'This book is a masterpiece of theoretical thought. It anticipates the actual achievements of much of what we now call sociolinguistics.

Things and Their Place in Theories Our talk of external things, our very notion of things, is just a conceptual apparatus that helps us to foresee and ...

After a generous introduction to the subject, essays follow on transcendence and spirituality from a multidisciplinary and multifaith perspective: a focus on Abrahamic, Oriental, and African religions, a study of transcendence in Nazism, etc.

Étienne Pouliot | Résumé : On convient aisément que tout témoignage peut renvoyer à une expérience, passée ou du moins présupposée, ou encore qu’il peut véhiculer en quelque sorte un message. Il ne se réduit pas pour autant à n’être qu’une fenêtre sur autre chose, voire sur lui-même. En vérité, parce qu’il est avant tout parole, le témoignage constitue toujours et se constitue précisément en un certain ratage de l’expérience là représentée, du message là livré, du vécu là offert. (...) Un examen de certaines conditions épistémologiques de cet enjeu de la représentation au coeur du témoignage, en écho à la philosophie de Paul Ricoeur mais pour en signaler le point aveugle, permet d’élucider que cet enjeu y est second — ce qui ne signifie en rien : secondaire — par rapport à un enjeu herméneutique bien plus originaire, bien plus radical et fondamental que la représentation elle-même : celui de la parole. Au travers du témoignage, une parole atteste autant qu’elle efface. |: We all agree that witnessing may refer back to experience — to something from the past or at least to something that is presupposed — or that it may be the vehicle for some message. This does not mean that witnessing is merely a window onto something else, or onto itself. Indeed, because it is first and foremost “word”, it always stands as a reminder of its inability to represent what it purports to represent and as a failure to deliver the message it intends to deliver. This examination of some of the epistemological underpinnings of representation — which echoes the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur even as it points to a blind spot in his position — intends to show that the issue of representation comes second in witnessing and that a far more radical and fundamental issue — a hermeneutical one — also comes into play here. Thus witnessing, and more precisely the word that is witnessing, both attests to and obliterates itself. (shrink)

Cadherins are a multigene family of proteins which mediate homophilic calcium‐dependent cell adhesion and are thought to play an important role in morphogenesis by mediating specific intercellular adhesion. Different lines of experimental evidence have recently indicated that the site responsible for mediating adhesive interactions is localized to the first extracellular domain of cadherin. Based upon an analysis of the sequence of this domain, I show that cadherins can be classified into three groups with distinct structural features. Furthermore, using this sequence (...) information a phylogenetic tree relating the known cadherins was assembled. This is the first such tree to be published for the cadherins. One cadherin subtype, neural cadherin (N‐cadherin), shows very little sequence divergence between species, whereas all other cadherin subtypes show more substantial divergence, suggesting that selective pressure upon this domain may be greater for N‐cadherin than for other cadherins. Phylogenetic analysis also suggests that the gene duplications which established the main branches leading to the different cadherin subtypes occurred very early in their history. These duplications set the stage for the diversified superfamily we now observe. (shrink)

In this article, cognitivism is understood as the view that the engine of human (individual and collective) action is the intentional, dispositional, or other mental capacities of the brain or the mind. Cognitivism has been criticized for considering the essence of human action to reside in its alleged source in mental processes at the expense of the social surroundings of the action, criticism that has often been inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy. This article explores the logical extent of the (...) critique of cognitivism, arguing that by positing collectively shared knowledge of criteria as the engine of human action many such critiques themselves display latent cognitivism. (shrink)

In this article, cognitivism is understood as the view that the engine of human action is the intentional, dispositional, or other mental capacities of the brain or the mind. Cognitivism has been criticized for considering the essence of human action to reside in its alleged source in mental processes at the expense of the social surroundings of the action, criticism that has often been inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy. This article explores the logical extent of the critique of cognitivism, (...) arguing that by positing collectively shared knowledge of criteria as the engine of human action many such critiques themselves display latent cognitivism. (shrink)

Ocherk 1. Voprosy ontologii -- Ocherk 2. Voprosy ėtiki i ėstetiki -- Ocherk 3. Voprosy gnoseologii i aksiologii.

Because the techno-economic paradigm of contemporary conceptualizations of innovation is often taken for granted in the literature, this chapter opens up this self-evident notion. First, the chapter consults the work of Joseph Schumpeter, who can be seen as the founding father of the current conceptualization of innovation as technological and commercial. Second, we open up the concept by reflecting on two aspects of Schumpeter’s conceptualization of innovation, namely its destructive and its constructive aspect, based on findings in the history of (...) innovation. Finally, we synthesize our findings and propose an ontic-ontological conceptualization of innovation as ontogenetic process and outcome with six dimensions—newness, political dimension, economic dimension, temporal dimension, human dimension and risk—that moves beyond its technological and commercial orientation. (shrink)

Research on brain or cognitive/affective processes, culture, social interaction, and structural analysis are overlapping but often independent ways humans have attempted to understand the origins of their evolution, historical, and contemporary development. Each level seeks to employ its own theoretical concepts and methods for depicting human nature and categorizing objects and events in the world, and often relies on different sources of evidence to support theoretical claims. Each level makes reference to different temporal bandwidths (milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, (...) years, decades, and centuries) and focuses on different spatio-temporal activities and controlled and non-controlled stimulus conditions. Biological mechanisms and environmental pressures for survival simultaneously created a gradual intersection and enhancement of cognitive/affective skills, cultural practices, and changes in collaborative social interaction and communicative skills. The evolution of a given level of analysis is assumed to have been incremental and overlapping. These innovative and independent ways humans have learned to characterize their brain or cognitive/affective and social/economic/political life often depend on unexamined, representational re-descriptions or cognitive/affective and socio-cultural devices and forms of communication that facilitate the depiction of practices and beliefs we attribute to respondents or subjects and research colleagues. (shrink)

The robustness of the classical tests on means (Z, t, and F) and variances (chi square and F) was investigated by obtaining 30,000 (or, sometimes, 10,000 or 150,000) values of the test statistic under assumption-violating conditions and comparing the actual proportion of Type I errors with the proportion expected when all assumptions are met. The sampling and testing conditions investigated were: population shape (L-shape or bell-shape), relative population variance (1 or 4), sample size (8, 16, or 24), nominal significance level (...) (.05,.01, or.001), and location of rejection region (left-tailed, right-tailed, or two-tailed). All tests on means were nonrobust under most of the investigated conditions, and one was nonrobust under all of them. Both tests on variances were extremely nonrobust under virtually all conditions. The worst nonrobustness of the one- and two-independent-sample Z and t tests rivaled or exceeded that of the notoriously nonrobust chi-square and F tests on variances. (shrink)

Russkai︠a︡ t︠erkovʹ i drugie statʹi -- V temnykh religioznykh luchakh.

The "mathematization" of knowledge is a historically inevitable process governed by two circumstances. In the first place there is the need for the further extension of knowledge in all areas of human activity, whether it be the study of natural phenomena or the theory of taking decisions in the economic or social sphere. Marx pointed out long ago that a science reaches its highest levels only when it succeeds in making use of mathematics. The second circumstance rendering the process of (...) deepening and broadening the mathematization of knowledge not only necessary but possible lies in the constant development both of mathematics itself and of the technical means broadening the sphere of its application. (shrink)