Cet article se propose d’étudier de quelle façon l’« Introduction à la métaphysique » de Henri Bergson fut traduite en chinois entre 1918 et 1921. En analysant trois traductions proposées successivement par Liu Shuya, Cai Yuanpei et Yang Zhengyu, l’auteur met en lumière différents enjeux de la traduction des œuvres philosophiques occidentales. En retraduisant en français ces textes chinois, il met en évidence les décalages linguistiques et culturels. Bien loin de condamner d’éventuelles maladresses des traducteurs, l’objectif est de rechercher (...) les raisons et les conséquences de ces dernières. Ainsi, on constate que ces versions chinoises, réalisées par des intellectuels non francophones et non spécialistes de Bergson, ont été à l’origine, en Chine, d’une certaine moralisation du bergsonisme, et plus particulièrement de la notion d’intuition. Les échos culturels des mots employés ont déplacé le texte de Bergson vers de nouvelles problématiques. (shrink)

Le projet de cet article est de montrer, à partir d’une clinique issue de productions culturelles (littérature, cinéma), de quelle manière les menaces vécues dans l’enfance mobilisent des échos traumatiques à l’âge adulte qui se présentent essentiellement sur le mode de la reviviscence. Ces échos dans l’actuel ouvrent une possible expérience de reprise après coup de ces vécus traumatiques et autorisent une possible relance des processus de symbolisation qui se trouvent, selon des modalités et des registres divers en (...) fonction du contexte, comme gelés. La mise en évidence des mouvements psychiques qui animent l’« écho traumatique des menaces » sera réalisée à partir d’une approche sensible des œuvres de création, éclairée par la compréhension de la complexité de la dynamique du traumatisme et de l’après-coup offerte par la psychanalyse. (shrink)

L'auteure se propose d'évaluer l'influence de George Sand sur ses contemporains russes en se fondant principalement sur trois figures de la littérature de cette aire géographique et culturelle : Herzen, Belinski et Dostoïevski. Le choix de ces personnalités serait à la fois motivé par la place importante qu'ils ont tenue dans leur société et dans leur siècle, mais aussi par les besoins de la recherche, des études ayant été menées sur la réception de G. Sand à partir d'autres auteurs co...

The aim of this paper is to explore the conditions under which generalisation from single case studies, in the sense of making inferences concerning a wider class of phenomena beyond a case, is reasonable. Two sets of conditions, in particular, provide the basis for our consideration of this issue. The first is an exploration of the impressive amount of empirical knowledge that is contained within the theories that are used to make observations, to classify phenomena, and to understand and interpret (...) cases. The second is recognition of the role of a pattern of inference known as abduction, or inference to the best explanation, in drawing conclusions from case studies. It is argued that these two conditions, when applied to the procedures for conducting case studies, can be used to defend, as reasonable, the making of certain provisional generalisations from single cases. An epistemological procedure for testing and further justifying these generalisations, with a particular emphasis on dealing with the problem of confirmation bias, is then discussed and recommended. (shrink)

According to the Interface Hypothesis in the field of bilingualism, the interface connecting a linguistic module with a language-external domain will present prolonged difficulties for adult bilingual learners, as compared with the interface connecting language-internal modules. This study tested whether the Interface Hypothesis is applicable to the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language. An internet-based acceptability judgment task was administered to 58 advanced and intermediate adult Chinese heritage speakers to collect data in accuracy and reaction time to investigate (...) the adult heritage speakers’ mastery of referential nominal expressions regulated at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, respectively, in Mandarin Chinese. The target linguistic phenomena involved three nominal expressions, the [Cl-N], and the [Num-Cl-N]) under four interface-regulated referential readings. In terms of accuracy, the results showed that for the N and the [Num-Cl-N], regardless of the interface type, the advanced group acquired the target phenomena to a nativelike level, who significantly outperformed the intermediate group; for the [Cl-N], the advanced group exhibited nativelike attainment at the syntax-discourse interface but not at the syntax-semantics interface, and performed significantly better than the intermediate group at both interfaces. Regarding reaction time, no significant differences were reported between the advanced group and the native group for the target structures at either the syntax-semantics or the syntax-discourse interface, while the advanced group performed significantly better than the intermediate group, regardless of the interface type and the structure type. The findings suggest that the nature of the language interface, i.e., whether it pertains to language-external domains or not, should not be a reliable factor for predicting the possibility of nativelike attainment of bilingual grammar knowledge, contra the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis. The present study provides new empirical evidence to show that language-external interface properties are not necessarily destined for prolonged difficulties in heritage language acquisition, and that it is possible for adult heritage speakers to make developmental progress in both accuracy and processing efficiency at different types of interfaces. (shrink)

Les aspirations libertaires-communautaires des mouvements étudiants de la fin des années 1960 ont rencontré un terrain politique institutionnel plus incitatif à leur application en RFA qu’en France, notamment sous forme d’entreprises dites alternatives. Celles.ci, beaucoup plus nombreuses en RFA, vont concourir à l’émergence d’un milieu contre-culturel ancré au quotidien des villes ouest-allemandes ; lequel milieu va à son tour contribuer à l’apparition et l’extension bien au-delà des seules villes d’un mouvement social contestataire : celui des « Initiatives de Citoyens ». (...) Ce mouvement, inédit en France, fournira dans la décennie 1970 une force d’appoint primordiale au mouvement écologiste ouest-allemand, et catalysera la mutation ou la création d’organisations qui joueront un rôle important dans la production et la diffusion d’idées écologistes ; de telle sorte que le mouvement écologiste tel qu’il s’est déployé en RFA y a rencontré un meilleur écho que celui qui s’est formé en France.The libertarian-communitarian aspirations of the students’ movements by the end of the 1960s met with a more open political context to their application in West Germany than in France : many more alternative enterprises were created at that time. This will contribute to the emergence of counterculture circles in West German cities. These circles will in turn bring about a social movement unknown in France : « the Initiatives of Citizens ». In the 1970s, this movement will considerably strengthen the West German ecology movement and will catalyse the mutation or birth of organizations which will play a great part in the emergence and spreading of environment ideas. So that the ecology movement, such as it spread in West Germany, was better received there than in France. (shrink)

