Philosophy, Miscellaneous

Desde una respuesta tentativa a la pregunta qué es una imagen se busca establecer el modo en que pensamos en, con y contra las imágenes. Se concentra la indagación en dos tipos particulares de imágenes, las generadas por el aparato digital, con el fin de articular conceptualmente el modo en que las imágenes cobran sentido y cómo dicho sentido surge desde el estatuto ontológico que encierra dicho aparato en particular. Desde una respuesta operativa y desde el concepto de modo de (...) imaginar se propone que el modo de pensar en, con y contra las imágenes es una disputa política por controlar el modo de aparecer en las imágenes, es decir, por el control del plano estético y ontológico que encierra dicho aparecer. Dicha disputa política en el aparato digital se instala contemporáneamente en torno al objeto fascista de la representación. (shrink)

Brendan Larvor finds that the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent arguments about religious education are a curate's egg.

Milieufilosofisch Nederland wordt momenteel verdeeld door een controverse naar aanleiding vanrecente publicaties van de Wageningse filosofen Keulartz en Korthals. In dit artikel wil ik - aande hand van een analyse van het gebruik van het natuurbegrip bij Wim Zweers - laten zien dat Keulartz op een tot nu toe onderbelicht probleem wijst: het probleem van de veelheid vannatuurbeelden. Tegelijkertijd wil ik echter aantonen dat Keulartz' eigen, 'post-naturalistische' positie op een tegenspraak berust. Tenslotte geef ik aan hoe deze controverses zijn terug (...) tevoeren op een onvermijdelijke spanning in onze morele omgang met de natuur, en zoek ik naar een manier waarop deze spanning binnen de milieu-ethiek vruchtbaar kan worden gemaakt. (shrink)

I tried to describe Infinity as a major natural conundrum known to man. The booklet also contains answers to some eternal questions, such as the meaning of life, faith, etc. I am especially proud of my Morality section.

According to C. S. Peirce, resemblance or similarity is the basis for the relationship of iconic signs to their dynamical objects. But what is the basis of resemblance or similarity itself and how is the phenomenon of iconicity generated? How does it function in cultural practices and processes by which various forms of signs are generated? To what extent are they themselves performances? With examples from texts by Virginia Woolf, W. G. Sebald and Reif Larsen, I will argue that literary (...) texts provide us with uniqueresources for exploring, among other matters, the performative dimension of iconicity in the complex interaction among icon, index and metaphor as aprerequisite for semiosis, the generation of signs. (shrink)

Este artigo desenvolve uma leitura do livro de Jacques Derrida, Mal de arquivo, com o objetivo de situar o que se poderia chamar de concepção derridiana de arquivo. Ao desdobrar o potencial de conflito que se arquiva na própria palavra "arquivo", Derrida oferece uma concepção de arquivo que, para além das discussões desenvolvidas no livro em questão, abre a possibilidade de uma nova forma de se pensar o âmbito da política. This article develops a reading of Jacques Derrida's book, Archive (...) Fever, with the aim of circumscribing what could be named the Derridian conception of archive. By unfolding the conflictive power which is archived within the proper word "archive", Derrida comes with a conception of archive that, beyond the discussions developed in the book, opens the possibility of a new way of thinking the political. (shrink)

McLaughlin’s case for the theoretical relevance of either "Escape" or of Freudian social theory generally proves counter-productive. He offers very weak criteria for theory acceptance and often takes mere labels to be explanatory theories. He does so particularly in his promotion of the con- cept of ambivalence. I will engage the proposed case study and explain why the use of “ambivalence” in psychoanalysis (especially by Bleuler or Freud) and sociology (by Smelser and his followers) is untenable. I point to a (...) notable conflict between McLaughlin’s rationalist and other inten- tions, and will show how he shares the approach to social theories that makes for the state of affairs in the humanities which he deplores. (shrink)

