ABSTRACTAlthough formative of modern value theory, the moral beauty view—which states that moral virtue is beautiful and moral vice is ugly—is now mostly neglected by philosophers. The two contemporary defences of the view mostly capitalize on its intuitive attractiveness, but to little avail: such considerations hardly convince sceptics of what is nowadays a rather unpopular view. Historically, the view was supported by thought experiments; and although these greatly increase its plausibility, they also raise empirical questions, which they leave unanswered. Here, (...) I offer a novel defence of the moral beauty view, capitalizing on empirical evidence and arguing via an inference to the best explanation. (shrink)

This paper is a sequel to an earlier result of the authors that in making inferences from certain probabilistic knowledge bases the maximum entropy inference process, ME, is the only inference process respecting “common sense.” This result was criticized on the grounds that the probabilistic knowledge bases considered are unnatural and that ignorance of dependence should not be identified with statistical independence. We argue against these criticisms and also against the more general criticism that ME is representation dependent. In a (...) final section, however, we provide a criticism of our own of ME, and of inference processes in general, namely that they fail to satisfy compactness. (shrink)

Linda Zagzebski recently put forward a new theory, moral exemplarism, that is meant to provide an alternative to theories like consequentialism and deontology, and which proposes to define key moral terms by direct reference to exemplars. The theory’s basic structure is straightforward. A virtuous person is defined as a person like that, where that points to individuals like Leopold Socha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, and so on. A key component of this theory is the function played by the emotions, specifically the (...) emotion of admiration, which helps us identify moral exemplars, inspires our emulation of them, and grounds moral motivation. In other words, admiration tracks persons like that. The aim of this article is to show that unless moral exemplarism recognises and incorporates an aesthetic dimension to morality, as did, for instance, eighteenth-century sentimentalists by recognising the categories of moral beauty and ugliness, the theory suffers important theoretical difficulties, whilst failing to yield some of the theoretical merits that it boasts. To this end, I will cast doubt on the prominent role accorded to the emotion of admiration for morality, arguing that it has to either be qualified as a specific kind of admiration––namely that which takes the beautiful as its object––or be replaced altogether with the affective response to the beautiful, a mark of which is pleasure or delight in the contemplation of an object. In short, an aesthetics of character is necessary in order to properly theorise the affective and motivational components of morality under an exemplarist framework. (shrink)

We have all heard people say ‘Beauty is only skin-deep’, or ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’: our culture promulgates a conception of beauty as subjective, superficial, and independent of other values like moral goodness or knowledge and understanding. Yet our taste in beauty affects many aspects of our lives, sometimes playing a decisive – and often detrimental – role in areas as wide-ranging as our identity and self-esteem, our morally salient decisions, and our relationship to the environment. (...) This presents us with a choice: we can either ignore the facts – leaving our conception of beauty unchanged and allowing our taste to influence much in our lives while either not acknowledging such influence, or perhaps seeking to reprimand it; or we can take the power of beauty seriously and seek to harmonise our taste with our values. I argue for the latter option and propose a way of bringing beauty and taste in line with what matters to us using the notion of functional beauty. Adopting this strategy, I suggest, can have a powerful – and positive – impact on our self-esteem and wellbeing, our relationship to others, as well as our attitudes towards the environment. (shrink)

Es, quiza, la coleccion mas abierta que existe en cuestiones de etica, aunque se ha ocupado tambien de antropologia, estetica, ontologia, teoria del conocimiento e historia de la filosofia. El primer titulo que se publico en la coleccion fue la gran Historia de la filosofia y de la ciencia en tres volumenes de Ludovico Geymonat. A este le han seguido obras de A. J. Ayer, A. MacIntyre, Ernst Tugendhat, Antoni Domenech, Anna Estany, Agnes Heller, F. Fernandez Buey, Carlos Paris, Emilio (...) Lledo, Manuel Sacristan, John Rawls o Ludwig Wittgenstein. Victoria Camps ha dirigido, ademas, una gran Historia de la etica, en tres volumenes, en la que han colaborado los mejores especialistas espanoles. Para el autor solo el analisis de la evolucion biologica permite comprender el concepto de cultura como desarrollo y desembocadura de la vida. Es un proceso que culmina en la realidad humana y que la presente obra examina en sus grandes lineas. (shrink)

