We examined the hypothesis that boredom is likely to occur when opportunity costs are high; that is, when there is a high potential value of engaging in activities other than the researcher-assigne...

Conditions of low and high perceived control often lead to boredom, albeit for different reasons. Whereas, high perceived control may be experienced as boring because the situation lacks challenge, low perceived control may be experienced as boring because the situation precludes effective engagement. In two experiments we test this proposed quadratic relationship. In the first experiment we had participants play different versions of the children's game “rock-paper-scissors” in which they arbitrarily won or lost. Despite having only dichotomous conditions, participants reported (...) experiencing a broad range of levels of perceived control. Consistent with our predictions, boredom was highest at low and high levels of perceived control. Experiment 2 tested the notion that the mere prospect of gaining control may mitigate boredom. Participants given to believe that they could gain control over the game of rock, paper, scissors were less bored than those who believed there was no possibility of winning at greater than chance levels. This suggests that beliefs concerning prospective control, rather than a given level of perceived control per se, may predict engagement and boredom. (shrink)

Boredom proneness has been linked to various forms of cognitive and affective dysregulation including poor self-control and mind-wandering, as well as depression and aggression. As such, understanding boredom and the associated cognitive and affective components of the experience, represents an important first step in combatting the consequences of boredom for psychological well-being. We surveyed 1928 undergraduate students on measures of boredom proneness, self-control, MW, depression and aggression to investigate how these constructs were related. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that self-control operated (...) as a strong negative predictor of boredom proneness. Finally, when controlling for age and self-control, we observed large decreases in the magnitudes of the relationships between boredom proneness and our other measures of interest. Together, these results imply a strong relationship between boredom proneness and cognitive and affective dysregulation, and show that individual levels of self-control can account for the lion’s share of variance in the relationships between boredom, cognition, and affect. (shrink)

TEST is a novel taxonomy of knowledge representations based on three distinct hierarchically organized representational features: Tropism, Embodiment, and Situatedness. Tropic representational features reflect constraints of the physical world on the agent's ability to form, reactivate, and enrich embodied (i.e., resulting from the agent's bodily constraints) conceptual representations embedded in situated contexts. The proposed hierarchy entails that representations can, in principle, have tropic features without necessarily having situated and/or embodied features. On the other hand, representations that are situated and/or embodied (...) are likely to be simultaneously tropic. Hence, although we propose tropism as the most general term, the hierarchical relationship between embodiment and situatedness is more on a par, such that the dominance of one component over the other relies on the distinction between offline storage versus online generation as well as on representation-specific properties. (shrink)

The article states the core thesis about two asymmetric modes of existence of war – physical and discursive. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the analytical and practical necessity of distinguishing between two modes of existence of hybrid warfare as a phenomenon of physical reality and as a discursive construct, as well as to raise questions about the value specificity of the relationship between them. The methodology of work represents the implication of two asymmetric modes of war existence (...) – physical and discursive. The relationship between the two modes can be described in particular through modern cognitive-semantic and communicative approaches. Analysis, synthesis, description, distinction, historical perspective, forecasting and hermeneutic tools of comprehension are the core methods of this work. In the military dimension, any military confrontation in general is localized, while the discourse of this hybrid war has become global. The interpretive component of hybrid warfare is implemented through discursive verbal-semiotic means. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the concept of victory. The Ukrainian dimension embodies the postmodern practical representation of the analysis of the problem of hybrid warfare as a war of interpretations. (shrink)

Humanity in the conditions of globalization is getting closer and unified in the realm of economy, politics, culture. This is to some extent characterized by interfaith relations.The confessional network in Ukraine has already almost finished. If some new religious movements appear, they will not be very successful, but will remain at the level of individual communities. Believers in their confessional preferences are largely determined. Sometimes there is even a curtailment of the activities of some new, as for Ukraine, currents. There (...) are dozens of different religious trends in Ukraine, but the largest among them is Orthodoxy and Catholicism. (shrink)

