Two open questions of inductive reasoning are solved: (1) does the principle of maximum entropy (PME) give a solution to the obverse Majerník problem; and (2) is Wagner correct when he claims that Jeffrey's updating principle (JUP) contradicts PME? Majerník shows that PME provides unique and plausible marginal probabilities, given conditional probabilities. The obverse problem posed here is whether PME also provides such conditional probabilities, given certain marginal probabilities. The theorem developed to solve the obverse Majerník problem demonstrates that in the special case introduced by Wagner PME does not contradict JUP, but elegantly generalizes it and offers a more integrated approach to probability updating.

“The Power of Translation” examines the language phenomenon of translation in the context of power relations and the transcendence of power relations. The thesis of the article can be summarized in point form:*Translation is a player in the power structure of human relating from which it cannot be extracted and based on an objective and purely translative ground.*Translation, as much as language itself, is a force which results in separation, not in connection. At the same time, the ‘tools’ (technology, translation, language, eros) which separate us become connective where they retain the capacity of self-subversion and dialogue.*Subsequent to this dynamic, we discern the colonizing and eschatological plot inherent in translation. Translation is an ‘open’ phenomenon, always engaged in creating structures which are both oppressive and liberating. It is this openness which constitutes the power of translation.

No abstract

No abstract

Nietzsche's texts contain a puzzle about the role of vulnerability in the creation of intimacy and its function on behalf of human flourishing. I describe the interpretive puzzle and its prima facie paradoxical aspects. On the one hand, there are texts in which Nietzsche expresses a longing for intimacy and other texts where he furnishes details about the possibility of intimacy between equals. On the other hand, Nietzsche is severely critical of certain types of intimacy (especially ones requiring vulnerability and authenticity) and advocates for a pathos of distance in human relationships. I claim that Nietzschean intimacy is not an inherently paradoxical concept. A proper understanding of Nietzsche's anti-humanism provides the resources to resolve the paradox and to use the solution of the puzzle to illuminate Nietzsche's insights about human psychology.