Kantian Moral Agency and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

This paper discusses the philosophical issues pertaining to Kantian moral agency and artificial intelligence (AI). Here, our objective is to offer a comprehensive analysis of Kantian ethics to elucidate the non-feasibility of Kantian machines. Meanwhile, the possibility of Kantian machines seems to contend with the genuine human Kantian agency. We argue that in machine morality, ‘duty’ should be performed with ‘freedom of will’ and ‘happiness’ because Kant narrated the human tendency of evaluating our ‘natural necessity’ through ‘happiness’ as the end. Lastly, we argue that the Kantian ‘freedom of will’ and ‘faculty of choice’ do not belong to any deterministic model of ‘agency’ as these are sacrosanct systems. The conclusion narrates the non-feasibility of Kantian AI agents from the genuine Kantian ethical outset, offering a utility-based Kantian ethical performer instead.

Heraclitus and Hippocrates: the Paradigm of the Elements

The article analyses the remaining fragments and testimonies of Heraclitean philosophy and their connection with Hippocratic medicine. It is claimed that both schools belong to the same philosophical-scientific paradigm of the elements. Therefore, theoretical insights of the school of Cos might well serve explaining complicated and often difficult to interpret Heraclitean thoughts. Moreover, it is plausible that parts of Corpus Hippocraticum were written under the influence of the Heraclitean philosophy and therefore its analysis and interpretative application allows us to partially reconstruct the fragmented Heraclitean ideas into the single unified system. The article uses comparative analysis of both thinking traditions in regard to psychological, ethical, physiological, cosmological, and medical ideas. Similarities in explaining human nature are revealed. It is shown that science (medicine) and philosophy in Antiquity use the same paradigmatic utterances to describe reality. Therefore, there are many mutual interconnecting principles between early philosophy and medicine.

On Reason and the Power of Life (Tolstoy contra Spinoza)

In his search for the meaning of life, Tolstoy turned to Spinoza’s rationalist teaching about freedom, reason, morality, and religious faith. Spinoza created a philosophy where beliefs are in union with deeds, logic unites with ethics, and knowledge joins faith. According to Tolstoy, it is art that makes a synthesis of all the best attempts of the real, true philosophy. I argue that Tolstoy’s artistic method of linkage (stseplenie) was probably borrowed from Spinoza. Inspired by Spinoza’s “theorems of reason,” Tolstoy created his own “axiom of life” and elaborates on the concept of the “power of life” as a core of religious faith. Tolstoy endorsed Spinoza’s rationalistic critique of religion which helped to liberate true faith from the power of superstition and church dogmatics, but he criticised the geometric form in which Spinoza put the truths he discovered.

The Dialogue Between Believers and Atheists: the Platonic Model in the Laws

This paper examines the question concerning the right model of epistemically rational dialogue. First of all, the main, though not undisputed, principles of rational dialogue are defined according to the contemporary field of the epistemology of disagreement. It then explains why even these principles are not sufficient for making the disagreement between believers and atheists not only a rational discourse but also a fruitful dialogue. This paper defends a thesis that the latter aim can be achieved with a proper model of dialogue, which is found in Plato’s Laws – one of the first discussions between the believers and the atheists in the Western intellectual tradition. This model not only includes the contemporary principles of rational argument but also provides some new guidelines for the solution of problems that lead the believers and the atheists to the communicational dead end.

Deleuze and Guattari’s Logic of Sensation in the Context of Contemporary Art

Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of art (the logic of sensation) has been interpreted in the context of the opposition between modernism and contemporary art, and then it is either attributed only to modernism, which gives priority to the aesthetic dimension of art, or it is argued that we must see its potential to create “new connections.” These opposing views are expressed by Stephen Zepke and Simon O’Sullivan. However, Deleuze and Guattari’s artistic sensation is not a sensory perception, it is the main concept of their logic of sensation, encompassing both the sensory and the conceptual-virtual dimensions. In the article, I seek to demonstrate that Deleuze and Guattari’s artistic sensation, encompassing both of these dimensions, relates to the general context of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy and resonates with the aesthetic and semantic dimensions of contemporary art projects. Discussing Thomas Feuerstein’s installation Prometheus Delivered I demonstrate in what ways the notion of the logic of sensation expands the field of the interpretation of this work of art.

Artistic Research: A Cuckoo’s Egg in Other Bird’s Nest or an Epistemologically Justified Strategy of Research?

