The Roots of Occasionalism? Causation, Metaphysical Dependence, and Soul-Body Relations in Augustine

It has long been thought that Augustine holds that corporeal objects cannot act upon incorporeal souls. However, precisely how and why Augustine imposes limitations upon the causal powers of corporeal objects remains obscure. In this paper, the author clarifies Augustine’s views about the causal and dependence relations between body and soul. He argues that, contrary to what is often thought, Augustine allows that corporeal objects do act upon souls and merely rules out that corporeal objects exercise a particular kind of causal power (that of efficient or sustaining causes). He clarifies how Augustine conceives of the kind of causal influence exercised by souls and bodies.

Study of Rheological Behavior of Olive Oil Used as Biodegradable Lubricant

In this article, based on experimental data, we obtained three dependence relations of dynamic viscosity versus temperature by polynomial and exponential fitting. The correlation coefficients have values close to unity which proves that the obtained relations accurately describe the non-Newtonian behavior of olive oil.

The Changing Meanings of āśraya in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa(bhāṣya)

The term āśraya (“support” or “basis”) is used in manifold ways in the Abhidharmakośa and its bhāṣya (AKBh). This comes from the fact that its basic meaning, indicating anything on which something else depends or rests, is quite generic. Despite the plasticity of its usage, we can find some recurring and distinct technical applications of the term in the AK(Bh), which I explore in my paper. First, I look at its usage of characterising a member of various asymmetric dependence relationships on which the arising and sometimes also the persistence of the other relatum depends. Through examining the nature of various āśraya-āśrita dependence relations the AK(Bh) discusses, I show that āśraya stands for an entity that determines the fundamental nature of the thing it supports. In the second half of the paper, I move on to those occurrences of the term where āśraya has a specific referent. While āśraya can refer to the six sense faculties (indriya) individually, it can also stand for them collectively pointing towards its widespread meaning as ‘psychophysical basis’. In this context, the focus often shifts either to the material or the mental elements that make up a sentient being. I will dedicate special attention to the discussion of the transformation of the basis (āśrayaparāvṛtti), where, on my reading, it is more natural to interpret āśraya as referring primarily to the mind (citta), with its bodily connotations being marginal.

Setting the story straight: fictionalism about grounding

This paper explores a middle way between realism and eliminativism about grounding. Grounding-talk is intelligible and useful, but it fails to pick out grounding relations that exist or obtain in reality. Instead, grounding-talk allows us to convey facts about what metaphysically explains what, and about the worldly dependence relations that give rise to those explanations.

Running it up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes: A response to Woodward on causal and explanatory asymmetries

Does smoke cause fire or does fire cause smoke? James Woodward’s “Flagpoles anyone? Causal and explanatory asymmetries” argues that various statistical independence relations not only help us to uncover the directions of causal and explanatory relations in our world, but also are the worldly basis of causal and explanatory directions. We raise questions about Woodward’s envisioned epistemology, but our primary focus is on his metaphysics. We argue that any alleged connection between statistical (in)dependence and causal/explanatory direction is contingent, at best. The directions of causal/explanatory relations in our world seem not to depend on the statistical (in)dependence relations in our world (conceived of either as frequency patterns or as relations among chances). Thus, we doubt that statistical (in)dependence relations are the worldly basis of causal and explanatory directions.

Respects of Dependence and Symmetry

In this article I discuss several apparent counterexamples to the asymmetry of ontological dependence. These counterexamples were introduced in discussions about grounding, but they can affect every theory of ontological dependence. I show that, if one adopts metaontological pluralism (i.e., the view according to which there are many dependence relations), one has some advantages when it comes to defending the asymmetry of dependence. In Section 1, I introduce metaontological pluralism and my own version of it, which is based on Respect-of-Dependence Relations (rd-relations). I then single out five strategies to deal with apparent cases of symmetric dependence and show that two of them are only available to metaontological pluralists. In Sections 2, 3, and 4 I deal with cases of symmetric dependence by adopting these strategies. Finally, in Section 5, I anticipate and reply to three objections against my account.

SPEECH AUTONOMIES OF THE TEXT: GAINING AND LOSING MARKING

The purpose of the article is to identify patterns of losing and gaining markers dealing with boundaries of the speech of others in synchrony and diachrony. The corresponding processes caused by diachronic tendencies, functions of speech of others in the author's poetics, and the interpretative nature of meanings are considered. Consistent application of the communicative linguistic concept is developed on the basis of an integrative approach supported by the dynamic principle. Methods of communicative linguistics, dialogic syntax of the text helped to identify the periods of gaining and losing markers in the speech of others, their function in synchrony and diachrony, show the conceptual dependence relations “own - others” in the novel by E. Vodolazkin “Laurus”.

An Evaluation of the Changing Nature of Power-Dependence Relations in Organizations Within the Context of the Resource Dependence Theory

Resource dependence theory examines the activities carried out by locating and managing power and dependence relations, that form as a result of the relations between organizations, according to the conditional changes in the environment in which they operate. However, organizations need to develop strategies and act according to environmental changes in order to sustain their maintain their survival in their environment. At this point, within the context of resource dependence theory, on the basis of the relationship between an organization and its environment, the balance of power-based relations are crucial within the scope of their dependence on necessary resources and the struggle to obtain these resources. The main problem of this study is to consider the changing nature of power-dependence relations between organizations within the context of resource dependence theory. The theoretical discussion of power-dependence relations between organizations has been supported and explained by functional, structural, and institutional approaches. Resource dependence theory is included in functional approaches and considers an organization as a social system that tries to adapt to the conditional constraints of its environment. Accordingly, the organizations of resource dependence theory included in functional approaches are determined according to how much their performances contribute to their survival, their ability to solve organizational problems, and coalitions with various abilities and interest groups. Keywords: Resource Dependence Theory, Power, Dependence, Environment, Organization.