Au Centre Pompidou-Metz, faisant écho à l'exposition inaugurale, un colloque international a étudié de manière pluridisciplinaire et transversale la question du chef-d'œuvre. Loin de se focaliser sur le débat esthétique, les diverses approches ont assigné le droit, l'histoire, la sociologie, l'économie et les sciences exactes, pour mieux soumettre cet "objet" à un véritable examen clinique. Cette question ne serait-elle plus d'actualité? Loin s'en faut! Entre cœur et raison, la sacralisation des œuvres d'art produit toujours autant de savoirs, de savoir-faire et (...) de savoirs sur le faire. Mettant en avant le patrimoine, restaurant les objets de l'art, les reconstituant, favorisant le tourisme culturel, exhumant le vrai, condamnant le faux : à sa mesure, le "chef-œuvre" dynamise encore et toujours les divers moments de l'art. (shrink)

Le projet philosophique puise ses sources dans la volonte de proposer une explication rationnelle des phenomenes naturels et culturels qui constituent le monde dans lequel l'être humain prend place. Il a servi de trame culturelle à l'Occident et amene le deploiement d'appareils conceptuels où l'on distingue theorie et pratique. On doit toutefois reconnaître qu'une philosophie theorique peut avoir une portee pratique et l'inverse, puisque toute pratique suppose un ancrage theorique pour legitimer la connaissance et les systemes normatifs à partir (...) desquels les explications sont avancees. Cela fait dire à certains que la distinction est desormais surannee et qu'une theorie philosophique reunifiee s'impose. Que l'on soit tenant de la tradition ou des nouvelles approches, la philosophie pratique s'impose desormais comme un passage oblige pour reflechir les problemes et articuler de nouvelles theories faisant echo à l'etat actuel de notre monde. Le present ouvrage revient sur la notion de philosophie pratique afin d'en faire voir les differentes acceptions et manieres de la mobiliser pour reflechir à des problemes actuels. (shrink)

Le projet philosophique puise ses sources dans la volonté de proposer une explication rationnelle des phénomènes naturels et culturels qui constituent le monde dans lequel l’être humain prend place. Il a servi de trame culturelle à l’Occident et amené le déploiement d’appareils conceptuels où l’on distingue théorie et pratique. On doit toutefois reconnaître qu’une philosophie théorique peut avoir une portée pratique et l’inverse, puisque toute pratique suppose un ancrage théorique pour légitimer la connaissance et les systèmes normatifs à partir (...) desquels les explications sont avancées. Cela fait dire à certains que la distinction est désormais surannée et qu’une théorie philosophique réunifiée s’impose. Que l’on soit tenant de la tradition ou des nouvelles approches, la philosophie pratique s’impose désormais comme un passage obligé pour réfléchir les problèmes et articuler de nouvelles théories faisant écho à l’état actuel de notre monde. Le présent ouvrage revient sur la notion de philosophie pratique afin d’en faire voir les différentes acceptions et manières de la mobiliser pour réfléchir à des problèmes actuels. (shrink)

Des magasins Disney aux boutiques de musées, les produits dérivés sont désormais incontournables. En réutilisant une grande variété de formes et de volumes, ces phénomènes marketing semblent se faire l’écho d’une situation culturelle particulière pour laquelle un personnage de bande dessinée et un tableau de maître peuvent être imprimés sur un mug ou un carnet sans aucune distinction. Malgré ces goûts éclectiques, les produits dérivés semblent dessiner un savoir-faire spécifique, motivé à première vue par des raisons commerciales. Quelle est l’histoire (...) des produits dérivés et comment pouvons-nous les définir? En regardant les pratiques des concepteurs de produits dérivés et en les replaçant dans leurs contextes de vente, nous comprenons que la reproduction n’est pas la seule raison de leur succès. Une motivation décorative fait également partie intégrante de leur nature. Cet aspect des produits dérivés, qui appartient plus au champ esthétique qu’économique, nous offre des informations sur la place des arts appliqués dans notre société et sur leur traduction par le capitalisme contemporain. (shrink)

La réception de la pensée de Friedrich Hayek au Japon dépend naturellement de caractéristiques propres à l’histoire de la modernisation dans ce pays, à partir de la seconde moitié du xix e siècle. Le contexte géographique et culturel est-asiatique, les clichés attachés au Japon peuvent conduire à s’étonner du succès de la pensée de l’auteur représentant d’une forme de « néolibéralisme ». Mais des traits épistémologiques et philosophiques, dont la démonstration est proposée ici, rendent compte de ce fait frappant. Au (...) pays de la vie organisée en groupes à tous niveaux, l’impact fut considérable des idées du théoricien de l’individualisme méthodologique, militant du libre-échange et héritier sans doute le plus fameux de l’école économique autrichienne. L’écho de la pensée du fondateur de l’école, Carl Menger (1840-1921) dont les archives sont en partie conservées au Japon s’y fait également entendre. Un pan de théorie économique du libéralisme au xx e siècle a ainsi rencontré, loin de sa base d’origine, une réception attentive au pays du Soleil levant. (shrink)