The thesis that Dennett argues for in Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon has a double aspect. First, religion being but one natural phenomenon among many should be subject to scientific investigation. Resistance to this notion constitutes the first spell or taboo and is in complicity with the second “master” spell, that of the phenomenon of religion itself. Dennett’s tentative naturalistic recommendation is two-pronged: he primarily deploys an evolutionary biology perspective, and derivatively a highly suggestive appeal to memetics. (...) To acknowledge that religion is natural “is only the beginning of the answer, not the end”. Religion as a natural phenomenon has to answer to Dennett’s Darwinist refrain — cui bono? (to whose advantage?). And derivatively, how or why highly exotic and implausible supernatural religious ideas (or memes) are transmitted and sustained? Humankind, naturally disposed cause-seeking creatures, are inclined to hypostasize all manner of beliefs (virtual agents free to evolve to amplify our yearnings or our dreads — when explanation of some phenomenon is not forthcoming — this constitutes the “master” spell. (shrink)

My philosophical case study concerns textbook presentations of the theory of demand. Does this theory contain anything more than just a collection of tautologies? In order to determine its empirical content, it must be viewed holistically. But then, the theory implies false factual claims. We can avoid this result by embracing the theory's normative character. The resulting consequences will be illuminated with the new autodetermination thesis recently proposed in the philosophy of physics by Oliver Timmer. Applying his ideas to the (...) theory of demand reveals that the statements of this discipline simultaneously concern both values and acts. (shrink)

Based upon the concept of Law qualified in Monarchia, II.50, Dante was not only a general philosopher (a lover of knowledge) as well as a political disputant in his times, but also his primary contribution (not always obvious) in legal speculation could be demonstrated. In fact, if his thought reflected the platonic ordo sapientiae through a deep intersection between téchne and episteme (phronesis) toward a linguistic koiné, could we say the same thing on his concept of justice as a rational (...) ars boni et aequi? This essay aims to depict Dante as legal theorist of his times and theorist of Justice beyond them, adopting the hermeneutical point of view, not just as an interest into textual interpretation but referring his use of language as form of life and his works an inexhaustible sources of education for legal philosophy. (shrink)

The conventional view that all Enlightenment thinkers believed that the fruits of Reason could only be beneficial is not necessarily accurate. Laclos, whose celebrated novel "Les Liaisons dangereueses" was published in 1782, provides a perspective on the world of Reason that does not square with that view. Working at the level of individual psychology, Reason in Laclos's novel divides the world into the strong and the weak – more specifically, the astute and the naive. It defines human worth in terms (...) of a capacity to outwit and control others, a capacity that can only be fully expressed by the complete defeat and humiliation of one’s adversary. (shrink)

This paper examines how people think about aiding others in a way that can inform both theory and practice. It uses data gathered from Kiva, an online, non-profit organization that allows individuals to aid other individuals around the world, to isolate intuitions that people find broadly compelling. The central result of the paper is that people seem to give more priority to aiding those in greater need, at least below some threshold. That is, the data strongly suggest incorporating both a (...) threshold and a prioritarian principle into the analysis of what principles for aid distribution people accept. This conclusion should be of broad interest to aid practitioners and policy makers. It may also provide important information for political philosophers interested in building, justifying, and criticizing theories about meeting needs using empirical evidence. (shrink)

In this chapter, I develop a pragmatic defense of critical patriotism, one that recognizes the many personal and social benefits of patriotic sentiment yet which is also infused with a passion for justice. Though the argument is pragmatic given the ubiquity of patriotic sentiment, I argue that critical patriotism is able to reconcile a love of one’s country with an ardent determination to reform and improve it.

In this paper, we have tried to prove the lack of discretion by providing a logical and philosophical connection between the fundamental concept of a function in mathematics and one of Einstein's most exceptional relativity results, namely, the relativity of simultaneity. Then, by providing real examples of social experiences and philosophical interpretations of them, we propose another proof for lack of discretion.

