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Time in Fiction
No full textConsidering questions at the intersection of time and fiction deepens our understanding of fiction, introduces new questions for philosophy of time, and brings analytic philosophy in discussion with narratology. Philosophers debate whether fictional time can be tensed, whether fictional time can branch, repeat, pause, rewind, or skip and whether fictional time travel is possible. Much of the way we answer these questions will depend on our overall commitment to the nature of fiction. It’s also unclear what, if anything, we can learn about the metaphysics of time from fiction. This chapter will introduce readers to discussions that are shaping the debates in this domain
What is Creativity?
No full textI argue for an account of creativity that unifies creative achievements in the arts, sciences, and other domains and identifies its characteristic value. This account draws upon case studies of creative work in both the arts and sciences to identify creativity as a kind of successful exploration. I argue that if creativity is properly understood in this way, then it is fundamentally a property of processes, something only agents can achieve, something that comes in degrees, subjectively novel, and non-formulaic. As I develop the account, I show how it avoids challenges faced by other accounts of creativity, especially concerning creativity’s value. Hills and Bird (2018, 2019) have together argued that creativity is not necessarily valuable. My account challenges this view. If I am right that creativity is a kind of successful exploration, then creativity does have a characteristic value, specifically epistemic value
Процессуальный пессимизм. О природе вселенского страдания и человеческом ничто
No full text«Процессуальный пессимизм. О природе вселенского страдания и человеческом ничто» — вторая часть дилогии «Трагическое». Что остаётся человеку, когда масштаб трагического выходит за пределы человеческой жизни и поднимается до размеров вселенной? Когда привычные объяснения рассеиваются, а само существование раскрывается как краткий узор материи на фоне медленного, неумолимого распада?
Завершение дилогии «Трагическое» переносит исследование за границы антропоцентрической перспективы. Если «Опыт трагического» раскрывал механизмы человеческого страдания, то «Процессуальный пессимизм» обнажает космологические основания самого бытия как движения к распаду. Сознание наблюдает собственную временность, этика ищет форму, способную выдержать знание о зыбкости того, что принято считать ценностями. Книга стремится отойти от привычного пессимизма и взглянуть на него сквозь процессуальную онтологию
Hallucination as Geometric Overflow under v43: Boundary-Condition Failure in Large Language Models
No full textHallucination in large language models is commonly framed as a stochastic error or a knowledge-deficit phenomenon. This article proposes an alternative geometric interpretation: hallucination emerges when generative trajectories continue beyond admissible semantic bounds under conditions of semantic stress such as ambiguity, instability, and nonlinearity. Rather than modelling latent representational geometry, the paper introduces a constraint-geometry perspective that treats hallucination as geometric overflow—continued motion where termination, redirection, or abstention would preserve truth-orientation. Forced-answer regimes are shown to deform admissible regions, amplifying hallucination. The contribution is architectural and diagnostic rather than mitigative or safety-oriented, clarifying boundary conditions under which truth-oriented generation remains possible without claiming to eliminate hallucination or to provide alignment mechanisms
_Kin Matters:_ Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences
No full textKin and kinship matter to us. We are social creatures and our kin or relatives are typically high on the list of those most important to us. Kin are those we care for and who care for us. Our family ties provide a sense of where and with whom we belong. Kin matters also impose boundaries on who we relate to and how, including in sexual and other intimate matters. The study of kinship has been a cornerstone of anthropology throughout its history, but kin matters matter beyond the confines of any academic discipline.
Kin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences examines three related themes in the philosophy of anthropology concerning kin matters: the nature of relations, incest and its avoidance, and the study of kinship in cultural anthropology. It develops an integrative framework for thinking about kin matters recognizing that there should be much more fluidity between the cognitive, biological, and social sciences—the fragile sciences—than one typically finds both in those sciences and in philosophical reflection on them. Along the way, Kin Matters offers a novel account of relations, challenges culture-first explanations of incest avoidance, and advocates for a redirection in the study of kinship
Ethics of Recovery: A Phenomenology of Temporal Reorganization
No full textThis paper describes the ethical structures that appear in recovery environments—obligation, quiet, vulnerability, and relational asymmetry—without prescribing therapeutic action. The focus is on the phenomenological appearance of recovery’s ethical field
Sceptical hypotheses and subjective indistinguishability
No full textThe notion of subjective indistinguishability has long played a central role in explanations of the force of Cartesian sceptical hypotheses. I argue that sceptical hypotheses do not need to be subjectively indistinguishable to be compelling and I provide an alternative diagnosis of their force that explains why this is the case. My diagnosis focuses on the relation between one's experiences and third-personal accounts of the circumstances in which these experiences occur. This relation is characterized by a distinctive gap that leaves room for questions about the nature of one's circumstances, providing sceptical hypotheses with a foothold. I argue that this gap lends sceptical hypotheses their force and renders the stipulation of subjective indistinguishability unnecessary
The Invisible Inner (Series I) The Moment Consciousness Encounters Itself Before an Artwork
No full textThis paper examines a pre-linguistic state of experience as a legitimate phenomenological condition, focusing on the stillness and density that precede conscious formation.
The visual image discussed in the paper functions as a phenomenological field of encounter and is currently exhibited at the Saatchi Art Gallery
Freedom and Relational Equality
No full textRelational egalitarians defend a social arrangement ensuring that individuals can relate to each other with mutual respect as equal members of society. This equal standing is required also by the republican conception of freedom, which is therefore commonly endorsed by relational egalitarians. But while capturing egalitarian concerns might make republican freedom an attractive ideal, it prevents it from performing a useful role in the formulation of relational egalitarianism. When we develop the ideal of relational equality, we are better served by a conception of negative freedom defined without egalitarian or other evaluative terms. Negative freedom turns out to be especially important as a component of the respect between individuals that lies at the core of relational egalitarianism