Transdiscourse as a Concept of Digital Worlds

The paper presents the current transformations of media culture in the conditions of crucial digitalization of society. Everyday life is fundamentally mediatized and this process is beyond the control and understanding, both by an individual, and by the professional community and society as a whole. Rather, we observe a general disturbing sense of violation of the usual boundaries of definitions and norms. In response to the crisis of comprehension and understanding, philosophy of language and communication turns back to the idea of discursivity of human civilization and proposes to adapt and rethink the concept of possible worlds and its descriptions in the aim to renew social strategies and communications. The increasing demand for methodological support of communication activities indicates the growing significance of cabinet philosophy, in particular philosophy of language and communication. This strategy of the scientific approach will allow us to build a research relevant to the subject-transdisciplinary. Based on an analysis of history of ideas and modern Russian methodology of transdisciplinarity, the authors put forward a hypothesis in terms of the philosophy of language on the development of digital mediated discourse in a transdimensional unity and the generation of different discourses.

Revealing the counterfactuals: molinism, stubbornness, and deception

This paper argues that the possibility of revealing counterfactuals of creaturely freedom to agents in possible worlds forming part of God’s natural knowledge poses a new problem for Molinism. This problem best comes to light when considering the phenomenon of stubbornness, i.e., the conscious refusal of fulfilling the providential plan revealed to and intended for us by another agent. The reason why this problem has gone unnoticed is that the usual instances of prophecy dealt with by Molinists (especially the story of Peter’s denial) are highly specific cases. These cases are special for three reasons: (1) because the content of the revelations does not include the relevant counterfactuals of creaturely freedom, (2) because the specific revelation plays no causal role in the immediate circumstances of the action that the agent is performing, and (3) because the agent is not intent on consciously refusing the providential plan intended by the relevant counterfactual. I explore possible worlds where one or more of these three conditions do not obtain and demonstrate the consequences these possible worlds have for Molinists.

Fabula Nova Obscura Est: Possible Worlds in “Final Fantasy XIII-2”

Modern narratological researches are quite well developed and has long gone beyond the purely philological field. One of the applications of narratology is the study of computer games, the most relevant new medium. This paper is devoted to the issue of unusual narrative strategies used in games on the example of Final Fantasy XIII-2. The analysis is conducted via the possible-worlds method, which is currently in demand in modern humanities, but it is less known in Russia. The aim of the research is to determine the function of possible worlds existing in Final Fantasy XIII-2 for a better understanding of the game design. In the course of the work, the author examines the internal structure of the game world with the help of the theory of possible worlds, analyzes the narrative strategy, and makes a game scheme of possible worlds with accessibility links which let to see the deep internal structure of the narrative game world. In conclusion, it is clear that Final Fantasy XIII-2 contains a non-trivial narrative structure with multiple branches that is smoothed out by the gameplay and cinematic experience of the player, although such a composition of possible worlds represents a complex scheme of the game's macrocosm which demands a close attention to the narrative. The article is intended for various humanitarian specialists interested in the study of computer games.

Introduction

This introductory chapter explains the aim of the book: the analysis of real possibilities as anchored in a spatio-temporal world that is rudimentarily relativistic. It contrasts real possibilities to other possibilities discussed in the philosophical literature. It explains how branching is related to the possible worlds framework made popular, e.g., by David Lewis’s works. It offers philosophical comments on crucial notions and assumptions of BST, such as events, histories, and temporal directedness. It ends up with some hints about how the BST project is situated in modal metaphysics, touching themes such as the concept of actuality or the distinction between possibilities as “alternatives to” vs. “alternatives for”.

Crossworld Predication in Natural Language

Некоторые предложения естественного языка, такие как «Джон мог быть выше, чем Мэри, как она есть», не допускают адекватного анализа в терминах стандартной семантики возможных миров, поскольку содержат кросс-мировую предикацию, которая в стандартной семантике не отображается. Для логического анализа такого рода предложений автором была разработана (и представлена в других публикациях) логика для кросс-мировой предикации (СРL). В статье приведен ряд примеров, демонстрирующих широкую распространенность феномена кросс-мировой предикации в естественном языке и описаны главные особенности семантики СРL (кросс-мировая интерпретация предикатов и использование частичных функций от переменных к возможным мирам в истинностной оценке формул), а также охарактеризована специфика синтаксиса СРL и онтологии, лежащей в ее основе. Some sentences of natural language cannot be adequately analyzed in terms of standard possible world semantics because they involve cross-world predication that cannot be reflected by means of standard semantics. An instance is ‘John might be taller than Mary is’. In some other papers the author proposed a logic for cross-word predication (CPL) that can be used to logically analyze sentences of this sort. In this paper, some examples are adduced that show that cross-world predication is highly widespread in natural language. The main features of the semantics of CPL are described, namely cross-world interpretation of predicates, and using partial functions from variables to possible worlds in the evaluation of formulas. Finally, the specificity of the syntax of CPL, and the ontology behind the semantics of CPL is characterized.

