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Philosophies, Volume 10, Issue 1 (February 2025) – 16 articles

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16 pages, 1092 KiB  
Article
Symmetric Instruction Machines and Symmetric Turing Machines
by Mark Burgin and Marcin J. Schroeder
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010016 - 27 Jan 2025
Abstract
Symmetric instruction machines (SIAs) and symmetric Turing machines (STMs) are models of computation involving concepts derived from those of classical Turing machines such as tape (memory) and head (processor), but with different functional and structural characteristics. The former model (SIAs) introduced in this [...] Read more.
Symmetric instruction machines (SIAs) and symmetric Turing machines (STMs) are models of computation involving concepts derived from those of classical Turing machines such as tape (memory) and head (processor), but with different functional and structural characteristics. The former model (SIAs) introduced in this paper and preferred by Mark Burgin is a result of a reformulation of the latter model (STMs) published in several articles by the second author in the past. The properties of both models are analyzed and compared. The word “symmetric” in both cases represents the feature of the design which is distinct from classical Turing machines where only cells on the tape change under the action of the head. In both models, symmetric computing involves changes of the tape and parallel (“symmetric”) changes of instructions listed in the head. The key difference between SIAs and STMs is in the dynamic of the changes, which in the former model has the form of compound one-way actions and in the latter model, it has the form of uniform mutual interactions, which only in specific realizations can be separated into a pair of actions. Because of the untimely passing of Mark Burgin, the discussion of the two models and cooperation on the paper has never been finished. For this reason, the arguments of both authors are reported even though, in some cases, they are mutually inconsistent or even contradictory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue in Memory of Professor Mark Burgin)
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21 pages, 238 KiB  
Article
A Critical Analysis of Dreyfus’s Background Knowledge
by Aydan Turanli
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010015 - 24 Jan 2025
Viewed by 293
Abstract
The role of background knowledge in human intelligence, knowledge, and consciousness has been a topic of discussion among several philosophers, including Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Searle, Martin Heidegger, and Hubert Dreyfus. Hubert Dreyfus criticizes what he calls the mediational approach and offers the contact [...] Read more.
The role of background knowledge in human intelligence, knowledge, and consciousness has been a topic of discussion among several philosophers, including Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Searle, Martin Heidegger, and Hubert Dreyfus. Hubert Dreyfus criticizes what he calls the mediational approach and offers the contact theory to clarify the concept within his theoretical framework. In alignment with Heidegger’s existential phenomenological perspective, he posits that our contact and our embodied coping with the world constitute a background by which we become acquainted with preunderstanding that encompasses both prelinguistic and pre-propositional understandings. In this article, Dreyfus’s analysis of background knowledge is criticized by focusing on his latest writings. It is argued that, although Dreyfus claims to be defending horizontal foundationalism rather than vertical foundationalism, he primarily emphasizes the foundational nonlinguistic role of motor intentionality in absorbed coping. Furthermore, it is asserted that nonlinguistic embodied coping alone cannot provide the basis for linguistic communication and a humanly way of understanding. Rather than serving as a foundation, embodied coping is more appropriately situated within a linguistic context, because we perform deeds with words. Full article
17 pages, 326 KiB  
Article
Marsilio Ficino and the Soul: Doctrinal and Argumentative Remarks Regarding His Use of the Elements of Physics and the Elements of Theology
by Sokratis-Athanasios Kiosoglou
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010014 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 376
Abstract
The depth and extent of Ficino’s reception and use of Proclus has already attracted much scholarly attention. The present paper builds on and tries to enrich these results, focusing specifically on Ficino’s reception of Proclus’ Elements of Physics and Elements of Theology. [...] Read more.
