We explore and provide an account for a recently identified judgment anomaly, i.e., an order effect that changes the strength of intentionality ascriptions for some side effects (e.g., when a chairman's pursuit of profits has the foreseen but unintended consequence of harming the environment). Experiment 1 replicated the previously unanticipated order effect anomaly controlling for general individual differences. Experiment 2 revealed that the order effect was multiply determined and influenced by factors such as beliefs (i.e., that the same actor was (...) involved in bringing about both good and bad side effects) and philosophical training (i.e., more training was associated with smaller differences in judgment when harm followed help). Results provide more evidence that the folk's philosophically relevant intuitions are predictably fragmented and depend on the dynamic interplay between persons, process, and environments. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction The Production of Arbitrary Differences Conflictual Ontological Oppositions Negativity Différance, Difference, and Contradiction Glas Conclusion.

We put forth an analysis of causation. The analysis centers on the notion of a causal model that provides only partial information as to which events occur, but complete information about the dependences between the events. The basic idea is this: an event causes another just in case there is a causal model that is uninformative on both events and in which the first event makes a difference as to the occurrence of the other. We show that our analysis (...) captures more causal scenarios than the other counterfactual accounts to date. (shrink)

Jason Brennan and John Tomasi have argued that if we focus on income alone, the Difference Principle supports welfare-state capitalism over property-owning democracy, because capitalism maximizes long run income growth for the worst off. If so, the defense of property-owning democracy rests on the priority of equal opportunity for political influence and social advancement over raising the income of the worst off, or on integrating workplace control into the Difference Principle’s index of advantage. The thesis of this paper (...) is that even based on income alone, the Difference Principle is not as hostile to property-owning democracy as it may seem, because the Difference Principle should not be interpreted to require maximizing long run income growth. The main idea is that it is unfair to make the present worst off accept inequality that doesn’t benefit them, for the sake of benefitting the future worst off, if the future worst off will be better off than they are anyway. (shrink)

Of fundamental importance to literary critics and philosophers, Difference and Repetition develops two central concepts -- pure difference and complex ...

Proximate Difference in Aesthetics explores the interconnections of the philosophy of Jacques Derrida and the artistic practices comprising Institutional Critique as a means of both providing a framework for this heterodox approach to art and examining Derrida's contributions to contemporary aesthetics.

The idea that human beings have a distinct moral worth—a moral significance over and above any moral worth, such as that may be, possessed by other animals—has a long history and has traditionally been taken for granted by philosophers and theologians. However, in a variety of quarters in recent philosophy, this idea has come into disrepute, seeming to indicate a mere prejudice in favour of our own species. For example, Peter Singer has argued that such a position is mere speciesism, (...) a prejudice of a kind with racism and sexism in that it involves making moral distinctions between our own and other species that cannot be morally justified. What on such views is needed to justify any such distinction is a difference in terms of the morally relevant properties possessed by our own species as compared with other species. I will call this view the moral property view. Insofar as other species share with us morally relevant properties, for example the capacity to suffer cognitive ability and so on, it is mere prejudice not to accept moral requirements with respect to them as we do with respect to our own species. While on the surface such a view may seem morally enlightened, it indicates what will seem to many problematic moral judgments with respect to severely disabled human beings. In this paper, I will respond to these concerns by suggesting a different basis for the idea of human moral distinctiveness, one that draws on recent work by Wittgensteinian moral philosophers and which denies what I called above the property view. According to this view, while our shared life with other animals involves the recognition of their moral significance, our shared life with other human beings involves recognising that human beings as human beings have a distinctive moral value. (shrink)

Focusing on the body as a visual and discursive platform across public space, this book explores marginalization as a sociocultural practice and hegemonic schema. The chapters center upon physical contexts, discursive spaces, and philosophical arenas to deconstruct seemingly intrinsic connections between body and behavior, whiteness, and normativity.

