Dynamic systems theory offers conceptual andmathematical tools for describing the performance ofneural systems at very different levels oforganization. Three aspects of the dynamic paradigmare discussed, namely neural rhythms, neural andmental development, and macroscopic brain theories andmodels.

This paper proposes that neurodynamic system theory may be used to connect structural and functional aspects of neural organization. The paper claims that generalized causal dynamic models are proper tools for describing the self-organizing mechanism of the nervous system. In particular, it is pointed out that ontogeny, development, normal performance, learning, and plasticity, can be treated by coherent concepts and formalism. Taking into account the self-referential character of the brain, autopoiesis, endophysics and hermeneutics are offered as elements of a poststructuralist (...) brain (-mind-computer) theory. (shrink)

Instead of commenting directly on Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution, I provide some remarks from an interdisciplinary view. Language theory is examined from the perspective of the theory of complex systems. The gestural-vocal dichotomy, network theory, evolutionary mechanisms/algorithms, chaos theory, and constructive approach are briefly mentioned.

Philosophical, dynamical, neural, network-theoretical, and cognitive ingredients of Tsuda's brain theory are discussed and anayzed. The integrative approach emphasized by Tsuda would be a welcome one.

Some dichotomies related to modeling electrocortical activities are analyzed. Attractor neural networks versus biologically motivated models, near-equilibrium versus nonequilibrium processes, linear and nonlinear dynamics, stochastic and chaotic patterns, local and global scale simulation of cortical activities are discussed.

We clarify the arguments in Neural organization: Structure, function, and dynamics, acknowledge important contributions cited by our critics, and respond to their criticisms by charting directions for further development of our integrated approach to theoretical and empirical studies of neural organization. We first discuss functional organization in general (behavior versus cognitive functioning, the need to study body and brain together, function in ontogeny and phylogeny) and then focus on schema theory (noting that schema theory is not just a top-down theory (...) and discussing the transition from action-oriented perception to cognition). We then turn to dynamical organization, with a focus first on neural modeling and dynamics (clarifying the multiple functions of neurons and brain regions, and looking further at various forms of dynamics) and second on learning, development, and self-organization (looking at monoaminergic systems, reinforcement, self-organization, postnatal development, and disease). We close with a brief philosophical discussion of postmodernism and reductionism. (shrink)

Neural organization: Structure, function, and dynamics shows how theory and experiment can supplement each other in an integrated, evolving account of the brain's structure, function, and dynamics. (1) Structure: Studies of brain function and dynamics build on and contribute to an understanding of many brain regions, the neural circuits that constitute them, and their spatial relations. We emphasize Szentágothai's modular architectonics principle, but also stress the importance of the microcomplexes of cerebellar circuitry and the lamellae of hippocampus. (2) Function: Control (...) of eye movements, reaching and grasping, cognitive maps, and the roles of vision receive a functional decomposition in terms of schemas. Hypotheses as to how each schema is implemented through the interaction of specific brain regions provide the basis for modeling the overall function by neural networks constrained by neural data. Synthetic PET integrates modeling of primate circuitry with data from human brain imaging. (3) Dynamics: Dynamic system theory analyzes spatiotemporal neural phenomena, such as oscillatory and chaotic activity in both single neurons and (often synchronized) neural networks, the self-organizing development and plasticity of ordered neural structures, and learning and memory phenomena associated with synaptic modification. Rhythm generation involves multiple levels of analysis, from intrinsic cellular processes to loops involving multiple brain regions. A variety of rhythms are related to memory functions. The Précis presents a multifaceted case study of the hippocampus. We conclude with the claim that language and other cognitive processes can be fruitfully studied within the framework of neural organization that the authors have charted with John Szentágothai. Key Words: cognitive maps; computational neuroscience; dynamics; hippocampus; memory; modular architectonics; neural modeling; neural organization; neural plasticity; rhythmogenesis; Szentágothai. (shrink)

As I write this, in November 1971, people are dying in East Bengal from lack of food, shelter, and medical caxc. The suffering and death that are occurring there now axe not inevitable, 1101; unavoidable in any fatalistic sense of the term. Constant poverty, a cyclone, and a civil war have turned at least nine million people into destitute refugees; nevertheless, it is not beyond Lhe capacity of the richer nations to give enough assistance to reduce any further suffering to (...) very small proportions. The decisions arid actions of human beings can prevent this kind of suffering. Unfortunately, human beings have not made the necessary decisions. At the individual level, people have, with very few exceptions, not responded to the situation in any signihczmt way. Generally speaking, people have not given large sums to relief funds; they have not written t0 their parliamentaxy representatives demanding increased government assistance; they have not demonstrated in the streets, held symbolic fasts, or done anything else directed toward providing thc refugees with the means to satisfy their essential needs. At thc government level, no govcrmmcnt has given the sort of massive aid that would enable the refugees to survive fm: more than a few days. Britain, for instance, has given rather more than most countries. It has, to date, given £14,750,000. For comparative purposes, B1~itain’s share of thc nonreccverabla development costs of the Anglo-French Concorde project is already in excess of £275,000,000, and on present estimates will reach £440,000,¤00. The implication is that the British government values a supersonic transport more than thirty times as.. (shrink)

This paper argues that a set of questioning attitudes are among the foundations of human and animal minds. While both verbal questioning and states of curiosity are generally explained in terms of metacognitive desires for knowledge or true belief, I argue that each is better explained by a prelinguistic sui generis type of mental attitude of questioning. I review a range of considerations in support of such a proposal and improve on previous characterizations of the nature of these attitudes. I (...) then broaden their explanatory scope to include a number of forms of exploratory search. The paper has three main goals: to characterize the nature of the questioning attitudes, outlining their causal role and type of content; to argue that they are fundamental components of the mind, being widespread among animals and not constructed during ontogeny out of other attitudes; and to suggest that they explain a great deal more behavior than one might think. (shrink)

Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of people to the existence of "speciesism"—our systematic disregard of nonhuman animals—inspiring a worldwide movement to transform our attitudes to animals and eliminate the cruelty we inflict on them. In Animal Liberation, author Peter Singer exposes the chilling realities of today’s "factory farms" and product-testing procedures—destroying the spurious justifications behind them, and offering alternatives to what has become a profound environmental and social as well as moral issue. (...) An important and persuasive appeal to conscience, fairness, decency, and justice, it is essential reading for the supporter and the skeptic alike. (shrink)

We propose a solution to the problem of logical omniscience in what we take to be its fundamental version: as concerning arbitrary agents and the knowledge attitude per se. Our logic of knowledge is a spin-off from a general theory of thick content, whereby the content of a sentence has two components: an intension, taking care of truth conditions; and a topic, taking care of subject matter. We present a list of plausible logical validities and invalidities for the logic of (...) knowledge per se for arbitrary agents, and isolate three explanatory factors for them: the topic-sensitivity of content; the fragmentation of knowledge states; the defeasibility of knowledge acquisition. We then present a novel dynamic epistemic logic that yields precisely the desired validities and invalidities, for which we provide expressivity and completeness results. We contrast this with related systems and address possible objections. (shrink)

Makalenin konusu Ebû Hanîfe örneğinden hareketle İslam düşüncesinde yargı-siyaset ilişkisi-dir. Ebû Hanîfe’nin yaşadığı döneme kadar karizmanın dini ve siyasi kültürde gelişimine paralel olarak yargı-siyaset ilişkileri bağlamında İslam düşüncesinde bazı formlar çoktan ortaya çık-mıştı. Burada amaç İslam’ın henüz ikinci asrında yargı-siyaset ilişkilerini Ebû Hanîfe üzerinden anlamaya çalışmak ve dolaylı olarak da meselenin bugüne yansıyan yönlerine ışık tutmaktır. Bu yüzden farklı sosyolojik düzlemlerde inşa edilmiş Şiî, Haricî, Sünnî öteki formlar çalışma dışında tutulmuştur. Araştırma Ebû Hanîfe’nin; doktrini oluşturan Kur’an, sünnet ve sahabe uygulamaları (...) ile kendi dönemindeki dini, siyasi, sosyal ve kültürel şartlar arasında nasıl bir okuma yaptığını sorunsallaştırmıştır. Çalışmada Ebû Hanîfe’nin yargı-siyaset ilişkisi bağlamın-da ortaya çıkardığı genel anlama biçiminin, işaret edilen dini ve tarihi şartlarla kendi dini top-lumsallaşma çevresindeki diyalektik bir ilişkide şekillendiği varsayılmıştır. Dolaylı gözlem yöntemi ile elde edilen veriler bir tekil olay incelemesi bağlamında fenomenolojik bir çözüm-lemeye tabi tutulmuştur. Konu bugüne kadar ilahiyat bağlamında olduğu gibi din bilimi alanın-da da dikkat çekici görülmemiştir. Makale İslam düşüncesinde yargı-siyaset ilişkisinin farklı desenleri arasında Ebû Hanîfe modelini tartışması bağlamında bir değere sahip görülebilir. Çalışmada; temel hak ve özgürlüklerin korunması noktasında sivil ve barışçıl bir muhalefetin yeterli olmadığı, iktidarın kişisel hakları tanımaktan daha çok kişisel ödevler ve mutlak itaat talebi ile siyaset yaptığı bir ortamda Ebû Hanîfe’nin soruna ahlaki bir saikle yaklaştığı ve bu bağlamda bir çözüm önerisi getirdiği görülmüştür. Ebû Hanîfe gerek otorite ve karizması ge-rekse ekonomik statüsü ve kültürel birikiminden aldığı güç ile yaşadığı dönemde üst düzey siyasal ve hukuki bir katılım gerçekleştirmiştir. Yasama erkinin özgür bir üyesi olarak Ebû Hanîfe temel haklar bağlamında hayatı boyunca hep iktidarlarla karşı karşıya gelmiş ve bu mücadele içinde iken de öldürülmüştür. Müslüman bir ailede doğmasına rağmen dönemin politik tavrı nedeniyle daha doğumuyla birlikte iktidar tarafından öteki olarak görülmüş ve ömrü boyunca bu statü ile yaşamak zorunda kalmıştır. Başlangıçta kendi ailesi içinde toplum-sallaşırken deneyimlediği mevalilik duygusu, Ebû Hanîfe’de özellikle hocasının ölümünden sonra iktidarlara karşı toplumsal bir hak arayışına dönüşmüştür. Esasen kendi özelinde bir hak arayışı olmaksızın iktidarların yasa ile sorunlu politik tavırları karşısında dini, hukuki ve top-lumsal bir tavır içinde yürüttüğü bu mücadelesi Ehl-i Beyt’i ve diğer bütün toplumsal grup ve kategorileri içine alan bir genişlikte ilerlemiştir. Ebû Hanife’nin yargı- siyaset ilişkisine dair bu yaklaşımı teorik ve pratik olarak tamamen sistematik bir çerçevede şekillenmiştir. İslam hu-kukunun dayandığı bilgi gövdeleri kapsamında o, çok kapsayıcı ve dinamik bir tarzda din ve şeriat kavramsallaştırması yapmıştır. Buna göre Ebû Hanîfe dine temel hakların dayandığı temel yasa anlamı yüklerken şeriata ise kendisinin bu dini alana veya başka bir ifadeyle yasaya göre düzenlendiği neshe açık, değişken bir alan anlamı vermiştir. Bu tevhit eksenli hiyerarşi içinde siyaset, yasaya karşı kesin sorumluluğu olan dünyevi bir alan görülmüştür. Ebû Hanîfe’nin İslam’ın ilk dönemini bir hukuk devleti nosyonu içinde değerlendirdiğinde kuşku yoktur. Buna mukabil, genel yargı-siyaset ilişkisine yaklaşımından anlaşıldığına göre yaşadığı dönemi, iktidarlar tarafından hukukun araçsallaştırıldığı bir dönem olarak görmüştür. Kurmuş olduğu akademi onun yargı-siyaset ilişkisine bakışının önemli bir pratiğidir. Bu akademiden yetişen ve daha sonra resmi ve gayri resmi olarak yasamanın bir üyesi olan öğrencilerine tav-siyeleri ve mektupları, onun bir yargı elemanı olarak siyaset kurumuna yaklaşımının sübjektif değil; bir düzen ihtiyacının ortaya çıkardığı objektif bir tavır olduğunu göstermiştir. Ebû Hanîfe teorik yaklaşımını pratik bir eylem alanı ile birleştirmek suretiyle yargı-siyaset ilişkisine bakışı konusunda oldukça net bir fotoğrafa sahiptir. (shrink)

