Paul's new message makes contact with a context provided by an item in his hearer's historical tradition—Deuteronomy—and also by the/a comic genre, which is a structure of the human mind.

Analysis of the relation of form and content in the parable of the wedding feast shows its distinctiveness alongside the true narrative parables and uncovers an emphasis, not so much on the consequences of the Kingdom coming as on the power of the divine to dispose of the human.

Abstrak: Pemisahan antara ruang privat dan publik merupakan solusi liberalisme atas tantangan pluralitas masyarakat modern. Dalam kaca mata politik pengakuan, solusi liberalisme tidak mencukupi. Liberalisme dianggap mengenal individu hanya sebagai subjek hukum dan karena itu hanya dapat memperhatikan tuntutan validitas hukum. Dalam kaca mata liberalisme, kesetaraan subjek-subjek hukum hanya dapat dijamin jika aspek-aspek tradisi, kultural dan konsep hidup baik dijauhkan dari politik. Namun apa yang menjadi objek pengakuan justru aspek-aspek ini. Tulisan ini memperkenalkan konsep konsep pengakuan intersubjektif Axel Honneth. Konsep (...) pengakuan intersubjektif melampaui paham pengakuan interkultural seperti diperkenalkan oleh tokoh seperti Charles Taylor. Dalam paradigma intersubjektif, pengakuan tidak hanya dilihat pada tataran relasi interkultural, tapi dipahami sebagai sebuah antropologi. Pengakuan mengkonstruksi manusia sebagai subjek. Hal ini ditunjukkan Honneth dalam uraiannya tentang pelbagai tingkatan interaksi antarmanusia yakni tataran cinta, hukum dan solidaritas. Pada bagian akhir tulisan diajukan beberapa pertimbangan kritis atas konsep pengakuan Honneth ini. Kata-kata Kunci: Pengakuan, multikulturalisme, intersubjektivitas, teleologi, autentisitas. Abstract: The separation between private and public spheres is the solution of liberalism to the challenges of plurality in modern societies. In the perspective of politics of recognition this solution of liberalism is insufficient. Liberalism is considered to recognize the individual only as a subject of law and therefore can only attend to the demands of legal validity. In the perspective of liberalism, equality of legal subjects can only be guaranteed if the aspects of tradition, culture and the concept of a good life are seperated from politics. But precisely these aspects are the object of recognition. This paper introduces the concept of intersubjective recognition of Axel Honneth. The concept of intersubjective recognition goes beyond intercultural recognition as introduced by Charles Taylor, for example. In the intersubjective paradigm, recognition is not only seen at the level of intercultural relations, but understood as an anthropology. Recognition constructs the human being as subject. This is shown by Honneth in his account of the various levels of human interaction, that is the level of love, law and solidarity. At the end of the article the author will give some critical considerations on Honneth's concept of recognition. Keywords: Recognition, multiculturalism, intersubjectivity, teleology, authenticity. (shrink)

Recent research has demonstrated the importance of positive emotions, and especially compassion, for well-being. Via two investigations, we set out to determine if facial expressions of happiness,...

This article aims to explore critically John Rawls’ concept of political liberalism which is meant to be a response to the conflict and contestation of ideologies, religions, and other comprehensive doctrines in contemporary plural society. The key question is how the universalized principles of justice can be formulated in the conditionof radical pluralism characterized by contestation of different comprehensive doctrines. In answering this question, John Rawls suggests the concept of overlapping consensus and public reason. While taking accountof the fundamental contribution (...) of John Rawls’ thought in the process of overcoming conflicts in a plural society, this essay discusses further some weaknesses of Rawls’ concept of political liberalism, and at thesame time proposes a new model of political philosophy which provides room for fundamental dissent. This new political philosophy can be called liberal fundamentalism. Fundamentalism basically expressesitself in public sphere in the form of liberality. This essay argues that liberal fundamentalism can create a social condition where fundamental moral differences are accepted, respected, and recognized. Abstrak Tulisan ini bertujuan membahas secara kritis konsep liberalisme politik John Rawls sebagai jawaban atas konfl ik dan kontestasi pandangan hidup atau doktrin komprehensif yang menandai masyarakat kontemporer yang plural. Pertanyaan pokok yang dibahas dalam tulisan ini ialah, bagaimana prinsip-prinsip keadilan yang berlakuumum dapat dirumuskan dalam kondisi factum pluralisme atau pertarungan doktrin-doktrin komprehensif tersebut. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan ini, Rawls menganjurkan dua konsep yakni overlapping consensus dan public reason. Tanpa mengabaikan kontribusi Rawls dalam menyelesaikan konflik dalam masyarakat plural, tulisan ini lebih jauh menunjukkan kelemahan konsep liberalisme politik John Rawls, dan menganjurkan sebuah filsafat politik baru yang harus memberi ruang bagi disensus-disensus fundamental. Filsafat politik baru itu dapat dinamakan posisi fundamentalisme liberal. Sebuah fundamentalisme yang mengungkapkan diri di ruang publik dalam bentuk liberalitas. Artinya, kondisi sebuah masyarakat yang memberi ruang bagi pertentangan-pertentangan etis fundamental, namun dihadapi dengan sikap pengakuan dan penghargaan atas perbedaan fundamental tersebut. (shrink)

Dans ce texte paru en 1927 dans l’organe principal de la social-démocratie autrichienne Arbeiter-Zeitung, et traduit pour la première fois en français, Otto Bauer, alors principal leader du Parti socialdémocrate autrichien dont il s’efforce de préserver l’unité en dépit des divisions aggravées par le conflit mondial et ses conséquences, dissipe les malentendus et les imprécisions entourant la dénomination d’« austromarxisme », et présente de manière vivante et singulière les différents déclinaisons de ce courant à l’heure où l’Autriche entre dans (...) une période de profonde turbulence politique. (shrink)

