Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Cognitive Relatives Yet Moral Strangers?, Judith Benz-Scharzberg, Andrew Knight

Andrew Knight, PhD

This article provides an empirically based, interdisciplinary approach to the following two questions: Do animals possess behavioral and cognitive characteristics such as culture, language, and a theory of mind? And if so, what are the implications, when long-standing criteria used to justify differences in moral consideration between humans and animals are no longer considered indisputable? One basic implication is that the psychological needs of captive animals should be adequately catered for. However, for species such as great apes and dolphins with whom we share major characteristics of personhood, welfare considerations alone may not suffice, and consideration of basic rights may …

Language, Meaning, And Culture: Research In The Humanities, Lawrence Kimmel

Lawrence Kimmel

Human beings are story-telling animals. We play out our lives in complex and interactive narratives that constitute our individual and collective lives; taken altogether, such narratives constitute the self-understanding of a people and time. It should be acknowledged that this remains relative and a relational matter; that there exists no master-narrative in the sense that there is a final way that the world is. There is no one way that things or people must be; this is so of the physical world of objects no less than the life-world of human beings. Even so, as Physics aspires to a full …

Nation, Culture, Language, Metaphor: Living With And Understanding Each Other. Disclosure Interviews David Ingram, Kelli Mcallister, Christine Metzo, Jeffery Nicholas

Jeffery Nicholas

No abstract provided.

Politics Or Metaphysics? On Attributing Psychological Properties To Animals, Kristin Andrews

Kristin Andrews, PhD

Following recent arguments that there is no logical problem with attributing mental or agential states to animals, I address the epistemological problem of how to go about making accurate attributions. I suggest that there is a two-part general method for determining whether a psychological property can be accurately attributed to a member of another species: folk expert opinion and functionality. This method is based on well-known assessments used to attribute mental states to humans who are unable to self-ascribe due to an early stage of development or impairment, and can be used to describe social and emotional development as well …

Befriending Death: Over 100 Essayists On Living And Dying, Michael C. Vocino, Alfred G. Killilea

michael c vocino

This book provides brief essays from people of a vast array of backgrounds, all taking death seriously and openly reflecting on how and where they find meaning in life. Many of these voices are from the smallest state, Rhode Island, which we feel serves as a microcosm of the diversity and insight of the larger country. This chance for a rare sharing of views on a truly profound subject has attracted commentators who are deeply religious and those who are not religious, noted authors and people who have never published a word, people celebrated by the world and people ignored …

“Reclaiming The Possibility Of An Interior Human Culture? Michel Henry And La Barbarie”, Vol. 44, N. 3, October 2013, 251–264., Antonio Calcagno

Antonio Calcagno

No abstract provided.

Desire And Lack Of Being (Ideas Of The West: Book 1), Raoul Mortley

Raoul Mortley

Cultural Contradictions Of The Anytime, Anywhere Economy: Reframing Communication Technology, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Detlev Zwick

Nikhilesh Dholakia

Technology-aided ubiquity and instantaneity have emerged as major goals of most information technology providers and of certain classes of users such as “road warriors”. New mobile technologies promise genie-in-a-bottle type near-magical qualities with anytime, anywhere access to information and services. While the complex science, systems, and economics of such technologies receive considerable attention from industry executives and researchers, the social and cultural aspects of these technologies attract less attention. This paper explores the oft-contradictory promises and pitfalls of anytime, anywhere technologies from a cultural standpoint. It makes suggestions for reinterpreting these technologies for greater human good.