In this article, I show how resources for an education for non-dichotomous thinking can be drawn from the two Daoist texts, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi. Dichotomous thinking can be defined as thinking that considers things in terms of strict and even irreconcilable dichotomous oppositions. The authors of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi are known for their criticism of such dichotomous thinking. At the same time however, these authors seem to fall into this very kind of thinking which they criticize. (...) That is to say, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi often promote adherence to conventionally ‘lower’ values over ‘higher’ ones. I believe though that this tension can be resolved if viewed through a pedagogical framework. Specifically, the adherence to ‘lower values’ can be seen as the initial step in the process of Daoist self-cultivation where one reduces the artificial distinctions one adheres to in order to prepare one’s disposition for union with Dao, which in turn entails non-dichotomous thinking. (shrink)

The Golden Age of postwar capitalism has been eclipsed, and with it seemingly also the possibility of harmonizing equality and welfare with efficiency and jobs. Most analyses believe that the emerging postindustrial society is overdetermined by massive, convergent forces, such as tertiarization, new technologies, or globalization, all conspiring to make welfare states unsustainable in the future. Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies takes a second, more sociological and more institutional, look at the driving forces of economic transformation. What, as a result, (...) stands out is postindustrial diversity, not convergence. Macroscopic, global trends are undoubtedly powerful, yet their influence is easily rivalled by domestic institutional traditions, by the kind of welfare regime that, some generations ago, was put in place. It is, however, especially the family economy that hold the key as to what kind of postindustrial model will emerge, and to how evolving tradeoffs will be managed. Twentieth-century economic analysis depended on a set of sociological assumptions that, now, are invalid. Hence, to better grasp what drives today's economy, we must begin with its social foundations. (shrink)

I aim to show how Confucian philosophy can contribute to the contemporary resurgence of virtue ethics education by arguing that it has the resource to address a lacuna in Aristotelian ethics. Aristotelian ethics, which is arguably the main resource of contemporary virtue ethics, lacks a virtue that corresponds to the notion of loving each person as one’s self or the Golden Rule. To be more precise, Aristotelian ethics has no virtue about loving all people as one’s self, although philia comes (...) close but is precisely limited because it lacks universality. However, I believe that Dai Zhen’s interpretation of the Confucian virtues of shu and zhong does have this universal scope which philia lacks. For Dai, the ground for loving another is not any characteristic that a particular group of people have in common, such as, in the case of philia, being virtuous. Rather, the ground is universal human nature itself. (shrink)

This article focuses on the welfare state, which includes social protection, health, education and training, housing, and social services, but can also be conceived more broadly to include policies that affect earnings capacity and the structure of the labour market. It discusses the difficulties of capturing the impact of the welfare state on income inequality, given that one does not observe what the distribution would be in the absence of the welfare state or specific aspects of it. Theories of welfare (...) state redistribution are reviewed, and the conventional categorization into welfare ‘regimes’ discussed. The empirical evidence about the extent and nature of redistribution by the welfare state is described, including noncash services as well as cash transfers, and the impact on poverty in particular is discussed. Economic inequality is also strongly affected by the political process, and vice versa. (shrink)

La non esistenza di una tradizione storico-filosofica milanese. Una storia della filosofia senza convinzioni filosofiche finisce per divorare se stessa.

Does talking about the triumph of the 1986 People Power EDSA Revolution still make sense nowadays? When the ideals of this glorious revolution are now nothing but contents of Philippine history textbooks and items of the culture industry, do we still need to re-imagine it? These are some of the reflective questions that will challenge and guide this paper‟s architecture. In what follows, the author will push all the possibilities for a Nietzschean re- thinking of the EDSA Revolution as “ (...) the experience of difference and an exemplar of ascending life. ” In the first part, an account of the nature of EDSA revolution will be illustrated; while in the second, the principle of the „ Will to Power ‟ and „ Eternal Return ‟ will be explained using Gille s Deleuze‟s rhizomatic eyeglasses. In the third, the narrative of the revolution, i.e., the process on how the Epifanio Delos Santo Avenue turned into an arena for collective-political action will be delineated. Furthermore, the concept of difference will be utilized in explaining the dynamic occurrences produced by the Dionysian assemblage of Filipino bodies. In the last, the challenge of a different return of the said revolution will be explained. (shrink)

The article is translated here from John R. Searle : What is an Institution? Journal of Institutional Economics (2005), 1: 1, 1–22 Printed in the United Kingdom, The JOIE Foundation, 2005.

