Bits and pieces: understanding information decomposition from part-whole relationships and formal logic

Partial information decomposition (PID) seeks to decompose the multivariate mutual information that a set of source variables contains about a target variable into basic pieces, the so-called ‘atoms of information’. Each atom describes a distinct way in which the sources may contain information about the target. For instance, some information may be contained uniquely in a particular source, some information may be shared by multiple sources and some information may only become accessible synergistically if multiple sources are combined. In this paper, we show that the entire theory of PID can be derived, firstly, from considerations of part-whole relationships between information atoms and mutual information terms, and secondly, based on a hierarchy of logical constraints describing how a given information atom can be accessed. In this way, the idea of a PID is developed on the basis of two of the most elementary relationships in nature: the part-whole relationship and the relation of logical implication. This unifying perspective provides insights into pressing questions in the field such as the possibility of constructing a PID based on concepts other than redundant information in the general n-sources case. Additionally, it admits of a particularly accessible exposition of PID theory.

Zygmunt Ziembiński and his Analytical Theory of Law: Formalization of Law as an Instrument to Protect its Minimal Moral Content

Zygmunt Ziembiński defined law as a system of norms of conduct distinguishable from other social norms by determined formal features. By qualifying norms as linguistic expressions he predetermined the analytical character of his entire theory of law. However, by assuming that the creator of legal norms – the rational legislator – among its methodological characteristics also includes the assumption of axiological rationality, he gave a moral dimension to his concept of law.

Constructing deterministic models for quantum mechanical systems

A sharper formulation is presented for an interpretation of quantum mechanics advocated by the author. We claim that only those quantum theories should be considered for which an ontological basis can be constructed. In terms of this basis, the entire theory can be considered as being deterministic. An example is illustrated: massless, noninteracting fermions are ontological. Subsequently, as an essential element of the deterministic interpretation, we put forward conservation laws concerning the ontological nature of a variable, and the uncertainties concerning the realization of states. Quantum mechanics can then be treated as a device that combines statistics with mechanical, deterministic laws, such that uncertainties are passed on from initial states to final states.

The Failure Theory for Isotropic Materials: Proof and Completion

This work represents the completion of the many developments in recent years on failure theory for homogeneous and isotropic materials. Presented here is the resulting failure formalism in final and technically complete form. Significant further results are also given for the verification of the failure formalism. The scope of this paper goes from the history of misguided failure theory investigations right up to the present final tested forms ready for applications. For every predicted failure level in terms of the stresses, there is an accompanying ductility level. This ranges from brittle failure up to fully ductile failure. The entire theory is calibrated by only two specified parameters (failure properties). Nothing else is needed. The seemingly interminable, actually centuries long search for the missing theory of failure has finally been brought to a resolute and successful conclusion.

Między wyobraźnią romantyczną a literacką moderną. Georg Groddeck w lustrze psychoanalizy

The aim of the present paper is to introduce the theory of a German physician and so-called “wild psychoanalyst” Georg Groddeck. During World War I, after contacting Sigmund Freud, Groddeck has started to develop his own psychoanalytic theory in his scientific as well as literary writings. In 1923 he published a novel entitled The Book of the It (Das Buch vom Es), in which he discussed and reinterpreted Freud’s theory. By introducing the category of the “It” (das Es), Groddeck aimed to elaborate on Freud’s concept of the unconscious, which he considered too restricted and reduced to what the Viennese psychoanalyst defined as the conscious and the preconscious. The author points out to the importance of the discussion between Freud and Groddeck, which began as early as in 1917 in their letters. The publication of The Book of the It coincide with Freud’s treatise The Ego and the Id (Das Ich und das Es) written the same year. The author analyzes the similarities as well as the differences between Freud’s and Groddeck’s concepts of the It (das Es). Groddeck’s theory is presented in the light of German philosophical and literary tradition. The paper addresses the problem of Groddeck modernist writing strategies, such as combining psychoanalysis with literature and with different life-writing genres which are seen as his way to create a new language in the scientific discourse of his time. The author emphasizes the importance of two main categories in Groddeck’s writings, which have animated his entire theory. One is imagination, deeply rooted in romanticism, the other is self-analysis related to the modernist understanding of autobiography. While imagination represents Groddeck’s general doubt in the objectivity of science, especially in a linear progress in medicine, self-analysis is linked to his conviction that every discourse – not only literary, but also philosophical or psychoanalytic, has an autobiographical, hence also intimate dimension.

