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36585.187616
I don’t use ChatGPT much, but while looking something up on Google around 2am this morning, I got one of those pop-ups nudging me to try a paid plan of ChatGPT. I figured maybe it would let me do more with the artwork I do, so I clicked. …
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39855.18772
It is sometimes claimed that arbitrary mereological fusions and plural quantification are a metaphysical free lunch, just a new way of talking without any deep philosophical (or at least metaphysical) commitments. …
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44956.187735
This paper explores the theme of human limitedness and the virtues in David McPherson’s The Virtues of Limits. I survey some of the main themes of his discussion— including kinds of human limits and the idea of “limiting-virtues”—and indicate salient themes in Buddhist and classical Chinese philosophical traditions. I then suggest that McPherson is too quick to dismiss forms of moral quietism and that his discussion of our limitedness rests on a latent pessimism worthy of further articulation.
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45119.187746
The (dis)continuism debate in the philosophy of memory revolves around the question of whether memory and imagination belong to the same natural kind. Continuism, on the one hand, defends that they belong to the same natural kind. Discontinuism, on the other hand, defends that they do not belong to the same natural kind. By adopting a minimal notion of natural kind, one can recognize that there are different legitimate ways of sorting kinds, which lead to different positions in the debate. In this paper, I interpret continuism as a mechanistic thesis, according to which memory and imagination belong to the same natural kind because they are underpinned by the same constitutive mechanism. I clarify the implications of this thesis and show that most of the discontinuist attacks on continuism do not constitute a challenge to the mechanistic thesis. I also present a possible challenge to mechanistic continuism. This suggests that there may be multiple (dis)continuism debates. Keywords: Continuism. Discontinuism. Natural kinds. Mechanism. Episodic Memory. Episodic Imagination.
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45144.187766
Empiricists following Poincaré have argued that spacetime geometry can be freely chosen by convention, while adjusting unobservable structure so as to maintain empirical adequacy. In this article, I first strengthen a no-go result of Weatherall and Manchak against the conventionality of geometry, and then argue that any remaining conventionality arises from scientific incompleteness. To illustrate, I discuss a new kind of conventionality that is available in the presence of higher spatial dimensions, and illustrate how the incompleteness in such models can be resolved by introducing new physical theories like Kaluza-Klein theory. Conventional choices of this kind may provide a fruitful starting point in the search for new science, but if successful would eliminate the conventionalist alternatives.
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99975.187776
Free choice sequences play a key role in the Brouwerian continuum. Using recent modal analysis of potential infinity, we can make sense of free choice sequences as potentially infinite sequences of natural numbers without adopting Brouwer’s distinctive idealistic metaphysics. This provides classicists with a means to make sense of intuitionistic ideas from their own classical perspective. I develop a modal-potentialist theory of real numbers that suffices to capture the most distinctive features of intuitionistic analysis, such as Brouwer’s continuity theorem, the existence of a sequence that is monotone, bounded, and non-convergent, and the inability to decompose the continuum non-trivially.
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102776.18779
The notion of malfunction is critical to biological explanation. It provides a test-bed for the normative character of functional attribution. Theories of biological functioning must permit traits to operate but, at the same time, be judged as malfunctioning (in some naturalized, non-arbitrary sense). Whereas malfunctioning has attracted most attention and discussion in evolutionary etiological approaches, systemic and organizational ones have been less discussed. The most influential of the organizational approaches (by Saborido, Moreno and Mossio) takes a dual-order approach to malfunctions, as a set of functions that fit first-order constitutive norms but fail to obey second-order regulatory ones. We argue that this conception is unnecessarily complicated (malfunctions do not need to arise as a result of two conflicting orders of norms) and too narrow (it excludes canonical cases of malfunctioning). We provide an alternative organizational account grounded on viability theory. The dynamics of the traits that constitute an organism define the normative field of its viability space: sugar must be replaced at certain rate, blood must be pumped at a certain pace, etc. A trait operates normatively when its effects on the viability space correlate positively with the normative field.