Who or what comes to light after the ‘beyond’ of Cartesian, Husserlian or Heideggerian post-intuitus philosophical attempts and receives a new souffl e (breath) from otherwise JeanLuc Marion’s desire to opt conceptually a new context for phenomenological and theological researches? Granted the importance of René Descartes, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, it is, nevertheless, Jean-Luc Marion who has contributed to the question of overcoming of metaphysics’ possibility in order to disqualify a ground of being within a phenomenological reality of love. (...) In the present article the author wishes to introduce an acquaintance of Jean-Luc Marion’s pensée (thinking) in reference to the inevitability of the leap through metaphysics aiming at doing justice to Ukrainian readers by putting Marion’s voice into the nuance of new approaches that have been resulted in recent contemporary French debates. Key words: self, other, saturated phenomenon, call, giveness, donation, erotic reduction, love. (shrink)

The article deals with long-term process and measures to intensify the all orthodox efforts during the twentieth century for the preparation of the Ecumenical Orthodox council, which acquired the special dynamics after the Second Vatican Council.

The relevance of the research. The various approaches are analyzed on the essence of nostalgia, ranging from psychological understanding of this phenomenon as emigrant`s neurosis and mental illness to a more profound comprehension of it as a cultural and philosophical “universalia” that concerns complicated mechanisms of historical memory, identity, time and eternity. Analysis of research and publications. Among contemporary researchers investigating the ethical, religious and cultural-historical dimensions of nostalgia, there should be mentioned S. Boim, F. Davis, S. Merzlyakov, V. Nurkov, (...) Y. Davydov, E. Loftus, O. Fedkov, M. Rewakowicz, M. Shkandrij, M. Boichenko, O. Yakovleva, V. Liakh, E. Novikov and many others researchers. The purpose of the paper is to examine the ethical and religious dimensions of nostalgia, to figure out the connection of nostalgia with the problems of memory, time and eternity. Presentation of the main research material. The article deals with the cultural phenomenon of nostalgia, its religious, ethical and general philosophical aspects. It is shown that nostalgia is based on memory value selectivity, due to which a moral tradition, social and individual identity, and the continuity of generations are established. Modern man rebels against the actual state of being as untrue and non-authentic. He feels nostalgia for the past as something right and proper. A person not only mythologizes, but also seeks to resurrect the past in a symbolic way. In this almost religious faith in the resurrection of what is gone there is an existential certainty for the final cancellation of time and triumph of eternity, within which everything is preserved and nothing is forgotten. Nostalgic lust for the past is inherent to humanity throughout its history and is especially actualized in the culture of postmodernism. Conclusion. Nostalgia is a kind of personal and social myth creation, the construction of the historical identity. It reconstructs the past, which appears not only valuable and significant for the present, but also proper. Nostalgia is a moral phenomenon based on a morally healthy memory, capable of forgiveness, reconciliation and love for one's own destiny. The attention is stressed on metaphysical, political and aesthetic forms of nostalgia that oppose destructive force of nihilism. (shrink)

This article is a critical review of Cocchiarella’s theory of reference. In conceptual realism, there are two central distinctions regarding reference: first, between active and deactivated use of referential expressions, and, second, between using referential expressions with and without existential presupposition. Cocchiarella’s normative restrictions on the existential presuppositions of reference lead to postulating two fundamentally different kinds of objects in conceptual realism: realia or concrete objects, on the one hand, and abstract intensional objects or nonexistents, on the other. According to (...) Cocchiarella, nonexistents can be referred to only without existential presuppositions. However, referring to nonexistents with existential presuppositions is an ordinary human practice. To account for this fact, Cocchiarella’s normative theory of reference should be supplemented by a descriptive account of referring. (shrink)

Michail Bakhtin’s philosophy of act is considered as a metaphysical project. Bakhtin’s conception is explored in a wider context of the metaphysical project of Russian existentialism. Interpretations of the term “truth”, which correspond to different versions of existentialism, are compared. Shestov’s existentialist particularism, Berdiaev’s actualistic personalism, Bakhtin’s ethical existentialism are analysed. Existentialist implications of Gregory Palama’s metaphysics of light are considered.

