By “strong representationalism” (“SR” hereafter), I mean a version of naturalistic philosophy of mind which first naturalizes intentionality by identifying it with causation to physical properties and then naturalizes phenomenology by identifying it with intentionality or making them co-supervene on each other (Montague [2010]). Most specifically, SR will be taken as the conjunction of causal-function semantics and the intentionality-phenomenology identity thesis, the latter of which entails what I call “converse intentionalism”, the principle that experiential content supervenes on phenomenology. Because of (...) this identity thesis, SR enjoys some phenomenological plausibility which is absent from traditional physicalism of mind. However, in this paper, I shall raise an integration challenge to SR by arguing that its foundational principles do not integrate easily. I will also explore some strategies open to SR for addressing my challenge, and argue that by invoking those strategies, SR either loses its phenomenological plausibility or undermines causal-function semantics. I conclude that if my argument is correct, it provides us reason to search for new principles to replace SR’s foundations. (shrink)

Güzellik ve sanat iç içe geçmiş iki kavramdır. Bir bakıma güzellik, sanatın özüdür denilebilir. Her sanat dalında olduğu gibi hat sanatında da güzeli arama arzusu ve eşsiz eserler ortaya koyma çabası, hattatları sabırla çalışmaya ve kendi sınırlarını zorlamaya sevk etmiştir. Bir kitap sanatı olan hüsn-i hattın kelime manasının “güzel yazı” olmasına mukabil, daha iyisini yazmak uğruna harcanan çaba yorucu ve zahmetlidir, ancak sabırla çalışan elbette ki karşılığını alır. Başka bir deyişle “Muhakkak ki Allah güzeldir, güzeli sever!” hadis-i şerifi ışığında bu (...) sanata gönül verenler, yazıyı daha muntazam yazma hususunda büyük ölçüde gayret gösterirler. Kişinin muntazam yazmayı başarması ise, sistematik çalışmasına bağlıdır. Yazıyı kaidelerine uygun ve ölçülü yazabilmek bıkmadan usanmadan, karamsarlığa kapılmadan çalışmakla mümkündür. Bu sebeple gerek öğrenme aşamasında ve gerekse sonrasında, harfler defalarca çalışma kâğıdına yazılarak el melekesi artırılır. Kelimeler ve harfler kâğıda kimi zaman noktalanıp ölçülendirilerek, kimi zaman da noktalanmadan yazılır. Talim amaçlı yapılan bu çalışmalar, başka bir deyişle karalamalar, hat sanatının temeli niteliğindedir. Arap alfabesiyle yazılan ve “karalama” adı verilen el alıştırmaları yazıyla uğraşan kişinin o an irticalen elinden çıkan harf veya kelimelerden oluşur ve çoğu zaman bir anlam ifade etmez. Bu çalışmanın amacı, karalamaların estetik unsurlarını ele almak ve zaman içerisinde uğradığı değişime mercek tutmaktır. Hattatların bu özgür yorumları gün geçtikçe daha fazla önemsenmekte ve hayranlık uyandırmaktadır. Harf bünyesini oluşturan kaidelerin dışında satır ve sınırlara bağlı kalmadan yazılan bu yazılar kendi içinde bir kompozisyon oluşturmakta ve çoğu zaman yazan kişiyi dahi hayrete düşürecek özgün çalışmalar ortaya çıkabilmektedir. (shrink)

I am most grateful to Elizabeth Anderson (2000), Philip Pettit (2000) and Thomas Scanlon (2000) for making such insightful and penetrating comments on my work and the related literature. I have reason enough to be happy, having been powerfully defended in some respects and engagingly challenged in others. I must also take this opportunity of thanking Martha Nussbaum, for not only chairing the session in which these papers were presented followed by a splendid discussion (which she led), but also for (...) taking the initiative, in the first place, to arrange the session. (shrink)

Commodities and Capabilities presents a set of inter-related theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal well-being and advantage. The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, i.e. what a person can do or can be, questioning in the process the more standard emphasis on opulence or on utility. In fact, a person's motivation behind choice is treated here as a parametric variable which may or may not coincide with the pursuit of (...) self-interest. Given the large number of practical problems arising from the roles and limitations of different concepts of interest and the judgement of advantage and well-being, this scholarly investigation is both of theoretical interest and practical import. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Byt i sens. Księga Pamiątkowa VII Polskiego Zjazdu Filozoficznego w Szczecinie, 14–18 września 2004 roku, edited by Renata Ziemińska and Ireneusz Ziemiński.

