SPCW, 16th Annual Conference
July 18th-23rd, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00-10:30 Theme: “Whither Liberal Arts?”
Peter Mehl
“Educating for Life: Liberal Arts and the Human Spirit”
Donald Poochigian
“Science as a Human Endeavor: On the Odd Bifurcation of Science and the Humanities”
10:30-10:45: BREAK
10:45-12:15
Aisha Raees
“Revolutionary Islam: A Self-Cultivating Identity through Education”
“Basic Questions of Ethics and Moral Education”
12:15-1:30: LUNCH
1:30-3:00
Karin Fry
“Opening a Conversation between
Secularism and Christianity in the
Christopher Collins
“Multiculturalism, Metaphysics and Alain Locke’s Post-Metaphysical Alternative”
3:00-3:15: BREAK
3:15-4:45:
Herzl Baruch
“Toleration in a
global world from a liberal perspective”
Mark Sanders
“Deliberative Democratic Citizenship”
Levente Szentkiralyi
“Lockean Political Theory & Eminent Domain: An Allowance for Takings?”
6:00 DINNER
9:00-10:30
Robert Stolorow
“Portkeys, Resurrective Ideology, and Collective Trauma”
Joshua Simmonds
“Recovering the Satellite:
Heidegger and Technology”
10:30-10:45: BREAK
10:45-12:15
Wendy L. Lee
“The Uses and Abuses of Reproductive Technologies: Charting a Feminist Response to the Future of Reproductive Technology”
Dr. Howard Ponzer
“Obama, Change, and Gender Equality”
12:15-1:30: LUNCH
1:30-3:00
Aaron Lercher
“Health Care Prioritization and Autonomy”
Benjamin Rider
“The Ethics of Superlongevity: Should We Cure Death?”
3:00-3:15: BREAK
3:15-5:30:
David Chan
“Morality and Decisions on the Ground”
Liam Harte
“Could New Terrorism Exist? A Philosophical Critique of the ‘Expert Analysis’”
J. Jeremy Wisnewski
“Racism and Sexism as Tools in Torture’s Defense: A Cautionary Note”
DINNER 6pm
9:00-10:30
Caroline Meline
“Is it Natural or Unnatural to
Follow the Golden Rule?”
Paul Wilson
“The Luck of the Draw”
10:30-10:45: BREAK
10:45-12:15
George A. Teschner
“Saussure and the Metalinguistics of Ancient Taoism”
Edward J. Grippe
“A Platonic Challenge to Homeric Justice and Machiavellian Political Assumptions: A Socratic Therapy for Contemporary Times”
12:15-1:30: LUNCH
1:30-3:00
Ralph D. Ellis
“The Phenomenology of Alexithymia as a Clue to the Intentionality of Emotion”
Aline M. Ramos
“Scientific revolutions and the crisis of science: an examination of historicity and its role for the scientific community according to Thomas Kuhn and Edmund Husserl”
3:00-3:15: BREAK
3:15-5:30:
Peter G. Res, “The Retrieval of Authentic Care: An Exploratory Analysis of Being-With in Aristotle and Heidegger”
Joe Frank Jones, III
“Heidegger and the Aporia of Beginnings and Endings: Breaking the Chains of Phenomenological Deconstruction”
“The Place of Home”
DINNER 6pm
8 PM Business Meeting
Wednesday, July 22nd
9:00-10:30
Jeffrey P. Fry
“Gluttons for Sport”
Ileana F. Szymanski
“Habits, Food, and Happiness”
10:30-10:45: BREAK
10:45-11:30
Joseph Martire
“Morally Justified Conduct in Relation to Religious Belief and Political Association”
12:00-1:00: LUNCH
Afternoon:
Time to explore
DINNER 6pm
9:00-10:30
Todd Jones
“Customs can’t be causal”
Mark Sentesy
“Parts of the Word or Parts of the Machine? The Concept of Things in Greek and Modern Natural Philosophy”
Goodbyes
Participants
Herzl Baruch is a
lecturer in
David Chan is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the
Chris Collins is currently a graduate student in philosophy at
Janet Donohoe is
a Professor and Director of the Philosophy Program at the
Ralph Ellis was drafted for the Vietnam War, served in the U.S.
