To write of “the” philosophy of transhumanism is a little daring. The growth of transhumanism as a movement and philosophy means that differing perspectives on it have formed.

The Common Core Ontologies(CCO) are designed as a mid-level ontology suite that extends the Basic Formal Ontology. In 2017,CUBRC, Inc. made CCO openly available. CCO has since been increasingly adopted by a broad group of users and applications and is proposed as the first standard mid-level ontology. Despite these successes, documentation of the contents and design patterns of the CCO has been comparatively minimal. This paper is a step toward providing enhanced documentation for the mid-level ontology suite through a discussion (...) of the contents of the eleven ontologies that collectively comprise the Common Core Ontology suite. (shrink)

In the past, it was possible to approach transhumanism as primarily involving philosophical discussion and technological speculation. While transhumanist goals such as radical life extension, uploading, and cognitive, sensory, and physical enhancement were speculative they were also considered scientifically feasible, even if the technologies to achieve those goals appeared remote.

Nietzsche's Ecce Homo was published posthumously in 1908, eight years after his death, and has been variously described ever since as useless, mad, or merely inscrutable. Against this backdrop, Nicholas D. More provides the first complete and compelling analysis of the work, and argues that this so-called autobiography is instead a satire. This form enables Nietzsche to belittle bad philosophy by comic means, attempt reconciliation with his painful past, review and unify his disparate works, insulate himself with humor from the (...) danger of 'looking into abysses', and establish wisdom as a special kind of 'good taste'. After showing how to read this much-maligned book, More argues that Ecce Homo presents the best example of Nietzsche making sense of his own intellectual life, and that its unique and complex parody of traditional philosophy makes a powerful case for reading Nietzsche as a philosophical satirist across his corpus. (shrink)

Stefan Sorgner (2009) says that on becoming familiar with transhumanism, he “immediately thought that there were many fundamental similarities between transhumanism and Nietzsche’s philosophy, especially concerning the concept of the posthuman and that of Nietzsche’s overhuman.” In contrast to Bostrom (2005), Sorgner sees significant and fundamental similarities between the posthuman and the overhuman. (I will adopt his use of “overhuman” in place of “overman” or Übermensch.) This overall view seems to me highly plausible. I agree with most of Sorgner’s comments (...) in this respect. My intent is to give further support to the conceptual parallels. In addition, I argue that these are not merely parallels: transhumanist ideas were directly influenced by Nietzsche. (shrink)

Dear Mother Nature: Sorry to disturb you, but we humans – your offspring – come to you with some things to say. (Perhaps you could pass this on to Father, since we never seem to see him around.).

Exploring the implications of Sartre’s existentialism for the problem of racism, a prominent African philosopher provides the ontological basis for understanding the situation of a black person in an antiblack world.

Biko was not only considered a 'brilliant political theorist', he is also considered a formidable and articulate philosopher; an important Africana existential philosopher. From Biko's writings, speeches and interviews, Mabogo More's view is that philosophy is not a disembodied system of ideas nor is it a mechanical reflection about the world; rather, it is a way of existing and acting. What Biko himself describes as 'a way of life'. This important perspective on Biko would be of value to many African (...) philosophers, political and social thinkers, social scientists, psychologists, cultural critics, political activists, students, critical race theorists and anyone interested in the ideas that Biko presents. (shrink)

In this important new book, leading Black philosopher Mabogo More reflects on his life and career in apartheid South African. The book explores Africana existentialism in relation to issues of race, identity, liberation, freedom, alienation, responsibility and bad faith and includes key essays from More's corpus alongside his philosophical memoir.