Sous le terme « politique » il faut inclure l’imbroglio de Heidegger avec le National-Socialisme au début des années 1930, une analyse de son discours de rectorat, et sa démission comme recteur. On tente ici de rendre compte de cette implication. En outre, sous « politique » il y a lieu d’entendre les propres tentatives de Heidegger, sommaires et en grande partie sans succès, de forger une philosophie de la politique, dont quelques-unes sont examinées et critiquées de manière détaillée. Il (...) y a aussi une section touchant l’« antisémitisme » de Heidegger, tel qu’illustré spécialement dans les Cahiers Noirs, lesquels ont donné lieu à une controverse considérable dernièrement. On tente de replacer cela dans son contexte historique et culturel. S’y ajoutent également les nombreuses remarques, allant du curieux au bizarre, qui apparaissent dans les Cahiers Noirs concernant les événements sociaux et politiques du temps entre 1931 et 1948. L’article conclut sur ce que l’auteur voit comme les plus importants thèmes à découvrir dans ces volumes, qui font écho aux thèmes qu’on trouve dans les Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) ainsi que dans les traités non publiés de la troisième partie de la Gesamtausgabe. (shrink)

Cet article aborde la question du modèle républicain français et de sa difficulté à composer avec la diversité culturelle. L'analyse développe l'idée selon laquelle ce n'est pas la diversité en tant que telle qui pose problème à la mise en oeuvre d'un espace public commun, mais le fait que cette diversité répercute des trajectoires historiques douloureuses et conflictuelles que la République elle-même a pu contribuer à produire. Les exemples puisés dans les sociétés antillaises fondées sur l'esclavage illustrent cette tendance du (...) modèle politique français à se réfugier dans un récit national tenté par l'oblitération des épisodes peu glorieux de son histoire. Derrière le débat culturel, se pose en fait la question de la prise en charge responsable de l'histoire sociale et politique française qui a pu aussi être façonnée par des principes anti-républicains.This article is about the French Republican model and its difficulty in dealing with cultural diversity. The purpose is to show it is not diversity in itself which is problematic but the fact that this diversity brings forth echoes of painful and conflicting trajectories that the Republic itself may have contributed to creating. Examples related to Caribbean societies founded on slavery are used to show how the French Republican model tends to seek refuge in a national narrative wherein the less glorious periods of its history are hidden or played down. Behind the so-called debate on cultural diversity what is at stake is the question of taking account, in a responsible way, of a French history which could also have been shaped by anti-Republican principles. (shrink)

L'expérience de la domination et de la marginalisation -- politique, économique, sociale, culturelle -- ressentie par beaucoup de Touaregs dans l'ordre des États modernes se traduit par une image récurrente : celle d'un corps mutilé, amputé, blessé, empêché de se mouvoir. Face à la fragmentation et à la paralysie du corps social, territorial, individuel, revient l'idée qu'il faut le souder, le remembrer, le réemboîter pour lui restituer sa mobilité. C'est dans cette perspective que, depuis plusieurs décennies, des initiatives aussi nombreuses (...) que variées investissent des scènes d'actions multiples, de l'insurrection armée au travail de l'imaginaire. Dans le domaine littéraire et artistique, la ' furigraphie ' du peintre et poète touareg Hawad, apparaît comme un de ces moyens ' de dépasser les limites, de contourner l'enfermement, de faire ricocher les échos de (s)es paysages et de construire des espaces inédits pour penser, ressentir et dire autrement le monde '. (shrink)

Résumé L’expérience de la domination et de la marginalisation — politique, économique, sociale, culturelle — ressentie par beaucoup de Touaregs dans l’ordre des États modernes se traduit par une image récurrente : celle d’un corps mutilé, amputé, blessé, empêché de se mouvoir. Face à la fragmentation et à la paralysie du corps social, territorial, individuel, revient l’idée qu’il faut le souder, le remembrer, le réemboîter pour lui restituer sa mobilité. C’est dans cette perspective que, depuis plusieurs décennies, des initiatives aussi (...) nombreuses que variées investissent des scènes d’actions multiples, de l’insurrection armée au travail de l’imaginaire. Dans le domaine littéraire et artistique, la « furigraphie » du peintre et poète touareg Hawad, apparaît comme un de ces moyens « de dépasser les limites, de contourner l’enfermement, de faire ricocher les échos de (s)es paysages et de construire des espaces inédits pour penser, ressentir et dire autrement le monde ». (shrink)

L’émission Loft Story représente l’apogée de la néo-télévision. Elle a instauré un contrat de communication avec le public qui a mêlé la plupart des éléments caractéristiques de la télévision contemporaine. Participation du public au programme, symbolisée par la présence à l’écran de personnes anonymes issues de la société civile et par une interactivité poussée exprimée par les votes. Imbrication difficile à décrypter pour le téléspectateur entre réalité et fiction. Dimension ludique du programme et vécu en direct qui entretiennent le double (...) phénomène d’identification et de distanciation. Mise en scène de la dimension relationnelle de la vie privée. Écho de la culturelle adolescente, surtout dans son aspect interrelationnel. Utilisation du média comme acteur de la vie sociale, et notamment comme agent de promotion professionnelle.The show Loft Story represents the most extreme form of « neotelevision ». The communication contract it proposes to its audience brings together most of the elements that characterize modern television. 1) Public participation in the programme . 2) Unability for viewers to clearly sort out what pertains to reality and what belongs to fiction. 3) Playful dimension of a live broadcast that simultaneously triggers identificatory and distancing processes. 4) Focus on the private realm and on its relational dimension. 5) Particular attention paid to adolescent cultures, especially in their interrelational aspects. 6) Transformation of the medium into a social actor in its own right, specially as an agent of professional promotion. (shrink)