International institutions are facing increasing criticism of the legitimacy of their authority. But what does it mean for an international institution to be legitimate? Arthur Applbaum’s latest book provides a convincing new concept of legitimacy, namely, the power-liability view, and a new normative conception, the free group agent account. However, it is not clear how they can be applied to the international level. First, this paper examines how different concepts of legitimacy can be applied to international institutions. Second, it assesses (...) three different conceptions of legitimacy, namely, the service conception, Applbaum’s free group agent account and the autonomy-based conception for the international level. It outlines how on the last conception, international institutions’ legitimacy depends on three different aspects required to protect autonomy: the political power of the institution; its purpose; and its relation to other institutions. Finally, the paper argues that the creation of an international institution should be seen as part of relational legitimacy and that state consent plays an important role to protect the political autonomy of peoples. (shrink)

Today there is a wealth of fascinating studies of connexive logical systems. But sometimes it looks as if connexive logic is still in search of a convincing interpretation that explains in intuitive terms _why_ the connexive principles should be valid. In this paper I argue that difference-making conditionals as presented in Rott (_Review of Symbolic Logic_ 15, 2022) offer one principled way of interpreting connexive principles. From a philosophical point of view, the idea of difference-making demands full, unrestricted (...) connexivity, because neither logical truths nor contradictions or other absurdities can ever ‘make a difference’ (i.e., be relevantly connected) to anything. However, difference-making conditionals have so far been only partially connexive. I show how the existing analysis of difference-making conditionals can be reshaped to obtain full connexivity. The classical AGM belief revision model is replaced by a conceivability-limited revision model that serves as the semantic base for the analysis. The key point of the latter is that the agent should never accept any absurdities. (shrink)

This major essay collection takes a fresh look at how differences among people matter for music and musical thought.

In her recent work, Nancy Folbre undertakes an ambitious effort: constructing an intersectional political economy that aims to identify the common mechanisms and logic underpinning the many wrongs that characterise capitalism. In this paper, we focus on what we deem the three fundamental theoretical pillars of her approach. First, she challenges the oppression/exploitation distinction within Marxian political economy and proposes a broader definition of exploitation that can take manifold forms. Second, she questions the Marxian concept of class, and emphasises the (...) variety of forms of subordination and exploitation related to social identities that cannot be reduced to Marxian classes. Finally, she advocates a more comprehensive notion of the economy beyond a focus on capitalist relations of production. It is difficult to understate the theoretical relevance of these claims, which highlight the importance of various contemporary forms of injustice—of which the exploitation of workers by capitalists is only one. As a complement to the Marxian theory of exploitation and class, Folbre’s approach would broaden our understanding of oppressive social relations. Yet as an alternative to Marxian political economy, it is ultimately unconvincing: a shift of emphasis to ‘manifold exploitations’, social groups, and the economy does not yield a gain in analytical insight but rather an impoverishment of our conceptual toolbox. The struggle against capitalism is different from the struggle against patriarchy and racism, even if the ultimate aim should be the removal of all structures of oppression and domination. (shrink)

This study examines the stability of trust and explores whether it differs across men and women using a panel dataset. Data were first collected in 2008 and later in 2019, from 1056 male and 1113 female respondents in the Netherlands. The analysis results suggest that trust is significantly correlated over time, irrespective of gender. Similarly, the subgroup analysis restricted to respondents with low levels of trust in 2008 showed a significant correlation between trust measured in 2008 and that measured in (...) 2019. Further, this study analyzes whether the correlation decays with time by comparing the correlation between trust in 2008 and 2019 with the correlation between trust in 2008 and 2013. The analysis reveals a significant decay in the correlation with time, and this decay is driven by men. A closer look shows that older men (with age ≥ median value) primarily caused this decay in correlation. These findings provide evidence of the interaction between gender and the stability of trust. (shrink)

Different Beasts: Humans and Animals in Spinoza and the Zhuangzi studies conceptions of human and animal identity as articulated in the ancient Chinese text known as the Zhuangzi and in the works of the seventeenth-century European philosopher Benedict de Spinoza. By examining how, in these very different philosophies, notions of humanness and animality intersect with ideas about human unity and solidarity, social order, and categories of social difference (such as gender, descent, and ability), Different Beasts opens new paths for (...) understanding Spinoza and the Zhuangzi while also developing methodological insights into the practice of cross-cultural comparative philosophy. (shrink)

