Pub Date : 2014-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82126
Alissa MacMillan
Thomas Hobbes devotes several chapters of Leviathan to a careful critique of belief in, and the uses and abuses of, demons, ghosts, and spirits. But his broader views on religion remain one of the more contested areas of his thought, leaving his role in the ‘Radical Enlightenment’ unclear. A thoroughgoing opposition to demons and ghosts was also one of the primary objectives of Dutch theologian Balthasar Bekker, a figure whose central role in the historical narrative on atheism is well defended and accounted for in Jonathan Israel’s Radical Enlightenment. Bekker was loudly declared an atheist of the worst sort, that is, of the Hobbesian or Spinozist sort. This paper engages an analysis and comparison of their respective treatments of demons and ghosts, elucidating several of the real differences in their views, and arguing that Hobbes’s critique of religion, one on the surface one quite similar in spirit to that of Bekker, is indeed the more ‘radical’ when considered in light of their distinctive epistemologies, arguments for God, and the main thrust of their projects. Alongside Bekker, the innovative elements of Hobbes’s critique of religion become especially clear.
{"title":"Exorcizing Demons: Thomas Hobbes and Balthasar Bekker on Spirits and Religion","authors":"Alissa MacMillan","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82126","url":null,"abstract":"Thomas Hobbes devotes several chapters of Leviathan to a careful critique of belief in, and the uses and abuses of, demons, ghosts, and spirits. But his broader views on religion remain one of the more contested areas of his thought, leaving his role in the ‘Radical Enlightenment’ unclear. A thoroughgoing opposition to demons and ghosts was also one of the primary objectives of Dutch theologian Balthasar Bekker, a figure whose central role in the historical narrative on atheism is well defended and accounted for in Jonathan Israel’s Radical Enlightenment. Bekker was loudly declared an atheist of the worst sort, that is, of the Hobbesian or Spinozist sort. This paper engages an analysis and comparison of their respective treatments of demons and ghosts, elucidating several of the real differences in their views, and arguing that Hobbes’s critique of religion, one on the surface one quite similar in spirit to that of Bekker, is indeed the more ‘radical’ when considered in light of their distinctive epistemologies, arguments for God, and the main thrust of their projects. Alongside Bekker, the innovative elements of Hobbes’s critique of religion become especially clear.","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83742800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82127
S. Lavaert
An important philosophical turn that took place in seventeenthand eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought was the abandonment of transcendence, the strict separation of religion and philosophy, and the rise of a one-substance immanent ontology. It has been argued that this ‘radical’ turn brought about the philosophical foundation for democracy. According to the thesis I will defend in what follows, immanent ontology indeed has a political subversive meaning. Inspired by the texts and ideas of Machiavelli, it entailed a radical change of focus: from a theologicalhierarchical structure to the horizontal structure of the world in which we live and in which all humans are equal. This radical change had consequences at the level of the civil state: e.g., the necessity of free thought and free speech, which may lead to resistance, refusal, and disobedience. I will argue that this Spinozistic radicalism can only be adequately understood if we take into account the radical thought of fellow thinkers from his circle, on the one hand, and the subversive image of Spinoza as constructed by his opponents on the other.
{"title":"Radical Enlightenment, Enlightened Subversion, and Spinoza","authors":"S. Lavaert","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82127","url":null,"abstract":"An important philosophical turn that took place in seventeenthand eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought was the abandonment of transcendence, the strict separation of religion and philosophy, and the rise of a one-substance immanent ontology. It has been argued that this ‘radical’ turn brought about the philosophical foundation for democracy. According to the thesis I will defend in what follows, immanent ontology indeed has a political subversive meaning. Inspired by the texts and ideas of Machiavelli, it entailed a radical change of focus: from a theologicalhierarchical structure to the horizontal structure of the world in which we live and in which all humans are equal. This radical change had consequences at the level of the civil state: e.g., the necessity of free thought and free speech, which may lead to resistance, refusal, and disobedience. I will argue that this Spinozistic radicalism can only be adequately understood if we take into account the radical thought of fellow thinkers from his circle, on the one hand, and the subversive image of Spinoza as constructed by his opponents on the other.","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83558038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82141
Fatima ROMERO VALLHONESTA
{"title":"Algebraic symbolism in the first algebraic works in the Iberian Peninsula","authors":"Fatima ROMERO VALLHONESTA","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82141","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86163806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82139
J. Oaks
Medieval Arabic books read more or less like transcriptions of lectures, a fact that stems from the fundamentally oral nature of medieval Islamic civilization. Books covering algebra are no exception. There we find algebraic solutions to problems written all out in words, with no notation even for numbers. But problems were not solved rhetorically. Algebraists would work out a problem in some kind of notation on a dust board or other ephemeral surface, and to record it in a book a rhetorical version of the calculations would be composed. From early texts it appears that only the coefficients of polynomials were written in Hindi notation. But in the Maghreb in the twelfth century a notation specific to algebra developed in which the power was indicated also. This symbolic notation is not presented as a scientific development in the manuscripts, but is instead shown in textbooks to instruct students in its use. In this article we explain the notation, its context, and how it differs from modern notation.