Cet article se propose d'expliciter synthétiquement la philosphie d'Emmanuel Lévinas afin de mettre en relief ce qui la distingue de la philosophie de la différence représentée par certains penseurs contemporains français, tels Michael Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida ou Jean-Luc Nancy. Puisque dans le discours de Lévinas on retrouve un certain nombre de concepts et quelques mécanismes philosophiques qui font écho à la philosophie de la différence, on pourrait croire trop facilement que l'œuvre de Lévinas fait partie d'un grand project (...) philosophique englobant le travaux de tous les penseurs de la différence. Or, malgré plusieurs affinités terminologiques et quelques opérations démonstratives rapprochant la position de Lévinas de celle des philosophes de la différence, il serait fautif de les assimiler. Le projet de Lévinas reste profondément ancré dans la tradition juive, tandis que la philosophie de la différence puise surtout dans la tradition philosophique de la Gréce antique où l'on a associé opur la premiére fois la notion de savoir et celle de pouvoir par l'intermédiaire de la métaphore héliocentrique. Pour Lévinas une telle conception du savoir s'accompagne nécessairement de la violence et contourne l'espace éthique qui est – à ses yeux – le seul espace efficace pour la réflexion philosophique. Il élabore dons sa propre philosophie premiére en tant qu'éthique fondamentale faisant appel à des vertus prônées par la théologie judaїque. D'un autre côté, sa critique touche aussi à des tentatives philosophiques récentes de déconstruire la métaphysique traditionnelle occidentale à l'aide de quasi concepts de différence. Par ce double geste critique, Lévinas se distancie non seulement du camp des traditionalistes métaphysiques mais aussi du camp des «réformateurs». Extériorisé dans son individualisme, il ne s'aperçoit même pas qu'il ne peut pas se passer des apports culturels de l'Occident. Par exemple pour critiquer la tradition grecque, il se sert des termes grecs : philosophie, métaphysique, etc. En plus, dans ses constructions ontologiques et axiologiques, il a constamment recours à des schémes philosophiques élaborés par des anciens maîtres à penser d’origine grecque. Sans nuire à la valeur intégrale de son œuvre, les inconséquences et la calques philosophiques de Lévinas nous forcent à nous reposer sincèrement la question difficile de notre «nationalité» philosophique. Cette question – articulée d'ailleurs pour la première fois par Jacques Derrida dans Violence et métaphysique – reste toujours ouverte : «Sommes-nous des Grecs? Sommes-nous des Juifs? Mais qui, nous? [...]». (shrink)

Recent conversation has blurred two very different social epistemic phenomena: echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Members of epistemic bubbles merely lack exposure to relevant information and arguments. Members of echo chambers, on the other hand, have been brought to systematically distrust all outside sources. In epistemic bubbles, other voices are not heard; in echo chambers, other voices are actively undermined. It is crucial to keep these phenomena distinct. First, echo chambers can explain the post-truth phenomena in a way that epistemic (...) bubbles cannot. Second, each type of structure requires a distinct intervention. Mere exposure to evidence can shatter an epistemic bubble, but may actually reinforce an echo chamber. Finally, echo chambers are much harder to escape. Once in their grip, an agent may act with epistemic virtue, but social context will pervert those actions. Escape from an echo chamber may require a radical rebooting of one's belief system. (shrink)

Public support for responses to the coronavirus pandemic has sharply diverged on partisan lines in many countries, with conservatives tending to oppose lockdowns, social distancing, mask mandates and vaccines, and liberals far more supportive. This polarization may arise from the way in which the attitudes of each side is echoed back to them, especially on social media. In this paper, I argue that echo chambers are not to blame for this polarization, even if they are causally responsible for it. They (...) are not to blame, because belief calibration in an echo chamber is a rational process; moreover, the epistemically constitutive properties of echo chambers are not optional for epistemically social animals like us. There is no special problem of echo chambers; rather, there is a problem of misleading evidence (especially higher-order evidence). Accordingly, we ought to respond to misinformation about COVID neither by attempting to dismantle echo chambers nor by attempting to make people more rational, but rather by attempting to supplant unreliable higher-order evidence with better evidence. (shrink)

