It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred (...) to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed. (shrink)

ليس هناك مركز وحيد للكون، أو «حافة» قابلة للتمييز. ولو كان هناك مركز وحافة، فلابد وأن نتوقع رؤية تركيز للمادة في اتجاه واحد (صوب المركز)، وترقيقًا للمادة في الاتجاه الآخر (أي صوب الحافة)؛ فهل يعنى ذلك أن الكون أو «متصل الزمان – مكان» لامتناهٍ في الامتداد؟.

شنت الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية حربا على العراق عام 2003 بدعوى أن العراق يمتلك أسلحة دمار شامل، ثم تبين للعالم عدم صحة هذه الدعوى، وقال الناس: لقد كذبت الإدارة الأمريكية. كانت نظرية المعرفة التقليدية تنسب المعرفة إلى الذات العارفة الفردية، وتركز على الفاعلين الأفراد وحالاتهم الاعتقادية، مثل "يعتقد أحمد بقضية معينة". أما أن ننسب الحالات المعرفية إلى الجماعات مثل " كذبت الإدارة الأمريكية"، فهذا تحول في الإبستمولوجيا إلى الفاعل الجماعي. إبستمولوجيا الجماعات epistemology of groups حقل فرعي من الإبستمولوجيا الاجتماعية. يهدف إلى (...) استكشاف الخصائص والعمليات المعرفية على مستوى الجماعة. ظهر بصورة واضحة مع مطلع القرن الحادي والعشرين، فعقدت له مؤتمرات وطنية ودولية، وظهرت البحوث والكتب التي تعنى بموضوعاته الأساسية مثل معرفة الجماعة، واعتقاد الجماعة، وتسويغ الجماعة، وفهم الجماعة، وعقلانية الجماعة وموضوعيتها، وفضيلة الجماعة، واختلاف الجماعة، واستقطاب الجماعة، وذكاء الجماعة، وَهَلُمَّ جَرّاً. ويضيف هذا الكتاب إلى المناقشات المتطورة في المعرفة الاجتماعية عامة، ونظرية المعرفة الجماعية خاصة. ويوفر مسارًا يسهل الوصول إليه في موضوع إبستمولوجيا الجماعات، مع فصول منظمة بشكل ملائم ومصطلحات فنية محددة ومفسرة بوضوح. ويطور نظريات لها جاذبية تتجاوز الفلسفة إلى تخصصات مثل الاقتصاد والقانون وعلم النفس الاجتماعي والعلوم السياسية. The United States of America launched a war against Iraq in 2003 claiming that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, then it became clear to the world that this claim was not true, and people said: The American administration lied. The traditional theory of knowledge attributed knowledge to the individual knowing subject, and focused on individual actors and their belief states, such as "Ahmed believes in a certain proposition". As for attributing cognitive states to groups, such as “the American administration lied,” this is a shift in epistemology to the collective actor. The epistemology of groups is a subfield of social epistemology. It aims to explore the characteristics and cognitive processes at the group level. It appeared clearly at the beginning of the twenty-first century, so national and international conferences were held for it, and research and books appeared that deal with its basic topics such as group knowledge, group belief, group justification, group understanding, group rationality, and objectivity, group virtue, group difference, group polarization, and group intelligence, and so on. This book adds to the cutting-edge debates on social epistemology generally, and collective epistemology more specifically. Provides a very accessible path into the topic of an epistemology of groups, with conveniently organized chapters and technical terms clearly defined and explained. Develops theories that have appeal beyond philosophy, for disciplines such as economics, law, social psychology, and political science. (shrink)

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms generally come on slowly over time. Early in the disease, the most obvious are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking. Doctors do not know what causes it and finds difficulty in early diagnosing the presence of Parkinson’s disease. An artificial neural network system with back propagation algorithm is presented in this paper for helping doctors in identifying (...) PD. Previous research with regards to predict the presence of the PD has shown accuracy rates up to 93% [1]; however, accuracy of prediction for small classes is reduced. The proposed design of the neural network system causes a significant increase of robustness. It is also has shown that networks recognition rates reached 100%. (shrink)

Abstract: Heart diseases are increasing daily at a rapid rate and it is alarming and vital to predict heart diseases early. The diagnosis of heart diseases is a challenging task i.e. it must be done accurately and proficiently. The aim of this study is to determine which patient is more likely to have heart disease based on a number of medical features. We organized a heart disease prediction model to identify whether the person is likely to be diagnosed with a (...) heart disease or not using the medical features of the person. We used many different algorithms of machine learning such as Gaussian Mixture, Nearest Centroid, MultinomialNB, Logistic RegressionCV, Linear SVC, Linear Discriminant Analysis, SGD Classifier, Extra Tree Classifier, Calibrated ClassifierCV, Quadratic Discriminant Analysis, GaussianNB, Random Forest Classifier, ComplementNB, MLP Classifier, BernoulliNB, Bagging Classifier, LGBM Classifier, Ada Boost Classifier, K Neighbors Classifier, Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting Classifier, Decision Tree Classifier, and Deep Learning to predict and classify the patient with heart disease. A quite helpful approach was used to regulate how the model can be used to improve the accuracy of prediction of heart diseases in any person. The strength of the proposed model was very satisfying and was able to predict evidence of having a heart disease in a particular person by using Deep Learning and Random Forest Classifier which showed a good accuracy in comparison to the other used classifiers. The proposed heart disease prediction model will enhances medical care and reduces the cost. This study gives us significant knowledge that can help us predict the person with heart disease. The dataset was collected from Kaggle depository and the model is implemented using python. (shrink)

ملخص تهدف هذه المقالة إلى بيان التطورات التي طرأت على علم الاستعمال كما قدمه جرايس، والتي يمكن حصرها في اتجاهين أساسيين. أولهما علم الاستعمال الجرايسي الجديد الذي يحافظ على أصول جرايس ويجدد بمقدار، سواء أكان التجديد في اختصار قواعد جرايس للمحادثة لتفادي التداخل والتعارض فيما بينها، أم زيادة القواعد والتوسع في بعضها. وثانيهما علم الاستعمال ما بعد جرايس متمثلاً في نظرية الْمُلَاءَمَة التي هي تناول إدراكي لعلم الاستعمال، وتؤكد على أن الاستدلال اللغوي يعد جانبًا من ميل إدراكي إلى طلب الملاءمة (...) This article aims to explain the developments that have occurred in pragmatics as presented by Grice, which can be summarized in two basic directions. The first is the neo-Gricean pragmatics, which preserves Gricean origins and renews them to a certain extent, whether the innovation is in shortening Gricean rules of conversation to avoid overlap and conflict between them, or increasing the rules and expanding some of them. The second is post-Gricean pragmatics, represented by relevance theory, which is a cognitive approach to pragmatics, and emphasizes that linguistic inference is an aspect of a cognitive tendency to seek relevance. (shrink)

