Ontics


Book Description

The New Way Is there a better way of doing physics that retains the best of current physics while going far beyond it? Physics is currently based on the claim – and claim it most certainly is – that physics deals with something real (let's call that real thing "matter", though there is no ontological definition of matter) and it can be somehow analyzed by an unreal, manmade abstraction, namely mathematics. But what happens if you accept a different assertion, one that makes mathematics not an abstraction but a concrete reality, an ontology? As soon as you make mathematics real, you cast doubt on the reality of matter. But do we need to make a definitive choice? Why not operate both systems – one based on mathematics as real, and one based on matter as real – and then try to find a way to synthesize these different views? Kant, with his transcendental idealism, sought to reconcile empiricism and rationalism. Ontics seeks to reconcile the empiricism of materialism and the rationalism of mathematics. Ontics, via ontological mathematics, gives mind a reality that is entirely absent in materialism. So, with science on the one hand and ontological mathematics on the other hand, body and soul, matter and mind can start to be brought together into a single system. Isn't explaining mind science's biggest challenge? Ontological mathematics provides that exact capacity! Isn't it time for the ultimate paradigm shift? Isn't it time for an intellectual revolution, for a true age of reason?!




The Theory of Ontic Modalities


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive, non-model-theoretic theory of ontic necessity and possibility within a formal (and formalized) ontology consisting of states of affairs, properties, and individuals. Its central thesis is that all modalities are reducible to intrinsic (or "logical") possibility and necessity if reference is made to certain states of affairs, called "bases of necessity." The viability of this Bases-Theory of Modality is shown also in the case of conditionals, including counterfactual conditionals. Besides the ontological aspects of the philosophy of modality, also the epistemology of modality is treated in the book. It is shown that the Bases-Theory of Modality provides a satisfactory solution to the epistemological problem of modality. In addition to developing that theory, the book includes detailed discussions of positions in the philosophy of modality maintained by Alvin Plantinga, David Lewis, Charles Chihara, Graeme Forbes, David Armstrong, and others. Among the themes treated are: possibilism vs. actualism; the theory of essences; conceivability and possibility; the nature of possible worlds; the nature of logical, nomological, and metaphysical possibility and necessity.




Education and Technology


Book Description

There are numerous publications about education and technology. What is missing is a balanced appraisal of the values and cognitive skills technology promotes and those it devalues. This is important for education because the way we teach influences the way children think, and it is of more general importance for the evolution of society. If we wait until these issues are definitely resolved and have noticeable societal effects, it will inevitably be too late.




Logic Counts


Book Description

I. Towards Philosophy Jan Srzednicki 3 LOGICAL CONCERNS OF PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS Jerzy Perzanowski ONTOLOGIES AND ONTOLOGICS 23 Elizabeth Anscombe TRUTH, SENSE AND ASSERTION, OR: WHAT PLATO SHOULD HAVE TOLD THE SOPHISTS 43 Peter Geach IDENTITY OVER TIME 47 Joseph M. Font, Ventura Verdu 53 TWO LEVELS OF MODALITY: AN ALGEBRAIC APPROACH Boguslaw Wolniewicz 63 ELZENBERG'S LOGIC OF VALUES Jerzy Szymura WHEN MAY G.E. MOORE'S DEFINITION OF AN INTERNAL RELATION BE USED RATIONALLY? 71 II. Historical Perspective J6zef M. Bochenski HISTORY OF LOGIC AND THE CRITERIA OF RATIONALITY 85 Jan Waszkiewicz, Agnieszka Wojciechowska ON THE ORIGIN OF REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM 87 vi CONTENTS Ewa ~arnecka-Bialy PREMONITION OF MATHEMATICAL LOGIC IN ARISTOTLE'S PRIOR ANALYTICS 97 Leopold Regner "IMPOSSIBlLIA" OF SIGER OF BRABANT 107 Tomasz Weber DEFENDING THESES IN MATHEMATICS AT A 19TH CENTURY UNIVERSITY 113 Gerhardt PlBchl BASIC NORM AND METALANGUAGE. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF KELSEN'S IDEAS 125 m. Logic and Natural Language Marek Tokarz EARLY SYSTEMS OF FORMAL PRAGMATICS 151 Barbara Stanosz DEDUCTION AND THE CONCEPT OF ASSERTION 159 Helmut Metzler METHODOLOGICAL INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION IN EMPIRICAL SOCIAL SCIENCES 167 Jaroslaw Fall GAME-THEORETICAL SEMANTICS APPLIED TO DEFINITE DESCRIPTIONS AND ANAPHORA 177 Karl-Heinz Krampitz ON LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ORDINARY SENTENCES 191 Anna Madarasz GAME THEORETICAL SEMANTICS WITH VALUE-GAPS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 199 Andrzej Lachwa THE SEMANTIC AND FORMAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN TEXT COMPONENTS 221 Index of Names 227 L. . ::1. . ~t G. Elizabeth ANSCOMBE - University of Cambridge, England J6zef M




