Peter Ludlow

In this work, Peter Ludlow offers a collection of writings that reflects the eclectic nature of the online world, as well as its tremendous energy and creativity. This time the subject is the emergence of governance structures within online communities and the visions of political sovereignty shaping some of those communities. Ludlow views virtual communities as laboratories for conducting experiments in the construction of new societies and governance structures. While many online experiments will fail, Ludlow argues that given the synergy of the online world, new and superior governance structures may emerge. Indeed, utopian visions are not out of place, provided that we understand the new utopias to be fleeting localized "islands in the Net" and not permanent institutions.

Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias

Our Future in Virtual Worlds

Mark Wallace

A behind-the-scenes account of the emergence of a fascinating virtual universe that is at once colorful, important, and unpredictable, with shocking consequences in the real world.

The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse

The Second Life Herald

Dando ormai per assodato che le dimensioni cruciali della nostra esistenza – quella lavorativa, affettiva, sociale, artistica – si sono già trasferite online, non resta che prendere atto delle conseguenze che ne derivano: gran parte della vita pubblica, della realtà sociale e politica odierna, istituzioni incluse, è già virtuale.La questione decisiva sorpassa, quindi, “il tipo di leggi che i governi tradizionali vorranno (o tenteranno di) imporre sui mondi virtuali”, dal momento che – secondo Peter Ludlow, docente di filosofia alla Northwest University e autore di numerose pubblicazioni su temi inerenti la tecnologia e la cybercultura – “i governi territoriali stanno rapidamente perdendo rilevanza”.Che si tratti di Second Life o The Sims Online, o di MySpace e di Facebook, un codice ben scritto o draconiane “regole di servizio” non sono sufficienti a definire la governance di un mondo virtuale.Occorrono trasparenza e buon governo, insieme a strumenti di partecipazione e coinvolgimento degli utenti nel tessuto narrativo di un luogo che ormai per molti di noi è 'casa' e 'patria' tanto quanto quella 'vera'.[...] Nella sua narrazione c’è tutto: le domande, le risposte, le sferzate e le critiche di un grande illuminista della rete, che più di una volta fa pensare a Voltaire. (dalla prefazione di Mario Gerosa)

Il nostro futuro nei mondi virtuali

According to Peter Ludlow, there is a very close relation between the structure of natural language and that of reality, and one can gain insights into long-standing metaphysical questions by studying the semantics of natural language. In this book Ludlow uses the metaphysics of time as a case study and focuses on the dispute between A-theorists and B-theorists about the nature of time. According to B-theorists, there is no genuine change, but a permanent sequence of events ordered by an earlier-than/later-than relation. According to the version of the A-theory adopted by Ludlow (a position sometimes called "presentism"), there are no past or future events or times; what makes something past or future is how the world stands right now. Ludlow argues that each metaphysical picture is tied to a particular semantical theory of tense and that the dispute can be adjudicated on semantical grounds. A presentism-compatible semantics, he claims, is superior to a B-theory semantics in a number of respects, including its abilities to handle the indexical nature of temporal discourse and to account for facts about language acquisition. Along the way, Ludlow develops a conception of "E-type" temporal anaphora that can account for both temporal anaphora and complex tenses without reference to past and future events. His view has philosophical consequences for theories of logic, self-knowledge, and memory. As for linguistic consequences, Ludlow suggests that the very idea of grammatical tense may have to be dispensed with and replaced with some combination of aspect, modality, and evidentiality.

An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language

Semantics, Tense, and Time

A central theme of this collection is that the philosophy of language, at least a core portion of it, has matured to the point where it is now being spun off into linguistic theory.

Readings in the Philosophy of Language

Brian Beakley

Peter Jay Ludlow

Professor of Philosophy Peter Ludlow

Bringing together the best classical and contemporary writings in the philosophy of mind and organized by topic, this anthology allows readers to follow the development of thinking in five broad problem areas - the mind/body problem, mental causation, associationism/connectionism, mental imagery, and innate ideas - over 2500 years of philosophy. The writings range from Plato and Descartes to Fodor and the PDP research group, showing how many of the current concerns in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science are firmly rooted in history. The editors have provided helpful introductions to each of the main sections. Brian Beakley is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Eastern Illinois University. Peter Ludlow is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at SUNY, Stony Brook. Readings from: Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Nicolas Malebranche, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Henry Huxley, William James, Oswald Kulpe, John Watson, jean Piaget, Gilbert Ryle, U. T. Place, Hilary Putnam, Daniel Dennett, Donald Davidson, Jerry Fodor, Roger Shepard, Jacqueline Metzler, Saul Kripke, Ned Block, Noam Chomsky, Stephen Kosslyn, Zenon Pylyshyn, Patricia Churchland, James McClelland, David Rumelhart, Geoffrey Hinton, Paul Smolensky, Seymour Papert.

Classical Problems/contemporary Issues

The Philosophy of Mind

Peter Ludlow presents the first book on the philosophy of generative linguistics, including both Chomskys government and binding theory and his minimalist program. Ludlow explains the motivation of the generative framework, describes its basic mechanisms, and then addresses some of the many interesting philosophical questions and puzzles that arise once we adopt the general theoretical approach. He focuses on what he takes to be the most basic philosophical issuesabout the ontology of linguistics, about the nature of data, about language/world relations, and about best theory criteria. These are of broad philosophical interest, from epistemology to ethics: Ludlow hopes to bring the philosophy of linguistics to a wider philosophical audience and show that wehave many shared philosophical questions. Similarly, he aims to set out the philosophical issues in such a way as to engage readers from linguistics, and to encourage interaction between the two disciplines on foundational issues.

The Philosophy of Generative Linguistics

Peter Ludlow presents the first book on the philosophy of generative linguistics. He explains the motivation of the generative framework, describes its mechanisms, and addresses issues of broad philosophical interest, for instance the ontology of linguistics, the nature of data, language/world relations, and best theory criteria.

Peter Ludlow shows how word meanings are much more dynamic than we might have supposed, and explores how meanings are modulated (changed) even during the course of our everyday conversations. When we engage with communicative partners we build micro-languages on the fly--languages that may be fleeting, but which serve our joint interests. Sometimes we sync up on word meanings without reflection, but in many cases we debate the proper modulation of the meanings of our words. Living Words explores the norms that govern the ways in which we litigate word meanings. The resulting view is radical, and Ludlow shows that it has far-reaching consequences for our political and legal discourse and also for some of the deepest and most intractable puzzles that have gripped English-language philosophy for the past 100 years--including puzzles in the foundations of semantics, epistemology, and logic.

Peter Ludlow

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