Qualidade e forma na filosofia de Charles S. Peirce

The main objective of this paper is to present a possible identity between the concepts of form and quality in the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), by means of his arguments in his Semiotics and in his Cosmology. In other words, our goal is to show that firstness consists in a form, constituting part of the nature of thirdness, inasmuch as the tendency to generalization or to the acquisition of habits was foreshadowed in the origin of the cosmos. Of an inductive nature, the step from the absolute nothing to a unity of qualities foreshadows an intelligible universe of a formal nature. This unity may already be considered a restriction of a potentiality of a greater strength present in that germinal nothing: the first category is configured, then, as being of a qualitative potential nature. The adjective “qualitative” presents the kind of restriction of potentiality to which we referred: such potential is of this or that kind. The second category, by its turn, arises from a chaos of feelings: it is not the interaction between those feelings that brings the second category to reality, but the mere manifestation of the feeling which is, by its turn, characterized as the momentary appearance of quality. This appearance is not potential, but actual. It is already a fact; it is already a restriction of the qualitative potentiality. Feeling while actuality and quality in its potential state foreshadow the origin of the other that presents itself: this other is, therefore, inscribed in the nature of quality and already presents the duality object (quality as potentiality) and represented object (depersonalized appearance of a quality). Finally, the tendency to generalization is recognized by means of the relations that the qualities establish among themselves: inasmuch as the appearance of one or more qualities was maintained insistent, such qualities began to establish relations among themselves, giving space to a logical structure that multiplies those relations themselves, allowing for the inductive formation of laws and more complex objects, but always indebted to the available material foreshadowed in the origin: qualities.O principal objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma identidade possível entre os conceitos de forma e de qualidade na filosofia de Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), por meio de seus argumentos em sua Semiótica e em sua Cosmologia. Em outras palavras, nosso objetivo é mostrar que a primeiridade consiste em uma forma, parte constitutiva da natureza da terceiridade, na medida em que a tendência à generalização ou à aquisição de hábitos estava prefigurada na origem do cosmos. De natureza indutiva, o passo do nada absoluto para uma unidade de qualidades prefigura um universo inteligível de natureza formal. Esta unidade já pode ser considerada uma restrição de uma potencialidade de força maior presente naquele nada germinal: a primeira categoria é configurada, então, como sendo de natureza potencial qualitativa. O adjetivo “qualitativa” apresenta uma espécie de restrição da potencialidade para a qual nos referimos: tal potencial é desta ou daquela espécie. A segunda categoria, por sua vez, surge de um caos de sentimentos: não é a interação entre tais sentimentos que traz a segunda categoria à realidade, mas a mera manifestação do sentimento que é, por sua vez, caracterizado como a aparência momentânea da qualidade. Esta aparência não é potencial, mas atual. Ela já é um fato; ela já é uma restrição da potencialidade qualitativa. Sentimento enquanto atualidade e qualidade em seu estado potencial prefiguram a origem do outro que se apresenta: este outro está, portanto, inscrito na natureza da qualidade e já apresenta a dualidade objeto (qualidade como potencialidade) e objeto representado (aparência despersonalizada de uma qualidade). Por fim, a tendência à generalização é reconhecida por meio das relações que as qualidades estabelecem entre si: na medida em que o aparecimento de uma ou mais qualidades se manteve insistente, tais qualidades começaram a estabelecer relações entre si, permitindo a formação indutiva de leis e objetos mais complexos, mas sempre devedores do material disponível prefigurado na origem: qualidades

The Defense Cannot Rest: The Impact of Funding for Indigent Defense Services on Incarceration Rates

