Technology, in order to be human, needs to be informed by a reflection on what it is to be a tool in ways appropriate to humans. This involves both an instrumental, appropriating aspect (âI use this toolâ) and a limiting, appropriated one (âThe tool uses meâ).
In this paper, we explore some characteristics of the Information Superhighway and the World Wide Web metaphors in the light of the current developments in information technology. We propose that these characteristics constitute a form of conceptual slippage (often in the form of âlexical leakageâ), which helps us detect and predict the tacit impact that the currently available information delivery systems are having on human cognition. We argue that the particular language associated with these systems evolves as a direct result (...) of human cognitive adaptation to the demands, resources, and constraints of highly technological environments. It reflects a growing alienation of the users of computerized systems from the physical aspects of the natural environment in which the disseminated information was originally grounded. We believe that a careful investigation of the pragmatic phenomena which are operative when the information media jargon is used is appropriate to the aims of Cognitive Technology. The role of metaphor as a vehicle for self-expression, as mediated by criteria of relevance, is discussed from this perspective. (shrink)
Since the Public Library of Science launched its first open-access journals and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities has been released in 2003 and found enormous attention, the claim for open accessâto make publicly funded journal articles available for the publicâstarted to reach German scientists too. But still no experience has been made with electronic publishing in general and more specifically with open-access publishing. One consequence is that the potential capacity of open accessâthe (...) (inter) national and (trans) disciplinary visibility and accessibility of scientific outputâis not sufficiently used by German researchers. Ways to successfully establish an open-access journal are presented in this article by referring to Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (FQS) as an example: after introducing the current state of FQS traditional and innovative ways of publishing are being discussed which had been employed while developing FQS and which helped FQS to become the most important electronic journal in the field of qualitative research. (shrink)
In this study of the cognitive paradigm, De Mey applies the study of computer models of human perception to the philosophy and sociology of science. "A most stimulating, and intellectually delightful book."--John Goldsmith "[De Mey] has brought together an unusually wide range of material, and suggested some interesting lines of thought, about what should be an important application of cognitive science: The understanding of science itself."-- Cognition and Brain Theory "It ought to be on the shelf of every teacher and (...) researcher in the field and on the reading list of any student or practitioner seriously interested in how those they serve are likely to set about knowing."-- ISIS. (shrink)
In part because "imagination" is a slippery notion, its exact role in the production of scientific knowledge remains unclear. There is, however, one often explicit and deliberate use of imagination by scientists that can be (and has been) studied intensively by epistemologists and historians of science: thought experiments. The main goal of this article is to document the varieties of thought experimentation, not so much in terms of the different sciences in which they occur but rather in terms of the (...) different functions they fulfil. I argue that thought experimentation (and hence imagination) plays a role not only in theory choice but in singular causal analysis and scientific discovery as well. I pinpoint, moreover, some of the rules governing the use of thought experiments in theory choice and in singular causal analysis, that is, some of the criteria they should meet in order to fulfil those functions successfully. (shrink)
In some of the papers in which she develops and defends the mental modelview of thought experiments in physics, Nersessian expresses the belief that her account has implications for thought experiments in other domains as well. In this paper, I argue, firstly, that counterfactual reasoning has a legitimate place in historical inquiry, and secondly, that the mental model view can account for such "alternative histories". I proceed as follows. Firstly, I review the main accounts of thought experiments in physics and (...) point at some explanatory advantages of the mental model view. Subsequently, I argue that historians cannot dispense with counterfactual reasoning altogether and qualify a number of principled objections against the explicit use of alternative histories for theoretical purposes. Finally, I show that the mental model view can account for such thought experiments in history. (shrink)
Abstract This contribution presents the results of an empirical study aiming to test Kohlberg's complexity hypothesis. It is assumed that in complex socio?political surroundings, individuals are stimulated into higher stages of moral judgements than in a less complicated environment. In order to test the hypothesis we compared the stages of moral judgements of Dutch and former German Democratic Republic (GDR) students belonging to two types of schools. The Dutch (Amsterdam) group was split into VWO (pre?university) students and MAVO (low general (...) secondary education) students. The East German students attend the ?Gymnasium? (pre?university) and the ?Mittelschule? (low general secondary education). The mean age of the Dutch VWO?students was 16.33 and of the MAVO students, 15.39. The mean age of the East German ?Gymnasium? students was 16.35 and that of the ?Mittelschule? students was 16.00. The individuals of the Dutch and East German groups were asked to rate the moral problems in the Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure. The scores were subjected to multivariate analyses of variance to detect differences between the groups. The results did not support Kohlberg's complexity hypothesis. (shrink)
For almost fifty years, David Armstrong has made major contributions in analytic philosophy. The aim of this volume is to collect papers that situate, discuss and critically assess Armstrong’s contributions. The book is organized in three parts. In Section I: Analytical Metaphysics and Its Methodology, certain basic principles of analytic metaphysics advocated by Armstrong (such as truthmaker maximalism and the Doctrine of Ontological Free Lunch) and their consequences are critically examined. The articles of Section II: Laws of Nature, Dispositions, and (...) Modality, study the constraints Armstrong’s naturalism sets to his ontology of modality, laws and dispositions. Finally, the articles of Section III: Mind and Epistemology, study and critically evaluate Armstrong’s contributions in epistemology, the philosophy of perception and color. The collection is meant for all philosophers and scholars interested in these central topics of analytic philosophy. (shrink)
Although the importance, both historically and systematically, of the seventeenth century distinction between primary and secondary qualities is commonly recognised, there is no consensus on its exact nature. Apparently, one of the main difficulties in its interpretation is to tell the constitutive from the argumentative elements. In this paper, we focus on the primary-secondary quality distinctions drawn by Boyle and Locke. We criticise, more specifically, MacIntoshs analysis of them. On the one hand, MacIntosh attributes too many different primary-secondary quality distinctions (...) to Boyle and Locke. On the other hand, he forbears to attribute a particular primary-secondary quality distinction to them, which, at least in the case of Boyle, differs genuinely from his main distinction between the mechanical affections of matter and all of matters other qualities. (shrink)
Two hundred years after his death, Kant remains one of the most important modern philosophers. The Prolegomena is the ideal introduction to Kant's unique account of the nature human knowledge, according to which we actively shape the world as we know it. -/- This new edition of Kant's own summary of his philosophy is designed specially for students. Guenter Zoeller assumes no prior knowledge of the Prolegomena and provides an extensive and comprehensive introduction which explores Kant's life, the origin and (...) reception of the Prolegomena, the organization of the work, its principal arguments, and its philosophical significance. This edition also includes detailed notes to aid student understanding, as well as a chronology, a glossary and an annotated bibliography. (shrink)
