This chapter of the Handbook of Utility Theory aims at covering the connections between utility theory and social ethics. The chapter first discusses the philosophical interpretations of utility functions, then explains how social choice theory uses them to represent interpersonal comparisons of welfare in either utilitarian or non-utilitarian representations of social preferences. The chapter also contains an extensive account of John Harsanyi's formal reconstruction of utilitarianism and its developments in the later literature, especially when society faces uncertainty rather than probabilistic (...) risk. (shrink)

An overview on archaeological evidence, provided by Colagè and d’Errico, reveals that the timing, location, and pace of cultural innovations are more consistent with scenarios that take culture, rather than genetic evolutionary processes, as the key driving force for human cognition. The authors elaborate on those mechanisms by which cultural evolution operates, with a specific focus on cultural exaptation and cultural neural reuse.

On the basis of recent advancements in both neuroscience and archaeology, we propose a plausible biocultural mechanism at the basis of cultural evolution. The proposed mechanism, which relies on the notions of cultural exaptation and cultural neural reuse, may account for the asynchronous, discontinuous, and patchy emergence of innovations around the globe. Cultural exaptation refers to the reuse of previously devised cultural features for new purposes. Cultural neural reuse refers to cases in which exposure to cultural practices induces the formation, (...) activation, and stabilization of new functional and/or structural brain networks during the individual lifespan. The invention of writing is interpreted as a case of cultural exaptation of previous devices to record information, in use since at least the Early Later Stone Age and the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The measurable changes in brain structure and functioning caused by learning to read are proposed as an exemplar case of cultural neural reuse. It is argued that repeated cycles of cultural exaptation, development of appropriate strategies of cultural transmission, and ensuing cultural neural reuse represent the fundamental mechanism that has regulated the cultural evolution of our lineage. A general predictive model of when and under which circumstances the proposed mechanism should be expected to occur is proposed, and the relationship of our mechanism with gene-culture coevolutionary models is discussed. (shrink)

Review of the Monograph Malivskyi, A. M.. Unknown Descartes: Anthropological Dimension in Philosophy. Dnipro: GERDA.

Review of the monograph by A. M. Malivskyi “Unknown Descartes: Anthropological Dimension in Philosophy”.

Review of the monograph by A. M. Malivskyi “Unknown Descartes: Anthropological Dimension in Philosophy”.

The paper aims at proposing an extended notion of epigenesis acknowledging an actual causal import to the phenotypic dimension for the evolutionary diversification of life forms. “Introductory remarks” section offers introductory remarks on the issue of epigenesis contrasting it with ancient and modern preformationist views. In “Transmutation of forms: phenotypic variation, diversification, and complexification” section we propose to intend epigenesis as a process of phenotypic formation and diversification dependent on environmental influences, independent of changes in the genomic nucleotide sequence, and (...) occurring during the whole life span. Then, “Evolvability and phenotypic evolution” section focuses on phenotypic plasticity and offers an overview of basic properties that allows biological systems to be evolvable—i.e. to have the potentiality of producing phenotypic variation. Successively, the emphasis is put on environmentally-induced modifications in the regulation of gene expression giving rise to phenotypic variation and diversification. After some brief considerations on the debated issue of epigenetic inheritance, the issue of culture is considered. The key point is that, in the case of humans and of the evolutionary history of the genus Homo at least, the environment is also, importantly, the cultural environment. Thus, “Bio-cultural feedback” section argues that a bio-cultural feedback should be acknowledged in the “epigenic” processes leading to phenotypic diversification and innovation in Homo evolution. Finally, “Brain plasticity and cultural neural reuse” section introduces the notion of “cultural neural reuse”, which refers to phenotypic/neural modifications induced by specific features of the cultural environment that are effective in human cultural evolution without involving genetic changes. Therefore, cultural neural reuse may be regarded as a key instance of the bio-cultural feedback and ultimately of the extended notion of epigenesis proposed in this work. (shrink)

Several independent lines of research in neurobiology seem to support the phenomenologically-grounded view of the dreaming brain/mind as a useful model for psychosis. Hallucinatory phenomena and thought disorders found in psychosis share several peculiarities with dreaming, where internally generated, vivid sensorimotor imagery along with often heightened and incongruous emotion are paired with a decrease in ego functions which ultimately leads to a severe impairment in reality testing. Contemporary conceptualizations of severe mental disorders view psychosis as one psychopathological dimension that may (...) be found across several diagnostic categories. Some experimental data have shown cognitive bizarreness to be equally elevated in dreams and in the waking cognition of acutely psychotic subjects and in patients treated with pro-dopaminergic drugs, independent of the underlying disorder. Further studies into the neurofunctional underpinnings of both conditions will help to clarify the use and validity of this model. (shrink)

This is a chapter of a collective volume of Rawls's and Harsanyi's theories of distributive justice. It focuses on Harsanyi's important Social Aggregation Theorem and technically reconstructs it as a theorem in welfarist social choice.