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the theory of simple apprehension held in the Kiev-Mohyla Academy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We start from Aristotle’s idea of two kinds of knowing and from the Thomist theory of the two operations of the intellect in view of the ontological distinction between essence and actuality. In dealing with the theory of the activities of the intellect in the Kiev-MohylaAcademy, we consider simple apprehension as a form of Aristotle’s immediate knowledge. (...) We conclude by introducing the notion of non-representational simple apprehension. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to introduce a logically grounded approach to action semantics and action interpretation. The main idea is to present the context of action as a set of questions demanding an action to answer. I introduce (a) a basic procedure of action interpretation, which is a reformulation of Hilpinen's semantical procedure for imperatives; (b) a procedure of what-interpretation; (c) a procedure of why-interpretation. The conditions of mutual reducibility of interpretation procedures are explicated. The paper concludes by (...) putting forth the problem of interpretive bounds of moral responsibility. (shrink)

The author develops the idea that ancient Greek philosophy begins with attempts of the first theorists, especially Plato, to prove the immortality of the soul. For them, this meant, above all things, justifying that a person cannot escape moral responsibility or punishment for his wrongdoings. The author compares this kind of immortality, or this theory of immortality, to the ancient Greek concept of earthly immortality of the name. If a Greek had not achieved his glory in the creative realm of (...) freedom (in politics, war, sports, knowledge, and arts), he did not get beyond the limits of his bodily existence. The first kind of immortality is also discussed in terms of Pla to’s moral pessimism, while the second kind of immortality is discussed in terms of moral optimism. Both kinds are considered in terms of the philosophical response to the question of a good and happy life. The third kind of immortality is defined by the author as Faustian immortality in the Modern Age. The concept of this kind of immortality is explained in terms of the Faus- tian individual, that is, based on J. W. Goethe’s idea of self-realization of personality through the activities of their native community. This kind of immortality is contrasted with the concept of escapist immortality, described by Russian artists, especially A. S. Pushkin and M. A. Bulgakov, as the greatest achievement of a modern creative person in the conditions of social unfreedom. Lastly, the concept of medial immortality is defined as a postmodern idea that the desired uniqueness of a personality is affirmed by its social acknowledgment via contemporary digital communication means, that is, medial means. The author’s main text contains important references to the Additions placed after the main text. To understand the dialogic nature of the research, Additions should be read alongside the main text, rather than after it. (shrink)

In the domain of the Ukrainian history of philosophy one can clearly observe symptoms of eclecticism, contamination, and corruption. Such situation is rooted in continuous insufficiency of the methodological framework of Ukrainian philosophy, split by the demise of Soviet ideological structures. Critical condition of humanitarian epistemology is aggravated by the urgent need to overtake foreign studies in the corresponding field, which constantly increase in number and evolve in character. All of the aforementioned symptoms are indicative for historical and philosophical reception (...) of Martin Heidegger's legacy by the Ukrainian academy. Heidegger studies have already formed a separate trend in the world philosophical discourse. We focus on critical assessment of certain reflexes, i.e. definite interpretative strategies providing different transcriptions of the same referents, i.e. definite philosophical forms, texts, or problems. In the general contour of Heidegger studies I differentiate the following reflexes: reflex of immanent hermeneutics, reflex of reductive interpretation, reflex of genetic historiography, and reflex of ideological historiography. In this paper I continue to identify transcriptions of "Heidegger's controversy" (the referent of historico-philosophical thought), provided by the reflex of ideological historiography. As I have recently identified the transcription of political implications of Heidegger's philosophy in the terms of sociology of knowledge, so now it comes to biographical transcription of Heidegger's political engagement, elaborated by Hugo Ott and Victor Farias. Critical assessment of their methodological approach revealed imposition of biographical objectivity on philosophy discourse, simplification of the complexity of philosophical form, and the pathos of elementary humanism as the ideological criterion of their research. (shrink)

