Monetary intelligence theory asserts that individuals apply their money attitude to frame critical concerns in the context and strategically select certain options to achieve financial goals and ultimate happiness. This study explores the dark side of monetary Intelligence and behavioral economics—dishonesty. Dishonesty, a risky prospect, involves cost–benefit analysis of self-interest. We frame good or bad barrels in the environmental context as a proxy of high or low probability of getting caught for dishonesty, respectively. We theorize: The magnitude and intensity of (...) the relationship between love of money and dishonest prospect may reveal how individuals frame dishonesty in the context of two levels of subjective norm—perceived corporate ethical values at the micro-level and Corruption Perceptions Index at the macro-level, collected from multiple sources. Based on 6382 managers in 31 geopolitical entities across six continents, our cross-level three-way interaction effect illustrates: As expected, managers in good barrels, mixed barrels, and bad barrels display low, medium, and high magnitude of dishonesty, respectively. With high CEV, the intensity is the same across cultures. With low CEV, the intensity of dishonesty is the highest in high CPI entities —the Enron Effect, but the lowest in low CPI entities. CPI has a strong impact on the magnitude of dishonesty, whereas CEV has a strong impact on the intensity of dishonesty. We demonstrate dishonesty in light of monetary values and two frames of social norm, revealing critical implications to the field of behavioral economics and business ethics. (shrink)

Monetary Intelligence theory asserts that individuals apply their money attitude to frame critical concerns in the context and strategically select certain options to achieve financial goals and ultimate happiness. This study explores the bright side of Monetary Intelligence and behavioral economics, frames money attitude in the context of pay and life satisfaction, and controls money at the macro-level (GDP per capita) and micro-level (Z income). We theorize: Managers with low love of money motive but high stewardship behavior will have high (...) subjective well-being: pay satisfaction and quality of life. Data collected from 6586 managers in 32 cultures across six continents support our theory. Interestingly, GDP per capita is related to life satisfaction, but not to pay satisfaction. Individual income is related to both life and pay satisfaction. Neither GDP nor income is related to Happiness (money makes people happy). Our theoretical model across three GDP groups offers new discoveries: In high GDP (rich) entities, “high income” not only reduces aspirations—“Rich, Motivator, and Power,” but also promotes stewardship behavior—“Budget, Give/Donate, and Contribute” and appreciation of “Achievement.” After controlling income, we demonstrate the bright side of Monetary Intelligence: Low love of money motive but high stewardship behavior define Monetary Intelligence. “Good apples enjoy good quality of life in good barrels.” This notion adds another explanation to managers’ low magnitude of dishonesty in entities with high Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) (risk aversion for gains of high probability) (Tang et al. 2015. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2942-4). In low GDP (poor) entities, high income is related to poor Budgeting skills and escalated Happiness. These managers experience equal satisfaction with pay and life. We add a new vocabulary to the conversation of monetary intelligence, income, GDP, happiness, subjective well-being, good and bad apples and barrels, corruption, and behavioral ethics. (shrink)

Corruption involves greed, money, and risky decision-making. We explore the love of money, pay satisfaction, probability of risk, and dishonesty across cultures. Avaricious monetary aspiration breeds unethicality. Prospect theory frames decisions in the gains-losses domain and high-low probability. Pay dissatisfaction (in the losses domain) incites dishonesty in the name of justice at the individual level. The Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI, signals a high-low probability of getting caught for dishonesty at the country level. We theorize that decision-makers adopt avaricious love-of-money aspiration (...) as a lens and frame dishonesty in the gains-losses domain (pay satisfaction-dissatisfaction, Level 1) and high-low probability (CPI, Level 2) to maximize expected utility and ultimate serenity. We challenge the myth: Pay satisfaction mitigates dishonesty across nations consistently. Based on 6500 managers in 32 countries, our cross-level three-dimensional visualization offers the following discoveries. Under high aspiration conditions, pay dissatisfaction excites the highest- (third-highest) avaricious justice-seeking dishonesty in high (medium) CPI nations, supporting the certainty effect. However, pay satisfaction provokes the second-highest avaricious opportunity-seizing dishonesty in low CPI entities, sustaining the possibility effect—maximizing expected utility. Under low aspiration conditions, high pay satisfaction consistently leads to low dishonesty, demonstrating risk aversion—achieving ultimate serenity. We expand prospect theory from a micro and individual-level theory to a cross-level theory of monetary wisdom across 32 nations. We enhance the S-shaped Curve to three 3-D corruption surfaces across three levels of the global economic pyramid, providing novel insights into behavioral economics, business ethics, the environment, and responsibility. (shrink)

This article problematizes the state of the contemporary scientific community, which fluctuates between the desire for autonomy and creative freedom, on the one hand, and responsibility to social challenges, on the other. In this context, the social meaning of Paul Feyerabend’s epistemological anarchism is reconstructed, revealing not only critical but also positive significance for contemporary science. Answering the two-sided question, “What kind of society does science need, and what kind of science does society need?”, Feyerabend gives a disappointing diagnosis of (...) both society and science. The political desire for ideological monism and totalitarianism is supported by science, which is sometimes a form of ideology – a militant rationalism that excludes alternative points of view – and in turn parasitizes society. This circle can only be broken in a regime of genuine pluralist democracy, which will lead to a change in the understanding of science and its role in society. The ability to “defamiliarize” (B. Brecht), to take the position of the “other”, to refuse to gain intellectual power – these are the key characteristics of free reason, as Feyerabend understood it. If we try to reconstruct a social group that possesses such a mind, then in the social projection it will include marginal people, dilettantes, scientists whose activities diverge from the disciplinary paradigm and norms of the standard scientific ethos. A precarian is such a subject of science that breaks the monopoly on the truth and contributes to changing the understanding of science. The question is raised about the productivity and effectiveness of the scientific precariat in relation to the concept of science in a free society, as well as to the positioning of this phenomenon in the context of current discussions about expert knowledge, citizen science and pseudoscience. (shrink)

El ser en su riqueza se expresa en el lenguaje que emana también del ser. El lenguaje emergió de su olvido en la filosofía griega, gracias a las ideas cristianas de encarnación y trinidad que le hicieron más justicia. El mayor milagro del lenguaje no estriba en que la palabra aparezca en su ser externo, sino en el hecho de que lo que emerge y se manifiesta sea siempre palabra. La vuelta de Gadamer al final de Verdad y método, en (...) torno a la evidencia de que el ser de lo bello consiste en presentarse, ilustra la estructura universal del ser mismo. Apalabrar a lo que es el ser mismo. Lo que determina y hace posible la interpretación es el presentarse del ser de lo que es. Being in its richness expresses itself in language, which itself emanates from Being. Language emerged from its oblivion in Greek philosophy thanks to the Christian ideas of incarnation and trinity, which did it more justice. Language's greatest miracle does not rest on the fact that the word appears in its external being, but on the fact that that which emerges and manifests itself is always word. Gadamer's turn at the end of Truth and Method, regarding the evidence according to which beauty's being consists of presenting itself, illustrates the universal structure of Being itself. Bespeaking what is Being itself. What determines and make possible interpretation is the presentation itself of the being of what is. (shrink)

