Abraomas Kulvietis Italijoje ir Lietuvoje

Author(s): Dainora Pociūtė-Abukevičienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 44/2005

Although the early biographies and reconstructions of the activity of Abraomas Kulvietis (about 1510–1545), the pioneer of Lithuanian Reformation, were written in the 16th century (i.e. Oratio funebris by Ioannes Hopius, published in Königsberg in 1547, and the biographical outline of Ioannes Wigandus, written in 1582–1587), there still remain many unconfirmed facts in Kulvietis’ biography. Oratio funebris by I.Hopius mentions the trip to Italy and the law studies at the University of Siena as an important event of Kulvietis’ intellectual biography. Nevertheless, no documents on A.Kulvietis’ studies at the University of Siena as well as on the date and range of his studies were known to the representatives of the Lithuanian reformation historiography. The facts about Kulvietis’ return from Italy in 1539 and the founding of the first private protestant college in Vilnius in 1539–1540 were universally accepted as real. The article presents a document on the doctorate of A.Kulvietis at the University of Siena. It is an entry about Kulvietis’ doctorate in the 16th doctorate record book of the University of Siena which is preserved in the Archivio Arcivescovile di Siena (Archibishopric Archive of Siena).

Humanitarų dienos

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 44/2005

Prieš dešimtį metų, 1995 m. rudenį, Vytauto Didžiojo universitete buvo įkurtas Letonikos centras, apibendrinęs iki tol tarp Kauno ir Latvijos filologų užsimezgusius šiltus santykius. Centro jubiliejaus pažymėjimui pasirinkome simbolinę datą – lapkričio 18-ą. Jau tradicija tapęs šios Latvijai reikšmingos dienos, kurią prieš 87 metus buvo paskelbta nepriklausoma Latvijos Respublika, šventimas buvo labai džiugus – ir ne tik dėl universiteto sienas sudrebinusių Rygos chorų „Frachori“ ir „Anima“ balsų. Kartu su VDU bibliotekos darbuotojomis rengdami Latvijos nepriklausomybės dienai ir centro veiklai skirtą parodą, staiga pasijutome turtingi.

Prievarta ar apaštalavimas? Misijos ir kryžiaus karai prieš baltus

Author(s): Marius Ščavinskas / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 44/2005

In historiography, the terms military/coercive missions and Crusades are evaluated as synonyms, although in their definitional senses these concepts are different and vary in degrees. The so-called military/ coercive missions are not part of the history of war, which cannot be said of the Crusades. The Crusades were carried out by the crusaders who were often called the pilgrims. However, such labeling is part of war rhetoric which attempted to elevate them to the level of Christ. The fact that from the beginning of the 12th century to the 14th century missions and conquests on the Eastern shore of the Baltic sea were contemporaneous, allowed many researchers to speak of military/coercive missions, although as it became clear, there were also certain coercive elements in the earlier missions, which till then were labeled as peaceful. (These coercive elements are mentioned by the chroniclers Thietmar of Merseburg (beginning of the 11th century), Helmold of Bosau (middle of the 12th century), Henry of Livonia (Henricus de Lettis) (beginning of the 13th century), the historiographies of St. Brunon of Querfurt (beginning of the 11th century), st. Otton of Bamberg (12th century)). With this consideration it becomes clearer that war was one of many means of coercion against pagan Balts (and also against the pagan Slavs of Palabis); thus the coercion itself does not determine the nature of military missions. Therefore a question can be raised: is it fruitful to distinguish wars from missions?

The Philosophy of Robert Nozick

Author(s): Carla Bagnoli / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Optional Stops, Foregone Conclusions, and the Value of Argument

Author(s): Catherine Z. Elgin / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

If the point of argument is to produce conviction, an argument for a foregone conclusion is pointless. I maintain, however, that an argument makes a variety of cognitive contributions, even when its conclusion is already believed. It exhibits warrant. It affords reasons that we can impart to others. It identifies bases for agreement among parties who otherwise disagree. It underwrites confidence, by showing how vulnerable warrant is under changes in background assumptions. Multiple arguments for the same conclusion show how our beliefs hang together.

The Ontological Meta–Argument (and the Ontological Argument for the Actuality of the World)

Author(s): Elijah Millgram / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Would the Ontological Argument Greater Than Which None Can Be Conceived prove the existence of God? Might an ontological argument prove the actuality of the world (as Robert Nozick once suggested)? Should you believe that you’re actual, even if you’re not? And what happens if we attempt to answer these questions, having adopted Nozick’s mature view of the function of argument?