Since the landmark decision of Gideon vs Wainwright in the Supreme Court in 1963, free legal counsel for indigent clients has been required for every state in the United States. However, the reality looks very different than this ideal with indigent defense services across the country being under-resourced, under-funded and forgotten by many other than those that require their services. This is happening in conjunction with the explosion of incarceration rates throughout the United States. This study aims to explain the relationship between the levels of funding provided for indigent defense services and the rates of incarceration. Using a multi-variate regression my study tests the per-capita funding for indigent defense services compared to the incarceration rates for 49 states and every county in Pennsylvania. This study found for half of the results that a higher level of funding for indigent defense services does lead to a lower incarceration rate

Pragmatic Nonsense

Inspired by the early Wittgenstein's concept of nonsense (meaning that which lies beyond the limits of language), we define two different, yet complementary, types of nonsense: formal nonsense and pragmatic nonsense. The simpler notion of formal nonsense is initially defined within Tarski's semantic theory of truth; the notion of pragmatic nonsense, by its turn, is formulated within the context of the theory of pragmatic truth, also known as quasi-truth, as formalized by da Costa and his collaborators. While an expression will be considered formally nonsensical if the formal criteria required for the assignment of any truth-value (whether true, false, pragmatically true, or pragmatically false) to such sentence are not met, a (well-formed) formula will be considered pragmatically nonsensical if the pragmatic criteria (inscribed within the context of scientific practice) required for the assignment of any truth-value to such sentence are not met. Thus, in the context of the theory of pragmatic truth, any (well-formed) formula of a formal language interpreted on a simple pragmatic structure will be considered pragmatically nonsensical if the set of primary sentences of such structure is not well-built, that is, if it does not include the relevant observational data and/or theoretical results, or if it does include sentences that are inconsistent with such data

Diseño y validación de un cuestionario de escala formativa para valorar las competencias transversales de estudiantes universitarios. Una propuesta para dispositivos móviles basada en android

Aquesta investigació té com a objectiu principal, oferir un instrument diagnòstic de valoració de competències transversals, que permeti conèixer el grau de percepció dels estudiants universitaris en relació amb les seves competències transversals. Per a l'administració d'aquest instrument es proposa el desenvolupament d'una aplicació per a telèfons mòbils intel·ligents amb sistema operatiu Android. La validesa d'aquest instrument diagnòstic, s'ha dut a terme a partir de l'aplicació dels criteris d'avaluació de constructes formatius, en concordança amb les tècniques PLS dels models d'equacions estructurals, corresponents al camp de l'estadística multivariant. Per tant, la metodologia d'investigació es basa en un procés d'exploració, que ha combinat diverses tècniques de recollida d'informació tant de caràcter qualitatiu com quantitatiu. En aquest sentit, s'espera llavors que la seva aplicació futura pugui contribuir amb el desenvolupament dels dissenys curriculars dels plans d'estudi de les diferents titulacions, convertir-se en informació rellevant per al desenvolupament de noves propostes docents i servir com a orientació dels mateixos estudiants respecte a la titulació escollida.Esta investigación tiene como objetivo principal, ofrecer un instrumento diagnóstico de valoración de competencias transversales, que permita conocer el grado de percepción de los estudiantes universitarios en relación con sus competencias transversales. Para la administración de este instrumento se propone el desarrollo de una aplicación para teléfonos móviles inteligentes con sistema operativo Android. La validez de este instrumento diagnóstico, se ha llevado a cabo a partir de la aplicación de los criterios de evaluación de constructos formativos, en concordancia con las técnicas PLS de los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales, correspondientes al campo de la estadística multivariante. Por tanto, la metodología de investigación se basa en un proceso de exploración, que ha combinado varias técnicas de recogida de información tanto de carácter cualitativo como cuantitativo. En este sentido, se espera entonces que su aplicación futura pueda contribuir con el desarrollo de los diseños curriculares de los planes de estudio de las diferentes titulaciones, convertirse en información relevante para el desarrollo de nuevas propuestas docentes y servir como orientación de los propios estudiantes respecto a la titulación elegida.This research has as main objective to provide a diagnostic tool for assessing general skills which allows to know the degree of perception of university students in relation to their transferable skills. For the administration of this instrument to develop an app for smart phones with Android operating system is proposed. The validity of this diagnostic tool has been carried out from the application of formative evaluation criteria constructs, in accordance with the PLS techniques structural models corresponding to the field of multivariate statistical equations. Therefore, the research methodology is based on a process of exploration, which has combined several techniques for gathering information both qualitative and quantitative. In this sense, is then expected that future application can contribute to the development of curricular designs curricula of different degrees, into information necessary for the development of new proposals serve as guidance teachers and the students themselves regarding the degree chosen