في معية الإخفاقات الحضارية المتتالية للعقل العربي في عالمنا المعاصر؛ حيث تم تجريد الأشياء – والقضايا والسياسات والمواقف والقرارات والعلاقات – من معانيها، أو بالأحرى تم مسخها بمعانٍ زائفة تُلبي حاجات الزيف الممسك بتلابيب الواقع، واتسعت الفجوة بين كلٍ العقل ومنطقه، والتفكير ومبادئه، والعلم ومنهجه، والدين ورسالته، والإنسان وإنسانيته، وبين ماضي العربي وحاضره، ثم بين حاضره ومستقبله ... يغدو البحث عن معنى – باستقامة معنى «المعنى» وعقلانيته – محاولة أخيرة لإدراك الغاية من الوجود، وإنعاش قلب أوشك نبضه على التوقف، واستعادة (...) حياة أوشكت أسبابها على النفاد. ولا غرو، فالبحث عن المعنى غريزة إنسانية، وكُلنا في الوطن العربي هذا الكائن المسكين المُتحير، الباحث عن معنى الوجود والهوية، معنى الحياة ومعنى الموت؛ معنى الحرية ومعنى الكرامة؛ معنى السعادة ومعنى الحُزن؛ معنى الدين ومعنى الوطن؛ ... إلخ. هذا هو هدف الكتاب وفقًا عنوانه، لكن هدفه الأعمق هو إيقاظ العقل العربي المعاصر من سباته الدوجماطيقي الذي أقعده عن اللحاق بركب التقدم المعرفي، وأحاطه بأسيجة الموجب والقاطع والثابت في عالم تتسارع فيه وتائر التغير, وتنهار فيه الحواجز الفاصلة بين كثرة من الثنائيات المستقرة في أذهاننا، ومن ثم يأتي الكتاب كمحاولة، لا لطرح إجابات قاطعة يأباها المنطق، أو تدشين رؤية أحادية البُعد قد يراها البعض تشاؤمية، وإنما لترميم الداخل المهجور، والخارج المنظور، من خلال قراءة متأنية للأفكار والأحداث تسعى إلى الكشف عن أطياف التناقض المعتملة بدواخلها، والمستترة خلف مظاهر التسويق للوهم! (shrink)

This paper presents a conception of personhood as both physical and social, and both as radically contingent upon their respective physical and social environments. In the context of age-related cognitive decline it supports literature suggesting social personhood is occluded rather than deteriorating with brain function. Reviewing the literature on value sensitive design (VSD) as applied to assistive technologies for people with age-related cognitive decline, it finds an exclusive focus upon physical support. The paper concludes that issues of power must be (...) grasped by those in VSD practice in order to reorient VSD in assistive technologies to support social personhood in those with age-related cognitive decline. (shrink)

In this paper, we wish to address how meaning occurs in literary reading as well as in literary discussion. To do so, we propose to rely on the theoretical elaborations of Pierre Bayard, Winnicott and Marc Richir. Thus, the point is to propose a tie between literary theory, psychoanalysis and phenomenology so as to account for the creativity of the act of reading as well as the way a new meaning can arise between those who share their reading of a (...) same book. (shrink)

This article questions the role of the author in the photographical image. Undoubtedly, the invention of photography has changed our attitude towards ourselves, towards the world. The impact of photography on one’s life is growing with the development of technology, mainly the photo-technology. One cannot but trust technological tools more than oneself, because any technological device nowadays is considered to be smarter, faster, and more precise than any human being. The technology plays a special role in photography, and that is (...) why the author’s position as the creator of the image is being challenged. Hence, there is also a much wider problem, the impact of technology on a person. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to show that photography as a kind of visual art is not directly a product of human creative activity. Nevertheless, as a technical product, it tends to anonymity when the question of authorship is simply decreasing. Although each image, as a human creation, has its author, in the photography the author becomes the background. We agree with Flusser that it is worthwhile to distinguish between the functionary and the photographer as candidates for the role of the author in the photographic process; but in the process of contemplating the photographs, the name of the author of the photographical image, regardless of his or her claims, is ignored, because the photography, retaining the function of objective documentation, captures any events without any interest. It is also completely dependent on technology; claiming not only for the mediation but also for the "authorship", it introduces the mode of anonymity and accidental fixation of events. The image is deprived of subjective features and the need to have an author. One can say that in any case the photographer falls into the "shadow" created by the device. The author "dies", giving the life to the photography, and dissolves in the technicality of the image. (shrink)

This report presents the activities of the Oriental Studies Circle, which was founded in 1993 and reborn in 2012 as a scientific and educational organization. Its aim is to do research in such areas as philosophy, culture, and religion of the countries of the Middle and Far East. The leading type of the circle’s work is the lectures made by specialists in Oriental studies, philosophers, representatives of various religious traditions, and travelers.