La science classique s'est trouvée associée à un désenchantement du monde. C'est la leçon que Jacques Monod entendait tirer des progrès de la biologie : "L'ancienne alliance est rompue. L'homme sait enfin qu'il est seul dans l'immensité indifférente de l'Univers d'où il a émergé par hasard." Notre science n'est plus ce savoir classique, nous pouvons déchiffrer le récit d'une "nouvelle alliance". Loin de l'exclure du monde qu'elle décrit, la science retrouve comme un problème l'appartenance de l'homme à ce monde. Les (...) théories scientifiques ne peuvent plus supposer la possibilité d'un savoir omniscient : nous lisons, jusque dans leurs principes, les traces d'une activité d'exploration au sein d'une nature en évolution. (shrink)

La physique métaphysique de Descartes permet de synthétiser plusieurs aspects de la philosophie naturelle de Descartes et de comprendre pourquoi elle repose sur une approche métaphysique. Cet ouvrage, qui n'a jusqu'à aujourd'hui aucun équivalent même en France, se présente comme une sorte de manuel de physique cartésienne, une introduction à sa philosophie mécaniste, telle que lui-même, ou un homme de son époque, bienveillant, mais non dénué de réserves critiques, l'aurait présentée. C'est, en effet, en tant que métaphysicien, c'est-à-dire en ayant (...) fait de la métaphysique le fondement de sa physique, que Descartes tranche les questions qui se posent au sujet des atomes, des espaces vides, des lois de la matière. Par là, Descartes rompt avec la tradition et se démarque de son époque, souligne Daniel Garber. Mais il ne se borne pas à ce constat : il expose aussi soigneusement les termes du débat et les nombreuses controverses auxquelles les options métaphysiques de Descartes ont donné lieu. Au fur et à mesure se dégage le portrait d'un homme de plus en plus préoccupé par la construction de son système et de moins en moins attaché à résoudre des problèmes particuliers, fussent-ils scientifiques ou métaphysiques. (shrink)

The Mechanisation of Natural Philosophy is devoted to various aspects of the transformation of natural philosophy during the 16th and 17th centuries that is usually described as mechanical philosophy. Drawing the border between the old Aristotelianism and the « new » mechanical philosophy faces historians with a delicate task, if not an impossible mission. There were many natural philosophers who actually crossed the border between the two worlds, and, inside each of these worlds, there was a vast spectrum of doctrines, (...) arguments and intellectual practices. The expression mechanical philosophy is burdened with ambiguities. It may refer to at least three different enterprises: a description of nature in mathematical terms; the comparison of natural phenomena to existing or imaginary machines; the use in natural philosophy of mechanical analogies, i.e. analogies conceived in terms of matter and motion alone.However mechanical philosophy is defined, its ambition was greater than its real successes. There were few mathematisations of phenomena. The machines of mechanical philosophers were not only imaginary, but had little to do with the machines of mecanicians. In most of the natural sciences, analogies in terms of matter and motion alone failed to provide satisfactory accounts of phenomena.By the same authors: Mechanics and Natural Philosophy before the Scientific Revolution (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 254). (shrink)

The article problematizes the existence of modern science as a social institution, particularly highlighting issues related to the substantive representation of scientific research outcomes. The ensuing problem is that the need for a scientist’s self-definition within the internal framework of science (the scientific community, system of roles and statuses) ambivalently coexists with the demands of the external framework. Specifically, a scientist’s movement within the social mobility system condemns them to scientific asceticism and conflicts with their lifeworld. In turn, regulators strive (...) to manage science efficiently through performance-based contracts, while the public desires simple and quick insights into science to avoid regretting the taxes spent on it. In this context, scientific output serves multiple functions within the “professionvocation” dilemma. It is both a personal achievement and the subject of “peer judgment” (scientific peer review), while simultaneously serving as a reporting unit for state and business funding of science. The high value of scientific work gives rise to the dilemma of “cognitive democracy”, i.e., balancing opportunities for its distribution and use. The “Open Science” initiative is one solution to this dilemma, with its own advantages and drawbacks. Modern science exists within the conditions of digital capitalism: the pursuit of profit by publishing organizations, and of rankings and grants by “entrepreneurial universities”, generates various distortions. Predatory journals publish articles for money regardless of scientific content. Scientometric studies document an exponential growth in scientific publications, which, according to expert assessments, occurs at the expense of quality. The speed of publishing scientific achievements is inversely proportional to the speed of their peer review. As a result, well-established regularities identified by the sociology of science seem to be confirmed: the “Matthew effect” and Pareto’s law in science. At the same time, the scientific community protests against “fast science”. The concept of the “slow scientist” is proposed as a means to restore the lost connection between science and the lifeworld and to create conditions and motivations for highquality scientific research. This aligns with Karl Marx’s idea of the non-commodifiable nature of scientific labor and, consequently, calls for limiting economic and digital methods of evaluating scientific output, whose true value can only be certified by history. (shrink)

Estudos sobre Marin Mersenne enfatizam freqüentemente o serviço prestado por ele à ciência européia, por ajudar na circulação das idéias, tanto pela correspondência como por suas publicações. Mas o próprio Mersenne foi uma figura importante na Revolução Científica com seu próprio programa intelectual. O propósito do artigo é discutir o papel que o contato epistolar com a Itália exerceu no seu próprio desenvolvimento intelectual. Quero discutir também que a transmissão da ciência italiana para a França feita por Mersenne, no final (...) do anos 1620 e início dos anos 1630, precisamente no momento em que Galileu estava em dificuldades em Roma, foi crucial para a derradeira transformação da ciência e filosofia européias. Minha tese é que por causa de seus contatos com a Italia Mersenne continua, de certo modo, a tradição jesuítica das matemáticas mistas que, em virtude da condenação de Galileu em 1633, não poderia por muito tempo ser praticada na Itália, uma tradição que conduzirá a Descartes, Gassendi, e à filosofia mecânica que dominará o restante do século. (shrink)

