Cover of Balkan Journal of Philosophy
Already a subscriber? - Login here
Not yet a subscriber? - Subscribe here

Displaying: 1-12 of 12 documents


articles
1. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Teodor Dima Semiotic hypostases of dispositional explanation
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
We consider that the epistemological recourse to semiotic dimensions could lead to peace: those in favour of an epistemology without a knowing subject are right (if they keep themselves within the syntactic and semantic frames of theoretical construction) and those who add a knowing subject are also right (if they want to express the concrete process of building up scientific convictions).
2. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Mihai D. Vasile The endless truth in the P. M. formal systems (In honor of the Principia Mathematica (1910-1913) of Bertrand Russell)
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Any logical analysis – and therefore philosophy itself – begins with the question: is there an indubitable knowledge? To answer this question Bertrand Russellappeals to tradition – both mathematical and philosophical – in which he recognizes himself. The process used by Russell, in order to build mathematics on a new foundation, was to build concepts logically, starting from atomic elements and known relationships. For example, a logical construction as that of the “class” is that a sentence, which includes a fixed concept, is turned into a logically equivalent statement (example analyzed by Russell is “Scott” and “the author of Waverley”) which unlike the first, entails relations that include concepts. Thus, the primitive concept can be replaced and removed. The new method was named the “theory of types” and became the intellectual program of Russell and his successors. Among the method’s performances is solving logical and mathematical paradoxes. The importance of Russell’s logical investigations exceeded the reductionist program, stimulating the formalist program of philosophy andmethodology and the logical analysis of the language of science with a logical-mathematical apparatus. This program was definitively concluded, it seems, by Kurt Gödel’s results on the decidability problem in the formal axiomatic systems of P type, a problem closely linked to the question of “truth” and the two other meta-theoretical properties of P formal systems, namely “consistency” and “completeness”. Gödel’s Theorems do not affect the now established legitimacy of a meta-theoretical system concerning the formalizing processes, but prove that the hilbertian original program to reduce mathematics to logic is old and the very meaning of the whole process of realizing it must be analyzed again. Considering that in a formal P system, the decision process is demonstrability of true statements, Gödel’s research findings prove the consubstantial relationship of the four meta-theoretical properties Truth-Consistency-Completeness-Demonstrability.
3. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Marin Aiftincă Communication and artistic expression
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
On the assumption that, among forms of human communication, artistic communication is one of the most rich and complex, this paper mainly analyses two major aspects. The first refers to the phenomenon of contemporary art characterized by its reflective, but also commercial, nature, by its questioning of the essence, the forms of expression and the purpose of art, which seeks its identity with respect to the requirements of our time. The second brings into focus another major issue: the current strained relations between contemporary artistic creation and the public, each with its own development and justifications that are not easy to reconcile. Finally, this study advocates the idea that, beyond any indulgence to "anti-aesthetic", post-historical artistic creation, the public claims that art should offer aesthetic satisfaction, for she seeks beauty in artistic creation, to the delight of contemplation and spiritual perfection.
4. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Marko Jurjako Self-deception and the selectivity problem
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
In this article I discuss and evaluate the selectivity problem as a problem put forward by Bermúdez (1997, 2000) against anti-intentionalist accounts of self-deception. I argue that the selectivity problem can be raised even against intentionalist accounts, which reveals the too demanding constraint that the problem puts on the adequacy of a psychological explanation of action. Finally I try to accommodate the intuitions that support the cogency of the selectivity problem using the resources from the framework provided by an anti-intentionalist account of self-deception.
5. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Mirela Fuš An acquaintance constraint and a cognitive significance constraint on singular thought
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Among Singularists, it has been widely accepted that one can have singular thought by acquaintance, and that acquaintance encompasses the perceptual acquiring, memorizing and communicating of singular thoughts. I defend the possibility of having a singular thought via extending acquaintance to intermediaries other than just through written and spoken words. On my account, singular thought includes two types of representations, namely indexical-iconic representation and indexical-discursive representation. Also, it is determined by two constraints: (i) the acquaintance constraint: singular thought includes a causal-historicalrelation to the object; and (ii) the cognitive significance constraint: we have a cognitive capacity to deliberately encode an indexical-iconic representation into anindexical-discursive representation, which enables us to have a singular thought.
6. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Jimmy Alfonso Licon Sceptical theism and the problem of epistemic evil: Why sceptical theism is philosophically costly
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Sceptical theism is supposed, by a number of philosophers, to undercut the evidential basis for the evidential problem of evil. In this paper, I argue that even ifsceptical theism succeeds, its success comes with a hefty epistemic price: it threatens to undermine a good deal of what we supposedly know. Call this the problem of epistemic evil. Thus, sceptical theism has a costly philosophical price of admission. In light of this, it seems that the evidential problem of evil is harder to dislodge than it might have initially seemed; i.e. with sceptical theism, we trade the evidential problem of evil for the problem of epistemic evil.
7. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Ana Smokrović Chomsky and Foucault on human nature – a perspective for reconciliation
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Chomsky and Foucault are closer to each other in their views than it is often assumed. This paper focuses on the “Chomsky-Foucault debate”, and in particular on the most philosophical topic discussed in the book, namely the question of whether there is a human nature. This paper argues that the contrast is more one of focus and stress than one of deep philosophical disagreement. This fact is of interest for the present day continental-analytic debate, given the importance of the two authors for the respective schools of thought. A constructive approach should look for bridges and enhance the dialogue of the two schools; Chomsky and Foucault are excellent authors in this regard, both as role models and as foci of inquiry.
8. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Peter Cholakov The role of rationality in the formulation of and compliance with the principles of justice
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The function of rationality in A Theory of Justice (1971), which is of paramount importance for John Rawls’ (1921–2002) project, is often criticised as ambiguous.David Gauthier, for example, claims that Rawls develops principles for recipients who essentially share his intuitions of morality, without managing to prove theirvalidity. In Political Liberalism (1993), Justice as Fairness (2001) and other writings Rawls himself embarks upon the task to throw more light on this issue, making the Kantian distinction between ‘rational’ and ‘reasonable’. I intend to demonstrate that in A Theory of Justice the formulation and the compliance with the principles of justice are based on the interaction between the rationality, represented in the idea of the good, and the sense of justice of individuals.
9. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Gabriela Tănăsescu The status of philosophy – sources of the Spinozan conception of the freedom of philosophy
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The paper aims to indicate the complex genealogy of Spinoza's conception of the autonomy of philosophy and its political status. In essence, the study highlights the main directions of the history of thought – Western, Hebraic, Arabic and Greek – which inspired Spinoza in his approach to the great dramatic nature of the “separation” of philosophy from religion.
discussion
10. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Pro and Con Discussion Regarding the Tenets of the Hermeneutic Philosophy of Science (Continuation)
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
11. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Dimitri Ginev On the divergent being of science’s theoretical objects
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This paper differentiates between science’s intentional theoretical objects and purely idealized theoretical objects. One identifies the former by inquiring into thefunctions they fulfill in a dynamic system (say, the system of chemical reactions in a metabolic pathway), whereas the latter get introduced by means of mathematical idealizations. Regardless of the epistemological differences, the existence of both types of theoretical objects is projected upon possibilities that are to be appropriated in a research process. The paper addresses the potentiality-for-being of the intentional theoretical objects. Though the functions which such an object fulfills are throughout experimentally recognizable, its being never becomes transformed into an actually accomplished presence.
book reviews
12. Balkan Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 2
Marţian Iovan Modern World Issues from the Perspective of Anthropology
view |  rights & permissions | cited by