The literature on mathematical explanation contains numerous examples of explanatory, and not so explanatory proofs. In this paper we report results of an empirical study aimed at investigating mathematicians’ notion of explanatoriness, and its relationship to accounts of mathematical explanation. Using a Comparative Judgement approach, we asked 38 mathematicians to assess the explanatory value of several proofs of the same proposition. We found an extremely high level of agreement among mathematicians, and some inconsistencies between their assessments and claims in the (...) literature regarding the explanatoriness of certain types of proofs. (shrink)

El objeto de este artículo es doble. Por una parte, examina el uso que Vives hace de la lengua y del lenguaje, y, por otra parte, indica sus aportaciones al campo de la traducción e interpretación. La diversidad temática presente en su obra hace que su persona sea un punto de referencia para diferentes campos científicos, entre ellos la Filología. Para Vives, tanto el acercamiento filológico, como el aprendizaje de la lengua no sólo deben tener en cuenta la lengua desde (...) un punto teórico, sino también sociocultural. Su especial interés por las lenguas le llevó a realizar un considerable esfuerzo filológico haciendo lecturas e introducciones de varios textos clásicos latinos y también griegos, y transmitiendo su opinión acerca de la forma de realizar versiones o interpretaciones. (shrink)

Han Feizi es el principal representante de la escuela legista china. Los principios de su teoría política le han granjeado el apodo de “el Maquiavelo chino”. Sus ideas serían adoptadas por Qin Shihuang, el Primer Emperador, quien unificó China e impuso un régimen despótico caracterizado por la represión del debate político y la supresión de la libertad de expresión. La conexión entre el desarrollo de la retórica y la situación política en el contexto de la última etapa del clasicismo chino (...) puede servir de fondo para una consideración más amplia de dicho nexo. La retórica comparada proporciona las bases para relacionar el pensamiento legista chino con el discurso neoliberal contemporáneo. (shrink)

The humanist treatises presented here are only peripheral to the history of logic, but I think historians of logic may read them with interest, if perhaps with irritation. In the early sixteenth century the humanists set about to demolish medieval logic based on syllogistic and disputation, and to replace it in the university curriculum with a 'rhetorical' logic based on the use of topics and persuasion. To a very large extent they succeeded. Although Aris totelian logic retained a vigorous life (...) in the schools, it never again attained to the overwhelming primacy it had so long enjoyed in the northern universities. It has been the custom to take the arguments of the humanists at face value, and the word 'scholastic' has continued to have pejorative overtones. This is easy to understand, because until recently our knowledge of the high period of medieval logic has been slight, and the humanists' testimony as to its decadent state in the sixteenth century has, for the most part, been accepted uncritically. Within the past two decades important work on medieval logic has recovered the brilliant achievement of thirteenth and fourteenth century logicians, philosophers, and natural scientists. New studies are constantly appearing, and the logico-semantic system of the terminists has become fruitful territory not only for historians of logic but also for students of modern linguistics and semiotics. (shrink)

El pensamiento vivo de Juan Luis Vives, por Joaquín Xirau.--Páginas escogidas de Juan Luis Vives: De concordia y discordia. Tratado del alma. Introducción a la sabiduría. Del socorro de los pobres. Tratado de la enseñanza.

The present paper intends to draw the conception of language implied in the technique of word embeddings that supported the recent development of deep neural network models in computational linguistics. After a preliminary presentation of the basic functioning of elementary artificial neural networks, we introduce the motivations and capabilities of word embeddings through one of its pioneering models, word2vec. To assess the remarkable results of the latter, we inspect the nature of its underlying mechanisms, which have been characterized as the (...) implicit factorization of a word-context matrix. We then discuss the ordinary association of the “distributional hypothesis” with a “use theory of meaning,” often justifying the theoretical basis of word embeddings, and contrast them to the theory of meaning stemming from those mechanisms through the lens of matrix models (such as vector space models and distributional semantic models). Finally, we trace back the principles of their possible consistency through Harris’s original distributionalism up to the structuralist conception of language of Saussure and Hjelmslev. Other than giving access to the technical literature and state of the art in the field of natural language processing to non-specialist readers, the paper seeks to reveal the conceptual and philosophical stakes involved in the recent application of new neural network techniques to the computational treatment of language. (shrink)

Our paper is intended to follow the streams of thought along Chinese classicism that fostered hostility towards literary culture and merged into Han Feizi's work, by mid-3rd Century BC. On the one hand, Confucian tradition was prone to an elitist and anti-democratic approach to government, and set a precedent for mistrust in the use of eloquence and bookish culture. On the other, Taoism developed a theoretical contempt towards intellectualism, material culture, and scientific and technical progress, going as far as to (...) fancy unlettered utopias. On the basis of sheer utility and functionality, the Legalist school, whose latest link is represented by Han Feizi, would be receptive to both streams and take mistrust in traditional literary culture to its height. Assimilation of these ideas by Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor, led to implementation of anti-literary radicalism by banning any freedom of speech and, ultimately, by burning books and erudites. Mutatis mutandis, we suggest that a connection may be drawn between that historical process and today's Neoliberal hostility towards the Humanities. (shrink)