The question of cognitive endowment in animals has been fiercely debated in the scientific community during the last couple of decades (for example, in cognitive ethology and behaviourism), and indeed, all throughout the long history of natural philosophy (from Plato and Aristotle, via Descartes, to Darwin). The scientific quest for an empirical, evolutionary account of the development and emergence of cognition has met with many philosophical objections, blind alleys and epistemological quandaries. I will argue that we are dealing with conflicting (...) philosophical world views as well as conflicting empirical paradigms of research. After looking at some examples from the relevant literature of animal studies to elucidate the nature of the conflicts that arise, I propose, in strict Darwinian orthodoxy, that cognitive endowments in nature are subject to the sort of continuum and gradation that natural selection of fit variant forms tends to generate. Somewhere between the myth of “free” humans and the myth of “behaviourally conditioned” animals lies the reality of animal behaviour and cognition. In the end, I hope to have softened up some of those deep-seated philosophical problems (and many quasi-problems) that puzzle and dazzle laymen, scientists and philosophers alike in their quest for knowledge about the natural world. (shrink)

The question of cognitive endowment in animals has been fiercely debated in the scientific community during the last couple of decades (for example, in cognitive ethology and behaviourism), and indeed, all throughout the long history of natural philosophy (from Plato and Aristotle, via Descartes, to Darwin). The scientific quest for an empirical, evolutionary account of the development and emergence of cognition has met with many philosophical objections, blind alleys and epistemological quandaries. I will argue that we are dealing with conflicting (...) philosophical world views as well as conflicting empirical paradigms of research. After looking at some examples from the relevant literature of animal studies to elucidate the nature of the conflicts that arise, I propose, in strict Darwinian orthodoxy, that cognitive endowments in nature are subject to the sort of continuum and gradation that natural selection of fit variant forms tends to generate. Somewhere between the myth of “free” humans and the myth of “behaviourally conditioned” animals lies the reality of animal behaviour and cognition. In the end, I hope to have softened up some of those deep-seated philosophical problems (and many quasi-problems) that puzzle and dazzle laymen, scientists and philosophers alike in their quest for knowledge about the natural world. (shrink)

Since the issue of the war against global terrorism emerged, the discourse surrounding the concept of human dignity returns as a normative basis for the protection of basic human rights. The term human dignity has existed since the days of ancient Greek philosophy and was further developed in dialogue with medieval Christian theology and the secular thought of modern times. This article places special emphasis on the understanding of human dignity as defined by a secular thinker and exponent of the (...) Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant. The concept of human dignity as developed by Immanuel Kant is rational and transcends the boundaries of religions, cultures and ideologies; therefore it is suitable as a normative basis for a multicultural society. But the article also does not turn a blind eye to some critical observations offered by adherents of particular ethics concerning the Kantian universal ethics. These critical observations emphasize the ethical principle of substantial solidarity in order to overcome the dangers of anonymity in each model of formal ethics. Keywords: Human dignity, multiculturalism, imperative, ethics, human rights. Abstrak: Sejak isu perang melawan terorisme global muncul, wacana seputar konsep martabat manusia kembali menjadi aktual sebagai basis normatif dalam melindungi hak-hak dasar manusia. Istilah martabat manusia sudah lahir sejak zaman Yunani kuno dan dalam perjalanan sejarah berdialog dengan pandangan teologi Kristen Abad Pertengahan serta pemikiran sekular abad modern. Tulisan ini mencoba memberikan penekanan khusus pada pemahaman tentang martabat manusia seperti dirumuskan oleh pemikir sekular abad pencerahan yakni Immanuel Kant. Konsep martabat manusia yang dikembangkan oleh Immanuel Kant bersifat rasional dan melampaui sekat-sekat agama, ideologi dan budaya; sehingga dipandang layak untuk dijadikan basis normatif sebuah masyarakat multikultural. Akan tetapi, penulis juga tidak menutup mata terhadap beberapa catatan kritis yang diberikan oleh beberapa pengikut etika khusus berkaitan dengan etika universal Kant. Catatan-catatan kritis tersebut menekankan aspek solidaritas substansial dalam etika untuk mengatasi bahaya-bahaya anonimitas dalam setiap model etika formal. Kata-kata Kunci: Martabat manusia, multikulturalitas, imperatif, etika, hak-hak asasi manusia. (shrink)

Background: Poor mental health affects adolescent development and is associated with health and social outcomes in later life. The current study uses cross-sectional data to explore the understudied aspects of peer relationships as a predictor of depressive symptom severity of adolescents in Germany.Method: Data from the German BELLA study were analyzed. We focused on the most recent measurement point of the BELLA study and analyzed data of 446 adolescents. Peer relationship was measured using four items from the internationally established Patient-Reported (...) Outcome Measurement Information System. Depressive symptoms were assessed via seven items of the German version of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Short Depression Scale. Hierarchical linear regression models were computed to explore the association between depressive symptoms and peer relationships. Hierarchical linear regression models served to determine the added predictive effects of each aspect of peer relationships.Result: The regression model showed that 22% of the variance of the severity of depressive symptoms could be explained by the quality of adolescents’ peer relationships = 125.65, p < 0.001). Peer acceptance has the most substantial unique contribution to peer relationship as a predictor of depressive symptom severity. The gender-specific analysis shows different trends for boys and girls.Conclusion: The quality of peer relationships is a significant predictor of adolescents’ depressive symptoms severity. Improved peer acceptance, dependability, and ease of making new friends are significantly associated with reduced depression symptoms for Germany’s adolescent population. (shrink)

