Philosophy of Science Commons^™

Financial Theory Has A Paradigm A La Kuhn?, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This article aims to discuss two issues relatively linked. The first is an evaluation of the concept of paradigm of T. Kuhn in his representative work: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ERC, [Ku96] and the complementary version by W. Stegmüller, Structure and dynamics of theories EDT, [Steg83]. This refined interpretation of the concept of paradigm allows for a more complete set of central Kuhnian concept. The second objective is to analyze the scope of the Kuhnian concept of models to evaluate financial explanation. Is explored preliminarily proposed fractal models / multifractal (F / M) of Mandelbrot [Mand97, 82, 02, 05]. …

Paramilitary Language In The Colombian Armed Conflict, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

The war in Colombia presents, among other characteristics, a high content of oratorical and rhetoric; the different armed actors are disputed, besides territories, the power of the public opinion, with what each violent action is usually accompanied by a discursive or symbolic justification. The present rehearsal offers an analysis of the paramilitary speech, starting from the declarations and interviews to Carlos Castaño, main boss of the selfdefenses. The paramilitary rhetoric is studied here from the theory of the speech acts of Austin-Searle, the theory of the argument of Chaïm Perelman, and the recent works has more than enough Metaphors of …

Uses Of Arguments And Negotiation, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

In the recent literature on conflict resolution tends to underline negotiation model based on the argument or dialogue. Exchange between different styles of argument some trends have emerged in the rhetoric applied to the law, especially in procedural law. During the last decade researchers have recognized the value of the argument to understand various problems of jurisprudence in cases of conflict and strife. This paper proposes a complementary design to the analysis of the negotiation process based on debate and dialogue. It advocates a theory of argumentation in negotiation processes for instances where rational agents use strategies unpredictable with incomplete …

The Names Of The Leviathan, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This book is designed to offer an interpretation of armed conflict in Colombia using analytical tools from the philosophy of language (Perelman, Lakoff Facounnier). It addresses the civil war in Colombia taking into account the work of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan

The Ontological Status Of Systems At The Juncture Of Quantum Mechanics And Relativity, Juan Ferret

Juan Ferret

No abstract provided.

Ontological Status Of Relational Quantum Mechanics, Juan Ferret

Juan Ferret

No abstract provided.

Equations Without Equations: Challenges On A Way To A More Adequate Formalization Of Causality Reasoning In Physics, Juan Ferret

Juan Ferret

No abstract provided.

God And Time: Relative Timelessness Reconsidered, Alan G. Padgett

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Identical Rivals Response To Underdetermination, P.D. Magnus, Greg Frost-Arnold

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

The underdetermination of theory by data obtains when, inescapably, evidence is insufficient to allow scientists to decide responsibly between rival theories. One response to would-be underdetermination is to deny that the rival theories are distinct theories at all, insisting instead that they are just different formulations of the same underlying theory; we call this the identical rivals response. An argument adapted from John Norton suggests that the response is presumptively always appropriate, while another from Larry Laudan and Jarrett Leplin suggests that the response is never appropriate. Arguments from Einstein for the special and general theories of relativity may …

Dispositions, Propensities And The Change Of Conditions, Alejandra Olivas-Davila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to draw a clear line that allows us to thoroughly differentiate dispositions from propensities as well as the big problem that clouds both views. I will attempt to offer an account of the main issues that this properties face. I start by offering a general account of dispositions. In this account I offer a brief analysis of what it is to be a disposition. The distinction between categorical and dispositional property is explored. I move on to explain the evolution of the conditional analysis, as well as the problems it faces. The next point …

On Relational Quantum Mechanics, Oscar Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A problem facing quantum mechanics is that there are a number of views or interpretations available that purport to 'explain' quantum mechanics. In this paper I discuss and analyze the view of relational quantum mechanics by Carlo Rovelli in the context of theoretical underdetermination. I will show that even though Rovelli offers a view that consolidates some of the aspects of competing theories it still falls short of breaking out of the theoretical underdetermination. The criteria that I have used to consider a theory successful in this context is one that increases the predictive output of quantum theory. Lacking an …