This study focuses on nuclear tourism, which flourished a decade ago in the Exclusion Zone, a regimented area around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (Ukraine) established in 1986, where the largest recorded nuclear explosion in human history occurred. The mass pilgrimage movement transformed the place into an open air museum, a space that preserves the remnants of Soviet culture, revealing human tragedies of displacement and deaths, and the nature of state nuclear power. This study examines the impact of the site (...) on its visitors and the motivations for their persistence and activities in the Zone, and argues that through photography, cartography, exploration, and discovery, the pilgrims attempt to decode the historical and ideological meaning of Chornobyl and its significance for future generations. Ultimately, the aesthetic and political space of the Zone helps them establish a conceptual and mnemonic connection between the Soviet past and Ukraine’s present and future. Their practices, in turn, help maintain the Zone’s spatial and epistemological continuity. Importantly, Chornobyl seems to be polysemic in nature, inviting interpretations and shaping people’s national and intellectual identities. (shrink)

During his late period, Nietzsche is particularly concerned with the value that mankind attributes to truth. In dealing with that topic, Nietzsche is not primarly interested in the metaphysical disputes on truth, but rather in the effects that the "will to truth" has on the human being. In fact, he argues that the "faith in a value as such of truth" influenced Western culture and started the anthropological degeneration of the human type that characterizes European morality. To call into question (...) the value of truth is therefore necessary, if one wants to help mankind to find her way in the labyrinth of nihilism. -/- In this new addition to Nietzsche scholarship, Gori explores the origin and aim of the philosopher's late perspectival thought by merging the theoretical with the historical approach, with a special focus on the epistemological debate that influenced Nietzsche. As a result, the book provides a contextual reading of the issue that supports the idea that Nietzsche’s attitude in addressing the problem of truth is, in a broad sense, pragmatic. (shrink)

Many similarities and correspondences are found in Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) and Hindu mysticism (Vedanta-Advaita). In both traditions, the ultimate goal is to experience communion with a Divine Source. To reach this level of transcendence, each system speaks of an individualized soul with three characteristics that merge with a Godhead. Through deep meditative practices, the soul experiences a divine influx of the Infinite. The Hindu Upanishads and the Jewish Zohar speak of similar methodologies for achieving a mystical experience. Vedantin Adi Shankara (...) and Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia created esoteric systems for advancing mystical practices. Additionally, metaphysical beliefs on Being and Non-Being are comparable in both traditions. The cyclical nature of universes and transmigration of souls offer a unified theory of microcosm and macrocosm. Throughout the centuries, spiritual leaders contributed new knowledge to cosmology, esoteric interpretations, and daily practices for attaining higher consciousness. The contextual evolution of Vedanta and Kabbalah has been corroborated and finds support in modern scholarly discourse. Conclusions are offered on the benefits of mystical experiences including assimilation of wisdom, achieving transcendence, and living in a continual state of illumination. (shrink)

Современность, подарившая человеку свободу от диктата традиций, лишила его возможности определять цели внутри себя. В ХХ-ХХI вв. целью «Я» стало узнавание субъекта-во-мне исключительно в ложном объекте-во-мне, что загнало личность в порочный круг погони дурно сыгранного «Я» за дурно сыгранным «Я». Возникла острая необходимость в возврате к театральности в различных областях искусства, эстетике и обыденности в противопоставление театра одного Я. Вопрос лишь в том, как превратить театральность в практику души.