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Es wird vorgeschlagen, einen Begriff „Lebenslage“ in den Sozialwissenschaften zu verwenden, der nicht nur „Wohnung“, „Nahrung“, „Kleidung“ und andere Teile des „Realeinkommens“ umfasst, sondern auch „Mortalität“, „Morbidität“ usw. Die gesamte „Lebensstimmung“ einer Person hängt von der Gesamtheit der Lebenslagenteile ab, von der Morbidität ebenso wie von der Wohnung. Ob man die Lebens-Stimmung in „positive“ und „negative“ Elemente zerlegen kann, die man einzelnen Elementen der Lebenslage zuordnet, ist eine offene Frage.Die wissenschaftliche Praxis geht am besten von „Lebenslagenphysiognomien“ (Lebenslagensilhouetten) aus, die durch (...) verschiedenartig gemessene und skalierte Grössen gebildet werden. Wenn man die Lebenslagen einzelner Personen oder ganzer Länder auch nicht stets „skalierend“ zu vergleichen vermag, so kann man sie doch immer beschreiben. Geht man daran, „Lebenslagenkataster“ (Lebenslageninventare) verschiedener Völker und Zeiten aufzustellen, so muss man beachten, dass die Lebensstimmung eines Menschen nicht etwa schon durch die Garten fläche gekennzeichnet wird, die ihm zur Verfügung steht ; man muss angeben, über wieviel Freizeit er verfügt, um die Gartenfläche zu benutzen.Man kann Gesellschaftsordnungen durch die von ihnen „produzierten“ Lebenslagen ln Verbindung mit einer umfassenden „Naturalrechnung“ kennzeichnen. Ob die Geldrechnung in gewissem Ausmass geeignet ist, die Naturalrechnung zu ersetzen, kann nur mit Hilfe der Naturalrechnung entschieden werden, innerhalb deren die Lebenslagenrechnung eine wesentliche Rolle spielt.On propose d'introduire dans les sciences sociales le concept de „situation de vie“, qui englobe non seulement logement, alimentation, vêtement et autres parties du revenu réel, mais aussi mortalité, morbidité, etc. Le „climat de vie“ d'une personne dépend de l'ensemble de sa „situation de vie“, de la morbidité aussi bien que du logement. Est-il possible de décomposer le „climat de vie“ en éléments „positifs“ et „négatifs“, qui correspondraient aux différents éléments de sa „situation de vie“? Réservons provisoirement la question.Si nous envisageons la méthode scientifique, le point de départ le meilleur serait la notion de „physiognomie (silhouette) de vie“. On les dessinerait à l'aide de grandeurs diversement mesurées et graduées.Certes, il ne serait guère possible de comparer les „situations de vie“ de personnes ou de peuples entiers en utilisant une seule échelle de graduation, tout au moins est-il possible de les décrire. Si l'on tente de dresser un „cadastre (inventaire) de situations de vie“ de différents peuples en différentes époques, il ne faut pas oublier que le „climat“ dans lequel vit un individu n'est pas assez déterminé par la surface du jardin qui lui appartient, il faut aussi préciser le loisir dont il dispose pour le cultiver.On peut caractériser les différents régimes sociaux par les situations de vie qu'ils produisent, à condition de combiner cette analyse avec un calcul en nature aussi étendu que possible. Le calcul en argent peut-il remplacer dans une certaine mesure le calcul en nature? La question elle-même ne peut être tranchée qu'à l’aide du calcul en nature qui lui-même dépend largement du calcul des „situations de vie“. (shrink)

For a cou ple of decades, higher-order the o ries of con scious ness have enjoyed great pop u lar ity, but they have recently been met with grow ing dis sat is - fac tion. Many have started to look else where for via ble alter na tives, and within the last few years, quite a few have redis cov ered Brentano. In this paper such a Brentanian one-level account of con scious ness will be out lined and dis (...) - cussed. It will be argued that it can con trib ute impor tant insights to our under - stand ing of the rela tion between con scious ness and self-aware ness, but it will also be argued that the account remains beset with some prob lems, and that it will ulti mately make more sense to take a closer look at Sartre, Husserl, and Heidegger, if one is on the look out for prom is ing alter na tives to the higher-order the o ries, than to return all the way to Brentano. (shrink)

Luminescence‐based sensing schemes for oxygen have experienced a fast growth and are in the process of replacing the Clark electrode in many fields. Unlike electrodes, sensing is not limited to point measurements via fiber optic microsensors, but includes additional features such as planar sensing, imaging, and intracellular assays using nanosized sensor particles. In this essay, I review and discuss the essentials of (i) common solid‐state sensor approaches based on the use of luminescent indicator dyes and host polymers; (ii) fiber optic (...) and planar sensing schemes; (iii) nanoparticle‐based intracellular sensing; and (iv) common spectroscopies. Optical sensors are also capable of multiple simultaneous sensing (such as O2 and temperature). Sensors for O2 are produced nowadays in large quantities in industry. Fields of application include sensing of O2 in plant and animal physiology, in clinical chemistry, in marine sciences, in the chemical industry and in process biotechnology. (shrink)

L'induction géneralisante et l'induction extrapolante : leur usage dans l'empirisme logique. La formation des théories et leur contrôle dépendent de la forme du langage. Dans l'empirisme scientifique, les prévisions, appropriées au contrôle, sont : 1° inductivement fondées et pratiquement contrôlables ; 2° ou bien inductivement fondées et pratiquement incontrôlables ; 3° ou bien non fondées inductivement et pratiquement contrôlables ; 4° ou bien non fondées inductivement et pratiquement incontrôlables. Nous ne disposons pas de règles générales d’induction ou de contrôle ; (...) l’évolution des sciences montre que nous ne pouvons être assurés d’avance de ce qui pourra nous soutenir ou nous ébranler dans l’acceptation ou le rejet des théories ou hypothèses. (shrink)

This study concerns the sociotechnical bases of human autonomy. Drawing on recent literature on AI ethics, philosophical literature on dimensions of autonomy, and on independent philosophical scrutiny, we first propose a multi-dimensional model of human autonomy and then discuss how AI systems can support or hinder human autonomy. What emerges is a philosophically motivated picture of autonomy and of the normative requirements personal autonomy poses in the context of algorithmic systems. Ranging from consent to data collection and processing, to computational (...) tasks and interface design, to institutional and societal considerations, various aspects related to sociotechnical systems must be accounted for in order to get the full picture of potential effects of AI systems on human autonomy. It is clear how human agents can, for example, via coercion or manipulation, hinder each other’s autonomy, or how they can respect each other’s autonomy. AI systems can promote or hinder human autonomy, but can they literally respect or disrespect a person’s autonomy? We argue for a philosophical view according to which AI systems—while not moral agents or bearers of duties, and unable to literally respect or disrespect—are governed by so-called “ought-to-be norms.” This explains the normativity at stake with AI systems. The responsible people (designers, users, etc.) have duties and ought-to-do norms, which correspond to these ought-to-be norms. (shrink)

