Non-deterministic Theory Research Articles

Economic theory and philosophical anthropology: Marx, Gramsci, Sraffa and the study of human nature

In the present paper, we ask whether in the “new” Classical political economy as reproposed by Sraffa there is a satisfying theory of human behaviour and social change. To discuss this issue, we try to show a possible pathway to integrate the analytical part of his work with the historical analysis based on the materialist philosophical anthropology proposed by Marx. We will examine first the joint vision of Garegnani and Andrea Ginzburg to trace a compatibility between Sraffa’s thought and Marx’s thought, then we put forward some hints for a non-deterministic theory through Gramsci’s philosophy of praxis.

Conflict-Driven Inductive Logic Programming

AbstractThe goal of inductive logic programming (ILP) is to learn a program that explains a set of examples. Until recently, most research on ILP targeted learning Prolog programs. The ILASP system instead learns answer set programs (ASP). Learning such expressive programs widens the applicability of ILP considerably; for example, enabling preference learning, learning common-sense knowledge, including defaults and exceptions, and learning non-deterministic theories. Early versions of ILASP can be considered meta-level ILP approaches, which encode a learning task as a logic program and delegate the search to an ASP solver. More recently, ILASP has shifted towards a new method, inspired by conflict-driven SAT and ASP solvers. The fundamental idea of the approach, called Conflict-driven ILP (CDILP), is to iteratively interleave the search for a hypothesis with the generation of constraints which explain why the current hypothesis does not cover a particular example. These coverage constraints allow ILASP to rule out not just the current hypothesis, but an entire class of hypotheses that do not satisfy the coverage constraint. This article formalises the CDILP approach and presents the ILASP3 and ILASP4 systems for CDILP, which are demonstrated to be more scalable than previous ILASP systems, particularly in the presence of noise.

Exploring the Philosophical Paradigm of Grey Systems Theory as a Postmodern Theory

Every scientific or intellectual movement is founded upon basic assumptions and hypotheses that shape its specifically formulated philosophy. This study seeks to explore and explicate the basic philosophical underpinnings of grey systems theory (GST), as well as the paradigm governing its postulates. The study, more specifically, scrutinizes the underlying principles of GST from the perspective of postmodern philosophy. To accomplish this, the epistemology, ontology, human nature, and methodology of GST are substantially investigated in the light of postmodern philosophy. The study draws on Burrell and Morgan’s framework to reveal the paradigm underlying the philosophy of GST. Results demonstrate that GST is an anti-realistic, anti-positivistic, and non-deterministic theory which is inherently pluralistic and ideographic. Based on the principles of GST, change is an indispensable dimension of human speculation about the world and systems, and knowledge is ceaselessly reproduced as new information is collected. As a result, knowledge, narratives, theories and scientific laws are dynamically changed. GST, then, is remarkably compatible with the foundations of postmodern thought and it could be regarded as a postmodern theory governed by a humanistic paradigm.

Determinism without causality

Causality has often been confused with the notion of determinism. It is mandatory to separate the two notions in view of the debate about quantum foundations. Quantum theory provides an example of causal non-deterministic theory. Here we introduce a toy operational theory that is deterministic and non-causal, thus proving that the two notions of causality and determinism are totally independent.

Non-deterministic Conditionals and Transparent Truth

Theories where truth is a naive concept fall under the following dilemma: either the theory is subject to Curry's Paradox, which engenders triviality, or the theory is not trivial but the resulting conditional is too weak. In this paper we explore a number of theories which arguably do not fall under this dilemma. In these theories the conditional is characterized in terms of (infinitely-valued) non-deterministic matrices. These non-deterministic theories are similar to infinitely-valued ?ukasiewicz logic in that they are consistent and their conditionals are quite strong. The difference is the following: while ?ukasiewicz logic is $${\omega}$$?-inconsistent, the non-deterministic theories might turn out to be $${\omega}$$?-consistent.

The Establishment and Maintenance of Socially Imposed Monogamy in Western Europe

Although stratified societies have typically been characterized by intensive polygyny, socially imposed monogamy has developed in the stratified societies of Western Europe. Following a critical review of other theories of socially imposed monogamy, a multivariate, nondeterministic theory is developed. Within this theory, a variety of internal political processes can result in socially imposed monogamy, but this phenomenon—while consistent with evolutionary theory—is underdetermined with respect to (1) evolutionary theory, (2) human nature/nurture (i.e., the characteristics of humans), and (3) external ecological variables. Data on the origins and maintenance of socially imposed monogamy in Western Europe are reviewed, indicating that post-antiquity socially imposed monogamy originated in the late Middle Ages and has been maintained since that period by a variety of social controls and ideologies, including political activities of the Christian Church and, in later periods, of women and lower- and middle-status males. As a result of institutionalized controls on reproduction, non-monogamous Western sexuality has been directed at obtaining psychological rewards deriving from evolved motivational systems (e.g., sexual pleasure, excitement, feelings of dominance, status, or intimacy), but this non-monogamous sexuality has not typically been a major source of increased reproductive success.

Nondeterministic theories of climatic change

A basic assumption in some climatic theories is that, given the physical properties of the atmosphere and the underlying ocean and land, specified environmental parameters (amount of solar heating, etc.) would determine a unique climate and that climatic changes therefore result from changes in the environment. The possibility that no such unique climate exists and that nondeterministic factors are wholly or partly responsible for long-period fluctuations of the atmosphere-ocean-earth system, is considered. A simple difference equation is used to illustrate the phenomena of transitivity, intransitivity, and almost-intransitivity. Numerical models of moderate size suggest that almost-intransitivity might lead to persistence of atmospheric anomalies for a whole season. The effect of this persistence could be to allow substantial anomalies to build up in the underlying ocean or land, perhaps as abnormal temperatures or excessive snow or ice. These anomalies could subsequently influence the atmosphere, leading to long-period fluctuations. The implications of this possibility for the numerical modeling of climate, and for the interpretation of the output of numerical models, are discussed.

Relativity and Indeterminacy

WITHOUT wishing in any way to disagree with H. Bondi's view1 that “relativity demands a non-deterministic theory”, I would suggest that his final summing-up is somewhat misleading. He says: “The flow of time has no significance in the logically fixed pattern of events demanded by deterministic theory, time being a mere co-ordinate. In a theory of indeterminacy, however, the passage of time transforms statistical expectations into real events”.