دليل مُرتَّب أبجديًا للمصطلحات الأساسية، وكذلك لأشهر الأعلام، في المجالات المختلفة لفلسفة العلم. يُغطي الكتاب أبرز المشكلات، والمواقف، والتصورات، والحجج التي كانت مثار مناقشات واسعة بين الفلاسفة. والهدف الأساسي له هو فهم المناقشات الحالية من خلال تتبع وتفسير تطوراتها التاريخية وارتباطاتها بالمسائل الفلسفية الأبعد. ومع أن الكتاب يفترض مسبقًا وجود خلفية معرفية بفلسفة العلم لدى القارئ، إلا أنه مفيد بالقدر ذاته لكل من المبتدئين من دارسي فلسفة العلم، والمتخصصين ذوي الخبرات الواسعة، فضلاً عن عامة القُراء. وسوف يجد القارئ من خلال (...) تصفحه للكتاب تفسيرات مُركزة، وتحليلات دقيقة، وأمثلة توضيحية، ومشكلات مفتوحة، وأخيرًا وليس آخرًا، حججًا ذات بينة. وغني عن الذكر أن فلسفة العلم هي في حد ذاتها فرعٌ معرفي مزدهر، وهذا الكتاب بمثابة وسيلة عملية وتصورية فعالة للولوج داخل هذا الفرع المعرفي المميز واستكشاف أغواره. (shrink)

أي نوعٍ من الحياة هذا الذي يسوقه إلينا الفكر الفلسفي؟ هل هو النوع الأفضل كما أعلن «سقراط» قبل أكثر من ألفي عام تقريبًا؟ وهل الحياة الفلسفية يمكن أن تكون حقًا حياةً ذات معنى حقيقي؟ وبأي معنى يُمكن أن نفهم عبارة «معنى الحياة» ذاتها؟ الإجابة التي يحملها هذا المقال قد تكون صادمة للمشتغلين بالبحث الفلسفي، أو لأولئك الذين يعتقدون أن الفلسفة يمكن أن تُقدم لنا أية إجابات نهائية وقاطعة حول تساؤلاتنا عن معنى الحياة، لاسيما وأن هذه الإجابة تصدر عن متخصصٍ في (...) الفلسفة، ودارسٍ لها ومشتغلٍ بها لما يقرب من أربعين عامًا. ومؤدى هذه الإجابة باختصار أن ثمة إخفاقات متتالية للمشروع الفلسفي في إضفاء معنى على الحياة يتسم بالثبات والشمولية، حتى بالنسبة لأولئك الذين مارسوا التفكير والبحث الفلسفي كتخصص وما زالوا يُمارسونه! (shrink)

In this paper I propose a framework to understand the transition in Foucault’s work from the disciplinary model to the governmentality model. Foucault’s work on power emerges within the general context of an expression of capitalist rationality and the nature of freedom and power within it. I argue that, thus understood, Foucault’s transition to the governmentality model can be seen simultaneously as a deepening recognition of what capitalism is and how it works, but also as a recognition of the changing (...) historical nature of the actually existing capitalisms and their specifically situated historical needs. I then argue that the disciplinary model should be understood as a contingent response to the demands of early capitalism, and argue that with the maturation of the capitalist enterprise many of those responses are no longer necessary. New realities require new responses; although this does not necessarily result in the abandonment of the earlier disciplinary model, it does require their reconfiguration according to the changed situation and the new imperatives following from it. (shrink)

Science was not far from philosophy in ancient thought, but the two were one thing. I do not know whether the ancient philosophers considered themselves the issue of the relationship between them, as the modern and contemporary philosophers did. But the sure thing is that the natural sciences became independent from philosophy in the modern era, and most of the scientific departments in universities were divided into two parts: sciences, literature, and humanities. At the end of the nineteenth century and (...) what followed, there were attempts to link them. Charles Peirce wrote on the scientific method and scientific metaphysics. The Vienna Circle presented a scientific conception of the world and the logical empiricists and Popper was concerned with the problem of distinguishing science from pseudoscience. The logical empiricists provided the criterion of verifiability, and Popper proposed the falsification principle. Quine defended a natural epistemology that asserts that philosophy is part of natural science. Bunge offered his own criteria for distinguishing science in the context of scientific philosophy. In this article, I want to refute the claim that philosophy has died and that science does not need it. I proved that the notion that philosophy is useless to science is not only wrong but also harmful to society, education, and science itself. This comes in a broader context, which is the moderate scientific tendency that I have defended in some of my writings. -/- لم يكن العلم بعيدًا عن الفلسفة في الفكر القديم، بل كان الاثنان شيئًا واحدًا. ولست أدرى أكان الفلاسفة القدماء يلقون على أنفسهم مسألة العلاقة بينهما مثل ما ألقاها الفلاسفة المحدثون والمعاصرون أم لا. ولكن الشيء المحقق أن العلوم الطبيعية استقلت عن الفلسفة في العصر الحديث، وانقسمت معظم الأقسام العلمية في الجامعات إلى قسمين: العلوم، والآداب والإنسانيات. وظهرت في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وما تلاه محاولات لربطهما. كتب تشارلز بيرس عن المنهج العلمي والميتافيزيقا العلمية. وقدمت جماعة فيينا تصورًا علميًّا للعالم، واهتم التجريبيون المنطقيون وبوبر بمشكلة تمييز العلم من العلم الزائف؛ قدم التجريبيون المنطقيون معيار القابلية للتحقق، واقترح بوبر مبدأ التكذيب. ودافع كواين عن إبستمولوجيا طبيعية تؤكد أن الفلسفة جزء من العلم الطبيعي. وقدم بونجي معاييره الخاصة لتمييز العلم في سياق الفلسفة العلمية. (shrink)

