Decoherence is one of the most serious drawback in quantum mechanical applications. We discuss the effects of noise in superconducting devices (Josephson junctions) and suggest a decoherence-control strategy based on the quantum Zeno effect.

We show that intuitionistic logic is deductively equivalent to Connexive Heyting Logic ($$\textrm{CHL}$$ CHL ), hereby introduced as an example of a strongly connexive logic with an intuitive semantics. We use the reverse algebraisation paradigm: $$\textrm{CHL}$$ CHL is presented as the assertional logic of a point regular variety (whose structure theory is examined in detail) that turns out to be term equivalent to the variety of Heyting algebras. We provide Hilbert-style and Gentzen-style proof systems for $$\textrm{CHL}$$ CHL ; moreover, we (...) suggest a possible computational interpretation of its connexive conditional, and we revisit Kapsner’s idea of superconnexivity. (shrink)

In this paper we show that axiomatic extensions of H. Wansing’s connexive logic $$\textsf{C}$$ ( $$\textsf{C}^{\perp }$$ ) are algebraizable (in the sense of J.W. Blok and D. Pigozzi) with respect to sub-varieties of $$\textsf{C}$$ ( $$\textsf{C}^{\perp }$$ )-algebras. We develop the structure theory of $$\textsf{C}$$ ( $$\textsf{C}^{\perp }$$ )-algebras, and we prove their representability in terms of twist-like constructions over implicative lattices (Heyting algebras). As a consequence, we further clarify the relationship between the aforementioned classes. Finally, taking advantage of (...) the above machinery, we provide some preliminary remarks on the lattice of axiomatic extensions of $$\textsf{C}$$ ( $$\textsf{C}^{\perp }$$ ) as well as on some properties of their equivalent algebraic semantics. (shrink)

This chapter surveys essentialist and anti-essentialist theories of sex and gender. It does so by engaging three approaches to sex and gender: externalism, internalism, and contextualism. The chapter also draws attention to two key debates about sex and gender in the feminist literature: the debate about the sex/gender distinction (the distinction debate) and the debate about whether sex and gender have essences (the essentialism/anti-essentialism debate). In addition, it describes three problems that theories of sex and gender tend to face: the (...) Inclusion Problem, the Definition Problem, and the Exclusion Problem. Lastly, the chapter highlights why the division between essentialist and anti-essentialist accounts of sex and gender is not clear. (shrink)

The modern era--the time period which envelops the Renaissance, Rationalism, Empiricism, and the Enlightenment--was a fundamental period in history which formed Western civilization into what we know today. These centuries in Europe have been defined by certain personages who are essential to our collective consciousness today: from Descartes, Luther, and Pascal, to Hobbes, Hume, and Kant. The History of Modern Philosophy provides a comprehensive overview of the major philosophers and philosophical currents of the period. Formed from their many years of (...) teaching, authors Fazio and Gamarra have developed a clear and precise text with substantial continuity and historical development of philosophy that will appeal to all those who wish to deepen their comprehension of the cultural and philosophical roots of our time. Mariano Fazio is a graduate of history, holds a PhD in philosophy, and is the author of several books of philosophy. He is a former rector of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and a past president of the Council of Rectors of Pontifical Roman Universities. (shrink)

Dialettica (negativa) del giardino illuminista -- La natura esteticamente dialettizzata -- Dialettica del paesaggio romantico.