I propose to study one problem for epistemic dependence on experts: how to locate experts on what I will call cognitive islands. Cognitive islands are those domains for knowledge in which expertise is required to evaluate other experts. They exist under two conditions: first, that there is no test for expertise available to the inexpert; and second, that the domain is not linked to another domain with such a test. Cognitive islands are the places where we have the fewest resources (...) for evaluating experts, which makes our expert dependences particularly risky. -/- Some have argued that cognitive islands lead to the complete unusability of expert testimony: that anybody who needs expert advice on a cognitive island will be entirely unable to find it. I argue against this radical form of pessimism, but propose a more moderate alternative. I demonstrate that we have some resources for finding experts on cognitive islands, but that cognitive islands leave us vulnerable to an epistemic trap which I will call runaway echo chambers. In a runaway echo chamber, our inexpertise may lead us to pick out bad experts, which will simply reinforce our mistaken beliefs and sensibilities. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that echo chambers pose a problem for moral progress because of their threat to moral reasoning. I argue for two theses about the epistemology of moral progress: (1) the practical utility thesis: moral reasoning plays an important role in improving moral judgments, and (2) the conflictive social reasoning thesis: the kind of moral reasoning that is important for moral progress involves social reasoning with disputants. Without some conflict, human beings will naturally reason in a biased (...) and otherwise poor manner. Thus, good reasoning must be social so that reasoners who disagree can keep each other in check. These two theses explain why echo chambers are a problem for moral progress. I argue that echo chambers isolate individuals from reasoning with those they disagree with. This is because echo chambers act as a mechanism for discrediting those outside the chamber. If this is true, then the members of an echo chamber will only reason with those who agree with them. The result is that echo chamber members won't reason according to the conflictive social reasoning thesis. Reasoning will only reinforce their existing echoed beliefs rather than improve them. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to engage with C. Thi Nguyen’s characterization of the echo chamber and to propose two things. First, I argue that a proper reading of his concept of echo chamber should make use of the notion of ignorance in the form of a structural epistemic insensitivity. My main contention is that ignorance as a substantive structural practice accounts for the epistemically deleterious effects of echo chambers. Second, I propose that from the talk of ignorance we (...) should be able to see echo chambers in terms of their more harmful impacts in our daily lives. To do that, I argue that we should think of echo chambers as tools to promote hermeneutical domination. If my representation of Nguyen’s concept is accurate, I believe we can see some important theoretical consequences stemming from the way Nguyen understands it. (shrink)

Following Cass Sunstein's popular treatment of the concept, echo chambers are often defined as environments which exclude contrary opinions through omission. C. Thi Nguyen contests the popular usage and defines echo chambers in terms of in-group trust and out-group distrust. In this paper, I argue for a more comprehensive treatment. While both exclusion by omission and out-group distrust help sustain echo chambers, neither defines the phenomenon. I develop a social network model of echo chambers which focuses on the role of (...) belief-reinforcing echoes. First, I argue that the model allows us to incorporate Nguyen's main point about distrust without construing other commentators as deeply mistaken about the nature of echo chambers. Second, I use the model to develop an account of collaborative resistance and use it to clarify the role echo chambers play in spreading misinformation. (shrink)

The US populace appears to be increasingly polarized on partisan lines. Political fissures bifurcate the country even on empirical matters like vaccine safety and anthropogenic climate change. There now exists an ever-expanding interdisciplinary research program in which theorists attempt to explain increases in political polarization and myriad other phenomena collected under the “post-truth” heading by appeal to social-epistemic structures, like echo chambers and epistemic bubbles, that affect the flow and uptake of information in various communities. In this paper, I critically (...) analyze C. Thi Nguyen’s important and popular analysis of echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. As I demonstrate, the explanatory mechanisms on which Nguyen focuses are, arguably, overly cognitive and obscure significant effects of social-epistemic structures on our affective lives. The broader lesson to draw from my discussion is the following: commonly used expressions intended to refer to social-epistemic problems, like “political polarization”, possess no univocal definition across theorists, and various ways of making the terms precise are differentially successful in characterizing verifiable phenomena. Theorizing about social-epistemic structures should be responsive to relevant empirical work on various phenomena that we have good reason to believe constitute real and substantive problems that result from the flow and uptake of information. (shrink)

This article is an exercise in the virtue epistemology of the internet, an area of applied virtue epistemology that investigates how online environments impact the development of intellectual virtues, and how intellectual virtues manifest within online environments. I examine online echo chambers and epistemic bubbles (Nguyen 2020, Episteme 17(2), 141–61), exploring the conceptual relationship between these online environments and the virtue of open-mindedness (Battaly 2018b, Episteme 15(3), 261–82). The article answers two key individual-level, virtue epistemic questions: (Q1) How does immersion (...) in online echo chambers and epistemic bubbles affect the cultivation and preservation of open-mindedness, and (Q2) Is it always intellectually virtuous to exhibit open-mindedness in the context of online echo chambers and epistemic bubbles? In response to Q1, I contend that both online echo chambers and online epistemic bubbles threaten to undermine the cultivation and preservation of open-mindedness, albeit via different mechanisms and to different degrees. In response to Q2, I affirm that both a deficiency and an excess of open-mindedness can be virtuous in these online environments, depending on the epistemic orientation of the digital user. (shrink)

Echo experiences are illusory experiences of ordinary primary sounds. Just as there is no new object that we see at the surface of a mirror, there is no new sound that we hear at a reflecting surface. The sound that we hear as an echo just is the original primary sound, though its perception involves illusions of place, time, and qualities. The case of echoes need not force us to adopt a conception according to which sounds are persisting object-like particulars (...) that travel through space. (shrink)