How partners encounter each other plays a role in whether they will be able to sustain their interaction. How partners go about maintaining their interaction reveals features of their epistemological system, particularly with respect to factors like what they know, what they take to be relevant to the interpretation, and what they value. In this way, the value system (what partners want) and the epistemological system (what partners know) intersect. By focusing on the role of reasoning and understanding, I believe (...) we stand to gain a clearer picture of how expectations about interactions inform the dynamics between partners. This, in turn, affords a picture of what partners can actually achieve in and through their connection. I am particularly interested in considering what features of interaction are necessary for maximizing the affordances of the partnership. I say this not as a utilitarian interested in maximizing good simpliciter, but as a social epistemologist thinking about the contingent goods that are present in relation (e.g. care). The epistemic picture assumes that there are things that are knowable in dancing together, while the ethical picture assumes that partners are responsible for the things they ought to know. -/- . (shrink)

The philosophical understanding of scientific creativity cannot be limited to the analysis of cognitive abilities or ways of solving problems. It is always anthropologically-laden, based on a historically specific image image of a human being that acquires knowledge. The problem of creativity also articulates a well-known paradox of novelty: the new does not arise from the old, since it is significantly different from it, but it cannot arise from nothing, because then it remains incomprehensible. Paul Feyerabend criticizes such a “mysterianic” (...) concept of scientific creativity, which emphasizes its emergent character, i.e. its suddenness and inexplicability. The distance between subject and object, man and nature, knowledge and reality in this case remains insurmountable. To solve this problem, it is necessary to place creativity in the space between the uniqueness of the creative personality and the mechanisms of social recognition. This, in turn, requires rethinking of the ontological content of creativity, as well as the concept of “labor” with reference to its treatment by Karl Marx’ rethinking of it as the production of not only material goods, but also of the person itself. Moreover, creativity does not just form a person: it is a way of cultivating the entire social space. An unexpected move is provided by an appeal to a new social group – the precariat, which in science gives a lesson in openness to novelty and theoretical freedom. As a result, a deeper understanding of the social base of creativity arises, and a new strategy for the interaction of the scientific community with extra-paradigm groups and marginal individuals is being built. (shrink)

Eine soziale Wissenschaftstheorie schlägt einen Ausweg aus den aktuellen Kontroversen in der Wissenschaftsforschung vor, der erfordert: a) den nicht unabhängigen Charakter der Wissenschaftsphilosophie anzuerkennen; b) den erkenntnistheoretischen Status der Naturwissenschaften als einziges Erkenntnisideal zu überdenken; c) sich auf der Suche nach einer neuen methodischen Erfahrungauf die Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften zu konzentrieren; d) aufzuhören, Fallstudien als Version der ‚neutralen Sprache der Beobachtung‘ oder als ‚entscheidende Rechtfertigung‘ einer Theorie zu betrachten; und e) die Erklärungskraft der lokalen Kontextualisierung mit der Projektion und Konstruktion (...) zukünftiger Wirkungskontexte wissenschaftlicher Ideen zu verbinden. Die Hinwendung zur Sozialität ordnet die Wissenschaftsforschung keiner Doktrin unter; sie ist vielmehr ein ökumenischer Appell zur Maximierung philosophischer Sensibilität und Offenheit. (shrink)

The article tends to clarify the possibilities of philosophical interpretation of migration concept in terms of its meanings in the sciences. The concept of migration appears as an empirical generalization and as a metaphor in different disciplines. In the first case, one dwells upon moving of the real living agents in space, in the second one it deals with the dynamics of quasi-agents (cells, programs, ideas). In order to clarify the conceptual status of migration, the author undertakes its contextualization in (...) the process of anthropogenesis. Hence the archetypical character of migration is displayed as ontological framework of key developments of the emergence of the humans and as catalyst of socio-cultural development in general (E. Cassirer). The paper clarifies the possibility of identifying the structure of migration as a journey and adventure (A.N. Whitehead) in the form of uneven development and recurrence of the original event. The paradox of its legitimation is formulated. Philosopher’s “vnenahodimost” (M.M. Bakhtin), the ambivalence of philosophy (T.I. Oiserman) is the discovery of the philosopher as a stalker between the worlds. (shrink)

Ontology is one strategy for promoting interoperability of heterogeneous data through consistent tagging. An ontology is a controlled structured vocabulary consisting of general terms (such as “cell” or “image” or “tissue” or “microscope”) that form the basis for such tagging. These terms are designed to represent the types of entities in the domain of reality that the ontology has been devised to capture; the terms are provided with logical defi nitions thereby also supporting reasoning over the tagged data. Aim: This (...) paper provides a survey of the biomedical imaging ontologies that have been developed thus far. It outlines the challenges, particularly faced by ontologies in the fields of histopathological imaging and image analysis, and suggests a strategy for addressing these challenges in the example domain of quantitative histopathology imaging. The ultimate goal is to support the multiscale understanding of disease that comes from using interoperable ontologies to integrate imaging data with clinical and genomics data. (shrink)

Background: Growing evidence suggests that collaborative practice improves healthcare outcomes, but the precursors to collaborative behavior between nurses and physicians have not been fully explored. Research question: The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to describe the professional values held by nurses and their attitudes toward physician–nurse collaboration and to explore the relationships between nurses’ characteristics (e.g. education, type of work) and professional values and their attitudes toward nurse–physician collaboration. Research design: This descriptive correlational study examines the relationship between (...) nurses’ professional values (Nurses Professional Values Scale–Revised) and their attitudes toward nurse–physician collaboration (Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician–Nurse Collaboration). Ethical considerations: Permission to conduct the study was received from the hospital, and the Institutional Review Boards of the healthcare system and the participating university. Participants/context: A convenience sample of 231 registered nurses from a tertiary hospital in the United States was surveyed. Findings: A significant positive relationship was found between nurses’ professional values and better attitudes toward collaboration with physicians ( r =.26, p <.01). Attitude toward collaboration with physicians was also positively associated with master’s or higher levels of education ( F(3, 224) = 4.379, p =.005). Discussion: The results of this study can be helpful to nurse administrators who are responsible for developing highly collaborative healthcare teams and for nurse educators who are focused on developing professional values in future nurses. (shrink)

During a long and distinguished career, Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) pursued a coherent research program in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and related scientific areas. The main goal of this effort was establishing the origin of thermodynamic irreversibility (the ‘‘arrow of time’’) as local (residing in the details of the interaction of interest), rather than as global (being solely a consequence of properties of the initial singularity – the ‘‘Big Bang’’). In many publications for general audiences, he stated the (...) opinion that this scientific research had great philosophical importance. Prigogine and his colleagues considered that the most recent stages of this research program have been successful, so that the local origins of the arrow of time are now established. There is no scientific consensus as to whether or not this claim is valid. Similarly, there is no consensus on whether the competing global (initial singularity) explanation has been proven. (shrink)