Navy as a Torpedoman, earned a paltry existence as an
itinerant jazz saxophonist for a few years, and earned a PhD in philosophy at
Jeff Fry is an associate professor in
the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at
Karin Fry is an
associate professor of philosophy at the
Liam Harte is Assistant
Professor of Philosophy at Westfield State College in
Joe Jones is Professor in and Chair of
the Department of Philosophy and Religion at
Dr. Todd Jones is the Chair of the Philosophy Department at the
Stanley Konecky taught
briefly at the
Wendy Lynne Lee is professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania where she has taught for 17 years. Her AOS includes philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of animal cognition, feminist theory, and environmental philosophy. She has recent publications in Environmental Philosophy, Ethics and the Environment, and Environmental Ethics, as well as a new book coming out in the Fall entitled Five Critical Issues for Contemporary Feminist Theory and Activism: Sexual Identity and Politics, Reproductive Technology, Economic Inequality and the Culture Industry, Religious Fundamentalism, and The Status of Nonhuman Others.
Aaron Lercher is Mathematics Librarian for
Peter Mehl attended
Caroline W. Meline is an adjunct instructor of philosophy at
Dr. Howard Ponzer
is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at
Donald Poochigian is currently a Professor of Philosophy in the
Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of
North Dakota, in
Aisha Raees is a Phd. student in the
department of philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She is
originally from
Aline M. Ramos earned her B.A. in Philosophy (2005) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (her home country). She continued her studies at Fordham University (NY), where she earned her M.A. in Philosophy (2009) and went on to pursue an M.A. in Ethics and Society, currently in progress. Her main research interests are: theories of intentionality, phenomenology and the philosophy of science.
Peter G Res
received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from
Benjamin Rider is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Philosophy and Religion at the
Mark Sanders is
currently a Lecturer at the
Mark Sentesy entered the doctoral program at
Joshua Simmonds is an alum of
Robert D. Stolorow, Ph.D., Ph.D. is a founding faculty member at
the
Levente Szentkirályi
recently earned his Master's degree in Philosophy from the
Some of the other professional conferences to which Mr. Szentkirályi has been invited to deliver papers of his include: the 2009 North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) "International Social Philosophy Conference", the 2008 Institute for Humane Studies "Humane Studies Fellowship Research Colloquium", and the 2007 American Philosophical Association (APA) "Central Division Conference".
Ileana Szymanski got her Doctorate in
Philosophy from the
Her current research interests are philosophy of food, and the link between feminism, displacement, and identity. Among her current projects is a book chapter on feminism, hospitality and women in exile (currently under review).
George Teschner is professor of philosophy
at
P. Eddy Wilson was born in
until he left for college at 18. His undergraduate and graduate
degrees were earned in
adventure by moving to
J. Jeremy Wisnewski is an obsessive-compulsive whose neurosis manifests itself in engaging in philosophical reflection (‘reflection’ is a generous description of Wisnewski’s near manic approach to philosophical questions). His symptoms include: gratuitous writing (he is the author of Wittgenstein and Ethical Inquiry (Continuum, 2007), The Politics of Agency (Ashgate, 2008), and The Ethics of Torture (with R.D. Emerick, Continuum, 2009)); excessive monological ruminations (he regularly teaches courses in moral philosophy, phenomenology, and ancient philosophy), delusions of grandeur (he consistently claims that his views are worthy of print); and compulsive organizational activity (you’re at this conference, aren’t you?). He hopes to avoid cure at all costs.
Abstracts
Most human beings recognize other human beings as human beings same or very similar to themselves in nature. Almost all are capable of distinguishing human beings from other animals and from machines. Almost all regard their own human being as valuable. Most regard some others, particularly family members and friends, and members of the same ethnic, cultural or organizational group, as valuable. But, regularly and historically the same human beings, who recognize themselves as valuable, do not recognize all other humans as valuable. And those who recognize humans are valuable often do not treat them as valuable. Our concern is both to examine what makes human beings valuable and why humans do not consistently value humans.
