Rational Reasons, Counterfactual Statements and “Impossible Worlds” in the Philosophical Justifications of Thought Experiments

In his theory of natural laws David Lewis rejects the authenticity of impossible worlds on the grounds that the contradiction contained within his modifier "in (the world) w" is tantamount to a contradiction in the whole theory, which seems unacceptable. At the same time, in philosophical discourse very often researchers use counterfactual situations and thought experiments with impossible events and objects. There is a need to apply the theory of worlds to genuine, concrete, but impossible worlds. One way to do this is to reject Lewis's classical negation on the grounds that it leads to problems of completeness and inconsistency inside the worlds. The proposed extension for impossibility is compatible with Lewis's extensional metaphysics, although it leads to some loss for description completeness in semantics.

REVISITING CHOISE OF A STRATEGY FOR RUSSIAN LEGAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT

Автор, принимая во внимание выделяемые философами древности необходимые условия (факторы) государственного самосохранения, отмечает, что самой важной целью государства является не его собственное сохранение, а сохранение его главного ресурса - человека. Поскольку право - это регулятор (по определению) и индикатор происходящих в государстве событий, веяний (по В. О. Ключевскому), автор рассматривает один из самых тревожащих юридическое сообщество вопросов законодательной (прежде всего конституционной) перестройки - вопрос о наделении роботов правосубъектностью, что приравнивает статус робота к статусу человека. В связи с этим рассмотрены следующие вопросы: 1) необходимость стабильности для жизни людей, а следовательно, для жизни государства; 2) закон человеческого вырождения; 3) нахождение государственных законов внутри природных законов. Сделаны выводы, которые необходимо принять при разработке стратегии российского правового пространства. Знание и сохранение внутреннего равновесия (природной гармонии) - это необходимость, без которой не выживет человечество в целом. The author takes into account the warnings of ancient philosophers to deduce the necessary conditions (factors) of state self-preservation. But the most important goal of the state is not only its own preservation, but the preservation of its main resource - man. Since law is a regulator (by definition) and an indicator of events and trends taking place in the state (according to V. O. Klyuchevsky), the author considers one of the most disturbing symptoms of legislative (primarily constitutional) restructuring for the legal community - the issue of granting robots legal personality, which equates the status of a robot with the status of a person. In this connection, the following issues were considered: 1) the need for stability for the life of people, and therefore for the life of the state; 2) the law of human degeneration; 3) the finding of state laws within natural laws. The conclusions that need to be taken when developing a strategy for the Russian legal space are drawn. Knowledge and preservation of internal balance (natural harmony) is a necessity, without which humanity as a whole will not survive.

Nature in Progress – Tocqueville and the Transformation of Natural Law

Hayden White famously claimed that Tocqueville’s emplotment of history was „tragic” by genre, and his ideological implications were „radical”. The aim of this paper is to argue that this interpretation is correct, but that our arguments will be based on a subject entirely ignored by White: Tocqueville’s meagre scarce remarks on nature and natural law. According to their commonsensical definition, natural laws must „stem from God, nature, or reason”, but this relationship in Tocqueville is highly problematic. As I intend to prove, Tocqueville probably did acknowledge the existence of natural laws, and even intended to describe their resulting obligations (as in the case of what virtuous deeds are, or what humanity is etc.), but the way he defined nature herself suggests that the precise content of such obligations cannot be settled easily. Hence, according to our claim, a disturbing tension can be observed between the way Tocqueville attempted to describe certain natural laws, and the way he defined natural laws in general. Furthermore, this tension is analogous with the aforementioned friction between the author’s personal convictions and his scientific conclusions.

The Singularity Myth

Ray Kurzweil’s book "The Singularity Is Near" constitutes a most exhaustive compilation of “singularitarian” arguments and one of the most serious publications on the subject, but the work lacks scientific rigor. Kurzweil and the singularitarians are indulging in somesort of para-science, which differs from real science in matters of methodology and rigor. They tend to overlook rigorous scientific practices such as focusing on natural laws,giving precise definitions, verifying the data meticulously, and estimating theuncertainties. I list a number of scientific wrongdoings in this book. I try to rectify some of them in order to properly present my critique of the Singularity concept.