Single-premise epistemic closure is the principle that: if one is in an evidential position to know that P where P entails Q, then one is in an evidential position to know that Q. In this paper, I defend the viability of opposition to closure. A key task for such an opponent is to precisely formulate a restricted closure principle that remains true to the motivations for abandoning unrestricted closure but does not endorse particularly egregious instances of closure violation. I focus (...) on two brands of epistemic theory that naturally incorporate closure restrictions. The first type holds that the truth value of a knowledge ascription is relative to a relevant question. The second holds that the truth value of a knowledge ascription is relative to a relevant topic. For each approach, I offer a formalization of a leading theory from the literature and use this formalization to evaluate the theory’s adequacy in terms of a precise set of desiderata. I conclude that neither theory succeeds in meeting these desiderata, casting doubt on the viability of the underlying approaches. Finally, I offer a novel variant of the topic-sensitive approach that fares better. (shrink)

Abdüksiyon ve en iyi açıklamaya çıkarım terimleri sıklıkla aynı akıl yürütme türü olarak ifade edilir. Fakat, yakın zamanlarda bunun bir hata olduğu iddia edilmektedir. Peirce’ün ileri sürdüğü abdüktif çıkarım beklenmeyen gözlemler karşısında yeni bir fikir üretmekle ilgiliyken, en iyi açıklamaya çıkarım ise hangi hipotezin en makul olduğunu belirlemekle ilgilidir. Bu çalışmada, iki çıkarım türü arasındaki fark epistemik rasyonalite üzerinden gösterilecektir. Epistemik rasyonalite bakımından, delil ve inanç arasında güçlü bir ilişki gereklidir. Bu açıdan incelendiğinde, abdüktif çıkarımın delilsel desteği zayıftır, ama bu (...) sayede delillerinin ötesine genişleyerek hipotez yaratma olanağına sahip olmaktadır. En iyi açıklamaya çıkarım ise güçlü bir delilsel desteğe sahip olmadan meşrulaştırılamaz. (shrink)

