This article argues that pseudoscience lacks an adequate philosophical analysis. Using conspiracy theories as a case study, it is claimed that such an analysis needs to go beyond a mere epistemological approach. In the first part, it is shown that the existing philosophical literature shares the assumption that conspiracy theories are primarily deficient scientific hypotheses. This claim is contested, because such an approach can only understand what conspiracy theories fail to be, but not what they are and why people tend (...) to endorse them. To develop an alternative, the second part starts from recent sociology of science, applied to conspiracy theories, that claims that both true and false theories are in need of a symmetrical social explanation. However, this opens the path to relativism because it does not allow for a significant distinction between scientific and conspiracy theories. In the third section an alternative analysis of conspiracy theories is offered, which does not abandon this distinction. Moreover, it is claimed that the most important element of conspiracy theories is not their truth value but rather their symbolic structures of meaning. The aim of conspiracy theories, and perhaps of pseudoscience in general, is then not to know facts about the world, but rather to offer a meaningful framework within which to live. (shrink)

Wij zijn de erfgenamen van de verlichting, maar toch kunnen we vandaag niet langer verlicht zijn zoals de achttiende-eeuwers dat waren. Daarvoor hebben vooral geschiedenis, maar ook de actuele processen van multiculturalisme en mondialisering de idealen van de verlichting te zeer ‘onttoverd’. Maar misschien zitten er nog mogelijkheden in een reflexieve verlichting: een verlichting die zich bewust is van haar eigen grenzen, en precies daarom ook accepteert te kunnen verschijnen in een veelheid van nieuwe gestalten. Tot die slotsom kan men (...) althans komen bij een terugblik op twee eeuwen verlichting. (shrink)

According to a philosophical tradition, it is trivial to speak about dissensus: the incompatibility of meaning and the dispute are charcteritics of the life of the philosopical reflection. In its most radical sense, though, the notion of dissensus is not only opposed to the possibility of reaching consensus, but concerns the possibility of discourse itself. As such, dissensus confronts philosophy with an impossibility that challenges its evidence. How to approach this impossibility? I argue that the problem of dissensus is not (...) just a question of language, but that it is necessary to take into consideration the relation between language and subjectivity. This relation is a central issue in the writings of Maurice Blanchot as well as in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas: for both of them, ‘language’ is in the phenomenological sense of the word an ‘experience’ in which the whole problem of subjectivity is involved. But at the same time, this experience is the origin of a profound difference between the two friends. Analysing the question of subjectivity in its relation to the other, Levinas is able to show why language plays a fundamental role in the promotion and the constitution of a subjectivity that is obliged to respond in the first person. Blanchot, however, approaches language in the experience of writing where subjectivity looses grip and cannot but disappear. The distinction between written language and oral discourse therefore seems to be crucial with regard to the problem of subjectivity. The explicitation of this distinction enables me to specify the condition of dissensus. (shrink)

The federalisation of the Belgian state requires a rethinking of the legislature, especially of the Senate. A 'Second Chamber' seems a necessary prerequisite for a federal system. It usually serves as a forum of representation of the different components of the federation, deliberation and national cohesion. In the future the Senate could also become closer involved into European politics.As far as the specific redrawing of the powers of the new Senate concerns, opinions differ considerably. Firstly, nearly all parties agree the (...) Senate should have the same powers as the House of Representatives to revise the Constitution and laws on the political institutions. Secondly, there is far less unanimity on the question whether the control powers of the Senate should be as extensive as the House of Representatives. In the current state reform the Senate retains its right of investigation. Thirdly, the role that the Senate and the House of Representativesin the 'ordinary' legislative work can play has to be well defined. There are many ways to redistribute the legislative power. Whatever the principle will be, it is essential to work out a reasonable arbitration procedure between the two chambers. Fourthly, the Senate should retain its power to propose candidatures for the high courts and to act together with the House of Representatives in matters of the monarchy. Fifthly, the Senate should grow into the principal body of mediation for conflicts between the different components of the federal state. The last point of discussion in the reform of the Senate is its future composition. Guiding principles should be : a certain allegiance between the councils of regions and communities and the national Senate, an expression of political experience, no increase of the total number of representatives and a fair representation of the minorities. (shrink)

Studie over de Franse filosoof (1908-1961).