Given its non-invasive nature, there is increasing interest in the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation across basic, translational and clinical research. Contemporaneously, tVNS can be achieved by stimulating either the auricular branch or the cervical bundle of the vagus nerve, referred to as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and transcutaneous cervical VNS, respectively. In order to advance the field in a systematic manner, studies using these technologies need to adequately report sufficient methodological detail to enable comparison of results between (...) studies, replication of studies, as well as enhancing study participant safety. We systematically reviewed the existing tVNS literature to evaluate current reporting practices. Based on this review, and consensus among participating authors, we propose a set of minimal reporting items to guide future tVNS studies. The suggested items address specific technical aspects of the device and stimulation parameters. We also cover general recommendations including inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants, outcome parameters and the detailed reporting of side effects. Furthermore, we review strategies used to identify the optimal stimulation parameters for a given research setting and summarize ongoing developments in animal research with potential implications for the application of tVNS in humans. Finally, we discuss the potential of tVNS in future research as well as the associated challenges across several disciplines in research and clinical practice. (shrink)

Aristippus.--Epicurus.--Cynics and Stoics.--Epictetus.--Plotinus.--Diogenes.--Scepticism.--Appendix[es] A-E.

By addressing ableism through social media and other digital outlets, feminist disability activists share stories on what it means to be human from an intersectional perspective, and their storying is a way of understanding and theorising the world. However, the possibilities of digital disability activism to story ableism within broader feminist debates are underexplored. Storying as an anti-hegemonic approach to theorising ableism further from an intersectional perspective, implemented through an activist-academic working alliance, contributes to speaking otherwise about disability and draws (...) attention to disability perspectives in feminist theory. In this article, I propose a feminist intersectional approach to storying ableism that exposes manifestations of ableism in its intersections with classism, racism and sexism at structural, identity and representational levels. I then argue for digital disability activism as a means of storying ableism, provide examples of such storying and describe the potentials and principles of digital activist storying. While the creation of further theory is central to the proposed approach, the connection of intersectionality theory with ableism and feminist disability theory serves as its foundation. I discuss how linking ableism with intersectionality strengthens the uncovering of ableism at different levels, why studies of ableism should be extended to fields beyond Disability Studies but remain closely connected to disability activism and how feminist disability theory has thus far shaped debates on the dis/ability binary in relation to the gendered body. (shrink)

Hannah More (1745–1833) was a White English poet, playwright, educator, and abolitionist. This chapter is an excerpt from her famous antislavery poem Slavery, A Poem, which she published in 1788. The poem describes liberty as a light originating in heaven and asks why this light shines on only some portions of the earth; More invokes optical laws to illustrate how unnatural it is to view liberty as appropriate for only some human beings. In the last two stanzas, which are also (...) reproduced here, she provides philosophical arguments for racial equality and the injustice of slavery. When arguing for equality, she stresses that Black and White people are the same in both intelligence and affections or feelings. (shrink)

The chapter considers philosophical views of satire, philosophy as an object of satiric scorn, kinship and tension between satire and philosophy as activities, and what philosophy's relationship to satire suggests about philosophy as a discipline.

Two algebraic structures, the contrapositionally complemented Heyting algebra (ccHa) and the contrapositionally |$\vee $| complemented Heyting algebra (c|$\vee $|cHa), are studied. The salient feature of these algebras is that there are two negations, one intuitionistic and another minimal in nature, along with a condition connecting the two operators. Properties of these algebras are discussed, examples are given and comparisons are made with relevant algebras. Intuitionistic Logic with Minimal Negation (ILM) corresponding to ccHas and its extension |${\textrm {ILM}}$|-|${\vee }$| for c|$\vee (...) $|cHas are then investigated. Besides its relations with intuitionistic and minimal logics, ILM is observed to be related to Peirce’s logic and Vakarelov’s logic MIN. With a focus on properties of the two negations, relational semantics for ILM and |${\textrm {ILM}}$|-|${\vee }$| are obtained with respect to four classes of frames, and inter-translations between the classes preserving truth and validity are provided. ILM and |${\textrm {ILM}}$|-|${\vee }$| are shown to have the finite model property with respect to these classes of frames and proved to be decidable. Extracting features of the two negations in the algebras, a further investigation is made, following logical studies of negations that define the operators independently of the binary operator of implication. Using Dunn’s logical framework for the purpose, two logics |$K_{im}$| and |$K_{im-{\vee }}$| are discussed, where the language does not include implication. The |$K_{im}$|-algebras are reducts of ccHas and are different from relevant algebraic structures having two negations. The negations in the |$K_{im}$|-algebras and |$K_{im-{\vee }}$|-algebras are shown to occupy distinct positions in an enhanced form of Dunn’s kite of negations. Relational semantics for |$K_{im}$| and |$K_{im-{\vee }}$| is provided by a class of frames that are based on Dunn’s compatibility frames. It is observed that this class coincides with one of the four classes giving the relational semantics for ILM and |${\textrm {ILM}}$|-|${\vee }$|⁠. (shrink)

