7:1:
Dynamic Essences: Absolute, Prospective, Retrospective,
and Relative Modalities
Essential properties are usually thought as properties that things must always
possess, whereas accidental properties are considered as changeable. In this
paper, we challenge this traditional view. We argue that in some important
cases, such as social or biological development, we face not only the change of
accidents, but also the change of essences. To analyze this kind of change we
propose an alternative view on the relations between the modalities and time.
Some properties might be necessary or possible for a thing in a classical sense
throughout its existence, whereas others might be necessary or possible only
for some restricted periods. We distinguish therefore absolute, prospective,
retrospective, and relative modalities. As we argue, these non-classical
concepts of modality are useful in analysis of some puzzling case of seemingly
changing essences.
Role of Logic in Cognitive Science
In their work McCulloch and Pitts describe an idea of representing all of
nervous activity in terms of propositional logic. This idea was quickly
challenged. One of reasons for this challenge was rising believe that logic is
unable to describe most of human cognitive processes. In this paper we will
analyse premises of original McCulloch and Pitts proposition. Following that,
we will ask about ability of symbolic (logical) systems to represent human
cognition. We will finish by analysing relation between symbolic and
subsymbolic computing, in hope of bridging the gap between the two.
On Logics of Transitive Verbs With and Without Intersective Adjectives
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the natural logic program which
invents logics in natural language. This study presents two logics: a logical
system containing transitive verbs and a more expressive logical
system containing both transitive verbs and intersective adjectives.
The paper offers three different set-theoretic semantics which are equivalent for
the logics.
Reflexive Games in Management
In this paper reflexive games are defined as a way to act beyond equilibria to
control our opponents by our hiding motives. The task of a reflexive game is to
have the opponent’s actions become transparent for us, while our actions remain
obscure for the competitor. In case a reflexive game is carried out between agents
belonging to the same organisation (corporation, company, institute), success in a
reflexive game can be reached by a purposeful modification of some components
of a controlled system. Such a modification for the guaranteed victory in a
reflexive game is called reflexive management. This kind of management uses
reflexive games to control a knowledge structure of agents in a way their actions
unconsciously satisfy the centre’s goals.
Russian Orthodoxy and the Western World
The interview of Tudor Petcu with Basil Lourié.
Basil Lourié born in 1962, St Petersburg, Russia. PhD and Dr habil. in philosophy. Editor in Chief of the Scrinium. Revue de patrologie, d'hagiographie critique et d'histoire ecclésiastique and of its two supplement series: Orientalia Judaica Christiana and Scripta ecclesiastica. Interests: Patristics, Christian Origins, Second Temple Judaism(s). Books in Russian: 1. Gregory of Nyssa, De hominis opificio (1995; 2nd ed., 2000) (tr. and scholarly commentary). 2. Vocation of Abraham. The Idea of the Monasticism and Its Realization in Egypt (2000). 3. History of the Byzantine Philosophy. Formative period (2006) ([some fragments on the publisher's web-site http://www.axioma.spb.ru/z_byz_phil/intro.htm]). Serbian translation (2010). 4. Introduction to the Critical Hagiography (2009). 5. Russian Orthodoxy between Kiev and Moscow (2009; 2nd ed., 2010).
