History of Philosophy Commons^™

Kant's Critical Model Of The Experiencing Subject, Kurt Mosser

Kurt Mosser

In an appendix to the Transcendental Analytic of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant remarks

• Leibniz intellectualized appearances, just as Locke ... sensualized all concepts or the understanding, i.e. interpreted them as nothing more than empirical or abstracted concepts of reflection. ... each of these great men holds to one only of the two, viewing it as in immediate relation to things in themselves. The other faculty is then regarded as serving only to confuse or to order the representations which this selected faculty yields (A27 1=B327).

Kant, in rejecting the positions of Leibniz and Locke, presents …

Naturalism And The Surreptitious Embrace Of Necessity, Kurt Mosser

Kurt Mosser

In this article, two philosophical positions that structure distinct approaches in the history of metaphysics and epistemology are briefly characterized and contrasted. While one view, “naturalism,” rejects an a priori commitment to necessity, the other view, “transcendentalism,” insists on that commitment. It is shown that at the level of the fundamentals of thought, judgment, and reason, the dispute dissolves, and the naturalists' employment of “necessity for all practical purposes” is at best only nominally distinct from the transcendentalists' use of the same concept.

Kant’S Logic(S) And The Logic Of Aristotle, Kurt Mosser

Kurt Mosser

In the Preface to the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant offers his best·known- indeed, notorious- remark about Aristotle 's logic:

• Since Aristotle ... logic has not been able to advance a single step, and is thus to all appearance a closed and completed doctrine (Bviii).

I wish to explore here the following question: is Kant in fact saying that since Aristotle. there need be no more concern about logic as a discipline or a field of study, that Aristotle (with some minor embellishments, in terms of presentation) is the last …

Comments On Robinson, 'Langton And Traditionalism On Things In Themselves', Kurt Mosser

Kurt Mosser

In her Kantian Humility , Rae Langton has worked very hard to steer us back toward a traditional reading of the Critique of Pure Reason, one that would make it safe to maintain a number of metaphysical commitments in interpreting this text. In his remarks on her work, Professor Robinson points out a number of things that suggest problems with her hermeneutical recommendations, among them the ambiguity of a very crucial word at stake here, “metaphysical.” I have very few disagreements with what Robinson has to say here about Langton but want …

The Civilian Left And The Radicalization Of The Dergue, Messay Kebede

Messay Kebede

This article attempts to explain the radicalization of the military committee in Ethiopia known as the Dergue. The committee brought down the monarchy and initiated far-reaching socialist transformations of the country. Yet the Dergue had not initially shown any propensity to radicalism. To explain this conversion to Marxist–Leninist ideology, scholars have thus far provided three prevailing views: (i) the Dergue radicalized to steal the revolution from the civilian left; (ii) objective conditions caused its radicalization; and (iii) radical officers initiated the radicalization. The article critically evaluates these views and shows their serious short-comings. It suggests a new explanation involving the …

Action And Forgetting: Bergson Theory Of Memory, Messay Kebede

Messay Kebede

This paper is about the Bergsonian synchronization of the perpetual present or memory with the passing present or the body. It shows how forgetting narrows and focuses consciousness on the needs of action and how motor memory allows the imagining of the useful side of memory. The paper highlights the strength of Bergson’s analysis by respectively confronting classical theories of memory, the highly regarded perspective of the phenomenological school, Deleuze’s interpretation of Bergsonism, and Sartre’s theory of mental imagery.

The Mechanistic Approach Of 'The Theory Of Island Biogeography' And Its Current Relevance, Viorel Pâslaru

Viorel Pâslaru

Philosophers of science have examined The Theory of Island Biogeography by Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson (1967) mainly due to its important contribution to modeling in ecology, but they have not examined it as a representative case of ecological explanation. In this paper, I scrutinize the type of explanation used in this paradigmatic work of ecology. I describe the philosophy of science of MacArthur and Wilson and show that it is mechanistic. Based on this account and in light of contributions to the mechanistic conception of explanation due to Craver (2007), and Bechtel and Richardson (1993), I argue that …

Causal And Mechanistic Explanations, And A Lesson From Ecology, Viorel Pâslaru

Viorel Pâslaru

Jani Raerinne and Lindley Darden argue that causal claims are not sufficiently explanatory, and causal talk should be replaced with mechanistic talk. I examine several examples from ecological research, two of which rely on causal models and structural equation modeling, to show that the assertions of Raerinne and of Darden have to be reconsidered.

