Jonathan Edwards identified the central act of faith as ‘the cordial consent of beings to Being in general’, which is to say to God (see Holbrook, 1973, pp. 102ff). That equation, of Being, Truth and God, is rarely taken seriously in analytical circles. My argument will be that this is to neglect the real context of a great deal of past philosophy, particularly the very Cartesian arguments from which so many undergraduate courses begin. All too many students issue from such (...) courses immunized against enthusiasm, in the conceit that they have answers to all the old conundrums, which were in any case no more than verbal trickery. ‘By uttering the right words but failing to use themin propria persona, philosophy induces a kind of soporific amnesia bewitching us into forgetting our God-given task. That task is, of course, to do what Socrates did and to live as he lived' (Burrell, 1972, p. 4). Burrell's words are not wholly fair to academic philosophers, nor to the Lady Philosophy. Plenty of philosophers really mind about the truth, and want to be Socratic in pursuit of it. But the danger is a real one. If all that matters is debunking past philosophers, how does that differ from the repeated refutation of the Chaldaean Oracles or the Prophecies of Nostradamus? A pretty enough pastime for the young, but hardly serious business for adults (as Callicles remarks: Plato,Gorgias484 c 5ff). ‘If the history of philosophy is a process of ‘salvaging’ what you yourself have already thought, then why bother?’ (MacDonald Ross, 1985, p. 502). (shrink)

Animals and robots perceiving and acting in a world require an ontology that accommodates entities, processes, states of affairs, etc., in their environment. If the perceived environment includes information - processing systems, the ontology should reflect that. Scientists studying such systems need an ontology that includes the first - order ontology characterising physical phenomena, the second - order ontology characterising perceivers of physical phenomena, and a third order ontology characterising perceivers of perceivers, including introspectors. We argue that second - and (...) third - order ontologies refer to contents of virtual machines and examine requirements for scientific investigation of combined virtual and physical machines, such as animals and robots. We show how the CogAff architecture schema, combining reactive, deliberative, and meta - management categories, provides a first draft schematic third - order ontology for describing a wide range of natural and artificial agents. Many previously proposed architectures use only a subset of CogAff, including subsumption architectures, contention - scheduling systems, architectures with Ôexecutive functionsÕ and a variety of types of ÔOmegaÕ architectures. Adding a multiply - connected, fastacting ÔalarmÕ mechanism within the CogAff framework accounts for several varieties of emotions. H - CogAff, a special case of CogAff, is postulated as a minimal architecture specification for a human - like system. We illustrate use of the CogAff schema in comparing H - CogAff with Clarion, a well known architecture. One implication is that reliance on concepts tied to observation and experiment can harmfully restrict explanatory theorising, since what an information processor is doing cannot, in general, be determined by using the standard observational techniques of the physical sciences or laboratory experiments. Like theoretical physics, cognitive science needs to be highly speculative to make progress. Ó 2004 Published by Elsevier B. V. (shrink)

Abstrak: Filsafat telah memiliki perjalanan panjang dalam hubungannya dengan Kristianitas. Sumbangan filsafat untuk Kristianitas begitu banyak terutama dalam kaitannya dengan teologi. Tulisan ini meneliti soal integrasi filsafat dalam Kristianitas yang selama ini sering diperdebatkan. Periode apologi yang dimulai pada awal abad kedua sampai dengan pertengahan abad ketiga Masehi, memberikan suatu penjelasan konkrit untuk permasalahan ini. Melalui para apologet, yang sebelumnya adalah filsuf, bahkan mampu melangkah lebih jauh dalam penemuan kebijaksanaan yang sesungguhnya yang merupakan obyek dan tujuan filsafat. Bahkan mereka sampai (...) pada suatu pemikiran bahwa filsafat adalah ranah semai yang mempersiapkan filsafat yang sesungguhnya, yaitu Kristianitas. Berkat para apologet, filsafat menjadi bagian penting dalam Kristianitas, bukan saja di bidang teologi, tetapi juga di dalam ranah eksegese, hermeneutika dan terlebih-lebih di dalam hidup. Penulis Kristiani setelah periode apologi mengintegrasikan filsafat dalam tulisan dan di dalam rumusan iman. Berbagai terminologi filosofis yang diintegrasikan ke Kristianitas belum tergantikan sampai dengan saat ini. Kata-kata Kunci: Filsafat, filsuf, teologi, apologi, apologet, kebijaksanaan. Abstract: Philosophy is having a long journey in its relationship with Christianity. There is much influence of philosophy on Christian thinking, but especially on theology. This article researches the integrity of philosophy within Christianity, an integral relationship which has always been debated. During the period of the Apologies, which was begun at the beginning of the second century up to the middle of the third century, an important concrete solution to this debate was given. Through the Apology Fathers of the Church who previously were philosophers, had the capacity to go farther in finding real wisdom, which is the subject and the goal of all research in philosophy. They were able to reach a consideration that their philosophy was a field seed which had prepared for the real philosophy, which is Christianity. Through the apologies, philosophy created an important partnership with Christianity in the areas of theology and biblical exegeses, and even in hermeneutics and way of life. After the period of the Apology Fathers, Christian writers integrated philosophy in a certain way into their writings, even as a formula of faith. And some philosophical terminology, which was integrated into Christianity, could not be replaced after this time. Keywords: Philosophy, philosopher, theology, apology, apolog, virtue. (shrink)

Hastings Center Report, Volume 52, Issue 2, Page 14-20, March‐April 2022.

Whether churches should be demolished, rebuilt, restored or preserved is a contentious issue. Some hold that the needs of a present worshipping community should take precedence over antiquarian or aesthetic interest, others that we owe a debt to the ages. Arguments mirror those between developers and environmentalists. It is argued here that it is not abstract rights that matter, but a sense of history, and of the sacred. Church buildings and landscapes are to be maintained not as museum pieces but (...) as living elements of a humane piety. (shrink)

Coastal ecosystems are increasingly dominated by humans. Consequently, the human dimensions of sustainability science have become an integral part of emerging coastal governance and management practices. But if we are to avoid the harsh lessons of land management, coastal decision makers must recognize that humans are one of the more coastally dependent species in the biosphere. Management responses must therefore confront both the temporal urgency and the very real compromises and sacrifices that will be necessary to achieve a sustainable coastal (...) ecosystem, one that is economically feasible, socially just, and ecologically sound. (shrink)

In this collection of nine essays, Will demonstrates that a social account of human knowledge is consistent with, and ultimately requires, realism.