In his chapter in this volume, Christopher Pincock develops an argument for scientific realism based on scientific understanding, and he argues that Giere’s (2006) and my (2017, 2020) commitment to the context-dependence of scientific understanding or knowledge renders our views unable to account for an essential step in how scientists come to know. Meanwhile, in my chapter in this volume, I motivate a view that I call "causal pattern realism." In this response to Pincock's chapter, I will sketch a revised (...) version of Pincock’s argument for realism that is consistent with causal pattern realism. Then I will respond to Pincock’s concern that the context-dependence of understanding on my view would interfere with the scientific community’s ability to extrapolate from specific experimental and observational contexts as needed to develop knowledge. My goal is not to convince anyone to be a causal pattern realist but rather to create the space for such a view, taking into account the concerns motivating Pincock. (shrink)

Rawls's signature is the thought experiment he introduced to sort out the requirements of justice. Rawls argues that “justice as fairness” will be a form of political liberalism. Rawls claims that under free institutions we should expect “profound and irreconcilable differences” in people's religious and philosophical worldviews, and in people's basic notions of what makes life worth living. In his vision of democracy, the solidarity required to support common political values and egalitarian norms of distributive justice must be built through (...) productive and fair social cooperation. Social solidarity is needed to support democratic equality, and this solidarity must be built through the mutual production and reciprocal sharing of the fruits of social cooperation. Constraining socioeconomic inequality is an essential aspect of a just scheme of social cooperation and a necessary basis for securing a mutual commitment to the rights, liberties, and opportunities that give democracy its substance and meaning. (shrink)

본 논문은 하이데거와 레비나스의 존재이해의 차이를 존재론적 차이대(對) 존재론적 분리라는 문제틀 속에서 접근하는 작업의 두 번째 시도로서, 이번에는 불교의 조명을 통하여 문제의 차이를 해명한다. 이를 통하여 얻은 결과는 크게 두 가지다. 첫째, 존재의 문제와 관련하여 레비나스가 하이데거의 존재와 시간에 가한 비판은 불심(佛心)의 발로라 해도 무리가 없다. 그리하여 삶의 고통과 그로부터의 해탈, 그리고 무아론과 연기설 등, 불교의 근본적 가르침과 깊이 공명하는 것은 하이데거의 존재론적 차이라기보다는 레비나스의 존재론적 분리이다. 둘째, 레비나스의 성찰은 불교의 전통을 쇄신하는 데 이바지할 수 있다. 그의 존재론적 분리는 불교적 (...) 사태의 존재론적 의미를 깊이 있게 밝혀 주고, 그의 현상학적 연출기법은 『대승기신론』의 삼세론에 대한 이해를 구체화·심화시켜 주는 한편, 그의 침전론은 불교가 정신분석과 같은 현대 담론과도 회통할 수 있는 지점 또한 시사한다. (shrink)

본 논문은 초기 레비나스가 하이데거와 벌인 존재론적 논쟁의 쟁점과 의의를 밝히고자 한다. 이 논쟁은, 무엇보다 인간의 근원적인 존재론적 정황성에 대한 두 가지 이해 사이의 대립으로서, 존재론적 차이(하이데거) 대 존재론적 분리(레비나스)의 대립으로 요약될 수 있다. 이 점에 주목한 기존의 연구성과들이 적지 않음에도 불구하고, 이들은 대체로 어떤 공통된 한계를 노정하고 있다. 이는 문제의 존재론적 정황성이 연출되는 구체적인 장면을 그들이 추체험하지 못하고 있다는 데서 기인한다. 그런 한계를 극복하게 해 줄 단초를 우리는 정신분석에서 발견한다. 왜냐하면 존재론적 정황성의 문제를 두고 정신분석은 하이데거에 맞서 레비나스와 공동 (...) 전선을 형성하고 있음이 밝혀지기 때문이다. 이 공동 전선의 지형도를 그려보면, 하이데거에 대한 레비나스 사유의 향배(向背)를 결정지은 문제의 구체적 장면을 목도하는 추체험이 가능해진다. 이로써 드러나는 바, 존재론적 차이는 아이의 심정을 망각한 어른의 철학이자 노예의 처지에 무심한 주인의 철학이다. 하이데거의 이러한 이중적 무경험(無經驗)을 반영하는 한에서, 존재론적 차이는 힘의 철학이다. 이에 상응하여 존재론적 차이는 철학적 차원에서 이중적 한계를 가진다. 그것은 존재 일반에 대한 기초 접근로가 될 수 없을 뿐만 아니라, 존재 일반을 배경으로 도래하는 존재자의 성립을 해명할 수 없다. 반면 레비나스의 존재론적 분리는 이 이중적 한계를 극복하는 존재론적 성찰을 제시한다. 이로부터 존재론적 차이는 존재론적 분리를 전제한다는 결론이 도출된다. (shrink)

(1999). Difference as an occasion for rights: A feminist rethinking of rights, liberalism, and difference. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 2, Feminism, Identity and Difference, pp. 27-55.

