Journal Description
Philosophies
Philosophies
is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal promoting re-integration of diverse forms of philosophical reflection and scientific research on fundamental issues in science, technology and culture, published quarterly online by MDPI.
- Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
- High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, ESCI (Web of Science), PhilPapers, and many other databases.
- Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 20.4 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 6.2 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the first half of 2021).
- Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.
Latest Articles
Changing, Annulling and Otherwising the Past
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030071 (registering DOI) - 30 Aug 2021
Abstract
Despite a growing number of models argument for the logical possibility of changing the past there continues to be resistance to and confusion surrounding the possibility of changing the past. In this paper I shall attempt to mitigate the resistance and alleviate at
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Despite a growing number of models argument for the logical possibility of changing the past there continues to be resistance to and confusion surrounding the possibility of changing the past. In this paper I shall attempt to mitigate the resistance and alleviate at least some of the confusion by distinguishing changing the past from what Richard Hanley calls ‘annulling’ the past and distinguishing both from what I shall call ‘otherwising’ the past.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time Travel)
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Lexicalised Locality: Local Domains and Non-Local Dependencies in a Lexicalised Tree Adjoining Grammar
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030070 - 18 Aug 2021
Abstract
Contemporary generative grammar assumes that syntactic structure is best described in terms of sets, and that locality conditions, as well as cross-linguistic variation, is determined at the level of designated functional heads. Syntactic operations (merge, MERGE, etc.) build a structure by deriving sets
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Contemporary generative grammar assumes that syntactic structure is best described in terms of sets, and that locality conditions, as well as cross-linguistic variation, is determined at the level of designated functional heads. Syntactic operations (merge, MERGE, etc.) build a structure by deriving sets from lexical atoms and recursively (and monotonically) yielding sets of sets. Additional restrictions over the format of structural descriptions limit the number of elements involved in each operation to two at each derivational step, a head and a non-head. In this paper, we will explore an alternative direction for minimalist inquiry based on previous work, e.g., Frank (2002, 2006), albeit under novel assumptions. We propose a view of syntactic structure as a specification of relations in graphs, which correspond to the extended projection of lexical heads; these are elementary trees in Tree Adjoining Grammars. We present empirical motivation for a lexicalised approach to structure building, where the units of the grammar are elementary trees. Our proposal will be based on cross-linguistic evidence; we will consider the structure of elementary trees in Spanish, English and German. We will also explore the consequences of assuming that nodes in elementary trees are addresses for purposes of tree composition operations, substitution and adjunction.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives of Generative Grammar and Minimalism)
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Soundpainting Sign Language: Possibilities and Connections with Tactileology
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Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030069 - 16 Aug 2021
Abstract
This article introduce and expose the language of Soundpainting (SP), its background, and how this artistic tool is being used as a language of communication and creation. It also presents the real-time composition and its peculiarities and the power of collective creation as
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This article introduce and expose the language of Soundpainting (SP), its background, and how this artistic tool is being used as a language of communication and creation. It also presents the real-time composition and its peculiarities and the power of collective creation as a creative tool and interaction between artistic disciplines. As there are several cases of sensitive and creative languages, such as Soundpainting, that are used to communicate with artificial intelligence, finally, it expose two of them, which are both still in their embryonic state. Both are collaborations and research between SP sign language and Tactileology. Both can lead to creative results that contribute to new ways of perceiving living art, in a sensitive, social and inclusive way.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tactileology: Background and Developments)
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A Fair Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Adaptation-Translating Principles of Distribution from an International to a Local Context
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030068 - 10 Aug 2021
Abstract
Distribution of responsibility is one of the main focus areas in discussions about climate change ethics. Most of these discussions deal with the distribution of responsibility for climate change mitigation at the international level. The aim of this paper is to investigate if
