Modal Concepts Research Articles

Changing Identity in Small or Minority Nations: Three Recent Catalan Films

The article places three recent Catalan films in a framework of classificatory discussion of identity, change and small or ‘minority’ nationhood. It builds on previous work on Welsh and Basque film which proposes a system of classification designed to enhance the conceptualisation of links between film and identity in small or minority national cultures. That system uses three modal concepts: the Preserved, connected with patriarchy, rural landscape, collective rural identity and stereotypical representations; Reversal, connected with complexities and ambiguities of meaning as produced by representations of landscape or expressions of collective identity; and the postnational, connected to qualities of discordance, placelessness, and scepticism about the relevance or direction of collective history. Los últimos días (David and Álex Pastor, 2013), Segon origen (Carles Porta, 2015) and Estiu 1993 (Carla Simón, 2017) are analysed using the categorization in order to explore how crises and changes in individuals or communities link to wider processes of transition and regression. It draws on previous schematizations by Raymond Williams and Manuel Castells and places particular emphasis on nuancing the conceptualisation of the postnational in the small or minority cultural context.

ПОНЯТТЯ МОДАЛЬНОСТІ ТА ЗАСОБИ ЇЇ ВИРАЖЕННЯ

Syntactic construction in its content and purpose is a formed act of thinking, so it not only reflects a specific situation of reality, but also conveys the attitude of the speaker to the expressed idea so has a certain author's assessment of this reality. The category of sentence that is intended to make such connections is modality. In modern syntax, there has never been a consensus on the correlation of the category of modality with the semantic-grammatical, formal-grammatical or communicative level of the sentence, and also on defining the very concept of modality as a grammatical category.Purpose. We believe that it is important to determine the main directions of studying modality at all levels of the sentence – from formal grammatical to semantic and communicative. The article proposes a classification of modal values based on the analysis of the subjective perception of reality by the author of the statement.Results. A sentence is a complex unity of syntactic relationships, some of which are set between the syntactic construct and the ecclesiastical reality, and others within the sentence itself. The category that combines these levels is modality. Modality is a reflection of reality in the interpretation of the speaker, which reproduces this representation in a particular sentence.Modality does not belong entirely to the semantic-syntactic or communicative level of a sentence, but is a separate level of syntactic construction that interacts with other levels, but is not identical to themThe modal level of the sentence, intended to convey the speaker's attitude to what is said in the sentence, can be neither real nor unreal, since this message is expressed by the person, that is, his own, subjective vision of the situation, and on the other hand it is the statement is interpreted by the reader, that is, it is also subjective in nature. Therefore, it is worth considering modality not as objective / subjective, but according to the content that the speaker encloses in this message.The notion of modality with the meaning of realization / non-realization is connected with the concept of reality: what is depicted in the sentence is completely consistent with being as it is perceived by the subject. The formal expression of such a modality in a sentence is a predicate expressed by the verb.Modality with the meaning of possible / impossible (hypothetical or unrealistic modality) expresses the possibility or need for some action. The formal expression of such modality is the predicates expressed by the verbs of the subjunctive or imperative mood, as well as particles with a modal value of hypothetical or conventionality.The modal meaning of the desired / undesired conveys the desire, pleasure or dissatisfaction of the speaker, which is important for him / her. The formal expression of such a modality is the predicates expressed by verbs in imperative mood .The modal value of affirmation / denial (yes – no) confirms / denies the opinion expressed, the presence of some fact or phenomenon, and also confirms the speaker's agreement with the message. The formal expression of this modality is yes or no.Originality. In the article modality is seen as an independent level of sentence, not part of the communicative or semantic level. Modality is an expression of the author's vision of the world, its interpretation of reality, which he conveys to the addressee.Conclusion. Modality is an important category of syntax that provides a link between the semantic and communicative level of a sentence, forming an externally syntactic level of syntactic construction. It is an expression of the author's, subjective vision of reality, so in its essence, it is a subjective category by value and consists of pairs of opposite meanings: desirability / undesirability, possibility / impossibility, realization / failure, objection / assertion, which in turn are shared into even smaller categories of values (possibilities -probability, hypotheticality, unreality, etc.).