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102794.187802
Theories of consciousness are abundant, yet few directly address the structural conditions necessary for subjectivity itself. This paper defends and develops the QBist constraint: the proposal that any conscious system must implement a first-person, self-updating inferential architecture. Inspired by Quantum Bayesianism (QBism), this constraint specifies that subjectivity arises only in systems capable of self-referential probabilistic updating from an internal perspective. The QBist constraint is not offered as a process theory, but as a metatheoretical adequacy condition: a structural requirement which candidate theories of consciousness must satisfy if they are to explain not merely behaviour or information processing, but genuine subjectivity. I assess five influential frameworks — the Free Energy Principle (FEP), Predictive Processing (PP), Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Global Workspace Theory (GWT), and Higher-Order Thought (HOT) theory — and consider how each fares when interpreted through the lens of this constraint. I argue that the QBist constraint functions as a litmus test for process theories, forcing a shift in focus: from explaining cognitive capacities to specifying how an architecture might realize first-personal belief updating as a structural feature.
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130248.187812
We draw on value theory in social psychology to conceptualize the range of motives that can influence researchers’ attitudes, decisions, and actions. To conceptualize academic research values, we integrate theoretical insights from the literature on personal, work, and scientific work values, as well as the outcome of interviews and a survey among 255 participants about values relating to academic research. Finally, we propose a total of 246 academic research value items spread over 11 dimensions and 34 sub-themes. We relate our conceptualization and proposed items to existing work and provide recommendations for future scale development. Gaining a better understanding of researchers’ different values can improve careers in science, attract a more diverse range of people to enter science, and elucidate some of the mechanisms that lead to both exemplary and questionable scientific practices.
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170322.187822
Leftist Students and Faculty: We’d sooner burn universities to the ground than allow them to remain safe for the hated Zionist Jews, the baby-killing demons of the earth. We’ wi’ll disrupt their classes, bar them from student activities, smash their Hillel centers, take over campus buildings and quads, and chant for Hezbollah and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to eradicate them like vermin. …
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260883.187831
1. You can make your child learn the cello, and refuse to serve them candy for breakfast. Parents have these, and other, rights. What is the source, and extent, of these rights? As for source, the welfare of the child is a natural answer: in general and on average, granting parents certain rights is in the best interest of children. …
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275776.18784
I argue that chatbots create a peculiar new kind of responsibility gap, which I call the “speech act responsibility gap”. Unlike the responsibility gaps commonly discussed in the context of self-driving cars and autonomous weapons, speech act responsibility gaps arise from the fact that paradigmatic speech acts like assertions (statements), promises or orders always generate linguistic commitments and entitlements. Unlike more familiar kinds of responsibility gaps, speech act responsibility gaps are inherently interpersonal and directed. I first argue that currently dominant treatments of chatbot speech acts as proxy agents cannot bridge these gaps. I also discuss why current arguments against the existence of responsibility gaps don’t apply in the case of chatbots. Instead, responsibility appears to be best attributed to the chatbot itself. However, this poses a dilemma. Either these machines don’t speak (we are fundamentally mistaken about their output), or we need to engineer (broaden) our notion of responsibility.
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304176.18785
Mexican existentialism grows out of the encounter, engagement, and
appropriation with French and German existentialist philosophies in
Mexico mid-way through the twentieth-century. Key players in this
tradition were José Gaos (1900–1969), Antonio Caso
(1883–1946), and, especially, el grupo Hiperión
(the Hyperion Group). Members of Hyperion, but particularly Emilio
Uranga (1921–1988), Leopoldo Zea (1912–2004), Jorge
Portilla (1918–1963), and Luis Villoro (1922–2014),
focused their efforts on existential reinterpretations of that
which is Mexican (“lo mexicano” or Mexicanness), a
focus that lends this tradition its historical and conceptual
uniqueness and importance.