Customs can’t be causal
Todd Jones
In this talk, I argue that customs cannot really cause behavior. Terms like “customs” and the like seem to refer to a kind of (disjunctive) property that can’t really be causal. And if there can be disjunctive properties, that only makes things worse for customs. The social sciences would be better off without referring to properties like norms and customs as if they could be causal.
Could New Terrorism Exist? A Philosophical
Critique of the ‘Expert Analysis’
Liam
Harte
In this paper, I aim to expose some logical flaws in the most widely-accepted and influential notion of the “new terrorist.” What I call the expert analysis of this concept consists of two putative necessary conditions: namely, the willingness to cause huge casualties (the destructiveness condition) in the service of limitless aims (the fanaticism condition). While many particular instantiations of the expert analysis include putative necessary conditions besides these, most include either or the destructiveness or the fanaticism condition, and usually both. I therefore treat the expert analysis as the core analysis of the concept; and so, if it is inadequate, then most particular analyses will be, too. Due to the impact of 9/11, the expert analysis is currently very influential in the academic, journalistic and policy establishments of the West, therein helping to determine understandings both of the threat of violent global terrorism and of the appropriate response to it.
I argue that the expert analysis cannot establish clear differences in kind between “new” and “old” terrorists, because the destructiveness and fanaticism conditions each mistake quantitative (and therefore accidental) features of “new terrorist” activities for qualitative (and, therefore the essential) ones. The destructiveness condition identifies only relatively greater destructiveness in the particular actions of particular terrorist organizations, and, as such, is really an empirical and not a conceptual distinction. Similarly, the fanaticism condition draws no clear distinction between the motivations of old and new terrorists other than the relative scales of the ends that they are trying to achieve. I conclude ultimately that acts of new terrorism, as defined by the expert analysis, can never occur because the incoherence of the analysis prevents it from describing any possible event or practice. Understandings of and responses to contemporary violent terrorism which are premised on this misconception are therefore misconceived.
Deliberative
Democratic Citizenship
Mark Sanders
In this paper I propose an expansive and inclusive conception of citizenship based on the importance of deliberative democratic principles. Taking the beliefs that human beings are political animals and the basis of political life is conflict, as a starting point, my aim is to help delineate a way for individuals to resolve conflicts and build democratic communities. It is my contention that this is best achieved by understanding oneself as inextricably connected to others in a community, such that those with whom one has disagreements can be seen as members of some shared community.
Educating for Life: Liberal Arts and the
Human Spirit
Peter
Mehl
I argue that liberal arts education has bought into a scientistic attitude and therefore fails to engage issues of spiritual identity with students. If liberal arts education is going to flourish it must educate for meaning life. Critically reviewing two recent books on this topic, Anthony Kronman's Education's End: Why our Colleges and Universities have Given up on the Meaning of Life, and Mark Edmundson's Why Read?, I argue that they are largely correct in their effort to reconnect the liberal arts to matters of human meaning. Epistemological issues and the role of religion in liberal arts education and society today are raised. How religion fits into education when it engages this spiritual quest is my final controversial consideration.
The Ethics of Superlongevity: Should We Cure
Death?
Benjamin Rider
According to some scientists and futurists, it may soon be possible, as it were, to ‘cure’ death—to double or more average human life expectancy through technology. This possibility is often called “superlongevity”. I discuss two lines of argument against
superlongevity—first, a utilitarian argument from Peter Singer, and then an argument of my own. Neither argument is decisive (there are simply too many unknown variables), but they raise serious ethical questions about superlongevity that we need to consider as we reflect on the possibility of significantly expanding human life spans.
