We explore the interaction between oculomotor control and language comprehension on the sentence level using two well-tested computational accounts of parsing difficulty. Previous work (Boston, Hale, Vasishth, & Kliegl, 2011) has shown that surprisal (Hale, 2001; Levy, 2008) and cue-based memory retrieval (Lewis & Vasishth, 2005) are significant and complementary predictors of reading time in an eyetracking corpus. It remains an open question how the sentence processor interacts with oculomotor control. Using a simple linking hypothesis proposed in Reichle, Warren, and (...) McConnell (2009), we integrated both measures with the eye movement model EMMA (Salvucci, 2001) inside the cognitive architecture ACT-R (Anderson et al., 2004). We built a reading model that could initiate short “Time Out regressions” (Mitchell, Shen, Green, & Hodgson, 2008) that compensate for slow postlexical processing. This simple interaction enabled the model to predict the re-reading of words based on parsing difficulty. The model was evaluated in different configurations on the prediction of frequency effects on the Potsdam Sentence Corpus. The extension of EMMA with postlexical processing improved its predictions and reproduced re-reading rates and durations with a reasonable fit to the data. This demonstration, based on simple and independently motivated assumptions, serves as a foundational step toward a precise investigation of the interaction between high-level language processing and eye movement control. (shrink)

What is political about political refugeehood? Theorists have assumed that refugees are special because their specific predicament as those who are persecuted sets them aside from other “necessitous strangers.” Persecution is a special form of wrongful harm that marks the repudiation of a person's political membership and that cannot—contrary to certain other harms—be remedied where they are. It makes asylum necessary as a specific remedial institution. In this article, I argue that this is correct. Yet, the connection between political membership, (...) its repudiation, and persecution is far from clear. Drawing on normative political thought and research on autocracies, repression, and migration studies, I show that it is political oppression that marks the repudiation of political membership and leads to various forms of repression that can equally not be remedied at home. A truly political account moves away from persecution and endorses political oppression as the normative pillar of refugeehood and asylum. (shrink)

It is being increasingly recognized that the Saussurean dictum of “the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign” is in conflict with the pervasiveness of the phenomenon commonly known as “sound symbolism”. After first presenting a historical overview of the debate, however, we conclude that both positions have been exaggerated, and that an adequate explanation of sound symbolism is still lacking. How can there, for example, be (perceived) similarity between expressionsand contents across different sensory modalities? We offer an answer, based on the (...) Peircian notion of iconic ground, and G. Sonesson’s distinction betweenprimary and secondary iconicity. Furthermore, we describe an experimental study, in a paradigm first pioneered by W. Kohler, and recently popularized by V.Ramachandran, in which we varied vowels and consonants in fictive word-forms, and conclude that both types of sounds play a role in perceiving an iconic ground between the word-forms and visual figures. The combination of historical conceptual analysis, semiotic explication and psychological experimentationpresented in this article is characteristic of the emerging paradigm of cognitive semiotics. (shrink)

Should refugees receive political rights in liberal democracies? I argue that they should. Refugees are special – at least when it comes to claims towards democratic inclusion. They lack exit options and are significantly impacted by decisions made in liberal democracies. Enfranchisement is a matter of urgency to them and should occur on a national level. But what justifies the democratic inclusion of refugees? I draw on the all-subjected principle in arguing that all those subjected to rule in a political (...) unit should have a say in such rule. I show that refugees cannot be denied democratic inclusion based on the argument that transients should be excluded from participation. Refugees are not transients. Finally, I show that naturalization is not a prerequisite for enfranchisement. Political rights and citizenship can be had independently of each other. Refugees, then, should be nationally enfranchised as soon as they receive refugee status. (shrink)