The main goal of the article is to briefly review the difference between analytical and synthetic in Hegel's philosophy, as well as to determine whether this philosopher was a follower of Kant's philosophy or not. First, in the "Introduction" section, the difference between analytical and synthetic in Kant's philosophy is shown; moreover, Kant's influence on Hegel and, generally, on the period in question and the conclusions of both scientists on this issue are analyzed. In the article, the main (...) features of Hegel's and Kant's worldviews and some conclusions related to the pair of concepts in Hegel's philosophy, i.e., analytical and synthetic concepts, are examined. In the conclusion of the article, Hegel's main philosophical views are identified, and the possibility of resolving the difference between analytical and synthetic through dialectical judgment is put forward. (shrink)

Machery's Heterogeneity Hypothesis depends on his argument that no theory of concepts can account for all the extant reliable categorization data. I argue that a single theoretical framework based on graphical models can explain all of the behavioral data to which this argument refers. These different theories of concepts thus (arguably) correspond to different special cases, not different kinds.

This article discusses three related aspects of know‐how: skill, transversal abilities and project management abilities, which are often not distinguished within either the educational or the philosophical literature. Skill or the ability to perform tasks is distinguished from possession of technique which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for possession of a skill. The exercise of skill, contrary to much opinion, usually involves character aspects of agency. Skills usually have a social dimension and are subject to normative appraisal. Transversal (...) abilities rely on but are not reducible to the exercise of skill, but require a further degree of attention and seriousness in their exercise. Transversal abilities can be displayed in different ways using different skills, depending on context. They include: planning, communicating, evaluating—all important features of successful professional action. Project management or the putting into effect of relatively long‐term sequences of action involves the articulation of different transversal abilities. It is a form of agency which is considered to be important in some European vocational and professional education systems and usually involves a strong social dimension. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the educational implications of these distinctions and of their interrelationships. (shrink)

Reconsidering Difference has a twofold task, the primary one critical and the secondary one reconstructive. The critical task is to show that these various privilegings are philosophical failures.

Critical responses to Wide Sargasso Sea have seized upon Rhys's novel as an exemplary model of writing back. Looking beyond the actual repetitions which recall Brontë’s text, I explore Rhys's novel as an expression of virtual difference and becomings that exemplify Deleuze's three syntheses of time. Elaborating the processes of becoming that Deleuze's third synthesis depicts, Antoinette's fate emerges not as a violence against an original identity. Rather, what the reader witnesses is a series of becomings or masks, some (...) of which are validated, some of which are not, and it is in the rejection of certain masks, forcing Antoinette to become-Bertha, that the greatest violence lies. (shrink)

The concept of craniofacial difference refers to a set of innate or acquired features causing facial abnormalities. While craniofacial difference is usually understood as an individual fact and is currently overlooked in the definitions of disability that govern disability policies, this study addresses it in its disregarded social dimensions, as shown in a case of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2021. The study then proposes a theological reflection on how the craniofacial anomaly destabilizes certain cultural patterns that (...) guide our visions of the world and how it invites us to engage in a different relationship to reality and meaning. (shrink)

Much research in the last two decades has demonstrated that human responses deviate from the performance deemed normative according to various models of decision making and rational judgment (e.g., the basic axioms of utility theory). This gap between the normative and the descriptive can be interpreted as indicating systematic irrationalities in human cognition. However, four alternative interpretations preserve the assumption that human behavior and cognition is largely rational. These posit that the gap is due to (1) performance errors, (2) computational (...) limitations, (3) the wrong norm being applied by the experimenter, and (4) a different construal of the task by the subject. In the debates about the viability of these alternative explanations, attention has been focused too narrowly on the modal response. In a series of experiments involving most of the classic tasks in the heuristics and biases literature, we have examined the implications of individual differences in performance for each of the four explanations of the normative/descriptive gap. Performance errors are a minor factor in the gap; computational limitations underlie non-normative responding on several tasks, particularly those that involve some type of cognitive decontextualization. Unexpected patterns of covariance can suggest when the wrong norm is being applied to a task or when an alternative construal of the task should be considered appropriate. Key Words: biases; descriptive models; heuristics; individual differences; normative models; rationality; reasoning. (shrink)