Nowadays the Ukrainian historical and philosophical science is going through a harsh crisis of methodology, caused by distortion of universal coordinates of scientific thinking allegedly providing the condition of the so-called methodological pluralism. Numerous discussions focus on the question about the very scientific nature of history of philosophy as a branch of knowledge. The tendency which appears to prevail in such disputes defines history of philosophy as philosophy in contrast to the opinion that history of philosophy should be rather seen (...) as approximate to social history. This paper aims at revealing relevant methodological instruments of historical reconstruction of philosophical forms in the concreteness of their existence, conditioned by lives of real people with their real ends and drives. Thus we address Herbert Marcuse's critique of Martin Heidegger's philosophy, since once being a Heidegger's assistant he adopted a highly critical position towards his master's philosophy. Heidegger's Being and Time attracted Marcuse by existential analytics of Being-in-the-world of Dasein and the perspective on historicity of humane condition. In Marcuse's eye Heidegger had come close to the breakthrough towards maintaining of concrete philosophy, providing possibilities of philosophical approach to social realities. By 1932 Marcuse's attempts to reconcile categories of Heideggerian paradigm with strategies of Marxism proved to be a failure. After 1932 Marcuse finds the resources of theoretical enrichment in Marx's Economical and Political Manuscripts of 1844 and distances himself from Heidegger. Nevertheless Heideggerian moments appear to be employed further on in his thinking. Marcuse's critique provides us with an efficient assessment of Heidegger's key concepts as neutralized terms, unable of reaching out to the very reality of human existence, being ideological doubles of sociologicaly valid terminology. (shrink)

Heidegger proved to be one of the key thinkers of the last century. His philosophical legacy accompanied by affluent body of critical literature disclose the horizon for any local philosophical community, e. g. the Ukrainian one, to obtain its own language and problematic. To work out a appropriate receptive disposition towards Heidegger’s thought, we have to generalize the logics of some constituted histories of reading Heidegger in Continental, Anglo-Saxon, and Russian intellectual fields. Contemporary historico-philosophical discourse dominated by receptive disposition of (...) history of ideas omits social references of philosophical texts. This is symptomatic for ontological, existential, and lingual focuses on Heidegger, so characteristic for Ukrainian studies. We try to work out the interpretative disposition of situational analysis of Heidegger’s discourse on the methodological and conceptual basis provided by P. Bourdieu and R. Collins’s sociological views on Heidegger. Our goal here is to find a possibility to appropriate certain elements from sociology of knowledge to the apparatus of historico-philosophical analysis, although sociology of knowledge is suspected to be more valuable in explaining biasis than in accounting for correct opinions and adequate interpretations. This controversy between sociological and philosophical fields made us consider the critical reception of P. Bourdieu’s issues. What is really relevant to the tasks of historical and logical reconstructions of Heidegger’s thought, its contexts and evolution is Bourdieu’s claim to consider its polyphonic nature, its stylistics evolving from pragmatic force of Sein und Zeit to prophecies of the poetic thinking to come in the history of Being. We argue that such concepts of sociology of knowledge as structural homology, intellectual field, and symbolic capital can substantially enforce and enrich historico-philosophical studies, being framed in the disposition of situational analysis of philosophical texts. (shrink)

Intentionality — the orientation of mental states to objects (things, properties, states of things, events) — has been considered a hallmark of the psyche since Brentano’s time. In this article, we consider the problem of intentionality from the second-person approach, or the standpoint of intersubjectivity. Our analysis shows that intentionality is intrinsically projective. The projective nature of intentionality is related to internal objects that play a crucial role in fixing the person’s subjective experience and serve as a fulcrum in the (...) development of the person. The internal object can be treated as a set of properties and tropes. The logic of intentionality proposed by Graham Priest and the theory of primary (that is, belonging to the Freudian system «unconscious») psychological attitudes developed by Linda Brakel created the preconditions for seman- tical analysis of projective intentionality. In the article, we rely on the logic of projective intentionality that reorients the resources of modal logics and semantics of possible worlds to the investigation and formalization of primary thinking. Considering the problem of mental existence within the framework of the second-person approach, we show that Wittgenstein’s reasoning about the «beetle in a box» does not refute the thesis of the privacy of mental meanings. Finally, involving the possible world semantics, we develop a neo-Aristotelian approach to the ontology of mental objects. (shrink)