It is precisely through movement that the subject inscribes itself into the world and becomes visible to others. The subject is a movement directed to the outside, that is to say, the subject is desire. Desire is the “tension” toward the “extrême dehors” that we call the world. In all of his works Maurice Merleau-Ponty reaffirms, without thematizing it, a conception of life as movement, and of body as action and desire: the human being is “a certain lack of....” In (...) other words, it is the distance between myself and the absent that drives me to move, to annul the distance through motion. Thus life is nothing but the unfinished act of moving into space and thereby creating space—the space in which we, as desire and movement, encounter both others and the world. As the act of moving is the way one appears to another, every relationship is based on appearing. In short, life is the movement that leads us towards the world and coincides with our desire to make it appear.C’est précisément par le mouvement que le sujet s’inscrit dans le monde et devient visible pour les autrui. Le sujet est un mouvement dirigé au dehors, c’est-à-dire, le sujet est désir. Le désir est la « tension » vers le « dehors extrême » que nous appelons le monde. Partout, Merleau-Ponty affirme, sans la thématiser explicitement, une conception de la vie comme mouvement, et une conception du corps comme action et désir : l’homme est « un certain manque de ». En d’autres termes, c’est la distance entre moi-même et l’absente qui me force à bouger, à annuler la distance à partir du mouvement. Donc la vie n’est rien que l’acte inachevé de bouger dans l’espace et par là la création de l’espace – l’espace dans lequel nous, comme désir et mouvement, rencontrons les autrui et le monde. Comme l’action est le moyen par lequel l’un apparait à l’autre, tous les rapports sont basés sur l’apparence. En bref, la vie est le mouvement qui nous amène vers le monde et qui coïncide avec notre désir de le faire apparaître.È attraverso il movimento che il soggetto si iscrive nel mondo e diviene visibile per l’altro. Il soggetto è un movimento in direzione del “fuori”, il che significa che il soggetto è desiderio. Il desiderio è “tensione” verso quell’“estremo fuori” che chiamiamo mondo. Ovunque Merleau-Ponty riafferma, senza tematizzarlo esplicitamente, una concezione della vita come movimento, e una concezione del corpo come azione e desiderio: l’uomo è “una certa mancanza di”. In altri termini, è la distanza tra me e l’assente che mi forza a muovermi, ad annullare la distanza tramite il movimento. Dunque la vita non è che l’atto incompiuto di questo muoversi nello spazio e di questo creare lo spazio – lo spazio nel quale noi come desiderio e movimento incontriamo gli altri e il mondo. E poiché l’azione è il mezzo attraverso cui l’uno appare all’altro, tutti i rapporti sono basati sull’apparenza, e la vita è il movimento che ci conduce verso il mondo e che coincide col nostro desiderio di farlo apparire. (shrink)

Human reproductive cloning has become the most palpable example of the globalization of science. Throughout the world, events and conjectures in the media, such as the birth and death in the United Kingdom of the cloned sheep Dolly and projects to clone human beings by Korean scientists, by members of the Canadian-based Raelian cult, and by the Italian physician Antinori in an undisclosed country, have galvanized the political will of individual countries to ban human reproductive cloning.Yet, international attempts to harmonize (...) policies in the area of biomedical ethics and human research, such as the 1997 Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, and most recently, the United Nations’ efforts to adopt an international convention against human reproductive cloning, have been insufficient to trigger a substantial global policy design process on issues relating to these new technologies. (shrink)

Examining previous discussions on how to construe the concepts of gender and race, we advocate what we call strategic conceptual engineering. This is the employment of a (possibly novel) concept for specific epistemic or social aims, concomitant with the openness to use a different concept (e.g., of race) for other purposes. We illustrate this approach by sketching three distinct concepts of gender and arguing that all of them are needed, as they answer to different social aims. The first concept serves (...) the aim of identifying and explaining gender-based discrimination. It is similar to Haslanger’s well-known account, except that rather than offering a definition of ‘woman’ we focus on ‘gender’ as one among several axes of discrimination. The second concept of gender is to assign legal rights and social recognitions, and thus is to be trans-inclusive. We argue that this cannot be achieved by previously suggested concepts that include substantial gender-related psychological features, such as awareness of social expectations. Instead, our concept counts someone as being of a certain gender solely based on the person’s self-identification with this gender. The third concept of gender serves the aim of personal empowerment by means of one’s gender identity. In this context, substantial psychological features and awareness of one’s social situation are involved. While previous accounts of concepts have focused on their role in determining extensions, we point to contexts where a concept’s role in explanation and moral reasoning can be more important. (shrink)

Dans cette contribution nous analysons l’interprétation de Merleau-Ponty du schéma corporel et du mouvement, en relation avec les découvertes récentes en neurosciences cognitives, afin de proposer une esquisse d’une phénoménologie du politique. Plus précisément, nous nous focaliserons, d’une part, sur le concept dynamique de schéma corporel chez Merleau-Ponty et sur sa compréhension de l’intentionnalité motrice et corporelle, ainsi que sur l’image du miroir qu’il utilise souvent, notamment dans la « Note sur Machiavel », et, d’autre part, sur la théorie des (...) neurones miroirs proposée par le neurophysiologiste Giacomo Rizzolatti sur la compréhension de la compréhension. C’est précisément la figure du miroir, et les théories pertinentes sur le réflexe et les réflexions, qui constituent la clé pour relier les études phénoménologiques du corps, du mouvement et de l’empathie avec les approches neuroscientifiques sur ces mêmes questions. Le concept de miroir se révèle comme essentiel afin de comprendre le fonctionnement des neurones miroirs ainsi que la base de l’empathie, qui doit être comprise comme compréhension et imitation incarnées. L’autre se révèle comme notre miroir. Nous fournissons ainsi, suivant à la fois les théories phénoménologiques et neuroscientifiques, la preuve qu’il existe effectivement une connexion entre phénoménologie et pensée politique, ainsi qu’une communication inter-corporelle entre moi et autrui, qui peut servir de base pour développer une théorie de l’intersubjectivité en tant qu’intentionnalité corporelle partagée, voire une introduction à une phénoménologie politique. (shrink)