In this paper, I propose to look closely at certain crucial aspects of the logic of Rawls' argument in Political Liberalism and related subsequent writings. Rawls' argument builds on the notion of comprehensiveness, whereby a doctrine encompasses the full spectrum of the life of its adherents. In order to show the mutual conflict and irreconcilability of comprehensive doctrines, Rawls needs to emphasise the comprehensiveness of doctrines, as their irreconcilability to a large extent emanates from that comprehensiveness. On the other hand, (...) in order to show the possibility and plausibility of the political liberal solution he needs to emphasise that most of these doctrines are reasonable: i.e., they are willing to cede a portion of their authority to political liberalism for the right reasons. Yet, if they are willing to cede a portion of their authority to a political conception they cannot be as comprehensive as we initially thought they were. All these elements highlight the tension in the argument itself. I suggest that many of these tensions can be removed by making Rawls' account more flexible. In this context I propose certain amendments to Rawls' account, which may overcome some of the tensions mentioned above. (shrink)

An accurate classification of bacteria is essential for the proper identification of patient infections and subsequent treatment decisions. Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) is a genetic technique for bacterial classification. MLST classifications are used to cluster bacteria into clonal complexes. Importantly, clonal complexes can serve as a biological species concept for bacteria, facilitating an otherwise difficult taxonomic classification. In this paper, we argue for the inclusion of terms relating to clonal complexes in biomedical ontologies.

مقدمة للموضوعات الأساسية في فلسفة العقل. فتراه يعالج طبيعة العقل ومشكلة العقل والجسم، والذكاء الاصطناعي، والإرادة الحرة، وطبيعة الوعي، والقصدية، والهوية الشخصية والذات. وهو في معالجة هذه الموضوعات يتتبع أصولها التاريخية ويناقش النظريات المعاصرة المفسرة لها. وأخص ما يمتاز به هو الوضوح والبساطة والشمول والدقة. وهو بهذه السمات لن يكون مفيدًا لدارسي الفلسفة فحسب، وإنما سيكون ممتعًا لكثير من المثقفين أيضًا. وأرى من الخير أن يظهر القارئ العربي على عملٍ نافعٍ ورائعٍ مثل هذا. Discover fascinating and illuminating contributions to historical (...) and contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind In This Is Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction, accomplished philosopher Pete Mandik delivers an accessible primer on the core issues animating contemporary and historical discussions in the philosophy of mind. The book is part of the This is Philosophy series that introduces undergraduate students to key concepts and methods in the study of philosophy. This edition walks readers through perennial issues like the mind-body problem, artificial intelligence, free will, and the nature of consciousness. This is Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction also provides complimentary access to valuable supplemental online resources. (shrink)

يلقي سوسا ( -1940) في هذا الكتاب المسائل الكلاسيكية والمعاصرة في نظرية المعرفة، ويعرض مشكلاتها، ويقترح لها الحلول. بداية من الشكية، ومرورا بمشكلة جيتير، والنزاع بين نزعة الأسس ونزعة الاتساق على بنية المعرفة، والخلاف بين النزعة الخارجية والنزعة الداخلية على طبيعة المعرفة، وانتهاء بالدفاع عن إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة التي أسسها واستهل البحث فيها عام 1980، ويناقش العلاقة بين أنصار الثقة وأنصار المسئولية في هذا الفرع المعرفي الجديد. وأنت حين تطالع عرض سوسا لمسائل المعرفة إنما تطالع عقلا ناقدا وفكرا دقيقا في طبيعة (...) المعرفة، ومجالها، وأنواعها ومستوياتها، وقيمتها، والفضيلة أو القدرة المعرفية التي تكون هذه المعرفة. وستجد أيضا أنه يكشف المضمون الحقيقي لفلسفة ديكارت في المعرفة مع مصادرها القديمة، ويقدم تطويرا معاصرا للبناء الديكارتي يقوم على العلم والحس المشترك وليس اللاهوت كما فعل ديكارت. شكلت كتابات سوسا معالم البحث المعرفي المعاصر على مدار أربعة عقود أو يزيد. ومن الخير أن يظهر قراء العربية على هذا الكتاب الخليق بالعناية، وعلى فلسفة مؤلفه الحقيق أن يلقب الآن بعميد الإبستمولوجيا. وقيل عن المؤلف والكتاب:"لا يوجد فيلسوف حي في الوقت الحاضر يفهم الإبستمولوجيا فهما مفصلا وشاملا وواضحا مثلما يفهمها إرنست سوسا. وهذا كتاب تنويري ومرشد كأشد ما يكون التنوير والإرشاد". -/- In this concise book, one of the world’s leading epistemologists provides a sophisticated, revisionist introduction to the problem of knowledge in Western philosophy. Modern and contemporary accounts of epistemology tend to focus on limited questions of knowledge and skepticism, such as how we can know the external world, other minds, the past through memory, the future through induction, or the world’s depth and structure through inference. This book steps back for a better view of the more general issues posed by the ancient Greek Pyrrhonists. Returning to and illuminating this older, broader epistemological tradition, Ernest Sosa develops an original account of the subject, giving it substance not with Cartesian theology but with science and common sense. Descartes is a part of this ancient tradition, but he goes beyond it by considering not just whether knowledge is possible in the first place, but also how we can properly attain it. In Cartesian epistemology, Sosa finds a virtue-theoretic account, one that he extends beyond the Cartesian context. Once epistemology is viewed in this light, many of its problems can be solved or fall away. The result is an important reevaluation of epistemology that will be essential reading for students and teachers. -/- . (shrink)

The study examines the argumentative competencies of people with Asperger syndrome (AS) and compares this with those of normal – or what are called neurotypical (NT) – subjects. To investigate how people with AS recognise, evaluate and engage in argumentation, we have adapted and applied the empirical instrument developed by van Eemeren, Garssen and Meuffels to study the conventional validity of the pragma-dialectical freedom rule (van Eemeren, Gars- sen & Meuffels 2003a; 2003b; 2005a; 2005b; van Eemeren & Meuffels, 2002). Our (...) paper begins with some background information on Asperger syndrome and how it impacts upon communication and argumentation; then it addresses the research questions and methods used; thirdly, it presents some initial findings; finally, it will conclude with some im- plications for those people with AS, for those they come into contact with and for the pragma-dialectic model in general. (shrink)