The relationship between dream content and waking life experiences remains difficult to decipher. However, some neurobiological findings suggest that dreaming can, at least in part, be considered epiphenomenal to ongoing memory consolidation processes in sleep. Both abnormalities in sleep architecture and impairment in memory consolidation mechanisms are thought to be involved in the development of psychosis. The objective of this study was to assess the continuity between delusional contents and dreams in acutely psychotic patients. Ten patients with a single fixed (...) and recurring delusional content were asked to report their dreams during an acute psychotic break. Sixteen judges with four different levels of acquaintance to the specific content of the patients’ delusions were asked to group the dreams, expecting that fragments of the delusional thought would guide the task. A mathematical index was developed in order to compare correct groupings between the four groups of judges. Most judges grouped the dreams slightly above chance level and no relevant differences could be found between the four groups [F = 1.297; p = n.s.]. Scoring of dreams for specific delusional themes suggested a continuity in terms of dream and waking mentation for two contents . These findings seem to suggest that at least some delusional contents recur within patients’ dreams. Future studies will need to determine whether such continuity reflects ongoing consolidation processes that are relevant to current theories of delusion formation and stabilization. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to philosophically address and expand the contemporary discourse of the increasingly digitalized education by examining the problem of matter of education and its conceptualizations in this context. With the digital transformation of education a significant change occurs not only in terms of what is considered to be a matter of education, but also in the very principles of interaction between the subjects of education. In order to do this, in the first section several examples (...) of conceptual justifications of applying digital technologies in education are examined with the task of demonstrating how in such justifications the activity of education is reduced to the process of learning and what risks such instrumental interpretation engenders. Then, these issues are analyzed and contextualized utilizing the material of the philosophical discussion of the 20th century - the critique of the progressive education in the analytic philosophy of education. By outlining the relevance of the arguments of discussion on manner/matter to realities of digital education, the issue of the dominance of the logic of learning in current education is analyzed. In the last section several adjustments to the contemporary discourse on digitalization of education are proposed, aimed at finding a balance between individual and social dimensions of the problem of matter of education, given the current tendency of mass personalization in education. Particularly, the importance of the idea of education as a common good in the contemporary educational discourse is claimed. (shrink)

Grammatical theory has long wrestled with the fact that causative constructions exhibit properties of both single words and complex phrases. However, as Paul Kiparsky has observed, the distribution of such properties of causatives is not arbitrary: ‘construal’ phenomena such as honorification, anaphor and pronominal binding, and quantifier ‘floating’ typically behave as they would if causatives were syntactically complex, embedding constructions; whereas case marking, agreement and word order phenomena all point to the analysis of causatives as single lexical items.1 Although an (...) analysis of causatives in terms of complex syntactic structures has frequently been adopted in an attempt to simplify the mapping to semantic structure, we believe that motivating syntactic structure based on perceived semantics is questionable because in general a syntax/semantics homomorphism cannot be maintained without vitiating syntactic theory (Miller 1991). Instead, we sketch a strictly lexical theory of Japanese causatives that deals with the evidence offered for a complex phrasal analysis. Such an analysis makes the phonology, morphology and syntax parallel, while a mismatch occurs with the semantics. The conclusions we will reach are given in (1). (shrink)

The worldwide problem of corruption is one that requires greater knowledge about responsible leadership. Based on the literature on responsible leadership, developmental psychology, and moral development, the purpose of our study is to understand the constructions of the motivational drivers behind the behaviors of a responsible leader. Using biographical and narrative methodologies, we analyzed the individual motivational drivers of Carlos Cavelier, a recognized responsible leaders who grew up and works in Colombia, a social/economic context characterized by institutional fragility and corruption. (...) Our findings suggest that the coherence between the immediate environments of development of the future leader, configured optimal environments in which the leader developed the moral conscience that guides his behavior as a responsible leader. Our study points out the need not to take the development of responsible leaders for granted, and presents propositions that allow for a deeper understanding of the micro‐foundations of responsible leadership, highlighting the importance of the contexts in which leaders are raised and in which they develop. Thus, our study has the potential to be heuristic and generative of future studies. (shrink)

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of 'lenses' and 'tensions' to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the 'mess' of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of ‘lenses’ and ‘tensions’ to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the ‘mess’ of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