In the summer of 1997, I was asked by a leading Japanese newspaper what I thought was the most important thing that had happened in the twentieth century. I found this to be an unusually thought-provoking question, since so many things of gravity have happened over the last hundred years. The European empires, especially the British and French ones that had so dominated the nineteenth century, came to an end. We witnessed two world wars. We saw the rise and fall (...) of fascism and Nazism. The century witnessed the rise of communism, and its fall (as in the former Soviet bloc) or radical transformation (as in China). We also saw a shift from the economic dominance of the West to a new economic balance much more dominated by Japan and East and Southeast Asia. Even though that region is going through some financial and economic problems right now, this is not going to nullify the shift in the balance of the world economy that has occurred over many decades (in the case of Japan, through nearly the entire century). The past hundred years are not lacking in important events. (shrink)

Aphoristic work on the fundamentals of Nyaya philosophy with classical Sanskrit commentaries; critical edition with exhaustive introduction.

I am embarrassed at being placed in the dizzying company of one of the truly great thinkers in the world. The similarities between Mill's ideas and mine partly reflect, of course, his influence on my thinking. But I also discuss some difficulties in taking Mill's whole theory without modification, since there are internal tensions within it. In a paper I published in 1967, I tried to discuss how Mill's willingness to hold on to some contrary positions depended on the nature (...) of his empirical reading of the world. I draw on that diagnosis in commenting on some of the articles here. There are some serious issues of misinterpretation in one of the articles, which I try to clarify. I also comment on Arrow's interpretation of what is involved in the idea of autonomy and on his own way of assessing freedom, and acknowledge the seriousness of the questions he raises about the value of freedom in normative political philosophy. (shrink)

Le vingtième siècle aura été le siècle de la démesure. La démesure de la politique avec des guerres mondiales, des déportations et des camps d'extermination, qui a culminé avec deux bombes atomiques larguées sur des populations civiles. La démesure de l'homme, ensuite, puisque ces crimes ont été commis au nom d'idéologies abstraites qui, pour sauver l'humanité, ont sacrifié sans remords les hommes réels. La démesure du monde, enfin, avec une science prométhéenne qui a tenté de percer les secrets de l'univers, (...) une technique déchaînée qui a cherché à asservir la nature et une économie mondialisée dont les échanges ont imposé le prix des choses au détriment de la dignité des hommes. Nietzsche avait clairement établi le diagnostic : "La mesure nous est étrangère, reconnaissons-le; notre démangeaison, c'est justement la démangeaison de l'infini, de l'immense. " Le sens de la démesure semble être une fatalité, aussi n'est-il pas étonnant que, déjà chez les Grecs, dans le mythe, la tragédie, la physique, l'éthique ou la politique, il se situe au coeur de la réflexion. Au travers de la tentation de la raison d'abolir toute limite, de remettre en cause la finitude humaine, la démesure témoigne du tragique de notre condition. Les Grecs, et c'est l'enseignement de ce livre, se sont attachés à la comprendre pour la convertir en cette mesure qui permet de redonner un sens à notre existence. (shrink)

In an interesting letter to Anna George, the daughter of Henry George, Bernard Shaw wrote: “Your father found me a literary dilettante and militant rationalist in religion, and a barren rascal at that. By turning my mind to economics he made a man of me”. I am not able to determine what making a man of Bernard Shaw would exactly consist of, but it is clear that the kind of moral and social problems with which Shaw was deeply concerned could (...) not be sensibly pursued without examining their economic aspects. For example, the claims of property rights, which some would defend and some would dispute, are not just matters of basic moral belief that could not possibly be influenced one way or the other by any empirical arguments. They call for sensitive moral analysis responsive to empirical realities, including economic ones. (shrink)

We live in a world in which the idea of human rights is persistently invoked. However, despite the tremendous appeal of the idea of human rights, it is also seen by many as lacking in foundation. I have argued, particularly in my book The Idea of Justice, that human rights are best seen as articulations of commitments in social ethics, comparable to — but very different from — accepting utilitarian reasoning. Like other ethical tenets, human rights can, of course, be (...) disputed, but the claim is that they will survive open and informed scrutiny.This view contrasts with seeing human rights in primarily legal terms, either as consequences of humane legislation, or as precursors of legal rights, or as pointing towards what should ideally be legal rights. Human rights may well be reflected in legislation, may inspire legislation, and may even serve, in many circumstances, as ideals that demand legislative attention. However, these are ‘further facts’— not the defining characteristics of human rights. (shrink)