SummaryThe present paper deals with the determination of the size and charge of a single submicroscopic particle, measured in a small horizontal condenser of a diameter of approximately 8 mm., using the author's method first stated April 1910. To obtain the highest sensitivity, author used solid particles of an order of magnitude under 3 × 10–5 cm. and found charges less than that of the electron. Various objections were raised against his findings, namely that the particles investigated were not spheres, (...) and that their density was not that of the macroscopic substance, so that his findings of charges less than the electronic charge were merely imaginary. The author has succeeded in precipitating and measuring a particle after having observed it in the condenser under normal and also very high gas pressures. The particles were shown to be perfect spheres. A new method is indicated whereby it is possible to determine the size of sub-microscopic spheres by pushing together two equal spheres with a micromanipulator; the two diffraction disks overlap and render it very easy to determine the actual size. It is also possible to show that the density of each individual sphere is that of the macroscopic substance, since it can be computed easily from the velocity of fall at high gas pressures. These two data being accurately determined, the author still found charges considerably less than the electronic charge, and the deviations are too great to be accounted for by errors of observation. The reason that the author has used a solid substance and not oil, which is a liquid, was in the first place, that liquids evaporate, and therefore do not yield correct results, and secondly, because liquid spheres are not certain to preserve their sphericity when precipitated. Thus charges less than that of the electron are to be considered as actually existing. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Avner de Shalit argues that philosophers should listen to what the public thinks. He argues that by engaging with people in the streets, political philosophy will improve. Yet, what makes the public special in this regard? This response will do three things. First, it asks whether discussing with the public differs in any meaningful way from discussing with other people such as colleagues or students. Second, it questions the methodological approach, asking whether de Shalit's approach provides a legitimate answer (...) to his question. Third, it raises the worry that this approach is prone to doing politics rather than philosophy. (shrink)

Latin American integration, and particularly Caribbean integration is an urgent matter in both practice and theory, one that concerns not only economists, but jurist and historians. It requires a debate around themes of culture, identity and diversity. In this essay, the idea that culture identity ..

La obra constituye una fenomenología del destino de la cultura occidental, frente al fin de siglo, intentando extraer una lógica de nuestra situación a partir del estudio cuidadoso de un movimiento: el Romanticismo. Auscultando los anhelos, nostalgias y esfuerzos de un puñado de individuos que anduvieron errantes por el mapa convulsionado de una Europa entre dos guerras, la revolucionaria-napoleónica y la Primera Guerra Mundial, se trata de entresacar una tipología de la “falta”, o sea: de los residuos que la máquina (...) tecnocientífica del estado-nación nunca pudo asimilar ni reciclar, por más que lo intentara mediante la maniobra de conversión de esos residuos en «entretenimiento» estético. Residuos literalmente no degradables, irrecuperables, teñidos de la fascinación burguesa ante el Mal y su regreso como espectro deformado por la represión. Las aportaciones de los románticos a la cura de las llagas de Europa pueden quedar sepultadas en el olvido. Pero no la puesta de relieve de la carne herida, el desenmascaramiento que ellos llevaron a cabo. (shrink)

In what sense is Nature in God, according to Schelling's Essay on Human Freedom ? The answer to this question, it is argued, involves disclosing the inseparability between 'what is said' and 'how it is said' in the Freiheitsschrift , the discursive performativity on the basis of which Schelling's essay must be read. Part I introduces three 'bonds' that determine Schelling's thinking: a discursive bond , a manifestive bond and a bond of freedom . Part II shows that these three (...) bonds intersect in the Freiheitsschrift . Disclosed at the core of this intersection is, not a bond, but a gap: that between "Nature—in God." This gap is narratively performed with the stroke of a pen—with a dash. (shrink)

This article examines the rise of modern secular, individualistic and rational legal thought from a historical point of view. It will be argued that the well known assumption needs to be critized, that the philosophical background of this development can only be traced back to Hobbes, Locke and Kant. Instead, the two authors of this article will point out that it was rather Ockham who first mentioned notions of modern liberal democracy in his philosophical opus. Furthermore, it will be shown (...) that the traditional interdisciplinary discourse on Thomas Hobbes falls short of a serious discussion of the most critical arguments. On a normative level it will be asked, what a Hobbesian (or for example Kantian discourse-ethical) conception can do for a normative justification of liberal democracy, nationally and transnationally. (shrink)

