Der Name Hannah Arendt bezeichnet eine ebenso radikale wie originale Erneuerung der Frage nach der „politischen Freiheit”. Um es gleich zu sagen: Freiheit ist mit dem Politischen identisch und gleichursprünglich. „Der Sinn von Politik ist Freiheit.” Das heißt, die genuin menschliche Freiheit in dieser Welt ist nur politisch vollziehbar, während die Freiheit der einzige Existenz- und Rechtfertigungsgrund der Politik ist. Hannah Arendts Überlegungen über das Kriterium politischer Freiheit konzentrieren sich vor allem auf drei Kategorien: „Identität”, „Pluralität” und „Spontaneität”.

El objetivo fundamental del presente artículo consiste en vincular el concepto de comunidades interpretativas a una posible hermenéutica de la música. De este modo, el lenguaje musical podría ser interpreteado más fácilmente, si se describe analogicamente con su raiz lingüística. De ello deviene que una descripción de las prácticas y comunidades intepretativas de la música, estaría ampliamente emparentada con las prácticas y comunidades interpretativas de los lenguajes naturales. Esta tentación metodológica quiere razonar a través de un caso. Se pretende ver (...) la plausibilidad de la hipótesis con un experimento. El experimento consiste en mostrar cómo se leyó la música de Francisco Guerrero en la Bogotá de la colonia, y señalar si en este caso existen relaciones con el desarrollo de la lectura de lenguajes naturales o, si por el contrario, hay discontinuidades. Se quiere ver si el concepto de comunidades interpretativas puede dar cuenta en cierta medida de la dialéctica entre obra musical y el sentido extratextual del lenguaje musical. Se intentará mostrar así que quizá la música no sea solamente un lenguaje sintáctico, sino que su semántica puede devenir de lo extramusical que se cuela en las prácticas de quien la escribe y quien la lee. (shrink)

Both Watts and Beit-Hallahmi are enthusiastic about attachment theory as an important contribution to the psychology of religion, but they raise very different criticisms regarding other aspects of the book. I respond to Beit-Hallahmi by defending my assertion that a scientific approach to psychology of religion need not lead to the conclusion, nor rest on the premise, that the beliefs under study are ontologically false. I argue further that this "veridicality trap" has deep roots in prevailing, deeply mistaken assumptions about (...) how the mind/brain works, and show how an evolutionary approach clearly exposes such reasoning as fallacious and offers a powerful, alternative perspective on the problem. In response to Watts, I defend evolutionary psychology against the charge that it is not sufficiently empirical, and argue that the computational cognitive approach he prefers should be seen as complementary to an evolutionary approach rather than an alternative to it. (shrink)

Cool Characters tells the story of American political irony from World War II to the present: how irony came to seem politically subversive for American countercultural rebels; how mainstream culture allegedly co-opted countercultural irony; how irony became part of major critical theories of postmodernism; and how -- starting in the late 1980s -- innovative writers developed an idea of "postirony" with the hope of overcoming the political limitations of postmodern irony. To chart the shift from irony to postirony, and show (...) what relationship culture has to politics, the book offers intensive analyses of important American countercultural figures: the hipster, the punk, a figure the author calls "the believer," the coolhunter, and the occupier; and new interpretations of important works by Ralph Ellison, Thomas Pynchon, William S. Burroughs, Kathy Acker, Michael Muhammad Knight, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Alex Shakar, William Gibson, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Lethem, and Rachel Kushner."--Provided by publisher. (shrink)

