This paper has two objectives. The first is to formulate a critique of present-day cognitive linguistics concerning the inner workings of the cognitive system during language use, and the second is to put forward an alternative account that is inspired by the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty. Due to its third-person methodology, CL views language use essentially as a problem-solving activity, as coping with two subproblems: the problem of minimum and maximum, which consists in selecting the appropriate expression out of an unlimited (...) multitude of possibilities, and the problem of the underdetermination of signification. This approach presupposes a notion of an isolated subject and a representationalist view of perception. We defend an alternative view of man's relation to the world in which intersubjectivity is constitutive of embodied subjectivity and which exchanges the representationalist view of perception for a direct nonrepresentationalism. We describe the ensuing view of linguistic action as intra- and interpersonal “all-at-onceness.” This approach dismisses the two subproblems CL implicitly identifies as constitutive of language use. The first is countered by rethinking what it means to be a situated speaking subject and results in the concept of “style.” The second is tackled by opposing the concept of “overdetermination” to CL's notion of underdetermination. (shrink)

BackgroundIn our globalizing world, caregivers are increasingly being confronted with the challenges of providing intercultural healthcare, trying to find a dignified answer to the vulnerable situation of ethnic minority patients. Until now, international literature lacks insight in the intercultural care process as experienced by the ethnic minority patients themselves. We aim to fill this gap by analysing qualitative literature on the intercultural care encounter in the hospital setting, as experienced by ethnic minority patients.MethodsA systematic search was conducted for papers published (...) between 2000 and 2015. Analysis and synthesis were guided by the critical interpretive synthesis approach.ResultsFifty one articles were included. Four dimensions emerged, describing the intercultural care encounter as a meeting of two different cultural contexts of care, in a dynamic and circular process of balancing between the two cultural contexts, which is influenced by mediators as concepts of being human, communication, family members and the hospital’s organizational culture.ConclusionsThis review provides in-depth insight in the dynamic process of establishing intercultural care relationships in the hospital. We call for a broader perspective towards cultural sensitive care in which patients are cared for in a holistic and dignity-enhancing way. (shrink)

The Twelve Member States agreed in December 1991 in Maastricht on an EconomicMonetary Union, including a single currency and an autonomous European central bank by the turn of the century, and on "an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe". The structure of the European Political Union resembles a temple with three pillars : more powers for the European Parliament on a wider ranger of policy issues, a separate framework for a common foreign and security policy, and intergovernmental cooperation (...) on justice and internal aff airs. The new Treaty wilt replace the Treaty of Rome only after ratification in all twelve member states. White EMU and EPU dominated the public agenda, the internal market programme was drawing to a close with nearly all White paper measures adopted. Emphasis shifted to implementation problems. The prolonged conflict between Commission, Parliament and Council on the 1992 budget gave a taste of increasing tensions on budgetary issues, especially between "northern" and "southern" interests. That divide wilt deepen with or without ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. The budgetary battle of 1991 was partly on external relations. The external activities of the EC were all but successful in 1991: disparate conduct in the Gulf War, failure to contain conflict in Yugoslavia, near-collapse of negotiations with the EFTA countries, deadlock in Gatt-talks and the threat of a trade war between the three trade blocks. Ibe European Common Agricultural Policy remained a major stumblingblock in the Gatt-talks. The Commission proposed a radical reform package for CAP, fiercely opposed by France until the end of the year. (shrink)

The classical "western" model of modernization assumes that economie development in the end will lead to a more uniform world of political democracies in free market economies. However, this western model turns out to be too deterministic for non-western countries.A selective review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the question learns that the western model runs into problems because it does not make a clear distinction between preconditions for political democratization and demands posed by modernization. Empirical studies show, contrary (...) to the western model logic, that there is no direct positive relationship between economie growth and political democratization. Cultural and structural thresholds may inhibit democratization : an intolerant culture, absence of a free market economy, external influences, a history of constantly wavering political regimes. As concerns the demands posed by modernization, modern political regimes tend to develop common characteristics, one of them being the design ofmore participatory structures and procedures. But there is no theoretical evidence whatsoever of the western model being the final destination for all modernizing societies. (shrink)

The democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe, the speedy unification process of the two Germanies, growing economic disarray in the Soviet Union and the Gulf War put great pressure on the European Community - and raised high expectations throughout 1990. The external challenges initially seemed to slow down the internal integration process. But by the end of 1990 the Twelve committed themselves to further European political union and European economic union culminating into a central bank and a common currency. The two (...) intergovernmental constitutional conferences on EPU and EMU were installed on December 15. The execution of the internal market programme is on schedule with 70% of the directives adopted by late 1990, although the Commission expressed concern about timely transposition of the directives into national law. The EC's record on external relations is mixed : appreciation for its stepped-up cooperation with Eastern Europe, criticism for its tough stand on agriculture at the Gatt-conference, weak diplomatie performance during the Gulf War. (shrink)

I won’t, but my colleague will: referral as a solution for conscientious objections in the workplace A policy of ‘refusing and referring’ allows conscientious objectors to refrain from the action they object to, as long as they can refer to a willing colleague. This policy is often presented as a pragmatic solution to the problem of conscientious objection in the workplace. In this paper, I reflect on the merits and the shortcomings of this strategy. I will analyse the current situation (...) in Belgium and in the Netherlands (section 2), where ‘refusal and referral’ is a preferred way to deal with conscientious objections. This context serves as a touchstone for arguments about conscientious objection in the workplace. Contrary to those authors that dismiss it as merely pragmatic, I argue that referral responds to value conflicts that are unavoidable in pluralistic liberal democracies (section 3). And contrary to those who criticize it as a tactical, non-moral compromise, I argue in section 4 that it is in some cases pervaded by moral values like respect for others. Finally, in section 5 I show that referral does not necessarily clash with professional values, but that it can be problematic when it confirms patterns of discrimination. (shrink)

In 2008, Dutch anti-Islam Member of Parliament Geert Wilders produced a short video called Fitna to visualize his argument that Islam is a dangerous religion. Thousands of men and women across the globe uploaded their own videos to YouTube to criticize or support the film. In this article, we look at these alternative videos from a feminist perspective, contrasting the gender portrayal and narratives in Fitna with those in the alternative videos. We contend that Fitna expressed an extremist Orientalist discourse, (...) in which women are presented as the current and future victims of the oppression of Muslim men and Islam. In contrast, the YouTube videos give voice to women themselves who come from across the globe, are relatively young and often active Muslims. Second, they express different view points in generically new ways, criticizing and ridiculing Wilders or producing serious and committed explanations of their own understanding of Islam. Third, although relatively few women appeared in the videos, those that did speak for themselves, not only take on Wilders, but also claim their right to speak within Islam. We propose to understand these videos as acts of citizenships through which women constitute themselves as global citizens, in some cases by engaging in ‘deliberation’ as it is understood in feminist political theory, in other cases by taking a ‘voice’ that can be responded to. (shrink)

Whereas in Idea for a Universal History Kant without much hesitation resorts to biological concepts to understand history, this fundamentally changes in Critique of the Power of Judgment. In this work, history and biology are separated; they are understood as two different forms of teleological judgments. The teleological concepts that make history intelligible are divorced from their biological origins and introduced in an explicitly non-biological way of thinking. I argue that because of this shift, after the Critique of the Power (...) of Judgment Kant’s theory of history cannot any longer function as an independent confirmation of the possibility of human morality. Während es Kant in seiner Schrift Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht für unproblematisch erachtet, biologische Konzepte auf die Geschichte anzuwenden, steht er diesem Unterfangen in der Kritik der Urteilskraft kritisch gegenüber. In seiner dritten Kritik trennt Kant Geschichte und Biologie: In ihnen treten jetzt unterschiedliche Formen teleologischer Urteile auf. Die teleologischen Konzepte, welche die Geschichte verständlich machen, werden von ihrer biologischen Herkunft getrennt und in einer explizit nicht-biologischen Weise eingeführt. Wie ich argumentiere, kann Kants Theorie der Geschichte aufgrund dieser Verschiebung nicht länger als unabhängige Bestätigung der Möglichkeit menschlicher Sittlichkeit herangezogen werden. (shrink)