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Distribution of responsibility is one of the main focus areas in discussions about climate change ethics. Most of these discussions deal with the distribution of responsibility for climate change mitigation at the international level. The aim of this paper is to investigate if and how these principles can be used to inform the search for a fair distribution of responsibility for climate change adaptation on the local level. We found that the most influential distribution principles on the international level were in turn built on one or more of seven basic principles: (P1) equal shares, (P2) desert, (P3) beneficiary pays, (P4) ability, (P5) self-help, (P6) limited responsibility for the worst off, and (P7) status quo preservation. It was found that all the basic principles, but P1, P3, and P7, are to some extent translatable to local climate adaptation. Two major problems hamper their usefulness on the local level: (1) several categories of agents need to take on responsibility; and (2) emissions do not work as a base for all principles. P4, P5, and P6 are applicable to local adaptation without changes. P4 is of particular importance as it seems to solve the first problem. P2 is applicable only if the second problem is solved, which can be achieved by using risk of harm instead of emissions as the basis for desert.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Just Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation on a Sub-National Level)
Open AccessEditorial
Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise (1670–2020). Commemorating a Long-Forgotten Masterpiece
by
and
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030067 - 06 Aug 2021
Abstract
In entitling this Special Issue of Philosophies, commemorating the publication of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (hereafter TTP) 350 years ago, ‘a long-forgotten masterpiece’, we acknowledge our debt to Edwin Curley, who in the 1990s wrote two papers called ‘Notes on a Neglected Masterpiece’ [...]
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In entitling this Special Issue of Philosophies, commemorating the publication of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (hereafter TTP) 350 years ago, ‘a long-forgotten masterpiece’, we acknowledge our debt to Edwin Curley, who in the 1990s wrote two papers called ‘Notes on a Neglected Masterpiece’ [...]
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise (1670–2020). Commemorating A Long-Forgotten Masterpiece)
Open AccessArticle
The Idea of Landing Sites and Its Inheritance through Tactileology
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030066 - 06 Aug 2021
Abstract
From the perspective of sustainability, empowering people to live positively without being dominated by death is an important issue. One thing we can do in this vein is to expand one’s own physical sensation, which is the basis for us to live. From
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From the perspective of sustainability, empowering people to live positively without being dominated by death is an important issue. One thing we can do in this vein is to expand one’s own physical sensation, which is the basis for us to live. From this point of view, Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins’ idea of “landing sites” is very important. Landing sites are physical experiences that result from person–environment collaboration. In order to make as many people as possible aware of their physical sensations through landing sites, Arakawa and Gins created artificial environments such as “Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro” where people could gain new physical sensations. They wanted people to build new ethics and move toward social reformation based on their new physical sensations. However, at present, these artificial environments have some problems. It is the time to seriously consider how we can pass on the experience of landing sites to future generations. The aim of this paper is to provide an answer to the question by Yasuhiro Suzuki’s scientific research on tactile sense, called tactileology. I first introduce Arakawa and Gin’s text about the idea of “landing sites” and make clear its importance. Next, I point out that, now, “landing sites” present certain difficulties. I then confirm that tactileology inherits the idea of “landing sites”.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tactileology: Background and Developments)
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Responsibilities for Climate Damage within Borders: Reconciling Liability with Shared Responsibility
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030065 - 03 Aug 2021
Abstract
The literature on climate justice has primarily focused on distributing the benefits and burdens of climate change, particularly those related to the costs of mitigation and adaptation. As such, less attention has been paid to emerging political issues surrounding loss and damage caused
