The Logic of Counterpart Theory with Actuality

It has been claimed that counterpart theory cannot support a theory of actuality without rendering obviously invalid formulas valid or obviously valid formulas invalid. We argue that these claims are not based on logical flaws of counterpart theory itself, but point to the lack of appropriate devices in first-order logic for “remembering” the values of variables. We formulate a mildly dynamic version of first-order logic with appropriate memory devices and show how to base a version of counterpart theory with actuality on this. This theory is, in special cases, equivalent to modal first-order logic with actuality, and apparently does not suffer from the logical flaws that have been mentioned in the literature.     

Know How to Transmit Knowledge?

Intellectualism about knowledge‐how is the view that practical knowledge is a species of propositional knowledge. I argue that this view is undermined by a difference in properties between knowledge‐how and both knowledge‐that and knowledge‐wh. More specifically, I argue that both knowledge‐that and knowledge‐wh are easily transmitted via testimony while knowledge‐how is not easily transmitted by testimony. This points to a crucial difference in states of knowledge. I also consider Jason Stanley's attempt to subsume knowledge‐how under an account of de se knowledge. I argue that there are crucial differences between de se knowledge and knowledge‐how. Thus, this paper advances both the discussion of intellectualism and the literature on the nature of de se knowledge.     

“新时代”：需要神话的科学时代

“新时代”运动是社会主要裂痕的一种征兆,这种裂痕则存在于那些强调主观,内在体验观点的人和那些强调客观．理性观点的人之间。这种裂痕可通过综合这两种观点而得以弥合。     

Age differences in temporal discounting: the role of dispositional affect and anticipated emotions

We examined age differences in temporal discounting, the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes relative to immediate ones, with particular emphasis on the role of affective responses. A life-span sample completed an incentive-compatible temporal discounting task involving both monetary gains and losses. Covariates included demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, personality traits, affective responses, and subjective health. Advanced age was associated with a lower tendency to discount the future, but this effect reached statistical significance only for the discounting of delayed gains. An examination of covariates suggested that age effects were associated with age differences in mental health and affective responses rather than demographic or cognitive variables.     

The Mark of Cain: Sovereign Negation and the Politics of God

Hannah Arendt calls for the “abolition of sovereignty from the body politic.” In this article I affirm some key elements of Arendt’s critique, arguing against versions of Christian ethics that try to deploy divine authorization for particular policies, institutions, goals, or virtues. But I also argue that the attempt to abolish sovereignty allows the political process itself to become a sovereign good and erodes the forms of life that can sustain the kind of vision and politics that Arendt desires. The better alternative to the usual politics of sovereignty is not the absence of sovereignty, but a changed – and negative – conception of the relationship of sovereign power to the political order. In developing this argument I contend with Arendt’s reading of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd and, behind that, her reading of the biblical story of Cain and Abel. I argue that the city of Cain is made possible not by Cain’s murder of his brother, but by the mark with which God negates the legitimacy of both the murder and the violence to avenge the murder. Sovereign negation makes the polis possible.