The depth and extent of Ficino’s reception and use of Proclus has already attracted much scholarly attention. The present paper builds on and tries to enrich these results, focusing specifically on Ficino’s reception of Proclus’ Elements of Physics and Elements of Theology. In the first part I discuss a marginal annotation of Ficino, in which he makes use of arguments about the circular motion of the soul from the Elements of Physics. I provide some clarifications about the annotated text (of Plotinus) and propose one additional possible echo of the Elements of Physics in Ficino’s Platonic Theology and its arguments about the immortality of the soul. The second part of the paper turns to the link between the Elements of Theology and Ficino’s Platonic Theology. Together with some further doctrinal borrowings I suggest that also the structure of the two works bears important affinities. The soul is a central case in point. To ground this claim, I compare specific sections of the two texts. Also, I selectively examine Ficino’s commentary on the Philebus, which is prior to the Platonic Theology and is strongly influenced by the early theorems of the Elements of Theology. Overall, the paper wishes to shed further light on Ficino’s multiform (and not yet fully unveiled) appropriation of Proclus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
11 pages, 232 KiB  
Article
Performance Art in the Age of Extinction
by Gregorio Tenti
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010013 - 20 Jan 2025
Viewed by 322
Abstract
This paper aims to map out the transformations in contemporary performance art during the current ‘age of extinction’. The first section extends Claire Bishop’s notion of “delegated performance” in order to categorize a turn towards the inclusion of other-than-human entities in the performance [...] Read more.
This paper aims to map out the transformations in contemporary performance art during the current ‘age of extinction’. The first section extends Claire Bishop’s notion of “delegated performance” in order to categorize a turn towards the inclusion of other-than-human entities in the performance field. This operation leads to the concept of ‘performative animism’, referring to the strategies of re-animation of reality through artistic performance. The second section works out the idea of ‘planetarization’ of the performance field, which designates its opening to spatial and temporal fluxes coming from a dimension that overcomes the scale of human experience, that is, the planetary dimension. The third and final section interprets the meaning of these two transformations by introducing the concepts of ‘exbodiment’ and ‘excarnation’, which tie closely to a new political task for performance art. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Aesthetics of the Performing Arts in the Contemporary Landscape)
18 pages, 553 KiB  
Article
The Primal Scream: Re-Reading the “Temporality” Chapter of Phenomenology of Perception in the Context of Negative Philosophy
by Keith Whitmoyer
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010012 - 18 Jan 2025
Viewed by 562
Abstract
Merleau-Ponty’s specific theory of negation has received surprisingly little attention within the literature. Given his engagement with Sartre, not to mention Hegel and Marx, one would think that this concept and its surrounding issues and problems would occupy a more central place within [...] Read more.
Merleau-Ponty’s specific theory of negation has received surprisingly little attention within the literature. Given his engagement with Sartre, not to mention Hegel and Marx, one would think that this concept and its surrounding issues and problems would occupy a more central place within various readings and interpretations. This essay attempts to give some indications of how to think about a Merleau-Pontian theory of negativity specifically. By re-reading the “Temporality” chapter from Phenomenology of Perception in dialogue with later writings and lectures, I propose a theory of “integration” and “disintegration” of temporal passage in place of a dialectic of pure being and nothingness. This theory organizes various themes in Merleau-Ponty’s work, including sense-genesis and his references to the “scream of light”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Merleau-Ponty and Rereading the Phenomenology of Perception)
20 pages, 271 KiB  
Article
Aesthetic Habits in Performing Arts
by Alessandro Bertinetto
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010011 - 17 Jan 2025
Viewed by 322
Abstract
This article explores the connection between habits and the performing arts, arguing that habits are not only fundamental to the practice and appreciation of these arts but also inherently performative in nature. Drawing on insights from various philosophical traditions (including cognitive science, pragmatism, [...] Read more.
This article explores the connection between habits and the performing arts, arguing that habits are not only fundamental to the practice and appreciation of these arts but also inherently performative in nature. Drawing on insights from various philosophical traditions (including cognitive science, pragmatism, and phenomenology), it examines how habits function within artistic processes as resources for creativity and adaptation. Engaging critically with Noë’s interpretation of the entanglement between art and life, this article highlights the dual nature of habits: as routine practices that scaffold artistic expression and as dynamic, transformative elements responsive to specific cultural and performative contexts. By focusing on key notions such as gesture, style, and rituality in the performing arts, this article discusses the role of habits in aesthetic experiences, highlighting how habits shape both artistic performances and audience engagement. This perspective challenges traditional views that oppose habits to creativity, defending instead the idea that habits are creatively operative in both the performing arts and their reception. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Aesthetics of the Performing Arts in the Contemporary Landscape)
15 pages, 204 KiB  
Article
What Is Courageous About Courageous Conversations? Inter-Group Dialogue and the White Problem
by Thunder Storm Heter
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010010 - 17 Jan 2025
Viewed by 381
Abstract
This essay examines how university inter-group dialogue programs function, arguing that a common dynamic in dialogues about race is that members from privileged, majority groups (e.g., white, cis-het males) turn to members of so-called “minority” groups to disclose personal experiences. This paper examines [...] Read more.