Part of a special issue of Parallax on 'Field Philosophy and other experiments'. In a number of accounts, field philosophy has been described as providing freedom from disciplinary constraints. In this paper, however, I suggest the importance of paying closer attention to the strength of philosophy’s boundary policing and the consequences this might have for those interested in the approach. Discussing field philosophy in terms of disturbance, I highlight some of the difficulties and opportunities it produces. In particular I focus (...) on the labour involved in adopting new methods and working in new sites of enquiry. I suggest that reconstituting the ‘philosopher’ outside of their traditional habitats is no simple task. Still, I argue that field philosophers should lay claim to the boundary policing question ‘how is this philosophy?’ in order to proliferate accounts of what philosophy is and can be, with the hope that the discipline’s future might be turned more strongly towards supporting diversity rather than defending purity. Keywords: field philosophy; feminist philosophy; inclusion; methods; field research. (shrink)

This paper argues that legal privacy should be afforded to the content of the mind, comparing cognitive privacy to other protected forms of privacy and briefly addressing the potential pitfalls of compulsory neuroimaging.

Theology is about God and Creation, or more precisely perhaps about our ideas of them, how they are formed and somewhat justified, although it is stressed that they can be neither proved nor disproved. This book is a thematic compilation drawn from past works by the author over a period of thirteen years.

This paper updates (2017) a previously-presented* model of models, which can be used to clarify discussion and analysis in a variety of disputes and debates, since many such discussions hinge on displaying or implying models about how things are related. Knowing about models does not itself supply any new information about our world, but it might help us to recognize when and how information is being conveyed on these matters, or where possibly it is being obscured. If a claim P (...) is expressed in the context of a certain model, a disagreement about P may actually not be about whether the underlying model is accurate; it could reflect misunderstandings about the model’s assumptions or conventions. Also, in practice, constructed models are rarely fully elaborated for every detail, so misunderstandings can arise from apparent “gaps” in the model. In that case, developing and considering complementary versions of models can sometimes clarify ambiguities. Following the main analysis are several extended Case examples to illustrate the wide applicability of the models approach, for clarifying, if not necessarily “resolving”, numerous debates and issues. For example, a famous “counter example” by Nelson Goodman to a logical model proposed by Carnap is shown to be not as deal-breaking as presumed historically, if only plausible complementary models had been explored. And models sometimes presented as competing in Artificial Intelligence research— “Declarative” versus “Procedural”—can instead be viewed as good examples of “complementary” models. Also reconsidered in this light are some well-known, competing positions, by Russell, Strawson, and Kripke, in the literature regarding names, pointing, definite descriptions and “using” sentences, and so on. All these concepts are locatable within the presently proposed models analysis. Questions such as where “truth” resides (whether in sentences or in uses of sentences) are not settled in this paper; yet, practical questions about how testable claims about the world can be expressed by models are clarified. _* Original version presented at a University of Waterloo Philosophy Colloquium 1984. (shrink)

Founding or explaining norms by nature seems to be impossible. Kant's Categorical Imperative seems to be "normative", i.e. of absolute validity. In fact, it is not more or less than a value theory, since Kant considers the human person as endowed by unconditional dignity. Norms can be founded on values, not vice versa. And values seem always to lead to sense.

Centrando la atención inicialmente en el cuerpo humano, algunos estudiosos (biólogos y filósofos) han descubierto en el mismo una serie de rasgos físicos atípicos, inexplicables a la luz de la sola biología. Estos caracteres físicos proporcionan los datos necesarios de los que se han valido las doctrinas antropológicas aquí estudiadas para concluir (en un sentido filosófico, como es propio de su método) que el cuerpo humano es el correlato físico del alma de una criatura racional. La ilimitada apertura de la (...) razón humana a la realidad tiene su reflejo en la inadaptación morfológica del cuerpo humano, que aparece como un cuerpo extrañamente abierto, es decir, carente de especialización (aunque, por ello mismo, más vulnerable físicamente), desvinculado del ambiente físico y libre de las ataduras que su hábitat impone a la morfología de cualquier animal. Asimismo, la apertura de la voluntad (fundamento profundo de la libertad), encuentra análoga correspondencia en la indeterminación física de la conducta humana. Ésta, desasistida o liberada –dependiendo de la perspectiva que se adopte– del instinto animal, se encuentra en la perentoria necesidad de conducir por sí misma, bajo la guía de la razón, todas las acciones de la vida humana. En sustancia, este libro presenta el paradójico e interesante resultado de unas investigaciones interdisciplinares de ciencia y filosofía, que, insistiendo en el estudio de los aspectos físicos del ser humano, han sacado a la luz valiosas observaciones sobre su espíritu, sin el cual la criatura humana, dotada de un cuerpo de una anómala indigencia biológica, no habría logrado sobrevivir. (shrink)

