Peter Abelard (1079–1142 ce) was the most wide‐ranging philosopher of the twelfth century. He quickly established himself as a leading teacher of logic in and near Paris shortly after 1100. After his affair with Heloise, and his subsequent castration, Abelard became a monk, but he returned to teaching in the Paris schools until 1140, when his work was condemned by a Church Council at Sens. His logical writings were based around discussion of the “Old Logic”: Porphyry's Isagoge, aristotle'S Categories and (...) On Interpretation and boethius'S textbook on topical inference. They comprise a freestanding Dialectica (“Logic”; probably c.1116), a set of commentaries (known as the Logica [Ingredientibus], c. 1119) and a later (c. 1125) commentary on the Isagoge (Logica Nostrorum Petititoni Sociorum or Glossulae). In a work Abelard called his Theologia, issued in three main versions (between 1120 and c.1134), he attempted a logical analysis of trinitarian relations and explored the philosophical problems surrounding God's claims to omnipotence and omniscience. The Collationes (“Debates,” also known as “Dialogue between a Christian, a Philosopher and a Jew”; probably c.1130) present a rational investigation into the nature of the highest good, in which the Christian and the Philosopher (who seems to be modeled on a philosopher of pagan antiquity) are remarkably in agreement. The unfinished Scito teipsum (“Know thyself,” also known as the “Ethics”; c.1138) analyses moral action. (shrink)

A fundamental cognitive function found across a wide range of species and necessary for survival is the ability to navigate complex environments. It has been suggested that mobility may play an important role in the development of spatial skills. Despite evolutionary arguments offering logical explanations for why sex/gender differences in spatial abilities and mobility might exist, thus far there has been limited sampling from nonindustrialized and subsistence-based societies. This lack of sampling diversity has left many unanswered questions regarding the effects (...) that environmental variation and cultural norms may have in shaping mobility patterns during childhood and the development of spatial competencies that may be associated with it. Here we examine variation in mobility, performance on large-scale spatial skills, and performance on small-scale spatial skills among Twa forager/pastoralist children whose daily lives have been dramatically altered since settlement and the introduction of government-funded boarding schools. Unlike in previous findings among Twa adults, boys and girls show similar patterns of travel on all measures of mobility. We also find no significant differences in spatial task performance by gender for large- or small-scale spatial skills. Further, children performed as well as adults did on mental rotation, and they outperformed adults on the water-level task. We discuss how children’s early learning environments may influence the development of both large- and small-scale spatial skills. (shrink)

In our paper we attempt an examination of Hume's positive contributions to the problem of personal identity. In contrast to Penelhum, smith and others, we argue that Hume can and does make sense of the identity of persons through time, but that this identity is not perfect in nature. We argue that Hume presents a logical construction theory of the self. We explain how such a view accounts for our identity and individuality and why it conforms to the empiricist approach.

"Berkeley's Analysis of Perception" is an internal analysis of the development and consequences of Berkeley's interpretation of the perceptual process. It seeks to show that the implications of Berkeley's understanding of perception lead to conclusions later formulated in phenomenalistic theories of perception.

Sartre's Philosophy of Social Existence is a critical interpretation of Jean-Paul Sartre's phenomenology of social existence and the dynamics of group-formation. It seeks to trade the foreshadowing of a theory of individual action in the practical field of social existence in Being and Nothingness and sees a continuity between this work and Sartre's Critique of Rational Dialectic (1960). The movement in Sartre's thought from the abstract freedom of consciousness to concrete freedom and individual praxis is illuminated in relation to his (...) description of a complex social dialectic. It is shown that as Sartre develops an account of social group-formation he admits determinations and necessities that undermine his attempt to preserve the idea of free individual praxis. (shrink)

Underlying Husserl’s complex analyses of phenomenology, and specifically his conception of transcendental subjectivity, is a relatively unexamined description of the notion of persons. What I will be concerned with here is a critical analysis of Husserl’s concept of persons as it emerges in his various attempts to characterize the nature of constituting subjectivity and to distinguish the transcendental ego from the natural self. An attempt will be made to indicate that there is a tension in Husserl’s thought between his apparent (...) desire to avoid psychologism and the naturalistic standpoint on the one hand, and, on the other hand, his intention to preserve the notion of personal existence. This tension first presents itself in his endeavor to distinguish transcendental subjectivity from psychologistic subjectivity and, hence, it is at this point that we must begin to explore his phenomenology of persons. (shrink)

Overshadowed by his critiques of traditional morality and Christianity, many of Nietzsche’s insightful philosophical analyses have often been neglected. Although Nietzsche as philosopher has, at long last, been recognized, his epistemological reflections are a fairly recent discovery in Anglo-American philosophy. This is curious because some of the earliest German interpreters of his thought had emphasized the link between his metaphysical views and his analyses of human knowledge. At the beginning of this century, Eisler and Rittelmeyer discussed the importance of Erkenntnistheorie (...) for a full understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Despite their basic grasp of his philosophical intentions, they sometimes misunderstood or underplayed central points in his critical negations. With rare exceptions, the significance of what Nietzsche called an “internal phenomenology” has often been overlooked. Even when it is alluded to, the full meaning of this method of analysis is not brought out. My intention here is to show how the concept of causality is construed by Nietzsche and how his analysis of its origin is related to a phenomenology of human intentionality. The analysis of the derivation of the idea of causality that is presented by Nietzsche has an intrinsic interest and the issues concerning the formation of the concept and its validity are obviously still vital ones. (shrink)