Far from being haphazard, Merleau-Ponty’s 1945 essay on cinema and 1953 notes on cinema for the lectures at the Collège de France are a precursor of a genuine phenomenology of cinema. Accordingly, in this paper I shall demonstrate that a phenomenology of movement and space tacitly appears in films, since cinema is the art of motion on screen and therefore the art of intersubjectivity par excellence. Moreover, I show that Merleau-Ponty’s ontological conception of the chiasm between the visible and the (...) invisible resembles the interlacing of the “two spaces” mentioned by Noël Burch. Likewise, the interpretation of the world as the “something else” that is simultaneously present and absent in every appearance corresponds, in cinema, to Alain Bergala’s “présence in absentia” of the off-screen on the screen – i.e., to the opening up of off-screen space by means of eyeline match and characters exiting and entering the frame. I finally claim that the use both of long take and depth of field, as analysed by film theorist André Bazin, and of specific camera movements, as analysed by neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese, preserves the continuity of reality and give the impression that the film is a perceptual experience that happens within reality’s space-time continuum.Loin d’être incohérent, l’essai de 1945 de Merleau-Ponty sur le cinéma et ses notes sur le cinéma pour son cours au Collège de France en 1953 sont les précurseurs d’une vraie phénoménologie du cinéma. Dans ce texte, je démontre qu’une phénoménologie du mouvement et de l’espace apparaît tacitement dans les films puisque le cinéma est l’art du mouvement à l’écran et par conséquent l’art de l’intersubjectivité par excellence. Par ailleurs, je montre que la conception ontologique de Merleau-Ponty du chiasme entre le visible et l’invisible ressemble à l’entrelacement des « deux espaces » mentionnés par Noël Burch. De même, l’interprétation du monde comme le « quelque chose d’autre » simultanément présent et absent dans toute apparition correspond, au cinéma à la « présence in absentia » du hors champ dans le champ d’Alain Bergala – à savoir l’ouverture de l’espace du hors champ par la technique du eyeline match et des personnages qui entrent et sortent du cadre. Je soutiens enfin que l’usage à la fois du plan long et de la profondeur de champ, analysés par le théoricien du cinéma André Bazin, ainsi que de mouvements spécifiques de caméra, analysés par le neuroscientifique Vittorio Gallese, préserve la continuité de la réalité et donne l’impression que le film est une expérience perceptive qui se produit à l’intérieur du continuum de l’espace temps de la réalité.Lungi dall’essere interventi estemporanei, i saggi di Merleau-Ponty sul cinema del 1945 e le sue note sul cinema per il corso al Collège de France del 1953 sono precursori di un’autentica fenomenologia del cinema. In questo articolo intendo mostrare come nei film si delinei tacitamente una fenomenologia del movimento e dello spazio, poiché il cinema è l’arte del movimento sullo schermo e per eccellenza l’arte dell’intersoggettività. Inoltre, intendo mettere in luce come la concezione ontologica merleau-pontyana del chiasma di visibile e invisibile si accosti all’intreccio dei “due spazi” menzionati da Noël Burch. In modo analogo, considererò l’interpretazione del mondo come il “qualcos’altro” che è al contempo presente e assente in ogni apparizione come corrispondente, nel cinema, a quella che Alain Bergala definisce la presenza “in absentia” del fuori campo sullo schermo, ossia all’apertura dello spazio fuori campo per mezzo del raccordo sullo sguardo e dell’ingresso e dell’uscita dei personaggi rispetto all’inquadratura. Infine, sosterrò che tanto l’impiego del long take e della profondità di campo, descritti dal teorico del cinema André Bazin, quanto l’uso di specifici movimenti di macchina, analizzati dal neuroscienziato Vittorio Gallese, preservino la continuità del reale e forniscano l’impressione che il film sia un’esperienza percettiva che si svolge entro il continuum spazio-temporale della realtà. (shrink)