Logical and Spiritual Reflections is a collection of six shorter philosophical works, including: Hume’s Problems with Induction; A Short Critique of Kant’s Unreason; In Defense of Aristotle’s Laws of Thought; More Meditations; Zen Judaism; No to Sodom. Of these works, the first set of three constitutes the Logical Reflections, and the second set constitutes the Spiritual Reflections. Hume’s Problems with Induction, which is intended to describe and refute some of the main doubts and objections David Hume raised with regard to (...) inductive reasoning. It replaces the so-called problem of induction with a principle of induction. David Hume’s notorious skepticism was based on errors of observation and reasoning, with regard to induction, causation, necessity, the self and freewill. These are here pointed out and critically analyzed in detail – and more accurate and logical theories are proposed. The present work also includes refutations of Hempel’s and Goodman’s alleged paradoxes of induction. A Short Critique of Kant’s Unreason, which is a brief critical analysis of some of the salient epistemological and ontological ideas and theses in Immanuel Kant’s famous Critique of Pure Reason. It shows that Kant was in no position to criticize reason, because he neither sufficiently understood its workings nor had the logical tools needed for the task. Kant’s transcendental reality, his analytic-synthetic dichotomy, his views on experience and concept formation, and on the forms of sensibility (space and time) and understanding (his twelve categories), are here all subjected to rigorous logical evaluation and found deeply flawed – and more coherent theories are proposed in their stead. In Defense of Aristotle’s Laws of Thought, which addresses, from a phenomenological standpoint, numerous modern and Buddhist objections and misconceptions regarding the basic principles of Aristotelian logic. Many people seem to be attacking Aristotle’s Laws of Thought nowadays, some coming from the West and some from the East. It is important to review and refute such ideas as they arise. More Meditations, which is a sequel to the author’s earlier work, Meditations. It proposes additional practical methods and theoretical insights relating to meditation and Buddhism. It also discusses certain often glossed over issues relating to Buddhism – notably, historicity, idolatry, messianism, importation to the West. Zen Judaism, which is a frank reflection on the tensions between reason and faith in today’s context of knowledge, and on the need to inject Zen-like meditation into Judaism. This work also treats some issues in ethics and theodicy. No to Sodom, which is an essay against homosexuality, using biological, psychological, spiritual, ethical and political arguments. (shrink)

Ruminations is a collection of sundry notes and essays on Logic. These complement and enrich the author’s past writings, further analyzing or reviewing certain issues. Among the many topics covered are: the importance of the laws of thought, and how they are applied using the logic of paradox; details of formal logic, including some important new insights on the nesting, merger and splitting up of hypothetical propositions; details of causal logic, including analogical reasoning from cause to cause; a cutting-edge phenomenological (...) analysis of negation. Additionally, this volume is used to publish a number of notes and essays previously only posted in his Internet site, including a history of Jewish logic and an analysis of Islamic logic. (shrink)

Review of Glimpse of Light. New Meditations on First Philosophy by Stephen Mumford.

In this paper, I seek to advance the thesis that if we are to come to a better appreciation of the historical rootedness of philosophical thinking, we must strive to encourage the contextualization of philosophical texts and support this goal by developing methods and tools for research that are facilitative of this contextualist goal.

