Logics for AI and Law: Joint Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Logics for New-Generation Artificial Intelligence and the International Workshop on Logic, AI and Law, September 8-9 and 11-12, 2023, Hangzhou

This comprehensive volume features the proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Logics for New-Generation Artificial Intelligence and the International Workshop on Logic, AI and Law, held in Hangzhou, China on September 8-9 and 11-12, 2023. The collection offers a diverse range of papers that explore the intersection of logic, artificial intelligence, and law. With contributions from some of the leading experts in the field, this volume provides insights into the latest research and developments in the applications of logic in these areas. It is an essential resource for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in the latest advancements in logic and its applications to artificial intelligence and law

A Contemporary Examination of the A Fortiori Argument Involving Jewish Traditions

This study proposes to clarify the a fortiori argument’s components, structure, definitions, formulations, and logical status, as well as the specific conditions under which it is to be employed, both generally and in a Jewish context. Typically, the argument claims this: if a lesser (or greater) case has a feature, a correspondingly greater (or lesser) case has that feature too. While evident in ancient thought, the argument is often central to Jewish deliberations that may continue for centuries; so this Jewish use forms the main context and material of this study. However, as general reasoning employs the argument, tracing its common forms helps to delineate its terms and relations. While the argument aspires to be true and it can be deductively valid in those cases where heritable properties recur, it is more likely to be inductively probable. In any case, the thesis presents a number of deductive formalizations, while more complex treatments are left to the appendix or further study. Inasmuch as the a fortiori is claimed to be a type of analogy, both its likenesses and its differences are set out and exemplified in a number of comparative mathematical, practical, legal, and other formats. Once the conclusion’s feature is deductively valid or inductively likely, the amount that one accords to the feature in the new case needs to be determined. Logically, the a fortiori’s conclusion can be either limited to the same feature given in one of its premises or else proportioned to it in a way that suits both premises. Mathematically, the same outcome is just one possible ratio. However, the early Jewish stand of the Mishnah usually retains the same tradition or least onerous result as sufficient (the dayo) for the new case. A detailed analysis covers this and later Rabbinic use, and especially Maccoby’s recent claim that the same given alone is correct, which I show to be extreme, for even in a Jewish context it generates several problems. When one includes sensible a fortiori proportions and the possibility of mercy, good moral reasoning can be reconciled with true religious values and traditional precedents. In all, the conclusion’s amount, particularly in practical issues, involves an extra decision procedure that considers the relevant factors of the actual case. Once the a fortiori’s informal and formal aspects are dealt with adequately and its fallacious uses avoided, the argument’s overall reasonableness is better appreciated

Forms of List-Making: Epistemic, Literary, and Visual Enumeration

This open access book attempts to show that an examination of the list’s formal features has the potential to produce genuine insights into the production of knowledge, the poetics of literature and the composition of visual art. Following a conceptual introduction, the twelve single-authored chapters place the list in a variety of well-researched contexts, including ancient Roman historiography, medieval painting, Enlightenment periodicals, nineteenth-century botanical geography, American Beat poetry and contemporary photobooks. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book is a unique contribution to an emerging field dedicated to the study of lists

Forms of List-Making: Epistemic, Literary, and Visual Enumeration

This open access book attempts to show that an examination of the list’s formal features has the potential to produce genuine insights into the production of knowledge, the poetics of literature and the composition of visual art. Following a conceptual introduction, the twelve single-authored chapters place the list in a variety of well-researched contexts, including ancient Roman historiography, medieval painting, Enlightenment periodicals, nineteenth-century botanical geography, American Beat poetry and contemporary photobooks. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book is a unique contribution to an emerging field dedicated to the study of lists

Transfer of Medical Knowledge in Premodern Jewish Cultures and Traditions

This volume brings together a group of scholars from different fields within Jewish studies who deal with Jewish medical knowledge in ancient and medieval time from a comparative perspective. Based on various methodological and theoretical questions, they address strategies of interaction with earlier Jewish traditions and with other fields of rabbinic discourse (e.g. law, theology, ethics), while exploring the complex interplay between literary forms and the knowledge conveyed. The studies trace the ways of transmission, transformation, rejection, modification and invention of pertinent knowledge in Jewish traditions and beyond by examining broader contexts and points of contact with medical ideas and practices in surrounding cultures (Ancient Near Eastern, Graeco-Roman, Byzantine, Persian-Iranian, early Christian, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic and Islamic). Such a twofold perspective allows for assessing particularities of the medical discourse within Jewish history, while probing its transcultural interactions with other medical traditions. These studies may serve as a starting point for further inquiries into the role of these exchanges and entanglements, not only within a broader history of medicine, sciences and knowledge, but also for the history of premodern cultures and religions at large

