scholarly journals What the ancient greeks would say about cyborgs and artificial intelligence: a thought experiment

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Extra-C) ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
Sergey Sergeev ◽  
Zulfia Sergeeva ◽  
Elmira Avzalova

How can technologies affect human nature? If the nature of human beings changes, one wonders: in which direction? These problems are actively discussed today by philosophers, sociologists and political scientists, representatives of religious denominations, etc. One of the points of view, which can be conditionally called “anthropomorphic”, boils down to the fact that the combination of man and machine is unacceptable, as this leads to anti-humanism, and one must follow the path of improving the Human Body. "Transhumanists" or "post-humanists", on the other hand, say that everything that can be done must be done and progress cannot be stopped. The point of compromise is to comply with the “red line”: to prohibit reproductive cloning, but to allow the use of biotechnologies, for example, to treat people. The article also tried to implement a kind of mental experiment and to evaluate the technological trends indicated from the position of the ancient philosophers, mainly Socrates and Plato. The authors suggest that ancient philosophers could give ambiguous assessments.    

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geir Sigurdsson

In recent years, there has been considerable controversy over the notion of xing as it appears in the Mencius and in the Xunzi. The controversy has mostly revolved around the questions whether xing refers to a universal human nature or not, and whether their notions of shan and e can be accurately characterized as ‘good’ and ‘evil’. In this paper, the issue will be approached differently, and the issue of xing’s universal or non-universal scope largely ignored as unproductive. Instead, it will be argued that a more productive approach is to view Mencius’ and Xunzi’s differing claims about the quality of xing of human beings as reflecting their different practical considerations of how best to establish the Confucian way. The Mencian emphasis, then, on the goodness of human beings is an attempt to resist cynicism and defeatism in a time in which wars and horrors were common, and to maintain a belief in the possibility of realizing a harmonious and peaceful society: Mencius underscores the optimistic spirit in the philosophy initiated by Confucius. On the other hand, Xunzi’s claim about the problematic or unruly tendencies in the human xing are possibly resistances to a kind of thinking that celebrates passive conformity to natural processes: Xunzi emphasizes the active element in Confucius’ thought. Optimism and activism are both integral features of the Confucian spirit. Hence it is misleading to regard Mencius and Xunzi as contradicting each other in their divergent claims about xing. Since their claims rather rest on different practical considerations, they merely emphasise different aspects of Confucius’ thought, and, taken together, rather complement each other.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Fabio Colonnese

Although in the wake of the Modern Movement tradition, Álvaro Siza Vieira’s architectural research moves along the thin red line between abstraction and representation. The apparent arbitrariness of some of his compositions, widely analyzed in typological and social key, is primarily an expression of his attention to the moving subject that never translates into illusory devices. Yet, in the last two decades of the 20th century, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic presences began to haunt his architectures, addressing to new meanings. The keys to understanding this phase of Siza’s creative trajectory reside in his hypertrophic graphic activity, in his production as a designer and, most of all, as a sculptor. On one hand, his sketches reveal the tension and negotiation between architecture body and human body, which to some extent constitute the extremes of his formal investigation. On the other hand, his objects and sculptures result as intermediate moments of experimentation and clarification by responding the ergonomic demands through the semantic economy of objet trouvée. Through them, Siza’s architectural anthropomorphism can be interpreted as a moment of transition towards an architecture parlant, which relies on the connotative participation of people to put in scene no longer figures or characters but interactions and feelings: the opportunity of a meeting.