Within the broader horizon of asking about the relevance of the Reformation, or more particularly, Martin Luther’s thought, this paper first draws on the old debate whether there can be a Christian conception of tragic guilt by reconstructing an argument Giorgio Agamben develops against von Fritz’s denial of this possibility. The paper shows that Agamben makes a similar move as Protestantism by claiming that natura, which is always already spoiled by hamartia, is objective, naturaliter not personaliter. But in doing so, (...) he does not draw the proper consequences. He tries to re-inscribe this realization into a post-Thomist anthropology, thus not drawing the most radical conclusions necessary from the objectification of hamartia as natura, namely that natura is always already lacking and is itself in a sense an object as lack. This paper shows how this consequences is, on the contrary, developed in Martin Luther’s notion that the “whole of nature” is corrupted and in the ensuing totus-homo principle. To draw the delineation of the production of this lack, it is useful to draw on the notion of kerygma and its usage in both tragedy and the Pauline New Testament. With it, one can think of a repetition of the constitution of the subject through a “message” or “kerygma” that is heteronomous. What is left in and through this repetition can be viewed as “nothingness”, as is shown in the example of Martin Luther’s translation of the humilitas of Mary as “nothingness”. This product of kerygma is at the same time potentially the cause for another type of subjectivity, a comic subjectivity, yet one which carries the heritage of its tragic constitution with it. As a methodological consequence, this paper suggests that it is not possible to develop proper notions of the subject within contemporary debates without repeating or representing the event of the site of this potentially comic subjectivity within the early thought of Martin Luther. (shrink)

This article argues that libation, often associated with the ancestors, artefacts, images and pre-Christian religious devotions, constitutes sources for articulating authentic African cultural history of Obang community in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. It highlights that among traditional memory carriers, the ritual of libation remains trust worthy and pervasive, even among communities challenged by globalisation and colonising effects of Christianity. The article demonstrates the immense potentials of libation as an epitome and stabiliser of cultural memory, and a maxim in cultural (...) resilience in contemporary Africa. Thus, the article calls for revisiting this ancient ritual to expose its potentials as a veritable memory repertoire in cultural-historical studies, especially at a time when social change and modernism continue to challenge the memories of traditional societies. (shrink)

El presente artículo se centra en el estudio de la exégesis que lleva a cabo Plotino en torno a la significación de la inefabilidad del uno, planteada en el Parménides platónico al hilo de la primera hipótesis. Este ubica a este primer uno inefable en el centro mismo de su sistema, lo que tendrá fuertes implicaciones tanto a nivel ontológico como por lo que respecta a la comprensión del lenguaje. la concepción de la realidad que se deriva de esta inefabilidad (...) del primer principio, de un lado, y las implicaciones en la naturaleza del lenguaje filosófico que abre este postulado, de otro, ocuparán la centralidad de nuestras reflexiones. Atenderemos a los textos originales en los que se plantea la cuestión, apoyándonos en la labor de la crítica, discutiendo los puntos fundamentales a fin de esclarecer la posición que encontramos en las Enéadas. Tomaremos, asimismo, en consideración la actualidad que tiene esta posición y su capacidad de ir más allá de la crítica heideggeriana a la metafísica. (shrink)