¿De qué forma es posible el pensamiento auténtico, como un acto libre y creador, en el mundo actual? Tal pregunta, arranque de este libro, es elaborada por Carlos París desde una doble perspectiva: desde la “agresión” que supone la actual “sociedad de masas programadas” -cuya capacidad de absorción engloba y manipula la misma “protesta”- y desde las exigencias de la racionalidad científica actual. Nacido en Bilbao en 1925, y catedrático desde 1951 en las Universidades de Santiago, Valencia y Autónoma de (...) Madrid, el profesor París ha sido testigo de excepción -además de activo protagonista- de la evolución experimentada por la filosofía española en el curso de los últimos veinte años. La introducción en nuestro país de la “filosofía científica”, que tanto habría de contribuir a la higienización del ambiente filosófico tras de su prolongado enrarecimiento por la escolástica de la postguerra, tuvo en él a uno de sus promotores más caracterizados. Ha sabido conjugar el interés por los problemas de la ciencia y la técnica modernas con un interés parejo por los problemas del hombre y la sociedad, como lo acreditan sus libros y publicaciones en revistas. Los trabajos incluidos en esta obra dan una idea de su investigación en una amplia gama de dominios, que discurren desde la antropología filosófica hasta la metodología científica. (shrink)

This paper corrects three widely held misunderstandings about Maxent when used in common sense reasoning: That it is language dependent; That it produces objective facts; That it subsumes, and so is at least as untenable as, the paradox-ridden Principle of Insufficient Reason.

I offer a set of sufficient conditions for beauty, drawing on Parsons and Carlson’s account of ‘functional beauty’. First, I argue that their account is flawed, whilst falling short of...

El texto se propone como un estudio del reconocimiento recíproco a través de una revisión de la propuesta elaborada por Axel Honneth en su filosofía, y con el objetivo de señalar sus principales contribuciones tanto para la configuración de la identidad humana como para la práctica de la metodología de la transformación pacífica de los conflictos. Tanto es así que se enfatiza, especialmente y siguiendo a Honneth, cómo el hecho de reconocerse recíprocamente ayudará a las personas a sentirse más confiadas, (...) respetadas y estimadas, siendo éstos tres valores fundamentales para la regulación positiva de los conflictos y para la construcción de culturas para la paz. Además, el reconocimiento recíproco se pondrá en relación en estas páginas con otros medios pacíficos de la transformación de los conflictos. (shrink)

It took nearly two thousand years for society to recognize the Hippocratic insistence that “the doctor knows best”1 was an inadequate approach to medical decisionmaking. Today, patient-centered medicine has come to understand that the individual patient has a significant role in the decisionmaking process.2.

Reasoning under uncertainty, that is, making judgements with only partial knowledge, is a major theme in artificial intelligence. Professor Paris provides here an introduction to the mathematical foundations of the subject. It is suited for readers with some knowledge of undergraduate mathematics but is otherwise self-contained, collecting together the key results on the subject, and formalising within a unified framework the main contemporary approaches and assumptions. The author has concentrated on giving clear mathematical formulations, analyses, justifications and consequences of the (...) main theories about uncertain reasoning, so the book can serve as a textbook for beginners or as a starting point for further basic research into the subject. It will be welcomed by graduate students and research workers in logic, philosophy, and computer science as a textbook for beginners, a starting point for further basic research into the subject, and not least, an account of how mathematics and artificial intelligence can complement and enrich each other. (shrink)

Iconic signs are overrepresented in the vocabularies of young deaf children, but it is unclear why. It is possible that iconic signs are easier for children to learn, but it is also possible that adults use iconic signs in child-directed signing in ways that make them more learnable, either by using them more often than less iconic signs or by lengthening them. We analyzed videos of naturalistic play sessions between parents and deaf children aged 9–60 months. To determine whether iconic (...) signs are overrepresented during child-directed signing, we compared the iconicity of actual parent productions to the iconicity of simulated vocabularies designed to estimate chance levels of iconicity. For almost all dyads, parent sign types and tokens were not more iconic than the simulated vocabularies, suggesting that parents do not select more iconic signs during child-directed signing. To determine whether iconic signs are more likely to be lengthened, we ran a linear regression predicting sign duration, and found an interaction between age and iconicity: while parents of younger children produced non-iconic and iconic signs with similar durations, parents of older children produced non-iconic signs with shorter durations than iconic signs. Thus, parents sign more quickly with older children than younger children, and iconic signs appear to resist that reduction in sign length. It is possible that iconic signs are perceptually available longer, and their availability is a candidate hypothesis as to why iconic signs are overrepresented in children’s vocabularies. (shrink)

Philosophical aesthetics has recently been expanding its purview—with exciting work on everyday aesthetics, somaesthetics, gustatory aesthetics, and the aesthetics of imperceptibilia like mathematics and human character—reclaiming territory that was lost during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the discipline begun concentrating almost exclusively on the philosophy of art and restricted the aesthetic realm to the distally perceptible. Yet there remains considerable reluctance towards acknowledging the aesthetic character of many of these objects. This raises an important question—partly made salient again by (...) the ongoing expansion of the aesthetic domain, and partly by the fact that many still seem resistant to this aesthetic diversification—which aestheticians seem to avoid: what, if anything, constrains the scope of beauty or the aesthetic? I argue that form, construed as comprising a degree, however minimal, of experienceable complexity, is necessary and sufficient for an object's candidature for the possession of aesthetic properties. Such a condition serves to discriminate between attempts to expand the scope of the aesthetic that are legitimate and those that are not. If correct, my view suggests that the aesthetic realm, though not limitless, is very broad indeed—but this, I think, is as it should be. (shrink)