Smart communities have recently gained much attention. Researchers have been trying to tackle a number of challenges faced by smart communities. Interoperability is one key challenge that occurs due to different systems using different knowledge representations. To solve interoperability problems, ontologies are seen as a promising solution as they provide a commonly agreed vocabulary for representing data that are understandable by stakeholders of smart communities. Smart communities make use of Internet of Things and ubiquitous networks to support communication among objects (...) and devices in such environments. Smart campuses are examples of smart communities. Recently, many articles related to ontologies focusing on smart communities and smart campuses in IoT environments, have been published. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review that has been conducted using Google Scholar. 18 ontologies for smart communities/smart campuses have been identified and analyzed out of 341 articles from year 2010 to 2019. The review classifies the ontologies in terms of domain, ontologies being reused, availability online, limitations, language adopted and coverage. It additionally discusses on the standards, the level of expressiveness, the ontology development approaches and methodologies adopted by the identified ontologies. Our analysis shows that the identified ontologies have been developed based on different ontological commitments. None of them have come up with a core semantic model that models different collaborating domains in a smart campus such as smart learning, smart management, smart governance, smart room, smart health, smart library and smart parking among others and that enhances cross-domain interoperability in a such an environment. Further details on our findings are presented and discussed in the paper. (shrink)

This paper considers some thesis proposed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty during his lessons on sleeping and dreaming in the mid fifties, also with reference to the contemporary scientific debate. Dreaming and sleeping constitute a privileged perspective for considering the characteristic human interweaving of natural and cultural aspects, of animality and meaning. The immediate association of sleeping with a suspension of consciousness and with an absence of worldly contacts seems problematic. Furthermore the dualistic opposition between conscious activity and bodily passivity seems far (...) less obvious. Besides it appears as not taken for granted that human acting and experiencing could be always considered as first person's phenomena. (shrink)

Dil, dünya ile düşünce ilişkisini dil aracılığıyla kurma ve dil bağlamında bilgiye açıklık kazandırma amacını güden mantıkçı pozitivizm, 20. yüzyılın önemli düşünsel eğilimlerinden biridir. Bu anlayışa göre başta felsefe olmak üzere disiplinlerdeki çeşitli konu ve problemler, yeni mantığın metotları eşliğinde geliştirilen dilsel çözümleme bağlamında tahlil edilmelidir. Bu çerçevede, bilgi değeri taşıyan anlamlı tümceler ile bilgi değeri taşımayan anlamsız tümceler arasına çizilebilecek sınırın işareti olan “anlam kriteri”, mantıkçı pozitivist düşünürlerin temel meselesi haline gelmiştir. Buna dayanarak bilgi değeri taşımamaları ve anlamsız olmaları (...) nedeniyle metafiziğin tümcelerini, felsefeden elimine etme girişimleri ortaya çıkmıştır. Çalışma içerisinde dikkate alınacak olan hususlar, bahsi geçen bu girişimin ilk oluşturucularından olan ve anlamı, yeni mantık çerçevesinde öncelikli bir şekilde inceleyen Frege, Russell ve Wittgenstein’ın yaklaşımlarını incelemektir. Öyle ki bu düşünürlerin izinden giden mantıkçı pozitivistler, anlam sorunu etrafında metafiziğin felsefeden elenmesi çabasını taşımış ve ilerletmişlerdir. Dolayısıyla “anlam”ın yeni mantığın metotları bağlamında nasıl temellendirildiği konusu, bu girişimin kökenlerinin açıklığa kavuşturulması noktasında oldukça mühim bir yere sahiptir. Çalışmanın sınırları içerisinde mantıkçı pozitivist düşünürlerden, dilin mantıksal sentaksına bağlı bir şekilde “doğrulama ile anlam” arasındaki ilişkiyi vurgulayan Carnap’ın ve “anlam kriteri ile doğrulama ilkesi” arasında kurulan bağ ile ön plana çıkan Ayer’in düşüncelerine değinilecektir. (shrink)

Chi siamo e che tipo di relazioni stabiliamo gli uni con gli altri? Luciano Floridi sostiene che gli sviluppi nel campo delle tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione stiano modificando le risposte a domande così fondamentali. I confini tra la vita online e quella offline tendono a sparire e siamo ormai connessi gli uni con gli altri senza soluzione di continuità, diventando progressivamente parte integrante di un’“infosfera” globale. Questo passaggio epocale rappresenta niente meno che una quarta rivoluzione, dopo quelle di Copernico, (...) Darwin e Freud. L’espressione “onlife” definisce sempre di più le nostre attività quotidiane: come facciamo acquisti, lavoriamo, ci divertiamo, coltiviamo le nostre relazioni. In ogni campo della vita, le tecnologie della comunicazione sono diventate forze che strutturano l’ambiente in cui viviamo, creando e trasformando la realtà. Saremo in grado di raccoglierne i frutti? Quali, invece, i rischi impliciti? Floridi suggerisce che dovremmo sviluppare un approccio in grado di rendere conto sia delle realtà naturali sia di quelle artificiali, in modo da affrontare con successo le sfide poste dalle tecnologie correnti e dalle attuali società dell’informazione. (shrink)

Archaeologies of 'Us' and 'Them' explores the concept of indigeneity within the field of archaeology and heritage and in particular examines the shifts in power that occur when 'we' define 'the other' by categorizing 'them' as indigenous. Recognizing the complex and shifting distinctions between indigenous and non-indigenous pasts and presents, this volume gives a nuanced analysis of the underlying definitions, concepts and ethics associated with this field in order to explore indigenous archaeology as a theoretical, ethical and political concept"--Provided by (...) publisher. (shrink)