Relativism


Book Description

The essays in this volume grapple with one of the most intriguing, enduring, and far-reaching philosophical problems of our age. Relativism comes in many varieties. It is often defined as the belief that truth, goodness, or beauty is relative& mdash;relative, that is, to some context or frame of reference& mdash;and that no absolute standards can adjudicate between competing reference frames. This anthology captures the significance and range of relativistic doctrines, rehearsing their virtues and vices and reflecting a spectrum of attitudes toward relativism. Invoking diverse philosophical orientations, these doctrines concern conceptions of relativism in relation to pluralism and moral relativism; facts and conceptual schemes; realism and objectivity; solidarity and rationality; universalism and foundationalism; and feminism and poststructuralism. The thirty-three essays in this book include nine original works and many classical articles.




A New Ecology


Book Description

A New Ecology presents an ecosystem theory based on the following ecosystem properties: physical openness, ontic openness, directionality, connectivity, a complex dynamic for growth and development, and a complex dynamic response to disturbances. Each of these properties is developed in detail to show that these basic and characteristic properties can be applied to explain a wide spectrum of ecological obsevations and convections. It is also shown that the properties have application for environmental management and for assessment of ecosystem health.* Demonstrates an ecosystem theory that can be applied to explain ecological observations and rules* Presents an ecosystem theory based upon a systems approach* Discusses an ecosystem theory that is based on a few basic properties that are characteristic for ecosystmes




Worldviews, Ethics and Organizational Life


Book Description

This book provides an innovative way to revisit the depth and scope of our moral/post-moral worldviews, while undertaking an ontic reflection about organizational life. The ontic dimension of life refers to existing entities’ lived experiences. It has nothing to do with psychological and relational processes. The ontic level of analysis mirrors a philosophical outlook on organizational life. Unlike moral worldviews, post-moral worldviews oppose the existence of Truth-itself. Post-moral worldviews rather imply that dialogical relationships allow people to express their own truth-claims and welcome others’ truth-claims. The purpose of this book is to explain the philosophical implications of moral and post-moral worldviews and the way to move from a moral to a post-moral worldview. Moreover, this book explores the possibility to transcend the moral/post-moral dualism, through moral deliberation processes and a reinterpretation of the Presence of the Infinite in all dimensions of human life. This book could eventually help to better grasp the basic philosophical challenges behind ethical reflection about organizational issues.




A Companion to Relativism


Book Description

A Companion to Relativism presents original contributions from leading scholars that address the latest thinking on the role of relativism in the philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, logic, and metaphysics. Features original contributions from many of the leading figures working on various aspects of relativism Presents a substantial, broad range of current thinking about relativism Addresses relativism from many of the major subfields of philosophy, including philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, logic, and metaphysics




Reductive Explanation in the Biological Sciences


Book Description

This book develops a philosophical account that reveals the major characteristics that make an explanation in the life sciences reductive and distinguish them from non-reductive explanations. Understanding what reductive explanations are enables one to assess the conditions under which reductive explanations are adequate and thus enhances debates about explanatory reductionism. The account of reductive explanation presented in this book has three major characteristics. First, it emerges from a critical reconstruction of the explanatory practice of the life sciences itself. Second, the account is monistic since it specifies one set of criteria that apply to explanations in the life sciences in general. Finally, the account is ontic in that it traces the reductivity of an explanation back to certain relations that exist between objects in the world (such as part-whole relations and level relations), rather than to the logical relations between sentences. Beginning with a disclosure of the meta-philosophical assumptions that underlie the author’s analysis of reductive explanation, the book leads into the debate about reduction(ism) in the philosophy of biology and continues with a discussion on the two perspectives on explanatory reduction that have been proposed in the philosophy of biology so far. The author scrutinizes how the issue of reduction becomes entangled with explanation and analyzes two concepts, the concept of a biological part and the concept of a level of organization. The results of these five chapters constitute the ground on which the author bases her final chapter, developing her ontic account of reductive explanation.




The Cambridge Heidegger Lexicon


Book Description

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century. His work has profoundly influenced philosophers including Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Richard Rorty, Hubert Dreyfus, Stanley Cavell, Emmanuel Levinas, Alain Badiou, and Gilles Deleuze. His accounts of human existence and being and his critique of technology have inspired theorists in fields as diverse as theology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, and the humanities. This Lexicon provides a comprehensive and accessible guide to Heidegger's notoriously obscure vocabulary. Each entry clearly and concisely defines a key term and explores in depth the meaning of each concept, explaining how it fits into Heidegger's broader philosophical project. With over 220 entries written by the world's leading Heidegger experts, this landmark volume will be indispensable for any student or scholar of Heidegger's work.