Picturing peripheral acuity

The grain of the retina becomes progressively coarser from the fovea to the periphery. This is caused by the decreasing number of retinal receptive fields and decreasing amount of cortex devoted to each degree of visual field (= cortical magnification factor) as one goes into the periphery. We simulate this with a picture that is progressively blurred towards its edges; when strictly fixated at its centre looks equally sharp all over.     

Picturing classical and quantum Bayesian inference

We introduce a graphical framework for Bayesian inference that is sufficiently general to accommodate not just the standard case but also recent proposals for a theory of quantum Bayesian inference wherein one considers density operators rather than probability distributions as representative of degrees of belief. The diagrammatic framework is stated in the graphical language of symmetric monoidal categories and of compact structures and Frobenius structures therein, in which Bayesian inversion boils down to transposition with respect to an appropriate compact structure. We characterize classical Bayesian inference in terms of a graphical property and demonstrate that our approach eliminates some purely conventional elements that appear in common representations thereof, such as whether degrees of belief are represented by probabilities or entropic quantities. We also introduce a quantum-like calculus wherein the Frobenius structure is noncommutative and show that it can accommodate Leifer??s calculus of ??conditional density operators??. The notion of conditional independence is also generalized to our graphical setting and we make some preliminary connections to the theory of Bayesian networks. Finally, we demonstrate how to construct a graphical Bayesian calculus within any dagger compact category.     

God Language

Abstract

Words are inadequate to describe God. The words of the recent past have limited the concept of God by using only the masculine images and gender to describe God. Purposefully using feminine images and gender and using non-gendered symbols helps to expand our conception of God. The paper deals almost exclusively with God language in a Christian context. Rationales for describing each member of the Trinity in feminine as well as masculine terms are developed and various resources for using gender-inclusive and gender-neutral terms for God are shared.     

柏拉图的神

对于柏拉图的哲学,国内学界研究颇多,但是其神学思想一直没有得到应有的重视①。实际上,作为西方哲学与宗教神学思想的重要源头,柏拉图的哲学和他的有神论是密不可分的。柏拉图的有神论从哲学和宗教神话两个方面受到前苏格拉底时期希腊思想的影响。几乎此前的所有哲人都以各自不同的方式涉及到了神的概念和问题;宗教方面主要是来自于希腊神话的崇拜奥林匹斯神的流行宗教。以及宣扬灵魂轮回和禁欲主义的俄耳甫斯教及相关的狄奥尼索斯崇拜。由于篇幅所限,柏拉图所受到的影响（以及他对后世的影响）只能另文刊出。本文将直接探讨柏拉图对话中的神学思想、本文的基本观点,是从理念论的角度,按照与理念的内在关系来探讨、理解柏拉图的有神论,即“理念有神论”（Ｉｄｅａｌ Ｔｈｅｉｓｍ）,并视之为柏拉图神学的实质。     

列宁与寻神派和造神派的斗争

俄国1905年革命失败后,社会主义转入低潮。面对反动势力的一时得逞和第二国际修正主义思潮的影响,唯心主义和宗教思潮重新泛起。俄国社会民主党内一部分人也对社会主义丧失了信心。在这种情况下,出现了“寻神派”和“造神派”思潮。     

既无“天谴”，亦无“天佑”

人们在面对不可抗拒的巨大的自然灾害时,总有一种无奈和无助之感,这时社会上最易出现各种迷信说法。“天谴”说和“天佑”说可以算是很有代表性的言论。到底如何看待自然灾害,它们与“天谴”和“天佑”有何关系？本方将从历史和文化及无神论的角度对上述问题进行分析。     

Speaking of God after the Death of God

Abstract :  This article affirms the ability to talk about God in the twenty‐first century 40 years after God died (according to Death‐of‐God theologians) in the 1960s. It does so by an appeal to the proper combination of mystery and revelation ideally expressed in the paradox that God reveals Godself as hidden. The language of God's revealed hiddenness comprises a "middle way" which avoids the extremes of theological hubris on the one hand and atheism or unbelief on the other, making it possible to speak today of God in a faithful yet humble manner.