A STEP BACKWARDS IN CROSS-WORLD PREDICATION

В реплике выдвигается два возражения против синтактико-семантической архитектуры логики межмировой предикации Е. В. Борисова. Одно состоит в том, что в языке Борисова невозможно адекватно формализовать контингентные пропозиции с нульместными предикатами (типа ‘Светает’), поскольку число аргументов-миров у предиката привязано к числу аргументов-индивидов. Второе основано на избыточности вводимой Борисовым VP-функции, сопоставляющей индивидам возможные миры, для интерпретации термов даже с учётом межмировой предикации. The note contains two objections to the syntactic and semantic architecture of Borisov’s logic for cross-world predication. First, I point out that Borisov’s language is unable adequately to formalise contingent propositions with zero-place predicate (e.g. ‘It is raining’) due to the inflexible connection between the number of world arguments of a predicate and the number of its individual arguments. Second, I argue that Borisov’s VP-functions, whose job is to map individuals to possible worlds where they are to be considered, are redundant even if our goal is to handle cross-world predication.

ANTICRITERIALISM AND FUZZINESS OF WORLDS. CONCERNING EVGENY BORISOV’S CROSS-WORLD SEMANTICS

Рассматриваются главным образом две проблемы, решение которых может быть особенно важным для кросс-мировой семантики: антикритериализм (представление о том, что идентичность не может до конца определяться какими бы то ни было критериями) и нечёткость миров (возможные миры, границы между которыми нечёткие). Эти проблемы важны, в частности, для таких приложений кросс-мировой семантики, как логика образований непрямых значений в естественном языке и логика нарратива. The study is focused on two problems related to cross-world semantics: anticriterialism (the idea that identity cannot be defined by any criteria whatsoever) and fuzziness of possible worlds (possible world semantics where the worlds are fuzzy). These two problems are important, in particular, for the logic of indirect meanings in natural language and the logic of narrative.

Posybilizm metafzyczny w filmie i serialu najnowszym

The article focuses on the reading of Waldemar Frąc’s film theory in the context of the newest film examples. In the first part, the author presents the most important features of the “possible cinema” and expands it with a philosophical possible worlds theory, and also gives the context of mind-game films. In the second part, the author proposes an interpretation of two films: Annihilation and Arrival, and the Dark series in the face of the presented theoretical solutions. The main point of the analysis is to show how the worlds presented in the given films exist, how the concept of possibility/the possible world is manifested, and what changes occur at the level of the film narrative itself. Interpretation of the film examples leads the author to the conclusion that metaphysical possibilism in the film and series reveals not only ontological themes, but also has significant intercultural value and moves existential reflection.

“Possible Worlds” and the Meanings of F. Dostoevsky's Providence in the Messianic Receptions of the ХХth Century

The article analyzes the specifics of the receptive impact of the artistic Messianic concept of F. Dostoevsky, which influences providential contexts in the cultural philosophy of the ХХth century. The possibility to identify the features of the artistic embodiment of the Russian Messianic problems in cultural philosophy and literature of the ХХth century determines the relevance of this study. The analysis of the strategy of modeling possible worlds in Dostoevskys work, which referentially determines the development of Russian utopian / dystopian providence, determines the novelty of the study. The concepts of the Christological axiosphere, which reflects Dostoevsky's Messianic concept, determine the most important coordinates of the providential receptive trends of the ХХth century. They are objects of analysis in the article. It is proved that the semiotics of messianic motifs in Russian literature of the XXth century is connected, first of all, with the Abrahamic religious context, which is built into the most complex providential concept of the anthropological Christology of F. Dostoevsky. According to the principles of fractal logic, the writer generates the Abrahamic canon in the key messianic world-modeling metametaphors. Dostoevsky's messianic pretext is referentially manifested in Russian literature of the twentieth century - in the work of Russian Symbolists, who understand the Messiah as a divine-existential personality, in the works of writers of the late XXth century, who interprete the messiah as a collective personality - a substitutionary sacrifice. In our opinion, the chiliastic aspiration of messianic Christology and anthropology is also connected with the influence of Dostoevsky. However, we should talk about the dissipative variability of messianic concepts due to the contextual reference of messianic ideas of eastern origin, in particular, the Zoroastrian, Sufi and Islamic contexts are found. The artistic idea of messianism in Russian literature of the XXth century can also be considered as a semiotic sign system that reveals historiosophical and socio-political meanings, modeling the tendencies of anthropologization and ontologization of the literary process.