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The paper analyses fragmentarily preserved views of Empedocles, that, in the author's opinion, represent the antecedents of deviations from the anthropocentric vision of the world and anticipate the majority of later attempts at scientific, philosophical, and legal modifications of the status of all living beings. Empedocles, namely, claims that all beings think, i.e., that they have understanding or consciousness. He is, moreover, portrayed as a proponent of the thesis that plants as well have both intellect and the ability to think, and that they are driven by desire and have feelings, sadness and joy. According to him, the idea that the whole nature is akin not only has a vital-animal meaning but, to a certain extent, a mental meaning. Empedocles urged his disciples to abstain from consuming ensouled beings, since it is in the bodies of these beings that penalized souls reside. He believed that he himself was one of them who had been killed and eaten, and that it is by purification that prior sins in connection with food should be treated. Empedocles' case shows that humans are living beings that err, and that they owe to animals justice based on mutual kinship. Aside from living a pure life, practicing the recommended katharmoi, and abstaining from flesh in any version, the path to the salvation of the soul leads through two additional dimensions. The first is being revealed in the important phrase of the sage from Acragas that one should fast from evil. And secondly, the wealth of divine thoughts is connected with being happy, just as those who have vague opinions about the gods are wretched. Eventually, the "Sicilian Muse" believed that if people live in a holy and just manner, they shall be blessed in this life, even more so after leaving this one, because they will achieve happiness that will not be temporarily, and be able to rest for eternity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses on epistemology. It states that the greatest challenge to epistemology comes from the rapid development of humanitarian knowledge and from the need to take a new look at the integrity of science as such and in this connection the acute issue of the so called turn towards language and accordingly of the mediators on any cognition, including semiotic and symbolic systems of various kinds. The problems emerged in the realm of humanitarian knowledge before acquiring a more general status and eventually stimulating the creation of corresponding categories thus enriching the arsenal of conceptual means of epistemology.

The research target was to find out whether there are some differences in the level of creative imagination among patients with eating disorders and a comparison (non-clinical) group. Another aim was to use the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) as a measure for suggestibility/hypnotic susceptibility which were put in the context of cognitive style field dependence - independence. There are some hypotheses tested which concern differences in the field dependence between patients with eating disorders and the comparison group. Research was attended by 46 girls and women with eating disorder diagnoses at the age between 14 - 48 years and 46 girls and women from non-clinical population at the age between 16 - 33 years. We used CIS to examine the level of creative imagination and Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) to identify field dependence - independence. Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) was presented to distinguish between patients with eating disorders and the comparison group and the body image issues have been recovered by Stunkard silhouette test. The results reflect that there are no demonstrable differences in the level of creative imagination between the group with eating disorders and the comparison (non-clinical) group. It was found that people with eating disorders are significantly more field dependent than the comparison group (p < 0,01) and it was also found that there is a greater field dependence of people with inadequate body image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an experimental evaluation of the “input−output surface” for a biochemical AND gate. The obtained data are modeled within the rate-equation approach, with the aim to map out the gate function and cast it in the language of logic variables appropriate for analysis of Boolean logic for scalability. In order to minimize “analog” noise, we consider a theoretical approach for determining an optimal set for the process parameters to minimize “analog” noise amplification for gate concatenation. We establish that under optimized conditions, presently studied biochemical gates can be concatenated for up to order 10 processing steps. Beyond that, new paradigms for avoiding noise buildup will have to be developed. We offer a general discussion of the ideas and possible future challenges for both experimental and theoretical research for advancing scalable biochemical computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly agreed that the well-known Lucas–Penrose arguments and even Penrose’s ‘new argument’ in [Penrose, R. (1994): Shadows of the Mind, Oxford University Press] are inconclusive. It is, perhaps, less clear exactly why at least the latter is inconclusive. This note continues the discussion in [Lindström, P. (2001): Penrose’s new argument, J. Philos. Logic 30, 241–250; Shapiro, S.(2003): Mechanism, truth, and Penrose’s new argument, J. Philos. Logic 32, 19–42] and elsewhere of this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show how to interpret intuitionistic propositional logic into a predicative second-order intuitionistic propositional system having only the conditional and the universal second-order quantifier. We comment on this fact. We argue that it supports the legitimacy of using classical logic in a predicative setting, even though the philosophical cast of predicativism is nonrealistic. We also note that the absence of disjunction and existential quantifications allows one to have a process of normalization of proofs that avoids the use of "commuting conversions." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideas of cultural-historical psychology have led to a new understanding of the human psyche as developing in the process of the subject acting in social and historical contexts. Such a “non-classical” reinterpretation of psychological concepts should be based on a theoretical and philosophical framework in order to explain genetic sources of these concepts. For this purpose, Il’enkov’s philosophy is of great significance. This is illustrated by discussing a possible cultural-historical understanding of the concept of intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the logical relation between the Is and the Ought that was weaker than entailment, and indeed neither deductive nor inductive. Prominent post-1950s examples of claims that Is-like statements can support Ought-like statements; Argument that the support that some primarily descriptive statements give to normative conclusions looks like logical support; Reasons why some forms of support have an affinity to logical relations.

Argues that equivocation described as a fallacy is not a logical concept but an epistemic one. Claim that the arguments of one who equivocates is not logically flawed but is unpersuasive; Assertion that only arguments which are unpersuasive in a certain way involve equivocations.

Argues that although distinction between simple perception and cognitive perception constitutes an important milestone in contemporary theorizing on perception, it remains too coarse to account for a number of phenomena that do not seem to fall squarely on either side of the divide. Key issues of interest; Analysis of pertinent topics and relevant issues; Implications on philosophical studies.