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this essay to Mort Morehouse, whose intelligence, warmth, and good humour sustains NAACI to this day. I would like, too, to dedicate this essay to Nadia Kennedy who, in her paper “Respecting the Complexity of CI,” suggests that respect for the rich non-reductive emergent memories and understandings that evolve out of participating in the sort of complex communicative interactions that we experienced at the 2012 NAACI conference requires “a turning around and looking back so (...) that we might understand it better.” Thus, though “we cannot grasp the essence of the system in some determinate way, since each description provides a limited view, and portrays some aspect of the system from a specific position inside or outside it, and at a specific point in time,” nonetheless respect requires that we try “to take different ‘snapshots’ of such systems and attempt to make sense of them.” It is as a result of this urging that the following snapshot was attempted. My thanks to Nadia for being such an inspiration, and to all the participants for making this conference such a memorable occasion. (shrink)

Este artigo discute os textos de Hannah Arendt a partir de um problema particular: aquele relativo à procura da compreensão. Esse problema é importante não apenas porque seus textos realizam uma contribuição decisiva para a compreensão daquilo que a política se tornou a partir do século XX, mas, sobretudo, porque ele nomeia o ponto sensível de sua escrita.

contents -/- i. Day of the Locust / Triffids -/- ii. we're wide on a Paramount soundstage -/- iii. HOLLYWOOD, an ecologic history -/- iv. yet one more site of end-time art -/- v. he's "a bookworm with bulging lobes" -/- vi. apartment is my state of being apart -/- vii. enlightenment means a weight's release .

En 2007, la Declaración sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas fue adoptada por la Asamblea General con la mayoría de los estados miembros de las Naciones Unidas. La declaración tiene relevancia para cualquiera que esté al mando o en contacto con los pueblos indígenas. Un efecto central de la dominancia de la cultura globalizada sobre culturas indígenas es la asimetría de la percepción e influencia mutua. Debido a los efectos de la presión social externa de la globalización los pueblos (...) indígenas tienen poca libertad de elección. Ejercer su derecho a una autonomía cultural en educación y estilo de vida es muy difícil para los indígenas. Por parte de gobiernos, problemas con los derechos sobre la tierra son un obstáculo para reconocer la autonomía de los pueblos indígenas. Algunos artículos de la declaración de derechos indígenas son presentados que tienen relevancia para personas externas, como investigadores o turistas, en contacto con personas indígenas. -/- The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples is an instrument to combat inequalities on an international level. However, the implementation is still a matter of disregard and conflict, as states are reluctant to give up their privileges. Yet, with the Declaration, a foundation has been laid to claim acceptance and respect of indigenous lifestyles, the use of their territories by themselves, the passing-on of culturally specific knowledge to the next generations, and other aspects. The new situation of International Law also brought along consequences for any external person contacting an indigenous culture, be it scientists, tourists or others. (shrink)

The telepresence experience can be evoked in a number of ways. A well-known example is a player of videogames who reports about a telepresence experience, a subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when physically situated in another place. In this paper we set the phenomenon of telepresence into a theoretical framework. As people react subjectively to stimuli from telepresence, empirical studies can give more evidence about the phenomenon. Thus, our contribution is to bridge the theoretical with (...) the empirical. We discuss theories of perception with an emphasis on Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Gibson, the role of the senses and the Spinozian belief procedure. The aim is to contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon. A telepresence-study that included the affordance concept is used to empirically study how players report sense-reactions to virtual sightseeing in two cities. We investigate and explore the interplay of the philosophical and the empirical. The findings indicate that it is not only the visual sense that plays a role in this experience, but all senses. (shrink)

The debate over ape personhood is of great social and moral importance. For more than twenty-five years, attorney Steven Wise has been arguing that animals who have cognitive complexities similar to humans should be legally granted basic rights of au- tonomy. In my view, granting personhood status and other rights to great apes are at- tainable goals. But how should we go about it?