Barbara Stafford is at the forefront of a growing movement that calls for the humanities to confront the brain’s material realities. In Echo Objects she argues that humanists should seize upon the exciting neuroscientific discoveries that are illuminating the underpinnings of cultural objects. In turn, she contends, brain scientists could enrich their investigations of mental activity by incorporating phenomenological considerations—particularly the intricate ways that images focus intentional behavior and allow us to feel thought. This, then, is a book for both (...) sides of the aisle, a stunningly broad exploration of how complex images—or patterns that compress space and time—make visible the invisible ordering of human consciousness. Stafford demonstrates, for example, how the compound formats of emblems, symbols, collage, and electronic media reveal the brain’s grappling to construct mental objects that are redoubled by prior associations. On the other hand, she compellingly shows that findings in evolutionary biology and the neurosciences are providing profound opportunities for understanding aesthetic conundrums as old and deep-seated as the human urge to imitate, the mapping of inner space, and the role of narrative and nonnarrative representation. As precise in her discussions of firing neurons as she is about the coordinating dynamics of image making, Stafford locates these major transdisciplinary issues at the intersection of art, science, philosophy, and technology. Ultimately, she makes an impassioned plea for a common purpose—for the acknowledgement that, at the most basic level, these separate projects belong to a single investigation. (shrink)

Are the members of echo chambers blameworthy for their beliefs? If we follow Sarah Stroud's account of friendship, we end up with the following conclusion: if echo chambers involve friendship, then the individuals have strong reasons not to live up to epistemic demands or ideals when the friendships are formed in the echo chambers they are members of. This result stands in striking contrast with the received view, according to which the members of echo chambers are blameworthy for their epistemic (...) vices and faulty beliefs. The received view uses individual epistemic vices to propose individualistic solutions for the problem of echo chambers. I argue that this is misleading, simply because the members of echo chambers are not blameworthy due to the friendships cultivated in the echo chambers. (shrink)

Erich Neumann (1905-1960) was a student, close collaborator, and life-long friend of C. G. Jung's. He moved from Berlin to Palestine in 1934 where he endured WW11 with much distress. This provoked intense and depthful research into topics such as evil, consciousness, and creativity that would occupy his attention for the rest of his life- as well as challenge his friend's (Jung) thinking in many ways. His writings are still valuable and ever so pertinent for our understanding of human nature (...) and the changing developments that have resulted in "the eruption of the shadow and psychic chaos in today's world." (Jerome Bernstein) Eternal Echoes offers the reader an overview of Neumann's opus, which is large and multifaceted. Beginning with an introduction of Erich Neumann including a series of his active imagination watercolors, we see an intimate view into his internal process. The Jung-Neumann Correspondence examines evil as witnessed during WW11. The work Neumann focused on during this period resulted in his exploration of his own Roots of Jewish Consciousness, both Revelation and Apocalypse, and Hasidism. From there we move into an exploration of his exceptional and iconic books, The Origins and History of Consciousness, and The Great Mother, and two papers "Mass Man and the Phenomena of Recollectivation" and "Narcissism". Neumann continued his study of mythology and archetypes in Amor and Psyche: The Development of the Feminine. Later in Neumann's life, he wrote a number of books on creativity exploring its nature and source which began with his important early paper on "Mystical Man": Creative Man, Art and the Creative Unconscious, The Place of Creation. Neumann's works lead us back to our ground of being, where we live with opposites that are fiercely alive, impacting our lives and cultures. His writings are comprehensive, clear and steeped in deeply felt experiences that help to place us on firm ground. Since many of his themes and concepts are universal-beginning with archetypes, myths, and images-this book is not only pertinent to Jungian psychotherapists but anyone interested in understanding the profundity of human nature and its development. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Using the example of the Twitter feed #MeToo, this paper argues that CDS, in its task to understand more about how social media can offer ways for voices to challenge ideologies from below, needs to explore the ideas of ‘nodes’. Right wing populism in the west: Social media discourse and echo chambers. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/majid_khosravinik/publications) and ‘echo chambers’ in greater detail. Though #MeToo did provide an ideological challenge, I show how it is also discursively chaotic and partly driven by influencers who (...) may have a range of other motivations to align with the moral capital in the feed. At another level, #MeToo is highly nodal in terms of affect and moral conviction. These features can be understood in regard to nodal power of affective connectivity. Affective publics and structure of storytelling: Sentiment, events and mediality. Information, Communication and Society, 19, 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2015.1109697) and also in terms of major shifts in accepted norms of debating politics and society driven by social media. I consider what this means for CDS in relation to identifying discourses and discovering ideology in the social media landscape. (shrink)

In “Regulating social media as a public good: Limiting epistemic segregation” (2022), Toby Handfield tackles a well-known problematic aspect of widespread social media use: the formation of ideologically monotone and insulated social networks. Handfield argues that we can take some cues from economics to reduce the extent to which echo chambers grow up around individual users. Specifically, he argues that tax incentives to encourage network heterophily may be levied at any of three different groups: individual social media users, social media (...) sites/companies, or advertisers who use social media to promote their products and material. In this response, I examine the plausibility of using such incentives on each of the these groups. I argue, first, that using tax incentives on either (1) social media companies or (2) advertisers would be ineffective as these incentives could not feasibly be made strong enough to override the enormous financial gain of the standard social media algorithms. Next, I argue that levying the incentives/penalties on individual users would be a hazard, due to the risk of what is called the epistemic “backfire effect”. Finally, I argue that the problem lies in relying on incentives and disincentives—rather than direct regulation—to increase network heterophily. (shrink)