This paper argues that many of Adam Smith’s insights,particularly those in his Theory of moral sentiments, have a relevance tocontemporary thought about economics and ethics that is currentlyunderappreciated. In economics, for example, Smith was concerned notonly with the sufficiency of self-interest at the moment of exchange butalso with the wider moral motivations and institutions required tosupport economic activity in general. In ethics, Smith’s concept of animpartial spectator who is able to view our situation from a criticaldistance has much to contribute (...) to a fuller understanding of therequirements of justice, particularly through an understanding ofimpartiality as going beyond the interests and concerns of a localcontracting group. Smith’s open, realization-focussed and comparativeapproach to evaluation contrasts with what I call the “transcendentalinstitutionalism” popular in contemporary political philosophy andassociated particularly with the work of John Rawls. (shrink)

Two central issues for ethical analysis of equality are: (1) Why equality? (2) Equality of what? The two questions are distinct but thoroughly interdependent, We cannot begin to defend or criticize equality without knowing what on earth we are talking about, i,e., equality of what features (e,g., incomes, wealths, opportunities, achievements, freedoms, rights)? We cannot possibly answer the first question without addressing the second, That seems obvious enough.

The paper is an attempt to understand Strawson’s notion of the first person in the context of his general theory of a person. More specifically it will relook into the idea that the concept of a person is ‘primitive’, and see how Strawson’s idea of primitiveness of the concept of a person can be extended to his notion of the first person. One way of cashing out the notion of primitiveness in the context of the first person is in terms (...) of the way the pronoun “I” functions in self ascription, like “I am feeling terrible”. As Strawson himself points out, ‘use of “I” is guaranteed against two kinds of failure to which the uses of some other definite referring expressions are sometimes exposed: it is guaranteed against lack of reference, and it is guaranteed against mistaken or incorrect reference.’ Does this way of understanding the primitiveness of first person work? If it does what kind of a notion of first person and authoritative self-knowledge may be derived from it? Another related issue that will be dealt with in the paper is how can one construe the relationship between the first person and the world on the one hand and the first person and ‘the other’ on the other hand within the Strawsonian framework. (shrink)

We construct a local \-epistemic hidden-variable model of Bell correlations by a retrocausal adaptation of the originally superdeterministic model given by Brans. In our model, for a pair of particles the joint quantum state \\rangle \) as determined by preparation is epistemic. The model also assigns to the pair of particles a factorisable joint quantum state \\rangle \) which is different from the prepared quantum state \\rangle \) and has an ontic status. The ontic state of a single particle consists (...) of two parts. First, a single particle ontic quantum state \|i\rangle \), where \\) is a 3-space wavepacket and \ is a spin eigenstate of the future measurement setting. Second, a particle position in 3-space \\), which evolves via a de Broglie–Bohm type guidance equation with the 3-space wavepacket \\) acting as a local pilot wave. The joint ontic quantum state \\rangle \) fixes the measurement outcomes deterministically whereas the prepared quantum state \\rangle \) determines the distribution of the \\rangle \)’s over an ensemble. Both \\rangle \) and \\rangle \) evolve via the Schrodinger equation. Our model exactly reproduces the Bell correlations for any pair of measurement settings. We also consider ‘non-equilibrium’ extensions of the model with an arbitrary distribution of hidden variables. We show that, in non-equilibrium, the model generally violates no-signalling constraints while remaining local with respect to both ontology and interaction between particles. We argue that our model shares some structural similarities with the modal class of interpretations of quantum mechanics. (shrink)

The great poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore once remarked that he was extremely sad that he was not alive when Gautama Buddha was still around. Tagore very much wished he could have had conversations with Buddha. I share that sentiment, but, like Rabindranath, I am also immensely grateful that, even now, we can enjoy—and learn from—the ideas and arguments that Buddha gave us twenty-five hundred years ago. Our world may be very different from what Buddha faced in the sixth century (...) bce, but we can still benefit greatly from the reasoned approach to ethics, politics, and social relations that Gautama Buddha brought to the world of human understanding. (shrink)