A relation between two secrets, known in the literature as nondeducibility , was originally introduced by Sutherland. We extend it to a relation between sets of secrets that we call independence . This paper proposes a formal logical system for the independence relation, proves the completeness of the system with respect to a semantics of secrets, and shows that all axioms of the system are logically independent.

In 1952, Heinrich Scholz published a question in The Journal of Symbolic Logic asking for a characterization of spectra, i.e., sets of natural numbers that are the cardinalities of finite models of first order sentences. Günter Asser in turn asked whether the complement of a spectrum is always a spectrum. These innocent questions turned out to be seminal for the development of finite model theory and descriptive complexity. In this paper we survey developments over the last 50-odd years pertaining to (...) the spectrum problem. Our presentation follows conceptual developments rather than the chronological order. Originally a number theoretic problem, it has been approached by means of recursion theory, resource bounded complexity theory, classification by complexity of the defining sentences, and finally by means of structural graph theory. Although Scholz' question was answered in various ways, Asser's question remains open. (shrink)

pt. 1. Chapters 1-10 and 27-28 -- pt. 2. Chapters 11-26.

The article proposes Logic of Secrets in Collaboration Networks, a formal logical system for reasoning about a set of secrets established over a fixed configuration of communication channels. The system’s key feature, a multi-channel relation called independence, is a generalization of a two-channel relation known in the literature as nondeducibility. The main result is the completeness of the proposed system with respect to a semantics of secrets.

This study critically explores ability expectations in collaborative research with disability communities to highlight ethical consequences and outline an ableism-critical research practice. Ability expectations in research are shaped by an ableist academia that often excludes and/or objectifies marginalized communities most affected by the research in question. Collaborative research based on the understanding that research should be conducted with a community, in contrast, actively seeks social change. In disability research, collaborative approaches have their roots in the disability movement and, while relatively (...) established, also hold the risk of tokenism, reinforcing power asymmetries and oppression. Three qualitative collaborative research projects connected to the field of Disability Studies were conducted in an Austrian context. Each study had a specific focus (de-institutionalization, parenting and ableism) and respective methodology, including the mode and degree of collaboration with community-based research partners. Findings from the ethical reflection of ability expectations in the three research projects are presented clustered around the three following questions: (1) Who is able to make a meaningful contribution based on which resources? (2) Who is able to make decisions regarding research topic and process? (3) Who is able to determine social change and how? The ethical consequences of asking these questions for an ableism-critical research practice in collaborative research include modes of compensation that minimize the reproduction of epistemic dis/ability hierarchies, dis/ability sensitive power sharing in the research process and community-oriented dissemination accessible to an audience with a variety of dis/abilities. Ableism-critical collaborative research becomes possible precisely because we can draw from the concept of ableism for ethically reflecting practices of collaboration. Academic researchers must be able to endure uncertainty and sometimes unresolvable negotiations as well as learn from criticism by community-based research partners whilst avoiding possibly debilitating effects of the ability-expectations posed by academia and communities outside of academia. (shrink)

Selections from the philosophical writings of More: The antidote against atheism.--The immortality of the soul.--Enchiridion metaphysicum.