Gluttons for Sport
Jeffrey
Fry
Gluttony has been considered a deadly sin or
deadly vice. In this paper I explore
connections between gluttony and sport. I examine gluttony in sport, gluttony
for sport, and gluttony as sport. I draw
on Gabriele Taylor and Martha Nussbaum in framing a remedy. To be specific, I propose a normative
conception of self-love in line with Nussbaum's "capabilities approach" as a potential
"healing virtue" (
Habits, Food, and Happiness
Ileana F. Szymanski
In this paper I will address the link between forming the habit of evaluating items as food/edible, and the habits that we form when evaluating options to achieving happiness as mutually reinforcing each other. I will take as a a basis Aristotle’s theory of the acquisition of habits in his *Nicomachean Ethics*; then, I will draw a further, implicit conclusion from his theory, and claim that there is no obstacle to suppose that habits do reinforce each other. As a result, the habits that we form when evaluating items as food/edible can be mirrored in those that we form when evaluating sources of happiness. If this is the case, then the habit of voluntary restriction in evaluating items as food/edible (i.e. being a picky eater) could easily reinforce the restrictive habit that an individual may form when weighing her options for finding happiness. If this is the case then it is of great importance that we broaden our understanding of food in order to secure more openness in finding self-fulfillment.
Health Care
Prioritization and Autonomy
Aaron Lercher
Suppose that a society has extended health insurance to all its members. Suppose that the needed taxes and mandates are established. Then the next question is: What, morally and practically, should this insurance cover? This is a way of posing the problem of prioritizing health care, or to use a loaded term, "rationing" of health care. It is possible, surprisingly, to achieve strict prioritization without sacrificing the individuals' ability to make health care choices. But this approach would impose excessive strains of commitment. Instead, the basic moral problem of prioritization is how to live, and eventually to die, with our dependency, neediness, and weakness in a morally adequate way. The two-stage prioritization process of the Oregon Health Care Plan for Medicaid indicates part of how to do this.
Heidegger and Derrida on Eschatology
Joe
Frank Jones, III
The
goal of this essay is to show that Jacques Derrida’s messianic overlay on
phenomenological deconstruction toward the end of his life could have had its
origin in the work of Martin Heidegger.
This is not to say that deconstruction or deconstructive phenomenology
is the same as Heidegger’s phenomenology, but to point out a weakness in
Heidegger’s method which renders him unable to exclude or criticize any
legitimately uncovered mode of Being within the
horizon of the world into which Dasein is thrown. Heidegger and Derrida were thrown into
basically the same world horizon, despite being on very different sides of the
German-Jewish problem in the mid-twentieth century. Derrida, careful early on to focus on
specific historical events, winds up toward the end of his career projecting
specific historical problems into a theologized, messianic future. Eschatological interpretations are certainly
within the horizon of
Is it Natural or Unnatural to Follow the Golden Rule?
Caroline Meline
Lani Roberts’ challenge was to find one moral rule that would not go against “our animal natures.” In response, I offer the Golden Rule, which is so widespread in human cultures that it may be said to embody a natural altruism. The most basic question is whether altruism is a corrective overlay on top of human nature, an approach called “veneer theory” by the primatologist Frans de Waal (and what I take to be Lani’s position), or instead is a natural outgrowth of human evolution from nonhuman animals. Another question is whether the Golden Rule exemplifies true altruism. I conclude that whether or not altruism rests on egoistic needs and results in egoistic benefits, the fact that other-directed behavior occurs widely in the lives of humans and nonhumans is enough to show that the Golden Rule does not violate basic human nature.
Lockean Political Theory & Eminent Domain: An
Allowance for Takings?
Levente Szentkiralyi
On 23 June 2005, the United States Supreme Court rendered a narrow majority decision in Susette Kelo v. City of New London, that economic development falls within the purview of ‘public use’ as specified by the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling has subsequently generated much controversy, as it set a legal precedent that eminent domain can rightly be exercised to seize privately held properties and transfer them to private beneficiaries, when so doing might serve some public benefit. The accenting Justices’ interpretation of the Takings Clause has been ardently criticized as forsaking the original meaning and intention of the article, and as misguidedly and imprudently lax—serving to enervate any rights to, and the entire notion of ownership in, private property. Inspired by the disquieting implications of the Kelo decision, a recent working paper of mine launches an investigation to ascertain whether Lockean political theory—-which has commonly been understood as championing inalienable rights to private property—-may be friendly to such transfers of ownership.