{"title":"Algebraic symbolism in medieval Arabic algebra","authors":"J. Oaks","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82139","url":null,"abstract":"Medieval Arabic books read more or less like transcriptions of lectures, a fact that stems from the fundamentally oral nature of medieval Islamic civilization. Books covering algebra are no exception. There we find algebraic solutions to problems written all out in words, with no notation even for numbers. But problems were not solved rhetorically. Algebraists would work out a problem in some kind of notation on a dust board or other ephemeral surface, and to record it in a book a rhetorical version of the calculations would be composed. From early texts it appears that only the coefficients of polynomials were written in Hindi notation. But in the Maghreb in the twelfth century a notation specific to algebra developed in which the power was indicated also. This symbolic notation is not presented as a scientific development in the manuscripts, but is instead shown in textbooks to instruct students in its use. In this article we explain the notation, its context, and how it differs from modern notation.","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83144006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82144
Rogier de Langhe
{"title":"The problem of Kuhnian rationality","authors":"Rogier de Langhe","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82144","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80400120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82142
Ma Rosa Massa Esteve
{"title":"The role of symbolic language in the transformation of mathematics","authors":"Ma Rosa Massa Esteve","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82142","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73881176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82138
Albrecht Heeffer
This introductory paper provides an overview of four contributions on the epistemological functions of mathematical symbolism as it emerged in Arabic and European treatises on algebra. The evolution towards symbolic algebra was a long and difficult process in which many obstacles had to be overcome. Three of these obstacles, related to the circulation and adoption of symbolism, are highlighted in this special volume: 1) the transition of material practices of algebraic calculation to discursive practices and text production, 2) the transition from manuscript production to printed works involving material limitations of typefaces, and 3) the transition of algebraic symbolism from a system of notation and representation to a tool of mathematical analysis. This paper will conclude with the observation that the whole development towards symbolization can be considered an obstacle by itself in the sense of ‘epistemic obstacles’ as used by Brousseau.
{"title":"Surmounting obstacles: circulation and adoption of algebraic symbolism","authors":"Albrecht Heeffer","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82138","url":null,"abstract":"This introductory paper provides an overview of four contributions on the epistemological functions of mathematical symbolism as it emerged in Arabic and European treatises on algebra. The evolution towards symbolic algebra was a long and difficult process in which many obstacles had to be overcome. Three of these obstacles, related to the circulation and adoption of symbolism, are highlighted in this special volume: 1) the transition of material practices of algebraic calculation to discursive practices and text production, 2) the transition from manuscript production to printed works involving material limitations of typefaces, and 3) the transition of algebraic symbolism from a system of notation and representation to a tool of mathematical analysis. This paper will conclude with the observation that the whole development towards symbolization can be considered an obstacle by itself in the sense of ‘epistemic obstacles’ as used by Brousseau.","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76491437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82140
François Loget
In this paper, we investigate the relationships between two algebraists of the mid-sixteenth century France (Jacques Peletier du Mans and Pierre de La Ramee), and their printers, (Guillaume Cavellat, Jean de Tournes and Andre Wechel). Both authors published a treatise on algebra at a time when they were involved in a debate concerning French spelling. Did the consideration of these authors concerning symbolism had something to do with their reflections on vernacular language? In Peletier and Ramus's books, the symbolism is specific. Was their choice with regards to the use of symbolism influenced by their printers, or not?
在本文中，我们研究了16世纪中期法国的两位代数家(Jacques Peletier du Mans和Pierre de La Ramee)和他们的印刷商(Guillaume Cavellat, Jean de Tournes和Andre Wechel)之间的关系。两位作者都发表了一篇关于代数的论文，当时他们正卷入一场关于法语拼写的辩论。这些作者对象征主义的思考是否与他们对本土语言的思考有关?在Peletier和Ramus的书中，象征主义是具体的。他们在使用象征主义方面的选择是否受到印刷商的影响?