Conceptions Of Mechanisms And Insensitivity Of Causation, Viorel Pâslaru

Viorel Pâslaru

Conceptions of mechanisms due to Glennan (1996; 2002), Machamer, Darden, and Craver (2000), Bechtel and Abrahamsen (2005) have developed in opposition to the nomological approach to explanation. It is less emphasized, however, that these conceptions have also developed as alternatives to the causal perspective on explanation. In this paper, I argue that despite their distancing from the topic of causation, the mechanistic conceptions need to incorporate in their definitions of mechanisms the notion of insensitivity of causal relations that was examined by Woodward (2006).

Ecological Explanation Between Manipulation And Mechanism Description, Viorel Pâslaru

Viorel Pâslaru

James Woodward offers a conception of explanation and mechanism in terms of interventionist counterfactuals. Based on a case from ecology, I show that ecologists’ approach to that case satisfiesWoodward’s conditions for explanation and mechanism, but his conception does not fully capture what ecologists view as explanatory. The new mechanistic philosophy likewise aims to describe central aspects of mechanisms, but I show that it is not sufficient to account for ecological mechanisms. I argue that in ecology explanation involves identification of invariant and insensitive causal relationships and descriptions of the mechanistic characteristics that make these relations possible.

Nourishing Difference For The Erotic Couple, Danielle Poe

Danielle Poe

Erotic relationships have often been excluded from accounts of social transformation, but they can challenge us to work together and return to ourselves. In Irigaray’s work, “the two” create new paths to reach each other and return to themselves as individuals; in so doing, they create new possibilities for others.

Philosophy: A Short Visual Introduction, Scott Paeth

Scott R. Paeth

Philosophy: A Short, Visual Introduction is the ideal path to understanding the philosophical ideas that influence Christian theology.

Scott Paeth's fast-paced introduction covers the most important movements and thinkers with precision and clarity. The major ideas are creatively illustrated by artist Joseph Novak, whose crisp, modern style brings big concepts to life for readers.

The result is an articulate, no-nonsense approach that guides readers from the ideas of ancient philosophers to contemporary thinkers and movements that impact Christians today.

Philosophy is part of the Christianity and the Liberal Arts series, which recognizes that many Christians are eager to deepen their …

Sokrates - Buddha : An Unpublished Manuscript From The Archives By Edmund Husserl, Sebastian Luft

Sebastian Luft

No abstract provided.

The Phenomenology Of Intersubjectivity In Jaspers And Husserl: On The Capacities And Limits Of Empathy And Communication In Psychiatric Praxis, Sebastian Luft, J. Schlimme

Sebastian Luft

In this article, we present two accounts of intersubjectivity in Jaspers and Husserl, respectively. We argue that both can be brought together for a more satisfying account of empathy and communication in the context of psychiatric praxis. But while we restrict ourselves for the most part to this praxis, we also indicate the larger agenda that drives Jaspers and Husserl, despite all disagreement. Here we spell out, in particular, how a phenomenologically inspired account of empathy and intersubjectivity can have larger ramifications for a theory of social life and interaction. Finally, we argue for a ‘relaxed' view concerning the relation …

“Translation, The Introduction Of Western Time Consciousness Into The Chinese Language, And Chinese Modernity.”, Sinkwan Cheng

Sinkwan Cheng

No abstract provided.

Books And Our Human Stories, Paul Benson

Paul H. Benson

An essay on the impact of the works in the Imprints and Impressions: Milestones in Human Progress, an exhibition of rare books from the collection of Stuart Rose. Exhibition was held Sept. 29-Nov. 9, 2014, at the University of Dayton.

"On Translating Taiji", Joseph Adler

Joseph Adler

No abstract provided.

“Escándalo Público”: La Destitución De Miguel Ángel Beltrán, Las Últimas Investigaciones De Michel Foucault Y La Autonomía Universitaria ("Public Scandal": The Dismissal Of Miguel Angel Beltrán, Michel Foucault's Final Lectures And The Principle Of Autonomous University), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

En este artículo he querido repensar la destitución del profesor Miguel Ángel Beltrán como constituyente de un evento en el que se reconfiguran las relaciones entre el poder y el saber en Colombia; un evento que manifiesta una doble transformación: de un lado, un cambio en el riesgo que supone el conflicto entre el discurso de la verdad y el ejercicio del poder y, de otro lado, una reconfiguración del actor social que produce la partición ya no solo ética sino también política de este mundo en dos.

John Philoponus, James South

James South

No abstract provided.

John Of Jandun, James South

James South

No abstract provided.

"'The Great Virtue Of Heaven And Earth:' Deep Ecology In The Yijing", Joseph Adler

Joseph Adler

No abstract provided.