Four Key Questions in Philosophy of Technology

This article discusses Hans Poser’s new book “Homo creator” (2016). It aims to open the philosophy of technology to ontological, epistemological and ethical problems. The keynote of the book serves the conviction that the technical creativity builds the core of the engineering. Modal concepts as possibility, necessity, contingency and reality are used in a systematic way to characterize technology. Technological artifacts essentially depend on a special type of interpretation (“technical hermeneutics”). The central ontological problem consists in the fact that technology is based on new ideas, which at the beginning are a mere possibility, because the intended artifacts and processes never existed up to that moment. The author shows that conditions of the real world, cognitive, social and cultural conditions constitute the realm of the technological possibility and influence our culture (“life world”) from the very beginning.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ВЫРАЖЕНИЯ МОДАЛЬНЫХ ЗНАЧЕНИЙ В ТАТАРСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

The article analyzes the formation and development of studies on the functional and semantic category of modality and modal relations in the Tatar language. Modality in the Tatar language has very extensive forms considered differently by different scientists. A number of scientists describe modality as a special category of the language paying special attention to the speaker's attitude to the statement, or addressing modality while studying the basic linguistic phenomena. The study identifies the most commonly used modal elements of the Tatar language, lists the most common modal constructions, and gives examples of their usage in authentic works of fiction. It should be noted that in the Tatar language not all means of expressing modality are structurally designated, and the existing categories are reduced to listing modal words and modal phrases. The peculiarity of the Tatar language is multiplicity of lexical means, since in the language analytical methods of word-formation prevail over synthetic ones. However, there are prosodic, grammatical, stylistic and phraseological means of representing modalities in Tatar text. Thus, the category of modality in its broad sense fully applies to the language under consideration. The originality of the work is based on the fact that it involves a more global view of the concept of modality. Within the article, this category is consi­dered in terms of phonetics, morphology, lexicology and semantics, taking into account the psychological aspects of the problem. This approach allows going beyond the conventional research on modality of the Tatar language, traditionally associated with the analysis of words and phrases with modal meaning.

Logical reasoning by a Grey parrot? A case study of the disjunctive syllogism

Abstract In Call’s (2004) 2-cups task, widely used to explore logical and causal reasoning across species and early human development, a reward is hidden in one of two cups, one is shown to be empty, and successful subjects search for the reward in the other cup. Infants as young as 17-months and some individuals of almost all species tested succeed. Success may reflect logical, propositional thought and working through a disjunctive syllogism (A or B; not A, therefore B). It may also reflect appreciation of the modal concepts “necessity” and “possibility”, and the epistemic concept “certainty”. Mody & Carey’s (2016) results on 2-year-old children with 3- and 4-cups versions of this task converge with studies on apes in undermining this rich interpretation of success. In the 3-cups version, one reward is hidden in a single cup, another in one of two other cups, and the participant is given one choice, thereby tracking the ability to distinguish a certain from an uncertain outcome. In the 4-cups procedure, a reward is hidden in one cup of each pair (e.g., A, C); one cup (e.g., B) is then shown to be empty. Successful subjects should conclude that the reward is 100% likely in A, only 50% likely in either C or D, and accordingly choose A, thereby demonstrating modal and logical concepts in addition to epistemic ones. Children 2 1/2 years of age fail the 4-cups task, and apes fail related tasks tapping the same constructs. Here we tested a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), Griffin, on the 3- and 4-cups procedures. Griffin succeeded on both tasks, outperforming even 5-year-old children. Controls ruled out that his success on the 4-cups task was due to a learned associative strategy of choosing the cup next to the demonstrated empty one. These data show that both the 3- and 4-cups tasks do not require representational abilities unique to humans. We discuss the competences on which these tasks are likely to draw, and what it is about parrots, or Griffin in particular, that explains his better performance than either great apes or linguistically competent preschool children on these and conceptually related tasks.

