96,158 research outputs found
Unlocking legal validity. Some remarks on the artificial ontology of law
Following Kelsenâs influential theory of law, the concept of validity has been used in the literature to refer to different properties of law (such as existence, membership, bindingness, and more) and so it is inherently ambiguous. More importantly, Kelsenâs equivalence between the existence and the validity of law prevents us from accounting satisfactorily for relevant aspects of our current legal practices, such as the phenomenon of âunlawful lawâ. This chapter addresses this ambiguity to argue that the most important function of the concept of validity is constituting the complex ontological paradigm of modern law as an institutional-normative practice. In this sense validity is an artificial ontological status that supervenes on that of existence of legal norms, thus allowing law to regulate its own creation and creating the logical space for the occurrence of âunlawful lawâ. This function, I argue in the last part, is crucial to understanding the relationship between the ontological and epistemic dimensions of the objectivity of law. For given the necessary practice-independence of legal norms, it is the epistemic accessibility of their creation that enables the law to fulfill its general action-guiding (and thus coordinating) function
The Ontology of Group Agency
We present an ontological analysis of the notion of group agency developed
by Christian List and Philip Pettit. We focus on this notion as it allows us to
neatly distinguish groups, organizations, corporations â to which we may ascribe
agency â from mere aggregates of individuals. We develop a module for group
agency within a foundational ontology and we apply it to organizations
Towards a social ontology of market systems
Academic analyses of market systems are deeply divided. While economists tend to neglect the personal and sociological factors that shape the behaviour of market actors, sociologists tend to discount the possibility of a systematic analysis of the consequences of market interactions. Economists thus end up with unrealistic models of markets, and sociologists end up unable to
explain the economic impact of markets. This paper outlines a project that aims to produce an analysis of markets that is both sociologically realistic and capable of explaining economic effects.
The project will construct a realistic ontological analysis of market systems, developed using a critical realist methodology. Market systems, it will argue, are social structures that depend ontologically upon both human individuals and a number of normative institutions. These
institutions tend to produce coordinated interactions between market actors, and these interactions underpin mechanisms that endow market systems with emergent causal powers. Different types of interactions underpin different market mechanisms, including mechanisms like those theorised by mainstream economists, but also others that they tend to neglect, and an adequate understanding of real-world markets depends on analysing these multiple
mechanisms and how they interact. This will be a theoretical project in economic sociology, drawing on existing empirical work without conducting new empirical research. It will be focussed primarily on contemporary
product markets in advanced capitalist economies, while selected historical and alternative contemporary models will be considered more briefly to illustrate both the historical specificity of the dominant contemporary model and the possibility of alternative types of market system
Gender Is a Natural Kind with a Historical Essence
Traditional debate on the metaphysics of gender has been a contrast of essentialist and social-constructionist positions. The standard reaction to this opposition is that neither position alone has the theoretical resources required to satisfy an equitable politics. This has caused a number of theorists to suggest ways in which gender is unified on the basis of social rather than biological characteristics but is ârealâ or âobjectiveâ nonetheless â a position I term social objectivism. This essay begins by making explicit the motivations for, and central assumptions of, social objectivism. I then propose that gender is better understood as a real kind with a historical essence, analogous to the biologistâs claim that species are historical entities. I argue that this proposal achieves a better solution to the problems that motivate social objectivism. Moreover, the account is consistent with a post-positivist understanding of the classificatory practices employed within the natural and social sciences
Artifacts, agents and intentions: towards a reflexive ontology of technical objects
A central issue in the contemporary debate in analytical metaphysics is the plausibility of the ontological inclusion of ordinary objects, especially artifacts. This paper explores the realist ontologies that include âintentional creationsâ such as artifacts in their programs, giving rise to a normative view of the world. It approaches the assumptions of two possible realist ontologies implied in the contemporary debate on artifacts. First, it makes a distinction between a reflexive and a non-reflexive ontology, stressing the hermeneutical stance of the former. Second, it focuses on the reflexive nature of the ontology being reconstructed. Third, it discusses its realist character, rejecting the objections that warn against the idealist implications of such a view.Fil: Crelier, Pablo Andres. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Parente, Diego Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentin
Reference fiction, and omission
In this paper, I argue that sentences that contain âomissionâ tokens that appear to function as singular terms are meaningful while maintaining the view that omissions are nothing at all or mere absences. I take omissions to be fictional entities and claim that the way in which sentences about fictional characters are true parallels the way in which sentences about omissions are true. I develop a pragmatic account of fictional reference and argue that my fictionalist account of omissions implies a plausible account of the metaphysics of omissions
Canguilhem and the logic of life
In this paper we examine aspects of Canguilhemâs philosophy of biology, concerning the
knowledge of life and its consequences on science and vitalism. His concept of life stems
from the idea of a living individual, endowed with creative subjectivity and norms, a Kantian
view which âdisconcerts logicâ. In contrast, two different approaches ground naturalistic
perspectives to explore the logic of life (Jacob) and the logic of the living individual
(Maturana and Varela) in the 1970s. Although Canguilhem is closer to the second, there are
divergences; for example, unlike them, he does not dismiss vitalism, often referring to it in
his work and even at times describing himself as a vitalist. The reason may lie in their different
views of science
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