Certain palaeontological observations, of which some examples are described do not fit in either a Lamarckian or Darwinian view of evolution. Both of these mechanistic theories assume small character-changes in the end stages of ontogeny, which gradually accumulate and are supposed thus to have given rise to all evolutionary progress. Palaeontology, on the other hand, teaches that the fundamental qualitative changes in the morphological plan have taken place in a saltatory manner in more or less young ontogenetic stages . Only (...) after the morphological plan has been built in a phylogenetic phase of explosive, early ontogenetic changing of type follows a phase of stable, continous evolution. It is shown that, theoretically, no other kind of fundamental change in the organisation is possible and that many, otherwise inexplicable, phenomena, the lack of transition forms, the question of ancestral stocks, the ideas of the biology of organisms as a “whole” etc., find their explanation by this means.Il y a certaines observations paléontologiques, dont l'auteur donne plusieurs exemples, et qu'on ne pourrait mettre d'accord avec un aspect larmarckienne ou darwinienne. Ce sont là des essais mécaniques d'explication, qui comptent avec de petites modifications de caractères dans les derniers stades de l'ontogénèse qui se totalisent peu à peu et devraient ainsi avoir occasionné tout progrès phylogénétique. Par contre, la paléontologie enseigne que les transformations qualitatives profondes des plans de constructions ont évolué par bonds dans les stades ontogénétiques plus ou moins juvéniles . C'est seulement après que les types ont été formés dans une phase phylogénétique de transformation explosive et juvénile, qu'une phase d'une évolution stable et continue vient s'y ajouter. On démontre que théoriquement un autre procédé d'un changement profond d'organisation est absolument impossible et que de cette manière un grand nombre de phénomènes par ailleurs incompréhensibles trouvent de la sorte leurs explications: par exemple l'absence des formes transitoires, la question des formes de racines, les conceptions de la biologie du „tout” de l'organisme etc. (shrink)

This essay reconsiders Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s debt to Jean Bodin, on the basis of Daniel Lee’s recent revision of Bodin as a theorist of popular sovereignty. It argues that Rousseau took a key feature of his own theory of democratic sovereignty from Bodin—namely, the dual identity of political members as both citizens and subjects of the state. It further makes the case that this dual identity originates in medieval corporatist law, which Bodin was summarizing. Finally, it demonstrates the lasting impact of (...) corporatist law in eighteenth-century France, highlighting Rousseau’s direct borrowings from the corporatist language and logic of contemporary commercial societies. In this regard, the article revisits and updates Otto von Gierke’s classic argument about the origins of the state in corporatist thought. (shrink)

L’article est une prise de position critique à propos du livre de Habermas Faktizität und Geltung . Plus précisément, il s’agit d’une critique de l’ « architectonique” de la différenciation discussionnelle, menée à propos du rapport entre principe de discussion, principe moral, principe du droit et principe démocratique. Mon point de vue résulte de la position de l’éthique de la discussion comme discipline de base de la philosophie pratique, dans la perspective d’une fondation pragmatique-transcendantale ultime. Une « architectonique » alternative (...) de la différenciation discussionnelle du point de vue de l’éthique de la discussion est proposée.The following essay takes a critical stand to Habermas’ book Faktizität und Geltung of 1992 ; more precisely expressed : my stance is critical with regard to Habermas’ new « architectonics » of discourse-differentiation concerning the relationship between « discourse-principle », « principle of morality », « principle of law », and « principle of democracy ». My critique represents the view of a « transcendentalpragmatic ultimate foundation of discourse-ethics » . An alternative « architectonics » of discourse differentiation in the sense of discourse-ethics is suggested. (shrink)

Le besoin d'une ethique globale a son origine dans la situation humaine comme telle (l'hominisation nous a en effet eloignes de la securite naturelle des instincts animaux et nous a jetes dans l'etat de liberte) et specialement dans la situation presente de l'humanite. Celle-ci se caracterise par un accroissement extreme des defis externes a notre co-responsabilite. Ces defis sont poses par les resultats de la science naturelle, de la technologie, de la politique et de l'economie tandis que semblent bien marquer (...) les ressources internes de la raison ethique. Le present livre tente de montrer que l'approche pragmatico-transcendantale de l'ethique de la discussion est en mesure de reconstruire la genese de cette situation et de fournir une reponse rationnelle tant aux defis externes qu'aux defis internes auxquels une ethique globale est confrontee. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Commentary on “Searle and the ‘Deep Unconscious’”Dan Lloyd (bio)Can another person know my thoughts with better authority than I know them myself? With his affirmative answer to this question, Freud invented the twentieth-century human, a being whose mind is accessible to scrutiny from outside, and whose attempts at conscious self-explanation are at best partial and in many cases wrong. Even as Freud’s scientific influence wanes, the shift of authority (...) he inaugurated is still gathering strength. Now the mind is open to many outsiders. Not only psychoanalysts, but behaviorists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists are all striving to read my mind, and yours. Against this historical sea change stands the solitary John Searle, whose work is consistently animated by fierce adherence to first person authority and surly attacks of any theory that could be exploited to undermine that authority. To most readers Searle’s positions seem stubbornly anti-scientific and covertly dualistic, despite his insistence to the contrary. And since science is good and dualism is bad, Searle’s arguments have become standing obstacles for theorists to discuss, debate, or dismiss.Buttressing his insistence on first person authority, Searle defends a Cartesian view of mental representation or intentionality, holding that an intentional entity is a conscious entity, either in actuality or potentiality. Deeply unconscious representations are therefore impossible. Eric Gillett has joined the debate just here with a pointed critique of Searle’s argument (also discussed in Lloyd 1990). Gillett performs a double service by challenging Searle’s premises and offering some positive grounds for the deep unconscious. I agree with Gillett that establishing the existence of deeply unconscious representations requires a theory of intentionality that is independent of conscious awareness. Ruth Millikan’s evolutionary teleology is an excellent candidate, in its pursuit of real function and real content (vs. “as-if” interpretation) for mental items.Some questions remain. First, if deeply unconscious entities are clinically important, then in addition to a defense-in-principle of their existence we will need some method of identifying specific deep representations in particular cases. Millikan’s functionalism links content to broad biological and environmental contexts, and thereby seems to be an unwieldy tool for content ascription. If deeply unconscious representations get their content in the way Millikan describes, how can the clinician make use of them?Second, and more important, Millikan’s theory shares with many others the ambition to explain all intentional entities, conscious and unconscious alike. This leads to a new dualism of mental contents, a split between intentional content and conscious content, since the comprehensive theory of intentionality will assign mental content both [End Page 201] shallow and deep, irrespective of consciousness. This is a perplexity that transcends particular theories of intentionality, since what my mental states represent seems at least partly dependent on my environment or context, but my current state of consciousness is exclusively dependent on my brain. How, in theory, can these two concepts of content be reconciled?In sum, deeply unconscious representations do not come cheap. One way to escape the new dualism of content is to deny that the deep entities are representations. Instead, they might be dispositions or the “mechanisms, instinctual drives, structures, and energies which can never become conscious under any conditions,” as Gillett suggests. (In Lloyd 1994 I explore the possibility of a dispositional unconscious understood via connectionism.) On this view, mental content could remain within our first person authority, while the causal processes that manage that content remain out of sight. I wouldn’t have to guess what I’m thinking, but I would depend on the sciences of the mind to tell me how I come to think it.Related ArticlesFeature Article: Searle and the "Deep Unconscious"Commentary: Commentary by LloydDan Lloyd Dan Lloyd, Department of Philosophy, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106, U.S.A.ReferencesLloyd, D. 1990. Loose connections: Four problems with Searle’s argument for the ‘Connection Principle.’ Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13: 615–16. Google ScholarLloyd, D. 1994. Connectionist hysteria: Reducing a Freudian case study to a network model. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 1, no. 2: 69–88. Google ScholarCopyright © 1996 The Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)