Bu makale Orhan Pamuk’un Kar romanından hareketle çağdaş Türk romanında din ve siyaset ilişkisine odaklanmıştır. Çalışma, Türkiye’nin yakın dönemdeki dini ve siyasi tartışmalarına edebi bir kurgu ile yaklaşan Kar’da din-siyaset ilişkilerinin nasıl bir paradigma üzerine oturduğunu ve bu çerçevede Türkiye’de dini ve siyasi kültürün romana nasıl yansıdığını anlama ve açıklama hedefini gütmüştür. Romanda 1980 sonrası yeni bir gelişim ivmesi yakalamış ve 1990’lar boyunca siyaseti daha aktif bir şekilde motive eden sağ, muhafazakar ve İslamcı çevrelerle aslında -yazarın yaklaşımı çerçevesinde- Türkiye’ye bir (...) türlü uğramayan modernizmin Türkiye’dekijakoben ve taşralı temsilcilerinin değerleri arasındaki çatışmalar öne çıkarılmıştır. Postmodern bir bakış açısıyla yazılan Kar İslamcı-laik, Doğulu-Batılı çatışmaları arasında modernleşme çabalarının devam ettiği bu aşamada din ve siyaset ilişkileriyle ilgili önemli fotoğraflar paylaşmıştır. Nihayet romanda din; yoksulluk ve yoksunlukları araçsallaştırıcı, yerine göre değişimi engelleyici karakteri yanında baskın olarak ideolojik yönü ile öne çıkarılmıştır. Siyaset ise orada daha çok jakoben ve laik, modernleşme ile ilişkisi bağlamında da taşralı olarak betimlenmiştir.Özet: Şüphe yok ki imparatorluktan Cumhuriyete geçiş sürecinde edebiyat; özellikle de Batılı bir ürün olarak roman, modern Türkiye’nin bilinç düzeyinin inşasında önemli bir rol oynamıştır. Bu edebi etki belli bir çizgi takip etmek yerine 2 asra yaklaşan maceralı yolculuğu içinde genellikle Türk toplumunun dönemsel tarihi, sosyal, politik şartları ile uyum içinde yürümüştür. Bu bağlamda Türk romanı başlangıçta daha yoğun olmak üzere siyasal yapıyı meşrulaştırıcı bir tavır takınırken özellikle son yarım asırda modernleşmenin ulaştığı noktalar itibariyle farklı iktidar ve ideoloji üretmenin bir aracı olarak da görülmüştür. Fakat bununla birlikte kültürel sistemin önemli bir unsuru olarak din romanın söz konusu yolculuğunda hep ana temalardan biri olmuştur.Makale çağdaş Türk romanında din-siyaset ilişkilerinin din sosyolojisi açısından incelenmesini konu edinmiştir. Çalışmaya örnek olarak Orhan Pamuk’un, ilk baskısını 2002 yılında yapan ve Türkiye’de 1980’li şartların olgunlaştırdığı gerilimli din-siyaset ilişkilerini geniş bir kültürel birikimden hareketle temalaştıran Kar romanı seçilmiştir. Çalışmanın amacı çağdaş Türk romanının Türkiye’de her zaman bir gerilim ortamı yaratmış din-siyaset ilişkilerine yaklaşımını Kar örnekleminde anlamak ve açıklamaktır. Bu çerçevede tarihsel bir karşılaştırma yapılarak Türk romanının siyaset ve din algısında Karın yeri gözden geçirilmiş, bir sosyal kişilik ve yazar olarak Orhan Pamuk üzerinde durulmuş ve daha sonra da romandaki sosyal olay, olgu ve süreçlerin inşa ettiği farklı bilinç düzeyleri fenomenolojik bir perspektiften değerlendirilmiştir.Bu çalışmada Kar modern Türkiye’nin yakın dönem din-siyaset ilişkilerini dini ve siyasi kültürün farklı anlam setleri üzerinden postmodern bir alegori ile işleyen bir roman olarak görülmüştür. Bu yönüyle Kar edebi bir ürün olmanın yanında kendini toplumun dini, siyasi ve ideolojik bilgi gövdesi hakkında farklı bilinç düzeylerine yer veren hatta bugünkü din-siyaset ilişkilerinin köklü sorunlarına ışık tutan bir metin olarak da sunmuştur. Buradan hareketle denilebilir ki roman, edebiyat-toplum ilişkisi bağlamında bir taraftan toplumunun dini ve siyasi değerleri çerçevesinde olayları örgütlerken diğer taraftan bu değerlere postmodern bakış açıları sunmak suretiyle bir zenginlik katmıştır. Nihayet Karda Pamuk Türkiye’de din ve siyaset ilişkilerinin toplum temelinde edebi bir dışavurumunu gerçekleştirmiştir. Ancak bu dışavurum Osmanlıdan Cumhuriyete intikal eden dini ve siyasi birikim yanı sıra kendinin kurumsal bir bagaj etrafında şekillendirdiği sosyal kişiliğinden bağımsız olmamıştır.Açıkça Pamuk, Karda din ve siyasete, onların birbirleriyle olan ilişkilerine bazen farklı karakterler üzerinden bazen de ironi ve eleştiriler yoluyla bir dizi anlamlar yüklemiştir. Postmodern bir paradigma etrafında Kar din ve siyasetin farklı anlam dünyalarını ve bu kadim iki sosyal kurumun farklı görüntülerini felsefi ve sosyolojik bir bakış açısı içinde sunmuştur. Başka bir ifadeyle Pamuk romanın olay örgüsünü, sosyal tiplerini, sosyal sınıfları ve bunların epistemolojik birikimlerini kendi doğal sosyoekonomik, kültürel, dini ve politik ortamlarında ele almıştır. Kar, İslamcı-modernist gerilimi üzerinden şekillenen bir kimlik mücadelesi etrafında kurgulanmıştır. Burada din ve siyasetin bireysel-uzlaşmacı yönlerine yer verilmekle birlikte “Kemalist” ve “İslamcılar”ın dayatmacı, popülist siyaset anlayışları ile dinin dışlayıcı ve ideolojik yönü öne çıkarılmıştır. Dolayısıyla roman 28 Şubat 1997 askeri müdahalesinden esinlenerek Türkiye’de bir karşılığa sahip dini ve siyasi kültüre ışık tutmuş ve nihayet toplumun din ve siyaset kurumlarına ait anlam şebekeleri hakkında bugüne de yansıyan önemli fotoğraflar çekmiştir.Karda din ve siyaset “darbe”, “Kemalizm”, “siyasal İslam”, “türban”, “İslamcı”, “laik” gibi kavramlara yüklenen anlamlar üzerinden işlenmiştir. Romanda “darbe” özelinde ortaya konan sosyal ve politik görüntüler 2000’li yıllar itibariyle Cumhuriyet’in yaklaşık son yarım yüzyılını gösteren bir dizi semboller taşımıştır. Nitekim romanda konu edinilen darbe özellikle 1980 sonrası yaşanan sosyoekonomik, kültürel, siyasi, dini ve etnik sorunlar etrafında örgütlenip güçlenen “dinci”lere karşı yapılmıştır. Öte yandan romanda “Kemalizm” ve onun yaydığı ideoloji, Türkiye’de siyasetin değerlendirildiği diğer önemli bir tema olmuştur. Bu bağlamda farklı kategorik özellikler taşımakla birlikte genel olarak “Kemalizm” ve askeri bürokrasinin topluma ve onun değerlerine bakışı, romanda bireysel hak ve özgürlükleri devlet lehine kısıtlayan jakoben ve elitist bir tavır içinde sunulmuştur.Romanda dinin alt sınıf örüntüsü olma, görece yoksunlukları telafi etme, yerine göre sosyal değişimi engelleme gibi özelliklerine vurgu yapılmakla birlikte daha çok onun darbe ile siyasal, ideolojik, popülist ve araçsal bir kimlik kazanması üzerinde durulmuştur. Nitekim türbanlı kızlar meselesi siyasal İslamcılar tarafından sembol bir dava olarak görülmüş ve onlar bu davayı siyasi bir malzeme yapmışlardır. Karda din ve siyaset ayrı, yerine göre birbirleriyle çatışan sosyal kurumlar olarak değerlendirilmekle birlikte özellikle Şeyh Efendi ve bazı bürokratların çıkar ilişkileri bağlamında söz konusu iki kurumun karşılıklı ilişkilerine de yer verilmiştir. Dolayısıyla Kar Türkiye’de din-siyaset ilişkisinin sembolik düzlemde yerini bulan kadim ilişkilerine de işaret etmiş olmaktadır.Gerek siyasi gerek dini her türlü dayatmaya karşı edebi bir tavır olarak kendini gösteren Kar din ve siyasete çoğulcu bir bakış önerisi getirmiştir. Türk romanı açısından yeni sayılabilecek bu durum aslında bir yönüyle de okuyucuya dinsel ve siyasal kültür konusunda yeni evrenler sunmuştur. Ancak söz konusu öneri ve bakış açıları dini ve siyasi kültürün kendi dinamiklerinden bağımsız şekillenmiş değildir. (shrink)