Whereas in Idea for a Universal History Kant without much hesitation resorts to biological concepts to understand history, this fundamentally changes in Critique of the Power of Judgment. In this work, history and biology are separated; they are understood as two different forms of teleological judgments. The teleological concepts that make history intelligible are divorced from their biological origins and introduced in an explicitly non-biological way of thinking. I argue that because of this shift, after the Critique of the Power (...) of Judgment Kant’s theory of history cannot any longer function as an independent confirmation of the possibility of human morality. Während es Kant in seiner Schrift Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht für unproblematisch erachtet, biologische Konzepte auf die Geschichte anzuwenden, steht er diesem Unterfangen in der Kritik der Urteilskraft kritisch gegenüber. In seiner dritten Kritik trennt Kant Geschichte und Biologie: In ihnen treten jetzt unterschiedliche Formen teleologischer Urteile auf. Die teleologischen Konzepte, welche die Geschichte verständlich machen, werden von ihrer biologischen Herkunft getrennt und in einer explizit nicht-biologischen Weise eingeführt. Wie ich argumentiere, kann Kants Theorie der Geschichte aufgrund dieser Verschiebung nicht länger als unabhängige Bestätigung der Möglichkeit menschlicher Sittlichkeit herangezogen werden. (shrink)

Are causal explanations (e.g., “she switched careers because of the COVID pandemic”) treated differently from the corresponding claims that one factor caused another (e.g., “the COVID pandemic caused her to switch careers”)? We examined whether explanatory and causal claims diverge in their responsiveness to two different types of information: covariation strength and mechanism information. We report five experiments with 1,730 participants total, showing that compared to judgments of causal strength, explanatory judgments tend to bemoresensitive to mechanism andlesssensitive to covariation – (...) even though explanatory judgments respond to both types of information. We also report exploratory comparisons to judgments of understanding, and discuss implications of our findings for theories of explanation, understanding, and causal attribution. These findings shed light on the potentially unique role of explanation in cognition. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Cognitive Linguistics Jahrgang: 26 Heft: 4 Seiten: 583-612.

In this exploratory study, we present findings from semi-structured interviews with 11 self-identified lesbian and gay (LG) humanitarian aid workers of Doctors without Borders (MSF). We investigate their perceptions of workplace inclusion in terms of perceived satisfaction of their needs for authenticity and belonging within two organizational settings, namely office and field. Through our combined deductive and inductive approach, based on grounded theory, we find that perceptions of their colleagues’ and supervisors’ attitudes and behaviors, as well as organizational inclusiveness practices (...) play a role in LGs’ perceived authenticity, but not belonging, in the workplace. However, these organization-level characteristics do not account for between-participant differences in perceived authenticity. Therefore, we inductively construct a typology of three groups, which we coined conscious first-missioners, authentic realists, and idealistic activists, based on how LG humanitarian aid workers assess and deal with not being able to be their authentic selves when they are in the field, because homosexuality is illegal in many project countries. Conscious first-missioners are separated from the other two groups based on having gone to the field once, whereby they felt in control over the decision on how to manage their sexuality. Alternatively, authentic realists and idealistic activists alike felt they did not really have a choice in how to manage their sexuality, but handled that differently. We find the importance of one’s sexuality as well as adherence to the overarching organizational mission relevant individual-level factors herein. Furthermore, we find disclosure of sexual identity to be strongly context-dependent, as participants are ‘out of the closet’ in the office, but go back into the closet when they enter the field, with different country contexts even leading to different decisions concerning self-disclosure, thus demonstrating the importance of careful sexual identity management. This so-called disclosure dilemma, we find, may not be merely an individual choice, but rather a shared dilemma involving multiple stakeholders, such as the organization and fellow team members. We discuss the findings’ contributions to existing literature on LGs’ workplace experiences and implications for future research on inclusion of sexual and other invisible minorities in the workplace. (shrink)