A utopia is an ideal society that does not exist, which the author conceives better than the society in which he lives. A predilection for it is a social dream driven by a narrowing of reality and a desire for a better way of life. All forms of philosophical, social, scientific, religious and literary utopia raise questions such as: Can the way we live be improved? What are the faults of the society or the world in which we live? What (...) is the best way to lead a better life? This article aims to address the concept of a utopia in an analytical way, and discusses the most prominent images of utopias such as Plato's Republic, Al-Farabi's Utopia, More's Utopia, Bacon's The New Atlantis, Skinner's Walden Two. It shows that utopia is the mirror of human hope. People see in it themselves and love what they love and hate from it what they hate. Their love drives them to seek perfection, and their hatred drives them to seek reform. -/- المدينة الفاضلة (اليوتوبيا) هي مجتمع مثالي لا وجود له، يتصوره المؤلف على نحو أفضل من المجتمع الذي يعيش فيه. والميل إليها هو حلم اجتماعي يدفعه ضيق بالواقع ورغبة في طريقة أفضل للحياة. وتطرح كل صور اليوتوبيا الفلسفية، والاجتماعية، والعلمية، والدينية، والأدبية، أسئلة من قبيل: هل يمكن تحسين الطريقة التي نحيا بها؟ وما عيوب المجتمع أو العالم الذي نعيش فيه؟ وما الطريقة المثلى لحياة أفضل من التي نحياها؟ ويهدف هذا المقال إلى تناول مفهوم المدينة الفاضلة بطريقة تحليلية، ويناقش أبرز صور المدن الفاضلة مثل الجمهورية (أفلاطون)، والمدينة الفاضلة (الفارابي)، ويوتوبيا (توماس مور)، وأطلنطس الجديدة (فرنسيس بيكون)، ووالدين تو (سكنر). ويبين أن اليوتوبيا هي مرآة الأمل البشري. يرى فيها الناس أنفسهم فيحبون منها ما يحبون ويبغضون منها ما يبغضون. يدفعهم حبهم إلى التماس التمام، ويدفعهم بغضهم إلى التماس الاصلاح . (shrink)

ABSTRACT A Third-Person-Based or Third-Personal Judgment-Dependent account of mental content implies that, as an a priori matter, facts about a subject’s mental content are precisely captured by the judgments of a second-person or an interpreter. Alex Byrne, Bill Child, and others have discussed attributing such a view to Donald Davidson. This account significantly departs from a First-Person-Based or First-Personal Judgment-Dependent account, such as Crispin Wright’s, according to which, as an a priori matter, facts about intentional content are constituted by the (...) judgments of the subject herself, formed under certain optimal or cognitively ideal conditions. I will argue for two claims: (1) Attributing a Third-Personal Judgment-Dependent account to Davidson is unjustified; Davidson’s view is much closer to a non-reductionist First-Personal Judgment-Dependent account. (2) Third-Personal accounts rest on a misconstrual of the role of an interpreter in the First-Personal accounts; the notion of an interpreter still plays an essential role in the latter ones. (shrink)

يُعالج هذا المقال آلية التطور اللُغوي بصفة عامة، وملامح هذا التطور في أوقات الأزمات النوعية التي تكتنف البشر من حين إلى آخر، سواء أكانت أزمات مجتمعية أو سياسية أو اقتصادية أو علمية، مع التركيز على أبرز الابتكارات والإضافات اللغوية المُعجمية في دول العالم الناطق بالإنجليزية خلال جائحة كورونا، وذلك انطلاقًا من فرضٍ رئيس مؤداه ضرورة مشاركة علماء اللغة في مواجهة الأزمة ابتغاءً للوضوح والشفافية.

There are two dominant approaches towards understanding medieval Muslim philosophy: Greek ancestry approach and religiopolitical context approach. In the Greek ancestry approach, medieval Muslim philosophy is interpreted in terms of its relation to classical Greek philosophy, particularly to the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. The religiopolitical context approach, however, views a thorough understanding of the religious and political situation of that time as the key to the proper understanding of medieval Muslim philosophy. Notwithstanding the immense significance of the two approaches (...) for understanding medieval Muslim philosophy, the question on the reason behind medieval Muslim philosophers’ preference for Plato’s Republic over Aristotle’s Politics in political philosophy is not accurately answered. This preference is usually attributed either to the availability or unavailability of the text or to the suitability or unsuitability of the text for Islamic theological views. However, this article shows that neither the availability or unavailability of text nor its suitability or unsuitability for Islamic religious and theological views can appropriately explain medieval Muslim philosophers’ preference for Plato’s Republic over Aristotle’s Politics in their political thought. This article proposes that the key to understand this preference lies in understanding the transmission of Greek philosophy to medieval Muslim philosophers. Contribution: This study highlights the significance of the thorough understanding of the transmission of Greek philosophy to medieval Muslim world as one of the important approaches towards proper understanding of medieval Muslim philosophy, particularly medieval Muslim political philosophy. (shrink)

لم يكن العلم يومًا غريبًا عن الفلسفة، بل لقد أدت العلاقة الجدلية المستمرة بينهما إلى مزيد من المصداقية والقبول لبعض النماذج التفسيرية، سواء منها ما كان في الأصل نموذجًا فلسفيًا ثم وجد دعمًا علميًا – كنموذج الذرات والفـراغ عند «ديمرقــريطس» وتبنى النظرية الذرية الحديثة لإطاره العام – أو ما كان منها نموذجًا علميًا تم تداوله فلسفيًا – كنموذج النقاط المادية المتجاذبة عند »نيوتن« وتبنى معظم فلاسفة الحقبة الحديثة له. وفي هذا المقال يهتم الدكتور صلاح عثمان بمناقشة نموذج شجرة الكون لفيلسوف (...) العلم الكندي المعاصر «ستورس مكال»، وأوجه الاختلاف بينه وبين النماذج التفسيرية المماثلة القائمة على فكرة متصل الزمان – مكان، ويُركز على ما يقترحه النموذج من حلٍ لواحدةٍ من أصعب مشكلات العلم والمنطق والفلسفة، ألا وهى مشكلة تحديد شروط الصدق للقضايا المنطقية الشرطية المناقضة للواقع؛ أعني تلك التي لا تُعبر عن حوادث وقعت بالفعل، بل كان من المفترض أن تقع، وبالتالي يصعب تحديد قيمة صدق (صادقة أو كاذبة) لها. هذا النوع من القضايا يرتبط ارتباطًا وثيقًا بتصور القانون العلمي، وتحفل به المقاربات التاريخية والخطط المستقبلية للأفراد والحكومات، لذا تعددت محاولات معالجته من قبل الفلاسفة، وهو ما تجلى مثلاً في النظرية الاستدلالية للقضايا الشرطية التي اقترحها «نيلسون جودمان», ونظرية العقول واعتقاداتها للفيلسوف الإنجليزي «فرانك رامزي», ونظرية العوالم الممكنة للفيلسوفين الأمريكيين المعاصـرين «روبرت ستالنيكر»، و«ديفيد لويس»، وأخيرًا نظرية النموذج الشجري لـ «ستورس مكال». وينتهي المقال إلى نتيجة مؤداها نجاح النموذج في معالجة المشكلة، وإن كان ذلك مرهونًا بالتأكيد على موضوعية قيم الصدق والاحتمال التي تحوزها القضايا الشرطية في مقابل الذات المُدركة، تلك التي تنتقل عبر غُرف انتظار متعددة تقترب رويدًا رويدًا من الحقيقة. . (shrink)

