Artikkel uurib muutusi ja arenguid Jean-Paul Sartre’i subjektikäsituses, mis leidsid aset tema fenomenoloogilise ja eksistentsialistliku mõtlemise perioodidel, keskendudes valdavalt tema filosoofilistele töödele, rõhuasetusega subjekti üldist struktuuri puutuval problemaatikal. Suurimat tähelepanu pälvivad vabadusega seonduvad transformatsioonid, sest selles vallas on Sartre’i seisukohtade erinevused kõige märgatavamad ja ühtlasi kõige olulisemad, kuid jõudumööda pööratakse pilk ka nüansseeritumatele teisendustele. Artikkel tutvustab põgusalt nimetatud muutuste ja nende taga seisvate arengute sisu, püüab Sartre’i mõtlemise perioode klassifitseerida, loob võrdlusi varasemate ja hilisemate teoste vahel ning polemiseerib autoritega, kes (...) modifikatsioonide tähtsust kas alahindavad või sootuks tähelepanuta jätavad. Kokkuvõttes jõutakse tõdemuseni, et paljudel hilisema Sartre’i poolt kasutatavatel mõistetel on varasemaga võrreldes üsna teistsugune tähendus ning need tähendusnihked annavad tunnistust sellest, et Sartre’i subjekti-filosoofias leidsid aset mõned üsna kardinaalsed, eriti just vabadust ja subjekti läbipaistvust puudutavad pöörded. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine W. V.Quine's theory of infants' early acquisition oflanguage, with a narrow focus on Quine's theory ofobservation sentences. Intersubjectivity and sensoryexperiences, the two features that characterise thenotion, receive the most attention. It is argued,following a suggestion from Donald Davidson, thatQuine favours a proximal theory of languageacquisition, i.e., a theory which is focused onprivate experiences as ultimate sources ofstimulation, contrary to a distal theory, where thestimulus source is located in externally observableobjects and events. I (...) use the philosophical criticismof Donald Davidson, Dagfinn Føllesdal and CharlesTaylor to suggest an alternative account of languageacquisition, which emphasises the primacy ofparticipation and joint attention to external stimuli.I argue that such an alternative theory is moreconsistent with recent studies in child developmentand language acquisition. (shrink)

It is a contested question in contemporary theories of religion whether the concept of religion can be defined in a sound way or not. Many theorists maintain that a universal but delimiting definition is impossible. In this study, by contrast, it is argued that a conceptual analysis of religion that holds universally is perfectly possible because the following thesis can be seen as a necessary and sufficient conceptual condition of what religion is: X is a religion if and only if (...) X is a collection of artifacts which has the proper function of representing a supraphysical world. On this thesis, it is argued that artifacts such as pictorial and verbal representations, rituals, symbols, and various tools constitute religion as a cultural object, which, as a collection of artifacts, has the proper function of representing a conceived world that is not entirely physical, and which, allegedly, is a prerequisite for existential welfare in relation to observance. It is here important to understand what is constitutive for these kinds of conceived worlds. Supraphysical world is defined as follows. Given that the actual world is a physical world, a conception S is a construction of a supraphysical world if and only if both of the following conditions apply to S: Metaphysical component: S is a duplicate of the actual world with the addition of an anti-physical substance. Existential-normative component: S is an alleged prerequisite for existential welfare in relation to observance. The core argument of the study is that holds a priori for the concept of religion and as an a posteriori necessity for every instance of a religion. Apart from discussing the methodological problems of defining religion, the study introduces a new theory of religion in terms of. It addresses issues in the theory of artifacts; in the theory of representations; and in the theory of conceptual analysis. (shrink)

The Destructions of the Modes of Signifying (henceforth: dms) is an anonymous fourteenth-century polemic against modist speculative grammar (grammatica speculativa). Wielding Ockhamist logic and metaphysics, the dms repeatedly attacks the very root of modism: the claim that the grammatical features of language are grounded in the metaphysical properties of the world. I call this the Modist Correspondence Thesis (henceforth: mct). In its most general form, mct says that every mode of signifying exhibited by an utterance corresponds to a (...) class='Hi'>mode of being exhibited by a thing. The Emptiness Argument of the dms tries to show that mct fails to accommodate certain special cases, such as privative, fictitious, and divine utterances, like ‘blindness’ (caecitas), ‘chimera’ (chimaera), and ‘deity’ (deitas). The modist Thomas of Erfurt directly addresses the Emptiness Argument, anticipating the anti-modist criticisms present in the dms. In doing so, he points the way to alternative formulations of mct that are immune to those criticisms. (shrink)

In this paper, I respond to criticisms of my book Being and Reason recently made by Yitzhak Melamed.