During a long and distinguished career, Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) pursued a coherent research program in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and related scientific areas. The main goal of this effort was establishing the origin of thermodynamic irreversibility (the ‘‘arrow of time’’) as local (residing in the details of the interaction of interest), rather than as global (being solely a consequence of properties of the initial singularity – the ‘‘Big Bang’’). In many publications for general audiences, he stated the (...) opinion that this scientific research had great philosophical importance. Prigogine and his colleagues considered that the most recent stages of this research program have been successful, so that the local origins of the arrow of time are now established. There is no scientific consensus as to whether or not this claim is valid. Similarly, there is no consensus on whether the competing global (initial singularity) explanation has been proven. (shrink)

In his rich and engaging essay, Professor Garber asks most centrally, “…what was the relation between Leibniz’s metaphysical project as set out in the so-called ‘Monadologie’ and the more theological project in the Essais de Théodicée?” His answer is, in short, that there isn’t much of a relationship between these two great works. Furthermore, he takes this result to be evidence of Leibniz’s not being a systematic philosopher in the spirit of Descartes or Spinoza. In these brief comments, I (...) revisit Garber’s two central questions in turn and offer some moderating resistance to both of his conclusions. (shrink)

El profesor Dinu Garber nació en Rumania, el 26 de octubre de 1938, en el seno de una familia de origen judío, que, por los avatares de la guerra, debió emigrar, vía Francia e Italia, para radicarse finalmente en Venezuela. En Caracas terminó sus estudios de primaria y bachille-rato, y se trasladó luego a Brasil, donde cursó la carrera de Arquitectura. Al regresar a Venezuela, organizó, con algunos colegas, una firma de arquitectos, en la que trabajó unos años con (...) gran éxito. En el año 1970 contrajo matrimonio con su esposa Doris Halle. (shrink)

Os pressupostos teóricos de Ilya Prigogine e a epistemologia crítica – um diálogo de convergências? Resumo: Ter clareza das raízes epistemológicas dos referenciais teóricos utilizados nas pesquisas científicas é primordial para que essas investigações tenham veracidade. Entretanto, alguns autores, por diversos motivos, não explicitam tais informações em suas obras. Surge então a necessidade de se saber onde Ilya Prigogine - físico-químico e filósofo que refletiu sobre a função do tempo, do conhecimento e das leis fundamentais que governam o (...) universo - está epistemologicamente posicionado. Desta forma, a presente investigação buscou analisar, comparar e conectar as perspectivas da epistemologia crítica, uma das mais importantes vertentes da filosofia contemporânea, com as proposições teóricas de Prigogine, buscando encontrar conexões entre elas. Desta pesquisa exploratória de cunho bibliográfico, emergiram da análise de conteúdo as seguintes categorias: conhecimento, história, natureza, utilização e ciências exatas x humanas. Subsidiados pelas discussões aqui construídas, conseguimos constatar que existem intensas convergências entre a epistemologia crítica e a obra de Prigogine. Com isso, confirmamos que o entrelaçamento entre Prigogine e a epistemologia crítica é forte o suficiente para posicioná-lo como epistemólogo com vertente crítica. O arcabouço teórico aqui desenvolvido pode ser utilizado para justificar a utilização das ideias prigoginianas em trabalhos de orientação progressista e também abre espaço para novas pesquisas sobre o posicionamento epistemológico de Prigogine. Palavras-chave: Progressismo; Teoria Crítica; Relações histórico-sociais; Ciência; Natureza. Ilya Prigogine's theoretical assumptions and critical epistemology - a convergence dialogue? Abstract: Having clarity on the epistemological roots of the theoretical frameworks used in scientific research is paramount for these investigations to be true. However, some authors, for various reasons, do not explain the information in their works. The need then arises to know where Ilya Prigogine - physicist-chemist and philosopher who reflected on a function of time, knowledge and the fundamental principles that govern the universe - is epistemologically positioned. In this way, the present research sought to analyze, compare and connect with the perspectives of critical epistemology, one of the most important aspects of contemporary philosophy, with Progogine's theoretical proposals, seeking to find connections between them. From this exploratory research of a bibliographic nature, content analysis emerged as the following categories: knowledge, history, nature, use and exact x human. Supported by the discussions built here, he was able to verify that there are intense convergences between a critical epistemology and a work by Prigogine. With this, we confirm that the intertwining between Prigogine and a critical epistemology is strong or sufficient to position him as an epistemologist with critical criticism. The theoretical framework developed here can be used to justify the use of Prigoginian ideas in works of progressive orientation and also opens space for new research on Prigogine's epistemological positioning. Key-words: Progressiveness; Critical Theory; Historical-Social Relations; Science; Nature. Los supuestos teóricos y la epistemología crítica de Ilya Prigogine: ¿un diálogo de convergência? Resumen: Tener claridad sobre las raíces epistemológicas de los marcos teóricos utilizados en la investigación científica es fundamental para que estas investigaciones sean ciertas. Sin embargo, algunos autores, por diversas razones, no hacen explícita esta información en sus trabajos. Entonces surge la necesidad de saber dónde está posicionado epistemológicamente Ilya Prigogine, físico-químico y filósofo que reflexionó sobre una función del tiempo, el conocimiento y los principios fundamentales que gobiernan el universo. De esta forma, la presente investigación buscó analizar, comparar y conectar con las perspectivas de la epistemología crítica, uno de los aspectos más importantes de la filosofía contemporánea, con las propuestas teóricas de Progogine, buscando encontrar conexiones entre ellas. En esta investigación exploratoria de naturaleza bibliográfica, surgieron las siguientes categorías del análisis de contenido: conocimiento, historia, naturaleza, uso y ciencias humanas exactas. Subsidiado por las discusiones construidas aquí, pudo verificar que hay intensas convergencias entre una epistemología crítica y un trabajo de Prigogine. Con eso, confirmamos que el entrelazamiento entre Prigogine y una epistemología crítica es fuerte o suficiente para posicionarlo como un epistemólogo con crítica crítica. El marco teórico desarrollado aquí puede usarse para justificar el uso de ideas de Prigoginian en trabajos de orientación progresiva y también abre espacio para nuevas investigaciones sobre el posicionamiento epistemológico de Prigogine. Mots-clés: Progresismo ; Teoría Crítica ; Relaciones históricas ; Ciencia ; Naturaleza. Data de registro: 13/04/2020 Data de aceite: 22/09/2021. (shrink)

In The Profession and Vocation of Politics, Weber argues that Machiavelli’s Prince is «harmless» in comparison to Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra. Some contemporary comparative political theorists similarly argue that the Arthaśāstra is a fully realistic speculum principis free from moralistic considerations, while The Prince’s supposed realism is in fact moderated by Machiavelli’s republicanism. An opposite viewpoint suggests that Kauṭilya’s extremism, unlike Machiavelli’s republican realism, would breed the sovereign’s ruin in our age. In this article, I take a via media, arguing for the (...) contextual and non-substantive nature of the difference between these authors and their main works. (shrink)

