Relying on aesthetic testimony seems problematic. For instance, it seems problematic for me to simply believe or assert that The Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground and Nico (1964) is amazing solely because you have told me so, even though I know you to be an honest and competent music critic. But why? After all, there do not seem to be similar reservations regarding testimony from many other domains. In this paper, I will argue that relying on aesthetic testimony (...) seems problematic because we are attached to an ideal of aesthetic authenticity and feel that living up to this ideal is anathema to simply relying on aesthetic testimony. (shrink)

Many philosophers, following Williamson (The Philosophical Review 105(4): 489–523, 1996), Williamson (Knowledge and its Limits, Oxford, Oxford Univer- sity Press, 2000), subscribe to the constitutive rule account of assertion (CRAA). They hold that the activity of asserting is constituted by a single constitutive rule of assertion. However, in recent work, Maitra (in: Brown & Cappelen (ed). Assertion: new philosophical essays, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011), Johnson (Acta Analytica 33(1): 51–67, 2018), and Kelp and Simion (Synthese 197(1): 125–137, 2020a), Kelp and (...) Simion (in: Goldberg (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Assertion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020b) aim to show that, for all the most popular versions of the constitutive rule of assertion proposed in the literature, asserting is not an activity constituted by a single constitutive rule and that therefore CRAA is very likely false. To reach this conclusion, they all present a version of what can be dubbed the engagement condition objection. That is, they each propose a necessary condition on engaging in rule-constituted activities. Then they argue that, for all the most popular versions of the constitutive rule of assertion proposed in the literature, one can make assertions without satisfying this condition. In response, I present a counterexample that shows that the proposed engagement conditions lead to coun- terintuitive results, and I propose an alternative that better captures our intuitions. Then I argue that this alternative engagement condition is compatible with all the most popular versions of the constitutive rule of assertion. (shrink)

‘A rare and remarkable book.’ Times Literary SupplementGilles Deleuze (1925-1995) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII. He is a key figure in poststructuralism, and one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.F\’elix Guattari (1930-1992) was a psychoanalyst at the la Borde Clinic, as well as being a major social theorist and radical activist. A Thousand Plateaus is part of Deleuze and Guattari’s landmark philosophical project, Capitalism and Schizophrenia - a project that still sets the (...) terms of contemporary philosophical debate. A Thousand Plateaus provides a compelling analysis of social phenomena and offers fresh alternatives for thinking about philosophy and culture. Its radical perspective provides a toolbox for ‘nomadic thought’ and has had a galvanizing influence on today’s anti-capitalist movement.Translated by Brian Massumi>. (shrink)

Rreview of Maughn Rollins Gregory and Megan Jane Laverty, eds.. In Community of Inquiry with Ann Margaret Sharp: Childhood, Philosophy, and Education. Routledge, 2018, Pp. 264.

As donor trust legitimises research, trust is vital for research in the fields of biomedicine, genetics, translational medicine and personalised medicine. For parts of the donor community, the consent signature is a sign of trust in research. Many consent processes in biomedical research ask donors to provide their data for an unspecified future use, which introduces uncertainty of the unknown. This uncertainty can jeopardise donor trust or demand blind trust. But which donor wants to trust blindly? To reduce this uncertainty, (...) we explore first, which future-proof actors donors could trust when signing a consent form. Second, we discuss the question Can we know if donor trust expires? and what prevents donor trust from expiring. Finally, we present possible measures that can help to nurture trust in the far future. In this article, we draw on our previous research on trust in biomedical research, on trust in the broader healthcare system and Niklas Luhmann’s and Anthony Giddens’ trust theories. Our findings suggest that, in the far future, researchers will need to consider donor autonomy, as well as societal norms and values of the time period in which the data were donated. They will need to find mechanisms where possible to publicly announce the use of old data sets. However, foremost researchers will need to treat the data respectfully. It remains vital that professionals and the society continue to elaborate on the norms and values that shape the common understanding of what is morally right and wrong when researching data. (shrink)