This essay examines how university inter-group dialogue programs function, arguing that a common dynamic in dialogues about race is that members from privileged, majority groups (e.g., white, cis-het males) turn to members of so-called “minority” groups to disclose personal experiences. This paper examines four dialogue models and describes preliminary data from the Diversity Dialogue Project, a unique social justice dialogue program at a state university in Pennsylvania. Creating all-White groups where participants can probe the White problem may prevent burdening people of color with the role of educator. Campus dialogue programs that emphasize the need to be courageous when talking about race may unintentionally entrench White power. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Communicative Philosophy)
22 pages, 303 KiB  
Article
Musical Expression: From Language to Music and Back
by Eran Guter
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010009 - 14 Jan 2025
Viewed by 645
Abstract
The discourse concerning musical expression hinges on a fundamental analogy between music and language. While the extant literature commonly compares music to language, this essay takes the reverse direction, following Wittgenstein’s approach. The discussion contrasts the theoretical underpinnings of the “music as language” [...] Read more.
The discourse concerning musical expression hinges on a fundamental analogy between music and language. While the extant literature commonly compares music to language, this essay takes the reverse direction, following Wittgenstein’s approach. The discussion contrasts the theoretical underpinnings of the “music as language” simile with those of the “language as music” simile. The emphasis on characterization, performance, mutual tuning-in relationships, the interaction between language and music, and the open-ended effort to reorient ourselves as we draw in significance challenges the “informing paradigm” that has been paramount across contemporary philosophical theories of musical expression. One of the most promising philosophical avenues that emerges as we move beyond the “informing paradigm” is recognizing the inseparable relationship between musical expression and our power to shape our own language. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Aesthetics of the Performing Arts in the Contemporary Landscape)
1 pages, 123 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Pezzano, G. The Medium Is the (Discriminatory) Message: The Medial Epistemic Injustices of Philosophy. Philosophies 2024, 9, 169
by Giacomo Pezzano
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010008 - 14 Jan 2025
Viewed by 229
Abstract
The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...] Full article
22 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Skepticism and Virtue Epistemology: Wittgenstein and Sosa
by Michael Willliams
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010007 - 12 Jan 2025
Viewed by 497
Abstract
Ernest Sosa has long been a leading advocate of a virtue-theoretic approach to the traditional problems of epistemology. However, in a recent book his thoughts take a striking new turn. Appealing to our epistemic competencies, he argues, will not suffice to meet the [...] Read more.
Ernest Sosa has long been a leading advocate of a virtue-theoretic approach to the traditional problems of epistemology. However, in a recent book his thoughts take a striking new turn. Appealing to our epistemic competencies, he argues, will not suffice to meet the skeptical challenge to our claim to have knowledge of the world around us. We must recognize that our epistemic competencies are exercised against a background of “proper default assumptions”: commitments concerning the world and our place in it that we cannot justify but can rely on without incurring epistemic fault. Sosa finds anticipations of this idea in Wittgenstein’s appeal to propositions “hinge” propositions which, though not known, “stand fast”. However, mere fast-standing beliefs, “unhinged from any broader virtue epistemology”, cannot explain how we come to have knowledge of a world whose character is independent of what we happen to think about it. I argue that the claim that our everyday knowledge of the world rests on a body of assumptions is a serious concession to skepticism, which Wittgenstein shows we need not make. Hinge propositions are not mere “standfast” beliefs: they are known with certainty. Wittgenstein offers a way of thinking about knowledge that Sosa does not consider. He also poses a challenge to commonly held views about how epistemology, to the extent that there is such a subject, should be pursued. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Between Virtue and Epistemology)
12 pages, 197 KiB  
Article
Whom Do I Love When I Love Myself? The Challenge of Narcissism
by Joseph Rivera
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010006 - 12 Jan 2025
Viewed by 555
Abstract
A central question within contemporary debates about the structure of self-love concerns the place and status of the other. Is self-love identical to, or at least vulnerable to, the accusation of self-absorption and narcissism? Whereas contemporary critiques of self-love argue self-love is in [...] Read more.