The Luck of the Draw
P. Eddy Wilson
In this essay I address the problem of arbitrariness as it relates to the exercise of free will. The libertarian who relies upon an event-causal account of free will must defend against the problem of arbitrariness or luck. Once the luck problem is identified I suggest how the libertarian understands free choice within an indeterministic world. I suggest how actors making free choices may be making experimental choices or character developing choices. In addition, I address several objections raised by the hard incompatilist including the problem of parity and the problem of covariance.
Multicultural
Education, Metaphysics and Alain Locke’s Post-Metaphysical Alternative
Christopher J. Collins
Should we understand education as, essentially, an epistemic process of discovery or, alternatively, as a generative process of self-creation? How we approach this question will likely depend on implicit metaphysical assumptions about the nature of values. How we answer it will likely determine the place of multiculturalism in education. This paper first exposes the inadequacies of both traditionalist and non-traditionalist philosophical approaches to multiculturalism in education. It then suggests an alternative approach based on the value theory of Classical American Pragmatist Alain Locke. Locke’s functional approach to values avoids the problems of the alternative accounts while allowing multiculturalism a more central role in educational praxis.
Obama, Change, and Gender Equality
Howard Ponzer
In “Obama, Change, and Gender
Equality,” I argue that Barack Obama, as the first African-American President
of the
Opening a
Conversation between Secularism and Christianity in the
Karin Fry
Because of the divisiveness of the culture war, the
Democratic Party has encouraged its candidates to stop discussing issues
concerning separation of church and state in order to regain Christian
voters. Disturbingly, the rhetoric
surrounding the culture war has led to the impression that one must choose
between being religious and secular. This paper argues that historically, the
idea of secularism in the
Parts of the Word or Parts of the Machine? The Concept of Things in Greek and Modern
Natural Philosophy
Mark Sentesy
The problems confronting science change depending on how its practitioners conceive of the parts of things. In this paper I compare two ways of thinking about parts: the Ancient Greek conception of elements as letters, and the Modern conception of things as machines.
The discovery of the elements in Greek Philosophy is a revolution in the conception of parts and wholes and therefore of science, so the first part of this paper works discusses the way that Plato uses written words as models for the way parts fit together into whole things. The first recognizably scientific accounts of things were accomplished by drawing an analogy between writing and things: the word for ‘element’ is the word for ‘letter.’
The second part of this paper works out how the machine changes the concept of a nature and its parts. Early Modern science is recognizable through a new metaphor for the workings of nature: the machine and its correlative concepts of force, cause and effect. This conception of the cosmos required a re-evaluation of what it was to be human, engendering the paradox of consciousness as the “ghost in the machine,” and the opposition between nature and freedom or spirit that, as Schelling wrote, remained unresolved at the close of the modern era.
The paper closes with a sketch of our current model of the physical world—energy—and discusses possible implications of this conception of things.
The Phenomenology of Alexithymia
as a Clue to the Intentionality of Emotion
Ralph D. Ellis
This paper explores the paradoxical phenomenon of alexithymia – the inability to feel one’s own emotions – as a way of getting at the connection between valuation and emotion. Alexithymics are unable to understand the motivating reasons for their own actions because the qualitative, valuational dimension of their consciousness remains largely hidden to them. I propose that alexithymics may be deficient either in the ability to pay attention to their own bodily sensations, or deficient in access to the action imagery that normally would give us a qualitative, subjective sense of what we are motivated to do, grounded in the corresponding action imagery. This dual nature of alexithymia shows that the valuational intentionality of emotions – our sense of their qualitative feel as well as their aims, objects and intentional meanings, are not grounded only in an association between perception of body states and perceptual imagery (as Damasio has suggested), but that knowing what I feel – and what I value – is also a matter of forming a felt sense grounded in the actions that I want to perform. This also highlights the “alexithymia of everyday life,” since emotional feelings by their very nature are murky and difficult to nail to clear aims, objects, and values.