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312115.187859
"Pirate" training of generative AI is fair use and in the public interest
Property is essentially coercive: property rights exclude others from use of the “owned” good. But there are obvious reasons why property is nonetheless a socially valuable institution (especially for “rival” goods, like a sandwich, that cannot be shared without loss). …
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350342.187868
Sunwin chính chủ sở hữu bộ core game cùng hệ thống chăm sóc khách hàng vô địch. Sunwin hiện nay giả mạo rất nhiều anh em chú ý check kĩ uy tín đường link để đảm bảo an toàn và trải nghiệm game đỉnh cao duy nhất. …
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350342.187877
Sunwin chính chủ sở hữu bộ core game cùng hệ thống chăm sóc khách hàng vô địch. Sunwin hiện nay giả mạo rất nhiều anh em chú ý check kĩ uy tín đường link để đảm bảo an toàn và trải nghiệm game đỉnh cao duy nhất. …
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391134.187886
Hannah Rubin, Mike D. Schneider, Remco Heesen, Alejandro Bortolus, Emelda E. Chukwu, Chad L. Hewitt, Ricardo Kaufer, Veli Mitova, Anne Schwenkenbecher, Evangelina Schwindt, Temitope O. Sogbanmu, Helena Slanickova, Katie Woolaston
Knowledge brokers, usually conceptualized as passive intermediaries between scientists and policymakers in evidence-based policymaking, are understudied in philosophy of science. Here, we challenge that usual conceptualization. As agents in their own right, knowledge brokers have their own goals and incentives, which complicate the effects of their presence at the science-policy interface. We illustrate this in an agent-based model and suggest several avenues for further exploration of the role of knowledge brokers in evidence-based policy.
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391152.187897
Philosophers of mind and philosophers of science have markedly different views on the relationship between explanation and understanding. Reflecting on these differences highlights two ways in which explaining consciousness might be uniquely difficult. First, scientific theories may fail to provide a psychologically satisfying sense of understanding—consciousness might still seem mysterious even after we develop a scientific theory of it. Second, our limited epistemic access to consciousness may make it difficult to adjudicate between competing theories. Of course, both challenges may apply. While the first has received extensive philosophical attention, in this paper I aim to draw greater attention to the second. In consciousness science, the two standard methods for advancing understanding—theory testing and refining measurement procedures through epistemic iteration—face serious challenges.
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393874.18791
Assume Peano Arithmetic (PA) is consistent. Then it can’t prove its own consistency. Thus, there is a model M of PA according to which PA is inconsistent, and hence, according M, there is a proof of a contradiction from a finite set of axioms of PA. …
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448819.187919
One Approach to the Necessary Conditions of Free Will Logical Paradox and the Essential Unpredictability of Physical Agents Even today, there is no precise definition of free will – only mere hypotheses and intuitions. This is why this paper will approach the question of free will from a negative perspective, depicting a scenario in which free will seemingly exists. Subsequently, it will attempt to refute this scenario (as a necessary condition for free will). The absence of free will might seem absolute if scientific determinism holds true. Therefore, the goal of the study is to present a logical argument (paradox) that demonstrates the impossibility of an omniscient (P) predictor (scientific determinism), highlighting its inherent self-contradiction. This paradox reveals that the prediction (P = C) by a (P) physical agent of itself is objectively impossible. In other words, even a fully deterministic agent in a deterministic universe cannot predict its own future state, not even in a Platonic sense.
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448836.18793
A nested interferometer experiment by Danan et al (2013) is discussed and some ontological implications explored, primarily in the context of time-symmetric interpretations of quantum theory. It is pointed out that photons are supported by all components of their wavefunctions, not selectively truncated "first order" portions of them, and that figures representing both a gap in the photon's path and signals from the cut-off path are incorrect. It is also noted that the Transactional Formulation (traditionally known as the Transactional Interpretation) readily accounts for the observed phenomena.