Undoubtedly, Abū Ḥanīfa (d. 150/767) is one of the most important subjects affecting the development of Islamic thought for about thirteen centuries. Not only Islamic law; however, with his fundamental contributions to the doctrine, he continues to influence a very large environment in the Islamic geography today. In fact, this effect has been attractive enough to create a depth that permeates the daily lives of societies from economics to law, from education to health, beyond these mere theoretical and practical dimensions (...) of religion. Essentially, the interpretation of Islam systematized by Abū Ḥanīfa in the context of a religious philosophy and method has been the subject of a heated discussion and evaluation under different Islamic paradigms since the very first time. Today, the issue has gained a different dimension in parallel with the increasing tensions in all aspects of the Islamic world. Apart from the interest shown to him in the context of organized religion, Abū Ḥanīfa has been a means of reaction to the Arab religion and politics attitude on the one hand, and on the other hand he has been made the object of conflict, harmony and incompatibilities in the context of modernization. The research is limited to studies conducted in Turkey between 2000 and 2020 years on Abū Ḥanīfa. The research is based on the assumption that these studies dealt with Abū Ḥanīfa almost completely detached from her sociological and historical personality and confronted with a theoretical problem. In the study, a theoretical analysis of the mentioned literature has been made and a theoretical proposal has been made for the studies in the field. With the research, it is aimed to make a theoretical contribution to the Abū Ḥanīfa literature. For this purpose, the general theoretical view of these studies is tried to be understood by scanning the books, articles and symposium papers covering these years. In this framework, some semantic packages that manifest themselves widely in the studies are determined, and thus the unchanging concrete reflections of the phenomenon problematized in the research are tried to be understood. The data in the study are evaluated in the context of phenomenological sociology of knowledge. From the earliest times to today, Abū Ḥanīfa is not only about the theological perception of people; besides, he has drawn an image surrounded by the limitations drawn by their socioeconomic, cultural, political and ideological circles. On the other hand, it can easily be seen that the approaches reflected in the literature about Abū Ḥanīfa, whether they come from the Hanafi school or have matured within another tradition of thought, are almost entirely shaped in a macro-theological, suprahistorical, universalist and nomothetic perspective. It can also be said that these studies have not attempted to open themselves up to new discussions in theoretical terms. In the years that were the subject of the research, Abū Ḥanīfa was the subject of periodicals and symposiums conducted within a program rather than copyrighted works. The literature, which is clearly observed to be confronted with a theological contraction, is progressing with a more doctrine debate today. It is understood that relatively less practical areas of discussion have emerged with the motive of responding to developments in the Islamic world and on a global scale, ignoring Abū Ḥanīfa 's sociological background. Handing over to Abū Ḥanīfa, disciplinary populism, sectarian marginalization, romanticization and ideological commodification are important meaning packages reflected in the literature. The main concern of all this semantic reality is to build an order based on the knowledge stock in the tradition against the breaks and traumas in the social structure. However, this approach to explain Abū Ḥanīfa has revealed some theoretical problems. In another respect, the perspectives that dominated the literature made such generalizing attitudes inevitable. As a result, with this theoretical point of view, Abū Ḥanīfa has been turned into a historical problem in related studies in general. Finally, in this study, a historical, idiographic perspective emphasizing the specificity to the social event is proposed for the literature of Abū Ḥanīfa. In this context, the article draws attention to the phenomenological sociology of knowledge that takes the understanding of each event in its own reality as opposed to macro approaches. (shrink)

