Heft 8 der Zeitschrift Coils of the serpent.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 134-135. / by Roscoe Dillard George III. / M.S.

In this paper I present, and offer a solution to, a heretofore unacknowledged textual puzzle that arises from Margaret Cavendish's use of inconceivability to make claims about what is metaphysically impossible. On the one hand, Cavendish asserts that objects or events she cannot conceive of are impossible in nature (i.e., inconceivability entails impossibility in nature). On the other hand, she writes that there are some things that exist or occur in nature that are inconceivable to humans (i.e., inconceivability does not entail impossibility in nature). Put simply, Cavendish seemingly contradicts herself. This textual puzzle not only threatens to undermine Cavendish's philosophical method; it also calls her opposition to human exceptionalism into question. By asserting that what is inconceivable to her is impossible in nature, Cavendish implies by contraposition that she can conceive of everything that is metaphysically possible. In so doing, she seems to make an exception at least for herself: though she believes that other parts of nature cannot conceive of everything in nature, she implies that she can. Ultimately, I argue that Cavendish thinks we can sometimes tell why something is inconceivable. In some cases, something is inconceivable because it lies beyond the limits of humans' mental capacities. In other cases, something is inconceivable because it is contradictory. This interpretation solves the textual puzzle, as it is consistent for Cavendish to maintain that some objects and events in nature are beyond our mental limits and that we can derive the impossibility of some object or event in nature from its contradictoriness. My interpretation preserves Cavendish's opposition to human exceptionalism, moreover, as no part of nature can conceive of contradictions. That is, Cavendish's claim is not merely that what is inconceivable to her is impossible in nature, but rather that what is inconceivable to her and to every other part of nature is impossible in nature. / Master of Arts / Margaret Cavendish, a seventeenth century philosopher, makes two seemingly contradictory claims throughout her philosophical works. On the one hand, she implies that if something is inconceivable to her — that is, if she cannot form a mental picture of it — that thing is impossible in nature. On the other hand, she writes that there are plenty of things that exist or occur in nature which are inconceivable to humans. A textual puzzle therefore arises: Cavendish seems to simultaneously maintain (1) that something is impossible in nature if she cannot conceive of it, and (2) that something is not necessarily impossible in nature if she cannot conceive of it. In this paper, I propose that Cavendish believes humans can at least sometimes determine why something is inconceivable. That is, we can at least sometimes diagnose our inability to form a mental picture of something. In some cases, Cavendish thinks, we cannot form a mental picture of something because of our limited, human mental capacities. (We might think, for example, that this is why we cannot form a mental picture of all the colors butterflies see.) In other cases, we cannot form a mental picture of something because that thing is contradictory. (We might think, for instance, that this is why we cannot form a mental picture of an apple that is both red all over and not red all over.) I further argue that Cavendish only asserts that something is impossible in nature if it is inconceivable because it is contradictory. On my account, the textual puzzle I presented above is in fact not so puzzling. Cavendish thinks that if something is inconceivable because it is contradictory, then it is impossible in nature. She also thinks that there are plenty of things in nature that we cannot conceive of because of our limited human mental capacities. Thankfully, these two claims are not in tension.

This thesis is an assessment of the position of Islamic law and English law regarding the doctrine of the frustration of the contract. The thesis gave in the first general view about Islamic law and Saudi legal system, also about the contract in Islamic law in general. This study provides a detailed and critical account of the principles of frustration of contract law which operate under Islamic law and English law, where appropriate, identifies and critically evaluates the differences between the principles of frustration of contract which operate respectively under Islamic law and English law and to recognize the effect of the frustration on the performance of the contract. In the case of the absence of theory of frustration of contract in Islamic Law, an attempt will be made to create a complete doctrine of frustration of contract. Researcher discussed the frustration of contract in Islamic Law. In the case of the absence of theory of frustration of contract in Islamic Law, an attempt will be made to create a complete theory of frustration of contract in Islamic law. This is recognised owing to the fact that most cases of the application of frustration fall under the doctrine of impossibility. Impossibility can be regarded as taking place ‘when there supervening events without default of either party and for which the contract makes no sufficient provision which so significant changes the nature, if the cases where impossibility relates to the subject-matter of contracts or relates to the parties, subjective or objective impossibility. This study discusses the issue of Frustration of contract due to external factors covering cases of legal impossibility. This study examines the discharge of contract if there is circumstances do not make the performance impossibility but became difficult to perform such as impracticability and frustration of purpose. It will also look in some detail at the limitations and narrow scope of the doctrine of frustration, and also discuss contractual parties’ sometimes preferred alternatives, such as drafting force majeure clauses and hardship clauses.

