Kyle Stanford has recently given substance to the problem of unconceived alternatives, which challenges the reliability of inference to the best explanation (IBE) in remote domains of nature. Conjoined with the view that IBE is the central inferential tool at our disposal in investigating these domains, the problem of unconceived alternatives leads to scientific anti-realism. We argue that, at least within the biological community, scientists are now and have long been aware of the dangers of IBE. We re-analyze the nineteenth-century (...) study of inheritance and development (Stanford’s case study) and extend it into the twentieth century, focusing in particular on both classical Mendelian genetics and the studies by Avery et al. on the chemical nature of the hereditary substance. Our extended case studies show the preference of the biological community for a different methodological standard: the vera causa ideal, which requires that purported causes be shown on non-explanatory grounds to exist and be competent to produce their effects. On this basis, we defend a prospective realism about the biological sciences. (shrink)

Background Most jurisdictions that allow euthanasia and assisted suicide (AS) regulate it through the medical profession. However, the extent and nature of how medicine should be involved are debated. Swiss AS practice is unusual in that it is managed by lay AS organizations that rely on a law that permits AS when done for nonselfish reasons. Physicians are not mentioned in the law but are usually called upon to prescribe the lethal medications and perform capacity evaluations.Methods We analyzed in-depth interviews (...) of 23 Swiss AS experts including ethicists, lawyers, medical practitioners, and senior officials of AS organizations for their views on AS.Results Although there was agreement on some issues (e.g., need for better end-of-life care), the interviewees’ preferred model for AS, and the nature of preferred medical involvement, varied, which we categorized into five types: preference for AS practice as it occurred prior to lay AS organizations; preference for the current lay model; preference for a modified lay model to increase autonomy protections while limiting medical AS normalization; preference for various types of more medicalized models of AS; and, ambivalence about any specific model of medical involvement. The rationales given for each type of model reflected varying opinions on how medicine’s role would likely impact AS practice and demonstrated the experts’ attitudes toward those impacts.Conclusion The dynamics within the Swiss AS regime, as reflected in the varying views of Swiss AS experts, shed light on the dilemmas inherent to medical scope and involvement in AS, which may have implications for debates in other jurisdictions. (shrink)

Le langage de la poésie appelle une attention particulière, car son étrangeté même témoigne d’un rapport au réel fort différent des pratiques de la langue, dans la vie quotidienne ou dans le travail scientifique. En s’aidant de la référence au Vide et aux perspectives puisées dans la tradition chinoise, Maldiney développe cette philosophie propre à la poésie à partir des oeuvres d’André du Bouchet et de Francis Ponge. Son analyse donne ainsi à l’art poétique une responsabilité rarement mise en valeur (...) par rapport au réel : un rapport à la fois d’intimité et de proximité. (shrink)

A short book combining extracts from the work of one of the world's greatest thinkers with commentary from one of Britain's most distinguished writers on philosophy.

Galileo’s 1638 Two New Sciences, a canonical text of early modern science, is analyzed as a window into period practices of mixed-mathematical reading. Galileo’s depiction of reading reflects common scholarly practices, including those of summarizing, commenting, repeated study, and an interest in mathematical diagrams. With this text, Galileo also attempted to shape his readers’ practices, inciting them to approach topical-based reading strategies with care and to use experiment and experience to validate the written word. It is suggested that the concern (...) with reading practices exhibited in the text derived from circumstances surrounding Galileo’s 1633 condemnation. (shrink)

Everybody supports freedom—even authoritarians, though what they call freedom looks suspiciously like bondage. Rousseau begins The Social Contract with a flourish: ‘Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.’ He ends up by trying to persuade us that the chains, the restraints of law and organized society, are necessary for true freedom. He wants us to believe that true freedom, the freedom essential for human existence, is not the happy-go-lucky freedom of Liberty Hall, do as you like, but (...) the straight and narrow path of duty, of conformity to law. The universal popularity of the idea of freedom does not mean that everybody is really agreed about it. Plato, Rousseau, Hegel and his followers—they all talk of a true or genuine freedom, but they oppose this to Liberty Hall, to doing as you please. (shrink)

Raphaël Van Daele L’expression chinoise ziran 自然 s’entend aussi bien à propos de la « nature », cette région de l’être dont l’émergence et les processus ne relèvent pas de la volonté ou de l’action humaine, qu’à propos d’un certain type d’agir humain. Le geste expert de l’artiste est l’exemple privilégié d’un tel agir. Loin de nuire à la cohérence de cette notion, le fait que celle-ci soit mobilisée dans le discours théorique sur l’art autant que dans le discours (...) sur la nature témoigne d’un lien organique qui, dans la pensée chinoise, unit différents domaines de la réflexion. Le présent article propose d’esquisser une lecture philosophique de la notion de ziran. Pour ce faire, nous explorerons le rôle joué par ziran dans l’oeuvre esthétique de Cai Yong 蔡邕 (133-192) et dans la pensée de Guo Xiang 郭象 († 312). (shrink)

This book, focusing on the relationship between Derrida and Levinas and the unresolved tension between these two philosophical corpuses, will show what can yet come to democracy and will consequently offer possible interpretations of that which can occur and happen to us politically.

L'obiettivo del presente articolo è l'osservazione storica delle politiche della memoria nel Brasile contemporaneo, con particolare attenzione al periodo tra il 2019 e il 2022 (governo Bolsonaro). Dall'analisi delle azioni giudiziarie proposte da diversi attori sociali e politici, l'articolo propone una riflessione sulle temporalità coinvolte nelle politiche della memoria nel contesto post-dittatoriale, soprattutto dalla prospettiva delle vittime del regime.