O propósito deste artigo é a exposição de momentos chave da crítica schellingiana à filosofia idealista como forma de compreender o estatuto da filosofia positiva buscada por Schelling em sua obra madura. A crítica de Schelling, dirigida aos resultados negativos da filosofia formal de seus contemporâneos, é contraposta à busca pela positividade na natureza, na mitologia, na história, na religião, em vista da “natureza extralógica da existência”, que se rebela contra a conformação da totalidade do que pode ser conhecido a (...) uma ordem necessária. Embora o projeto da filosofia positiva seja elaborado a partir da década de 1820, já em suas primeiras obras encontramos elementos de sua crítica à pretensão de subsumir em um sistema filosófico a totalidade da realidade.Palavras-chave: Schelling. Idealismo alemão. Filosofia positiva. Sistema da filosofia. (shrink)

El proceso de diseño arquitectónico parte de una actividad mental basada en relaciones de conceptos abstractos y empíricos previos a la materialización de lo que conocemos como espacio construido y arquitectura. Este proceso no empieza en bocetos o planos, sino de manera previa en la mente mediante procesos de relaciones imaginarias de conceptos y analogías. La relación entre la filosofía y la arquitectura hoy no se muestra tan estrecha como en tiempos remotos, sin embargo, su comprensión cobra gran importancia para (...) cuestionar y experimentar de la mejor manera posible los espacios en los que el ser humano crece, se desarrolla y produce su visión de mundo. (shrink)

Mediante un análisis de la escritura schellingiana, en cuanto combinación de narración y retórica, se intenta esclarecer el pasaje capital de las Investigaciones filosóficas de 1809, relativo a la naturaleza — en Dios: un problema que conlleva la escisión primordial entre el fondo divino y su existencia, con la consiguiente apertura de una difícil libertad, humana, demasiado humana.

The debate on climate change needs normative visions and principles to provide orientation and to line up normative requirements. This may enable to provide a comprehensive view on energy and climate topics. This contribution, while dealing with justice, gives a perspective from ethics respectively from a (re-)interpretation of national constitutions, the EU Charter of fundamental rights and the European convention on human rights in the light of sustainability. It takes us to human rights as the basic norm of any liberal (...) democratic constitution (on national and transnational level), but criticizes the academic international law debate (unlike the practice of international law) which seems to be focused on the idea of even absolute, i.e. not subject to any balancing, environmental fundamental rights. Overall, it turns out that an interpretation of fundamental rights which is more multipolar and considers the conditions for freedom more heavily – as well as the freedom of future generations and of people in other parts of the world – develops a greater commitment to climate protection. Regarding the theory of balancing, for the purpose of a clear balance of powers the usual principle of proportionality also proves specifiable. (shrink)

Las reticencias de Hegel sobre la viabilidad de la democracia en el estado moderno pueden explicarse parcialmente como una "querella de palabras", ya que él entiende ese término en el sentido original griego. Cuando se atiende al final del capítulo VI de la Fenomenología del espíritu, y se traduce en sentido secularmente "político" la doctrina del "perdón de los pecados", sustituyendo al "Dios reconciliador" por una conciencia colectiva, formada a partir de aquellos espíritus escogidos que Nietzsche denominara como "buenos europeos", (...) se advierte entonces la posibilidad, no sólo de cerrar satisfactoriamente el curso fenomenológico de la conciencia moral, sino también y sobre todo de aplicar esa concepción a un problema acuciante como el de la futura -y tan controvertida- Konstitution europea, en cuanto plasmación de la interna "Constitución" [Verfassungl de la actual Unión, sin que pueda ser entendida en consecuencia aquélla como una imposición externa sobre ésta.Hegel's hesitancy over the viability of democracy in the modern state may be partially explained as a "dispute of words", since his understanding of the term corresponds to the original Greek meaning. On examining the end of Chapter 6 of the Phenomenology of the Spirit, the doctrine of the "forgiveness of sins" may be interpreted in a secular "political" sense, substituting the "reconciliation God" with a collective conscience, formed from the chosen spirits that Nietzsche calls "good Europeans". It is then noted that not only is it possible to satisfactorily close the phenomenological course of the moral conscience, but also and above all, this conception can be applied to such a pressing problem as that of the future -and controversial- European Konstitution, as an expression of the internal "Constitution" [Verfassung] of the present day Union. The former cannot therefore be understood as an external imposition on the latter. (shrink)

