reasoning, and Adams’ Thesis. It also identifies the issue of updating on conditionals as an area which seems to call for a combined formal and empirical approach. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Paragrana Jahrgang: 23 Heft: 2 Seiten: 115-127.

The author compares the outlook of the early twentieth-century Russian literary and artistic avant-garde with the anticapitalist critique of the early Marx, with special reference to the concepts of defamiliarization and alienation.

The business case for Corporate Social Responsibility is a powerful driver for mainstreaming socially responsible behavior in corporate practice. This is because managers’ proclivity to assume responsibility is positively correlated with their expectations that CSR pays off. However, there is the danger that managers might be tempted to focus primarily on those CSR activities that allow to link the associated costs and benefits ex ante reliably which, in turn, is a precondition for a perceived business case. Unfortunately, the perceived business (...) case for CSR activities that prevent irresponsible behavior is rather weak. In contrast, CSR in terms of the voluntary engagement for society is quite promising for the perceived business case. In consequence, a business case–driven approach to CSR might foster “cherry picking” behavior, in the sense that managers might tend to reduce CSR to “doing good” and put less efforts on CSR in terms of “avoiding bad” which, in turn, increases the risk of irresponsible business practices. (shrink)

As cognitive enhancement research advances, important ethical questions regarding individual autonomy and freedom are raised. Advocates of cognitive enhancement frequently adopt a procedural approach to autonomy, arguing that enhancers improve an individual’s reasoning capabilities, which are quintessential to being an autonomous agent. On the other hand, critics adopt a more nuanced approach by considering matters of authenticity and self-identity, which go beyond the mere assessment of one’s reasoning capacities. Both positions, nevertheless, require further philosophical scrutiny. In this paper, we investigate (...) the ethics of cognitive enhancement through the lenses of political and philosophical arguments about autonomy and freedom. In so doing, we contend that a substantive, relational account of individual autonomy offers a more holistic understanding of the ethical concerns of cognitive enhancement. (shrink)

In this article we are offering a method of analysis and formalization of the Epicurean objection to the Skeptics from the Adversus mathematicos VIII, 337, 6-9. We emphasize the importance of this objection for understanding Sextus Empiricus’ response to it, continuously discussed by the historians of philosophy. The Epicureans argue that the Skeptics cannot criticize their proof, because when the Skeptics are criticizing their proof, they think something different from the original proof, so that the original proof remains untouchable by (...) any criticism. We explain in which sense the holistic assumption used by Sextus Empiricus and some philosophers before him can be used in the Epicurean objection to the Skeptics. In the final formalization we show that Epicureans’ argument can be interpreted as logically correct and deduced from sound premises. In the course of arguing for this thesis we are using the technical means of contemporary epistemic logic. (shrink)

Although a substantial number of papers is published on the topic of consciousness, there is still little consensus on what its nature is and how the physical and phenomenal worlds are connected. Most published research establishes a causal relation between the brain and the mind, but it lacks a cogent theory of how this relation comes to be. In contrast, this paper uses a set of thought experiments grounded in quantum information theory to derive a framework for resolving the hard (...) problem of consciousness. Despite the common tendency to treat the problem purely philosophically, in this paper, consciousness and qualia are analyzed through established formal theory deriving conclusions regarding their relation which provide counter-arguments for the commonly held dualist view. Through the informational monism framework, a case is made for a fundamentally phenomenal nature of information. (shrink)

We give a negative solution to the problem, posed by A. Chagrov and M. Zakharyaschev, of whether every quasi-normal propositional modal logic can be axiomatized by an independent set of axioms, with the inference rules of Substitution and Modus Ponens.