We give an account of some relationships between the principles of Constant and Atom Exchangeability and various generalizations of the Principle of Instantial Relevance within the framework of Inductive Logic. In particular we demonstrate some surprising and somewhat counterintuitive dependencies of these relationships on ostensibly unimportant parameters, such as the number of predicates in the overlying language.

Les rencontres avec les travaux d'Anne-Françoise Schmid que présente cet ouvrage, mettent la philosophie générique au coeur des pratiques contemporaines des sciences, ouvrant ainsi une nouvelle voie pour la création épistémologique. Comment produire une description non disciplinaire des sciences? Qu'est-ce qui permet aux sciences d'être conceptives? - De quoi a-t-on besoin pour une science sans exclusions? Quels sont les nouveaux opérateurs de rigueur des sciences contemporaines? Les travaux d'Anne-Françoise Schmid montrent que les objets contemporains des sciences ne se prêtent pas (...) à des définitions standard, et que les convergences de perspectives disciplinaires ne permettent pas non plus d'assurer un point de vue théorique unifié, mais seulement des trajectoires particulières et multiples. Il n'y a pas d'objet sans rapport à l'objet. Ce rapport n'est pas simplement une mise en contexte, elle met en jeu l'intime et l'intention des chercheurs. Les disciplines cachent cet aspect. Sa philosophie travaille à la mise en lumière des opérations qui permettent l'ouverture d'un espace générique : c'est-à-dire un espace qui ne dépend pas d'une seule discipline et qui est condition d'une nouvelle mise en relation des concepts d'humain et de sciences. Les contributions de cet ouvrage mettent en évidence des nouvelles logiques de découpage, de réarticulation et d'invention de concepts dans une grande diversité de champs disciplinaires. Ce livre offre une entrée dans un espace générique. Le générique permet de voir ainsi ce que l'on ne voit pas avec l'épistémologie classique."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Pure Inductive Logic is the study of rational probability treated as a branch of mathematical logic. This monograph, the first devoted to this approach, brings together the key results from the past seventy years, plus the main contributions of the authors and their collaborators over the last decade, to present a comprehensive account of the discipline within a single unified context.

Ugliness is a neglected topic in contemporary analytic aesthetics. This is regrettable given that this topic is not just genuinely fascinating, but could also illuminate other areas in the field, seeing as ugliness, albeit unexplored, does feature rather prominently in several debates in aesthetics. This paper articulates a ‘deformity-related’ conception of ugliness. Ultimately, I argue that deformity, understood in a certain way, and displeasure, jointly suffice for ugliness. First, I motivate my proposal, by locating a ‘deformity-related’ conception of ugliness in (...) aesthetic tradition, offering examples in support, and rejecting related alternative suggestions. Second, I argue that the proposal boasts considerable merits. Not only does it capture much of what we ordinarily think of as ugly, but it also comprises an objective criterion for ugliness, offers unity and comprehensiveness, and is informative and explanatorily potent. Third, I discuss a number of objections, thereby demonstrating that the proposal withstands reflective scrutiny. (shrink)

Creativity is an essential piece to make peace. So much so that this text highlights the importance of motivating to be able to take the risk in that what refers to the peacebuilding and the peaceful conflict transformation. With this objective, this paper mentions a pedagogical turn, which has to tend towards a creative education in creativity and facilitate, at the same time, the cultivation of those peaceful competences, which are favourable to the establishment of creative peace from both simple (...) and diary actions. Creative peace that, as the epilogue of the solidarity between peace and creativity, will be down the principles of the Philosophy for making peace as a philosophical praxis. (shrink)

A rethinking of children is necessary, particularly in Western societies, where a Modern conception has prevailed, based on ideas of children’s fragility, vulnerability and dependence on adults. This Modern conception has emphasized the notion of life as a process divided into identificable stages and has considered age as the main criterion to identify what it is to be a child and an adult. In front of this conception, this text proposes the objective of recuperating the alternatives offered by both Postmodern (...) theory and Posthumanism, in order to propose a revaluation of children as empowered creative subjects, who, in dialogue to adults and in relation with more-than-humans, will be understood as co-educators. To that end, pedagogies that give priority to children’s creativity and to their critical and ethical thinking will be emphasized, making particular connection to the school of Philosophy with Children and the methodology based on picturebooks. (shrink)

On the concept of Pariṇāma (change and permanence) in Indic philosophy; a study.