Ovid versteht seine Metamorphosen als zusammenhängende Dichtung (perpetuum carmen). Für die Syrinx-Erzählung ist dieser Zusammenhang offensichtlich: Im ersten Buch wird erzählt, wie es zur Erfindung der Panflöte (Syrinx) gekommen ist, im elften Buch tritt Pan auf der Syrinx gegen Apollon an. Die unmittelbar anschließende Geschichte vom Barbier des Midas wird dagegen gegenwärtig nur selten mit der Syrinx verknüpft. Zu Unrecht, wie in diesem Aufsatz dargestellt werden soll. Denn diese Geschichte ist der eigentliche Schlusspunkt des musikalischen Wettstreits zwischen Pan und Apollon, (...) worin er sich, quasi in einer Zugabe, zugleich als Gott der Wahrheit präsentiert. Die vordergründig groteske Handlungsweise des Dieners ist durchgängig eine semantische Komposition zum Thema Syrinx. Nun wird Ovids Geschichte vom Barbier des Midas bekanntlich gerne mit dem Wort Binsenweisheit verknüpft und umgekehrt. Das geschieht durchaus unorthodox, nämlich nicht gestützt auf etymologische Wörterbücher, die meist andere Quellen bevorzugen, wenn sie die Wortbildung nicht gleich ungeklärt sein lassen. Zu dieser Verbindung gehört also eine gute Portion Einfalt. 2 Vor dem oben genannten Hintergrund müsste diese Beziehung zudem als besonders glückliche Fügung betrachtet werden. Ich kann nicht umhin, es so zu sehen und werde dafür argumentieren, dass Binsenweisheit ein Wort mit Geschichte ist, weil es ein Wort mit Geschichte ist. Gut, der Barbier des Midas wird darin zum Prototyp eines Whistleblowers. Das sieht nach einer hausgemachten Schwierigkeit aus, denn Binsenwahrheiten sind gerade keine Geheimnisse. Dieser Aspekt wird durch Bezug auf antike Interpreten, Ausonius und Persius, näher untersucht. All dies ist nicht möglich ohne kurze Streifzüge durch die Semantik von Binsenweisheit vermittels der stets griffbereiten Vergewisserungsformel Es ist eine Binsenweisheit, dass ... Zwischen Binsenwahrheit und Binsenweisheit wird im Aufsatz nicht weiter unterschieden. Wer möchte, kann sie jeweils Syrinx und Apollon, den beiden Hintergrundakteuren der Barbiergeschichte, zuordnen. (shrink)

In recent years, a number of US states have adopted laws that require pregnant women to have an ultrasound examination, and be shown images of their foetus, prior to undergoing a pregnancy termination. In this paper, I examine one of the basic presumptions of these laws: that seeing one’s foetus changes the ways in which one might act in regard to it, particularly in terms of the decision to terminate the pregnancy or not. I argue that mandatory ultrasound laws compel (...) women into a position of moral spectatorship and require them to recognise the foetus as a being for whom they are responsible, particularly through empathic responses to ultrasound images. The approach I propose extends the project of a bioethics of the image and highlights the need for a critical analysis of the political mobilization of empathy in discussions of abortion. (shrink)

This paper aims of is to present Richard Rorty’s Philosophy of Education, through his analysis of the education as being divided into two distinct processes: socialization and individualization. Thereafter, it is intended to show two critiques, of conservadorism and elitism, that are addressed to these processes. Finally, a redescription of the Rorty’s positions will be proposed, by assigning a reformist character to its apparent conservatism and a private character to the supposedly elitist individualization, in order to weaken the strength of (...) those critics. (shrink)

Exploration of holy imagination -- touching upon areas of spirituality, time, reality, soul, religion, scripture, memory, poetry, Shlomo Carlebach... (c) 2015 Steven L. Maimes.

contents -/- i. the day they shot the sacrifice ii. Yay or Nay, on Animal Testing iii. an ought is an is, an is is an ought iv. Behaviorism is for zombies v. a finding from the neuro-lab, on empathy vi. i’ve never had discernible abs vii. a cowardice i'm assenting to perpetually .

Philip Villamor rethinks Albert Camus’ famous rock’n’roll parable. Pointing out that Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" is a sort of intellectual dishonesty designed to support the idea that one can be happy without the hope of something more than existence, Villamor challenges the idea that "the struggle itself" is enough to make one "happy." Villamor concludes that we must imagine Sisyphus as "hopeful" and "more human.".