Skepticism, Sensitivity, and Closure, or Why the Closure Principle is Irrelevant to External World Skepticism

Author(s): Adam Leite / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Is there a plausible argument for external world skepticism? Robert Nozick’s well–known discussion focuses upon arguments which utilize the Sensitivity Requirement and the Closure Principle. Nozick claims, correctly, that no such argument succeeds. But he gets almost all the details wrong. The Sensitivity Requirement and the Closure Principle are compatible; the Sensitivity Requirement is incorrect; and even if true, the Closure Principle is structurally incapable of generating a plausible and valid global skeptical argument. It is therefore a mistake to take the Closure Principle as central in discussions of skepticism. The paper concludes by examining the prospects for a plausible skeptical argument.Is there a plausible argument for external world skepticism? Robert Nozick’s well–known discussion focuses upon arguments which utilize the Sensitivity Requirement and the Closure Principle. Nozick claims, correctly, that no such argument succeeds. But he gets almost all the details wrong. The Sensitivity Requirement and the Closure Principle are compatible; the Sensitivity Requirement is incorrect; and even if true, the Closure Principle is structurally incapable of generating a plausible and valid global skeptical argument. It is therefore a mistake to take the Closure Principle as central in discussions of skepticism. The paper concludes by examining the prospects for a plausible skeptical argument.

The Closest Continuer View Revisited

Author(s): Marc Slors / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Many theories of personal identity allow for the metaphysical possibility of fission. In 1981 Nozick proposed a theory of personal identity called ‘the closest continuer view’ (CCV) that denies fission in the case of persons but allows fisson in the case of human beings. CCV may thus appear to reduce ‘person’ to a nonmetaphysical, practical notion. Against this I argue that CCV is an externalist metaphysical theory that purports to solve a problem that is insurmountable within the confines of an internalist metaphysics of personal identity.

Nozickian Epistemology and the Question of Closure

Author(s): Jonathan Kvanvig / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Nozick’s contribution to the epistemology of the last half of the twentieth century includes addressing the question of whether knowledge is closed under known implication. I argue that the question of closure provides a serious obstacle to Nozickian approaches to epistemology.

Rational Animals

Author(s): Ronald De Sousa / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

I begin with a rather unpromising dispute that Nozick once had with Ian Hacking in the pages of the London Review of Books, in which both vied with one another in their enthusiasm to repudiate the thesis that some human people or peoples are closer than others to animality. I shall attempt to show that one can build, on the basis of Nozick’s discussion of rationality, a defense of the view that the capacity for language places human rationality out of reach of a comparison with animals. The difference rests, paradoxi–cally, on the human capacity for irrationality. Irrationality depends on the capacity for language, which allows the detachment of explicit thoughts from their underlying dynamic implementation; these, in turn, condition the essential disputability of principles of rationality. That is what places every human potentially—if not actually—on the other side of an unbridge–able gulf that separates us from other animals.

Alan Bailey, Sextus Empiricus and Pyrrhonean Scepticism

Author(s): Filip Grgić / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2004

Problema identităţii la Aristotel

Author(s): Gheorghe Ştefanov / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/1995

This paper is intended to provide a short analysis of the consistency between the definition of the identity and the use of the concept in some Aristotelian works (Metaphysics, Physics, Organon). It is shown that this kind of proceeding may reveal new interesting things about Aristotle's conception. Some local interpretations are proposed just in order to illustrate how the concept of identity, as defined by Aristotle himself, works in completely different topics (logical and ontological as well) whose treatment can be easily understood this way. An alternative manner of giving an account of Aristotle's conception about identity is suggested in the end of the paper.

Aspecte ale problemei identităţii în filosofia lui Nietzsche

Author(s): Camil Ungureanu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/1995

Premièrement, l'article poursuit de près la révolte nietzschéenne contre une pensée essentiellement fondée sur les identités, pensée qui se développe dans une étroite liaison avec l'apparition du langage, qui est fixation arbitraire d'identités. Secondement, on a essayé de montrer que, selon la doctrine de „l'éternel retour de l'identique chez Nietzsche, ce qui revient n'est pas le même, l'identique, mais au contraire, c'est la diversité comme telle, la différence.

Omul potenţial la Platon

Author(s): Cornelius Grupen / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/1995

In this paper, I will show how Plato answers the ‘paradox of inquiry’ given in Meno 80d, using the concept of a theory of recollection. In the middle part, it is argued that the scope of what Plato means by recollection exceeds that of “logically primitive propositions” (Gregory Vlastos), viz. that complex matters such as the absolute truth about virtue are expected to be accessible to recollection, and what needs to be presupposed about the nature of our former knowledge to render this possible. Both on the way and in a concluding section I will demonstrate how this theory of gradual self-discovery makes Plato’s concept of the soul that of a potential person, and that this approach contains a genuine appeal to unveil the hidden parts of one’s self tirelessly.

Identitatea eului

Author(s): Florin Vlădoi / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/1995

In this paper I will present Nozick's closest continuer theory of personal identity. In the first part, which can be considered as an introduction, I will discuss about his method and about his view on philosophy and I will explain why he thinks that we must prefer the philosophical goal of explanation instead of proof. In the second part, I will present the closest continuer theory, which is formulated by Nozick as a schema that rules our judgments about identity over time, holding that y at t2 is the same individual as x at t1 if and only if, firstly, y's proprieties at t2 stem from or are causally dependent on x's proprieties at t1 and, secondly, there is no other z at t2 that stands in a closer (or as close) relation to x at t1 than y at t2 does. For the closest continuer theory is merely a schema, we need a theory of the self to explain how this schema can be applied to the particular case of personal identity. I will discuss about this problem in the last part of my paper where I present the self-synthesizing view of the self.