17. yy. da Osmanlıların bir eyaleti olan Trablusgarb’da doğup büyüyen Ahmed b. Huseyn el-Behlûl, Mısır’ın önemli ilim adamlarından eğitim almış sonra memleketine dönmüştür. Osmanlı dönemi şairi Ahmed el-Behlûl, şairlik yönünün yanı sıra Akâid sahasında Durretu’l-‘Akâi’d, Fıkıh sahasında el-Mu‘ayyene ve el-‘Izziyye ve Arap Dili ve Edebiyatı sahasında el-Makâmetu’l-Vitriyye gibi eserleri telif ederek çeşitli sahalarla ilgilenmiş bir âlimdir. Behlûl, ed-Durru’l-Asfâ ve’z-Zebercedu’l-Musaffâ fî Medhi’l-Mustafâ ismiyle meşhur divânını tamamıyla Hz. Muhammed’i medhe tahsis etmiştir. Başta Libya olmak üzere Kuzey Afrika’da meşhur olan Divan, Kâdî ‘İyâz’ın (...) el-‘Iyâdiyye isimli manzumesine yazılmış bir tahmis olup Arap alfabesinin 29 harfinin her biriyle başlayıp beşlemelerin sonlarını da yine aynı harfle bitirdiği 29 kasideden oluşur. Şair, divanında Hz. Peygamber’in doğumu, nesebi, güzel ahlakı ve şemâili, mucizeleri, şirkin onunla ortadan kalktığı, şefaati, peygamberler arasındaki üstünlüğü, yaşadığı kutsal mekânlar, O’na duyulan özlem, O’na, Ehli Beytine ve Ashabına salavât getirmenin önemi, O’nun günah ve hatadan kurtarıcı olması ve ümmeti olmanın ayrıcalığı konularına değinmiştir. (shrink)

The articles included in this symposium on my book The Idea of Justice cover a wide variety of issues, which is not surprising since my book too addresses a number of distinct problems, reflecting very different concerns connected with the idea of justice. In my response I have discussed each article individually. While most of the authors have been very kind to my attempt to reshape the theory of justice, there are also important critical issues raised in some articles, and (...) I have discussed how some of these concerns can be – very fruitfully – accommodated. In other cases, I have offered clarificatory discussion, and in a few cases also counter-arguments. I have also responded to suggestions for practical application of my approach to justice. Altogether, I have benefited greatly from the symposium, and would like to record my appreciation. (shrink)

Commentary on Sa-skya Paṇḍita Kun-dgaʼ-rgyal-mtshanʼs Tshad ma rigs gter, treatise on Buddhist logic.

Personal identity and social identity are two very different concepts and the idea of getting them together, as Bhikhu Parekh proposes, within an integrated bundle of some `overall identity' raises serious questions of coherence. Personal identity demands the `sameness' of a person (Who is this guy? Am I still the same person that I was ten years ago?). Social identity is focused instead on our social affiliations, such as identifying with others with, say, the same nationality, or the same religion, (...) or same political partnership. We can make reasoned choices about our priorities in social affiliation. Those who want to make our social affiliation a matter of `discovery' rather than of choice may frighten us by saying that we would lose our overall identity if we were to choose to affiliate differently (for example as an Indian and not just as a Hindu, or as British and not just as a Muslim). To understand that there is no threat to personal identity involved in such choices is important both for clarity of analysis and for standing up against the herd behaviour of identity politics. (shrink)

The values framework of a society is best reflected in contemporary literature. This essay is an attempt to identify the values that influenced the socio-political behaviour of the people of times of Kālidāsa. How relevant are those values now? Nature plays an important role in Kālidāsa's plays. Part I of this essay deals with this aspect of his plays. This value is certainly coterminous with the growing consciousness about protection of ecology in modern times. Part II of the essay deals (...) with another important aspect of Indian philosophy—with out sorrow, without pain, pleasure cannot be achieved. Part III of the essay discusses general social values which emerge from the plays. Part IV describes the political and administrative values that guided the actions of the kings and rulers. (shrink)