{"title":"Printers and algebraists in Mid-16th Century France","authors":"François Loget","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82140","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we investigate the relationships between two algebraists of the mid-sixteenth century France (Jacques Peletier du Mans and Pierre de La Ramee), and their printers, (Guillaume Cavellat, Jean de Tournes and Andre Wechel). Both authors published a treatise on algebra at a time when they were involved in a debate concerning French spelling. Did the consideration of these authors concerning symbolism had something to do with their reflections on vernacular language? In Peletier and Ramus's books, the symbolism is specific. Was their choice with regards to the use of symbolism influenced by their printers, or not?","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83395756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82146
Dunja Šešelja, Laszlo Kosolosky, Christian Straßer
The aim of this paper is to disambiguate between different notions of pursuit worthiness regarding scientific inquiries. To this end we propose a unifying pattern of pursuit worthiness: “It is rational for Y to pursue X if and only if pursuing X is conducive of the set of goals Z.” By showing in which ways variables X, Y, and Z can be changed, we present different notions of pursuit and pursuit worthiness. With respect to variable X, we distinguish the pursuit of scientific theories, epistemic objects, and technological developments. With respect to variable Z, we distinguish between epistemic and practical pursuit worthiness. Finally, with respect to variable Y, we distinguish between individual and communal pursuit worthiness. By means of these distinctions we are able to explicate some of the major ambiguities underlying the concept of pursuit of pursuit worthiness, as well as to shed light on some confusions in philosophical literature that have resulted from their neglect. 52 D. SesELJA, L. KOSOLOSKY & C. STRASSER
{"title":"The rationality of scientific reasoning in the context of pursuit: Drawing appropriate distinctions","authors":"Dunja Šešelja, Laszlo Kosolosky, Christian Straßer","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82146","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to disambiguate between different notions of pursuit worthiness regarding scientific inquiries. To this end we propose a unifying pattern of pursuit worthiness: “It is rational for Y to pursue X if and only if pursuing X is conducive of the set of goals Z.” By showing in which ways variables X, Y, and Z can be changed, we present different notions of pursuit and pursuit worthiness. With respect to variable X, we distinguish the pursuit of scientific theories, epistemic objects, and technological developments. With respect to variable Z, we distinguish between epistemic and practical pursuit worthiness. Finally, with respect to variable Y, we distinguish between individual and communal pursuit worthiness. By means of these distinctions we are able to explicate some of the major ambiguities underlying the concept of pursuit of pursuit worthiness, as well as to shed light on some confusions in philosophical literature that have resulted from their neglect. 52 D. SesELJA, L. KOSOLOSKY & C. STRASSER","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77254087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-02DOI: 10.21825/philosophica.82145
A. Grobler
In this paper, I raise a problem for the widely accepted view that knowledge is degettierized justified true belief. The problem is that one can acquire degettierized justified true beliefs even if one is unable to apply those beliefs in practice or use them in the formation of further justified beliefs. Such beliefs, even though degettierized, justified and true, hardly amount to knowledge. So a fifth part of the definition of knowledge is called for. As a solution, I suggest that beliefs count as knowledge only when they are structured in such a way that they can be employed in the process of beliefor knowledge-formation. This required structure can be explicated in terms of Wiśniewski‟s logic of questions. In order for a belief to count as knowledge, I will argue, it is necessary for it to be liable to figure in an erotetic argument. 1 I thank anonymous referees who have suggested a number of amendments.
{"title":"Fifth part of the definition of knowledge","authors":"A. Grobler","doi":"10.21825/philosophica.82145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21825/philosophica.82145","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I raise a problem for the widely accepted view that knowledge is degettierized justified true belief. The problem is that one can acquire degettierized justified true beliefs even if one is unable to apply those beliefs in practice or use them in the formation of further justified beliefs. Such beliefs, even though degettierized, justified and true, hardly amount to knowledge. So a fifth part of the definition of knowledge is called for. As a solution, I suggest that beliefs count as knowledge only when they are structured in such a way that they can be employed in the process of beliefor knowledge-formation. This required structure can be explicated in terms of Wiśniewski‟s logic of questions. In order for a belief to count as knowledge, I will argue, it is necessary for it to be liable to figure in an erotetic argument. 1 I thank anonymous referees who have suggested a number of amendments.","PeriodicalId":36843,"journal":{"name":"Argumenta Philosophica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85934916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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