Scientific literature on particular themes in ontology is extremely abundant, but it is often very hard for freshmen or sophomores to find a red thread between the various proposals. This text is an opinionated introduction, a preliminary text to research in ontology from the so called standard approach to ontological commitment, that is from the particular point of view that connects ontological questions to quantificational questions. It offers a survey of this viewpoint in ontology together with their possible applications through a broad array of examples and open problems and, at the same time, essential references to the classics of philosophy, so as to allow non-specialists to understand the terms and analysis procedures characterizing the discipline. Its result is a wide-ranging overview of the issued tackled by ontology, with a particular focus on the most relevant problems of contemporary debate (categorial taxonomies, nonexistent objects, case studies of ontological debates in specific fields of knowledge).

Scientific literature on particular themes in ontology is extremely abundant, but it is often very hard for freshmen or sophomores to find a red thread between the various proposals. This text is an opinionated introduction, a preliminary text to research in ontology from the so called standard approach to ontological commitment, that is from the particular point of view that connects ontological questions to quantificational questions. It offers a survey of this viewpoint in ontology together with their possible applications through a broad array of examples and open problems and, at the same time, essential references to the classics of philosophy, so as to allow non-specialists to understand the terms and analysis procedures characterizing the discipline. Its result is a wide-ranging overview of the issued tackled by ontology, with a particular focus on the most relevant problems of contemporary debate (categorial taxonomies, nonexistent objects, case studies of ontological debates in specific fields of knowledge).

The book develops a philosophical foundation to the field of management education using the work of Martin Heidegger as a guiding philosophy. It asks the questions ‘what is a corporation?’ and ‘what is corporate management?’ These two questions are foundational for management thought in general and management ethics in particular. Most other academic fields are in some way defined and guided by a philosophical discourse. This philosophical discourse is largely missing in the field of management thought and education. Without this foundation it can never be clear what actually belongs into a certain academic discipline and what does not. It also therefore lacks a sound and well articulated ontological foundation critical for developing approaches to ethical management. This book seeks to fill this gap and consequently represents an interdisciplinary effort between the academic field of management/business administration and philosophy, which is vital for business ethics. Intended as required reading for an elective on philosophy of management that is offered annually at the Wits Business School / University of the Witwatersrand / Johannesburg. The structure of the course will be largely based on the structure of the book.

This is the first handbook to cover comprehensively both software engineering and knowledge engineering - two important fields that have become interwoven in recent years. Over 60 international experts have contributed to the book. Each chapter has been written in such a way that a practitioner of software engineering and knowledge engineering can easily understand and obtain useful information. Each chapter covers one topic and can be read independently of other chapters, providing both a general survey of the topic and an in-depth exposition of the state of the art. Practitioners will find this handbook useful when looking for solutions to practical problems. Researchers can use it for quick access to the background, current trends and most important references regarding a certain topic.The handbook consists of two volumes. Volume One covers the basic principles and applications of software engineering and knowledge engineering.Volume Two will cover the basic principles and applications of visual and multimedia software engineering, knowledge engineering, data mining for software knowledge, and emerging topics in software engineering and knowledge engineering.

Anschließend an den 2017 herausgegebenen Sammelband widmet sich auch der vorliegende zweite Teil der Geschichte des Problems der Kategorien. Das Ziel besteht nach wie vor darin, einige Trajektorien und Perspektiven dieser Geschichte zu beschreiben, ohne einen erschöpfenden Überblick darüber geben zu können. Vielmehr soll ein Beitrag zu einem umfangreichen Projekt geleistet werden, das allmählich sein Ziel erreicht. In diesem Band wurde das Problem der Kategorien bei weiteren Philosophen, von Platon bis Quine, untersucht; die vorliegende Arbeit bildet dadurch eine Ergänzung zum ersten Teilband. Auf unterschiedlichen Wegen werden einzelne Fragen und Umstände behandelt, die Kategorien werden in verschiedenen Zeiten und Kontexten ausgeleuchtet, wobei die Frage nach ihnen manchmal in den Vordergrund tritt und sich manchmal selbst verbirgt. Themen, die bis dahin ihre zentrale Stellung verloren hatten, wird mehr oder neue Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. ********* This is the second volume devoted to the history of the question of categories, an issue which was also the focus of the collective volume published in 2017. The aim is still to describe some trajectories and perspectives of this history, without claiming an exhaustive overview of it, but rather representing a contribution to a wider project, which is gradually reaching its goal. In this volume the problem of categories has been investigated in the work of further philosophers, from Plato to Quine; in this way the present work complements that done in the first volume. The question of categories has been dealt with in different times and contexts, sometimes coming into the foreground and sometimes concealing itself—and this is something worthy of investigation in itself. It is also interesting to understand why in particular contexts greater attention is paid to a particular issue that had previously lost its centrality.