The accelerated rates of scientific and technological progress and the intellectualization of the main factors of production play a leading role in ensuring the economic recovery of national economies, in particular in the conditions of the existence of today's post-pandemic consequences. The technological development of the leading countries of economic development poses difficult tasks for other participants in the world economic space to avoid a significant lag, especially in today's post-pandemic society. For the countries of Eastern Europe, this task is (...) complicated not only by political and social tensions, but also by the lack of effective government regulation instruments that could provide support for the high-tech sector as a locomotive for the modernization of the national economy. Moreover, enterprises of the high-tech sector of the economy, being deprived of state support, must independently ensure their functioning by creating a system of economic security. Ensuring safety in a post-pandemic society of such enterprises is characterized by significant differences, which are most related to the need to create safe conditions for the activities of workers - the most valuable resource. The development of enterprises in the high-tech sector of the economy is impossible without taking into account the safety aspects, it requires the intensification of scientific research in this area. The purpose of the article is to form information support for managing the economic security of enterprises in the high-tech sector of the economy in the context of post-pandemic modernization. (shrink)

We intend to focus our attention here on a specific problem: how to represent religion within the university program? We intend to present here the problem of the presence of religion at the university in the broader context by answering some questions.

The concept of linguistic turn is investigated in the article. Author distinguishes the following types of its interpretation: methodological, formalistic, gradual and holistic. P. F. Strawson's ideas that gave G. Bergmann the reason to use the term "linguistic turn" for the first time in the history of philosophy are under analysis. It has been proved that applying of the methodology of linguistic analysis to the realm of metaphysics was the decisive factor of linguistic turn taking place in analytic philosophy. The (...) term became widely known due to R. Rorty at a time when linguistic philosophy was in a process of active developmpent. Criticism of R. Rorty's position by P. M. S. Hacker and, in general, the changes in understanding of linguistic turn in the history of analytic philosophy are considered. Particular attention is paid to the position of M. Dummett, who argued that linguistic turn was the result of G. Frege's and L. Wittgenstein's intelectual efforts. Analyzing the features of the gradual approach proposed by T. Williamson, author emphasizes his idea that linguistic turn in analytic philosophy is only the first phase of more fundamental turn, namely representational one, which includes a turn to the analysis of consciousness. However, the author justifies a holistic view of the concept of linguistic turn, which is an alternative to analytic approaches. This view makes it possible to better understand why the problem of language has become important not only for analytical philosophy, but also for continental philosophy and even the humanities. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the theory of simple apprehension held in the Kiev-Mohyla Academy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We start from Aristotle’s idea of two kinds of knowing and from the Thomist theory of the two operations of the intellect in view of the ontological distinction between essence and actuality. In dealing with the theory of the activities of the intellect in the Kiev-MohylaAcademy, we consider simple apprehension as a form of Aristotle’s immediate knowledge. (...) We conclude by introducing the notion of non-representational simple apprehension. (shrink)

An ontological approach as a tool for managing the processes of constructing mathematical models based on interval data and further use of these models for solving applied problems is proposed in this article. Mathematical models built using interval data analysis are quite effective in many applications, as they have “guaranteed” predictive properties, which are determined by the accuracy of experimental data. However, the application of mathematical modeling methods is complicated by the lack of software tools for the implementation of procedures (...) for constructing this type of mathematical models, creating an ontological model that operates by the categories of the subject area of mathematical modeling, regardless of the modeling object proposed in this article. This approach has made it possible to generate tools for mathematical modeling of various objects based on the interval data analysis for any software development environment selected by the user. The technology of creating the software on the basis of the developed ontological superstructure for mathematical modeling using the interval data for different objects, as well as various forms of user interface implementation, is presented in this article. A number of schemes, which illustrate the technology of using the ontological approach of mathematical modeling based on interval data, are presented, and the features of its interpretation when solving environmental monitoring problems are described. (shrink)