Noh (1998a, b) analyzes echo questions in terms of metarepresentation and pragmatic enrichment within the framework of Relevance Theory. This paper argues that while the basic idea of metarepresentational analysis seems correct, it is better implemented differently. The alternative analysis proposed in this paper consists of three claims: first, echo questions are metarepresentational with rising intonation, with the rise alone conferring the question status; second, echo questions question the pragmatically enriched attribution; third, the focus of metarepresentation is to be distinguished (...) from the rest of the metarepresentation. This version of metarepresentational analysis reveals why echo questions behave the way they do, both syntactically and semantically/pragmatically. At the same time, this analysis captures not only similarities but also differences between echo questions and interrogatives on a principled basis. (shrink)

The album Echo was produced in a depressed, drug-riddled phase when Tom Petty’s first marriage was ending and his physical condition so degraded that he took to using a cane. Petty filmed no videos, avoided playing the album’s songs on the follow-up tour and reported little memory of its making. The thoughtfulness and self-reflection that traumatic circumstances spur distinguish the album. So too does the tendency to look backwards in times of crisis, whether in hopes of finding solidity in the (...) past or just out of exhausted inability to cope with the present. -/- While melancholically creative, the album might be regarded as an echoing of past musical fragments. The sprightly mix of acoustic and electric guitars, the backing vocal harmonies and the stories of loss in songs such as “Won’t Last Long” and “This One’s for Me” harken to Petty’s albums from the late 80s to mid-90s. “Accused of Love” similarly contains echoes of Petty’s more upbeat work, but with depressing lyrical undertones. The production qualities and lyrics of “Rhino Skin” recollect “Asshole,” a Beck cover from Petty’s previous album. “I Don’t Wanna Fight”—a Heartbreakers performance composed and sung by Mike Campbell—returns to the hard driving rock of Damn the Torpedoes. The lyrics, straight-laced drums and layered drones of electric guitars of “Free Girl Now” go back further to “American Girl,” which itself was influenced by psychedelic music. At the same time, all of this typifies Petty’s oeuvre. Throughout his career, he made music steeped in past rock traditions. He was also a seminal figure in Southern rock, with its emphatically nostalgic character. -/- The crisis that Petty was experiencing echoes throughout the album in more specific ways, with many songs repeating the theme of being up or down, high or low. The theme of fighting or not wanting to has an especially strong echo, showing up in “Swingin’,” “Billy the Kid” and “I Don’t Wanna Fight.” These songs, in turn, exhibit nostalgia for past icons, with protagonists going down hard like Billy the Kid; or going down swinging like Sonny Liston; or again like Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Sammy Davis in a punny reference to the swing era. -/- The retrospective feel of the album is one of looking to the past for the sake of self-preservation in the present, along lines discussed by Nietzsche. While symptomatic of illness, Nietzsche maintains this movement “springs from the protective instinct of a degenerating life which tries by all means to sustain itself and to fight for existence.” This seeming denial of growth can, as Nietzsche continues, be “among the greatest conserving and yes-creating forces of life.” Petty clearly associated Echo with personal grief, refusing to listen to it for years. As with many other examples of art, however, the album was also a way of surviving and growing beyond a present trauma, and one more specifically that compelled him to overcome an important part of his past, namely, his wife of 20-plus years. One can speculate that clinging to fragments of the past—musical and otherwise—was a way of coping with a difficult present and a fading past. (shrink)

Echo phonology was originally proposed to account for obligatory coordination of manual and mouth articulations observed in several sign languages. However, previous research into the phenomenon lacks clear criteria for which components of movement can or must be copied when the articulators are so different. Nor is there discussion of which nonmanual articulators can echo manual movement. Given the prosodic properties of echoes (coordination of onset/offset and of dynamics such as speed) as well as general motoric coordination of various articulators (...) in the human body, we expect that the mouth is not the only nonmanual articulator involved in echo phonology. In this study, we look at a fixed set of lexical items across 36 sign languages and establish that the head can echo manual movement with respect to timing and to the axis/axes of manual movement. We propose that what matters in echo phonology is the visual percept of temporally coordinated movement that repeats a salient movement property in such a way as to give the visual impression of a copy. Our findings suggest that echoes are not obligatory motor couplings of two or more articulators but may enhance phonological distinctions that are otherwise difficult to see. (shrink)

To a greater extent than in other technical domains, research and progress in Artificial Intelligence has always been entwined with the fictional. Its language echoes strongly with other forms of cultural narratives, such as fairytales, myth and religion. In this essay we present varied examples that illustrate how these analogies have guided not only readings of the AI enterprise by commentators outside the community but also inspired AI researchers themselves. Owing to their influence, we pay particular attention to the similarities (...) between religious language and the way in which the potential advent of greater than human intelligence is presented contemporarily. We then move on to the role that fiction, science fiction most of all, has historically played and is still playing in the discussion of AI by influencing researchers and the public, shifting the weights of different scenarios in our collectively perceived probability space. We sum up by arguing that the lore surrounding AI research, ancient and modern, points to the ancestral and shared human motivations that drive researchers in their pursuit and fascinate humanity at large. These points of narrative entanglement where AI meets the wider culture should serve to amplify the call to engage ourselves with the discussion of the potential destination of this technology. (shrink)