Although being widely considered as only a Western tradition, individualism is not absent in traditional Chinese philosophy and culture. In some of the classic Chinese philosophic works such as Zhuangzi, we can clearly identify some elements which can be appropriately attributed to “individualism”, such as the awareness of individual “self” as an independent and unique existence, advocating individual freedom and liberty, emphasizing on the value and dignity of individual life, favoring individuals’ autonomy and privacy, pursuing unconstrained development in personality and (...) spirituality. However, due to its particular pre-Qin social cultural background and its unique Daoist philosophic origin, this kind of individualism in Zhuangzi has its own unique characteristics, which has made it distinguishable from the variety of other individualist thoughts emerged in different times and places in the West. Zhuangzi has a dynamic and open view on individual or “self”, he does not consider individuals as fixed and interchangeable “atoms” but as dynamic, changing and unique beings, he set the unlimited and indefinable Dao as the only and ultimate source for individuals to conform to, thus to release individual mind into an realm of infinite openness and freedom. Zhuangzian individualism is “inward” rather than “outward”, which means while concentrating on individuals’ freedom of spirit and innate nature, it cares less about individuals’ outside material interests and rights in social reality, and does not encourage competition and rivalry among individuals. The special type of individualism in Zhuangzi has a profound influence on Chinese culture, providing a spiritual space for the development of individuality and personality in ancient China. It also provides an alternative understanding of individual as an existence. (shrink)

Questions: Between Identity and Difference is in many ways a curious book. It is a scholarly book, but tests the boundaries of traditional academic methods. It is a philosophical book, but bases its arguments on observational studies in classrooms where Danish, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese schoolchildren are taught in their native languages. It is a demanding book, one that assumes its readers think for themselves. Yes it is also a generous book, which draws on the author's own experience in (...) researching and exploring what it means to be human across a variety of thoughts and behavioural patterns. (shrink)

이 글은 의료 행위의 중요한 경우에서 합리적인 의사결정을 내리기 위해서는 법적 판단과 함께 도덕적 판단 또한 반드시 고려되어야 하는 이유를 논증한다. 이러한 목적을 이루기 위해 먼저 한 사고실험을 통해 의료 행위에서 초래될 수 있는 업무상 과실치사상죄 적용에 대한 법적 판단을 분석함으로써 행위자의 법적 책임을 최소화할 수 있는 결정이 무엇인지 논증한다. 다음으로 도덕의 관점에서 그 문제를 분석할 경우 법적 판단과 다른 결론을 도출할 수 있음을 논증함으로써 중요한 의료적 결정을 내릴 때 법적 판단과 함께 도덕적 판단을 함께 고찰해야 하는 이유를 논증한다. 우리가 (...) 가진 도덕 감정은 일반적으로 도덕적으로 선하거나 옳은 행위를 권장하고 도덕적으로 악하거나 그른 행위를 금지한다. 하지만 우리가 몸담고 있는 현실 세계에서 일어나는 다양한 사건들 중에는 도덕적으로 최선의 행위를 선택하는 것이 아닌, 도덕적인 ‘차악’의 행위를 선택해야 할 처지에 놓이기도 한다. 이러한 경우는 ‘나를 보호하기 위한 실천적 선택’의 기로에 놓인 경우로 나타난다. 즉 우리는 그러한 순간에 자신의 현실적인 이익에는 부합하지만 도덕적인 부담을 감수해야 하는 선택을 하거나, 반대로 도덕적인 부담으로부터 벗어나기 위해 자신의 현실적인 이익을 포기해야 할 수 있다. 그리고 행위자가 행한 행위를 오직 법과 도덕에 의해서만 평가한다면, 그 행위자가 중대한 결정을 내려야 하는 경우는 법적 판단과 도덕적 판단이 충돌하는 경우라고 할 수 있다. 즉 그 행위자는 도덕적으로 문제될 것은 없지만 법적으로 처벌을 받을 수 있는 경우, 반대로 도덕적으로 비난받을 수 있지만 법적으로 문제가 없는 경우 중에서 한 행위를 선택해야 할 경우 중대한 결정을 내려야 한다. 법적 책임을 최소화하는 결정이 도덕적으로는 정당화될 수 없는 비판적인 사례를 분석함으로써 의료 행위에서 윤리적 분석과 숙고가 요청되는 이유를 강조할 수 있다. (shrink)