The semantic dispute revolves around the definition of meaning: internalists say that meaning is determined entirely by aspects that are internal to the speaker, while externalists say that meaning is determined, at least in part, by features that are external to the speaker. This article contains a statement of the ideas of semantic internalism, the arguments that support it, and some of the responses of its supporters to their opponents. This tendency is supported by philosophers such as Searle, Chomsky, Jackendrov, (...) Block, Segal, Boghossian, and those who investigated their method and based on their approach. The article discusses the following topics: 1. Two objections to externalism 2. Searle: Defining intentional content from the perspective of internalism 3. Chomsky: As long as language is internal, meaning is also internal -/- يدور الخلاف الدلالي حول تشخيص المعنى: يقول أنصار النزعة الداخلية إن المعنى يتحدد كلية عن طريق جوانب تكون داخلية للمتكلم، بينما يقول أنصار النزعة الخارجية إن المعنى يتحدّد في جانب منه على الأقل عن طريق ملامح تكون خارجية للمتكلم. وفي هذه المقالة بيان بأفكار النزعة الداخلية الدلالية والحجج التي تدعمها، وبعض ردود أنصارها على خصومهم. وتحظى هذه النزعة بتأييد فلاسفة مثل سيرل، وتشومسكي، وجاكندروف، وبلوك، وسيجال، وبوجوسيان، ومن تحرى في طريقتهم وقام على سكيكتهم. وتناقش المقالة الموضوعات التالية: 1. اعتراضان على النزعة الخارجية 2. سيرل: تحديد المضمون القصدي من منظور النزعة الداخلية 3. تشومسكي: ما دامت اللغة داخلية، فالمعنى داخلي أيضًا . (shrink)

Abstract: Heart diseases are increasing daily at a rapid rate and it is alarming and vital to predict heart diseases early. The diagnosis of heart diseases is a challenging task i.e. it must be done accurately and proficiently. The aim of this study is to determine which patient is more likely to have heart disease based on a number of medical features. We organized a heart disease prediction model to identify whether the person is likely to be diagnosed with a (...) heart disease or not using the medical features of the person. We used many different algorithms of machine learning such as Gaussian Mixture, Nearest Centroid, MultinomialNB, Logistic RegressionCV, Linear SVC, Linear Discriminant Analysis, SGD Classifier, Extra Tree Classifier, Calibrated ClassifierCV, Quadratic Discriminant Analysis, GaussianNB, Random Forest Classifier, ComplementNB, MLP Classifier, BernoulliNB, Bagging Classifier, LGBM Classifier, Ada Boost Classifier, K Neighbors Classifier, Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting Classifier, Decision Tree Classifier, and Deep Learning to predict and classify the patient with heart disease. A quite helpful approach was used to regulate how the model can be used to improve the accuracy of prediction of heart diseases in any person. The strength of the proposed model was very satisfying and was able to predict evidence of having a heart disease in a particular person by using Deep Learning and Random Forest Classifier which showed a good accuracy in comparison to the other used classifiers. The proposed heart disease prediction model will enhances medical care and reduces the cost. This study gives us significant knowledge that can help us predict the person with heart disease. The dataset was collected from Kaggle depository and the model is implemented using python. (shrink)

إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة هي محاولة لاستكشاف الفضائل العقلية والبحث فى الطريقة التى تشكل معالجتنا لمسائل المعرفة. ظهر مصطلح "إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة" لأول مرة في كتاب سوسا "المعرفة من وجهة نظر"1991. ولكن فكرة الفضيلة العقلية ظهرت لأول مرة في المشهد الإبستمولوجي المعاصر في مقال سوسا "الطوافة والهرم" 1980. وفي ذلك الوقت كانت الإبستمولوجيا تزخر بحلول مقترحة لمشكلة جيتير ، واعتراضات حديثة على النزعة الداخلية والنزعة الخارجية معا، واختلافات بين أنصار نظرية الأسس وأنصار نظرية الاتساق. وخلص سوسا في هذا المقال إلى نتيجة مؤداها أن (...) فكرة الفضيلة العقلية intellectual virtue ربما تساعدنا في حل النزاع بين نزعة الأسس ونزعة الاتساق. وبعد أن نشر سوسا مقاله، تحول بعض فلاسفة المعرفة إلى مفاهيم الفضيلة العقلية لمعالجة مجموعة واسعة من مشكلات المعرفة. وتستطيع أن تقول إن إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة جاءت في الأصل لتضع بعض التحسينات على نزعة الثقة، ولتكون طريقة لحل المشكلات التي كانت تزعج نظريات التسويغ القائمة على الاعتقاد. وفي هذه الدراسة تجد تأملا دقيقا في دلالة إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة، ونشأتها، واتجاهاتها، وماتقدمه من حلول لمشكلات المعرفة التقليدية، ومن فائدة للتربية والتكوين الفكري عامة. (shrink)

إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة هي محاولة لاستكشاف الفضائل العقلية والبحث فى الطريقة التى تشكل بها معالجتنا لمسائل المعرفة. ظهر مصطلح "إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة" لأول مرة في كتاب سوسا "المعرفة من وجهة نظر"1991. ولكن فكرة الفضيلة العقلية ظهرت لأول مرة في المشهد الإبستمولوجي المعاصر في مقال سوسا "الطوافة والهرم" 1980. وفي ذلك الوقت كانت الإبستمولوجيا تزخر بحلول مقترحة لمشكلة جيتير، واعتراضات حديثة على النزعة الداخلية والنزعة الخارجية معا، واختلافات بين أنصار نظرية الأسس وأنصار نظرية الاتساق. وخلص سوسا في هذا المقال إلى نتيجة مؤداها أن (...) فكرة الفضيلة العقلية ربما تساعدنا في حل النزاع بين نزعة الأسس ونزعة الاتساق. وبعد أن نشر سوسا مقاله، تحول بعض فلاسفة المعرفة إلى مفاهيم الفضيلة العقلية لمعالجة مجموعة واسعة من مشكلات المعرفة. وتستطيع أن تقول إن إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة جاءت في الأصل لتضع بعض التحسينات على نزعة الثقة، ولتكون طريقة لحل المشكلات التي كانت تزعج نظريات التسويغ القائمة على الاعتقاد. وفي هذه الدراسة تجد تأملا دقيقا في دلالة إبستمولوجيا الفضيلة، ونشأتها، واتجاهاتها، وماتقدمه من حلول لمشكلات المعرفة التقليدية، ومن فائدة للتربية والتكوين الفكري عامة. (shrink)

Recently there is an increasing technological development in intelligent tutoring systems. This field has become interesting to many researchers. In this paper, we present an intelligent tutoring system for teaching information security. This intelligent tutoring systems target the students enrolled in Advanced Topics in Information Security in the faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Through which the student will be able to study the course and solve related problems. An evaluation of the intelligent tutoring systems (...) was carried out and the results were promising. (shrink)

There is a tendency among scholars to identify Alfarabi’s political philosophy in general and his theory of the state in particular with that of Plato’s The Republic. Undoubtedly Alfarabi was well versed in the philosophy of Plato and was greatly influenced by it. He borrows the Platonic concept of the philosopher king and uses it in his theory of the state. However, we argue that the identification of Alfarabi’s virtuous city with that of Plato’s The Republic is an inaccurate assessment (...) as it involves overlooking Alfarabi’s unique religiopolitical context. Alfarabi was a Muslim political philosopher, and the present article intends to understand Alfarabi’s theory of the state in light of his historical context. The article shows that, viewed through the prism of Islamic religion and political history, Alfarabi’s virtuous city seems distinct from that of Plato’s The Republic. (shrink)

In his political treatise, Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadhila, Abu Nasr Alfarabi, the medieval Muslim philosopher, proposes a theory of virtuous city which, according to prominent scholars, is modeled on Plato’s utopia of the Republic. No doubt that Alfarabi was well-versed in the philosophy of Plato and the basic framework of his theory of city is platonic. However, his theory of city is not an exact reproduction of the Republic’s theory and, despite glaring similarities, the two theories do differ in (...) many aspects. In both, Alfarabi’s Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadhila and Plato’s Republic, the theory of virtuous city is accompanied by a theory of the soul. Since the theory of soul plays a foundational role in both theories of the virtuous city, the present article intends to provide an explanation for the differences between the two theories of the city in terms of the differences between the two theories of the soul. (shrink)

Abstract: In this research, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was developed and tested to predict the rate of treatment expenditure on an individual or family in a country. A number of factors have been identified that may affect treatment expenses. Factors such as age, grade level such as primary, preparatory, secondary or college, sex, size of disability, social status, and annual medical expenses in fixed dollars excluding dental and outpatient clinics among others, as input variables for the ANN model. (...) A model based on the multi-layer Perceptron topology was developed and trained using data on 5574 cases. The evaluation of the test data shows that the ANN model is capable of predicting correctly Medical Expenses. (shrink)

The “problem of memory” in epistemology is concerned with whether and how we could have knowledge, or at least justification, for trusting our apparent memories. I defend an inductive solution—more precisely, an abductive solution—to the problem. A natural worry is that any such solution would be circular, for it would have to depend on memory. I argue that belief in the reliability of memory can be justified from the armchair, without relying on memory. The justification is, roughly, that my having (...) the sort of experience that my apparent memory should lead me to expect is best explained by the hypothesis that my memories are reliable. My solution is inspired by Harrod’s (1942) inductive solution. Coburn (1960) argued that Harrod’s solution contains a fatal flaw. I show that my solution is not vulnerable to Coburn’s objection, and respond to a number of other, recent and likely objections. (shrink)

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms generally come on slowly over time. Early in the disease, the most obvious are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking. Doctors do not know what causes it and finds difficulty in early diagnosing the presence of Parkinson’s disease. An artificial neural network system with back propagation algorithm is presented in this paper for helping doctors in identifying (...) PD. Previous research with regards to predict the presence of the PD has shown accuracy rates up to 93% [1]; however, accuracy of prediction for small classes is reduced. The proposed design of the neural network system causes a significant increase of robustness. It is also has shown that networks recognition rates reached 100%. (shrink)

In Justification without Awareness (2006), Michael Bergmann presents a dilemma for internalism from which he claims there is “no escape”: The awareness allegedly required for justification is either strong awareness, which involves conceiving of some justification-contributor as relevant to the truth of a belief, or weak awareness, which does not. Bergmann argues that the former leads to an infinite regress of justifiers, while the latter conflicts with the “clearest and most compelling” motivation for endorsing internalism, namely, that for a belief (...) to be justified its truth must not be an accident from the subject’s perspective. Bergmann’s dilemma might initially seem to have the force of a knock-down argument against the classical foundationalist accounts he considers, if not against all forms of internalism. I argue, however, that the weak-awareness horn of Bergmann’s dilemma is unsuccessful. Classical foundationalists can hold on to the main motivation for internalism and avoid a vicious regress of justifiers. (shrink)

In this paper, we distinguish between different sorts of assessments of algorithmic systems, describe our process of assessing such systems for ethical risk, and share some key challenges and lessons for future algorithm assessments and audits. Given the distinctive nature and function of a third-party audit, and the uncertain and shifting regulatory landscape, we suggest that second-party assessments are currently the primary mechanisms for analyzing the social impacts of systems that incorporate artificial intelligence. We then discuss two kinds of as-sessments: (...) an ethical risk assessment and a narrower, technical algo-rithmic bias assessment. We explain how the two assessments depend on each other, highlight the importance of situating the algorithm within its particular socio-technical context, and discuss a number of lessons and challenges for algorithm assessments and, potentially, for algorithm audits. The discussion builds on our team’s experience of advising and conducting ethical risk assessments for clients across dif-ferent industries in the last four years. Our main goal is to reflect on the key factors that are potentially ethically relevant in the use of algo-rithms, and draw lessons for the nascent algorithm assessment and audit industry, in the hope of helping all parties minimize the risk of harm from their use. (shrink)

The Indeterminacy of Translation and Radical Interpretation The indeterminacy of translation is the thesis that translation, meaning, and reference are all indeterminate: there are always alternative translations of a sentence and a term, and nothing objective in the world can decide which translation is the right one. This is a skeptical conclusion because what it … Continue reading The Indeterminacy of Translation and Radical Interpretation →.