In his Allgemeine Psychologie of 1912, Natorp formulates a by now classical criticism of phenomenology. 1. Phenomenology claims to describe and analyze lived subjectivity itself. In order to do so it employs a reflective methodology. But reflection is a kind of internal perception; it is a theoretical attitude; it involves an objectification. And as Natorp then asks, how is this objectifying procedure ever going to provide us with access to lived subjectivity itself? 2. Phenomenology aims at describing the experiential structures (...) in their pretheoretical immediacy. But every description involves the use of language, involves the use of generalizing and subsuming concepts. For the very same reason, every description and expression involves a mediation and objectification that necessarily estranges us from subjectivity itself.In his early lecture course Die Idee der Philosophie und das Weltanschauungsproblem of 1919 Heidegger responds to Natorp's challenge and attempts to show that the criticism is based on some questionable assumptions. More specifically, Heidegger argues that Natorp's criticism might be pertinent when it comes to a phenomenology based on a reflective methodology, i.e. when it comes to a Husserlian phenomenology, but it is wide of the mark when it comes to Heidegger's own hermeneutical phenomenology.In this paper I wish to present both Natorp's criticism and Heidegger's response in detail. One of the aims will be to articulate the criticism that Heidegger himself—via his discussion with Natorp—directs against a reflective phenomenology. In the final part of the paper I will then evaluate the pertinence of this criticism. Is it at all justified? (shrink)

In his Allgemeine Psychologie of 1912, Natorp formulates a by now classical criticism of phenomenology. 1. Phenomenology claims to describe and analyze lived subjectivity itself. In order to do so it employs a reflective methodology. But reflection is a kind of internal perception; it is a theoretical attitude; it involves an objectification. And as Natorp then asks, how is this objectifying procedure ever going to provide us with access to lived subjectivity itself? 2. Phenomenology aims at describing the experiential structures (...) in their pretheoretical immediacy. But every description involves the use of language, involves the use of generalizing and subsuming concepts. For the very same reason, every description and expression involves a mediation and objectification that necessarily estranges us from subjectivity itself.In his early lecture course Die Idee der Philosophie und das Weltanschauungsproblem of 1919 Heidegger responds to Natorp's challenge and attempts to show that the criticism is based on some questionable assumptions. More specifically, Heidegger argues that Natorp's criticism might be pertinent when it comes to a phenomenology based on a reflective methodology, i.e. when it comes to a Husserlian phenomenology, but it is wide of the mark when it comes to Heidegger's own hermeneutical phenomenology.In this paper I wish to present both Natorp's criticism and Heidegger's response in detail. One of the aims will be to articulate the criticism that Heidegger himself—via his discussion with Natorp—directs against a reflective phenomenology. In the final part of the paper I will then evaluate the pertinence of this criticism. Is it at all justified? (shrink)

We study first-order logic with two variables FO² and establish a small substructure property. Similar to the small model property for FO² we obtain an exponential size bound on embedded substructures, relative to a fixed surrounding structure that may be infinite. We apply this technique to analyse the satisfiability problem for FO² under constraints that require several binary relations to be interpreted as equivalence relations. With a single equivalence relation, FO² has the finite model property and is complete for non-deterministic (...) exponential time, just as for plain FO² With two equivalence relations, FO² does not have the finite model property, but is shown to be decidable via a construction of regular models that admit finite descriptions even though they may necessarily be infinite. For three or more equivalence relations, FO² is undecidable. (shrink)

The main aim of the thesis is to give a semantic account of implicit content – the kind of content that plays a crucial role in implicit communication. Implicit communication is a species of communication in which a speaker communicates certain contents that go over and above the contents retrievable from the linguistic meaning of the words used. The focus of the thesis is a certain kind of implicit communication involving locations (when sentences such as “It is raining” are used (...) to communicate that it is raining at a certain location) and judges (when sentences such as “Avocado is tasty” are used to communicate that avocado is tasty for a certain person, called “the judge”). The way the topic of implicit content is approached is via the notion, widespread in contemporary philosophy of language, of “unarticulated constituents”. The thesis contains an investigation of this notion, with the specific aim of disentangling the many senses it has been used and of providing a general definition of the notion. A direct product of this investigation is a partitioning of the logical space; three positions are then selected, which correspond to the main contenders in the current debate involving unarticulated constituents: truth-conditional semantics, truth-conditional pragmatics and relativism. The biggest part of the thesis is dedicated to investigating certain arguments that have surfaced in the debate between these positions, with the ultimate goal of proposing a relativist account of implicit content. The particular version of relativism offered consists in the combination of the claim that locations and judges are part of the circumstances of evaluation, rather than the content of utterances, with “the variadic functions approach” to certain natural language expressions. Also, several arguments against a truth-conditional semantic approach to predicates of personal taste are provided. (shrink)

Joshua May responds to skepticism about moral knowledge via appeal to empirical work on moral foundations. I demonstrate that the moral foundations literature is not able to do the work May needs. It demonstrates shared moral cognition, not shared moral judgment, and therefore, May's attempt to defeat general skepticism fails.