We have evolved to become who we are, at least in part, due to our general drive to create new things and ideas. When seeking to improve our creations, ideas, or situations, we systematically overlook opportunities to perform subtractive changes. For example, when tasked with giving feedback on an academic paper, reviewers will tend to suggest additional explanations and analyses rather than delete existing ones. Here, we show that this addition bias is systematically reflected in English language statistics along several (...) distinct dimensions. First, we show that words associated with an increase in quantity or number (e.g., add, addition, more, most) are more frequent than words associated with a decrease in quantity or number (e.g., subtract, subtraction, less, least). Second, we show that in binomial expressions, addition-related words are mentioned first, that is, add and subtract rather than subtract and add. Third, we show that the distributional semantics of verbs of change, such as to improve and to transform, overlap more with the distributional semantics of add/increase than subtract/decrease, which suggests that change verbs are implicitly biased toward addition. Fourth, addition-related words have more positive connotations than subtraction-related words. Fifth, we demonstrate that state-of-the-art large language models, such as the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT-3), are also biased toward addition. We discuss the implications of our results for research on cognitive biases and decision-making. (shrink)

Purpose. Considers the possibility of establishing the Hospitality Philosophy as an independent field of philosophical knowledge. Theoretical basis. Theoretical basis for this issue is the numerous philosophical researches on the topic of hospitality (anthropological, phenomenological, ethical, social-philosophical etc.) and the analysis of its essence and paradigmatic antinomy in the historicalphilosophical way. Scientific novelty. The article attempts to revitalise the notion of philotechnics (φιλοτεχνία) as 'the art of taking care of the guest's welfare' as a possible basic concept of contemporary philosophy (...) of hospitality, which is able to reflect its nature most concisely, including its utilitarian and extra-utilitarian functions – not only a high service level, but also a “humane” attitude towards the guest. Findings. It has been summarized that modern hospitality as a specific human activity needs its own philosophy, which would comprehensively analyze the concept, study the facets and forms of its manifestations, define the worldview paradigm, form a methodology and be able to lead to an understanding of the goals of hospitality, to orient modern hospitality models to achieve certain and clear quality indicators while respecting historically verified value constants. (shrink)

We investigated the contribution of bilingual experience to the development of cognitive reserve when compared with other, traditionally more researched, CR proxies, in a sample of cognitively healthy senior bilingual speakers. Participants performed in an online study where, in addition to a wide inventory of factors known to promote CR, we assessed several factors related to their second language use. In addition, participants’ inhibitory executive control was measured via the Flanker Task. We used Structural Equation Modeling to derive a latent (...) composite measure of CR informed by traditional CR proxies. We examined whether bilingualism may act as a mediator of the effects of such proxies on cognitive performance therefore assessing the unique contribution of dual language use to CR. First, our analyses revealed facilitatory effects of both L2 age of acquisition and L2 proficiency on the executive performance. Second, our analyses confirmed the moderating role of bilingual experience on the relationship between other factors known to promote CR and cognitive integrity, revealing a strong contribution by bilingualism to CR development. Our findings provide further support to the notion that bilingualism plays an important role in mitigating cognitive decline and promoting successful aging. (shrink)

The recent book “Being and Good” by Andriy Baumeister is a remarkable event for both Ukrainian ontology and Ukrainian moral philosophy. The author attempts to disprove the ap-proaches to moral philosophy by Putnam, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Apel and Habermas, arguing that all of them, for different reasons, cannot substantiate their claims to normativity. At the same time, he sees his own efforts as codirectional with MacIntyre and Taylor, in what Andriy Baumeister calls the “ontologization of Good”. In my review (...) I argue that Baumeister’s criticism largely misses its point, because his conviction that there is an objective, ontologically rooted human good also has its epistemolog-ical correlate: there is only one true picture of the world, which is also the only rational one, so that all deviating world pictures should have some purely rational flaws compared with more adequate one. Consequently, Baumeister tries to show that positions, e.g., of Heidegger and Wittgenstein are based on a simple logical contradiction, whereas in fact this is not so; on the other hand, Baumeister himself has no better substantiation for his own claims to normativity than the authors he criticizes. I also argue that a healthy alternative to all the above positions could be found in Aristotle’s pragmatism and Buber’s philosophy of dialogue. (shrink)

The traditions of theological education in Ukraine have been around for more than a millennium. Whatever version of the adoption of Christianity in Russia was not accepted - "Saint-Andrew", "Korsun", "Bulgarian" or "Great Moravian", after Christianity became an official religion in our territories, in the monasteries and cathedrals functioning institutions that were preparing frames for pastoral labor. At all times in Ukraine, future priests were taught and educated exclusively by mentors of the spiritual dignity. In 1929, when the Lviv Theological (...) Academy was formed on the initiative of the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, a fundamental modification took place in the issue of the selection of faculty members for this educational institution. (shrink)