정신분석은 증상, 꿈, 실수 등에서 무의식을 발견하고 이를 연구한 학문이다. 분열분석은 정신분석에 대한 비판으로부터 비롯되었고, 기존 무의식에 새로운 지평을 연 학문이다. 그러나 정신분석에 대한 비판 위에서 분열분석이 출현한 까닭인지, 두 학문의 대립은 여전히 첨예하다. 본 연구는 정신분석과 분열분석 각 학문의 정초 지점과 주요 문제를 살펴보며, 각각의 학문이 지향하고자 하는 방향과 그 의의를 밝히고, 그를 위해 다르게 개념화된 무의식의 특성과 그차이를 보여준다. 정신분석은 심인적인 증상과 아픔을 겪는 사람의 치유와 회복을 위해 시작되었다. 이를 위해 세팅된 임상 장면에서 무의식의 장을 발견하였고, 이에 접근하기 (...) 위하여 최초로 무의식의 이론들을 고안하고 연구해왔다. 분열분석은 정신분석이 주체의 자율성에 대한 지점으로 나아가지 못한다는 문제로부터 비롯되었으며, 무의식과 광기에 대한 긍정성을 재조명하며 분열증적 과정을 통한 생성과 실천을 향한다. 이에 작동과 생산을 강조하는 분자적 무의식·기계적무의식 등 무의식의 새로운 개념을 제시한다. 본 연구는 정신분석과 분열분석의 비판 혹은 대립 지점들에 주목하기보다, 각 학문의 근본적 차이와 개념의 차이에 대한 이해를 구하는 데에 그 목적이 있다. (shrink)

This book shows how Heidegger and Levinas, in a novel and non-totalizing manner, attempt to re-think the history of philosophy in order to reveal a difference that has remained unthought, yet supposed by it. For Heidegger, this difference is the truth of Being, whereas for Levinas this difference is the other person. Uljée presents the relation between Levinas and Heidegger as a subtle, profound and complex rapport, which includes both their proximity and radical difference. This rapport (...) is conceived not as a confrontation but rather as a transformation, as Levinas's notion of justice does not renounce Heidegger's account of truth and its deployment. Thinking Difference with Heidegger and Levinas shows how the ethical relation transforms the essence and task of philosophy in its entirety, since it shifts the orientation of philosophy and the task of thinking from its concern with truth as ground or foundation to a question of justice. As a consequence, philosophy is no longer riveted to Being and its truth, but answers to the call for justice. As such, philosophy must be conceived of as infinite commencement, where its impossibility to totalize meaning means that it can and remain open to the alterity of transcendence. (shrink)

The essays collected here provide English-speaking readers with a lucid and accessible introduction to the world of France's leading contemporary philosopher. A classic student textbook.

Contemporary mate preferences can provide important clues to human reproductive history. Little is known about which characteristics people value in potential mates. Five predictions were made about sex differences in human mate preferences based on evolutionary conceptions of parental investment, sexual selection, human reproductive capacity, and sexual asymmetries regarding certainty of paternity versus maternity. The predictions centered on how each sex valued earning capacity, ambition— industriousness, youth, physical attractiveness, and chastity. Predictions were tested in data from 37 samples drawn from (...) 33 countries located on six continents and five islands. For 27 countries, demographic data on actual age at marriage provided a validity check on questionnaire data. Females were found to value cues toresource acquisitionin potential mates more highly than males. Characteristics signalingreproductive capacitywere valued more by males than by females. These sex differences may reflect different evolutionary selection pressures on human males and females; they provide powerful cross-cultural evidence of current sex differences in reproductive strategies. Discussion focuses on proximate mechanisms underlying mate preferences, consequences for human intrasexual competition, and the limitations of this study. (shrink)