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The literature on climate justice has primarily focused on distributing the benefits and burdens of climate change, particularly those related to the costs of mitigation and adaptation. As such, less attention has been paid to emerging political issues surrounding loss and damage caused by the failure of mitigation and adaptation. This paper aims to fill this gap through discussions on reparative justice, which is correlated with the concept of liability. Since the concept of liability has controversial implications in climate politics and theory, investigating reparative justice for climate damage must clarify how the concept of liability can reconcile with the normative theory of political responsibility. This paper begins with the question of how the distributive justice scheme fails to discuss climate damage, by arguing that the scheme does not necessarily recognise a prior injustice and misses the need for reparation for the extensive scope of climate loss and damage. Then, it shows that the concept of reparation, which differs from compensation, holds more promise in giving the proper due for climate loss and damage. Finally, after comparing the liability model and the shared responsibility model proposed by Iris Young, this paper concludes by proposing that the hybrid model of liability and shared responsibility can be used to avoid limitations of the concept of liability.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Just Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation on a Sub-National Level)
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Old Pedagogies for Wise Education: A Janussian Reflection on Universities
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030064 - 03 Aug 2021
Abstract
This paper presents a synthesis of time-honoured pedagogical approaches to develop wisdom suitable to address the urgent problem-solving requirement of the modern university. During these last 30 years, I have employed a range of critical, interpretivist, qualitative research methods to examine archival and
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This paper presents a synthesis of time-honoured pedagogical approaches to develop wisdom suitable to address the urgent problem-solving requirement of the modern university. During these last 30 years, I have employed a range of critical, interpretivist, qualitative research methods to examine archival and archaeological evidence and conduct cross-cultural and often comparative and international case studies to study wisdom. My central concern has been to understand how teachers across diverse locations throughout history have learned to develop wisdom and how they have educated others to such understandings. As part of this work, I examined the modern university and its capacity to engage with local knowledge and wisdom. Over the course of analysis, I find that one of the constraints of scaling up institutions for learning wisdom into the now global model of the university is that universities have forgotten how to develop wisdom in the race towards industrialisation, colonisation, and neo-liberalism within the scientific paradigm. One of the early sacrifices of such scaling up was the ability of the university to preserve an intention to develop the wisdom of its students. Therefore, distant memory now is the ideation of wisdom that many societies and civilisations, and their institutions of higher learning, are in danger of forgetting the pedagogical pathway to do so. The paper begins with an examination of the long history of pedagogies for the development of wisdom. I then briefly discuss the methodological aspects of this paper and explain my key terms: information, knowledge and wisdom, followed by an examination of wisdom through the lens of the teaching and learning modalities of the Oral, Written, and Printing. My synthesis of wisdom artefacts and stories about pedagogy suggests that while wisdom is individually sensed, understood, and lived phenomenologically, its meaning is latent, socially agreed, and constrained in terms of how and if universities might cultivate its essential elements. Taking a Janussian backward- and forward-looking view, I propose a remembering and reconnecting approach to educating for wisdom through purposeful consideration of what we know about time-honoured pedagogies for teaching and learning wisdom, what are its current constraints, and what are its future opportunities in the university into the new postmodern, planetary, virtual education era.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue From the Acquisition of Knowledge to the Promotion of Wisdom)
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Searching for Practical Wisdom in Higher Education with Logos, Pathos and Ethos. Case: Finnish Universities of Sciences
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030063 - 30 Jul 2021
Abstract
In our complex and highly connected world, educating for life—that is, educating students with knowledge, skills, and competences infused with practical wisdom (PW) and ethical and moral values—is essential. The paper seeks to answer the question: how could university education facilitate the progress
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In our complex and highly connected world, educating for life—that is, educating students with knowledge, skills, and competences infused with practical wisdom (PW) and ethical and moral values—is essential. The paper seeks to answer the question: how could university education facilitate the progress to a wiser and better world? The methodology involves case study research (CSR) based on both secondary and primary data. The missions, visions, and values of fourteen public Finnish universities are analyzed for PW. The findings demonstrate that universities, by becoming more open, unbounded, and enacting organizations, and by enhancing collaboration with businesses, could foster the cultivation of PW in higher education (HE). The novelty of this paper is the creative communication of the case study, where kairos, logos, pathos, and ethos are used to explore a new reality for HE. The article contributes to the contemporary discourses in the literature on the future of HE. Educators in HE need to transform from knowledge workers to wise leaders, wisdom workers, creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. The context of the case study research makes it difficult to generalize. Therefore, international, comparative research is used to complement the findings. The eight-stage change process applied to universities and HE could help in solving the urgent problems of society and facilitating progress to a wiser and better world.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue From the Acquisition of Knowledge to the Promotion of Wisdom)
