Category: Talks SOPhiA

Ante Debeljuh University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka The majority of what we know is not manifested through linguistic behaviour, but through action. The field of formal epistemology attempts to provide a mathematical description of such notions. Knowledge and action are closely interconnected even in our pre-theoretic analysis of the…

Bruno Poli University of Geneva The presentation’s main objective is to offer a comparison between contemporary and Austro-German cognitivist theories of emotions. More specifically, our aim is to bring them into dialogue by highlighting the similarities in their defended theses.In the philosophy of emotions, cognitivist theories can be described as the ones “that make some…

Agnes Katona Central European University In the metaphysics of properties, commitment to Platonic universals rarely gets seriously considered. The source of the dismissal is the widespread assumption that Platonic universals are causally inert, and that leads to several problems: it makes it hard to explain how we could have any knowledge of them; how they…

Wessel Kroon Utrecht University The framework for topic-sensitive intentional modals (TSIMs), developed by Berto and collaborators, offers a powerful and versatile tool for modeling intentional attitudes. It validates a host of principles that accord with established philosophical intuitions. This is achieved by combining variably strict conditionals with topic algebras, enabling fine-grained distinctions between propositional contents.…

Chad Hall University of Connecticut Ideal language philosophy’s solution to the problem of vagueness calls for the elimination of vague expressions. This is set forth by constructing a formal language that is precise and logically perfect (i.e., it is an ideal language). While this solution adequately handles first-order vagueness, it faces a new challenge from…

Paolo Lattanzi Siegen Universität Past Record is the principle that states: “if something was the case, then it is the case in the past”. Ross Cameron, in its defence of the Moving Spotlight Theory of time, explains clearly why A-theorists, which believe in the existence of past things, have to handle Past Record. He argues…

Ernesto Saccardi University of Pisa Standards of proof are legal thresholds that determine the degree of evidentiary persuasion required for a party to prevail on a particular issue in a judicial proceeding. They establish the burden a party must meet in order for the triers of the fact – whether judge or jury- to accept…

Irene Lo Faro Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg In daily life, the use of abbreviations (in German Stummelwörter, “severed-words”) is increasingly common. Traditional studies hold that the purpose of abbreviations is simply speed and secrecy. In Nazi propaganda, however, Klemperer (1947) noticed abbreviations were used for an ulterior purpose: to convey meaning beyond the original words. Within the…

Samuele Fasol Roma Tre University  Scientific knowledge rests on the assumption that nature is not entirely chaotic but lawful. In this talk, I seek to rehabilitate the relevance of the debate between neo-Kantians and logical empiricists concerning this very assumption, indicated as the principle of lawfulness. I begin by outlining why this concept holds a…

Johannes Brinz University of Osnabrück The concept of artificial neurons has become increasingly prevalent in discussions on artificial intelligence and neural networks; however, the similarities they share with their biological counterparts remain opaque. The present paper attempts to shed some light on these issues by discussing whether artificial neurons are similar to biological neurons in…