Late Pragmatism, Logical Positivism, And Their Aftermath, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Developments in Anglo-American philosophy during the first half of the 20^th Century closely tracked developments that were occurring in continental philosophy during this period. This should not surprise us. Aside from the fertile communication between these ostensibly separate traditions, both were responding to problems associated with the rise of mass society. Rabid nationalism, corporate statism, and totalitarianism (Left and Right) posed a profound challenge to the idealistic rationalism of neo-Kantian and neo-Hegelian philosophies. The decline of the individual – classically conceived by the 18th-century Enlightenment as a self-determining agent – provoked strong reactions. While some philosophical tendencies sought to …

Quantum Mechanics And Ethical Antirealism: A Counter-Analogy To Boyd, Justin Lawson

Philosophy

In his paper How to Be a Moral Realist Boyd attempts to show how cases of ethical indeterminacy can be accounted for from an ethical realist’s standpoint. Boyd describes cases of extensional vagueness in the life-sciences which arise from knowable and definite underlying structures and draws an analogy to ethics to argue his case. This paper argues that an equally compelling analogy can be drawn between another type of scientific indeterminacy – that in quantum mechanics – and the related ethical cases. Because quantum mechanical uncertainty (on the Copenhagen interpretation) is a real and not merely epistemic limitation on physical …

Mechanisms (Oxford), Stuart Glennan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Mechanism is undoubtedly a causal concept, in the sense that ordinary definitions and philosophical analyses explicate the concept in terms of other causal concepts such as production and interaction. Given this fact, many philosophers have supposed that analyses of the concept of mechanism, while they might appeal to philosophical theories about the nature of causation, could do little to inform such theories. On the other hand, methods of causal inference and explanation appeal to mechanisms. Discovering a mechanism is the gold standard for establishing and explaining causal connections. This fact suggests that it might be possible to provide an analysis …

Aristotle On Pure And Simple Stuff, Tiberiu Popa

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A view that has been entertained traditionally by Aristotelian scholars is that the four simple bodies in the sublunary world (earth, water, air, and fire) cannot exist independently; a consequence of this view is the general belief that all homoeomers or uniform bodies have to be compounds. i would like to suggest that, while Aristotle consistently maintains that the four basic opposites (hot, cold, moist, dry) cannot exist independently, this is not always the case with the four simple bodies. My central claim is that Meteorology IV – Aristotle’s ‘chemical treatise’ – provides evidence that, contrary to the traditional interpretation …

Mechanisms, Causes, And The Layered Model Of The World, Stuart Glennan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Most philosophical accounts of causation take causal relations to obtain between individuals and events in virtue of nomological relations between properties of these individuals and events. Such views fail to take into account the consequences of the fact that in general the properties of individuals and events will depend upon mechanisms that realize those properties. In this paper I attempt to rectify this failure, and in so doing to provide an account of the causal relevance of higher-level properties. I do this by critiquing one prominent model of higher-level properties – Kim’s functional model of reduction – and contrasting it …

La « Technesthétique » : Répétition, Habitude Et Dispositif Technique Dans Les Arts Romantiques, John Tresch

Departmental Papers (HSS)

Français

En 1843, le physicien André-Marie Ampère décrit une nouvelle science, la « technesthétique », qui porte sur les « moyens par lesquels l’homme agit sur l’intelligence ou la volonté des autres hommes ». Cette nouvelle science correspond à la recherche des artistes romantiques pour des nouveaux effets et à leur fascination pour la puissance transformatrice de l’industrie. Comme une traduction théorique de ces obsessions, les lecteurs « mineurs » du philosophe Maine de Biran – y compris Ampère, Alexandre Bertrand, Moreau du Tours et Félix Ravaisson – ont avancé des analyses des interactions dynamiques entre le mouvement et la …

Darwinian Populations And Natural Selection, Grant Ramsey, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Edwin Siu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The American Grotesque: Free-Thought Idealism In Edward Bliss Foote's "Science In Story", Lita M. Tirak

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

A Planet By Any Other Name . . ., Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

Scientific discoveries about Pluto and the rest of the universe led scientists to question Pluto’s status and ultimately to strip Pluto of its standing among planets. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s The Pluto Files masterfully weaves together the empirical, conceptual, and cultural questions surrounding Pluto’s demotion. The problem, for scientists and spectators alike, was this: there was no scientific definition of planet. This review systematizes the Pluto puzzle presented in the book and reveals its relevance for law. The questions presented by The Pluto Files – how man relates to the world, how man understands its conceptual categories, and how man …