Spinoza and the Possibility of Error

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Jakob Zigouras
Keyword(s):  
Central Problem ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Detailed Consideration ◽  
Finite Minds

If we consider certain features of Spinoza's metaphysics, it can seem very difficult to see how error, or the having of false ideas, is possible. In this paper I want to give the metaphysical background to the problem, before turning to a more detailed consideration of how Spinoza in fact accounts for error, or the having of false ideas. I will show the importance of the notions of adequacy and inadequacy in Spinoza's account. Having done this I will return to the central problem of accounting for the ontological status of false ideas vis a vis both the Infinite Intellect, and finite minds.

The Nature and Ontological Status of Appearances

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-109
Author(s):  
Anja Jauernig
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Status ◽  
Detailed Consideration ◽  
Intentional Objects ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
The World ◽  
Primary Difference ◽  
Levels Of Reality ◽  
Material Conditions

It is shown that things in themselves and appearances are numerically distinct existents whose primary difference consists in that the former are mind-independent while the latter are mind-dependent, in a sense that is explicated in detail. On the proposed reading, the world, understood as the sum total of everything that has reality, comprises several levels of reality, most importantly, a mind-independent, transcendental level, at which things in themselves exits, and a mind-dependent, empirical level, at which appearances exist. Appearances are identified to be intentional objects of experience. The nature and ontological status of appearances is further investigated by way of an examination of Kant’s account of perception and his theory of experience, including a detailed consideration of the formal and material conditions of experience and of the implications of the mathematical antinomies for the specific flavor of Kant’s idealism about appearances.

The Orchestra as Acting Area in Greek Tragedy

Ramus ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Ley ◽  
Michael Ewans
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
Considerable Experience

For some years past there has been a welcome change of emphasis towards the consideration of staging in books published on Greek tragedy; and yet with that change also a curious failure to be explicit about the central problem connected with all stagecraft, namely that of the acting-area. In this study two scholars with considerable experience of teaching classical drama in performance consider this problem of the acting-area in close relation to major scenes from two Greek tragedies, and suggest some general conclusions. The article must stand to some extent as a critique of the succession of books that has followed the apparently pioneering study of Oliver Taplin, none of which has made any substantial or sustained attempt to indicate where actors might have acted in the performance of Greek tragedy, though most, if not all, have been prepared to discard the concept of a raised ‘stage’ behind the orchestra. Hippolytus (428 BC) is the earliest of the surviving plays of Euripides to involve three speaking actors in one scene. Both Alcestis (438 BC and Medea (431 BC almost certainly require three actors to be performed with any fluency, but surprisingly present their action largely through dialogue and confrontation — surprisingly, perhaps, because at least since 458 BC and the performance of the Oresteia it is clear that three actors were available to any playwright.

John Cranko's Antigone (1959): A Ballet Lost and Found

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Henrietta Bannerman
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Jean Racine ◽  
World War ◽  
Martha Graham ◽  
Detailed Consideration ◽  
Lost And Found ◽  
The Many ◽  
Tragic Drama ◽  
The Relationship

John Cranko's dramatic and theatrically powerful Antigone (1959) disappeared from the ballet repertory in 1966 and this essay calls for a reappraisal and restaging of the work for 21st century audiences. Created in a post-World War II environment, and in the wake of appearances in London by the Martha Graham Company and Jerome Robbins’ Ballets USA, I point to American influences in Cranko's choreography. However, the discussion of the Greek-themed Antigone involves detailed consideration of the relationship between the ballet and the ancient dramas which inspired it, especially as the programme notes accompanying performances emphasised its Sophoclean source but failed to recognise that Cranko mainly based his ballet on an early play by Jean Racine. As Antigone derives from tragic drama, the essay investigates catharsis, one of the many principles that Aristotle delineated in the Poetics. This well-known effect is produced by Greek tragedies but the critics of the era complained about its lack in Cranko's ballet – views which I challenge. There is also an investigation of the role of Antigone, both in the play and in the ballet, and since Cranko created the role for Svetlana Beriosova, I reflect on memories of Beriosova's interpretation supported by more recent viewings of Edmée Wood's 1959 film.

The Treaty of Northampton (1290): A Scottish Charter of Liberties?

2007 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy B. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Written Expression ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Detailed Consideration ◽  
Constituent Part ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Edward I

Although little detailed consideration has been given to the Treaty of Northampton of 1290 by Scottish historians, it seems to have been implicitly accepted as the sort of treaty which might have been expected in connection with the marriage of two independent rulers at that time. This is in spite of the fact that throughout the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the traditional practice of the rulers of the Angevin and Plantagenet dominions was to rule each constituent part according to its own law and customs. This article examines the reasons why the Scots were not prepared to rely on tradition but insisted on a written promise from Edward I that Scotland would remain independent of England. It also suggests that the treaty is more than a written expression of traditional practice. It has a number of specific clauses which, it is argued, give the treaty the character of a charter of liberties. These were intended to prevent the imposition on the Scots of particular aspects of Plantagenet rule in England which burdened its subjects much more severely than the rule of Scottish kings had burdened the Scots. The Scots' wish to remain independent after the proposed union of the crowns and their struggle to maintain that independence after the death of the Maid are generally seen as manifestations of a sense of community or regnal solidarity. The terms of the Treaty of 1290 suggest that it was not just from a desire to be a separate political entity per se that the Scots fought during the so-called Wars of Independence but also because the Scots were anxious to avoid the more oppressive aspects of Plantagenet rule even before they had experience of this after Edward I's conquest of 1296.