Le débat scientifique sur la réalité du changement climatique a ses imposteurs. Mais, en matière d'environnement, les plus grandes impostures se situent dans le champ politique.Lorsque l'écologie émerge dans le débat public au début des années 1970, les grandes puissances économiques comprennent qu'un danger se profile. Alors que la mondialisation du capitalisme se met en place grâce à la stratégie du libre échange, l'écologie politique pourrait remettre en cause le productivisme, l'intensification du commerce international et les délocalisations de l'industrie vers (...) les pays à bas coût de main-d'ouvre. Avant même que la communauté internationale ne se réunisse pour débattre des crises environnementales, les tenants de la mondialisation rédigent les conclusions : aucune mesure de protection de l'environnement ne devra entraver le commerce.Depuis plus de quatre décennies, depuis que la question environnementale a émergé dans les débats nationaux et dans les préoccupations internationales, un pacte tacite s'est instauré, qui n'a pas manqué de duper : au sein des gouvernements, des institutions internationales, lors des grands sommets, ne seraient prises que des mesures cosmétiques, ne portant pas atteinte au libre échange et à la mondialisation. Il est grand temps de faire tomber les masques et de raconter en détail l'histoire politique, totalement méconnue, qui révèle la supercherie d'une prétendue conversion à l'écologie des grands de notre monde. (shrink)

Anton Wilhelm Rudolph Amo (1703–c. 1759 ce), philosopher and physician, was born at Axim, Ghana, and died at Fort Chama, Ghana. When he was four years old, the Dutch West Indies Company's preacher in Ghana sent him to Holland to be baptized and educated in the Bible for future service in Ghana. However, the Company headquarters, undesirous of any interference with its lucrative trade in slaves, turned little Amo over to the German Duke Anton Ulric‐Wolfenbuttel.

Today, there are different understandings of the first article on the content of the Christian faith, for which an analysis from a theological perspective is necessary. This research sought to reveal the meaning of the first article on the content of the Christian faith in recent theological works that have been produced, through the use of a hermeneutic exercise, conducting a bibliometric and categorical analysis and using NVivo software to analyse the qualitative data. We concluded that the recent theological literature (...) addresses the meaning of the first article of the Christian faith based on the existence, concept and definition of God and his attributes, as well as his power, behaviour, creation, revelation and reign. Although there is little extant material compared to other topics or areas of knowledge that can be explored using these tools, this fact is explained because, normally, theologians are not interested in publishing in high-impact journals. The way of approaching God in contemporary literature can be enriched by taking into account specific contexts, such as poverty, discrimination, suffering, violence, human trafficking, immigration and political realities, in such a way that it is not only a metaphysical reflection of God but also a historical and immanent and even an interreligious research that broadens the concept of the Christian God and answers questions that contemporary society asks in daily life. (shrink)

Depuis deux siecles, la Critique de la raison pure occupe une place centrale dans notre paysage philosophique. Deja du vivant de Kant, cette influence commence a s'exercer, et de maniere fulgurante. D'abord recue avec scepticisme, la premiere Critique suscite bientot l'enthousiames, au point de faire ecole, pour se voir ensuite sursumee par la jeune generation. Les etudes ici rassemblees temoignent de la diversite et de l'intensite de cette premiere reception, qui va de l'accusation d'idealisme dirigee contre la Critique, jusqu'au depassement (...) du criticisme dans l'idealisme allemand. A cet egard, la liste des auteurs traites dans le present recueil est eloquente: Garve, Feder, Hamann, Jacobi, Schultz, Eberhard, Enesideme-Schulze, Maimon, Reinhold, Hornemann, Fichte, Schelling, Baader, Hegel, Schleiermacher, W. von Humboldt et Bolzano. (shrink)

L'histoire philosophique montre, ou au moins suggère, que toute remise en cause de l'Un s'est accompagnée d'une mise en ordre, et que tout ébranlement de l'ordre s'est achevé en réduction unitaire. Ce balancement se déploie de la métaphysique jusqu'à l'épistémologie. Pour des raisons différentes et avec des méthodes disjointes, Derrida et Goodman ont, chacun, ébranlé l'un des deux piliers qui sous-tendent l'essentiel de la tradition philosophique. Derrida, par le jeu subtil de la différance, a fait vaciller la vaste entreprise de (...) mise en ordre. Goodman, par la profusion de mondes construits et irréductibles les uns aux autres, remet en cause l'aspiration à l'unité. Notre hypothèse consiste à supposer que la mise en échec - si tant est qu'elle soit possible - du diktat de l'unité demande à être pensée conjointement avec la ruine du primat de la mise en ordre. Utilisées à cette fin (qui n'est pas la seule signifiante), les propositions de Goodman et de Derrida, qui charrient les scories de deux longues traditions réputées indépendantes voire antagonistes, bénéficieraient sans doute d'une exploration synchrone. Mais c'est d'abord à la vérité qu'il faudra faire face. Commencer par ce qui aurait dû être l'achèvement. La vérité en tant que garde-fou et en tant que produit de la pensée qui la fonde et s'y confronte. Il s'agit d'ouvrir une brèche dans les obsessions de cette tradition philosophique qui, aussi riche et foisonnante fût-elle, demeure une coupe et donc une incise dans les possibles du réel qu'elle explore et invente. (shrink)