The 1703 rebellion, known as the ‚Event of Edirne‘ or as the ‚Event of Feyżullāh Efendi‘, challenged the Ottoman state. It resulted in the killing of the Grand Mufti Feyżullāh Efendi, who had been despised by various insurgent groups at the court for his nepotism, the deposition of the ruling sultan Muṣṭafā II, and the ascension of his brother Aḥmed III to the throne. In his treatise ‚Feyżullāh Efendi Vaḳʿası‘, the court chronicler Muṣṭafā Naʿīmā Efendi addresses the ruler and important (...) dignitaries with his description of this event. As it was the contemporary custom, the treatise bears strong didactic features. Naʿīmā relied on astrological interpretations in order to explain the cause of the rebellion. This kind of narrative is a particular feature of Naʿīmā‘s modus operandi, on which this article will focus. It examines how Naʿīmā, in his role as the official historiographer, applies this explanation by use of narrative elements, and goes on to examine the institutional significance of astrology in the context of Ottoman court culture. It is obvious that Naʿīmā perceived the rebellion as an experience of contingency. According to his analysis, however, the 1703 rebellion was not the inevitable outcome of mismanagement at court, but could rather have been foreseen years ago by means of astrological calculations. Based on this reasoning, the historiographer was able to provide Ottoman rule with the required continuity, i.e. its legitimization. (shrink)

Declaring that the universe was created in a certain order, Almighty Allah said, "Do not make mischief on earth after it has been brought into order." With this statement she made, she warned humanity not to disturb the established order. Natural disasters such as epidemics, earthquakes, floods and landslides that we face in the 21st century make it necessary to draw attention to the actions of people once again. Human beings, who interfere with nature irresponsibly, disrupt the balances in the (...) universe, and these disturbed balances return to humanity as a calamity over time. Almighty Allah knows in many verses that these calamities are the result of people's own deeds. To this situation; He emphasizes with the expressions “bimâ kesebû, “bimâ kesebet eydinnâs”, “febimâ kesebet eydiküm”, “bimâ kaddemet eydîhim”,“bimâ zalemû”. It is understood from these expressions that a significant part of the calamities are caused by human error, negligence and unjust interventions. While troubles and calamities mean punishment/retribution for some people, the same event can be a test or a lesson for other people. In this context, it is stated in the Qur'an that many troubles and calamities that have been experienced in the past, such as Noah's Flood, have been made a lesson for all humanity as follows: “As for the people of Noah, We drowned them because they denied their prophet, and made them a sign for the people. We have prepared a painful chastisement for the wrongdoers.” As can be seen, while it is stated in the verse that the cause of the torment is people's denial of the prophets, on the other hand, it is emphasized that this event is a lesson for all humanity. However, it is stated in the next verse that those who do not take lessons from these events and warnings and insist on doing what their souls want deserve punishment.However, the words of the Prophet also guide us regarding the epidemic that befell us and our attitude towards troubles. He (sas) prayed to Allah so that his ummah would not be destroyed altogether. He said that "taun" is a kind of punishment that Allah punishes some people, but it is a mercy for believers. In line with the verses we have mentioned, although most of the calamities are the result of human actions, it is out of the question to call every calamity a divine punishment. Because the prophets suffered the greatest of troubles. This topic is too broad to be tackled from a single point of view. The individual, social, human, divine and test dimensions of the subject should be evaluated as a whole. Therefore, such a sensitive issue that needs to be evaluated from multiple perspectives; Bringing only a part of it to the fore as "trouble equals divine punishment" would be to deviate the subject from its target. In this study, within the framework of the scriptures, the individual, social and divine dimensions of troubles and calamities, these calamities may have spiritual causes as well as material reasons; it will be examined that every calamity is not caused by the mistakes of people, but some of them are caused by what people do. In addition, it will be pointed out that troubles and calamities should be evaluated in a multi-dimensional way within the framework of main elements such as faith, test, hope, precaution, trust, patience, prayer and divine providence. (shrink)

I feel deeply honored and privileged to have the opportunity of giving the first Baffi Lecture at the Bank of Italy. Paolo Baffi was not only a distinguished banker and financial expert, he was also a remarkable economist and a visionary social thinker. He had outstanding technical expertise in many different fields, but combined his intellectual eminence with a profound sense of values. As Governor Ciampi put it at the general meeting of the Bank of Italy last May, Paolo Baffi (...) represented “an extraordinary combination of penetrating logic, erudition and moral strength … [he was] not only a gifted student of economics, he had a deep-seated commitment to act for the common good.”1 In remembering Baffi today, we must keep in mind both his intellectual contributions and his general evaluative concerns. (shrink)

Zygon®, Volume 56, Issue 4, Page 874-897, December 2021.