There is good evidence that the cerebral cortex is the seat of the human mind, so an understanding of representation in the cortex could help us understand the nature of mental representation. I argue that the cortex represents in the way that models do; it is an evolutionarily designed model-building machine. The cortex belongs to a general class of model-building machines that produce isomorphisms to structures in the environment by interacting with them. The representational content of a particular model produced (...) by such a machine is determined by the operational principles according to which the machine was designed, and the history of machine-environment interaction that resulted in the production of that model. ;I explore the possibility that the operational principles according to which the cerebral cortex was designed, i.e. aspects of its causal profile that were selected for, are those described by the SINBAD theory. The SINBAD theory implies that it is the biological function of the cortex to make its constituent neurons come to interact in a way that is isomorphic to regularities structured around "sources of correlation". In the context of this isomorphism, it is the function of a particular SINBAD cell to correspond to a particular source of correlation, the one that is responsible for that cell's tuning. In other words, the cortex builds models of environmental regularities structured around sources of correlation. ;Understanding mental representation as cortical representation of this kind allows us to explain a number of important and/or puzzling features of mental intentionality as we know it: the possibility of equivocation, misrepresentation, empty representation, and twin cases, the relation between concepts and inferential roles, how it is possible for us to acquire objective concepts and beliefs via our subjective and idiosyncratic senses, and the distinction between usefulness and truth. I conclude by outlining an account of the occurrent propositional attitudes as non-representational uses of a SINBAD model that has been built up through experience. Non-representational use is cashed out in terms of causal role. Together with an account of the non-occurrent attitudes, this yields an understanding of the nature of psychological explanation. (shrink)

Despite claims from prominent scientists that SARS‐CoV‐2 indubitably emerged naturally, the etiology of this novel coronavirus remains a pressing and open question: Without knowing the true nature of a disease, it is impossible for clinicians to appropriately shape their care, for policy‐makers to correctly gauge the nature and extent of the threat, and for the public to appropriately modify their behavior. Unless the intermediate host necessary for completing a natural zoonotic jump is identified, the dual‐use gain‐of‐function research practice of viral (...) serial passage should be considered a viable route by which the novel coronavirus arose. The practice of serial passage mimics a natural zoonotic jump, and offers explanations for SARS‐CoV‐2's distinctive spike‐protein region and its unexpectedly high affinity for angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), as well as the notable polybasic furin cleavage site within it. Additional molecular clues raise further questions, all of which warrant full investigation into the novel coronavirus's origins and a re‐examination of the risks and rewards of dual‐use gain‐of‐function research. (shrink)

This article explores the friendship of Maurice Blanchot and Georges Bataille through a close reading of their thought on death and dying. An intellectual and personal friendship, both conceived of death as an “impossible” space and “limit-experience” that not only constituted human subjectivity, but could also puncture it, leading to joy through deindividuation. This could only occur indirectly – for Bataille, via the sacrifice, eroticism, drunkenness or laughter – and for Blanchot, via literature. This line of thinking leads to varying (...) formulations of sovereignty at odds with the prosaic world of use-value. Proceeding first through their friendship, this paper then explores this thinking death through the contexts of French Hegelianism, Kojève and Heidegger. While holding much similar, the paper argues that Bataille’s transgressive, embodied and deindividuating visions of death present a form of community that was overlooked by Blanchot subsequently, with consequences for theories of community and collective power today. (shrink)

Recent research illustrates substantial gaps between entrepreneurial intentions and behavior. This is a challenge for entrepreneurship promotion interventions that have primarily focused on stimulating entrepreneurial intentions. However, extant literature suggests that implementation intentions enhance the likelihood of acting congruently to the behavioral intention. Furthermore, theory also suggests the condition effects of situations and the perceived control over them. We therefore hypothesized that implementation intentions mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and action, while perceived family support moderates the movement from implementation (...) intention to entrepreneurial action. Using two-wave survey data from a sample of students at an African university, we measured two psychological attributes as important precursors of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions present before undertaking an innovations and entrepreneurship course. Implementation intentions regarding entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial actions, and perceived parental support for entrepreneurial activities were also measured 2 weeks after completion of the course. Our results demonstrate support for the proposed moderated double mediation model in which the effects of the two psychological attributes on entrepreneurial actions are explained via entrepreneurial intentions and implementation intentions. We further find moderation effects of perceived family support indicating that implementation intentions more likely predicted entrepreneurial actions in cases of higher family support. (shrink)

One lists the distinct pairs of categorical premises formulable via only the positive terms, S,P,M, by constructing a six by six matrix obtained by pairing the six categorical P-premises, A, O, A, O, where P* ∈ {P,P′}, with the six, similar, categorical S-premises. One shows how five rules of valid syllogism, select only 15 distinct PCPs that entail logical consequences belonging to the set L+: = {A, O, A, E, O, I}. The choice of admissible LCs can be regarded as (...) a condition separated from the conditions contained in the RofVS: the usual eight PCPs that generate valid syllogisms are obtained when the only admissible LCs belong to the set L: = {A, E, O, I} and no existential imports are addressed. A 64 PCP-matrix obtains when both PCPs and LCs may contain indefinite terms—the positive, S,P,M, terms, and their complementary sets, S′,P′, M′, in the universe of discourse, U, called the negative terms. Now one can accept eight LCs: A, I, where P* ∈ {P,P′}, S* ∈ {S,S′}, and there are 32 conclusive PCPs, entailing precise, “one partitioning subset of U” LCs. The four rules of conclusive syllogisms predict the less precise LCs, left after eliminating the middle term from the exact LCs. The RofCS also predict that the other 32 PCPs of the 64 PCP-matrix are non-conclusive. The RofVS and the RofCS are generalized, and arguments are given, for also accepting as valid syllogisms the conclusive syllogisms formulable via positive terms which entail the LCs A and O. (shrink)