Author(s):  
عبد المجيد قاسم عبد المجيد (Qasim Abdulmajid) ◽  
محمد ليبا (Liba)

تناولت هذه الورقة فلسفة العقوبة في الشريعة الإسلامية، وفلسفتها في القانون الوضعي، وتمت الموازنة بين الفلسفتين، وخلص العرض والموازنة إلى نتائج ملخصها أن مسألة عصمة الشريعة وسموها تعد علامة فارقة بين الشريعة الإسلامية والقانون الوضعي، هذه العلامة نتج عنها فروق كثيرة أولها أن العقوبة في التشريع الوضعي تكون تابعةً للهدف، فالهدف يوضع أولاً ثم تصاغ على ضوئه العقوبة، ولذلك كلما ظهرت مدرسةٌ جديدةٌ تؤسس لفكرٍ جديدٍ ظهر اختلافٌ في التشريع العقابي. بينما النظام العقابي الإسلامي ثابتٌ ومعصوم، وقد وُجدت الحاجة إلى معرفة أهدافه وفلسفته ليتسنى السير على مقتضاها فيما يستجد من وقائع، وأن سمو فلسفة العقوبة في الشريعة الإسلامية ينبع من سمو مصدرها، فواضع هذه العقوبات هو خالق البشر. بينما العقوبة في القانون الوضعي تعتمد في فلسفتها على خبرة واضعيها، وهي خبرة محدودة وأحكامها نسبية، لذا كان تطبيق العقوبات الشرعية أجدر حتى وإن لم يُدرَك كنه هذه العقوبات وفلسفتها. الكلمات الرئيسية: فلسفة العقوبة، القانون الإسلامي، القانون الوضعي، التشريع العقابي.******************************In this paper light is shed on the philosophy of punishment in Islamic and positive laws and a comparison between them is accomplished. In brief, the conclusion of the exposition and comparison is that issue of infallibility of SharÊ‘ah and its nobleness are the distinguishing marks between Islamic and positive laws. This led to further differences. The first difference is that the punishment in positive laws is in accordance with the stipulated goal, that is, the goal is set first and then the punishment is formulated in that light. That is why whenever any new school of thought appears based on some ideology, differences emerge in punitive legislation. Islamic penal system is, however, immutable and infallible. There is a need to know its objectives and wisdom so as to in order to tackle new emerging issues. The nobility of the philosophy of punishment in Islamic law stems from the nobility of its source and that is no one but the Creator of human beings. The punishment in the positive law, on the other hand, relies on the philosophy that is based on the experiences of the authors of these laws. And these experiences are limited and their rulings are relativistic. Applying Islamic legal punishments are, therefore, more legitimate, even though their essence and philosophy are not fully grasped.Key words: Philosophy of Punishment, Islamic Law, Positive Law, Punitive Legislation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg W. Bertram

AbstractThe concept of second nature promises to provide an explanation of how nature and reason can be reconciled. But the concept is laden with ambiguity. On the one hand, second nature is understood as that which binds together all cognitive activities. On the other hand, second nature is conceived of as a kind of nature that can be changed by cognitive activities. The paper tries to investigate this ambiguity by distinguishing a Kantian conception of second nature from a Hegelian conception. It argues that the idea of a transformation from a being of first nature into a being of second nature that stands at the heart of the Kantian conception is mistaken. The Hegelian conception demonstrates that the transformation in question takes place within second nature itself. Thus, the Hegelian conception allows us to understand the way in which second nature is not structurally isomorphic with first nature: It is a process of ongoing selftransformation that is not primarily determined by how the world is, but rather by commitments out of which human beings are bound to the open future.


Human Affairs ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Skowroński

AbstractIn the present paper, the author looks at the political dimension of some trends in the visual arts within twentieth-century avant-garde groups (cubism, expressionism, fauvism, Dada, abstractionism, surrealism) through George Santayana’s idea of vital liberty. Santayana accused the avant-gardists of social and political escapism, and of becoming unintentionally involved in secondary issues. In his view, the emphasis they placed on the medium (or diverse media) and on treating it as an aim in itself, not, as it should be, as a transmitter through which a stimulating relationship with the environment can be had, was accompanied by a focus on fragments of life and on parts of existence, and, on the other hand, by a de facto rejection of ontology and cosmology as being crucial to understanding life and the place of human beings in the universe. The avant-gardists became involved in political life by responding excessively to the events of the time, instead of to the everlasting problems that are the human lot.