The Adventure of the Book: Jabès, Derrida, Levinas

The Adventure of the Book: Jabès, Derrida, Levinas is an intellectual history of Jewish writers and philosophers in France during the decades after the Second World War, exploring questions of Jewish identity, writing, and exile. Egyptian-born poet Edmond Jabès, Algerian-born philosopher Jacques Derrida, and Lithuanian-born philosopher Emmanuel Levinas were displaced from their home countries and resettled in Paris, where they fortuitously crossed paths in the early 1960s. For three decades, Jabès, Derrida, and Levinas continued to reflect on questions of Judaism, exile, and writing together in published texts and private correspondences, as interlocutors, critics, and friends. Informed by the dissolution of idealist philosophy as well as the diasporic history of the Jewish people, The Adventure of the Book illuminate the stakes of Jewish affiliation in post-war France. Jabès, Derrida, and Levinas treat the question of Jewish identity as a problem of language, and they confront the metaphor of “the book” as a proxy for their experiences of exile and estrangement in relation to nationality, language, and identity. Critically re-appropriating the Jewish tradition endowed by the “Book of Books,” as well as Hegel’s philosophical idealism, Levinas, Derrida, and Jabès frame the book as the site of an adventure. This adventure articulates a new relationship between philosophy, religion, and literature in the textual space of the book

Jews and miracles in tales from the Legenda Aurea

The medieval Christian attitude towards Jews cannot be easily characterised. Legend often portrayed Jews as hostile, grotesque and murderous. Yet close reading of medieval Christian stories about Jews reveals a more complex picture. The Legenda Aurea, compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century from earlier sources, includes among its recitals of saints' lives, miracles and related religious themes a number of tales in which Christian miracles are brought forth, albeit perhaps unwittingly, by the agency of Jews. In these tales, Jews may be shown engaging in 'hostile' behaviour such as the desecration of Christian images, but also in surprisingly 'benign' behaviour, such as invoking the protection of the cross. In either case, Jewish characters always play a significant role in enabling the occurrence of miraculous events. These miracles then restore order by silencing unbelief, causing the reform of erring Christians, and bringing about the conversion of the Jewish protagonists. Thus, the portrayal of Jews in the Legenda Aurea is not merely a series of denunciations of Jews, but rather a complex attempt to invoke Jewishness in situations that inevitably lead to the transformation of Jewish identity into Christian identity.Christian theological and social ambivalence toward Jews (discussed in Chapter One) developed from the Pauline doctrine ofthe Jews as the first, though undeserving, recipients of Christianity, and the Augustinian concept of Jews as outcast and subjugated, but still crucial witnesses to Christian truth. This truth was attested to in early and medieval rhetoric about miracles (Chapter Two); miracles involving saints, icons and Christian symbols were cited to affirm divine sanction for Christ and Christianity, and could be instrumental in converting Jews. Following this discussion of Jews and of miracle, the three final chapters discuss tales from the Legenda Aurea that depict miracles being enabled by Jewish actions. These could be hostile Jewish attacks on Christian images or personages (Chapter Three). However, other tales depict Jews inviting miracles by behaving as ifthey had some belief in, or secret knowledge of, Christ or the cross (Chapter Four). Finally, the 'Silvester' legend (Chapter Five) depicts Jews disputing with Christians and turning to magic when rhetoric fails, but being vanquished by a Christian miracle that they themselves have challenged the saint to perform.In these various tales, Jews inhabit a transformative space in which icons are prompted to bleed or speak, Christ's cross appears from the ground, and a dead bull is brought to life. Individual Jewish characters refer to the role ofthe Jewish people in Christian salvific history, with emphasis on the Crucifixion and Resurrection and on the conversion of all Israel at the end oftime. Jews are connected to death and resurrection, symbolised by the burial, unearthing and transformation of people and objects, and to blood, whether in genealogical or literal terms. Ultimately, while the Legenda Aurea tales may have sought to marginalise Jews and distance Christian practices and attitudes from those, real or imagined, of Judaism, they nonetheless return again and again to ideas ofthe Jew, which they show to be inescapably intertwined with the fundamentals of early and medieval Christian beliefs

Astrology and truth: a context in contemporary epistemology

This thesis discusses and gives philosophical context to claims regarding the truth-status of astrology – specifically, horoscopic astrology. These truth-claims, and reasons for them, are sourced from advocates and critics of astrology and are taken from extant literature and interviews recorded for the thesis. The three major theories of truth from contemporary Western epistemology are the primary structure used to establish philosophical context. These are: the correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories. Some alternatives are discussed in the process of evaluating the adequacy of the three theories. No estimation of astrology’s truth-status was found which could not be articulated by reference to the three. From this follows the working assumption that the three theories of truth suffice as a system of analysis with which to define and elucidate the issues that have arisen when astrology’s truth-status has been considered. A feature of recent discourse regarding astrology has been the argument that it should be considered a form of divination rather than as a potential science. The two accounts that embody these approaches – astrology-as-divination, and astrology-as-science – are central throughout the thesis. William James’s philosophy is discussed as a congenial context for astrology-as-divination. This includes his understanding of the pragmatic theory of truth and other elements, such as radical empiricism, which comprise his pluralist pantheistic philosophy. Compelling reasons from numerous commentators are presented according to which astrology should be judged not true. These generally presuppose that contemporary scientific modes of analysis suffice for such an evaluation. A case could be built upon James’s philosophy under which the individual would have a right to believe in astrology as a source of truth – albeit, this would not be the intersubjective or scientifically-validated truth which critics typically insist upon