Tolerance and the Bounds

The present note investigates the connection between nonreflexive and nontransitive logics from a bounds-theoretic perspective. What will emerge is one way in which, if we focus on the ways in which strict and tolerant acts constrain one another, nonreflexive and nontransitive notions of consequence can be seen as simply reflecting different aspects of the same underlying reality.

A day of history and hope: A critical discourse analysis of Joe Biden’s Inauguration speech

This article explores how President-elect Joe Biden used the rhetoric of political language in his inauguration speech as an attempt to showcase his policy plans as well as his political views on the American political scene. This article also looks at how each of the political messages in his inauguration speech shows the ideology and power that Joe Biden believes in. To provide comprehensive details about the elements of Joe Biden’s inauguration speech, the researchers use Norman Fairclough’s idea to view continuing social practice via the prisms of text, discourse practice, and the sociocultural practice that underpins the text, or to view the underlying reality that gave rise to the discourse

Explanations of and in Time

Various approaches to quantum gravity render spacetime an emergent phenomenon, with the existence and properties of spacetime depending on a non-spatiotemporal underlying reality. This chapter investigates the mode of dependence that is involved. I explain and defend my recent proposal to classify different kinds of dependencies in terms of the principles mediating the dependency, and apply this proposal to the emergence of spacetime. While philosophers have typically interpreted spacetime emergence as involving metaphysical grounding, I show how premises that are widely endorsed lead us to classify the emergence of spacetime in loop quantum gravity as causal in nature. I recommend spacetime functionalism as a resolution of this puzzle that vindicates the natural view of spacetime emergence as non-causal. I then explore a different approach to spacetime emergence in quantum gravity, the ‘many-instant landscape’ scenario described by Gomes, and show how it fits into the proposed framework for spacetime emergence.

Relational Quantum Mechanics and the PBR Theorem: A Peaceful Coexistence

According to Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) the wave function $$\psi$$ ψ is considered neither a concrete physical item evolving in spacetime, nor an object representing the absolute state of a certain quantum system. In this interpretative framework, $$\psi$$ ψ is defined as a computational device encoding observers’ information; hence, RQM offers a somewhat epistemic view of the wave function. This perspective seems to be at odds with the PBR theorem, a formal result excluding that wave functions represent knowledge of an underlying reality described by some ontic state. In this paper we argue that RQM is not affected by the conclusions of PBR’s argument; consequently, the alleged inconsistency can be dissolved. To do that, we will thoroughly discuss the very foundations of the PBR theorem, i.e. Harrigan and Spekkens’ categorization of ontological models, showing that their implicit assumptions about the nature of the ontic state are incompatible with the main tenets of RQM. Then, we will ask whether it is possible to derive a relational PBR-type result, answering in the negative. This conclusion shows some limitations of this theorem not yet discussed in the literature.

Two Propositions of Heilbroner (1919-2005)

<p>We present a contribution of Robert Heilbroner to classical stationary results that runs from Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Marx through neoclassical economics to the modern time. The analyses pivot on socioeconomic and historical forces. It is culled from several of his works scattered over half a century. They describe the path that capitalism took, based on underlying reality of economic relationships. Although Heilbroner does not express his thoughts mathematically, we cast some of his ideas in that terminology, because he does not avoid propositional statements, and the math we use is for heuristic purposes only.</p>

Two Propositions of Heilbroner (1919-2005)

<p>We present a contribution of Robert Heilbroner to classical stationary results that runs from Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Marx through neoclassical economics to the modern time. The analyses pivot on socioeconomic and historical forces. It is culled from several of his works scattered over half a century. They describe the path that capitalism took, based on underlying reality of economic relationships. Although Heilbroner does not express his thoughts mathematically, we cast some of his ideas in that terminology, because he does not avoid propositional statements, and the math we use is for heuristic purposes only.</p>

The Theology of the Holy Eucharist and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation

Holy Communion is one of the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church. With Baptism and Confirmation, they constitute the sacraments of Initiation. Similarly, with the Word of God, they constitute the two indispensable pillars upon which the Church is built. It is the “fount and apex of the whole Christian life” (LG 11). It is named Holy Eucharist because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. It recalls God’s work of creation, redemption, and sanctification. The Eucharistic elements, bread and wine become, by the prayer of consecration and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, Christ's Body and Blood through an act appropriately known as transubstantiation. The term emphasizes the conversion of the total substance of bread and wine into the entire substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. When the bread and wine are consecrated at Mass, they are no longer bread and wine; they have become instead the Most Precious Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the words of Christ. The empirical appearances and attributes remain the same, but the underlying reality changes. Therefore, the doctrine of transubstantiation teaches without ambiguity that in the Holy Communion, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. How is this understood and what is its implication theologically? In an attempt to elucidate this problem, this work seeks first to highlight the theology of the Holy Eucharist within the context of the ecclesiology of Communion, and second, through some theological themes: sacred memorial and sacrificial banquet; eschatological meal. The third and final part treats the theme of real presence under the rubrics of Transubstantiation. Keywords: Transubstantiation, Eschatological Meal, Memorial, Real Presence, Communion, Eucharistic conversion.

When the Real Ceases to Exist: Reading the Realm of the Hyperreal in Unni R.’s “Ozhivudivasathe Kali”

In the postmodern condition a sign does not indicate an underlying reality but other signs and thus the whole system becomes ‘simulation’. Jean Baudrillard the French sociologist, cultural critic and postmodern theorist, in his 1981 work Simulacra and Simulations discusses about what is usually known as ‘the loss of the real’. In the contemporary world the distinction between reality and illusion, surface and depth are completely lost. The media mediated world of reality that we perceive today is all a hyperreality. We confront illusions all around us and without which we feel unable to live. What we take in for granted is something that is created for the purpose of to be perceived. All these made up realities become texts as well. In an age of mass production, mass consumption and mass communication the terms ‘hyperreality’ and ‘simulation’ signify the virtual or unreal nature of the present day culture. Baudrillard’s philosophy centers on these concepts. It is a basic part of human existence to simulate, to imagine scenarios and possible outcomes.

The transdiagnostic revolution in neurodevelopmental disorders

Practitioners frequently use diagnostic criteria to identify children with neurodevelopmental disorders and to guide intervention decisions. These criteria also provide the organising framework for the research of those disorders. Study design, recruitment, analysis and theory are largely built on the assumption that diagnostic criteria reflect an underlying reality. However, there is growing concern that this assumption may not be a valid and that an alternative transdiagnostic approach may better serve our understanding of this large heterogeneous population of young people. This review draws on important developments over the past decade that have set the stage for much-needed breakthroughs in understanding neurodevelopmental disorders. We evaluate contemporary approaches to study design and recruitment, review the use of data-driven methods to characterise cognition, behaviour and neurobiology, and consider what alternative transdiagnostic models could mean for children and families. This review concludes that an overreliance on ill-fitting diagnostic criteria is impeding progress towards identifying the barriers that children encounter, understanding underpinning mechanisms, and finding the best route to supporting them.