Themis and Dike – Justice in Greek Myth and Tradition

The understanding of law in Ancient Greece was based on the religious interpretations of human nature and natural laws. Two Greek goddesses were representatives of justice and fairness. In the ancient sources Themis is presented as a goddess and prophetess, one of the Titans and the daughter of Gea and Uranus. She is a symbol of divine order, justice, natural law and good customs. Dike, the daughter of Themis, is the goddess of justice and truth, the protector of rights and courts of justice, the arbiter, the symbol of honor, the goddess of revenge and punishment. In early Greek culture and poetry, the terms themis and dike represented justice in the meaning of cosmic order, natural law, and legality. The paper analyses the Hellenic notions of justice, fairness and legality embodied in the phenomena of themis and dike. Nomos (law) is just only if it is in harmony with themis, and law is valid only if it is just. The paper presents the doctrines of Hellenic writers, poets and playwrights on justice and law, with special reference to the influence of mythology on Hellenic law. Publius Ovidius Naso’s work „Metamorphosis”, which speaks about Themis’ role in the creation of the world and the salvation of the human race is one of the greatest sources about this goddess. In Homer’s „Iliad” and „Odyssey”, epics that sing of the heroic spirit, justice is shown in the motives, intentions and behavior of the participants in the event, mostly heroes. The poet Hesiod, famous for the poems „Theogony” and „Works and Days”, moves away from the heroic virtues of people and portrays the gods as bearers of moral power and guardians of justice. In the light of legislative reforms, Solon’s dike represents the progress and well-being of society through economic reforms, which is why justice and injustice refer only to legal and illegal acquisition of wealth and its effect on the community. Aeschylus’ „Oresteia” shows the principle of justice based on talion, according to which the punishment has to be identical with the committed crime. One of the greatest Ancient Greek playwrights, Sophocles, based his play „Antigone” on the conflict between the laws of men and the laws of gods. According to Herodotus, the greatest Ancient Greek historian, the actions of the gods govern human destinies and historical events. The idea of justice in Ancient Greece was all throughout its transformation based of the universial concept of natural balance.

LIBERATION AND EMPOWERMENT OR DEBAUCHERY AND EMBOLDENED, IN ANTHROPOECOLOGY

From first writings, a suspiciousness of women is shown towards where the relationship between woman and man (Eve and Adam) is directed. A great historian said: «as soon as women begin to be equal, they will be superior», [Tito Livio, 59 BC. — 17 AD.]. And it is precisely there the error, woman and man, are not equal, each one has its qualities to complement each other, but unfortunately, they have been used to compete for a power that no one can maintain, but it destroys relationships and societies. These sometimes pendular behaviors are contextualized from point of view of Anthropoecology. Feminism is one more current of many there are; Although its purposes are fair and reasonable, it must take care that liberation do not turn into debauchery and empowerment into emboldening, and eliminating millions of femicides that are practiced annually by abortions. Perhaps due to paradigms of interest or because we have become mentally ill, human being has not taken on the task of identifying and defining the laws of nature that should govern their behavior. Animals instinctively only take what is necessary to live, they do not accumulate. Human being because of his greed, takes more than necessary and accumulates, without obeying natural laws. Human being due to his intellectual qualities, is the most destructive and libertine animal. Mistakenly, a competition has been created; influenced by some intellectuals and thinkers, where ideas of all kinds of competition originate, unfortunately in a not very positive way, which are disseminated by the media. Most people say «in this troubled world», excluding themselves from their responsibility for what happen. Way in which concepts are exposed is with intention of questioning, not attacking, to induce a reflection and a reaction on our wrong attitude, evidenced by undeniable problems that we have as a society and damage caused to environment. Only a positive formative education will correct damage that human beings have inflicted on themselves for millennia.

All Production Is Reproduction

The aim of this article is to probe the connections between two key fields of knowledge of the French Enlightenment: political economy and natural history. It does so by analyzing the uses of reproduction, a term that eighteenth-century political economists imported from natural history. While historians of knowledge have demonstrated the crucial role played by political and economic concerns in the practices of naturalists, intent on improving their nation, the significance of natural history for the development of political economy has not been sufficiently analyzed. Studying side-by-side the works of the period’s most famous school of political economy, the physiocrats, and one of its most influential naturalists, the Comte de Buffon, the paper demonstrates that the physiocrats adopted not only the term from natural historians, but also the conceptual baggage that accompanied it. Buffon radically reconceptualized the reproduction of living beings as a process governed by natural laws and not divine intervention. As the paper argues, the physiocrats’ political-economic system was based on precisely such a conception of the natural laws of reproduction, which they extended from the world of the living to the entire economy of the nation.