The chapter outlines Nietzsche's view of decadence, its history and effects. The philosopher held decadence to be any condition, deceptively thought good, which limits what something or someone can be. This concept informs his critical and affirmative projects, acting as a versatile tool to identify and overcome his own decadence and to resist the decadence of Western culture. Decadence appears in five major areas of concern to Nietzsche: physiology; psychology; art and artists; politics; and philosophy. Physical and mental phenomena provide (...) the substrate of his understanding, but they manifest in cultural, political, and philosophical forms that, in turn, affect the body and mind. In each of the five areas, the concept of decadence for Nietzsche serves 1) to unmask valued cultural phenomena as corrupt, 2) to name and analyze degenerate effects, and 3) to spur reflection on how to respond. (shrink)

In this chapter the author argues that the desire to improve on the human body and eventually to replace it with post‐biological alternatives does not imply that we loathe the flesh in which we are currently embodied. The appeal of post‐biology lies in the opportunities for expanding not only our cognition and sensory richness and for sculpting and refining our emotions but also for deeper self‐understanding. The chapter points out that post‐biological beings are not truly disembodied. All thinking beings rely (...) ultimately on physical processes, even if those processes are distributed across numerous computational devices. Whatever senses are built into the bodies we choose to inhabit, we will also be able to expand our perceptual range enormously by connecting to external sensors. If we can accomplish the transition to post‐biological being, the result will not be mechanization and restriction; it will be greater richness of being and existential freedom. (shrink)

The Diachronic Self fills out and clarifies the account of personal identity presented by Derek Parfit in Reasons and Persons. I go on to draw metaphysical and normative consequences of this psychological reductionist theory. Some of the normative inferences disagree with those of Parfit. I examine several candidates for a necessary causal condition for personal identity or continuity and argue that we should accept one of the most liberal conditions, allowing personal identity to persist even if its cause is abnormal (...) and unreliable. After establishing a causal condition for identity I apply psychological reductionism to critically analyze current conditions of and criteria for the death of persons. I argue that cardiac and consciousness based conceptions are incorrect. In their place I offer an information-based conception. I then go on to examine the relative importance of various psychological connections, including memories, intentions, dispositions, beliefs, desires, values, and projects. It turns out that the significance of passive elements of the self, especially memories, has often been overrated in discussions of identity. Drawing on my metaphysical results, I draw a number of normative conclusions. I differ from Parfit in holding that reductionism does not make life less "deep" nor death less significant. I also argue that Parfit puts too much emphasis on connectedness rather than continuity when assessing the rational apportionment of future-concern. I look at the roles of an ideal self-conception, life plans, and principles in generating and sustaining concern for one's farther future self-stages. The final chapter analyses how we assimilate changes in our selves, especially physical changes resulting from technology. I distinguish augmentative from deteriorative changes, and draw normative inferences about whether rationally we should replace ourselves with a better self, if that were possible. I develop an account of assimilation in terms of functional integration, then go on to distinguish enhancement from supplementation, noting the importance of this for normative concerns. Finally, I determine the role of bodily form and function in a psychological reductionist account of personal identity. (shrink)

Volume 55, Issue 2, April 2024, Page 198-199.

Dogs are part of 29% of all South African households. Unfortunately, very little is known about the relationship between South African dog guardians and their canine companions. This study focuses on this relationship, with a specific focus on South African dog guardians’ attachment to their canine companions and the guardians’ resultant dog care behaviors. Two hundred self-completion questionnaires were distributed to adult dog guardians. The findings indicated that different care behaviors (essential, standard, enriched, and luxury) are positively related to companion (...) animal attachment. These results suggest that dog guardians will provide basic types of care regardless of their levels of attachment to their canine companions. However, dog guardians with higher levels of attachment are more likely to provide their dogs with forms of enriched and luxury care. (shrink)