Fur Wittgenstein haben als 'grundlegend' gedachte mathematische Bemuhungen, wie sie sich in den logizistischen Systemen Freges und Russells, der Mengentheorie und der nach Konsistenzbeweisen fur solche Systeme suchenden Beweistheorie Hilberts zeigen, keineswegs einen nennenswerten grundlegenden Charakter, sondern es handelt sich bei ihnen um normale Stucke Mathematik wie andere auch. Im Teil III der Bemerkungen uber die Grundlagen der Mathematik entwickelt er seine Kritik an jenen Grundlegungsanspruchen in vielfaltigster Weise, und dieser Kommentar zeichnet seine Gedankengange in all ihren Verastelungen nach. Dabei (...) wird nicht nur der veroffentlichte Text berucksichtigt, sondern auch samtliche relevanten Nachlasspassagen, aus denen er hervorgegangen ist und ohne die er teilweise gar nicht verstanden werden kann. Der Kommentar ist sowohl kritisch als auch konstruktiv: Mangel werden als solche benannt und Erganzungen und Verbesserungen vorgeschlagen, wenn es moglich erscheint. Das Ergebnis sind Wittgensteinsche Gedankengange, die ungleich uberzeugender und vernunftiger sind, als dies bislang in der Literatur uber Wittgensteins Philosophie der Mathematik sichtbar war. (shrink)

THE MEANING OF KARL MARX by Bruce Mazlish New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. 188 pp., $17.95.

This study presents original evidence that abstract and concrete concepts are organized and represented differently in the mind, based on analyses of thousands of concepts in publicly available data sets and computational resources. First, we show that abstract and concrete concepts have differing patterns of association with other concepts. Second, we test recent hypotheses that abstract concepts are organized according to association, whereas concrete concepts are organized according to (semantic) similarity. Third, we present evidence suggesting that concrete representations are more (...) strongly feature-based than abstract concepts. We argue that degree of feature-based structure may fundamentally determine concreteness, and we discuss implications for cognitive and computational models of meaning. (shrink)

RESUMEN El artículo argumenta que, contrario a lo que sostiene el neoliberalismo contemporáneo, lo individual y lo colectivo no constituyen los extremos de una antítesis ante la que estemos obligados a elegir. Se examina el debate político de la segunda mitad del siglo victoriano sobre la pertinencia y los límites de la intervención estatal. Tomando como pretexto la obra de un pensador cuya posición sobre la libertad negativa marcará la historia del liberalismo positivo y del colectivismo, se concluye que la (...) ideología que hereda y continúa la tradición del liberalismo político europeo no es el neoliberalismo, sino el socialismo. ABSTRACT The article argues that, contrary to what contemporary neoliberalism holds true, the individual and the collective are not the extremes of an antithesis that requires us to choose one or the other. It examines the political debate of the second half of the Victorian Era regarding the pertinence and limits of State intervention. On the basis of the work of a thinker whose position on negative freedom will mark the history of positive liberalism and collectivism, the article concludes that the ideology inherited and continued by the tradition of European political liberalism is not neoliberalism, but rather, socialism. (shrink)

A growing number of left-wing scholars criticize practices of transnational solidarity. Pointing to the cooptation of “globalism” by neoliberal capitalism, these scholars utilize this critique to advance leftwing nationalism. In this article, I reconstruct symptomatic texts of this genre and identify the critique of (liberal) cosmopolitanism as the common denominator in their calls for nationalizing the Left. As a consequence of their opposition to cosmopolitanism, these authors reject freedom of movement or global justice activism. In order to examine whether the (...) project of transnational solidarity is affected by this critique, I reconstruct its justifications in Critical Theory and postcolonial-feminist theory. Hauke Brunkhorst and Chandra Mohanty exemplarily theorize transnational solidarity in different ways, but each based on a substantial critique of liberal cosmopolitanism. By that, I show that a principled return to nationalism derived from a critique of cosmopolitanism is informed by coincidental evidence that rejects practices of transnational solidarity because of their alleged embeddedness in cosmopolitan reason. Drawing on La Via Campesina, I illustrate principles of a transnational solidarity project that is not justified with liberal cosmopolitan ideas. Their experiences challenge the nationalist/statist critique while not falling back into naïve and/or neoliberal cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