Revisiting Anti-Luck Epistemology

According to anti-luck approaches to the analysis of knowledge, knowledge is analyzed as unlucky true belief, or unlucky justified true belief. According to virtue epistemology, on the other hand, knowledge is true belief which a subject has acquired or maintained because of the exercise of a relevant cognitive ability. ALE and VE both appear to have difficulty handling some intuitive cases where subjects have or lack knowledge, so Pritchard (2012) proposed that we should take an anti-luck condition and a success-from-ability condition as independent necessary conditions on knowledge. Recently, Carter and Peterson (2017) have argued that Pritchard’s modal notion of luck needs to be broadened. My aim in this paper is to show that, with the modal conception of luck appropriately broadened, it is no longer clear that ALE needs to be supplemented with an independent ability condition in order to handle the problematic Gettier cases.

On the Feasibility of Ultrasound Imaging Enrichment by Medium-Temperature Changes.

We describe the concept of a new imaging modality based on the tracking and dynamic modeling of local intensity changes (ICs) observed in conventional ultrasound images collected during a medium-temperature change. We computed the pixel-by-pixel IC from averaged B-mode images that exhibited different behaviors with varying temperature resulting from changes in the speed of sound, which consequently induce changes in the backscattered energy. Moreover, for each pixel, a first-order polynomial model was adjusted to the different temperature-dependent ICs. The representation of the polynomial angular parameter in 2D pixel space was used to obtain a parametric image. The results obtained by simulations and with real B-mode images indicated that this new ultrasound imaging modality was able to enhance the contrast and highlight structures that were poorly visible or even undetected in conventional images. A temperature change of 3°C was found to be sufficient to generate appropriate images with the proposed method. In addition, if a temperature change of 6°C was considered, the thermal dose, measured as the cumulative number of equivalent minutes at 43°C (CEM43°C), was 2.4 CEM43°C, which is a value that is considered safe according to the literature. We provide a proof-of-concept of a new imaging modality that opens new opportunities for the enhancement of ultrasound images and consequently contributes to improvements in ultrasound-based diagnoses. Our approach is based on images returned by commercial ultrasound scanners. Therefore, it can be implemented in any ultrasound system and is independent of specific ultrasound hardware and software data acquisition characteristics.

La articulación metafísica de las modalidades leibnizianas

Modal concepts (possibility, existence, necessity, contingency) acquire a capital relevance in Leibniz´s metaphysic, to such an extent that the whole set of particularities of his philosophical doctrines can be explained with a reference to the mentioned modal concepts.

El tiempo y las modalidades en Leibniz

Leibnizian senses of temporality are analized, in order to assess that Leibniz’s formal and a priori notion of time is based on his own modal metaphysics. In this way, we can say that time constitutes the notion that allows the modalities articulation (Possibility-Necessity-Contingency) as well as the role of modal concepts allows to control the time.

Bi-Modal Naive Set Theory

This paper describes a modal conception of sets, according to which sets are 'potential' with respect to their members. A modal theory is developed, which invokes a naive comprehension axiom schema, modified by adding 'forward looking' and 'backward looking' modal operators. We show that this 'bi-modal' naive set theory can prove modalized interpretations of several ZFC axioms, including the axiom of infinity. We also show that the theory is consistent by providing an S5 Kripke model. The paper concludes with some discussion of the nature of the modalities involved, drawing comparisons with noneism, the view that there are some non-existent objects.

The Basis of Necessity and Possibility

AbstractThe article argues that modal concepts should be explained in terms of the essences or nature of things: necessarilypif, and because, there is something the nature of which ensures thatp; possiblypif, and because, there is nothing whose nature rules out its being true thatp. The theory is defended against various objections and difficulties, including ones arising from attributing essences to contingent individuals.