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Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Change within the Milieu
by
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030062 - 28 Jul 2021
Abstract
This article approaches the challenges of the distribution of responsibility for climate change on a local level using the framework of the milieu. It suggests that the framework of the milieu, inspired by Japanese and cross-cultural environmental philosophy, provides pathways to address the
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This article approaches the challenges of the distribution of responsibility for climate change on a local level using the framework of the milieu. It suggests that the framework of the milieu, inspired by Japanese and cross-cultural environmental philosophy, provides pathways to address the four challenges of climate change (global dispersion, fragmentation of agency, institutional inadequacy, temporal delay). The framework of the milieu clarifies the interrelations between the individual, the community, and the local milieu and is open to a conservative view of human communities and an inclusive view of multispecies communities. On this basis, an account of individual responsibility that is anchored in the local milieu and includes a responsibility to collaborate across milieus is developed. It consists of a forward-looking responsibility that balances a degree of contributory responsibility for one’s imprints on the milieu with a degree of capacity-responsibility that varies regarding the individual’s knowledge and powers, and the acceptability of practices within the local milieu.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Just Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation on a Sub-National Level)
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Climate Change Inaction and Optimism
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030061 - 23 Jul 2021
Abstract
The problem of climate change inaction is sometimes said to be ‘wicked’, or essentially insoluble, and it has also been seen as a collective action problem, which is correct but inconsequential. In the absence of progress, much is made of various frailties of
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The problem of climate change inaction is sometimes said to be ‘wicked’, or essentially insoluble, and it has also been seen as a collective action problem, which is correct but inconsequential. In the absence of progress, much is made of various frailties of the public, hence the need for an optimistic tone in public discourse to overcome fatalism and encourage positive action. This argument is immaterial without meaningful action in the first place, and to favour what amounts to the suppression of truth over intellectual openness is in any case disreputable. ‘Optimism’ is also vexed in this context, often having been opposed to the sombre mood of environmentalists by advocates of economic growth. The greater mental impediments are ideological fantasy, which is blind to the contradictions in public discourse, and the misapprehension that if optimism is appropriate in one social or policy context it must be appropriate in others. Optimism, far from spurring climate change action, fosters inaction.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue From the Acquisition of Knowledge to the Promotion of Wisdom)
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Investigation of Tactile Illusion Based on Gestalt Theory
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030060 - 22 Jul 2021
Abstract
Time-evolving tactile sensations are important in communication between animals as well as humans. In recent years, this research area has been defined as “tactileology,” and various studies have been conducted. This study utilized the tactile Gestalt theory to investigate these sensations. Since humans
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Time-evolving tactile sensations are important in communication between animals as well as humans. In recent years, this research area has been defined as “tactileology,” and various studies have been conducted. This study utilized the tactile Gestalt theory to investigate these sensations. Since humans recognize shapes with their visual sense and melodies with their auditory sense based on the Prägnanz principle in the Gestalt theory, this study assumed that a time-evolving texture sensation is induced by a tactile Gestalt. Therefore, the operation of such a tactile Gestalt was investigated. Two psychophysical experiments were conducted to clarify the operation of a tactile Gestalt using a tactile illusion phenomenon called the velvet hand illusion (VHI). It was confirmed that the VHI is induced in a tactile Gestalt when the laws of closure and common fate are satisfied. Furthermore, it was clarified that the tactile Gestalt could be formulated using the proposed factors, which included the laws of elasticity and translation, and it had the same properties as a visual Gestalt. For example, the strongest Gestalt factor had the highest priority among multiple competing factors.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tactileology: Background and Developments)
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On the Explicit Function of Life within a Physical Universe
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030059 - 17 Jul 2021