The main subject of this research is the specificity of I. E. Repin's perception of the dynamics of artistic-aesthetic tasks formed under the influence of changing modernity. In view of this, one of the compositional centers of the research is the history of relationship that developed between I. E. Repin and the artists of the “first wave of symbolism” – members of the association “The World of Art”. Special attention is given to the question of perception of I. E. Repin (...) by certain representatives of the avant-garde in 1910s. Developing in the range “attraction – negation”, full of dramatic and comic moments, the dialogue between Repin and younger generation indicates the hastiness of univocal view of realism and Art Nouveau as opposing imagery systems. For the first time, on the current level of scientific comprehension of the aesthetics of symbolism and neo-romanticism, the article analyzes the attitude of I. E. Repin towards the innovative imagery pursuits of the Art Nouveau artists. At the same time, the very concept of Art Nouveau is interpreted in two dimensions: as a certain milestone in the context of the development of the history of art of the late XIX – early XX century; and as an inner dynamic potential embedded by I. E. Repin in his works since the beginning of his creative path. Based on systematization of the artistic and documentary sources and the method of complex reconstruction of the views of Peredvizhniki and symbolist artists upon the objectives and nature of art, the author concludes that the poetics of art of Ilya Repin, synthesizing the ideas of time, tends to reflect a complicated and distinctive artistic image formed by realistic and idealistic principles. (shrink)

In Difference and Repetition, Gilles Deleuze forges alliances among science, philosophy and the arts in order to propose a systems theory of culture-formation based on the distinction between differen(t)iation and differen(c)iation. The first term refers to spatial and temporal difference, as might be charted graphically on a geometric grid; the second term refers to the variations possible of an organism at any particular moment in its history, enabled, for example, by cell division and specialization in an embryo, or by spontaneous (...) genetic mutation in a species. While Deleuze identifies the first with mathematics and the second with biology, a more precise rendering of the difference between these two versions of difference can be found in llya Prigogine' s distinction between the precise determinism typical of the time-reversible perspective in physics and the statistical accounts of complex systems typical of the time-irreversible perspective. Often associated with dynamics, the time-reversible perspective refers to the search for laws governing physical events which make sense whether looking forwards or backwards in time, like the movement of planets and comets in Newtonian mechanics, or the trajectories of subatomic particles in Richard Feynman's quantum electrodynamics. Often associated with thermodynamics, the time-irreversible perspective refers to attempts to account for more complex processes, as in nineteenth-century descriptions of entropy as an endgame, or more recent characterizations of entropy as the initial condition for self-organizing processes. Furthermore, this epistemological distinction has ideological weight, particularly if we consider how disciplines like physics may value one epistemological model more than another. Since history has its own ideological struggles, which in turn have their origin in conflicting epistemological stances, we may find Prigogine and Stengers' s account of time-reversibility and time-irreversibility as competing stances useful for representing conflicting interpretations of historical events. -/- Deleuze and Prigogine quote each other on a number of occasions, which lends credence to Deleuze' s insistence that it is necessary to forge alliances among science, philosophy and the arts. Indeed, in a recent interview (with the author, May 3, 1994), Prigogine demonstrates familiarity with Deleuze's work, and notes that these two forms of difference, as well as the terms "repetition" and "difference," are coextensive with time-reversible and time-irreversible perspectives in the sciences. Prigogine and Deleuze developed their respective models of physical and cultural processes at approximately the same time, the mid- to late sixties. Further, Prigogine himself has often speculated on the cultural work of his own concepts. That philosophers have recourse to physics and physicists have recourse to philosophy (not to mention that Deleuze writes on literature, painting and cinema, and that Prigogine is an accomplished pianist) reinforces Deleuze's argument (here as well as in What Is Philosophy?, written with Felix Guattari) that science, philosophy and art should form alliances since all engage the problematic of chaos, only proceed differently toward it. Some have begun to call such an interdisciplinary pursuit epistemocritique.1 That Deleuze uses physical laws to describe the behavior of human subjects and of complex cultural systems raises questions about the epistemological and ideological implications of adopting tropes from physics to forge such alliances, given the relative power of scientific discourse in our epoch. While I will address these implications in my conclusion, here I want to argue that Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, with its sophisticated treatment of scientific and philosophical concepts, also deserves to be read as a form of epistE§mocritique. As an artistic construction, it draws on science and philosophy to foreground, especially in its depiction of the chaos of the postwar zone of Europe, the problematic threshold of historical consciousness as that consciousness acts to impose its own order on raw events. (shrink)