Bentham’s Equality-Sensitive Theory of Value

Equality lies at the heart of Bentham’s theory of value, and hence at the core of his utilitarian moral and political theory.The thesis of this chapter is that a proper understanding of the foundational role of equality in Bentham’s moral and political theory will give us further insight into his distinctive theory of value. Equality was not merely an ad hoc addition to his principle of utility, undermining the coherence of the entire theory, as critics have charged. Rather, Bentham thought of equality as involved in the very meaning of the principle, as Mill put it. This equality-sensitive principle of utility draws on a person-regarding conception of value that recognizes the equal claim that each person’s well-being has on our moral attention. This conception of value that contrasts sharply with the one standardly attributed to classical utilitarians.

Silence / Signification Degree Zero: Walter Benjamin’s Anti-Aesthetic of the Body

This essay examines Walter Benjamin’s opposition against traditional aesthetics and his development of an alternative, a decidedly anti-aesthetic approach. More specifically, it focuses on how Benjamin launches a frontal attack on Idealist aesthetics in the theory of ancient tragedy expounded in the Trauerspiel book and how he develops his own alternative conception in critical delineation from it. Closely examining his engagement with Nietzsche, Hölderlin, Hegel, and Solger, the essay shows how Benjamin’s entire theory is construed as a pointed response to a long and complex discourse on tragedy. Through a reconstruction of these debates, it becomes evident that the core of Benjamin’s critique concerns the relation between universal and singular in Idealist aesthetics, spelled out in a theory of reconciliation that is directly tied to the themes of fate and sacrifice. Against this background, the essay then analyzes – drawing both on Benjamin’s reception of Franz Rosenzweig as well as the work of Giorgio Agamben – Benjamin’s notion of silence as a retreat from language and meaning, as an immersion into the body. Instead of offering an image of reconciliation, tragedy, for Benjamin, then appears as the site where bodily singularity and impotentiality fragments the totality of signification, where meaning is disrupted and reduced to degree zero.

Health Economics: Select Concepts of the Health Production Function, Risk, and Insurance

The production of health as an output of various inputs is a key concept of health care economics and a key influence on health care policy. Similarly, the notion of risk—that an outcome might not turn out as expected or hoped—underpins the entire theory of insurance. Insurance, and the benefits it can provide, cannot be understood without understanding risk, or without understanding how the features of an insurance contract transform risk for the individual, the payer, or society. The health economist, policy maker, leader, expert operator, financier, insurer, clinician of any stripe, patient or family or advocate, or other interested stakeholder must always consider the structural, clinical, and economic anatomy of health care in the context of the underlying physiology of these economic concepts. This review contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 14 references. Key Words: health economics, health policy, health production, marginal return (diminishing), utility, inputs, QALY, risk (aversion or tolerance), insurance (contract features)

Health Economics: Select Concepts of the Health Production Function, Risk, and Insurance

The production of health as an output of various inputs is a key concept of health care economics and a key influence on health care policy. Similarly, the notion of risk—that an outcome might not turn out as expected or hoped—underpins the entire theory of insurance. Insurance, and the benefits it can provide, cannot be understood without understanding risk, or without understanding how the features of an insurance contract transform risk for the individual, the payer, or society. The health economist, policy maker, leader, expert operator, financier, insurer, clinician of any stripe, patient or family or advocate, or other interested stakeholder must always consider the structural, clinical, and economic anatomy of health care in the context of the underlying physiology of these economic concepts. This review contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 14 references. Key Words: health economics, health policy, health production, marginal return (diminishing), utility, inputs, QALY, risk (aversion or tolerance), insurance (contract features)

Health Economics: Select Concepts of the Health Production Function, Risk, and Insurance

The production of health as an output of various inputs is a key concept of health care economics and a key influence on health care policy. Similarly, the notion of risk—that an outcome might not turn out as expected or hoped—underpins the entire theory of insurance. Insurance, and the benefits it can provide, cannot be understood without understanding risk, or without understanding how the features of an insurance contract transform risk for the individual, the payer, or society. The health economist, policy maker, leader, expert operator, financier, insurer, clinician of any stripe, patient or family or advocate, or other interested stakeholder must always consider the structural, clinical, and economic anatomy of health care in the context of the underlying physiology of these economic concepts. This review contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 14 references. Key Words: health economics, health policy, health production, marginal return (diminishing), utility, inputs, QALY, risk (aversion or tolerance), insurance (contract features)