The simplicity bubble effect as a zemblanitous phenomenon in learning systems

The ubiquity of Big Data and machine learning in society evinces the need of further investigation of their fundamental limitations. In this paper, we extend the ``too-much-information-tends-to-behave-like-very-little-information'' phenomenon to formal knowledge about lawlike universes and arbitrary collections of computably generated datasets. This gives rise to the simplicity bubble problem, which refers to a learning algorithm equipped with a formal theory that can be deceived by a dataset to find a locally optimal model which it deems to be the global one. However, the actual high-complexity globally optimal model unpredictably diverges from the found low-complexity local optimum. Zemblanity is defined by an undesirable but expected finding that reveals an underlying problem or negative consequence in a given model or theory, which is in principle predictable in case the formal theory contains sufficient information. Therefore, we argue that there is a ceiling above which formal knowledge cannot further decrease the probability of zemblanitous findings, should the randomly generated data made available to the learning algorithm and formal theory be sufficiently large in comparison to their joint complexity

Big Data: truth, quasi-truth or post-truth?

In this paper we investigate if sentences presented as the result of the application of statistical models and artificial intelligence to large volumes of data – the so-called ‘Big Data’ – can be characterized as semantically true, or as quasi-true, or even if such sentences can only be characterized as probably quasi-false and, in a certain way, post-true; that is, if, in the context of Big Data, the representation of a data domain can be configured as a total structure, or as a partial structure provided with a set of sentences assumed to be true, or if such representation cannot be configured as a partial structure provided with a set of sentences assumed to be true

Sobre Leibniz, Newton e infinitésimos, das origens do cálculo infinitesimal aos fundamentos do cálculo diferencial paraconsistente

Resumo Tratamos, neste artigo, do desenvolvimento do cálculo infinitesimal, incluindo breves notas históricas relativas às origens dos infinitésimos e contrapondo as magnitudes infinitesimais de Leibniz às de Newton. Incluímos, também, notas sobre a análise não-standard de Robinson, que reintroduz os números infinitesimais nos domínios da matemática. Destacamos, ainda, a importância das idéias de Leibniz para o desenvolvimento de extensões não clássicas do cálculo infinitesimal, como o cálculo diferencial paraconsistente. Palavras-chave: infinitésimo; cálculo diferencial; lógica paraconsistente. Abstract In this paper we present the development of the infinitesimal calculus, including short historical remarks about the origins of the infinitesimals, and comparing Leibniz’s and Newton’s conceptions of infinitesimal magnitudes. We include brief notes about Robinson’s non-standard analysis, which reinstates the infinitesimal numbers in the domains of mathematics. In addition, we highlight the importance of Leibniz’s ideas for the development of non-classic extensions of the infinitesimal calculus, like paraconsistent differential calculus. Key-words: Infinitesimal; Differential calculus; Paraconsistent logic

Foreword

This issue of Manuscrito is the second volume of the proceedingsof the CLE/AIPS Event – Science, Truth and Consistency1, held at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), in Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, during August 23–28, 2009, under the joint sponsorship of the Centre for Logic, Epistemology and the History of Science (CLE) of Unicamp and of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science(AIPS), based in Brussels. The meeting was meant as a tribute to the eightieth anniversary of Prof. Dr. Newton Carneiro Affonsoda Costa, the pioneer Brazilian researcher in the areas of logic and philosophy of science