This paper argues that Plato’s “what-is-T” questions offer a more instructive method for introducing students to philosophy than his use of the Allegory of the Cave. In supporting this claim, the paper presents a Socratic dialogue that illustrates how what-is-T questions along with an answer to said questions via a list (a list-of-T's) can be used as a starting point for introducing philosophy. However, this Socratic dialogue also reveals that this initial answer cannot succeed and so it motivates Plato’s preferred (...) answer which involves defining T by giving its essential characteristics. In addition to providing a summary of this dialogue, the paper responds to the objection that introducing philosophy to students in this way is too challenging for beginning students. (shrink)

Kantian disinterest is the view that aesthetic judgement is constituted (at least in part) by a form of perceptual contemplation that is divorced from concerns of practical action. That view, which continues to be defended to this day, is challenged here on the basis that it is unduly spectator-focussed, ignoring important facets of art-making and its motivations. Beauty moves us, not necessarily to tears or rapt contemplation, but to practical action; crucially, it may do so as part and parcel of (...) its appreciation. This claim is defended via reflection on (i) the art of photography, (ii) the concepts of ‘attentional salience’ and ‘experienced mandates’, and (iii) a virtue-based account of aesthetic value. (shrink)

Neosentience, a potentially new branch of scientific inquiry related to artificial intelligence, was first suggested in a paper by Bill Seaman as part of a new embodied robotic paradigm, arising out of ongoing theoretical research with Otto E. Rossler. Seaman, artist-researcher, and Rossler, theoretical biologist and physicist, have been examining the potential of generating an intelligent, embodied, multimodal sensing and computational robotic system. Although related to artificial intelligence the goal of this system is the creation of an entity exhibiting (...) a new form of sentience. Its unique qualities will be discussed. Sentience is not yet used in the formal languages of either cognitive science or artificial intelligence. Two related approaches are (1) the generation of artificial minds via parallel processing, in a robotic system; (2) an alternative approach is the generation of an electrochemical computer as a robotic system. Biomimetics, along with state-of-the-art computer visualization is employed. The electrochemical paradigm has a complexity that exceeds standard computational means. The scientific and the poetic elements of the project are motivated by human sentience. The sentient entity is initially modelled on our functional definition of human sentience. The system involves synthetic drives as a new element. We seek to articulate the differences to living brains. This transdisciplinary approach necessitates different forms of inquiry to inform this project such as cognitive science including psychology, education/learning, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, biology and the arts. We believe that this area of research to be of importance. (shrink)

In the recent literature on contextualism and relativism, one often finds disputes as to which kind of consideration would be relevant for positing a feature of a context as a parameter in the ‘‘circumstance of evaluation’: via the presence of an operator in the language which shifts that feature (Stanley) or by being a feature of a context with respect to which the truth of ‘‘propositions’’ expressed in the context is relative (McFarlane). This kind of dispute arises from two different (...) independent roles that elements in ‘‘circumstances of evaluation’’ are sometimes assumed to have. I distinguish indices from points of evaluation, and motivate its significance in the debate. (shrink)

The Online Labour Index was launched in 2016 to measure the global utilisation of online freelance work at scale. Five years after its creation, the OLI has become a point of reference for scholars and policy experts investigating the online gig economy. As the market for online freelancing work matures, a high volume of data and new analytical tools allow us to revisit half a decade of online freelance monitoring and extend the index's scope to more dimensions of the global (...) online freelancing market. While measuring the utilisation of online labour across countries and occupations by tracking the number of projects and tasks posted on major English-language platforms, the new Online Labour Index 2020 also tracks Spanish- and Russian-language platforms, reveals changes over time in the geography of labour supply and estimates female participation in the online gig economy. The rising popularity of software and tech work and the concentration of freelancers on the Indian subcontinent are examples of the insights that the OLI 2020 provides. The OLI 2020 delivers a more detailed picture of the world of online freelancing via an interactive online visualisation updated daily. It provides easy access to downloadable open data for policymakers, labour market researchers, and the general public. (shrink)

Social Media, like Facebook and Twitter, are having a profound effect on the way that human subjects research is being conducted. In light of the changes proposed in ANPRM, in this article I argue that traditional research ethics and regulations may not easily translate to the use of social media in human subjects research. Using the conceptual model of apomediation, which describes the peer-to-peer way in which health information is shared via social media, I suggest that we may need to (...) think again about the suitability of current regulations to deal with social media research. (shrink)