A central question within contemporary debates about the structure of self-love concerns the place and status of the other. Is self-love identical to, or at least vulnerable to, the accusation of self-absorption and narcissism? Whereas contemporary critiques of self-love argue self-love is in principle impossible, the present essay suggests that self-love can be integrated with the love of the other at an a priori level. This material a priori, distinct from the Kantian formal a priori, entails resources such as commitment to myself, to the other, and to us as relational unit, as well as to the enforcement of boundaries that protects against acts of injury and abuse instigated against that relational unit; I suggest such resources overcome the charge of narcissism levelled at the very idea of self-love. Prior to that, a brief contextual discussion of key moves about philosophical anthropology, focused on the concept of the monad in Leibniz, Husserl and its extreme repudiation in Jean-Luc Marion, is to be addressed. Finally I assess the intimate relationship between self-love and the love of the other inspired in large part by Augustine’s anthropology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Philosophies of Love)
14 pages, 208 KiB  
Article
Social Media, Informed Consent, and the Harm Principle
by Charles Foster
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010005 - 11 Jan 2025
Viewed by 2079
Abstract
This article examines whether social media users can validly consent to their own use of social media. It argues that, whether or not social media use is analogous to public health interventions, there is an obligation to provide users with information about risks [...] Read more.
This article examines whether social media users can validly consent to their own use of social media. It argues that, whether or not social media use is analogous to public health interventions, there is an obligation to provide users with information about risks and benefits, and absent that provision, there is no valid consent. Many or most users, in any event, do not have the capacity to consent, according to the criteria for capacity articulated in the ‘four abilities’ model: the ability to express a choice, the ability to understand the facts pertinent to the decision in question, the ability of a subject to believe that the information applies to them, and the ability to reason—in the sense of being able to consider and weigh (with reference to the patient’s own concerns, circumstances, and values) the main possible outcomes of the decision to opt for the intervention and the decision to opt not to undergo it. Even if an individual social media user is capacitous according to these criteria, many will fail to be judged capacitous if (as it is argued should be the case), a further criterion, identified by Jennifer Hawkins must be satisfied, namely that the individual can look after their own interests at least as well as most other people can. It follows from this consideration that not only can regulation of social media (in the form of a ban) be justified under Mill’s harm principle, but that non-regulation cannot be justified. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Ethics of Modern and Emerging Technology)
10 pages, 188 KiB  
Article
Epistemic Goals of Scientific Inquiry: An Explanation Through Virtue Epistemology
by Mikhail Khort
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010004 - 9 Jan 2025
Viewed by 594
Abstract
The paper examines the integration of virtue epistemology into the philosophy of science, emphasizing its potential to deepen our understanding of scientific inquiry. The article begins by considering the limitations of traditional epistemological frameworks that focus on beliefs. The discussion is set in [...] Read more.
The paper examines the integration of virtue epistemology into the philosophy of science, emphasizing its potential to deepen our understanding of scientific inquiry. The article begins by considering the limitations of traditional epistemological frameworks that focus on beliefs. The discussion is set in the context of the “value turn” in contemporary epistemology. Arguments are made to move towards recognizing the significance of intellectual virtues and the nature of epistemic agents. The current gaps in definitions of intellectual virtues about reliabilist and responsibilist approaches are examined and conceptual steps are proposed to bridge these gaps. It is suggested that the local and general epistemic goals of science should be clearly distinguished and then different ways of knowing should be attributed to these goals. These ways of knowing are proposed to be seen as exemplifying the realization of reliable skills and intellectual character traits. In sum, the article argues that adopting a virtue epistemology not only enriches the discourse on scientific knowledge but also promotes a culture of responsibility and integrity in the scientific community. Full article
16 pages, 254 KiB  
Article
Healing Schneider: On Merleau-Ponty’s Ethical System of Play
by Frank Chouraqui
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010003 - 8 Jan 2025
Viewed by 508
Abstract
The recent publication of Merleau-Ponty’s work from the late Forties contributes valuable material for those interested in reconstructing a specifically Merleau-Pontian theory of value. In this paper, I examine how, in these texts, Merleau-Ponty’s political concerns show themselves to expand upon the famous [...] Read more.