Identitate şi identificare în Eneade

Author(s): Ioan Lucian Muntean / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/1995

La sélection des fragments d’Enneades traduits ci-dessous en roumain a eu pour critère les thèmes de l’identité, en tant que „catégorie“ de la matière et du „Nous“, de l'identification sujet/objet de la connaissance et de l'identification „âme de l’univers“/„âme individuelle“. Dans la première partie on prend en considération les degrés de l'identité et de l’altérité chez Plotin en y remarquant une dégradation progressive de l’identité: ainsi, la propriété de la matière „de ne pas sortir d’elle même“ est-elle le degré inférieur de l’identité; même si l’âme possède plus d’identité que la matière, seulement dans le „Nous“ se trouve une identité absolue. Une deuxième partie est réservée à l’analyse des hypothèses de F. Heinemann, G. Nebel, K.-H. Volkmann Schluck et O. Langer; de même, on discute ici l'interprétation avancée par K. Jaspers selon laquelle les catégories représentent des principes dont l’âme a besoin afin de connaître le „Nous“ et la nature. Dans la troisième partie on montre qu’il y a des similitudes entre l’identification sujet-connaissant/objet-connu dans les Enneades d'une part et d'autre part dans le système de l'idéalisme transcendantal. Finalement, on discute la position de Plotin en ce qui concerne l’identification „âme de l’univers“/„âme individuelle“, en faisant remarquer les difficultés de sa psychologie „hénophanique“. Le présent étude s'évertue à ponctuer l’importance exceptionnelle de la philosophie de Plotin pour l’édification d’une possible philosophie de l'identité et de l’identification.

Mjesto Immanuela Kanta u mišljenju ideje univerziteta

Author(s): Igor Eterović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/131/2013

The idea of the university is taken as fundamental in the articulation of the concept of the university and the possibility of its institutional realization. In such a context, Immanuel Kant is in the forefront as an unavoidable thinker of this idea. For easier understanding of Kant’s articulation of the idea of the university, at the beginning basic features of Humboldt’s vision of the university are presented, and this enables us to follow Kant’s contribution and influence upon the articulation of these features. Thereby The Conflict of the Faculties is the central Kant’s text in which he did not just offer the concept of the university as an institution fundamental for the development of scholarship, but he was the last thinker, according to some authors, of the very idea of the university. As the analysis shows, this idea is, in a historical sense, the articulation of classical idea of the modern, Humboldtian university, but there are also a number of interwoven elements inwrought in this idea which possess the lasting actuality (e.g. jurisdiction of the particular fields of knowledge, pretensions of the particular sciences, autonomy of the sciences and the faculties, relations between the faculties etc.). It is shown that if we take the whole Kant’s opus into consideration, The Conflict of the Faculties can be seen as an extension of his enlightenment project, supplement of his philosophy of politics and law (private and public use of reason) and his philosophy of history (universities as an important link in the progress of the mankind in general), addition to his philosophical anthropology (universities as a medium of the progress of human capacities) and philosophy of education (universities as an indispensable dimension of education of man as a person, citizen and human being in general). On the other side, the necessity of all those other parts of his philosophical opus is demonstrated as needed for the complete understanding of his thought of the idea of the university. Instead of the conclusion, the results of the previous analysis are evaluated in the context of an attempt of answering the question of Kant’s permanent actuality and his special place in the history of ideas, considering the thinking of the idea of the university.

Razredi modela vremenske logike

Author(s): Lovre Grisogono / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/131/2013

Time is a concept that opens up a wide range of questions. Time can be analyzed philosophically, logically, mathematically, physically, and so on. This paper presents a new set of decomposition rules for semantic tableau method. On the basis of the various axioms of time, models for modal temporal logic will be built, and, characteristic and valid formulas for those models will be presented. At the end the completeness theorem for this system will be examined.

Uz temu

Author(s): Mislav Ježić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/131/2013

Znanstveni skup pod naslovom »Ideja sveučilišta« imao je za svrhu raspravljati o zamisli sveučilišta u prošlosti, sadašnjosti i u budućoj perspektivi. Universitas, pandidakterion/panepistemion, sveučilište naziv je učilišta gdje se stječe visoka naobrazba u svim znatnim područjima znanja. Kao ustanova podjeljuje znanstvena i umjetnička zvanja koja jamče da je onaj tko ih dobije stekao primjerenu naobrazbu i osposobljenost za zahtjevna zvanja koja traže visoke stupnjeve znanstvene spreme ili umjetničke izgrađenosti.

Hobbesova kritika sveučilišta

Author(s): Ivana Knežić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/131/2013

The main aim of this text is to highlight the importance of the universities in the philosophical system of Thomas Hobbes. It will be done by analysing firstly his personal experience as an Oxford student, which was an important stimulus for the development of his later attitude towards universities. Then we shall present, by combining historical and problematical approach, Hobbes’ critique of universities as well as his proposal for the reform of the universities. Both will be placed in the historical context, as well as in the context of Hobbes’ political, anthropological, and epistemological thought. Lastly, in the conclusion we shall critically evaluate the actuality and objectivity of Hobbes’ critique, as well as the validity of his proposal for the reform of the universities.