In the broader context of other types of research, the authors of this article seek to analyse the epistemological status of artistic research. Because of its transdisciplinary character, artistic research is interpreted ambiguously: on the one hand, it might be treated as an unjustified and illicit intervention into the scientific field, on the other hand, despite its peculiarities artistic research still might be capable of creating knowledge commensurable with the knowledge produced in other (scientific) disciplines. The major question the article seeks to answer is the following: is it possible to justify artistic research applying ready-made arguments in the philosophy of science?

Aristotle and Johnston on Hylomorphism and the Character of Objects

As M. Loux has recently reminded us, there are two basic strategies for explaining the character of particular objects, the ‘relational approach’ and the ‘constituent approach’. The prime example of a constituent approach would be Aristotelian hylomorphism. This article reveals three things. First, it gives a roadmap towards what the author considers to be the exegetically correct reconstruction of Aristotle’s hylomorphic theory. Second, it provides a presentation of the basic claims of a neo-Aristotelian hylomorphic theory, the one argued for by M. Johnston. Finally, it argues that regardless of whatever shortcomings it may have, Aristotle’s theory has an advantage over that proposed by Johnston. Unlike Johnston’s theory, it may give us a complete account of the character of a particular object.

Savęs pažinimas, savimonė ir objektyvacija

Rankraščio nuorašą, vertimą ir komentarą parengė Dalius Jonkus(Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas) Pristatome Vosyliaus Sezemano rusiško rankraščio, saugomo Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos Rankraščių skyriuje, vertimą. Užrašytas nedideliame bloknote, kuris pagamintas 1954 metais trečiame kvartale Krasnokamske. Tad galima manyti, kad rankraštis rašytas 1955 metais, dar iki grįžtant iš lagerio Taišete į Lietuvą. Rašyta rašalu ir kai kur pieštuku. Tekste analizuojama sąmonė, savimonė ir pasąmonė. Aptariamas sąmonės įkūnytumas, sąmonės emocionalumas, empatija ir intencionalus sąryšis su aplinkiniu pasauliu bei kitomis gyvomis būtybėmis. Sezemanas pažymi, kad pagrindinis sąmonės bruožas yra atvirumas ir gebėjimas praktiškai formuoti supratingą santykį su savimi, aplinka ir kitais. Laužtiniuose skliaustuose skaitytojų patogumui įterpti skyrelių pavadinimai yra vertėjo. Versta iš:VU bibliotekos Rankraščių skyriujeVosyliaus Sezemano fonde saugomo rankraščioF122-102 „Самопознание, самосознание и объективация“

The Problem of Consciousness and its Origin in Vasily Sesemann’s Manuscripts

The purpose of this article is to analyse the concept of consciousness in Vasily Sesemann’s manuscripts. Sesemann studied consciousness, describing it as an intentional experience and rejecting its naturalistic explanations. Sesemann revealed the irreducibility of life to physiological or chemical processes and at the same time rejected the dualistic opposition of spirit and matter, soul and body. In the manuscript text “Self-knowledge, self-consciousness and objectification” the philosopher explores the relationship of consciousness with self-consciousness and the subconscious, as well as various forms of objectification of consciousness. This manuscript can be attributed to a group of manuscript texts that discuss the origin of consciousness and the metaphysical relationship between matter and spirit. In the article, I will first discuss the relationship between Sesemann’s concept of consciousness and the philosophy of nature. Second, I will examine how Sesemann understands the relationship between consciousness and self-consciousness and the objectifications of consciousness. Third, I will analyze how the philosopher understands emotional intuition and subconsciousness. I argue that Sesemann’s approach is phenomenological.

An Alternative to Individualism: Relational Concept of Human in Confucian Role Ethics

The article proposes to see Confucian role ethics as a philosophical project that puts forward metaethical and metaphilosophical arguments regarding the nature of ethics and the concept of human beings, instead of concentrating on its interpretational work in explicating the nature of early Confucian ethics. Thus, a more fitting context for evaluating the core claims of role ethics is suggested, one that is comprised of different positions, coming from a wide range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds, as well as different disciplines, all of which criticize individualism or formulate a non-individualistic concept of person. Role ethics concept of person, as a totality of one’s lived roles and relations, is discussed by concentrating on the specificity of two key notions in this position, that is, “relation” and “role”. The article ends with a suggestion that the deeper and fuller investigation and exposition of normativity, as stemming from the specific and concrete role-relationships, is the most needed and promising direction of further development of role ethics.