Fundamental Code of Natural Laws in Ifá́ ́́ Divination as Agents of Morality for Good Governance in Nigeria

Ifá is the natural wisdom and knowledge concerning all life activities divinely revealed to Ọ́ rúnmìlà by Olódùmarè, God in Yorùbá belief. It is the living foundation and custodian of the deity, moral, economic, language, religion, healing arts, tradition, culture and metaphysical orders. However, the concern of this paper is on the moral contents of the natural laws in Ifá corpus. Basically, there are two fundamental codes of natural laws in Ifá divination under which all other laws in Ifá exist. The first law enjoined every human being to acknowledge Olódùmarè as the Supreme Being and father of the universe who created all things. While the second law says “do unto others what you want them do unto you.” However, it is quite unfortunate that, today, these laws that linked human relationships with the Supreme Being and the dos and don’ts of the divinities and those that hold the society together in harmonious relationships are no longer in proper use. This is evident in the lack of fear for the Creator, mismanagement of public funds, embezzlement and political killings, to mention a few. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the natural laws in Ifá and suggest how it can help sustain our fragile democracy as it did in the traditional society in the past for the sake of our future. The paper is premised on Matthew Flanagan’s theory of divine commands which asserts that what is moral is determined by what God commands, and to be moral is to follow his commands.

LIBERATION AND EMPOWERMENT OR DEBAUCHERY AND EMBOLDENED, IN ANTHROPOECOLOGY

From first writings, a suspiciousness of women is shown towards where the relationship between woman and man (Eve and Adam) is directed. A great historian said: «as soon as women begin to be equal, they will be superior», [Tito Livio, 59 BC. — 17 AD.]. And it is precisely there the error, woman and man, are not equal, each one has its qualities to complement each other, but unfortunately, they have been used to compete for a power that no one can maintain, but it destroys relationships and societies. These sometimes pendular behaviors are contextualized from point of view of Anthropoecology. Feminism is one more current of many there are; Although its purposes are fair and reasonable, it must take care that liberation do not turn into debauchery and empowerment into emboldening, and eliminating millions of femicides that are practiced annually by abortions. Perhaps due to paradigms of interest or because we have become mentally ill, human being has not taken on the task of identifying and defining the laws of nature that should govern their behavior. Animals instinctively only take what is necessary to live, they do not accumulate. Human being because of his greed, takes more than necessary and accumulates, without obeying natural laws. Human being due to his intellectual qualities, is the most destructive and libertine animal. Mistakenly, a competition has been created; influenced by some intellectuals and thinkers, where ideas of all kinds of competition originate, unfortunately in a not very positive way, which are disseminated by the media. Most people say «in this troubled world», excluding themselves from their responsibility for what happen. Way in which concepts are exposed is with intention of questioning, not attacking, to induce a reflection and a reaction on our wrong attitude, evidenced by undeniable problems that we have as a society and damage caused to environment. Only a positive formative education will correct damage that human beings have inflicted on themselves for millennia.

Synesthetic Innerscapes

When we speak of an “inner world,” we are trying to capture something that is to some extent more than metaphorical. We allude to the phenomenologically rich (and worldlike) sensation of being situated in the perspectival unfolding of spatiotemporal relations with inner sounds, images, past or imagined experiential settings. On the other hand, our inner experience has an elusive, underdetermined, and vaporous quality (Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel 2007). How can we build on the similarities between outer and inner worlds so that the latter can be enactively navigated as the former? This chapter argues that narrative, as a mean of extended introspection (see chapter 1.3), can have a role in stabilizing perceptual elements in inner experience into a worldlike ecology. The scope of this chapter is to provide a theory of Beckett’s narrative terraforming engineering, which transforms the mind into a perceptual, embodied, multisensory ecology or what the author terms an enactive innerscape. Once transformed into a world, however, Beckett’s mental kingdom acquires its own natural laws, such as the cross-sensory synaesthetic activation of sounds and voices. A reading of Beckett’s innerscapes as the result of introspective modeling terraforming might cast some additional light on this perceptual principle. The chapter begins by introducing the scientific debate about the use of spatial or geographical mind metaphors: on their possibilities or limitations in capturing the nature of mind and inner experience.