前 言 Preface 一、本书的缘起与性质 I. Origin and Nature of This Work 本书是《老-杨创世纪宇宙观》（Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology）系列学术著作的核心典籍诠释本。《道德经》八十一章，是老子在约两千五百年前凝练宇宙生成智慧的不朽文本。本书以老-杨创世纪宇宙观为诠释框架，对每一章进行系统性的中英双语诠释，尝试在古典 道家哲学与现代科学之间建立深层的概念桥梁。 This volume is the core classical commentary text of the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (《老-杨创世纪宇宙观》) academic series. The eighty-one chapters of the Dao De Jing constitute Laozi's immortal condensation of cosmic generative wisdom, composed approximately 2,500 years ago. Using the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology as interpretive framework, this book provides systematic bilingual Chinese-English commentary for each chapter, constructing deep conceptual bridges between classical Daoist philosophy and modern science. 老-杨创世纪宇宙观的核心命题是：道生一（太阳系）、一生二（地球）、二生三（日-月-地协同系统）、三生万物（生命、生态系统、人类文明）。这一宇宙生成序列，不仅是对《道德经》第四十二章「道生一，一生二，二 生三，三生万物」的字面诠释，更是将现代天文学、地球科学、生态学与热力学融入其中的系统性宇宙哲学重建。 (...) The core proposition of the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology is: Dao generates One (Solar System), One generates Two (Earth), Two generates Three (Sun-Moon-Earth triadic cooperative system), Three generates all things (life, ecosystems, human civilization). This cosmic generative sequence is not only a literal interpretation of Chapter 42's 'Dao generates One, One generates Two, Two generates Three, Three generates all things,' but a systematic philosophical reconstruction integrating modern astronomy, Earth science, ecology, and thermodynamics. 二、诠释的核心框架 II. Core Interpretive Framework 本书的诠释贯穿三个相互关联的核心分析工具：其一，欲望放大因子（DAF，Desire Amplification Factor）——描述社会系统中欲望被技术、制度与文化机制系统性放大的动力学；其二，宇宙约束函数（CCF，Cosmic Constraint Function）——描述地球生成系统承载能力的动态边界，任何持续超越此边界的文明都将面临系统性的强制修正；其三，三层次贪婪正反馈模型（3L-GFM，Three-Level Greedy Positive-Feedback Model）——描述个体、社会与文明三个层次的贪婪欲望正反馈螺旋及其与CCF的系统性冲突。 The commentary throughout this book is guided by three interrelated core analytical instruments: first, the Desire Amplification Factor (DAF) — describing the dynamics by which desire in social systems is systematically amplified through technological, institutional, and cultural mechanisms; second, the Cosmic Constraint Function (CCF) — describing the dynamic boundary of Earth's generative system's carrying capacity, where any civilization persistently exceeding this boundary will face systemic forced correction; third, the Three-Level Greedy Positive-Feedback Model (3L-GFM) — describing the positive-feedback spiral of greedy desire at individual, social, and civilizational levels and its systemic conflict with the CCF. 在科学理论层面，本书的诠释广泛援引普里高津（Ilya Prigogine）的耗散结构理论、复杂系统科学、系统动力学、生态系统科学、热力学定律与现代宇宙学，将《道德经》的哲学洞见置于当代科学语境之中，揭示老子在两千五百年前以直觉感知到的宇宙生成规律，与现代 科学在各个层面上的深刻汇聚。 At the level of scientific theory, the commentary extensively draws upon Ilya Prigogine's dissipative structure theory, complexity science, systems dynamics, ecosystem science, thermodynamic laws, and modern cosmology, situating the philosophical insights of the Dao De Jing within the contemporary scientific context and revealing the profound convergence between the cosmic generative laws Laozi intuited 2,500 years ago and modern science across multiple domains. 三、自然文明的核心命题 III. The Core Proposition of Natural Civilization 贯穿本书诠释的最核心文明论命题是：人类文明正在经历第四次觉醒的历史性时刻——走出人类中心主义（anthropocentrism），回归宇宙生成主义（cosmic generativism）。前三次觉醒分别是：走出地心说的宇宙观觉醒（哥白尼革命）、走出物种固定论的生命观觉醒（达尔文革命）、走出线性历史观的时间觉醒（地质学与宇宙学革命）。第四次觉醒要求文明从「控制 自然」转向「协调自然」，从「无限扩张」转向「长期平衡」，从「文明凌驾地球」转向「文明重新融入宇宙生成秩序」。 The most central civilizational proposition threading through this volume's commentary is: human civilization is at a historic moment of fourth great awakening — moving beyond anthropocentrism and returning to cosmic generativism. The three preceding awakenings were: the cosmological awakening beyond geocentrism (Copernican revolution); the biological awakening beyond species fixism (Darwinian revolution); the temporal awakening beyond linear history (geological and cosmological revolution). The fourth awakening requires civilization to shift from 'controlling nature' toward 'coordinating with nature'; from 'limitless expansion' toward 'long-term equilibrium'; from 'civilization transcending Earth' toward 'civilization reintegrating into the cosmic generative order.' 自然文明（Natural Civilization）的最高原则，在《道德经》第八十一章中得到了最简洁的表达：「天之道，利而不害；圣人之道，为而不争。」宇宙生成秩序通过养育而非掠夺来运作；最高的文明智慧通过生成协调而非零和竞争来 实现文明目标。这两句话，是老子2500年宇宙哲学沉思的最终结语，也是本书诠释的精神归宗。 The highest principle of Natural Civilization (自然文明) receives its most concise expression in Chapter 81 of the Dao De Jing: 'The way of Heaven benefits without harming; the way of the sage acts without contending.' The cosmic generative order operates through nurturing rather than predation; the highest civilizational wisdom achieves civilizational goals through generative coordination rather than zero-sum competition. These two sentences are the final words of Laozi's 2,500-year cosmic philosophical contemplation, and the spiritual homecoming of this volume's commentary. 四、体例说明 IV. Notes on Format 本书每章的结构分为四个部分：【章号与章名】（中英对照）；【原文】（王弼版《道德经》汉字原文）；【英译】（基于哲学精确性的现代英语翻译）；【老-杨诠释】（老-杨创世纪宇宙观框架下的中英双语系统诠释）。诠 释部分以金色边框装饰，每章包含两个主要诠释节，每节以中英双语标题开头，随后为对应的中英文正文。 Each chapter in this book is structured in four parts: chapter number and title (Chinese-English bilingual); original text (Chinese text of the Wang Bi recension of the Dao De Jing); English translation (modern English translation based on philosophical precision); Lao-Yang Interpretation (systematic bilingual Chinese-English commentary within the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology framework). The commentary section is decorated with a gold border; each chapter contains two primary commentary subsections, each beginning with a bilingual heading followed by corresponding Chinese and English body text. 杨兴平 荆楚冲小杨子湖畔 2026年 / Charles X. Yang. (shrink)