Après avoir circonscript son sujet, l'auteur, en s'inspirant des travaux de Erwin Strauss, affronte les doctrines psychanalytiques concernant les états obsessionnelles. Il se livre en particulier à une critique du concept de libido orale et anale. Indépendemment des conceptions freudiennes il entreprend ensuite un examen de la relation entre liberté et obsession dans la réalisation de l'existence. Plus particulièrement il examine l'image de l'attirance de l'abîme comme obsession absolue. Et il s'efforce de délimiter ensuite les limites de la liberté par (...) rapport à la disposition à l'obsession vécue. L'étude se concentre ensuite sur le sujet de l'obsession et de la quasi-obsession dans la vie normale. A ce propos il examine successivement les expériences obsessionnelles qui peuvent être vécues d'une manière plus ou moins quotidienne et qui sont les suivantes : Représentations et pensées obsédantes en état d'insomnie ; l'étrangeté vécue comme obsédente ; l'état de trouble caractéristique à la situation du seuil comme obsession vécue ; 'je dois faire ce que je ne veux pas faire' ; à propos de certains gestes superstitieux comme manifestation d'une angoisse passagère ; 'quelque chose m'agace' ; 'ce que j'ai fait me tourmente'. (shrink)

The question of the sense or meaning of religious behavior is something different from praying or religious activity itself. If one wants to understand religious activity (or if someone wants to explain his actions), one speaks from a distanced concern with regard to this activity or behavior. In a certain sense, activity must be postponed in order to produce an interpretation. The thinking way of giving an account is a different activity, another act, than the act (in this case the (...) religious act) to which the reflecting act of thinking refers. In the first part of this paper, the question is posed as to how religious activity can be understood in terms of hermeneutic reflection. Thisquestion arises from the insight that the rationality of onto-theological thinking is no longer able to understand religious behavior. The second part poses the question as to whether religious activity can be understood from the perspective of a hermeneutical reason. (shrink)

Filosofisch essay over het ritme van de tijd, gezien vanuit verschillende invalshoeken.

In een deels denkbeeldig tweegesprek met een hoogleraar in de kunstgeschiedenis tracht Mitchell Cohen een antwoord te vinden op de vraag: ‘Wat is een meesterwerk?’ Hij komt er niet uit. Deze ene vraag roept vooral nieuwe vragen op, bijvoorbeeld over de verhouding van de notie van een meesterwerk tot politiek of taal, over de verlammende werking van het canon-denken en over de relatie tussen vorm en inhoud in grote kunst. Misschien, zo mijmert Cohen, wordt grote kunst wel gekenmerkt door het (...) feit dat ze zich aan de grenzen van haar tijd onttrekt. Of misschien, zo beweert hij elders, is het wel beter te praten over datgene wat specifieke werken tot een meesterwerk maakt. (shrink)

Women and men towards a new type of leadership In the Netherlands emancipation has had a lot of attention in the last decades of the former century. Nowadays, often is thought the inequality be­tween men and women at the workplace is solved. Nevertheless, despite the high amount of for instance female students, in higher positions in organizations and academies female leaders still are a minority. More important, their qualities to lead are underestimated, as well by men as by themselves. In (...) today’s world, a combination of feminine and masculine leadership is the best way to manage the modern fluid network organizations, and androgyn leaders are highly searched for. (shrink)

Overzicht van de hedendaagse ontwikkelingen in de wetenschapsfilosofie.

Overzicht van het gedachtegoed van de Tsjechisch-Nederlandse geleerde (1592-1670), die streefde naar een synthese van wetenschap, waarden en wijsheid.

Universities are occupied by Management, a regime obsessed with ‘accountability' through measurement, increased competition, efficiency, ‘excellence', and misconceived economic salvation. Given the occupation's absurd side-effects, we ask ourselves how Management has succeeded in taking over our precious universities. An alternative vision for the academic future consists of a public university, more akin to a socially engaged knowledge commons than to a corporation. We suggest some provocative measures to bring about such a university. However, as Management seems impervious to cogent arguments, (...) such changes can only happen if academics take action. Hence, we explore several strategies for a renewed university politics. (shrink)