In the context of the main principles, modernity has affected the relationship of individuals with society in two ways; either by promoting a comprehensive individualization or by paradoxically surrendering individual freedoms to new relations due to the many risks it carries. In the modernization process, religion has been affected not only in the context of traditional and everyday patterns; but also, it has been significantly influenced in terms of its dimensions corresponding to the public space. This study examined the relationship (...) between religion and modernization in the sample of Theology Faculty at Sivas Cumhuriyet University which is an organized and official field of religion. The aim of the research is to understand and explain the aspects of modernization in theology faculties that look at individual identity through some concepts such as religion and world designs, pluralism, perspectives on lifestyles, attitudes towards gender, and consumption. In line with these goals, the article problematizes the relations between the attitudes and behaviors of the participants due to modernization and the religious theory of orthodox Islam, political secularism, globalization, and socioeconomic and cultural environments. Within a qualitative method, the research was planned as a "single event" study. With the help of semi-structured interview questions, the data obtained from a sample group consisting of male and female students from different classes by techniques such as "problem-centered interview", "narrative", "participated observation" were theoretically analyzed from interactionist, ethnomethodological, and phenomenological perspectives. Considering its sources, theology in Turkey was shaped under the intense influence of Jacobin and elitist political secularism during the first three quarters of the Republic. In the last quarter of its century-old history, it can be said that a conservative, Islamist secularism was effective there. In this context, the status accorded to religion by the political institution in its authoritarian structure in Turkey, on the one hand, makes sense in terms of the shape and direction of religion and society relations, on the other hand, it gives an idea about the general situation of theology as an official educational institution and the contents of the roles and functions expected from it. For this reason, it is understood that the future of theology in Turkey will be shaped depending on the politics, religion, human, and society paradigms of the political bureaucracy for now, whether in terms of human resources and public visibility or within the scope of the relations of institutional religion with society. All these are related to the social realities as well as the central position and character of politics in the society in Turkey. Besides, these realities strongly show the close relationship of theology with Turkish modernization. For this reason, in this study, political secularism has been seen as an important component of religion and modernization relations in theology. However, this relationship is not with a one-sided point of view that secularism affects theology; from the perspective that theology also affects the direction and forms of modernization and secularization in Turkey, it is discussed in a mutual way. As a matter of fact, as it can be seen, while theology was functionalized for the construction of the nation-state and a secular society paradigm in most of the history of the republic, it also produced an alternative, Islamic secularization related to a postmodern ethics by approaching the ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic designs of religion and world of environmental movements in more modern periods. Today, theology students, like every student, are faced with fluidizing all the artificial and natural boundaries of modernity and their traditional environments outside their own borders, and at the same time being a member of a wider world without borders. These developments, which clearly point to a change in attitude and attitude towards the secular field, are not only for theology students to reach new values in religion and world relations; it has also been important in the context of their entering into very important conflicts and tensions in the context of their individual identities. Finally, when it was associated with “orthodox Islam”, it was seen that this new socialization environment and the tension created by these created a series of alienation in theology in the context of gender, lifestyles, leisure activities, and consumption. (shrink)

Introduction These essays have been written over a period of about ten years and have already been published separately in various places. ...

I lay out the framework for my theory of sensory imagination in “Imagining as a guide to possibility.” Sensory imagining involves mental imagery , and crucially, in describing the content of imagining, I distinguish between qualitative content and assigned content. Qualitative content derives from the mental image itself; for visual imaginings, it is what is “pictured.” For example, visually imagine the Philadelphia Eagles defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers to win their first Super Bowl. You picture the greenness of the field and (...) the football’s brown oblong shape. Some of what you imagine isn’t explicitly pictured, however. That it is Sunday, that it is the Super Bowl: these facts are assigned. (shrink)

Political decisions have the potential to greatly impact our lives. Think of decisions in relation to abortion or climate change, for example. This makes political legitimacy an important normative concern. But what makes political decisions legitimate? Are they legitimate in virtue of having support from the citizens? Democratic conceptions of political legitimacy answer in the affirmative. Such conceptions righly highlight that legitimate political decision-making must be sensitive to disagreements among the citizens. But what if democratic decisions fail to track what (...) there is most reason to do? What if a democratically elected government fails to take measures necessary to protect its population from threats related to climate change? Peter argues that the legitimacy of political decisions doesn't just depend on respect for the citizens' will; and defends a novel hybrid conception of political legitimacy, called the Epistemic Accountability conception. According to this conception, political legitimacy also depends on how political decision-making responds to evidence for what there is most reason to do. Grounds for Political Legitmacy starts with an overview of the main ways in which philosophers have thought about political legitimacy, and identifies the epistemic accountability conception as an overlooked alternative. It then develops the epistemic accountability conception of political legitimacy and discusses its implications for legitimate political decision-making. Considering the norms that should govern political debate, it examines the role of experts in politics, and probes the responsibilities of democratically elected political leaders and as well as of citizens. (shrink)

In at least some cases of justified perceptual belief, our perceptual experience itself, as opposed to beliefs about it, evidences and thereby justifies our belief. While the phenomenon is common, it is also mysterious. There are good reasons to think that perceptions cannot justify beliefs directly, and there is a significant challenge in explaining how they do. After explaining just how direct perceptual justification is mysterious, I considerMichael Huemers (Skepticism and the Veil of Perception, 2001) and Bill Brewers (Perception and (...) Reason, 1999) recent, but radically different, attempts to eliminate it. I argue that both are unsuccessful, though a consideration of their mistakes deepens our appreciation of the mystery. (shrink)

This book offers a reassessment of the political philosophy of the British Idealists, a group of once influential and now neglected nineteenth-century Hegelian philosophers, whose work has been much misunderstood. Peter Nicholson focuses on F. H. Bradley's idea of morality and moral philosophy; T. H. Green's theory of the Common Good, of the social nature of rights, of freedom, and of state interference; and Bernard Bosanquet's notorious theory of the General Will. By examining the arguments offered by the Idealists (...) and by their critics the author is able to penetrate the deep layers of hostile comment laid down by several generations of later writers and to show that these ideas, once properly understood, are not only defensible but interesting and important. (shrink)

In the Western world it is usually taken as given that we all want happiness, and our educational arrangements tacitly acknowledge this. Happiness, Hope, and Despair argues, however, that education has an important role to play in deepening our understanding of suffering and despair as well as happiness and joy. Education can be uncomfortable, unpredictable, and unsettling; it can lead to greater uncertainty and unhappiness. Drawing on the work of Søren Kierkegaard, Miguel de Unamuno, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Simone Weil, Paulo Freire, (...) and others, Peter Roberts shows why these features of educational life need not be feared; to the contrary, they can be seen as a source of hope and human fulfilment. After years of negotiating an education system dominated by the language of competition, performance, and economic advancement, students and teachers often long for something different; they seek not just measurable success but also opportunities to ask searching questions of themselves and the world they encounter. Happiness, Hope, and Despair makes an important contribution toward meeting this need. It fosters a rethinking of the nature, purpose, and value of education, and opens up possibilities for further scholarly and professional inquiry. (shrink)