Even though Kant, because of his modus operandi, has been saluted as the renewer of dialectic method (after mature Plato), nonetheless his ars exponiendi, as apparent, for example, in the subjective deduction of categories, has always been characteristically dual (noumenon/phenomenon, understanding/sensibility, theory/praxis, etc.) or fourfold (as in the antinomies, eventually liable to be reduced to two pairs in conflict). However, in the second Critique a notable contradiction arises in a judgment that is pretendedly analytic and also the consequence of the (...) categorical imperative commanding that every man be treated as an end in himself (as representing humanity in his person). There, it is said that such consideration occurs at the same time and in the same regard as the use of man as a means. Far from treating this contradiction as a mere mistake, this article tries to unfold the fruitfulness of that contradictory judgment in order to reconcile the world of politics, based on the spheres of work and private property (characteristic of the realm of means), with the world of morality (beyond mere ethics).With the purpose of elucidating this point, we will resort to the ‘useful fiction’ of a ‘stepmother Nature’ (in the mundane) and to the heterogony of ends, which transform the external freedom (first and most important of passions) into a reflexive and Law-bounded freedom, open to condolence and sacrifice. (shrink)

La vieja Historia griega y la historia magistra vitae ciceroniana exhalan un extraño aroma de eternidad, de negación del tiempo crónico con el fin de ubicar los acontecimientos en su “sitio”: el eón o aevum, la duración para siempre (de donde deriva nuestra “eternidad”. Esta paradoja clásica-que la historia como disciplina y narración impida la conciencia de la historia como vida que inscribe su sentido en sus propios avatares- se ve correspondida, tras la fusión del cristianismo con la Modernidad, con (...) una paradoja inversa: aquí es justamente la convicción exacerbada de la historicidad de las criaturas, la idea de estar expuestos mortalmente al tiempo la que impedirá la constitución de la narración histórica, despachada como descripción de un mundus fabulusus y sustituida por una Filosofía de la Historia que habría de ser paralela en su exactitud y predictibilidad a la Filosofía Natural. Sólo en aquel destello genial e irrepetible constituido por la conjunción del romanticismo (Herder) y el idealismo (Kant, Hegel) se unirán de modo indisoluble historia como acontecer e Historia como disciplina. El sitio común a ambas vendrá dado por una razón capaz de soportar en su seno todo el dolor del mundo. En este ensayo se postula no la impasible vuelta de tal conjunción, sino la fuerza para convivir en un multiverso en ruinas, a la sombra del espectro de aquellas ingentes construcciones. (shrink)

The daily and necessary recollection of the terrorist threat on a global scale entails on the power’s side the strengthening of the surveillance of citizens, precisely in the name of a need for better security measures in favour of the citizens , which results on the citizen’s part in an always stronger repression of the admission of suffering . In the globalised society, the other’s suffering has become incomprehensible. The current anti-terrorist rhetoric consists in turning the loss of the feeling (...) of the alterity into an illusion of tolerance. Maybe this is the reason why neither the State nor the “honest” citizen would benefit from praying: “but deliver us from our daily terrorism.”. (shrink)

El ensayo intenta fijar la deriva de las imágenes modernas del mal, según los estereotipos que el arte y la educación han ido fijando en el imaginario colectivo burgués, y pretende mostrar una progresiva desustancialización de tales figuras, viradas hacia lo cómico y grotesco, a la vez que, precisamente por ello, crece el sentimiento de horror y de angustia ante una oscilación frente a la cual el ciudadano «normal» no sabe literalmente a qué atenerse. En este esbozo de una lógica (...) del exceso, se examinan las figuras decimonónicas de lo criminal, lo fantasmal y lo satánico, las cuales retornan ulteriormente en la llamada postmodernidad como terrorismo, drogadicción y travestismo. (shrink)