Barbara Maria Stafford is at the forefront of a growing movement that calls for the humanities to confront the brain’s material realities. In _Echo Objects,_ she argues that humanists should seize upon the exciting neuroscientific discoveries that are illuminating the underpinnings of cultural objects. In turn, she contends, brain scientists could enrich their investigations of mental activity by incorporating phenomenological considerations—particularly the intricate ways that images focus intentional behavior and allow us to feel thought. As a result, _Echo Objects_ is (...) a stunningly broad exploration of how complex images—or patterns that compress space and time—make visible the invisible ordering of human consciousness. Stafford demonstrates, for example, how the compound formats of emblems, symbols, collage, and electronic media reveal the brain’s grappling to construct mental objects that are redoubled by prior associations. In contrast, she shows that findings in evolutionary biology and the neurosciences are providing profound opportunities for understanding aesthetic conundrums such as the human urge to imitate and the role of narrative and nonnarrative representation. Ultimately, she makes an impassioned plea for a common purpose—for the acknowledgement that, at the most basic level, these separate projects belong to a single investigation. “Heroic.... The larger message of Stafford’s intense, propulsive prose is unassailable. If we are to get much further in the great puzzle of ‘binding’—how the perception of an image, the will to act on intention, or the forging of consciousness is assembled from the tens of thousands of neurons firing at any one moment in time—then there needs to be action on all fronts.”—_Science_. (shrink)

This article focuses on the significance of acoustical phenomena in the development of the subjectivity of the infant. An attribute of that development, beginning with the breakdown of psychological symbiosis for the infant, is the loss implicit in the eventual participation of the subject in a symbolic order and the consequent acquisition of language. The essay examines how such loss can contribute to the constitution of the subject and the ego of the subject. Two aspects of language, metaphor and metonymy, (...) are examined in regard to their fundamental relationship to subjectivity. The character Echo, from the myth of Narcissus and Echo, is the namesake for a phase of development, the Echo Phase, which is postulated to begin after the third month of life. During this phase, to some extent the development of the subject depends upon intersubjectivity and concomitant auditory and linguistic phenomena. It is an implicit purpose of this essay to understand the advent of the ego as the expression of a phenomenological structure, dependent upon language and intersubjectivity, that mediates between subject and world. ... By chance Narcissus lost track of his companions, started calling "Is anybody here?" and "Here!" said Echo. He looked around in wonderment, called louder "Come to me!" "Come to me!" came back the answer. He looked behind him, and saw no one coming; "Why do you run from me?" and heard his question Repeated in the woods. "Let us get together!" There was nothing Echo would ever say more gladly, "Let us get together!" And to help her words, Out of the woods she came, with arms all ready To fling around his neck. But he retreated: "Keep your hands off," he cried, "and do not touch me! I would die before I give you a chance at me." "I give you a chance at me," and that was all She ever said thereafter, spurned and hiding, Ashamed, in the leafy forests, in lonely caverns. She frets and pines, becomes all gaunt and haggard, Her body dries and shrivels till voice only And bones remain, and then she is voice only For the bones are turned to stone. She hides in woods And no one sees her now along the mountains, But all may hear her, for her voice is living. Ovid, Metamorphoses. (shrink)

C. Thi Nguyen's (2020) recent account of echo chambers as social epistemic structures that actively exclude outsiders’ voices has sparked debate on the connection between echo chambers and epistemic injustice (Santos 2021; Catala 2021; Elzinga 2021).In this paper I am mainly concerned with the connection between echo chambers and testimonial injustice, understood as an instance whereby a speaker receives less epistemic credibility than they deserve, due to a prejudice in the hearer (Fricker 2007). In her reconstruction of the types of (...) testimonial injustice, Catala implicitly equates incidental testimonial injustice as resulting from epistemic prejudice and systematic testimonial injustice as resulting from identity prejudice. As I will argue, there as certain cases that fall in between these interpretations, namely instances of incidental testimonial injustice, whereby the impact on the speaker is localized, but where the credibility deficit nevertheless results from identity prejudice. One example of how this can manifest is the structural distrust against health-care experts in anti-vaccination echo-chambers, wherein said experts’ testimony is dismissed due to unwarranted assumptions regarding their motives qua their social type. To understand the importance and severity of the testimonial injustices in echo chambers, we need to look beyond the specific harms that are done to the targeted speakers and the immediate loss of knowledge, but also take into account the consequences for fairness in public deliberation—the latter being a fundamental condition for procedural democratic legitimacy. (shrink)

Following Cass Sunstein's popular treatment of the concept, echo chambers are often defined as environments which exclude contrary opinions through omission. C. Thi Nguyen contests the popular usage and defines echo chambers in terms of in-group trust and out-group distrust. In this paper, I argue for a more comprehensive treatment. While both exclusion by omission and out-group distrust help sustain echo chambers, neither defines the phenomenon. I develop a social network model of echo chambers which focuses on the role of (...) belief-reinforcing echoes. First, I argue that the model allows us to incorporate Nguyen's main point about distrust without construing other commentators as deeply mistaken about the nature of echo chambers. Second, I use the model to develop an account of collaborative resistance and use it to clarify the role echo chambers play in spreading misinformation. (shrink)

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised by self-starvation. Accounts of AN typically frame the disorder in individualistic terms: e.g., genetic predisposition, perceptual disturbances of body size and shape, experiential bodily disturbances. Without disputing the role these factors may play in developing AN, we instead draw attention to the way disordered eating practices in AN are actively supported by others. Specifically, we consider how Pro-Anorexia (ProAna) websites—which provide support and solidarity, tips, motivational content, a sense of community, and understanding (...) to individuals with AN—help drive and maintain AN practices. We use C. Thi Nguyen’s work on epistemic “echo chambers”, along with Maria Lugones’ work on “worlds” and “ease”, to explore the dynamics of these processes. Adopting this broader temporal and intersubjective perspective, we argue, not only helps to further illuminate the experiential character of AN but also has important clinical and therapeutic significance. (shrink)