Considérant le travail psychique auquel nous sommes contraints – depuis l’excitation à la satisfaction pulsionnelle, mise en mouvement sublimée, inhibée « ou non » quant au but, avec ou sans abandon à la jouissance –, l’auteur tente d’approcher des mouvements d’installation identitaire (fonction, rôle, sexe, génération) à l’aide d’appuis théoriques et cliniques à travers deux cas d’analyse.

En cette entame du troisième millénaire, la musique adresse une question aux autres arts comme aux sciences : comment ajuster les différentes écritures (musicale, mathématique, chorégraphique, biologique...) aux nouvelles matières sur lesquelles ces pensées embrayent? S'il est vrai que le système autonome d'écriture musicale (le solfège), inventé il y a près de 1 000 ans, s'avère désormais en partie inadapté aux nouveaux matériaux sonores qu'il s'agit de composer, la prolifération empirique des simples notations à laquelle on assiste aujourd'hui ne saurait (...) pourvoir aux mutations en jeu : en matière d'écriture musicale, il en va non de simples techniques neutres mais bien de logique musicale, donc de ce qu'un discours ou un développement veulent musicalement dire. S'il s'agit donc en cette affaire de penser les mutations en cours en matière de "logique musicale" et leurs exigences en matière de nouvelles "lettres/notes" musicales, qu'en est-il de soucis semblables dans les autres arts et dans les sciences? Qu'en est-il de mutations équivalentes dans les autres arts, singulièrement dans ceux qui entreprennent de se doter d'une écriture qui leur soit propre (la chorégraphie)? Qu'en est-il surtout dans les sciences, dans les mathématiques bien sûr mais aussi en logique comme dans les sciences ayant à nouer leurs propres lettres à l'impératif galiléen de s'écrire mathématiquement? Comment ce double dispositif (écriture mathématique importée/modes endogènes d'inscription) tend-il aujourd'hui à se nouer en physique, en chimie, en biologie, en informatique? Ce volume rassemble différentes contributions soutenues et discutées lors d'un colloque tenu à l'Ecole normale supérieure (Paris, Ulm) en octobre 2007. (shrink)

Les lignes 72-74 de la lex portorii Asiae découverte à Éphèse mentionnent, d'après les éditeurs H. Engelmann et D. Knibbe, les dîmes et la scriptura (impôt sur les pâturages), les premières pour en régler la perception, la seconde pour dispenser de droits de douane les troupeaux en transhumance d'été. Il s'agit en fait de fausses lectures : à la 1. 74, il faut lire (au lieu de μετακομιδηι τη ήλιαρίφ) : ή 8ι' αυτό. D'autre part il n'y a pas deux (...) phrases concernant deux sujets différents, mais une seule, à lire continûment. Ce sont les produits des dîmes qui, dans certaines circonstances, et à certaines conditions, sont dispensés de payer la douane. On suggère qu'il était question 1. 73, dans la lacune, des «droits de garde» (custodia, φυλακείον) dans les entrepôts de la douane. (shrink)

Qu'est-ce qu'un enseignement? Une pensée? Qu'autorisent-ils? À la suite de Claire Brunet, Sandra Laugier et Frédérique Ildefonse qui dirigent ce volume, d'anciens étudiants, aujourd'hui chercheurs renommés ou plus discrets, creusent à travers le sillon de leur discipline ce que leur a permis l'enseignement de leur maître commune à l'École normale supérieure. Les amitiés intellectuelles s'y joignent. Ce que l'on appelle communément communication dans le monde académique devient texte. Tous, en creux, décrivent l'influence d'un enseignement, la liberté qu'il permet à des (...) esprits pour s'épanouir et nous laissent découvrir un portrait intellectuel d'une grande originalité. La pensée de Claude Imbert, philosophe, logicienne, longtemps directrice du département de philosophie de la rue d'Ulm, n'a pas les honneurs médiatiques français en sus des "académiques" d'usage. S'y prêterait-elle? Pourtant, la philosophe française est depuis plus de vingt ans lue, reçue et écoutée dans les universités du monde entier, des Etats-Unis à la Chine en passant par l'Amérique du Sud. Tous les textes rassemblés ici, comme autant de variations, sans jamais le dire, souhaitent contribuer à la reconnaissance de l'oeuvre. Un inédit "Ne rien oublier et tout apprendre" de la philosophe et un texte de Pascalle Monnier, écrivain, accompagnent le volume."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)