Change of circumstances and its effect on a duration of an obligation In particular cases, an unexpected supervening event may substantially affect original equilibrium of a contract, or make the performance for one of the parties much more burdensome, so that it would be greatly unjust to hold the parties to their obligations. In such situations, when the performance of one of the parties has become much more onerous, a conflict may rise between the classical principles of contractual freedom, sanctity of the contract, certainty of the law and pacta sunt servanda, on the one hand, and principle of contractual fairness, equity and good faith on the other. Pacta sunt servanda, principle accepted by most of developed legal systems, determines that obligations which are validly concluded, must be fulfilled, parties are bound by their agreement. In case of change of circumstances, this may lead to situations, when it would be unjust to hold the debtor to the obligation. This makes the topic of the thesis very controversial and polemic. The topic of this thesis is a change of circumstances and its impact on an existing obligation. The aim of the thesis is to focus and describe relevant legal doctrines, institutes, and possible solutions of the problem. Another purpose is to analyze different legislations and...

I explore three main points in Alfred Tarski’s Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundation of Theoretical Semantics: (1) his physicalist program, (2) a general theory of truth, and (3) the necessity of a metalanguage when defining truth. Hartry Field argued that Tarski’s theory of truth failed to accomplish what it set out to do, which was to ground truth and semantics in physicalist terms. I argue that Tarski has been adequately defended by Richard Kirkham. Development of logic in the past three decades has created a shift away from Fregean and Russellian understandings of quantification to an independent conception of quantification in independence-friendly first-order logic. This shift has changed some of the assumptions that led to Tarski’s Impossibility Theorem.

Vadovaujantis pacta sunt servanta principu, iš esmės kiekvienas sutarties neįvykdymas, lygiai kaip ir netinkamas vykdymas reiškia sutarties pažeidimą, už kurį atsakingas skolininkas. Tačiau ši taisyklė turi išimtį – ji netaikoma tuomet, kai sutarties vykdymui trukdo po sutarties sudarymo atsiradusios tam tikros teisiškai reikšmingos aplinkybės, nepapuolančios į nė vienos iš šalių rizikos sritį. Tokioms situacijoms spręsti užsienio, tarptautinėje ir nacionalinėje praktikoje įtvirtinami ir taikomi sutarties vykdymo neįmanomumo dėl iš esmės pasikeitusių aplinkybių ir sutarties vykdymo apsunkinimo dėl iš esmės pasikeitusių aplinkybių teisiniai institutai, įvairiais aspektais tiriami šiame magistriniame darbe. Pirmoje darbo dalyje nagrinėjamos sutarčių vykdymo pasikeitus aplinkybėms problemai spręsti skirtų teisinių institutų ištakos, samprata, pagrindiniai požymiai ir tarpusavio santykis. Nustatyta, kad institutai yra savarankiški, todėl negali būti taikomi paraleliai ar subsidiariai. Antroje dalyje istoriniu – lyginamuoju aspektu tiriami Vokietijos, Prancūzijos ir Anglijos pasirinkti sutarčių vykdymo pasikeitus aplinkybėms problemos sprendimo būdai. Analizė parodė, kad šiose valstybėse sutarčių vykdymo neįmanomumo dėl iš esmės pasikeitusių aplinkybių situacijos sprendžiamos labai panašiai. Tačiau valstybių požiūris į sutarties vykdymo apsunkinimo dėl iš esmės pasikeitusių aplinkybių teisinį institutą yra ganėtinai skirtingas. Trečioji darbo dalis skirta Lietuvai reikšminguose... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / According to principle pacta sunt servanta, commonly each non-fulfilment of the contract as well as undue fulfilment is considered as an infringement, for which the promisor is liable. However, this rule has an exception – it is not applied, when performance of a contract is impeded by particular legally significant circumstances, which occurred after conclusion of a contract and the risk thereof was not assumed by either party. Such situations in foreign, international and national practice are dealt by applying legal institutes of impossibility of performance due to change of circumstances and hardship of performance due to change of circumstances, the various aspects whereof are analysed in the master thesis. First part of the thesis analyses origins, concepts, main features and correlation between the legal institutes, developed to deal with the problem of performance of contracts under changed circumstances. It has been found out that they are independent and, thus could not be applied simultaneously or subsidiary. In second part the author historically-comparatively reviews, how the problem of performance of contract under changed circumstances is dealt in Germany, France and England. The study has shown that these countries solve problem of impossibility to perform the contract due to changed circumstances in a very similar way. However, they have quite a different approach towards the legal institute of hardship of performance due to change of circumstances. Third... [to full text]