Das Massaker an israelischen Zivilisten am 7. Oktober 2023 hat anstelle von Entsetzen und Empathie eine Welle antiisraelischer Proteste hervorgebracht, die sich eng mit sehr viel älteren antisemitischen Klischees und Verschwörungsmythen verbinden. Der Beitrag geht zunächst traditionellen Motiven des Antijudaismus in der christlichen Welt nach, die sich in der Folge der Aufklärung – und als Abwehrreaktion auf die damit verbundene Moderne – in einen biologisierten Antisemitismus transformiert haben. Sowohl in subtilen und verdeckten wie auch in offen aggressiven Formen des Antisemitismus (...) der Gegenwart finden sich Traditionslinien, die teils sehr bewusst, in großen Anteilen aber auch unbewusst zwischen den Generationen weitervermittelt werden. Unbewusst bleiben vor allem die abgewehrten Selbstanteile, die sich besonders leicht auf das immer schon vorhandene und beliebig variierbare Bild von »den Juden« projizieren lassen. Dabei verschränken sich insbesondere in der deutschen Gesellschaft nach dem Holocaust Motive der Schuldabwehr mit jenen der traditionellen Abwehr von Ängsten, Verunsicherungen und tabuisierten Triebimpulsen, aber auch mit narzisstischen Profiten. (shrink)

The present collection of essays is devoted to the Christian philosophy of the most prolific and most speculatively ambitious of the Cambridge Origenists, Henry More. Not only did More revere Origen, whom he extolled as a "holy sage" and "that miracle of the Christian world", but he also developed a philosophical system which hinged upon the Origenian notions of universal divine goodness and libertarian human freedom. Throughout his life, More subscribed to the ancient theology of the pre-existence of souls and (...) took issue with the early modern philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes and Baruch de Spinoza. His vision of God's goodness, experienced in his early school years at Eton, became the cornerstone of an Origenist rationalism which envisaged an extended world animated by divine thought and inhabited by self-moving rational agents. More's philosophy is the crowning attainment of the early modern rediscovery of Origen as well as a neglected major rationalist system in its own right which went on to exert decisive influence upon all subsequent western metaphysics. The essays collected in the first part provide a detailed introduction to More's voluminous writings. After a comprehensive general overview of his metaphysical and ethical system, the essays expound More's historical context and his philosophical development from his early poetry in the 1640s to his mature philosophical and theological prose works of the 50s, 60s and 70s. In addition, the reception of More and Origen in the later Cambridge Origenists and in Isaac Newton is outlined. The second part contains several excerpts from More's influential Latin works first translated into English by the editor. (shrink)

_The first comprehensive one-volume collection of St. Thomas More’s writing__ “[A] tremendous scholarly undertaking.... Accessible and transparent to both scholars and the general audience.”—_Renaissance and Reformation__ In this book, Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith assemble, for the first time in a single volume, the most important English and Latin works of Thomas More (1478–1535). This collection reveals the breadth of More’s writing—key works on theology, political philosophy, and law, as well as his poetry and prose—and includes a rich (...) selection of illustrations and artwork. The book provides the most complete picture of More’s work available, serving as a major resource for early modern scholars, teachers, students, and the general reader. (shrink)

Vernor Vinge's “singularity” is a worthy contribution to the long tradition of contemplations about human transcendence. Throughout history, most of these musings have dwelled upon the spiritual – the notion that human beings can achieve a higher state through prayer, moral behavior, or mental discipline.

This chapter contains sections titled: Institutionalized Philosophy Philosophy Before Apartheid Philosophy During Apartheid African Philosophy in South Africa Philosophy in Post‐Apartheid South Africa Conclusion.

This is the first complete modern edition of Henry More's long philosophical poem, A Platonick Song of the Soul (1647). This early work, written in Spenserian stanzas, is a sustained literary presentation of the Neoplatonic doctrine of the immateriality and immortality of the soul. The Introduction to this book discusses both the literary background of the work and its varied philosophical and scientific sources, from Plotinus to Ficino and Galileo.

Two criteria for rigid designation are distinguished; one according to which 'e' is rigid if 'e might not have been e' is false and the other according to which 'e' is rigid if it designates the same thing in all possible worlds in which it designates anything at all. Such criteria are not equivalent since 'x could not but be f' is not entailed by 'nothing other than x could be f'. I illustrate the latter lack of entailment.