Abstract
To describe the meaning of functionality in a universe before life evolved, existing etiological and systemic accounts of function are evaluated. Since the theory of function is only applicable in context with living beings and artifacts used by living beings and therefore cannot
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To describe the meaning of functionality in a universe before life evolved, existing etiological and systemic accounts of function are evaluated. Since the theory of function is only applicable in context with living beings and artifacts used by living beings and therefore cannot predict how a prebiotic form of functionality could evolve, a maintenance account for functionality is proposed. This account ascribes functionality to a structurally disposed property that increases the probability of maintenance or recurrence of the property in the surrounding selective environment. With the help of the maintenance account and a concept of physical information comprising kinetic and structural types of information, possible evolutionary processes preceding the evolution of life are explored. As important mechanisms in abiotic and prebiotic evolution, linear and non-linear mixing processes, as well as dynamics of solitary waves, are identified. Before the question of the meaning of life in prebiotic environments is renewed and an educated guess based on the elaborated arguments is made on the progress of evolution under the influencing impression of the living state, the evolution of functionality in different selective contexts is analyzed.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Meaning of Life in the Universe)
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Epistemology and Ethics in Zhuangzi
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030058 - 10 Jul 2021
Abstract
On a prima facia reading, Zhuangzi seems to endorse some form of skepticism or relativism. This seems at odds with Zhuangzi as one of the two main sources of classical Daoism, considering the ideals of virtue and self-development promoted by that philosophy. However,
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On a prima facia reading, Zhuangzi seems to endorse some form of skepticism or relativism. This seems at odds with Zhuangzi as one of the two main sources of classical Daoism, considering the ideals of virtue and self-development promoted by that philosophy. However, Zhuangzi’s metaphorical and allegorical style lends itself to a number of interpretations of his epistemology, as well as the kind of self-knowledge and ethical development it might allow. A survey of the relevant literature shows that the epistemological debate is not easily solvable, but by narrowing the range of interpretations, a coherent picture of his ethics begins to emerge, one in which some form of knowledge, especially self-knowledge, is still possible, as is an ethics of self-actualization.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Knowledge and Skepticism)
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To Be or to Have Been Lucky, That Is the Question
by
and
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030057 - 09 Jul 2021
Abstract
Is it possible to measure the dispersion of ex ante chances (i.e., chances “before the event”) among people, be it gambling, health, or social opportunities? We explore this question and provide some tools, including a statistical test, to evidence the actual dispersion of
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Is it possible to measure the dispersion of ex ante chances (i.e., chances “before the event”) among people, be it gambling, health, or social opportunities? We explore this question and provide some tools, including a statistical test, to evidence the actual dispersion of ex ante chances in various areas, with a focus on chronic diseases. Using the principle of maximum entropy, we derive the distribution of the risk of becoming ill in the global population as well as in the population of affected people. We find that affected people are either at very low risk, like the overwhelming majority of the population, but still were unlucky to become ill, or are at extremely high risk and were bound to become ill.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Logic and Science)
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Aesthetic Theory and the Philosophy of Nature
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Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030056 - 06 Jul 2021
Abstract
We investigate the fundamental relationship between philosophical aesthetics and the philosophy of nature, arguing for a position in which the latter encompasses the former. Two traditions are set against each other, one is natural aesthetics, whose covering philosophy is Idealism, and the other
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We investigate the fundamental relationship between philosophical aesthetics and the philosophy of nature, arguing for a position in which the latter encompasses the former. Two traditions are set against each other, one is natural aesthetics, whose covering philosophy is Idealism, and the other is the aesthetics of nature, the position defended in this article, with the general program of a comprehensive philosophy of nature as its covering theory. Our approach is philosophical, operating within the framework of the ontology of the process of the production of art, inspired especially by the views of Antonin Artaud, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bakhtin, Deleuze, and Guattari. We interrogate Dilthey and Worringer while outlining an ontology of art based on the production of nonhuman images and a nonpersonal experiential field of nature.