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448872.18794
This paper proposes a novel constraint on artificial consciousness. The central claim is that no artificial system can be genuinely conscious unless it instantiates a form of self-referential inference that is irreducibly perspectival and non-computable. Drawing on Quantum Bayesianism (QBism), I argue that consciousness should be understood as an anticipatory process grounded in subjective belief revision, not as an emergent product of computational complexity. Classical systems, however sophisticated, lack the architecture required to support this mode of updating. I conclude that artificial consciousness demands more than computation—it demands a subject.
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448910.187949
I argue that we need to distinguish between three concepts of actual causation: total, path-changing, and contributing actual causation. I provide two lines of argument in support of this account. First, I address three thought experiments that have been troublesome for unified accounts of actual causation, and I show that my account provides a better explanation of corresponding causal intuitions. Second, I provide a functional argument: if we assume that a key purpose of causal concepts is to guide agency, we are better off making a distinction between three concepts of actual causation.
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448928.187959
Quantum mechanics with a fundamental density matrix has been proposed and discussed recently. Moreover, it has been conjectured that the universe is not in a pure state but in a mixed state in this theory. In this paper, I argue that this mixed state conjecture has two main problems: the redundancy problem and the underdetermination problem, which are lacking in quantum mechanics with a definite initial wave function of the universe.
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448947.187968
Technological understanding is not a singular concept but varies depending on the context. Building on De Jong and De Haro’s (2025) notion of technological understanding as the ability to realise an aim by using a technological artefact, this paper further refines the concept as an ability that varies by context and degree. We extend its original specification for a design context by introducing two additional contexts: operation and innovation. Each context represents a distinct way of realising an aim through technology, resulting in three types (specifications) of technological understanding. To further clarify the nature of technological understanding, we propose an assessment framework based on counterfactual reasoning. Each type of understanding is associated with the ability to answer a specific set of what-if questions, addressing changes in an artefact’s structure, performance, or appropriateness. Explicitly distinguishing these different types helps to focus efforts to improve technological understanding, clarifies the epistemic requirements for different forms of engagement with technology, and promotes a pluralistic perspective on expertise.
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508782.18798
The philosopher Joseph S. Ullian died late last year. He is probably best-known for an introduction to epistemology co-authored with W. V. Quine, that is very much of its time. But what caught my eye in the obits was his reputation as a baseball fanatic. …
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516587.187989
This is a bit of a shaggy dog story, but I think it’s fun, and there’s a moral about the nature of mathematical research. Act 1
Once I was interested in the McGee graph, nicely animated here by Mamouka Jibladze:
This is the unique (3,7)-cage, meaning a graph such that each vertex has 3 neighbors and the shortest cycle has length 7. …
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544710.187998
These days, any quantum computing post I write ought to begin with the disclaimer that the armies of Sauron are triumphing around the globe, this is the darkest time for humanity most of us have ever known, and nothing else matters by comparison. …
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561989.188006
Let T0 be ZFC. Let Tn be Tn − 1 plus the claim Con(Tn − 1) that Tn − 1 is consistent. Let Tω be the union of all the Tn for finite n.
Here’s a fun puzzle. It seems that Tω should be able to prove its own consistency by the following reasoning:
If Tω is inconsistent, then for some finite n we have Tn inconsistent. …
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620838.188016
We develop a theory of policy advice that focuses on the relationship between the competence of the advisor (e.g., an expert bureaucracy) and the quality of advice that the leader may expect. We describe important tensions between these features present in a wide class of substantively important circumstances. These tensions point to the presence of a trade-off between receiving advice more often and receiving more informative advice. The optimal realization of this trade-off for the leader sometimes induces her to prefer advisors of limited competence – a preference that, we show, is robust under different informational assumptions. We consider how institutional tools available to leaders affect preferences for advisor competence and the quality of advice they may expect to receive in equilibrium.