On Vedanta philosophy; study based on Vedic literature.

The article investigates the feasibility of district heating in a small town adjacent to a Kraft pulp mill in eastern Canada. A detailed heat demand analysis is performed for all buildings using a geographical information system and archived data provided by the municipality. The study shows that the entire space heating requirement of the town can be supplied by steam from the mill, even during exceptional peak demands. A screening test based on load density indicators, however, reveals that a district (...) heating serving the entire town would probably not be economically viable. An economic analysis of partial districts show that a district covering about half of the town can be economically viable with a proper balance between the price of the steam sold by the mill to the district operator and the cost of the energy sold to customers. (shrink)

This proceedings volume contains most of the invited talks presented at the colloquium. The main topics treated are the model theory of arithmetic and algebra, the semantics of natural languages, and applications of mathematical logic to complexity theory. The volume contains both surveys by acknowledged experts and original research papers presenting advances in these disciplines.

La filosofía para hacer las paces de Martínez Guzmán aborda las competencias y las capacidades que los seres humanos tenemos para la transformación de los conflictos por medios pacíficos. Desde esta concepción de la condición humana, la defensa de un más que necesario cambio en la noción de la política local y global y la propuesta del giro epistemológico, Martínez Guzmán indaga la relación entre conflicto y cooperación como dos caras de una misma moneda, y pone el énfasis en la (...) importancia del reconocimiento a través de la justicia y del amor para hacernos las paces, superando, así, las llamadas “luchas por el reconocimiento”.Martinez Guzman’s Philosophy for making peace approaches the competencies and the capabilities that human beings have for the peaceful conflict transformation. From this conception of the human condition, the author explores the relationship between conflict and cooperation as two sides of the same coin, at the same time that he emphasizes the importance of recognition through justice and love to make peace, thus overcoming the so-called "struggles for recognition." This study takes also into account the defense of a more than necessary change in the notion of local and global politics and Martinez Guzman’s proposal of the epistemological turn. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es fomentar el cultivo de una nueva humanidad tras la dramática vivencia de la Covid-19. Con una metodología que deconstruye algunas consideraciones filosóficas sobre la pandemia, se alcanza el resultado de que es preciso estimular valores y actitudes que lleven hacia la cooperación y el reconocimiento si se quiere lograr una significativa humanización de las personas, sociedades y culturas. Así, se concluye que urge una revolución humana de la mano de la filosofía, con la que (...) se revalorice el diálogo, la racionalidad comunicativa, la intersubjetividad y lo colectivo, junto con la sencillez y la cotidianidad. Palabras clave: Covid-19, filosofía, nueva humanidad, cooperación, reconocimiento. (shrink)

The Internet was conceptualized as a technology that would be capable of bringing about a better future, but recent literature in science and technology studies and adjacent fields provides numerous examples of how this pervasive sociotechnical system has been shaped and used to dystopic ends. This article examines different future imaginaries present in Future Internet Architecture projects funded by the National Science Foundation from 2006 to 2016, whose goal was to incorporate social values while building new protocols to replace Transmission (...) Control Protocol and Internet Protocol to transfer and route information across the ever-expanding Internet. I examine the findings from two of the NSF’s FIA projects—Mobility First and eXpressive Internet Architecture—to understand the projects’ trajectories and values directives through their funding cycle and their projections into the future. I discuss how project documentation and participant articulations fall into the following three distinct themes about past experience and speculation: understanding the public, negotiating resources, and carrying project values into the future. I conclude that if the future Internet is to promote positive sociotechnical relationships, its architects must recognize that complex social and political decisions pervade each step of technical work and do more to honor this fact. (shrink)

We give a complete characterization of Priest's Finite Inconsistent Arithmetics observing that his original putative characterization included arithmetics which cannot in fact be realized.

The question of how to theorize the relationship between consciousness and the social transformation of racism remains vexed. Most critical theories agree that some form of critical consciousness is necessary for the transformation of social life, but disagree about whether this change is sufficient. Furthermore, they disagree about whether the content of this change is at the level of cognitive beliefs, active ignorance, or ideology. In this article, I describe most accounts of social transformation of racism as relying upon what (...) I call awareness consciousness. I argue that the model of awareness consciousness in critical theory risks giving too much explanatory power to the role of self-knowledge in developing accounts of successful social transformation. In contrast, I defend an account of critical consciousness that emphasizes the primacy of social structures in constraining and enabling our practices. When social structures can no longer support our horizons of expectation there is the possibility for the development of what I call crisis consciousness and utopian consciousness. The materialist account I deploy locates the social transformation of racism in the experience of dysfunctional institutions and the consequent insight of how to collectively develop functional institutions that can enable new forms of social practice. (shrink)