To The Jew First: A Socio-Historical And Biblical-Theological Analysis Of The Pauline Teaching Of `Election' In Light Of Second Temple Jewish Patterns Of Thought, Anthony Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

Paul's "doctrine" of election has remained a controversial and enigmatic topic for centuries. Few studies, however, have approached Paul's doctrine through the context of Second Temple Judaism. This study examines Paul's view of election through the lens of Second Temple Jewish texts written prior to 70 CE. In doing so, it is argued that the best framework through which to view Paul's discussion of election is through a primarily corporate model of election. While such a model is rooted in Judaism, Paul departs from his Jewish contemporaries in arguing that the locus of election is in God's Messiah, Jesus.

Le Zarathoustra De Nietzsche Et Le Style Parodique. A Propos De L’Hyperanthropos De Lucien Et Du Surhomme De Nietzsche, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

Abstract Nietzsche’s Übermensch is derived from Lucian of Samosata’s term hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances in the context of that terminological origination in Lucian’s Kataplous — literally: sailing into port — referring to the journey of the soul into the afterlife, as escorted by Hermes and ferried by Charon along with myriads of others facing the same fate. The Kataplous he tyrannos, a title usually rendered as the Downward Journey (or The Tyrant), is a Menippean satire telling the tale of the “overman” supposed superior to others of “lesser” station in this-worldly life …

From Fleck’S Denkstil To Kuhn’S Paradigm: Conceptual Schemes And Incommensurability, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

This article argues that the limited influence of Ludwik Fleck’s ideas on philosophy of science is due not only to their indirect dissemination by way of Thomas Kuhn, but also to an incommensurability between the standard conceptual framework of history and philosophy of science and Fleck’s own more integratedly historico-social and praxis-oriented approach to understanding the evolution of scientific discovery. What Kuhn named “paradigm” offers a periphrastic rendering or oblique translation of Fleck’s Denkstil/Denkkollektiv, a derivation that may also account for the lability of the term “paradigm”. This was due not to Kuhn’s unwillingness to credit Fleck but rather to …

Towards A Critical Philosophy Of Science: Continental Beginnings And Bugbears, Whigs, And Waterbears, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

Continental philosophy of science has developed alongside mainstream analytic philosophy of science. But where continental approaches are inclusive, analytic philosophies of science are not – excluding not merely Nietzsche’s philosophy of science but Gödel’s philosophy of physics. As a radicalization of Kant, Nietzsche’s critical philosophy of science puts science in question and Nietzsche’s critique of the methodological foundations of classical philology bears on science, particularly evolution as well as style (in art and science). In addition to the critical (in Mach, Nietzsche, Heidegger but also Husserl just to the extent that continental philosophy of science tends to depart from a …

Ex Aliquo Nihil: Nietzsche On Science And Modern Nihilism. Acpq, 84-2 (Spring 2010): 231-256., Babette Babich

Babette Babich

This essay explores the nihilistic coincidence of the ascetic ideal and Nietzsche’s localization of science in the conceptual world of anarchic socialism as Nietzsche indicts the uncritical convictions of modern science by way of a critique of the causa sui, questioning both religion and the enlightenment as well as both free and unfree will and condemning the “poor philology” enshrined in the language of the “laws” of nature. Reviewing the history of philosophical nihilism in the context of Nietzsche’s “tragic knowledge” along with political readings of nihilism, willing nothing rather than not willing at all, today’s this-worldly and very planetary …

Words In Blood, Like Flowers: Philosophy And Poetry, Music And Eros In Hölderlin, Nietzsche, And Heidegger, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

No abstract provided.

Against Fairness: In Favor Of Favoritism, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

From the school yard to the workplace, there’s no charge more damning than “You’re being unfair!” Born out of democracy and raised in open markets, fairness has become our de facto modern creed. The very symbol of American ethics—Lady Justice—wears a blindfold as she weighs the law on her impartial scale. In our zealous pursuit of fairness, we have banished our urges to like one person more than another, one thing over another, hiding them away as dirty secrets of our humanity. In Against Fairness, polymath philosopher Stephen T. Asma drags them triumphantly back into the light. Through playful, witty, …

A Healthy Mania For The Macabre, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The article discusses the fascination with death in art in response to several exhibits which display preserved human bodies, such as the "Body Worlds" traveling exhibit which features human bodies preserved with silicon after an acetone bath, a technique discovered by medical scientist Gunther von Hagens. The author looks at human curiosity with morbidity and artists such as Damien Hirst that use it as the focus of their work. Topics include comments by Richard Harris, creator of "Morbid Curiosity" exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, art historian Paul Koudounaris, and the beauty of death and morbidity according to New York artist and …

The Cogito Arguments Of Descartes And Augustine, Joyce Lazier

joyce lazier

Descartes Cogito reconstructed in its basic logical format.