이 논문은 데이빗 루이스의 시간적 부분 이론(temporal part theory)과 물질적 구성(material consitution)에 대한 반 인와겐의 입장에 대한 논의를 출발점으로 삼는다. 먼저 필자는 루이스의 시간적 부분이론을 반박한다. 루이스의 이론의 핵심적인 내용을 똑같이 반영(mirror)하면서도 그 이론과 상충하는 이론을 구성하고 이 두 이론 중 어느 한 쪽을 선택하는 것은 결국은 임의적인(arbitrary) 결정을 하는 것인데 이 사실은 이 두 이론 모두를 매력적이지 않게 만든다고 주장한다. 이 두 이론을 모두 거부한다면 우리는 사물을 (특별히 문제되는 사물이 ‘자아’라면 더더욱) 어디에 위치시켜야 하는지 새로운 가능성을 탐색해 보게 된다. (...) 다음으로 이 논문은 떨어지지 않은 임의적인 부분(arbitrary undetached part)에 대한 반 인와 겐의 논증을 살펴보고 그 논증을 준거점으로 삼아 물질적 구성(material consitution)에 대한 여러 논문들에 등장한 이론적 가능성을 일별한다. 필자는 이 여러 입장들 뒤에 근본적인 전제로 기능하고 있는 철학적 원자론(philosophical atomism)과 그 이론이 내포하는 환원주의적 접근이 자아가 존재하고 시간 속에 지속한다(endure through time)는 근본적인 믿음을 포함하는 ‘자아의 선차성’ 논제를 위협한다는 것을 지적하고 루이스의 이론에 대한 논의에서 얻은 결론과 결합하여, 상당히 이상해보이지만 고려해볼만한 이론적 가능성으로 자아가 시간 속에 지속하는 영차원의(zero-dimensional) 존재라는 가능성을 제기한다. (shrink)

Popper Proposed the criterion of falsifiability as a solution to the problem of demarcation i.e. of distinguishing science from pseudo-science and not, as many of his contemporaries in the Vienna Circle mistook it to be, a solution to the quite different problem with which they themselves were preoccupied, viz. of providing a criterion of meaning to distinguish the meaningful from the meaningless. While the positivists were concerned to damn metaphysics and exalt science, by identifying the empirically verifiable with the meaningful, (...) Popper was concerned to separate science from scientism, to damn astrology and to extol astronomy. In other words his preoccupation belongs not to the philosophy of language but to the philosophy of science. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn the Timaeus, Plato explicitly defines time as “the moving image of eternity”. This proposition affirms actually that time reflects the eternal that embodies the rational and lawful principle – namely the logos of proportionality – in the motion and change of visible objects in the universe. In other words,time determines the principle that every mutable being must follow to participate in the rational and nomological order of existence; the absolute logos which is given by God is hence intrinsic to (...) time. This idea of time is echoed by the theories of Augustine and Husserl. Both philosophers inherited some of Plato’s metaphysical views, and each of them developed a distinctive theory of the relations between Being, time, and the absolute logos. This paper attempts to compare their theories and to defend the following claim: Augustine fo-cuses on the immutable representation of time which is regarded as the image or reflection of God’s absolute logos, and explains temporal phenome... (shrink)

In the following essay, I argue for an alternative anthropocentrism that, eschewing failed appeals to traditional moral principle, takes (a) as its point of departure the cognitive, perceptual, emotive, somatic, and epistemic conditions of our existence as members of Homo sapiens, and (b) one feature of our experience of/under these conditions particularly seriously as an avenue toward articulating this alternative, the capacity for aesthetic appreciation. To this end, I will explore, but ultimately reject philosopher Allen Carlson's ecological aesthetics, and I (...) will adopt with modification aspects of the work of Ronnie Hawkins, Val Plumwood, and Donna Haraway. My central claim is that, equipped with a better understanding of our interdependent relationship to/within human and nonhuman nature, an understanding made especially available to those who occupy situations imbued by subjugation, we can come to understand our human-centeredness not as a justification of entitlement, but as an opportunity for critical self-reflection upon those actions which endanger the ecological conditions of human and nonhuman being. I suggest, then, that developing criteria for an aesthetic appreciation ground in such a centeredness can make a vital contribution to a more ecologically defensible moral and political activism. (shrink)

Where Taber and Lodge view belief polarization to indicate a “partisan motivation,” Lord et al. (1979) believed it to be consistent with a desire for accuracy: A “weak” study articulating an opposing viewpoint might simply sharpen participants' initial belief of the wisdom of their prior beliefs. This polarization, Taber and Lodge show, correlates with political sophistication: The more partisan a participant, the more time spent reading the opinions of the other side—in order to critically refute them. Taber and Lodge attribute (...) such findings to people's personal identification with their beliefs. However, participants may have spent so much time reading opinions of the other side because the arguments are unfamiliar. Further, Lord et al. (1984) were able to induce people to act with “skepticism” toward their own views by simply suggesting that they “consider the other side.”. (shrink)

This paper deals with the semantics and meta-semantics for ordinary names in fiction. It has recently been argued by some philosophers that when ordinary names are used in fictional contexts, they change their semantic contents and work as fictional names in general. In this paper, I argue that there is no compelling reason to believe that such reference changes occur and defend the view that whether those names refer to real or fictional objects depends on which semantic intentions speakers have.