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Philosophical Aspects of Astrobiology Revisited
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030055 - 02 Jul 2021
Abstract
Given the idea that Life as we know it is nothing but a special form of a generically underlying dynamical structure within the physical Universe, we try to introduce a concept of Life that is not only derived from first principles of fundamental
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Given the idea that Life as we know it is nothing but a special form of a generically underlying dynamical structure within the physical Universe, we try to introduce a concept of Life that is not only derived from first principles of fundamental physics, but also metaphysically based on philosophical assumptions about the foundations of the world. After clarifying the terminology somewhat, especially with a view to differentiating reality from modality, we give an example for a mathematical representation of what the substance of reality (in the traditional sense of metaphysics) could actually mean today, discussing twistor theory as an example. We then concentrate on the points of structural emergence by discussing the emergence of dynamical systems and of Life as we know it, respectively. Some further consequences as they relate to meaning are discussed in the end.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Meaning of Life in the Universe)
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Two Experimental Devices for Record and Playback of Tactile Data
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030054 - 30 Jun 2021
Abstract
A tactile record and playback system will progress tactileology—a new cross-disciplinary field related to tactile sensations—as it will enhance its use in the instruction, archiving, and analysis of human manipulation. In this paper, we describe two key devices for achieving tactileology: a
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A tactile record and playback system will progress tactileology—a new cross-disciplinary field related to tactile sensations—as it will enhance its use in the instruction, archiving, and analysis of human manipulation. In this paper, we describe two key devices for achieving tactileology: a tactile sensor capturing human tactile sense (fingernail color sensor) and a robotic tactile sensor, both of which can detect not only normal force but also tangential force. This is beneficial because people manipulate objects and tools in various ways, such as grasping, picking, and rubbing. The fingernail color sensor registers the three-dimensional (3D) force applied to a fingertip by detecting the fingernail color change caused by blood distribution under the fingernail, which can be observed with green illumination and a miniature camera. Since detecting this color change is more complicated than using a robotic sensor, the relationships between the image and 3D force are learned using a convolutional neural network (CNN). In the robotic sensor, the 3D force applied to a robotic finger transforms into a bright area using an illuminated acrylic core, a rubber robotic finger skin, and a miniature camera. We measure normal force and tangential force by the brightness and movement of the bright area, respectively. Using a force gauge or an electronic scale for measurement, we perform a series of evaluation experiments. The experimental results show that the precision of both the fingernail color sensor and the robotic tactile sensor are sufficient for our system.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tactileology: Background and Developments)
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Understanding and Avoiding AI Failures: A Practical Guide
by
and
Philosophies 2021, 6(3), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030053 - 28 Jun 2021
Abstract
As AI technologies increase in capability and ubiquity, AI accidents are becoming more common. Based on normal accident theory, high reliability theory, and open systems theory, we create a framework for understanding the risks associated with AI applications. This framework is designed to
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As AI technologies increase in capability and ubiquity, AI accidents are becoming more common. Based on normal accident theory, high reliability theory, and open systems theory, we create a framework for understanding the risks associated with AI applications. This framework is designed to direct attention to pertinent system properties without requiring unwieldy amounts of accuracy. In addition, we also use AI safety principles to quantify the unique risks of increased intelligence and human-like qualities in AI. Together, these two fields give a more complete picture of the risks of contemporary AI. By focusing on system properties near accidents instead of seeking a root cause of accidents, we identify where attention should be paid to safety for current generation AI systems.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Perils of Artificial Intelligence)
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Naturalizing Logic: How Knowledge of Mechanisms Enhances Inductive Inference
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Philosophies 2021, 6(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6020052 - 21 Jun 2021
Abstract
This paper naturalizes inductive inference by showing how scientific knowledge of real mechanisms provides large benefits to it. I show how knowledge about mechanisms contributes to generalization, inference to the best explanation, causal inference, and reasoning with probabilities. Generalization from some A are
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This paper naturalizes inductive inference by showing how scientific knowledge of real mechanisms provides large benefits to it. I show how knowledge about mechanisms contributes to generalization, inference to the best explanation, causal inference, and reasoning with probabilities. Generalization from some A are B to all A are B is more plausible when a mechanism connects A to B. Inference to the best explanation is strengthened when the explanations are mechanistic and when explanatory hypotheses are themselves mechanistically explained. Causal inference in medical explanation, counterfactual reasoning, and analogy also benefit from mechanistic connections. Mechanisms also help with problems concerning the interpretation, availability, and computation of probabilities.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Natural Philosophy and Philosophies - Part 3)
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