This article examines how weblog authors present their online gender identity, in order to establish how these modes of presentation fit into the research landscape about gender identity and computer-mediated communication. After a preliminary descriptive analysis of a sample of Dutch and Flemish weblogs, the authors conduct a qualitative content analysis of four of these `blogs'. They conclude that these weblog writers present their gender identity through narratives of `everyday life' that remain closely related to the binary gender system. However, (...) their performance of `masculinity' and `femininity' is more diffuse and heterogeneous than some theories in the field of gender and CMC would assume. In addition, the act of diary writing on weblogs can be understood as challenging the masculine connotation of the weblog as an ICT, demonstrating that the use of a technology is pivotal in shaping the ways in which technologies themselves are conceived of as `masculine' or `feminine'. (shrink)

University of Utrecht, Department of Philosophy, Heidelberglaan 6, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 30 253 28 74, Email: Thomas.Nys{at}phil.uu.nl ' + u + '@' + d + ' '//-->Measures in public health care seem vulnerable to charges of paternalism: their aim is to protect, restore, or promote people's health, but the public character of these measures seems to leave insufficient room for respect for individual autonomy. This paper wants to explore three challenges to these charges: Measures in PHC (...) are aimed to protect, restore or promote ‘deep autonomy’, Measures in PHC are directed at the public and, as such, they do show respect for autonomy, and Some measures in PHC can be justified on grounds of justice and need not be defended as cases of ‘justified paternalism’. Although charges of unjustified paternalism in PHC might still be relevant, we should at least face these different challenges. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

The main task of Cognitive Science is to construct concepts and models that would be superordinate to knowledge in the various particular cognitive sciences. In particular, one major objective is to formulate a hypergeneral description of representations that could encompass all descriptions given in subordinate domains.A first basic distinction is between natural and rational representations, i.e. given mental entities and representations that are governed by prescriptive rules coming from logical or scientific thought. In addition, representations must be described in respect (...) to several sources of variability, which are tentatively listed here.Description of natural representations is based on a distinction between taken representations, which are mental events, and type representations, which are lasting structures registered in memory. The connection between them can be modelled through the concept of activation.One advantage of activation models is their large compatibilty, not only with experimental evidence in cognitive psychology, but also with facts and hypotheses in neurosciences, and programming modes or requirements in artificial intelligence. Comprehension of natural language is a highly representative domain in this respect, which exemplifies the power of these concepts. (shrink)

La pensée de Hannah Arendt n'est pas seulement une réflexion sur le totalitarisme et une philosophie de l'action politique. Elle est une philosophie politique originale dont la force repose sur la considération de la dimension temporelle de l'existence humaine et des phénomènes politiques.--.

Wrongful life claims have always been controversial. Courts in England,1 the USA,2 and Australia3 have generally refused to accept them. However, are wrongful life claims becoming more commonly accepted in continental Europe? After the widely discussed Perruche case in France ,4 and a judgment of a Brussels tribunal in July 2002 that has passed almost unnoticed, the Court of Appeal of The Hague, the Netherlands, in a lengthy and motivated judgment of 26 March 2003, awarded moral damages to a child (...) born with a severe chromosomal disease.5 This judgment differs from the Perruche and Brussels judgments in that both of the latter failed to show to what extent the negligence towards the mother can at the same time be a negligence towards the unborn child. The Court of Appeal of The Hague did at least attempt to explain this.According to the Court of Appeal the midwife looking after the mother had a legal obligation not only towards the pregnant woman but also towards her fetus. This obligation can be derived from the medical treatment contract concluded between, on one hand, the employer of the midwife, the Leiden University Medical Centre, and on the other hand, the parents of the child. The Court held that the unborn child could legally be considered as a party to this contract. But even when one does not accept the existence of a contract between the …. (shrink)

What does it mean to have a distinctively religious orientation toward reality? Martin J. De Nys offers a philosophy of religion grounded within the phenomenological tradition as a way to understand religious life. Focusing on the key concepts of sacred transcendence, religious discourse, and radical self-transcendence, De Nys contends that a phenomenological view of religion allows considerable diversity in regard to the possibility of religious truth. Phenomenology also helps to account for the dizzying variety of religious expressions and religious lifeways. (...) Ultimately, De Nys reaches a universal and complete method of describing a philosophical approach to religious life. This compelling book plays a valuable role in describing human engagement with religion. (shrink)

