This article investigates the approaches to understanding human transformation in the underexplored works of Russian cosmist philosophers Alexander Konstantinovich Gorsky and Nikolai Alexandrovich Setnitsky. As disciples of cosmism’s founder; Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov; these scholars contributed original ideas to the development of philosophical thought amid the tumultuous early 20th century; marked by the First World War; the Great Russian Revolution; and a period of political repression. The paradigms established by Gorsky and Setnitsky hinge on the idea that human action can not (...) only strive towards and achieve an ideal but also engender change in the world and the universe. They perceive issues of individual subconsciousness as manifestations of an unknown and all-encompassing inner world within humans. Echoing Fedorov; they identify the theanthropic (God-human) aspects of Christianity and address questions of culture; creativity; and history through human participation in fulfilling both the moral and existential teachings of Christ. Despite their shared philosophical positions; each thinker emphasizes different aspects of human and world studies. Gorsky envisions the path to a new reality through human creativity and the transformation of one’s own flesh; while arguing that an exclusive focus on scientific and technological progress is insufficient. Setnitsky; on the other hand; posits that external technological forces must be transformed into internal human forces throughout global and cosmic evolution. Gorsky and Setnitsky’s philosophical concepts of human transformation revolve around the enhancement of the inner world and the recognition of potential that remains invisible and incomprehensible. The article concludes that; in the 21st century; when scientific and technological advancements are transforming not only the world but the very nature of human beings; the legacy of Gorsky and Setnitsky; with their boundless faith in both scientific progress and spiritual self-improvement; holds particular relevance. (shrink)

This article addresses the notion of “illusions of the multitude”, or the ideas created by the imagination in the analysis that Baruch Spinoza makes in his works. The text aims to explore the following questions: What characteristics reveal the ideas originating from the imagination? What role do these ideas play in the political and so- cial space? First, I emphasize Spinoza’s explanation of the imagination, as a first mode of knowledge. Secondly, I delve into the characteristics of the ideas (...) that stem from it and the affections that accompany them. Finally, I analyze their effects on the political and social space. (shrink)

『서양윤리학에서 본 유학(儒學)』은 저자가 도덕원리, 도덕문제, 도덕판단 등 도덕에 대한 철학적 성찰과 도덕의 보편적 원리를 탐구해 저술한 『윤리학, 그 주제와 논점』을 근거로 서양윤리와 유가윤리를 비교윤리의 관점에서 다룬 책이다. 오늘날 한국사회는 급속한 경제 성장과 물질문명의 고도화에 따른 ‘윤리의식의 부재’가 사회적으로 큰 문제가 되고 있다. 그런데 우선 생각해볼 것은 과연 한국사회에 ‘윤리의식’에 대한 보편적이고 공통된 이해가 공존하는가이다. 저자는 이 점에 주목하여 ‘한국의 보편윤리’를 모색하는 과정으로서 이 책을 저술하였다. 전통적 윤리는 오늘의 한국사회에서 더 이상 보편적 도덕이념으로 수용되지 않는다. 그렇다고 해서 현재 서양사회의 지배적인 (...) 윤리관인 공리주의윤리를 그대로 적용하기도 어렵다. 정서적으로 한국사회는 여전히 전통적인 유가윤리를 선호하기 때문이다. 이런 문제의식에서 출발한 이 책은 유가윤리와 서양윤리의 비교를 통해서 그 해답을 얻고자 하였다. 이 책을 통해 한국사상, 한국문화를 설명할 수 있고 한국사회에 작동될 수 있는 ‘한국윤리’의 이론적 틀이 마련되기를 기대한다. (shrink)

1. Pulgyo rŭl chŏmke hanŭn kil -- 2. Kisang ŭi chilmun kwa ch'ŏnoe ŭi tappyŏn.

This paper does not deal with the topic of ‘the generosity of artificial languages from an Asian or a comparative perspective’. Rather, it is concerned with a particular case taken from a development in the Western tradition, when in the wake of the rise of formal logic at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century people in philosophy and later in linguistics started to use formal languages in the study of the semantics of natural (...) languages. This undertaking rests on certain philosophical assumptions and instantiates a particular methodology, that we want to examine critically. However, that in itself is still too broad a topic for a single paper, so we will focus on a particular aspect, viz., the distinction between grammatical form and logical form and the crucial role it plays in how the relationship between natural languages and formal languages is understood in this tradition. We will uncover two basic assumptions that underlie the standard view on the distinction between grammatical form and logical form, and discuss how they have contributed to the shaping of a particular methodology and a particular view on the status of semantics as a discipline. But before we turn to the topic at hand, a few more words on the general nature of the investigation are in order. Its general aim is to find out how semantics constructs its object, i.e., we are interested in what semanticists view as the proper object of study, how they think this object can best be approached, and how they view the relations between their own undertaking and neighbouring disciplines that deal with related, or even the same kind of phenomena, such as cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, anthropology. The background assumption is that, much like in other disciplines, semantics, too, does not have its object of investigation cut out for itself by nature, but constructs it in a complex process that involves empirical elements (‘facts’ being already too dangerous a term), philosophical assumptions, and borrowings.... (shrink)

Journal of Chinese Philosophy, EarlyView.

This paper does not deal with the topic of ‘the generosity of artificial languages from an Asian or a comparative perspective’. Rather, it is concerned with a particular case taken from a development in the Western tradition, when in the wake of the rise of formal logic at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century people in philosophy and later in linguistics started to use formal languages in the study of the semantics of natural (...) languages. This undertaking rests on certain philosophical assumptions and instantiates a particular methodology, that we want to examine critically. However, that in itself is still too broad a topic for a single paper, so we will focus on a particular aspect, viz., the distinction between grammatical form and logical form and the crucial role it plays in how the relationship between natural languages and formal languages is understood in this tradition. We will uncover two basic assumptions that underlie the standard view on the distinction between grammatical form and logical form, and discuss how they have contributed to the shaping of a particular methodology and a particular view on the status of semantics as a discipline. (shrink)

This paper aims to reconsider the relationship of “growth of experience” and “truth” through the comparison of “transformation” in Zhuangzi with “consummation” in Dewey. Although many comparative studies have been made so far to reveal the meaning of Asian thought, they tend to analyze and evaluate the given texts merely on the basis of western philosophical terminology. In contrast, the present paper attempts to take the other way, which is focusing on the original context of “transformation” as it appeared in (...) Zhuangzi first, and then exploring its contemporary significance through a comparison with “consummation” in Dewey. (shrink)

Sören Stenlund's work marks a major advance in our understanding of why the philosophy of language has been so dominated over the past few decades by the so-called "creative aspect of language" -- the problem of how we are able to understand sentences that we have never heard before. Stenlund raises some fundamental philosophical objections by demonstrating, for example, how the theory distorts the flexibility and fluidity of word -- and sentence -- meaning. Although words and sentences can have (...) a remarkable number of different, sometimes extraordinarily subtle meanings, Stenlund shows how language-users can readily adapt to entirely novel uses of a word or a sentence. Language and Philosophical Problems presents the results of philosophical investigations into several connected issues of current interest within the philosophies of language, logic, mind, and mathematics. In particular it deals with our tendency to be misled by certain prevailing views and preconceptions of language. (shrink)

Journal of Chinese Philosophy, EarlyView.