Impossible Odds

A thesis (“weak BCP”) nearly universally held among philosophers of probability connects the concepts of objective chance and metaphysical modality: Any prospect (outcome) that has a positive chance of obtaining is metaphysically possible—(nearly) equivalently, any metaphysically impossible prospect has zero chance. Particular counterexamples are provided utilizing the monotonicity of chance, one of them related to the four world paradox. Explanations are offered for the persistent feeling that there cannot be chancy metaphysical necessities or chancy metaphysical impossibilities. Chance is objective but contrary to popular opinion it is also largely epistemic. Chancy necessities are analogous to necessary a posteriori truths.

The function of modal judgment and the Kantian gap

What is the function of modal judgment? Why do we (need to be able to) make judgments of possibility and necessity? Or are such judgments, in fact, dispensable? This paper introduces and develops an answer to these questions based on Kant’s remarks in section 76 of the Critique of Judgment. Here, Kant appears to argue the following: that a capacity to make modal judgments using (categorial) modal concepts is required for a capacity for objective representation, in light of our split cognitive architecture. This split cognitive architecture leaves room for a mismatch between our concepts and intuitions and, Kant argues, that is why we need modal concepts and modal judgments. In this paper, I develop this account of the function of modal judgment and to explore the extent to which it may improve upon contemporary alternatives. I focus on one particularly important challenge for the account: to explain why a distinction between the actual and the possible, rather than merely a distinction between the actual and the non-actual, is required. In order to answer this question, I supplement the account with a particular way of thinking about objectivity.

Where does the modality of Ancient Greek modal verbs come from?

Abstract Modality can be expressed through a variety of different linguistic means within and across languages, of which one manifestation is through noncanonical case marking of the subject. In Ancient Greek several predicates show a systematic alternation between constructions with nominative and oblique subjects, which coincides with a difference in meaning, yielding a modal meaning in the latter case. We show how this modal meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of the individual parts of the construction, neither from the lexical material nor from the relevant grammatical elements. Instead, the data call for a constructional analysis of a modal subconstruction of the oblique subject construction, for which the modality must be attributed to the construction itself. We argue that this can be viewed through the lens of subjectification in the sense of Traugott (2003), here demonstrating that the semantic relation holding between the subject referent and the oblique case marking selected by the verb has been extended to the empathic relation holding between the speaker and his/her attitude towards the proposition uttered (Barðdal 2004). This, we believe, is how the concept of modality came to be associated with oblique case marking of subjects.

Characterizing right inverses for spatial constraint systems with applications to modal logic

Spatial constraint systems are algebraic structures from concurrent constraint programming to specify spatial and epistemic behavior in multi-agent systems. In this paper spatial constraint systems are used to give an abstract characterization of the notion of normality in modal logic and to derive right inverse/reverse operators for modal languages. In particular, a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of right inverses is identified and the abstract notion of normality is shown to correspond to the preservation of finite suprema. Furthermore, a taxonomy of normal right inverses is provided, identifying the greatest normal right inverse as well as the complete family of minimal right inverses. These results are applied to existing modal languages such as the weakest normal modal logic, Hennessy–Milner logic, and linear-time temporal logic. Some implications of these results are also discussed in the context of modal concepts such as bisimilarity and inconsistency invariance.