I defend external world realism. I assume that the principle of inference to the best explanation is justified: roughly, a hypothesis that provides a better explanation of the total evidence is more probable than one that does not. I argue that the existence of a world of spatial objects provides a systematic explanation of the spatial contents of visual experience, and that it provides a better explanation than traditional skeptical hypotheses. This paper thus pursues the explanationist strategy of Laurence BonJour (...) and Jonathan Vogel. It is an improved, more compelling defense, for at least two reasons. First, the attention to spatial properties, and in particular to what I call perspectival projections, makes the explanatory power of the realist hypothesis much more vivid and concrete. Second, the argument preserves and elucidates much that seems correct in the explanationist arguments others have offered while avoiding significant problems and shortcomings. (shrink)

A natural starting point for theories of perceptual states is ordinary perception, in which a subject is successfully related to her mind-independent surroundings. Correspondingly, the simplest theory of perceptual states models all such states on perception. Typically, this simple, common-factor relational view of perceptual states has received a perfunctory dismissal on the grounds that hallucinations are nonperceptual. But I argue that the nonperceptual view of hallucinations has been accepted too quickly. I consider three observations thought to support the view, and (...) argue that all three are dealt with equally well by an alternative view, illusionism, on which hallucinations do involve perception. Since this is so, adopting a common-factor relational view of all perceptual states remains a tenable option. (shrink)

The encounter of the medieval Muslims with Greek philosophy undeniably shaped the course of their philosophical and theological thought. This encounter led to the complex and contentious issue of ‘philosophy versus theology’. Medieval Muslim thinkers needed to develop a response to the issue of philosophy versus theology. The present article will first highlight the response of the Islamic theologians to their encounter with Greek philosophy in the form of three major trends in medieval Islamic theology: (1) strong opposition to the (...) application of reason and rationalist approach to Islamic doctrines, and strict adherence to the actual text of the Qur’an and the Hadith, (2) the adoption of Greek philosophy, and the application of reason and rationalist approach to explain and defend Islamic religion and (3) acknowledging the significance of reason in exploring the matters related to the natural world but, at the same time, stressing the subordination of reason to revelation. This article will discuss Atharism, Muʿtazilism and Ashʿarism as the representatives of the first, second and third trends, respectively. The response of the medieval Islamic theologians to the issue of philosophy versus theology serves as a context in which medieval Muslim philosophers carried out their philosophy–theology debate. The article will proceed to show that some medieval Muslim philosophers, such as Abu Bakr Al-Razi, subordinated religion or revelation to philosophy or reason. Other medieval Muslim philosophers, such as Al-Ghazali, subordinated philosophy to theology. The third group of medieval Islamic philosophers represented by Alfarabi argued for the reconciliation and harmonious co-existence of philosophy and religion. Contribution: This article highlights the response of medieval Islamic theologians and philosophers to the issue of philosophy versus theology that was caused by their encounter with Greek philosophy. (shrink)

Chinua Achebe, the contemporary Nigerian novelist, is considered as one of the prominent figures in African anti-colonial literature. What makes his works specific is the way he approaches the issues of colonization of Africa in an objective manner and through an innovative language which aims at providing a pathology; a pathological reading meant to draw on the pre-colonial and colonial history without any presumptions so as to present the readers with possible alternative African discourses in future. His first novel Things (...) Fall Apart can be taken as the best representative of such a penchant in Achebe. The present study seeks to approach Things Fall apart by reflecting on those discursive features which have provided the ground for constructing such a pathological reading and an alternative to the colonial discourse. To this end, some key terms introduced by Homi Bhabha and Mikhail Bakhtin such as ‘hybridity’, ‘otherness’ and ‘polyphony’, constitute the cornerstone of this study. Presumably, such an innovative reading of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is to lead to a better understanding of his discourse and the efforts made by him to help the African readers figure out how to piece together what once fell apart; what they can rely on for building an independent future in the so-called postcolonial era. (shrink)

Although the index is one of the best known features of Peirce's theory of signs there is little appreciation of Peirce's theory of the index amongst contemporary philosophers of language. Amongst Peirce scholars, the value placed on Peirce's account is greater, but is largely based on Thomas Goudge's paper, "Peirce's Index" (Goudge, 1965). Despite marking a crucial milestone in our comprehension of Peirce's theory, our understanding of indices and indexical reference has grown markedly over the last forty years. Time has (...) now come, then, to develop the work that Goudge began and to provide a full analysis of Peirce's account that makes its value to the philosophy of language clear. I undertake this enterprise here. (shrink)

Luck (2009) argues that gamers face a dilemma when it comes to performing certain virtual acts. Most gamers regularly commit acts of virtual murder, and take these acts to be morally permissible. They are permissible because unlike real murder, no one is harmed in performing them; their only victims are computer-controlled characters, and such characters are not moral patients. What Luck points out is that this justification equally applies to virtual pedophelia, but gamers intuitively think that such acts are not (...) morally permissible. The result is a dilemma: either gamers must reject the intuition that virtual pedophelic acts are impermissible and so accept partaking in such acts, or they must reject the intuition that virtual murder acts are permissible, and so abstain from many (if not most) extant games. While the prevailing solution to this dilemma has been to try and find a morally relevant feature to distinguish the two cases, I argue that a different route should be pursued. It is neither the case that all acts of virtual murder are morally permissible, nor are all acts of virtual pedophelia impermissible. Our intuitions falter and produce this dilemma because they are not sensitive to the different contexts in which games present virtual acts. (shrink)