Sortal concepts are at the center of certain logical discussions and have played a significant role in solutions to particular problems in philosophy. Apart from logic and philosophy, the study of sortal concepts has found its place in specific fields of psychology, such as the theory of infant cognitive development and the theory of human perception. In this monograph, different formal logics for sortal concepts and sortal-related logical notions (such as sortal identity and first-order sortal quantification) are characterized. Most of these logics are intensional in nature and possess, in addition, a bidimensional character. That is, they simultaneously represent two different logical dimensions. In most cases, the dimensions are those of time and natural necessity, and, in other cases, those of time and epistemic necessity. Another feature of the logics in question concerns second-order quantification over sortal concepts, a logical notion that is also represented in the logics. Some of the logics adopt a constant domain interpretation, others a varying domain interpretation of such quantification. Two of the above bidimensional logics are philosophically grounded on predication sortalism, that is, on the philosophical view that predication necessarily requires sortal concepts. Another bidimensional logic constitutes a logic for complex sortal predicates. These three sorts of logics are among the important novelties of this work since logics with similar features have not been developed up to now, and they might be instrumental for the solution of philosophically significant problems regarding sortal predicates. The book assumes a modern variant of conceptualism as a philosophical background. For this reason, the approach to sortal predicates is in terms of sortal concepts. Concepts, in general, are here understood as intersubjective realizable cognitive capacities. The proper features of sortal concepts are determined by an analysis of the main features of sortal predicates. Posterior to this analysis, the sortal-related logical notions represented in the above logics are discussed. There is also a discussion on the extent to which the set-theoretic formal semantic systems of the book capture different aspects of the conceptualist approach to sortals. These different semantic frameworks are also related to realist and nominalist approaches to sortal predicates, and possible modifications to them are considered that might represent those alternative approaches.

Ontological commitment implies that each theory is supposed to specify the type of entities that form its components. Representatives of a theory share an ontological commitment in relation to the objects they refer to. There are theories that admit the existence of universals while others do not. As there are different ways of speaking about universals it is necessary to decide what a universal term corresponds to. It is essential to have a criterion that enables us to decide which kinds of objects are allowed as references for the terms used. In this volume two different approaches are discussed: first, in cases where only extensional languages are accepted; second, when intensional elements are required to determine the meaning such terms as "Sachverhalt", intentional statements or representations. The ontological commitment associated with extensional theories exclusively admits the existence of physical objects, whereas intensional theses additionally include universal and abstract entities. The study of ontological commitment enables us to measure the ontological economy of theories. This serves as a basis for the choice of theory. The authors of this volume discuss relevant issues of both models and provide new solutions.

Electrical therapy of the heart has rapidly evolved over recent years with the development of the cardiac implantable defibrillator and the application of the cardiac resynchronization therapy to improve performance of the congestive failed heart. There is an impressive amount of literature produced to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of the electrical therapy. New technology is continuously introduced into the market for the treatment of electrical heart disease with optimized performance and implemented design, with approximately 600,000 new pacemakers implanted each year. Attention of the electrophysiology community has mainly focused on the biomedical aspects of electrical therapy, but the psychological, emotional, social and cognitive aspects of the implantable devices has been largely overlooked. Health-related quality of life (QoL) and, to a lesser extent, psychological disorders, i.e. anxiety and depression, have rarely been assessed as outcomes in clinical trials, and results are pointing towards the impact of the implantable devices on QoL and mental health not being direct but moderated and mediated by several biomedical as well as psychosocial variables. Furthermore, the cognitive effects of the implantable devices have rarely been assessed in empirical studies, although cognitive impairment is largely associated with the heart disorders that require implantation of an electrical device and cognitive benefits are strongly expected from the therapy. The aim of this book is to collect, appraise and condense the results of all empirical studies that have investigated, even marginally, the relationships between the implantable devices and any psychological, emotional, social and cognitive dimension. This book is a cornerstone for all involved in device utilization (physicians, nurses, technicians, industry representatives) that need to understand this topic.​

In this book Rowlands interrogates the theological and philosophical foundations of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, from Reimarus to the present day, culminating in a call for greater metaphysical transparency and diversity in the discipline. This multidisciplinary approach to historical Jesus research, drawing on historiography, sociology, philosophy, and theology, makes a significant and original contribution to the field. Part I outlines the implicit role of metaphysical presuppositions in historical methodology by examining the concept of an historiographical worldview. Part II provides an overview of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, demonstrating that the disparate historiographical worldviews operative in the 'Quest' evidence a particular shared characteristic, in that they might accurately be described as ‘secular.’ Rowlands’ study concludes with a call for a greater plurality and openness regarding the philosophical and theological presuppositions at work in historical Jesus research. The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research is of interest to students and scholars working on New Testament studies and historical Jesus research.