Our topic is the theory of topics. My goal is to clarify and evaluate three competing traditions: what I call the way-based approach, the atom-based approach, and the subject-predicate approach. I develop criteria for adequacy using robust linguistic intuitions that feature prominently in the literature. Then I evaluate the extent to which various existing theories satisfy these constraints. I conclude that recent theories due to Parry, Perry, Lewis, and Yablo do not meet the constraints in total. I then introduce the (...) issue-based theory—a novel and natural entry in the atom-based tradition that meets our constraints. In a coda, I categorize a recent theory from Fine as atom-based, and contrast it to the issue-based theory, concluding that they are evenly matched, relative to our main criteria of adequacy. I offer tentative reasons to nevertheless favour the issue-based theory. (shrink)

This book presents and evaluates the late philosophy (Spätphilosophie) of F. W. J. Schelling (1775-1854) across a wide range of issues, ranging from relation between pure thinking and being, to the philosophy of mythology and religion, to the philosophy of history, to questions concerning the philosophy of nature and freedom. Simultaneously, it discusses Hegel's treatment of similar issues, and systematically compares the two thinkers. This is the first time, in an English-language publication, that these two major German Idealists have been (...) compared in such detail along such a broad front. The book begins with three chapters exploring the development of Schelling's thinking concerning transcendental philosophy, nature and teleology, human freedom, and the theory of history, from his earliest publications up to his middle years. Against this background, the book then presents Schelling's distinction between "positive" and "negative" philosophy, the defining mark of his late philosophy. It explores his theory of pure a priori thinking (negative philosophy), and his account of the transition from negative to positive philosophy. The major components of Schelling's positive philosophy, including his conception of "un-pre-thinkable being", and his theories of mythology and revelation, are then discussed. Throughout, a comparative assessment of Hegel's approach similar issues is sustained. Schelling emerges as a philosopher who traced his own highly distinctive path through the thicket of problems bequeathed by Kant, and whose systematic responses to these problems still merit serious consideration as alternatives to those of Hegel. (shrink)

This is the first volume of a projected three-volume set on the subject of innateness. The extent to which the mind is innate is one of the central questions in the human sciences, with important implications for many surrounding debates. By bringing together the top nativist scholars in philosophy, psychology, and allied disciplines these volumes provide a comprehensive assessment of nativist thought and a definitive reference point for future nativist inquiry. The Innate Mind: Structure and Content, concerns the fundamental architecture (...) of the mind, addressing such question as: What capacities, processes, representations, biases, and connections are innate? How do these innate elements feed into a story about the development of our mature cognitive capacities, and which of them are shared with other members of the animal kingdom? The editors have provided an introduction giving some of the background to debates about innateness and introducing each of the subsequent essays, as well as a consolidated bibliography that will be a valuable reference resource for all those interested in this area. The volume will be of great importance to all researchers and students interested in the fundamental nature and powers of the human mind. Together, the three volumes in the series will provide the most intensive and richly cross-disciplinary investigation of nativism ever undertaken. They point the way toward a synthesis of nativist work that promises to provide a new understanding of our minds and their place in the natural order. (shrink)

Epistemic defeat is standardly understood in either evidentialist or responsibilist terms. The seminal treatment of defeat is an evidentialist one, due to John Pollock, who famously distinguishes between undercutting and rebutting defeaters. More recently, an orthogonal distinction due to Jennifer Lackey has become widely endorsed, between so-called doxastic (or psychological) and normative defeaters. We think that neither doxastic nor normative defeaters, as Lackey understands them, exist. Both of Lackey’s categories of defeat derive from implausible assumptions about epistemic responsibility. Although Pollock’s (...) evidentialist view is superior, the evidentialism per se can be purged from it, leaving a general structure of defeat that can be incorporated in a reliabilist theory that is neither evidentialist nor responsibilist in any way. (shrink)

In the mid-seventeenth century a movement of self-styled experimental philosophers emerged in Britain. Originating in the discipline of natural philosophy amongst Fellows of the fledgling Royal Society of London, it soon spread to medicine and by the eighteenth century had impacted moral and political philosophy and even aesthetics. Early modern experimental philosophers gave epistemic priority to observation and experiment over theorising and speculation. They decried the use of hypotheses and system-building without recourse to experiment and, in some quarters, developed a (...) philosophy of experiment. The movement spread to the Netherlands and France in the early eighteenth century and later impacted Germany. Its important role in early modern philosophy was subsequently eclipsed by the widespread adoption of the Kantian historiography of modern philosophy, which emphasised the distinction between rationalism and empiricism and had no place for the historical phenomenon of early modern experimental philosophy. The re-emergence of interest in early modern experimental philosophy roughly coincided with the development of contemporary x-phi and there are some important similarities between the two. (shrink)

Explores how to identify future-proof science. Peter Vickers takes a transdisciplinary approach in his analysis of 'scientific fact' in order to defend science against potentially dangerous scepticism.