Semantic Imagination as Condition to our Linguistic Experience

The main purpose of this article is, from a semiotic perspective, arguing for the recognizing of a semantic role of the imagination as a necessary condition to our linguistic experience, regarded as an essential feature of the relations of our thought with the world through signification processes (and the sign systems they perform); processes centered in but not reducible to discourse. The text is divided into three parts. The first part presents the traditional position in philosophy and cognitive sciences that had barred until recent times the possibility to investigate the semantic function performed by imagination, mainly due to the anti-psychologist arguments on which it is based. After that, I situate my perspective inside of the recent research panorama in philosophy and cognitive science. The second part presents the semiotic framework on the relation between thought, language, and world, conceived through the concepts of signification processes and sense-conditions. Within this framework, I introduce the concept of linguistic experience, characterizing semantic imagination as one of its sense-conditions. In the third part, several pieces of evidence for corroborating the semantic function of imagination are discussed. These pieces come from the fields of phenomena denoted as diagrammatic thought and counterfactual thought. Diagrammatic thought, briefly discussed, points out the semantic work of imagination in the semi-discursive sign systems constructed in mathematics, logic, and natural science. After defending a widening of the concept of counterfactual thought, and its intrinsic relation with semantic imagination, the role of semantic imagination is briefly discussed in some types of counterfactual thought found in our conceptions of modal concepts, in thought experiments, in apagogical arguments, and in the creative discursive devices.

Dynamic Essences: Absolute, Prospective, Retrospective, and Relative Modalities

AbstractEssential properties are usually thought as properties that things must always possess, whereas accidental properties are considered as changeable. In this paper, we challenge this traditional view. We argue that in some important cases, such as social or biological development, we face not only the change of accidents, but also the change of essences. To analyze this kind of change we propose an alternative view on the relations between the modalities and time. Some properties might be necessary or possible for a thing in a classical sense throughout its existence, whereas others might be necessary or possible only for some restricted periods. We distinguish therefore absolute, prospective, retrospective, and relative modalities. As we argue, these non-classical concepts of modality are useful in analysis of some puzzling case of seemingly changing essences.

HISTORICIDADE, MUDANÇAS RELACIONAIS E NÃO FIXIDEZ DO PASSADO EXISTENCIAL

No presente artigo, apresento uma interpretação da mobilidade histórica da existência segundo a analítica existencial de Ser e tempo de Martin Heidegger. A interpretação é elaborada com uma construção conceitual que tem por base as noções de mudança relacional e emergência de determinações. Seguindo um análogo do critério de David Weberman para identificar mudanças relacionais genuínas, examinarei a mobilidade específica da historicidade existencial, procurando ressaltar o compromisso da noção existencial de movimento com uma concepção modal de mudança relacional na existência. Tal concepção também implica a ideia da plasticidade ou não fixidez do passado existencial.

Causal and Functional Determination vs. Foreknowledge about the Future

The author of the paper critically analyzes a quasi-theory of future contingents ( PFC ) given by Marcin Tkaczyk and proposes his own explication of its theses and terms. The author makes it by introducing operational definitions of temporal and modal concepts, distinguishing between the causal and functional determination, discussing the status of the principle of bivalence, and replacing Tkaczyk’s theses by their new formulations. As a result, the author states, among other things, that (contrary to Tkaczyk) there is no contradiction between the thesis about the opened future and the thesis about divine omniscience, because it requires the causal (but not functional as it is a case) determination between a true proposition and its determined fact. The author also shows that Tkaczyk’s examples of the retroactive causes are not an accurate solution of the antinomy because they are, at most, the examples of the factors which change the picture of the past but not the past itself.

Beyond Punishment: The Penal State's Interventionist, Covert, and Negligent Modalities of Control

This article investigates the involvement of the penal state in the lives of criminalized people as a controlling force that takes multiple forms. We offer the concept of modalities of penal control and identify three such modalities in addition to expressive punishment: interventionist penal control is accomplished in extralegal ways; covert penal control is hidden from public view; and negligent penal control is characterized by the absence of action by state actors. This article illustrates empirical cases of each modality, using data from three distinct projects based in Chicago, southern Wisconsin, and nationwide. The data include observations of post-prison groups and homes, interviews with criminalized people and nongovernmental organizational (NGO) staff, statutes, and regulations. This expanded understanding of penal state involvement extends beyond the understanding that characterizes discussions of mass incarceration and highlights the need for comprehensive reform.