What is it for two people to think of an object, natural kind or other entity under the same mode of presentation (MOP)? This has seemed a particularly difficult question for advocates of the Mental Files approach, the Language of Thought, or other ‘atomistic’ theories. In this paper I propose a simple answer. I first argue that, by parallel with the synchronic intrapersonal case, the sharing of a MOP should involve a certain kind of epistemic transparency between the token (...) thoughts of the two thinkers. I then explain how shared words help bring about this transparency. Finally, I show how this account can be extended for thoughts expressed using demonstratives or indexicals. (shrink)

Es gibt offensichtlich nicht nur Moden der Kleidung, der Frisur oder des Wohnens, sondern auch Moden in den Wissenschaften, in Kunst, Philosophie und vielleicht sogar in der Religion. Das heisst aber gerade in Bereichen, die doch eigentlich 'feste Prinzipien' gegen den Wechsel des Zeitgeistes und der Moden verteidigen. Aber was bedeutet dann in diesen Zusammenhängen "Mode"? Und wie lassen sich solche geistigen Moden erklären? Gehören "Mode" und "Moderne" zusammen? Der vorliegende Band versucht eine systematische Antwort auf diese Fragen, (...) indem er zunächst das Phänomen des Modischen auf seinen offenkundigen Feldern untersucht: den Kleidungsmoden, Wohnmoden, Körpermoden und den Moden in Freizeitgestaltung und Tourismus sowie im Sport. Von hier aus wird nach den spezifisch intellektuellen Moden in den Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften, in der Kunst, in der Philosophie und in der Religion gefragt. Mit Beiträgen von: Georg Bertram, Hubertus Busche, Yvonne Förster, Robert Gugutzer, Rainer Hartmann, Frank Hillebrandt, Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Irene Nierhaus, Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Verena Potthoff, Tim Rojek. (shrink)

Until rather recently, philosophy, when practiced as a way of life, was, for most, a communal enterprise of mutually reinforced personal cultivation. In these times of social isolation, including in academic philosophy itself, it is time, yet again, to revitalize this lost, but vital, intercultural mode of philosophy. This volume characterizes a neglected communal mode of philosophy - the philosophical community - by describing the constellation of metaethical principles (general, axiological, cultural, and dialectical) that cultivates its values. The (...) book draws on examples from across the globe and history, including interviews of adherents of living philosophical communities. (shrink)

A highly accessible reading of Whitehead's writings on education and their connection to his metaphysics.

_A highly accessible reading of Whitehead's writings on education and their connection to his metaphysics._.

The philosopher and ordained rabbi Jacob Taubes (1923-1987) is one of the most important figures on the 20th century German intellectual scene and beyond. As one of the first academic jet-setters, he had been the holder of the founding chair for Jewish Studies at Freie Universität Berlin and was professor at Columbia University. Taubes combined traditional Jewish thinking with contemporary issues in philosophy such as theories of secularization, the relation between politics and religion, and the hermeneutics of time, more specifically (...) messianism, apocalyptic thinking, and gnosticism. (shrink)

Modes of Thought was written 20 years ago from lectures delivered by Whitehead at Wellesley, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. In it Whitehead developed the brilliant new concepts of clarity and precision of statement which have since become fundamental principles of construction underlying all of the fields of modern intellectual analysis.

The Modes of Scepticism is one of the most important and influential of all ancient philosophical texts. The texts made an enormous impact on Western thought when they were rediscovered in the 16th century and they have shaped the whole future course of Western philosophy. Despite their importance, the Modes have been little discussed in recent times. This book translates the texts and supplies them with a discursive commentary, concentrating on philosophical issues but also including historical material. The book will (...) be of interest to professional scholars and philosophers but its clear and non-technical style makes it intelligible to beginners and the interested layman. (shrink)