Neural organization: Structure, function, and dynamics shows how theory and experiment can supplement each other in an integrated, evolving account of the brain's structure, function, and dynamics. Structure: Studies of brain function and dynamics build on and contribute to an understanding of many brain regions, the neural circuits that constitute them, and their spatial relations. We emphasize Szentágothai's modular architectonics principle, but also stress the importance of the microcomplexes of cerebellar circuitry and the lamellae of hippocampus. Function: Control of eye (...) movements, reaching and grasping, cognitive maps, and the roles of vision receive a functional decomposition in terms of schemas. Hypotheses as to how each schema is implemented through the interaction of specific brain regions provide the basis for modeling the overall function by neural networks constrained by neural data. Synthetic PET integrates modeling of primate circuitry with data from human brain imaging. Dynamics: Dynamic system theory analyzes spatiotemporal neural phenomena, such as oscillatory and chaotic activity in both single neurons and neural networks, the self-organizing development and plasticity of ordered neural structures, and learning and memory phenomena associated with synaptic modification. Rhythm generation involves multiple levels of analysis, from intrinsic cellular processes to loops involving multiple brain regions. A variety of rhythms are related to memory functions. The Précis presents a multifaceted case study of the hippocampus. We conclude with the claim that language and other cognitive processes can be fruitfully studied within the framework of neural organization that the authors have charted with John Szentágothai. (shrink)

An introduction to the life and work of the philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Truthmaker theorists hold that propositions about higher-level entities (e.g. the proposition that there is a heap of sand) are often made true by lower-level entities (e.g. by facts about the configuration of fundamental particles). This generates a problem: what should we say about these higher-level entities? On the one hand, they must exist (since there are true propositions about them), on the other hand, it seems that they are completely superfluous and should be banished for reasons of ontological parsimony. Some (...) truthmaker theorists—most prominently David Armstrong—have tried to solve this puzzle by arguing that these entities are ‘an ontological free lunch’, i.e. real existents that are still ‘no addition of being’. This answer is prima facie attractive, but I argue in this paper that the standard approaches to truthmaking—modal theories and grounding theories—are unable to vindicate the doctrine of the ontological free lunch, and thus fail to solve the problem of higher-level entities. Fortunately, there is a non-standard account of truthmaking available, the reductive explanation account, which succeeds where the standard approaches fail. (shrink)

This chapter investigates the extent to which claims of massive modular organization of the mind (espoused by some members of the evolutionary psychology research program) are consistent with the main elements of the simple heuristics research program. A number of potential sources of conflict between the two programs are investigated and defused. However, the simple heuristics program turns out to undermine one of the main arguments offered in support of massive modularity, at least as the latter is generally understood by (...) philosophers. So one result of the argument will be to force us to re-examine the way in which the notion of modularity in cognitive science should best be characterized, if the thesis of massive modularity isn’t to be abandoned altogether. What is at stake in this discussion, is whether there is a well-motivated notion of ‘module’ such that we have good reason to think that the human mind must be massively modular in its organization. I shall be arguing (in the end) that there is. (shrink)

It was pointed out, first by Robert Stalnaker, then also by Andy Egan, that David Lewis’s model of centered-worlds contents has undesired consequences for communication of de se contents. The recent years have seen a number of attempts to save the model by amending it to handle de se communication. Proposals include the appeal to sequences of individuals in the centers, to ersatz classical propositions, and to operations of “re-centering”. The authors are Dilip Ninan and Stephan Torre, Sarah Moss and (...) Max Kölbel, and Alan Gibbard and Clas Weber. The present paper discusses these attempts. The conclusion is that they fail. (shrink)

This essential introduction to the philosopher and his thought, combines passages from Wittgenstein with detailed interpretation. Hacker leads us into a world of philosophical investigation in which "to smell a rat is ever so much easier than to trap it". Wittgenstein defined humans as language-using creatures. The role of philosophy is to ask questions which reveal the limits and nature of language. Taking the expression, description and observation of pain as examples, Hacker explores the ingenuity with which Wittgenstein identified the (...) rules and set the limits of language. (shrink)

One can rightly say of Peter Sloterdijk that each of his essays and lectures is also an unwritten book. That is why the texts presented here, which sketch a philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger, should also be characterized as a collected renunciation of exhaustiveness. In order to situate Heidegger's thought in the history of ideas and problems, Peter Sloterdijk approaches Heidegger's work with questions such as: If Western philosophy emerged from the spirit of the polis, what are we (...) to make of the philosophical suitability of a man who never made a secret of his stubborn attachment to rural life? Is there a provincial truth of which the cosmopolitan city knows nothing? Is there a truth in country roads and cabins that would be able to undermine the universities with their standardized languages and globally influential discourses? From where does this odd professor speak, when from his professorial chair in Freiburg he claims to inquire into what lies beyond the history of Western metaphysics? Sloterdijk also considers several other crucial twentieth-century thinkers who provide some needed contrast for the philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger. A consideration of Niklas Luhmann as a kind of contemporary version of the Devil's Advocate, a provocative critical interpretation of Theodor Adorno's philosophy that focuses on its theological underpinnings and which also includes reflections on the philosophical significance of hyperbole, and a short sketch of the pessimistic thought of Emil Cioran all round out and deepen Sloterdijk's attempts to think with, against, and beyond Heidegger. Finally, in essays such as "Domestication of Being" and the "Rules for the Human Park," which incited an international controversy around the time of its publication and has been translated afresh for this volume, Sloterdijk develops some of his most intriguing and important ideas on anthropogenesis, humanism, technology, and genetic engineering. (shrink)

A range of seemingly unrelated problems at the forefront of controversy about consciousness, language, and vision, among others, have a deep connection with one another that has gone unnoticed. This book suggests that this mistake arises not from what is put into a theory but rather from what is missing.

Framed by the theory of evolution, this volume offers a new understanding of the mechanisms by which we transfer information from narrative make-believe to real life. Ranging across game theory and philosophy of science, as well as poetics and aesthetics, Peter Swirski explains how literary fictions perform as a systematic tool of enquiry, driven by thought experiments. Crucially, he argues for a continuum between the cognitive tools employed by scientists, philosophers, and scholars or writers of fiction."--Jacket.