Spinoza: Free Will and Freedom Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a Dutch Jewish rationalist philosopher who is most famous for his Ethics and Theological-Political Treatise. Although influenced by Stoicism, Maimonides, Machiavel, Descartes, and Hobbes, entre autres, he developed distinct and innovative positions on a number of issues in metaphysics, épistémologie, éthique, politique, biblical hermeneutics, and theology. He is also known as a pivotal figure in the

Collective Intentionality The idea that a collective could be bearer of intentional states such as belief and intention is likely to raise some eyebrows, especially in certain Anglo-American and European philosophical circles. The dominant picture in these circles is that intentionality is a feature of individual minds/brains. Toute en face, groups don’t have minds or brains. How could they have intentional states? Despite

Langage religieux Le terme « langage religieux » fait référence aux déclarations ou affirmations faites à propos de Dieu ou des dieux.. Voici un problème philosophique typique du langage religieux. Si Dieu est infini, alors les mots utilisés pour décrire des créatures finies pourraient ne pas décrire adéquatement Dieu. Par exemple, Dieu est-il bon dans le même sens que le secrétaire général des Nations Unies, Kofi Annan, est bon? Cette difficulté nous met au défi d’articuler

Law and Economics The law and economics movement applies economic theory and method to the practice of law. It asserts that the tools of economic reasoning offer the best possibility for justified and consistent legal practice. It is arguably one of the dominant theories of jurisprudence. The law and economics movement offers a general theory of law as well as conceptual tools for the clarification and

Jules Henri Poincaré (1854—1912) Poincaré was an influential French philosopher of science and mathematics, as well as a distinguished scientist and mathematician. In the foundations of mathematics he argued for conventionalism, against formalism, against logicism, and against Cantor’s treating his new infinite sets as being independent of human thinking. Poincaré stressed the essential role of intuition in a proper constructive foundation for mathematics. He believed