This paper develops a critical engagement with ‘cosmopolitanism’ and specifically the geographical imaginations it implicates. It does so in order to work through some of the geographical closures in the new cosmopolitanism literature and, further, to suggest alternative — more uncertain and speculative — spatial imaginations for modes of living together with radical alterity. The paper is written in the context of the wealth of recent literature that has sought to recuperate cosmopolitanism as a progressive political philosophy and imagination. Part (...) of the paper’s intervention, however, is to suggest that mechanisms and political imaginations for living together might in fact gain much by stepping out from cosmopolitanism’s conceptual shadow. First, the paper argues that implicated within much of the new cosmopolitan literature is a planetary consciousness that has a long historical antecedence in western thought. The paper stresses the problematic textures of the planetary geographical imaginations embedded within avowedly cosmopolitan discourse, arguing that the ‘cosmos’ of cosmopolitanism is no geographically innocent signifier. It is in fact tethered to an imperial Apollonian gaze that cannot help but rekindle ancient Greek notions of formal order and beauty, Pythagorean beliefs in a universe of harmony, and their realization in western liberalism and particularly US Cold War imperialism. Second, drawing upon postcolonial re-readings of the planet and critical geographical mobilizations of place, the paper suggests alternative, less certain, and less avowedly ‘cosmopolitan’ imaginations that have the capacity to engage difference in non-assimilatory terms. Cumulatively, the paper is an attempt to answer one simple question: what difference does it make to think geographically about cosmopolitanism? (shrink)

Western countries are ignorant of true Islamic values, says Nonie Darwish. Darwish is an Egyptian-American, former-Muslim human rights activist who is frustrated with mainstream America's talk of tolerance and assimilation. In Wholly Different, Darwish sets non-Muslims straight about tenets of Islam that are incompatible with free society. For the first time, Darwish tells the whole story of her personal break with Islam, starting with the brutal physical violence and rigid class system she witnessed and culminating with the spine-tingling visit she (...) received from President Nasser after her father, fedayeen commander Mustafa Hayez, was assassinated by Israeli Defense Forces. She lays out the "seventh-century values" of Islam that religious extremists are so intent on protecting through global warfare values that set Islam apart from the other Abrahamic religions." --Publisher's description. (shrink)

Dual functional brain asymmetry refers to the notion that in most individuals the left cerebral hemisphere is specialized for language functions, whereas the right cerebral hemisphere is more important than the left for the perception, construction, and recall of stimuli that are difficult to verbalize. In the last twenty years there have been scattered reports of sex differences in degree of hemispheric specialization. This review provides a critical framework within which two related topics are discussed: Do meaningful sex differences in (...) verbal or spatial cerebral lateralization exist? and, if so, Is the brain of one sex more symmetrically organized than the other? Data gathered on right-handed adults are examined from clinical studies of patients with unilateral brain lesions; from dichotic listening, tachistoscopic, and sensorimotor studies of functional asymmetries in non-brain-damaged subjects; from anatomical and electrophysiological investigations, as well as from the developmental literature. Retrospective and descriptive findings predominate over prospective and experimental methodologies. Nevertheless, there is an impressive accummulation of evidence suggesting that the male brain may be more asymmetrically organized than the female brain, both for verbal and nonverbal functions. These trends are rarely found in childhood but are often significant in the mature organism. (shrink)

Creative encounters, appreciating difference: an introduction -- Appreciating difference : encountering, moving, naming -- Moving beyond place -- Territory -- I don't want to be a mystic! : on self-moving and religious experience -- Not by any name -- Creations of encounter -- Mother earth and numbakulla -- Storytracking the arrernte through the academic bush -- Mother earth : an American myth -- Aesthetic of impossibles -- Myth and an aesthetic of impossibles -- Tomorrow's eve and the next (...) gen study of religion -- Gesture -- Gesture posture prosthesis -- They jump up of themselves -- As prayer goes so goes religion -- Play -- No place to stand : Jonathan Z. Smith as homo ludens, the academic study of religion sub specie ludi -- To risk meaning nothing : Charles Sanders Peirce & the logic of discovery -- Creative encounters -- Creative encounters. (shrink)