When Is True Belief Knowledge?

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Foley
Keyword(s):  
True Belief ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Significant Aspect ◽  
Coming To Know ◽  
Contemporary Epistemology ◽  
What Matters

A woman glances at a broken clock and comes to believe it is a quarter past seven. Yet, despite the broken clock, it really does happen to be a quarter past seven. Her belief is true, but it isn't knowledge. This is a classic illustration of a central problem in epistemology: determining what knowledge requires in addition to true belief. This book finds a new solution to the problem in the observation that whenever someone has a true belief but not knowledge, there is some significant aspect of the situation about which she lacks true beliefs—something important that she doesn't quite “get.” This may seem a modest point but, as the book shows, it has the potential to reorient the theory of knowledge. Whether a true belief counts as knowledge depends on the importance of the information one does or doesn't have. This means that questions of knowledge cannot be separated from questions about human concerns and values. It also means that, contrary to what is often thought, there is no privileged way of coming to know. Knowledge is a mutt. Proper pedigree is not required. What matters is that one doesn't lack important nearby information. Challenging some of the central assumptions of contemporary epistemology, this is an original and important account of knowledge.

Operators and meaning of wave function

2016 ◽  
pp. 4039-4042
Author(s):  
Viliam Malcher
Keyword(s):  
Wave Function ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
State Vector ◽  
The State ◽  
Physical Significance ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Mechanical Description ◽  
Quantum Mechanical Description ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Theory

The interpretation problems of quantum theory are considered. In the formalism of quantum theory the possible states of a system are described by a state vector. The state vector, which will be represented as |ψ> in Dirac notation, is the most general form of the quantum mechanical description. The central problem of the interpretation of quantum theory is to explain the physical significance of the |ψ>. In this paper we have shown that one of the best way to make of interpretation of wave function is to take the wave function as an operator.

Philosophical Reduction(ism) in Meta-Language Reconstructions of Yhwh as Religious Object

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco W Gericke
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
Interpretative Approach

In Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholarship, one encounters a variety of reductive perspectives on what exactly Yahweh as religious object is assumed to be. In this article, a clarification of the research problem is followed by an introductory overview of what is currently available on this topic as is attested in the context of various interpretative methodologies and their associated meta-languages. It is argued that any attempt to describe the actual metaphysical nature and ontological status of the religious object in the jargon of a particular interpretative approach is forever prone to committing the fallacy of reductionism. Even so, given the irreducible methodological perspectivism supervening on heuristic specificity, reductive accounts as such are unavoidable. If this is correct, then it follows a fortiori that a unified theory (of everything Yahweh can be said to be) and an ideal meta-language (with which to perfectly reconstruct the religious object within second-order discourse) are a priori impossible.

On the Positivity of $\mathbf{{a}}$-Linear with Random Finitely

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Representation Theory ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Numerical Representation

Let $\rho$ be an ultra-unique, reducible topos equipped with a minimal homeomorphism. We wish to extend the results of \cite{cite:0} to trivially Cartan classes. We show that $d$ is comparable to $\mathcal{{M}}$. This leaves open the question of uniqueness. Moreover, a central problem in numerical representation theory is the description of irreducible, orthogonal, hyper-unique graphs.

The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec D. Walen
Keyword(s):  
Side Effect ◽  
Just War ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Lethal Force ◽  
Practical Level

This book operates on two levels. On the more practical level, its overarching concern is to answer the question, When is it permissible to use lethal force to defend people against threats? The deeper concern of the book, however, is to lay out and defend a new account of rights, the mechanics of claims. This framework constructs rights from the premise that rights provide a normative space in which people can pursue their own ends while treating each other as free and equal fellow-agents whose welfare morally matters. According to the mechanics of claims, rights result from first weighing competing patient-claims on an agent, then determining if the agent has a strong enough agent-claim to act contrary to the balance of patient-claims on her, and then looking to see if special claims limit her freedom. The strength of claims in this framework reflects not just the interest in play but the nature of the claims. Threats who have no right to threaten have weaker claims not to be harmed than bystanders who might be harmed as a side effect, all else equal. With this model, a central problem in just war theory can be pushed to the margins: determining when people have forfeited their rights and are liable to harm. Threats may lack a right not to be killed even if they have done nothing to forfeit it.

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