This article focuses on causal theory of reference. Consider two theories of the reference of natural kind terms. The first, the Simple Nominal Essence Theory (SNE) proposes that a natural kind term is associated with a (usually complex) open sentence whose constituent expressions are (a) predicates that can be applied on the basis of observation and (b) the connectives of propositional logic. By contrast, the Simple Real Essence Theory (SRE) suggests that a natural kind term is associated with a sample of some substance, and that the term refers to the set of things that share the same inner constitution as the sample.

This article discusses modal epistemology. Philosophy abounds in modal arguments. A surprisingly high proportion of these arguments have the following features as they are formally valid; one of their premises is far more controversial than any of the others; it is a model premise. It is not always possible to invert a possibility argument. But it is always possible to replace the crucial modal premise of a possibility argument with the denial of its conclusion and to replace its conclusion with the denial of its crucial modal premise.

Examines the importance of the phantasia or imagination concept to the psychology of Aristotle. Problem of explaining how the content of mental states could ever diverge from what is actually in the world in Aristotle's "De Anima"; Theory of sensation and conception by Aristotle; Role of the phantasia in Aristotle's account of intentionality.

Presents a response to the article "Education for Capability: A Critique," written by Keith Thompson. Question posed on whether or not people must act without thinking first of the consequences that might occur; Dichotomy between thought and action, between thinking about things and actually doing them; Discussion of the philosophy of life from philosophers such as Aristotle.

A brinkmanship crisis with two-sided incomplete in formation is modeled as a game of sequential bargaining in which each state is uncertain of its adversary's resolve. The sequential crisis equilibria are characterized explicitly and used to analyze the influences of resolve, misperception, and the status quo on escalation and crisis stability. The description of brinkmanship as a contest of resolve is found to be misleading: the state with the greatest resolve may not prevail in the crisis; a state may be less, not more, likely to prevail the greater its resolve; and a states' expected payoff may be less, not more, the greater its resolve. Moreover, reducing misperception may destabilize a crisis. Surprisingly, increasing the stake a potential challenger has in the status quo may not make a challenge less likely. Finally, crises involving severe conflicts of interest are shown to be less likely than crises not entailing a severe conflict of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that a prima facie plausible, uniform way of solving the logical paradoxes fails. The proposed solution starts from the observation that in many cases the proof of the contradiction which is the paradox, goes via the proof of an assertion. This suggests that a uniform way of avoiding the paradoxes is to reject the reductio principle. This move, perhaps not so plausible at first, gains strength from many considerations. The reductio principle is, under weak assumptions, equivalent to the law of excluded middle.

In this paper, I address a dilemma in the theory of knowledge and argue that this dilemma can be overcome by invoking the work of two well known social scientists-Marx (here considered as a sociologist) and Piaget (a psychologist). The dilemma considered is that of the relationship between what are here called "independent" (i.e., non-circular) and "relational" definitions; each form of definition has been the basis of a particular approach to the knowable (the independent definition being the basis of empiricism and the relational definition being the basis of Hegelianism) and each of these approaches can be shown to be unsatisfactory: empiricism, brilliantly successful in practice, runs itself, at the theoretical level, into the circular and the relational; while Hegelianism, although impregnable in logic, gains such impregnability at the cost of any delimitation and, hence of precision and refutability. It is argued that Marx (a follower of Hegel) as adapted by Piaget, can indeed overcome these difficulties and so present us with a theory of knowledge that makes possible an approach that is both successful in practice and reputable in logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author presents his thoughts about life. He says that if someone is tired or bored he needs not to look out on across ideas he was just thinking about. Even as we employ the familiar symbols which call forth recognition of our most familiar ambiguous states it is our acceptance of what is that most promises to bring on the changes we want. He refers to a manuscript send by him to someone close to him and asked him to take it apart. He is experiencing a peculiar loss of physical wilfulness. The words are almost impossible to write .Also the feeling is, "of partial or no interest to others." He sees his own penguin they seem to be telling him it goes on itself, itself. He answers. Imperial lampshades. Conjoint of the factual other. Communicating to inner objects, a broad spectrum of multiple projections. Slipping out across the or on across the what If is what the others to others Measured out as value a Idle a split apart He got a little momentum like that or out, at an add.

This article presents extracts from the author's one of the previous articles. He wants educated oxen, this is art must be a pituitary case, backstabbing, for those with potbellies, stability does have no meaning anymore. Business brass, disgusting creep--instantly but that was same-race violence! I am sick and tired of a society that penalizes those like me who are crazed assailants. Magic ideology turns material problems into spiritual ones--that is to say, psychology; drafting the eagle into apoplexy which are low-brown appointments. At another place he writes that boys either fight with girls or else they trash their own cock rings a his life as a middle class suppository storage unit, then referring to someone he says that she spoils all those creeps she picks up, If she gets his cruder meaning. He then asks her to hold her head down to keep her nipples pointed outward; rehearse such facts, fleece missing. He doesn't want to think about those possibilities--he loves the Illusion of humanity.

This article relates an author's opinion on an article by Jennifer Johnson-Hanks discussing rational-action theory. Actors in present-day Cameroon see the world as highly random, thus suspending any possible presumption of orderly means-end causal claims. The author of this article relates Johnson-Hank's impulse to break down the sequences and the human logics into smaller units and subject each, statement, and finding to searching critique. The author pushes the argument in two ways: (1) to abandon the rational-actor model altogether and incorporate both tight means-ends thinking and judicious optimistic improvisation into a single category of reasoning about complex trajectories over time, and; (2) to suggest that moving even farther away from conventionalization of the variables at play may bring new aspects of ordering out of apparent randomness.