According to foundationalism, some beliefs are justified but do not depend for their justification on any other beliefs. According to access internalism, a subject is justified in believing some proposition only if that subject is aware of or has access to some reason to think that the proposition is true or probable. In this paper I discusses a fundamental challenge to internalist foundationalism often referred to as the Sellarsian dilemma. I consider three attempts to respond to the dilemma – phenomenal (...) conservatism, BonJour’s classical foundationalism, and Fumerton’s classical foundationalism. I argue that, of these three, only the last seems to avoid getting impaled on one or the other horn of the dilemma. I end by responding to some concerns with Fumerton’s account. (shrink)

This book discusses two of the oldest and hardest problems in both science and philosophy: What is matter?, and What is mind? A reason for tackling both problems in a single book is that two of the most influential views in modern philosophy are that the universe is mental (idealism), and that everything real is material (materialism). Most of the thinkers who espouse a materialist view of mind have obsolete ideas about matter, whereas those who claim that science supports idealism (...) have not explained how the universe could have existed before humans emerged. Besides, both groups tend to ignore the other levels of existence—chemical, biological, social, and technological. If such levels and the concomitant emergence processes are ignored, the physicalism/spiritualism dilemma remains unsolved, whereas if they are included, the alleged mysteries are shown to be problems that science is treating successfully. يناقش هذا الكتاب أقدم وأصعب مشكلتين أو سؤالين في العلم والفلسفة معا : ما المادة؟ وما العقل؟ يتناول الكتاب في نصفه الأول الأسئلة الفلسفية والعلمية المتعلقة بالمادة، ويدور نصفه الثانى حول أسئلة العقل. ويسعى الكتاب إلى إعادة توحيد المادة والعقل بمساعدة العلم المعاصر، وخاصة فيزياء الكوانتم وعلم الأعصاب الإدراكي. وفي فلسفة الفيزياء يدافع بونجى عن التصور الواقعي للمادة، وفي فلسفة العقل يدافع عن التطابق العصبي النفسي أو الهوية العصبية النفسية. إنه كتاب مهم لفيلسوف عالم، قال عنه النقاد إن قلة من الفلاسفة يستطيعون تأليف عمل مثله في عمقه واتساع أفقه الفكرى . (shrink)

In this book, John Searle brings concepts such as reality, truth, consciousness, and society from their abstract perch down to the world we all live in. He takes readers through the conceptual problems associate with basic metaphysics, the biology of the mind, the structure of consciousness, the paradox of intentionality, the nature of language and the structure of the social universe. Condemning the belief that our world is dependent on our perception of it, Searle stresses that there is a real (...) world, and discusses the ways in which philosophy can help us deal with it. In short, he takes questions apart, analyzes them and then places them together to present a "total philosophy". In Mind, Language and Society, Searle teaches us how to practice philosophy in the real world. Mind, language, society, consciousness, intentionality يسعى سيرل في هذا الكتاب إلى تفسير الظواهر الأساسية التي تلفت نظر الإنسان. وكانت الظاهرة الأولى المدهشة هي وجود الوعي في عالم مؤلف كلية من ذرات فيزيائية، والثانية هي قدرة العقل على توجيه ذاته نحو الأشياء وتمثيلها، وهي ظاهرة القصدية، والثالثة هي قدرة العقول أن تبدع واقعاً إجتماعياً موضوعياً، والرابعة هي وجود التواصل اللغوى الإنساني. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that, given the way that AI models work and the way that ordinary human rationality works, it is very likely that people are anthropomorphizing AI, with potentially serious consequences. I start with the core idea, recently defended by Thomas Kelly (2022) among others, that bias involves a systematic departure from a genuine standard or norm. I briefly discuss how bias can take on different explicit, implicit, and “truly implicit” (Johnson 2021) forms such as bias by (...) proxy. I then discuss biased anthropomorphism of technology, focusing on the case of Large Language Models (LLMs) like chatGPT. As with other kinds of bias, there are importantly different kinds of anthropomorphism, some of which can persist without others, and some of which can encourage others. Anthropomorphism can take rather subtle, implicit forms, that can be difficult to detect, resist, and dislodge. Attention to these kinds of anthropomorphism can help us avoid confusing importantly different kinds of evaluation, better assess the risks, and inform strategies for bias prevention and mitigation. (shrink)

Relative blindsight is said to occur when different levels of subjective awareness are obtained at equality of objective performance. Using metacontrast masking, Lau and Passingham reported relative blindsight in normal observers at the shorter of two stimulus-onset asynchronies between target and mask. Experiment 1 replicated the critical asymmetry in subjective awareness at equality of objective performance. We argue that this asymmetry cannot be regarded as evidence for relative blindsight because the observers’ responses were based on different attributes of the stimuli (...) at the two SOAs. With an invariant criterion content , there was no asymmetry in subjective awareness across the two SOAs even though objective performance was the same. Experiment 3 examined the effect of criterion level on estimates of relative blindsight. Collectively, the present results question whether metacontrast masking is a suitable paradigm for establishing relative blindsight. Implications for theories of consciousness are discussed. (shrink)

In medical ethics, business ethics, and some branches of political philosophy (multi-culturalism, issues of just allocation, and equitable distribution) the literature increasingly combines insights from ethics and the social sciences. Some authors in medical ethics even speak of a new phase in the history of ethics, hailing "empirical ethics" as a logical next step in the development of practical ethics after the turn to "applied ethics." The name empirical ethics is ill-chosen because of its associations with "descriptive ethics." Unlike descriptive (...) ethics, however, empirical ethics aims to be both descriptive and normative. The first question on which I focus is what kind of empirical research is used by empirical ethics and for which purposes. I argue that the ultimate aim of all empirical ethics is to improve the context-sensitivity of ethics. The second question is whether empirical ethics is essentially connected with specific positions in meta-ethics. I show that in some kinds of meta-ethical theories, which I categorize as broad contextualist theories, there is an intrinsic need for connecting normative ethics with empirical social research. But context-sensitivity is a goal that can be aimed for from any meta-ethical position. (shrink)

Debates over the reality of race often rely on arguments about the connection between race and science—those who deny that race is real argue that there is no significant support from science for our ordinary race concepts; those who affirm that race is real argue that our ordinary race concepts are supported by scientific findings. However, there is arguably a more fundamental concern here: How should we define race concepts in the first place? The reason I claim that this definitional (...) question is more fundamental is that our handling of the underlying definitional problem often determines the scientific support our ordinary race concepts need, and importantly the likelihood of finding such support. In short, the defini- tional question, “How do we define race?” often undercuts the question of whether race is scientifically meaningful. (shrink)