The recent publication of Merleau-Ponty’s work from the late Forties contributes valuable material for those interested in reconstructing a specifically Merleau-Pontian theory of value. In this paper, I examine how, in these texts, Merleau-Ponty’s political concerns show themselves to expand upon the famous analysis of the case of Schneider in Phenomenology of Perception. This retroactively offers an opportunity for a normative reading of the case of Schneider and for identifying Merleau-Ponty’s practical philosophy as concerned with preventing and healing agnosia in politics and ethics. On the basis of this negative hypothesis—that the ethical project is to oppose agnosia—it becomes possible to formulate a positive ethics. There, the unpublished texts also expand upon the Phenomenology of Perception: they propose a humanism which relies on the notion of hermeneutic freedom as the chief practical virtue and elaborate, somewhat unexpectedly, an analysis of play as the existential attitude that corresponds to this virtue. I conclude with a meta-ethical assessment of the merits of this ethical construction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Merleau-Ponty and Rereading the Phenomenology of Perception)
25 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
The Legal–Digital Metamorphosis of the Individual
by Roger Campione
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010002 - 2 Jan 2025
Viewed by 596
Abstract
There is a hard relationship between law and techno-science; two powers that shape reality. In principle, these powers shape reality by acting as two poles of a battery, i.e., endowed with opposite charges: techno-science is a mechanism for overcoming the limits that human [...] Read more.
There is a hard relationship between law and techno-science; two powers that shape reality. In principle, these powers shape reality by acting as two poles of a battery, i.e., endowed with opposite charges: techno-science is a mechanism for overcoming the limits that human beings encounter in their relationship with nature; law, on the other hand, reveals its face by imposing limits on human action, which, by nature, is free of certain bonds. From a general point of view, certain unavoidable normative requirements seem clear in the effort to regulate new technological applications. Artificial intelligence poses new questions for legal theory and tests both the responsiveness of the system and the traditional and current conceptual categories. The challenge stems from the need to adapt the law, through normative or hermeneutic evolution, to a reality that is changing at a frenetic pace and with unpredictable mutations. All attempts to regulate AI to date have declared that scientific innovation must be brought within the framework of human rights. However, there is a question, rather a more general, I would even say preliminary, challenge to be faced without epistemic prejudice: do the applications of AI in any way affect the very meaning of the human? AI has a huge potential to improve the human condition (provided we can clarify what ’improve’ means) but, at the same time, increases, in terms of rights, unforeseen and unforeseeable challenges for existing treaties. This is due not only to the crisis of the legal dimension but also to the fact that its impact influences the notion of what we have hitherto conventionally considered as human beings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Ethics of Modern and Emerging Technology)
28 pages, 3063 KiB  
Article
Modeling Innovations: Levels of Complexity in the Discovery of Novel Scientific Methods
by José Ferraz-Caetano
Philosophies 2025, 10(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10010001 - 31 Dec 2024
Viewed by 519
Abstract
Scientists often disagree on the best theory to describe a scientific event. While such debates are a natural part of healthy scientific discourse, the timeframe for scientists to converge on an ideal method may not always align with real-life knowledge dynamics. In this [...] Read more.
Scientists often disagree on the best theory to describe a scientific event. While such debates are a natural part of healthy scientific discourse, the timeframe for scientists to converge on an ideal method may not always align with real-life knowledge dynamics. In this article, I use an event from the history of chemistry as inspiration to develop Agent-Based Models of epistemic networks, exploring method selection within a scientific community. These models reveal several situations where incorrect, simpler methods can persist, even when substantial evidence supports a more complex method. This becomes particularly evident when different evidence-sharing timeframes are analyzed. The network structure connecting the scientists plays a crucial role in determining how and when convergence on the correct method is achieved, guided by real-world evidence. This framework provides a foundation for further exploration of scientists’ behavior in past and future discoveries, as well as how agents internalize scientific information. Full article
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