This article examines the impact of gender on the relative economic success of microentrepreneurs, their contributions to family income, and the impact of gender ideology and income on household decision making. The concept of economic success is problematized by examining how these businesses, even those of limited assets and income generation, offer women increased autonomy in household budgetary matters and decision making. The analysis draws on data from a representative survey of 201 male and female microentrepreneurs in the Dominican Republic. (...) The findings show that household decision making is influenced by variations in economic power but that gender ideologies structure the direction and extent of this influence, reflected in distinct “gender thresholds,” or the point at which income contributions start to matter. (shrink)

William Norris Clarke, S.J., one of the leading Thomist scholars in the United States, came to the Philippines recently and delivered a series of lectures in the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Santo Tomas on various philosophical topics inspired by the thought of St. Thomas. Fr. Clarke is now a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Fordham University. He was co-founder and editor (l961-85) of the International Philosophical Quarterly and is the author of some 60 articles, plus the (...) following books: The Philosophical Approach to God, The Universe as Journey, Person and Being, Explorations in Metaphysics: Being—God—Person, and The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics (Fall, 2000).He continues to fulfill his mission of propagating the thoughts of St. Thomas—-the “creative retrieval of St. Thomas,” as he puts it—-in and out of the U.S.An brief excerpt from this interview was originally published in Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture1/3, 1997. (shrink)

We investigate the interaction between the product of invariant types and domination–equivalence. We present a theory where the latter is not a congruence with respect to the former, provide sufficient conditions for it to be, and study the resulting quotient when it is.

Para Gadamer, «el ser que puede ser comprendido es lenguaje», afirmación que implicaría que toda comprensión se da en la lingüisticidad. Por otra parte, afirma que si hay lingüisticidad, hay interpretación. Ahora bien, la cuestión que queda en entredicho en su obra es si esto implica que dicha lingüisticidad es concomitante con la comprensión, es decir, si en toda comprensión hay una mediación lingüística. El presente artículo busca indagar en el análisis de la palabra poética y la filosófica, para desde (...) tal análisis ver las posibilidades de resolución de la relación entre comprensión e interpretación. (shrink)

We compute the domination monoid in the theory of dense meet‐trees. In order to show that this monoid is well‐defined, we prove weak binarity of and, more generally, of certain expansions of it by binary relations on sets of open cones, a special case being the theory from [7]. We then describe the domination monoids of such expansions in terms of those of the expanding relations.

In response to the difficult social, economic and political problems that Colombia faces, such as inequality, discrimination, weak civil society—fuelled by illegality and drug trafficking—the Colombian Ministry of Education has embarked on an ambitious citizenship education program, with the hope of strengthening the role of education by establishing alternative solutions. This innovative program attempts to counteract Colombians' recourse to violence as a means of solving the country's endemic problems by developing the competencies of students, teachers and other participants in education. (...) The competencies include sound reasoning, care for others, communication skills, reflection on action, knowledge and active participation in classroom, school and community matters. This six-and-a-half-year-old project has started to create an educational system that takes into account many of the elements and relationships fundamental to the socio-political and moral behaviour of all involved. The paper indicates the horizons that this program opens up and discusses some of the problematic aspects that still need to be addressed for the program to be sustainable. (shrink)

Cet article prend comme point de départ de sa réflexion les défis de l’éducation dans un « univers problématique », tel qu’il est analysé par Ricœur dans un entretien accordé à Anita Hocquard en 1985. Le caractère éminemment conflictuel de la tâche éducative nous amène à discuter les notions de traditionalité, de traditions et de tradition. Il s’agit, ainsi, de réfléchir autour de la lutte pour la reconnaissance, la légitimité et l’autorité des différentes traditions dans un contexte culturel où l’héritage (...) colonialiste s’est imposé comme le modèle qui délégitime les traditions plurielles qui coexistaient et rivalisaient avec cet héritage. Enfin, nous émettons l’hypothèse que la littérature représente une manière alternative de revitaliser ces héritages silencieux, sur la base d’une brève analyse du roman L’histoire de Poncia, de l’écrivaine brésilienne Conceição Evaristo. (shrink)