本书试图回答一个极其基础但长期被遮蔽的问题：宇宙究竟是「由什么构成的」，还是 「 如 何 生 成 自 身 的 」 ？ This book attempts to answer a foundational question that has long been obscured: Is the universe composed of things, or does it generate itself? The answer we develop here is that generation — not substance — is the universe's primary mode of being. 在经典科学传统中，宇宙被理解为一个由基本实体组成的系统，遵循外在规律并在时间中 演化。从牛顿经典力学到场论与标准模型，这一范式构成了现代科学的基础结构，其核心假设 可 概 括 为 ： 对 象 性 、 外 在 法 则 性 与 可 分 离 性 。 In the classical scientific tradition, (...) the universe is understood as a system composed of fundamental entities obeying external laws and evolving through time. From Isaac Newton's mechanics to modern field theory and the Standard Model, this paradigm has constituted the foundational structure of modern science. Its core assumptions can be summarized in three points: object-primacy, external lawfulness, and separability. 然而，当科学进入复杂系统、生物起源与文明演化等领域时，这一结构逐渐暴露其解释边 界：整体行为无法被还原为局部之和，'结构如何出现'无法仅通过'已有结构如何运动'来解释。 Yet when science enters the domains of complex systems, biological origins, and civilizational evolution, this structure gradually reveals its limits. Above all, in the development of complex systems science, we continually encounter a common phenomenon: the behavior of wholes cannot be simply reduced to the sum of local components. More importantly, the question of how structure emerges cannot be answered solely by explaining how existing structures move. 本书因此提出根本性的理论转向：从实体宇宙观转向生成宇宙观（NGU）。在生成宇宙观 中，宇宙是持续进行的生成过程，'存在'是动态稳定结构，'规律'是生成过程中的内在模式，'时 间' 是 生 成 过 程 的 序 列 展 开 形 式 。 This book therefore proposes a fundamental theoretical reorientation: from an entity-based cosmology to a generative cosmology (NGU — Natural Generative Universe). In the generative framework, the universe is no longer a completed collection of objects, but an ongoing process of self-generation. 'Existence' is no longer a static attribute but a dynamically stable structure; 'laws' are no longer external constraints but internally stable patterns within generative processes; and 'time' is no longer a background parameter but the sequential unfolding of generation itself. -/- 三层结构体系 Three-Layer Architecture 为使这一命题具备科学意义，本书构建从哲学到数学再到经验科学的三层结构体系。 To give this proposition scientific meaning, this book constructs a three-layer system spanning philosophy, mathematics, and empirical science. 第一层是本体论重构：以生成性第一原理重新定义'存在'，将'实体'解释为动力系统中的吸 引 子 状 态 。 The first layer is ontological reconstruction. By introducing generativity as a first principle, this book redefines 'existence' as stable generative structure and interprets 'entities' as attractor states within dynamical systems. 第二层是数学形式化：通过状态空间、约束系统与生成算子，将宇宙表达为递归动力系统： X_{t+1} = G(X_t, C_t)。 The second layer is mathematical formalization. Through state spaces, constraint systems, and generative operators, the universe is expressed as a recursive dynamical system: X_{t+1} = G(X_t, C_t), where the generative operator becomes the fundamental mechanism of structural evolution. 第三层是经验科学化：通过生成速率R_g、非平衡强度Δ、稳定性指数Λ与跨尺度耦合κ， 构 建 跨 天 体 、 地 球 与 生 态 系 统 的 统 一 观 测 框 架 。 The third layer is empirical scientization. By introducing observable quantities — generative rate R_g, non-equilibrium intensity Δ, stability index Λ, and cross-scale coupling κ — this book constructs a unified measurement framework across astronomical, terrestrial, and ecological systems. 哲学传承 Philosophical Lineage 本书继承并推进过程哲学传统，尤其是怀特海'过程优先于实体'的思想，将其数学化与系统 化 ， 使 其 成 为 可 计 算 的 生 成 理 论 。 Philosophically, this book inherits and advances the process philosophy tradition, especially Alfred North Whitehead's insight that process precedes substance. It further mathematizes and systematizes this insight into a computable generative theory. — 4 — Natural Generative Universe (NGU) · 自然生成宇宙论 本书深受Prigogine非平衡热力学思想影响，将'远离平衡导致结构生成'上升为宇宙基本原 理 之 一 ， 并 不 否 定 现 代 科 学 ， 而 是 提 供 更 高 层 级 的 统 一 框 架 。 This book is also deeply influenced by Ilya Prigogine's non-equilibrium thermodynamics, elevating the mechanism of 'structure generation under far-from-equilibrium conditions' to a fundamental cosmological principle. Critically, it does not attempt to negate modern science, but to provide a higher-level unified framework. -/- . (shrink)

在过去数百年的科学发展中，人类逐渐建立起一套高度成功的宇宙解释体系。从Isaac Newton的经典力学，到热力学，再到现代复杂系统科学，这一体系以“规律”“结构”“预测”为核心，成功描述了世界的稳定性与可计算性。然而，在这一宏大框架之下，一个根本性问题始终未被真正解决：宇宙中的“ 新”从何而来？ -/- 传统科学擅长解释“已经存在的结构如何运作”，却难以回答“结构本身如何生成”。即便是被视为基础定律的Second Law of Thermodynamics，也常被理解为一个关于衰退与无序的法则，而非生成与创造的机制。在这一视角下，宇宙似乎最终趋向均质与静止，秩序反而成为局部的、暂时的例外。 -/- 然而现实并非如此。恒星形成，行星演化，生命出现，意识诞生，文明扩展——这一切都指向一个不可回避的事实：宇宙不仅在“存在”，更在持续“生成”。 -/- 这一张力构成了本书的出发点。 在思想史上，关于“生成”的最深刻表达之一，来自Laozi。《Dao De Jing》中提出的“道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物”，并非简单的宇宙起源叙述，而是一种高度抽象的生成逻辑。在这一逻辑中，世界不是由静态实体构成，而是在连续的关系展开与层级分化中生成。存在并非基础，生 成才是基础。 -/- 然而，长期以来，这一思想被归入“哲学”或“玄学”，缺乏与现代科学的结构性对接，因此难以进入可检验、可建模的理论体系之中。 -/- 直到20世纪，情况开始发生转变。以Ilya Prigogine为代表的科学家，通过对Non-equilibrium thermodynamics的研究，揭示了一个重要事实：在远离平衡的开放系统中，物质与能量流不仅不会导致纯粹的无序，反而能够自发形成稳定的有序结构——即“耗散结构”。在特定条件下，系统还会经历分叉，产 生多种可能路径，历史因此成为不可逆的选择过程。 -/- 这一发现改变了我们对自然的基本理解。秩序不再是对抗混乱的结果，而是从非平衡中生成；时间不再是可逆的参数，而成为具有方向性的生成维度；宇宙不再是一个完成的结构，而是一个持续展开的过程。 -/- 尽管如此，现代科学与古典哲学之间仍然存在断裂。前者提供机制，却缺乏总体生成图景；后者提供整体视野，却缺乏形式化工具。二者尚未被整合为一个统一的理论框架。 -/- 本书的目标，正是在这一断裂处展开工作。 -/- 本书并不试图简单比较东方与西方思想，也不试图将古典文本“现代化解释”。相反，本书提出一个更具结构性的任务：以老子的生成逻辑为框架，以普里戈津的非平衡动力学为机制，构建一个关于宇宙生成的统一理论。 -/- 在这一理论中： -/- * “道”被重新理解为一个远离平衡的开放生成场； * “一”对应于在能量流中形成的稳定耗散结构； * “二”与“三”体现为系统分叉与耦合结构； * “万物”则是多层级耗散结构的级联结果。 -/- 与此同时，“生”不再是抽象的哲学词汇，而被严格界定为：在时间不可逆条件下，由非线性动力学驱动的结构生成过程。 -/- 因此，本书的核心命题可以表述为： -/- 宇宙不是由既定实体构成的静态整体，而是一个在非平衡条件下，通过分叉、自组织与耦合不断生成结构的动力学系统。 -/- 这一命题的意义，不仅在于哲学层面的重构，也在于方法论层面的转向。它要求我们从“解释存在”转向“理解生成”，从“分析结构”转向“研究过程”，从“追求控制”转向“适应系统”。 -/- 在更广泛的层面，这一理论还具有重要的跨尺度意义。从宇宙结构到生命系统，再到人类文明，都可以被理解为不同层级的生成结构。这意味着，科学、哲学与文明理论之间，存在一个可以被统一的深层框架。 -/- 本书因此不仅是一项理论尝试，也是一种方法论提案：在一个日益复杂与不确定的世界中，人类需要重新理解自身所处的位置——不是作为世界的中心，而是作为生成过程中的一个参与结构。 -/- 如果这一尝试能够成立，那么我们或许可以说： 老子的“道生万物”与普里戈津的“耗散结构”，并非两个时代的偶然共鸣，而是指向同一个尚未完全展开的科学命题——生成宇宙的动力学原理。.

