I was brought up to believe that, in the “great debate” with the Rationalists, the Empiricists had largely won, particularly in view of Quine's holistic conception of justification, whereby even the claims of logic, though remote from experience, are indirectly tested by it. But some years ago I awoke to the possibility that there was something fishy in all this, and that the fallibilistic banalities that have played such a large role in driving the Quinean conception couldn't plausibly have such (...) dramatic consequences. “Everything can be revised in the light of experience” is good advice for someone who hasn't noticed just how rich, complex and indirect our reasonings about any issue, including logic and mathematics, can be; but does it really tell against what Kant and the others had in mind when they believed that there were some claimswhose justification needn't appeal to experience(which, it's crucial to remember, is how he and others thought of it, until the Positivists and Quine revised it to “unrevisability“)? (shrink)

Title on added t.p.: Saint-Simon & son uvre.

t. 1. Présentation de l'univers politique. v. 1. Société, politique et droit. --t. 3. La dynamique politique. v. 1. Les forces politiques. v. 2. La dialectique de l'ordre et du mouvement.--t. 4. Le statut du pouvoir dans l'Etat.--t. 5. Les régimes politiques.--t. 6. L'Etat libéral et les techniques politiques de la démocratie gouvernée. --t. 10. La révolte des colonisés.

"Après des années de voyages en divers continents, j'ai éprouvé le besoin d'un "voyage intérieur". On suivra ici les étapes de ce cheminement, jalonnées par les fragments d'une autobiographie que je n'écrirai jamais. On trouvera aussi, communiquées par un homme qui croit connaître ses faiblesses, ses échecs, et ne les cachera pas, quelques réponses appelées par de grandes questions qu'il a tenté de vivre".

David Hume's _Treatise on Human Nature_ and _Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding_ are amongst the most widely-studies texts on philosophy. _Hume's Epistemology and Metaphysics: An Introduction_ presents in a clear, concise and accessible manner the key themes of these texts. Georges Dicker clarifies Hume's views on meaning, knowledge, causality, and sense perception step by step and provides us with a sharp picture of how philosophical thinking has been influenced by Hume. Accessible to anyone coming to Hume for the first time, (...) _Hume's Epistemology and Metaphysics_ is an indispensible guide to Hume's philosophical thinking. (shrink)

This paper is a personal dialogue of maneuvering the landscape of scholarship in the United States as a nurse faculty. The principal thesis of this paper is that a discursive shift from margins to mainstream literature has occurred within nursing discourse during the past 20 years as the result of a growing body of work by nurse philosophers. I utilize my own work in nursing philosophy as an exemplar and provide a narrative situated in a feminist‐critical paradigm. This paper: (1) (...) presents a historical background through a critical‐feminist lens of the discursive shift using my own work and lived experiences as exemplars; (2) examines a contemporary mainstream ‘authoritative’ text as an exemplar of this discursive shift and (3) proposes both potential positive intersections and threats in the future development of nursing philosophy resulting from this discursive shift. (shrink)

This paper examines the work of Nāgārjuna as interpreted by later Madhyamaka tradition, including the Tibetan Buddhist Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). It situates Madhyamaka skepticism in the context of Buddhist philosophy, Indian philosophy more generally, and Western equivalents. Find it broadly akin to Pyrrhonism, it argues that Madhyamaka skepticism still differs from its Greek equivalents in fundamental methodologies. Focusing on key hermeneutical principles like the two truths and those motivating the Svātantrika/Prāsaṅgika schism (i.e., whether followers of Nāgārjuna should offer positive arguments or (...) should proceed on a purely “negative” basis), it argues that the Svātantrika commitment to mere conventional practice is robust and allows for a skepticism consistent with the scientific practices we must take seriously in the modern world. These findings are put forth as an illustration of what the Western tradition might gain by better understanding of non-Western philosophy. (shrink)

This volume is an introduction to contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind. In particular, the author focuses on the controversial "eliminativist" and "instrumentalist" attacks - from philosophers such as of Quine, Dennett, and the Churchlands - on our ordinary concept of mind. In so doing, Rey offers an explication and defense of "mental realism", and shows how Fodor's representational theory of mind affords a compelling account of much of our ordinary mental talk of beliefs, hopes, and desires.

Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, Volume 31, Issue 3, Page 601-603, July 2022.

Georges Dicker here provides a commentary on John Locke's masterwork, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding-the foundational work of classical Empiricism. Dicker's commentary is an accessible guide for students who are reading Locke for the first time; a useful research tool for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students; and a contribution to Locke scholarship for professional scholars. It is designed to be read alongside the Essay, but does not presuppose familiarity with it.

I reply to Stainton and Viger by pointing out that my “folieist” claim—that standard linguistic entities (“SLEs”) such as words and phonemes are illusions—would not have the calamitous consequences for linguistics that they fear. Talk of “a language” need only be understood as talk of an I‐language precisely as Chomskyans have proposed; and I reply to Adger by pointing out that, since SLEs are not generally describable as real, local physical phenomena, perception of them cannot be explained as any sort (...) of “transduction.” An intentionalist understanding of “representation of” is needed where mere transduction fails. (shrink)

Comment rencontrer l'art, aujourd'hui, dans notre monde en mutation et dont le sens échappe à la raison? La pensée logique traditionnelle devient insuffisante. Le goût, le style, l'invention, la créativité... restent des notions vaines, inadéquates. Une autre pensée se cherche à travers l'expérience de l'artiste créateur. Il s'agit d'une migration dans un ailleurs irrationnel qui remet en cause la notion "d'Art contemporain", ce dont témoigne abondamment l'exposition Van Gogh/Artaud, au musée d'Orsay, en 2014.

Partisane de l'objectivité, notre culture n'envisage la science que sous l'angle de la neutralité, qui serait le seul chemin vers la vérité. Pourtant, les physiciens soutiennent depuis longtemps déjà que l'observateur modifie l'observé. Et qu'en est-il des sciences humaines, où l'objet observé est en même temps le sujet observant : l'homme? Allant à contre-courant des positions habituellement admises, ce livre pose la question de la place du sujet dans la recherche en sciences humaines. Le "sujet" dont il est question ici (...) est double, à la fois "observant" et "observé" : de ce fait, le chercheur ne peut être que partial. "On voit aussi bien de biais que de face" : les différents chapitres de cet ouvrage démontrent en quoi la partialité constitue en réalité un atout. Le chercheur doit la considérer comme l'unique moyen d'accéder au débat critique. Il faut se départir du désir de "saisir le réel" et accepter que la recherche gagne en profondeur lorsqu'elle assume d'être impliquée, engagée. Ainsi, la partialité assumée sans peur de s'éloigner des critères habituels de "scientificité" devient ressource, renouveau, transformation théorique. Un ouvrage de réflexion, à rebours des idées reçues. (shrink)