The philosophy of Epictetus, a freed slave in the Roman Empire, has been profoundly influential on Western thought: it offers not only stimulating ideas but practical guidance in living one's life. A. A. Long, a leading scholar of later ancient philosophy, gives the definitive presentation of the thought of Epictetus for a broad readership. Long's fresh and vivid translations of a selection of the best of Epictetus' discourses show that his ideas are as valuable and striking today as they were (...) amost two thousand years ago. This is a book for anyone interested in what we can learn from ancient philosophy about how to live our lives. (shrink)

In this benchmark five-volume study, originally published between 1922 and 1955, Surendranath Dasgupta examines the principal schools of thought that define Indian philosophy. A unifying force greater than art, literature, religion, or science, Professor Dasgupta describes philosophy as the most important achievement of Indian thought, arguing that an understanding of its history is necessary to appreciate the significance and potentialities of India's complex culture. Volume I offers an examination of the Vedas and the Brahmanas, the earlier Upanisads, and the six (...) systems of Indian philosophy. (shrink)

"A consistently clear, comprehensive and accessible introduction which carefully sifts Foucault's work for both its strengths and weaknesses. McHoul and Grace show an intimate familiarity with Foucault's writings and a lively, but critical engagement with the relevance of his work. A model primer." -Tony Bennett, author of Outside Literature In such seminal works as Madness and Civilization, Discipline and Punish , and The History of Sexuality , the late philosopher Michel Foucault explored what our politics, our sexuality, our societal conventions, (...) and our changing notions of truth told us about ourselves. In the process, Foucault garnered a reputation as one of the pre-eminent philosophers of the latter half of the twentieth century and has served as a primary influence on successive generations of philosophers and cultural critics. With A Foucault Primer , Alec McHoul and Wendy Grace bring Foucault's work into focus for the uninitiated. Written in crisp and concise prose, A Foucault Primer explicates three central concepts of Foucauldian theory-discourse, power, and the subject-and suggests that Foucault's work has much yet to contribute to contemporary debate. (shrink)

The paper builds on the postulate of “myths we live by,” which shape our imaginative life (and hence our social expectations), but which are also open to reflective study and reinvention. It applies this principle, in particular, to the concepts of love and vulnerability. We are accustomed to think of the condition of vulnerability in an objectifying and distancing way, as something that affects the bearers of specific (disadvantaged) social identities. Against this picture, which can serve as a pretext for (...) paternalist and controlling attitudes to the groups in question – notably to women – Anderson urges us to reimagine our vulnerability as a condition not merely of exposure to violence but of openness to mutual affection, love, and friendship. Hegel’s celebrated image of the owl of Minerva, which takes wing only with the coming of dusk, suggests an association of (philosophical) wisdom with negativity – with the experience of death or loss. Anderson, by contrast, proposes an alternative and more hopeful image of the dawn of enlightenment, in the guise of new ethical dispositions shaped by an emancipatory (and so, no longer an oppressive or sexist) conception of our capacity for love. Her main interlocutors or influences in this piece are Judith Butler (who contributes the idea of a “relational ontology”), Michèle Le Doeuff, and Mary Midgley. (shrink)

The point of formalisation is to model various aspects of natural language. Perhaps the main use to which formalisation is put is to model and explain inferential relations between different sentences. Judged solely by this objective, a formalisation is successful in modelling the inferential network of natural language sentences to the extent that it mirrors this network. There is surprisingly little literature on the criteria of good formalisation, and even less on the question of what it is for a formalisation (...) to mirror the inferential network of a natural language or some fragment of it. This paper takes some exploratory steps towards a quantitative account of the main ingredient in the goodness of a formalisation. We introduce and critically examine a mathematical model of how well a formalisation mirrors natural-language inferential relations. (shrink)

Open Compositionality: Towards a Methodology of Language offers a fresh view into human languages as supermodular, highly interactive cognitive capacities allowing for human unique thought and communication. It is a novel account of semantics as decision-making in tandem with the cognition first methodology.