Der "Verfransungsprozess" der Künste, von dem Adorno gesprochen hat schlägt sich in Christian Grünys Buch in einer Verflechtung ihrer theoretischen Ausarbeitungen nieder.Eher als ein linearer Argumentationsgang ergibt sich dabei insgesamt eine Konstellation von Problemfeldern, die sich gegenseitig beleuchten und teilweise aufeinander aufbauen. Diese Konstellation versucht, das Wie der Musik auf möglichst reiche Weise zu konturieren. Die Begriffe, vermittels derer diese Konstellation aufgebaut und erläutert wird - Differenz, Resonanz, Geste und Rhythmus, Raum und Zeit, Materialität -, sind nur teilweise genuin musikalisch. (...) Sie sind Begriffe einer philosophischen Ästhetik, die dennoch nicht auf die Musik angewandt, sondern an und mit ihr entwickelt wird. Philosophische Konstellationen zur Musik sind sie insofern, als sie dem Anspruch nach weniger über die Musik sprechen als sich zu ihr stellen, sich auf ihre Bewegung einlassen und so einen Zusammenhang produzieren, der etwas an ihr aufscheinen zu lassen versucht, was sonst nicht sichtbar würde. Dabei sind an verschiedenen Stellen philosophische Diskussionen zu führen. Wenn es dabei ein Motiv gibt, das sich durch den gesamten Text zieht, so ist es das einer Differenz, die sich nie zu fixen Entgegensetzungen verfestigt. So bedeutsam die Unterscheidungen sind, die an den unterschiedlichen Stellen vorgenommen oder von der Tradition übernommen werden, so wichtig sind die Übergänge zwischen ihren Polen. Die Musik hält sich an diesen Übergängen auf, und das vorliegende Buch versucht, es ihr gleichzutun. (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper aims at contributing to the ongoing efforts to get a firmer grasp of the systematic significance of the entanglement of idealism and empiricism in Helmholtz's work. Contrary to existing analyses, however, the focal point of the present exposition is Helmholtz's attempt to articulate a psychological account of objectification. Helmholtz's motive, as well as his solution to the problem of the object are outlined, and interpreted against the background of his scientific practice on the one hand, and that of (...) empiricist and (transcendental) idealist analyses of experience on the other. The specifically psychological angle taken, not only prompts us to consider figures who have hitherto been treated as having only minor import for Helmholtz interpretation (most importantly J.S. Mill and J.G. Fichte), it furthermore sheds new light on some central tenets of the latter's psychological stance that have hitherto remained underappreciated. For one thing, this analysis reveals an explicit voluntarist tendency in Helmholtz's psychological theory. In conclusion, it is argued that the systematic significance of Helmholtz's empirico-transcendentalism with respect to questions of the mind is best understood as an attempt to found his empirical theory of perception in a second order, normative account of epistemic subjectivity. (shrink)

La vie, la mort, le sexe : ces trois thèmes n'ont cessé de hanter l'homme, cet étrange animal pensant. Peu de civilisations anciennes cependant ont développé, comme l'ont fait les Grecs 500 ans avant notre ère, des réflexions et des pratiques sociales aussi voisines des nôtres encore aujourd'hui. Ils ont été plus loin que quiconque dans l'élaboration d'une pensée qui s'interroge sur la place et le rôle de l'homme au sein de l'univers. Certes, les dieux sont omniprésents. Mais ce sont (...) des humains divinisés qui ne différent guère des mortels que par leur privilège de l'immortalité. Les Grecs ont anticipé comme personne nos questionnements, nos angoisses, nos passions, nos interrogations, nos rapports avec la vie, la nature, le temps, l'amour, la mort. Nous divergeons parfois, nous convergeons souvent, mais le plus fascinant est le dialogue qui ne cesse de s'établir avec eux depuis 2500 ans.--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)