1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-208
Author(s):  
Frank I. Michelman

Prescriptive political and moral theories contain ideas about what human beings are like and about what, correspondingly, is good for them. Conceptions of human “nature” and corresponding human good enter into normative argument by way of support and justification. Of course, it is logically open for the ratiocinative traffic to run the other way. Strongly held convictions about the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, of certain social institutions or practices may help condition and shape one's responses to one or another set of propositions about what people are like and what, in consequence, they have reason to value.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Derry Ahmad Rizal

This paper aims to do a study of the concept of a perfect human being by taking two corners of the field of characters, Friedrich Williams Nietzsche and Ibn ‘Arabi. In this case the two figures convey their thoughts on how to become perfect human beings. Nietzsche who gives a view about humans must be able, strong and be themselves in facing all their problems. Making humans superior in Netzsche's view. On the other hand Ibn Arabi who explained about the nature of being a perfect human being, and humans themselves are a reflection of the formation of a real God on earth. The level in achieving goals as a perfect human being. The categorization of macrocosm and microcosm in looking at differences in "humans".


Author(s):  
Lucia Lichnerová

The study To Publish, Make Known and Sell is based on verified existence of competition tensions between the 15th century typographers/publishers, related to the absence of functional regulatory tools of book production of the incunabula period. The increase in the number of book-printers within the relatively narrow geographical area, disregard of publishers’ privileges, the emergence of pirated reprints, as well as insufficient self-promotion on the book market through introducing novelties had concentrated typographers’ attention on devising new tools of securing their triumph in publisher’s competition – the so called book advertisements. The author has analysed 44 promotional posters of the incunabula period from several points of view and attempted to identify their design elements, which on the one hand showed signs of certain standardization, while on the other hand they were subject to personal creativity of their creator. She gives detailed overview of the circumstances of the origin, typographic design and contents of book advertisements of several kinds within the context of promoting either the existing or planned editions, of one edition or a group of books; specifically focusing on the unique types of advertising. In conclusion, the author cites the circumstances of the extinction of book advertisements related to the rise of the new promotional tool – booksellers’ catalogue and submits a bibliography of the book advertisements dating from the 15th century.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Rosângela Tenório de Carvalho

Este artigo tem como objeto o discurso sobre alteridade em articulação com experiência docente. Pretende-se dar visibilidade à expressão material, conceitual e pedagógica desse discurso em suas relações. A reflexão está sustentada nos estudos pós-colonialistas e pós-estruturalistas. Problematiza-se a interpretação da alteridade como uma possibilidade de acessar a experiência do outro, sentir como o outro em sua essencia, pois entende-se que não há uma natureza humana, mas, sim, humanos produzidos culturalmente e linguisticamente. O enfoque recai sobre a alteridade como uma relação de interdependência permeada por relações de poder, a versão da afirmação da diferença e a dignidade nas relações. AbstractThis article has as its object the discourse on otherness in articulation with teaching experience. It is intended to give visibility to the material, conceptual and pedagogical expression of this discourse in their relations. The reflection is sustained in postcolonialist and poststructuralist studies. The interpretation of otherness as a possibility to access the experience of the other is problematized, to feel as the other in its essence, because is understood that there is no human nature, but human beings produced culturally and linguistically. He focus is on otherness as a relation of interdependence permeated by power relations, the version of affirmation of difference and dignity in relationships.KeywordsOtherness; Cultural difference; Teaching.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-71
Author(s):  
Raquel Borges Blázquez

Artificial intelligence has countless advantages in our lives. On the one hand, computer’s capacity to store and connect data is far superior to human capacity. On the other hand, its “intelligence” also involves deep ethical problems that the law must respond to. I say “intelligence” because nowadays machines are not intelligent. Machines only use the data that a human being has previously offered as true. The truth is relative and the data will have the same biases and prejudices as the human who programs the machine. In other words, machines will be racist, sexist and classist if their programmers are. Furthermore, we are facing a new problem: the difficulty to understand the algorithm of those who apply the law.This situation forces us to rethink the criminal process, including artificial intelligence and spinning very thinly indicating how, when, why and under what assumptions we can make use of artificial intelligence and, above all, who is going to program it. At the end of the day, as Silvia Barona indicates, perhaps the question should be: who is going to control global legal thinking?


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