Univ., Diss.--Saarbrücken, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. 349 - 365.

English abstract Material change of circumstances and the impossibility of performance within the Czech and English legal system Civil law in the Czech Republic is based on a so-called principle pacta sunt servanda which means that parties are bound by the contract and should perform in accordance with it. It may happen, however, that unexpected supervening event substantially change the circumstances after the formation of a contract to the extent that it become impossible to perform the contract or it makes performance for affected party so burdensome that it will lead the party to the economical destruction. Such a change may lead to situations that to hold the affected party to fulfil its promise would be unjust and contrary to morality. Therefore, Czech Civil Code contains few provisions based on which court may terminate the contract or adjust the contract to restore equilibrium of the performance. Thesis focuses on two of those provisions, namely impossibility of performance and impracticability of performance. Thesis describes relevant legal institutes and doctrines, development of case law, analyze past and current Czech Civil Code and compare it with English case law and international and European soft law. After introductory chapter, chapter two describes relevant principles of civil law and...

Lacan is an influential figure of 20th Century thought. Being a psychoanalyst, a linguist and at the same time a philosopher, in his theory he combines all three of these disciplines. Even in his later works, he tried to combine his theory with mathematical formalization. His theory influenced three important political thinkers: Laclau, &amp / #381 / i&amp / #382 / ek and Badiou. The purpose of this dissertation is mainly to examine Lacan&rsquo / s thought and its impasses which could be found especially in the political applications of his theory. First I start with a critical reading of Lacan&rsquo / s own works. I try to figure out the idealizations, presuppositions and blind spots hidden in his work. I develop my critical reading by focusing on the works of Laclau, &amp / #381 / i&amp / #382 / ek and Badiou. The main argument of this dissertation is, such a critical reading of these philosophers will lead us to a general questioning of Lacan&rsquo / s theory and the legitimacy of its applications. Lacan&rsquo / s use of the impossibility as a founding principle and his passion for formalization cause several idealizations, like the idealization of the neutrality of the signifier, the idealization of the non-represented and so on. These problems are extended and transformed into other ones in his disciples&rsquo / works. For Laclau, the problem is transformed into a purely content-free understanding of elements of democracy which ends up with paradoxical results. For &amp / #381 / i&amp / #382 / ek and Badiou, because of their insistence on a political theory based on the impossible real, their subversive theories end up with a theory which take the form of messianic discourses. What I propose is a reconsideration of the role of the theory on the understanding of human reality: in principle every theory excludes some portions of the richness of human life-world, therefore every theory must have a retrospective and critical stance against its own founding principles. This cannot be done by formalized theories which keep the formal structure of itself untouchable.