The INBIOSA project brings together a group of experts across many disciplines who believe that science requires a revolutionary transformative step in order to address many of the vexing challenges presented by the world. It is INBIOSA’s purpose to enable the focused collaboration of an interdisciplinary community of original thinkers. This paper sets out the case for support for this effort. The focus of the transformative research program proposal is biology-centric. We admit that biology to date has been more fact-oriented (...) and less theoretical than physics. However, the key leverageable idea is that careful extension of the science of living systems can be more effectively applied to some of our most vexing modern problems than the prevailing scheme, derived from abstractions in physics. While these have some universal application and demonstrate computational advantages, they are not theoretically mandated for the living. A new set of mathematical abstractions derived from biology can now be similarly extended. This is made possible by leveraging new formal tools to understand abstraction and enable computability. [The latter has a much expanded meaning in our context from the one known and used in computer science and biology today, that is "by rote algorithmic means", since it is not known if a living system is computable in this sense (Mossio et al., 2009).] Two major challenges constitute the effort. The first challenge is to design an original general system of abstractions within the biological domain. The initial issue is descriptive leading to the explanatory. There has not yet been a serious formal examination of the abstractions of the biological domain. What is used today is an amalgam; much is inherited from physics (via the bridging abstractions of chemistry) and there are many new abstractions from advances in mathematics (incentivized by the need for more capable computational analyses). Interspersed are abstractions, concepts and underlying assumptions “native” to biology and distinct from the mechanical language of physics and computation as we know them. A pressing agenda should be to single out the most concrete and at the same time the most fundamental process-units in biology and to recruit them into the descriptive domain. Therefore, the first challenge is to build a coherent formal system of abstractions and operations that is truly native to living systems. Nothing will be thrown away, but many common methods will be philosophically recast, just as in physics relativity subsumed and reinterpreted Newtonian mechanics. -/- This step is required because we need a comprehensible, formal system to apply in many domains. Emphasis should be placed on the distinction between multi-perspective analysis and synthesis and on what could be the basic terms or tools needed. The second challenge is relatively simple: the actual application of this set of biology-centric ways and means to cross-disciplinary problems. In its early stages, this will seem to be a “new science”. This White Paper sets out the case of continuing support of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for transformative research in biology and information processing centered on paradigm changes in the epistemological, ontological, mathematical and computational bases of the science of living systems. Today, curiously, living systems cannot be said to be anything more than dissipative structures organized internally by genetic information. There is not anything substantially different from abiotic systems other than the empirical nature of their robustness. We believe that there are other new and unique properties and patterns comprehensible at this bio-logical level. The report lays out a fundamental set of approaches to articulate these properties and patterns, and is composed as follows. -/- Sections 1 through 4 (preamble, introduction, motivation and major biomathematical problems) are incipient. Section 5 describes the issues affecting Integral Biomathics and Section 6 -- the aspects of the Grand Challenge we face with this project. Section 7 contemplates the effort to formalize a General Theory of Living Systems (GTLS) from what we have today. The goal is to have a formal system, equivalent to that which exists in the physics community. Here we define how to perceive the role of time in biology. Section 8 describes the initial efforts to apply this general theory of living systems in many domains, with special emphasis on crossdisciplinary problems and multiple domains spanning both “hard” and “soft” sciences. The expected result is a coherent collection of integrated mathematical techniques. Section 9 discusses the first two test cases, project proposals, of our approach. They are designed to demonstrate the ability of our approach to address “wicked problems” which span across physics, chemistry, biology, societies and societal dynamics. The solutions require integrated measurable results at multiple levels known as “grand challenges” to existing methods. Finally, Section 10 adheres to an appeal for action, advocating the necessity for further long-term support of the INBIOSA program. -/- The report is concluded with preliminary non-exclusive list of challenging research themes to address, as well as required administrative actions. The efforts described in the ten sections of this White Paper will proceed concurrently. Collectively, they describe a program that can be managed and measured as it progresses. (shrink)

Increasing evidence indicates that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is associated with adverse psychological effects, including heightened levels of anxiety. This study examined whether COVID-19-related anxiety levels during the early stage of the pandemic predicted demanding working memory updating performance. Altogether, 201 healthy adults mostly from North America and the British Isles were recruited to this study via the crowdsourcing site www.prolific.co. The results showed that higher levels of COVID-19-related anxiety during the first weeks of the pandemic outbreak were associated (...) with poorer WM performance as measured by the n-back paradigm. Critically, the unique role of COVID-19-related anxiety on WM could not be explained by demographic factors, or other psychological factors such as state and trait anxiety or fluid intelligence. Moreover, across three assessment points spanning 5–6 weeks, COVID-19-related anxiety levels tended to decrease over time. This pattern of results may reflect an initial psychological “shock wave” of the pandemic, the cognitive effects of which may linger for some time, albeit the initial anxiety associated with the pandemic would change with habituation and increasing information. Our results contribute to the understanding of cognitive–affective reactions to a major disaster. (shrink)

Are psychotherapy clients who pay via health insurance more likely to receive Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV], American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnoses than identical clients who pay out of pocket? Previous research (Kielbasa, Pomerantz, Krohn, & Sullivan, 2004) indicates that when psychologists consider a mildly depressed or anxious client, payment method significantly influences diagnostic decisions. This study extends the scope of the previous study to include clients whose symptoms are even less severe. Independent practitioners responded (...) to vignettes of clients whose profiles deliberately included subclinical impairment and a high level of functioning. Half of the participants were told that the clients would pay via managed care; the other half were told that the clients would pay out of pocket. As in the earlier study, payment method had a highly significant impact on diagnosis such that relative to out-of-pocket clients, managed care clients were much more likely to be assigned DSM-IV diagnoses. In addition, a noteworthy percentage of participants assigned diagnoses regardless of payment method. Ethical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Based on field research in villages and towns in the Komi Republic, this article compares the perception of the environment with environmental knowledge, and examines their interrelations in local contexts. An individual's perception of the environment is embedded in his/her everyday engagement with the surroundings. Environmental knowledge is of more cognitive character: it originates mainly from outside the context of everyday life and is imparted via various forms of communication. From the interplay of these two levels arises what we call (...) local environmental knowledge, a kind of knowledge which has its own moral and symbolic dimension within the social, cultural and political setting. Similarly, the concept of environmentalism is increasingly recognised as a wide diversity of 'green' views and actions rather than as a single project of a globally consistent normative character; thus there is a need to examine the contextuality of environmental concern. Our findings explain the failure of the ' information deficit' model, according to which the dissemination of scientific knowledge about environmental problems should result in local inhabitants changing their attitudes towards 'The Environment '. Instead, our findings support the insight that, rather than accepting environmental knowledge from external sources as a factual given, individuals restate it in terms of their everyday life contexts and local discourses about socio-political issues. (shrink)

This study investigated the proficiency of CPAs in recognizing and evaluating ethical and unethical situations. In addition, CPAs provided attitudes on ethics education. Respondents were asked to evaluate the ethical acceptability of CPA behavior as presented in six vignettes involving a variety of ethical dilemmas from questions of conflict of interest to questions of personal honor. The results tend to signify that CPAs can, to a degree, distinguish ethical and unethical behaviors. It appears that ethical behaviors and very specific unethical (...) behaviors were more easily identified by practitioners. This may reveal uncertainty and apprehension as to exactly what constitutes unethical behavior since, in many circumstances, this resolution is made on a case-specific basis rather that via a universal rule. In addition, it is interesting to note that CPAs tend to picture themselves as more ethically-oriented than their peers.With respect to ethics education, the CPAs indicated that instruction in ethical concepts and literacy was important and should definitely be embodied in the accounting curriculum as well as at all educational levels. However, the CPAs were remarkably uncertain and ambivalent as to the qualifications of university faculty to provide this instruction and guidance. (shrink)