William Connolly has made important interventions in political theory over a period of four decades, and the past few years have seen a surge in recognition of his contribution. Those who are familiar with Connolly’s ideas will know the role that continental theorists—especially Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze—have played in the development of his thought, and more recently the uses he has made of advances in the natural sciences, for example in complexity theory, in the work of the (...) neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, and the Nobel Prize–winning chemist Ilya Prigogine. With reference to these innovations, a consensus has emerged in recent discussions, that there is a basic discontinuity between Connolly’s “postmodern” theory of pluralism and the “old” pluralism of the generation of post-war political scientists. By way of contrast, in this essay I outline the congruity between Connolly’s ideas and earlier iterations of pluralism. I trace the essential continuities between Connolly and the leading post-war writers, especially Robert Dahl, Charles Lindblom, David Truman, and David Easton, and also his proximity to a tradition of pluralism that flourished in the early part of the twentieth century and was exemplified in the work of Arthur Bentley. Indeed, I make the case that Connolly’s work is best understood as the resumption and enhancement of a distinct canon of pluralism in American political thought. (shrink)

Dopo la Grande Guerra e la Rivoluzione d’Ottobre, l’Europa e la Russia vissero una intensa crisi. Il saggio ricostruisce la dimensione internazionale della situazione in Italia tra il 1919 e 1922. Esso si concentra in particolare su due “futuristi di sinistra”, Vinicio Paladini e Ivo Pannaggi, influenzati da Alexandr Bogdanov e Anatolij Lunačarskij, il futuro Commissario del Popolo per l’Istruzione. Esso si concentra anche sulla rivista “Vešč/Gegenstand/Objet", fondata da El Lissitzky e Ilya Ehrenburg a Berlino nel 1922, i suoi (...) legami con il Purismo francese e Pannaggi. (shrink)

In the last decades sociological research documented a fragmented and changing plurality of practices, identities, forms of aggregation and youth models. Studies on musical subcultures are a privileged field for the confirmation of survey results; in this field we can see the contrast between the positions based upon the orthodox categories of Birmingham’s Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) – though adequated to new contexts and integrated with references to previously disregarded subcultures (McRobbie and Garber, Willis, Stanley Cohen, Clarke, (...) Frith) – and the positions inspired by postmodern theories, proposing a post-subcultural studies approach. Examples of the latter are Thornton’s studies on subcultural capital, Redhead’s, Melechi and Rietveld works on hedonistic subcultures, and the studies on fluid and emotional “neo-tribes”, theorized by Maffesoli and analyzed in the field of marketing by Cova and in the field of lifestyle by Shields, Hetherington, Muggleton, Malbon and Bennett. (shrink)

The fundamental problem on which Ilya Prigogine and the Brussels- Austin Group have focused can be stated briefly as follows. Our observations indicate that there is an arrow of time in our experience of the world (e.g., decay of unstable radioactive atoms like Uranium, or the mixing of cream in coffee). Most of the fundamental equations of physics are time reversible, however, presenting an apparent conflict between our theoretical descriptions and experimental observations. Many have thought that the observed arrow (...) of time was either an artifact of our observations or due to very special initial conditions. An alternative approach, followed by the Brussels-Austin Group, is to consider the observed direction of time to be a basic physical phenomenon due to the dynamics of physical systems. This essay focuses mainly on recent developments in the Brussels-Austin Group after the mid 1980s. The fundamental concerns are the same as in their earlier approaches (subdynamics, similarity transformations), but the contemporary approach utilizes rigged Hilbert space (whereas the older approaches used Hilbert space). While the emphasis on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics remains the same, their more recent approach addresses the physical features of large Poincar´. (shrink)

The fundamental problem on which Ilya Prigogine and the Brussels-Austin Group have focused can be stated briefly as follows. Our observations indicate that there is an arrow of time in our experience of the world (e.g., decay of unstable radioactive atoms like Uranium, or the mixing of cream in coffee). Most of the fundamental equations of physics are time reversible, however, presenting an apparent conflict between our theoretical descriptions and experimental observations. Many have thought that the observed arrow of (...) time was either an artifact of our observations or due to very special initial conditions. An alternative approach, followed by the Brussels-Austin Group, is to consider the observed direction of time to be a basic physical phenomenon and to develop a mathematical formalism that can describe this direction as being due to the dynamics of physical systems. In part I of this essay, I review and assess an attempt to carry out an approach that received much of their attention from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. In part II, I will discuss their more recent approach using rigged Hilbert spaces. (shrink)

One of the welcome features of Leibniz research over the past quarter century has been the abandonment of the old "chicken vs. egg" debate about whether Leibniz's logic precedes and grounds his metaphysics or vice versa. Scholars such as Robert M. Adams, Daniel Garber, and Donald Rutherford, among others, have brought our attention to what might be called the systematic "holism" of Leibniz's thought and the way in which its various elements—logical, physical, metaphysical, and theological—reinforce each other. Rutherford, in (...) particular, has argued persuasively that if anything is central to Leibniz's project and its systematicity, it is his philosophical theology, and especially his theodicy.Paul Rateau's book is an important contribution to our understanding of Leibniz's thinking about the problem of evil and the way in which it relates to so many other aspects—philosophical, political, theological—of his system. It is, without question, the most thorough, careful, and philosophically astute study to date of Leibniz's theodicy and its ramifications. It is also an exceedingly well-written and fascinating book. (shrink)

Central among problems in cosmology is the crucial question of the articulation of natural and historical time: how is human history related to natural processes described by science? A deterministic world view in which natural processes are reversible, as emphasized by classical Western science, is obviously not the answer. Recent research in fields such as far‐from‐equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics reveals irreversibility in natural processes and allows us to explore new forms of dialogue between science and the humanities.

La relazione propone un esame accurato delle tesi di Ilya Prigogine concernenti una nuova alleanza tra la ricerca scientifica e la cultura umanistica. In questione è il superamento del dualismo cartesiano nella scuola e nella società, in vista di una innovativa considerazione storica della natura e dell’uomo.