Les éditions et traductions représentent une part très importante du travail des philosophes français du XIXe siècle. Loin d’être envisagées comme des tâches subalternes, celles-ci sont comprises par leurs auteurs comme des œuvres elles-mêmes philosophiques. Dans cet article, nous montrons que pour pouvoir les considérer comme telles, il faut pouvoir identifier les raisons qui poussent l’auteur à s’intéresser à celui qu’il édite ainsi que les effets qu’il attend de sa publication dans le champ philosophique. En nous concentrant sur le cas (...) de Blaise Pascal dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, nous mettons en évidence la manière dont la question de son intégration au « canon » de la philosophie a conduit des philosophes étrangers, voire hostiles à sa pensée, à l’éditer : Ernest Havet et Léon Brunschvicg. Alors, il ne s’agissait pas pour eux de se déclarer « contre » Pascal, mais d’intégrer, en en pensant les spécificités, une édition de ses textes à leur propre projet philosophique. (shrink)

Background: Conscience is an important concept in ethics, having various meanings in different cultures. Because a growing number of healthcare professionals are of immigrant background, particularly within the care of older people, demanding multiple ethical positions, it is important to explore the meaning of conscience among care providers within different cultural contexts. Research objective: The study aimed to illuminate the meaning of conscience by enrolled nurses with an Iranian background working in residential care for Persian-speaking people with dementia. Research design: (...) A phenomenological hermeneutical method guided the study. Participants and research context: A total of 10 enrolled nurses with Iranian background, aged 33–46 years, participated in the study. All worked full time in residential care settings for Persian-speaking people with dementia in a large city, in Sweden. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board for ethical vetting of research involving humans. Participants were given verbal and written study information and assured that their participation was voluntary and confidential. Findings: Three themes were constructed including perception of conscience, clear conscience grounded in relations and striving to keep a clear conscience. The conscience was perceived as an inner guide grounded in feelings, which is dynamic and subject to changes throughout life. Having a clear conscience meant being able to form a bond with others, to respect them and to get their confirmation that one does well. To have a clear conscience demanded listening to the voice of the conscience. The enrolled nurses strived to keep their conscience clear by being generous in helping others, accomplishing daily tasks well and behaving nicely in the hope of being treated the same way one day. Conclusion: Cultural frameworks and the context of practice needed to be considered in interpreting the meaning of conscience and clear conscience. (shrink)

The following definition of “objective” is proposed: A statement S is objective if and only if in S all parameters that are relevant to its truth value are made explicit. The objectivity of predicates and relations can be defined in a similar manner. This simple conception of objectivity-which could be called “explicitness conception of objectivity”-can be found in Hermann Weyl and plays a central part in the natural sciences. There are grades of objectivity depending on the ‘quality’ and the number (...) of parameters our predicates are relativized to A relativistic Ockham principle has to be recognized: Relativization parameters are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. The explicitness conception of objectivity is accessible to mathematical specifications, is the core of the idea of invariance, has a lot of philosophical applications and leads to precise notions of ‘subjectivity’ and a precise formulation of the problem of the limits of objectivity. (shrink)

El presente texto aborda el problema de la apropiación cultural desde la injusticia epistémica y la ignorancia activa, es decir, teniendo como base el perjuicio a los sujetos como fuentes de conocimiento. La apropiación cultural debería ser entendida como una forma de injusticia epistémica que: a) involucra necesariamente una reducción de credibilidad de los sujetos como fuentes de información según estereotipos establecidos por los grupos hegemónicos; b) la apropiación epistémica de su producción cultural; y c) la gestión de la ignorancia (...) por parte de los grupos dominadores para fortalecer sus posiciones. (shrink)