The assessment of learning in the ethical domain is one of the most complex aspects to attend in the educational context. In recent years, character education has contributed greatly to different social disciplines, such as education or nursing. However, the development of this approach has run up against several obstacles and limitations, as there is little evidence regarding its long-term effectiveness or its evaluation. This essay aims to identify some of the main difficulties to assess learning in the ethical domain, (...) as obstacles and possible constraints to Aristotelian-based character education. Methodology is analytical and of a philosophical-educational nature, based on which an argumentative analysis is constructed from the bibliographical review of the contributions of classical and contemporary authors. Results show the existence of four major problems and ten associated subproblems, both of an external nature linked to the contextual factors of assessment, and of an internal nature that affect the essence of the process itself, which highlight the difficulty of carrying out assessments of an ethical kind. Far from proposing a pessimistic position, we argue a realistic vision that allows educators at different educational levels to be aware of the limits and critical points of evaluation in the ethical domain. (shrink)

King Ferdinand VII of Spain was often compared to the Ottoman sultan. It was a rhetorical operation that continued a tradition in Western Christendom by which Christian rulers were compared to oriental despots not because they were considered to be equal to them, but to show how far astray from the ideal of good government they were. This article examines the multiple dimensions of this comparison. To what extent was it a reaffirmation of the construction of the Turk as a (...) radical other? Or were there new essential elements, and therefore the metaphor of the Turk can also be interpreted within a new universalistic discourse that opposed tyrants to oppressed peoples across cultural and religious barriers? Our examination leads to a reflection on the transnational character of the discursive frameworks in which the metaphor of the Turk was built and rebuilt, on its circulation and limits, and on its specific uses. (shrink)

A partir de una distinción entre la crítico al mito tradicional, que puede llevar a hacer usos pedagógicos del mismo una vez reformado y el uso del mito dentro de una investigación filosófica como herramienta del pensamiento, se procede en este trabajo a considerar tres mitos filosóficos y a establecer la forma en que puedan ser leídos adecuadamente, especialmente tratando de establecer las repercusiones del tipo ético que tienen dentro de la obra de Platón. Se realizan, en primer lugar algunas (...) consideraciones generales sobre el lugar del mito en la filosofía de Platón; a continuación se hace un comentario de los tres mitos; por último se formulan dos tipos de conclusiones: las metodológicas y las éticas. (shrink)

The confusion generated in the communicational field by the assumption of a signal theory (Shannon) that searches for effectiveness in the transmission of a message from a transmitter to a receiver, which is generalized as a theory of information or of communication, has proposed an orientatio..

This article traces the link between Deleuze’s philosophy of individuation, developed in such works as Difference and Repetition and Logic of Sense, and the notion of structure, that articulated a good part of the epistemological and ontological discussions in French philosophy and science in the 1960s. Besides pointing out the originality of Deleuze’s take on the term ‘structure’—as it ceases to correspond to a formal constant that is opposed or indifferent to the genesis of singular individuals, and becomes a virtual (...) field of pre-individual determinations—, the author presents the possible limits of its use in a philosophy of difference in itself. The reconstruction of this philosophical bet that wanted to turn “structuralism” into a new transcendental philosophy allows to assess how much of this idea of structure remains alive in Deleuze and Guattari’s later works, and to what extent their philosophy transforms or displaces the project that had been formulated in those early books. (shrink)

Much NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) fund-raising and publicity concern disasters, emergencies and the immediate relief of suffering. Donations and support may follow but they are prompted all too often by a superficially informed compassion or guilt with donors having little understanding of the results of their action. For all their impact, such campaigns can amount to demagogic sentimentalism leading to ‘compassion fatigue’ and lack of sustained support once media attention moves elsewhere. They thus undermine the unique mission of NGOs themselves. This (...) paper urges a different and more strategic approach to communication by NGOs, one which takes account of their unique status and their mission to promote solidarity. It argues that as well as solving problems of underdevelopment, NGOs need to remain independent and to shape public opinion if they are to flourish. And for this they need stable funding from informed donors giving in a spirit of solidarity to support development carried out explicitly in the name of human solidarity. The paper sets out guidelines for NGOs to communicate in ways likely to gain the support of such donors. And it describes the la Florida project in Columbia as an example of how the beneficiary can — in the spirit of solidarity — be brought to the centre of NGO action and communication. (shrink)

Se presenta una aplicación de la paradoja de Newcomb a la disyuntiva evangélica de la elección entre Dios y el Dinero. Se concluye que la elección simultánea de Dios y el Dinero es debida, o bien a la creencia en la predestinación divina, o bien a una falta de fe en el Evangelio.

Svetost vašega življenja in vaša gorečnost za svete učenosti sta me tako ganili, da sem vam napisal nekaj o vzgoji krščanskih žena, zelo pomembni temi, ki pa je vendarle do sedaj med vso raznoliko množico učenjakov in pisateljev ni še nihče obravnaval. Kaj je namreč enako nujno kakor duhovno oblikovanje teh, ki so v vsakem življenjskem položaju naše nerazdružljive družice? Med dobrimi je naklonjenost trdna, med slabimi pa ni dolgotrajna.

The De concordia, published by Juan Luis Vives in 1529 and dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, is a comprehensive analysis of the social and political problems which were then afflicting Europe. It is the only such analysis undertaken by any of the Renaissance humanists. The De concordia merits a much more important place in Vives' oeuvre than scholars have hitherto given it. It is structured around the Augustinian concept of concordia and its antithesis, discordia. As (...) such, it is an explicit attempt to understand current history in metaphysical terms. Vives' intention is not to give strategic or tactical advice to Charles V, but to examine the general disorder of Europe with a view to determining its fundamental nature and significance. This is the first critical edition of the De concordia and the first English translation. (shrink)

THE TEXT The only readily available edition of the complete writings of Luis Vives is that published from to by the Valencian humanist, Gregorio Mayans y ...

While the term ‘nihilism’ has become increasingly widespread throughout the past two centuries, not only in academic discourses but in popular culture more widely, there is a surprising lack of con...