Unlike natural agents, artificial agents are, to varying extent, designed according to sets of principles or assumptions. We argue that the designer’s philosophical position on truth, belief and knowledge has far reaching implications for the design and performance of the resulting agents. Of the many sources of design information and background we believe philosophical theories are under-rated as valuable influences on the design process. To explore this idea we have implemented some computer-based agents with their control algorithms inspired by two (...) strongly contrasting philosophical positions. A series of experiments on these agents shows that, despite having common tasks and goals, the behaviour of the agents is markedly different and this can be attributed to their individual approaches to belief and knowledge. We discuss these findings and their support for the view that epistemological theories have a particular relevance for artificial agent design. (shrink)

Without doubt, Weighing Lives, like its precursor, Weighing Goods, is an excellent and thought-provoking piece of work. In the first place, it addresses a question of the most fundamental importance, namely: how should we aggregate the well-being of past, present and future members of the human race under the various possible states of the world that may, in the event, prevail? This involves, amongst other things, dealing with questions of aggregation across time, people and different states of the world; the (...) issue of what constitutes a “neutral” state of well-being and what is, in fact, the value of continuing to survive. (shrink)

This article seeks to model the agenda-setting strategies of stakeholders equipped with online and other media in three cases involving protests against multinational corporations (MNCs). Our theoretical objective is to widen agenda-setting theory to a dynamic and nonlinear networked stakeholder context, in which stakeholder-controlled media assume part of the role previously ascribed to mainstream media (MSM). We suggest system dynamics (SD) methodology as a tool to analyse complex stakeholder interactions and the effects of their agendas on other stakeholders. We find (...) that largely similar dynamics of interactions occur among stakeholders in these cases, and that the costs for managements of maintaining their agendas steadily rises. We conclude that the “web of watchdogs” comprises a powerful reason for managers to engage in responsibility negotiations with their stakeholders. (shrink)

I defend Kant’s moral psychology against John R. Silber’s argument that Kant cannot account for the radical evil of Hitler. Silber’s argument cannot be maintained, I argue, if Kant’s account of theological and moral fanaticism, and the personality of the moral fanatic, are taken into account. I contend that Kant’s writings support an analogy between the fanatical pursuit of religious and moral ideals and Hitler’s fanatical pursuit of an ideal of racial purity. I conclude that Kant’s account of moral fanaticism (...) is adequate to account for the actions and moral psychology of Hitler. (shrink)

It is well known that Hume gave a powerful skeptical argument against induction. Many philosophers think that even though Hume’s description of induction is inadequate in some respects, his skeptical argument is still irrefutable. However, Okasha argues that this cannot be right: Once we adequately describe what we are doing with induction, Hume’s skeptical argument cannot be applied to this adequate description of induction any more. In this paper, in opposition to Okasha, I will argue that Hume’s skeptical argument still (...) can be applied even on the ‘adequate’ description of induction. (shrink)

The Worlds of Possibility (1998)에서 찰스 치하라는 S5 양상 양화 논리에 대한 현실주의적 모형 이론 의미론을 제시한다. 치하라의 의미론은 단지 가능하기만한 대상이 존재한다는 가정을 수반하지 않기에 현실주의적이다. 본 논문은 치하라의 의미론의 핵심 개념인 참과 만족 개념에 대해 자세한 분석, 해석, 재정식화를 제시하여, 치하라의 의미론에 대해 제기될 수 있는 여러 문제들을 해결하고자 한다. 치하라의 의미론의 ‘참’ 술어가 단항이 아닌 이항 술어로 이해되어야 하고, 만족 개념은 의미 장치가 있는 준거점과 문장의 진리값이 평가되는 평가점에 상대화된 삼항 관계로 이해되어야 한다고 논증한다.

Danto, Arthur Coleman, 2021. Po konci umění: Současné umění a oblast mimo dějiny. Prel. Šárka Lojdová. Praha: Academia.

An Introduction to Lexical Semantics provides a comprehensive theoretical overview of lexical semantics, analysing the major lexical categories in English: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. The book illustrates step-by-step how to use formal semantic tools.