The Place of Home
In this paper I address the normative power of place, specifically the place of home, or, as Edmund Husserl would call it, the homeworld. I explore this Husserlian notion of homeworld and its counterpoint, alienworld, to address the reasons why place would have a normative power and to what extent that normativity can be drawn into question through encounters with alienworld. I also think through the ramifications of this priority of the homeworld for “displaced” peoples questioning whether an alien place can ever take on the normative and identity power of home place. Finally, I investigate whether the place of the homeworld has significantly changed due to the time-space compression of the contemporary world.
A Platonic Challenge to Homeric Justice and Machiavellian Political
Assumptions: A Socratic Therapy for Contemporary Times
Edward J. Grippe
This paper will consider Plato’s
response to Thrasymachus’ notion of justice in Book 1
of the Republic, and by extension the
Platonic challenge to Machiavellian justice in The Prince. The theme of Homeric Justice (i.e., helping friends and
harming enemies) will be used to unify the analysis and to draw out the
implications inherent in each position. I will contend that, despite the
opinion common in contemporary minds that while the Socratic therapeutic of helping
friends and counseling alleged enemies would be ideal practical “real world”
consideration makes the Socratic ideal seem impractical and naive, the Thrasymachus/Maciavellian
egoistic version of justice of harming enemies for the sake of self-preservation
and political advantage is intrinsically isolating, unnecessarily divisive, and
ultimately self-defeating personally, domestically and internationally.
Portkeys, Resurrective
Ideology, and the Phenomenology of Collective Trauma
Robert D. Stolorow
Racism and Sexism as Tools in Torture’s Defense: A
Cautionary Note
J. Jeremy Wisnewski
The literature surrounding torture has ballooned in recent years, propelled by the ‘ticking-bomb’ argument. In this paper, I explore some of the reasons we should be skeptical of this argument. The reasons I offer are not the usual ones. Rather, my concern is that our thinking through this case is informed by hidden assumptions about race and gender that display the worst kinds of prejudicial thinking. Moreover, the very structure of the ticking-bomb case suggests that, in the end, it isn’t even a thought-experiment about torture at all.
Recovering the Satellite: Heidegger and Technology
Joshua Simmonds
The aim of my work was to explore the connections between two of Heidegger's most important works: "Being and Time" and "The Question Concerning Technology", namely how Authenticity fits in with Modern Technology. Through careful analysis, and with an elimination of as much bias as possible, I propose that the barrier technology poses in Heidegger's world is not quite so dire as he makes it out to be. Technology, inevitably, becomes simply one more obstacle we must reappropriate in our anticipatory resoluteness.
A Retrieval
of Authentic Care: An Exploratory Analysis of Being-With in Heidegger and
Aristotle
Peter G Res
This paper explores Heidegger’s concept of authentically being-with as it is grounded in his notion of solicitude, which is crucial to the phenomenon of care in Being and Time. Rather than to provide a negative, or half-hearted analysis of this seemingly impossible aspect of Authenticity, my general grounding seeks out the actual, as a means for practical insight into Heidegger’s thought. Beginning with an intuitive response to the prima facie difficulties of positing Authenticity among average understanding, I draw out a nuanced approach to Heidegger’s notion of “silence” in Conscience, where the possibilities for discursive understanding and questioning are not bound by statements of mere assertion. “Silence” is thereby illuminated as unique in both its actuality and its force.
In foregrounding my discussion of being-with, I evoke Aristotle’s notion of “practical wisdom” as an excellent form of moral perception, which cannot be subsumed into other forms of knowledge. Heidegger’s own moment of vision will be explored as a correlate. In turning back to Heidegger from Aristotle, I return to the concept of solicitude as it is discussed in Being and Time. Heidegger’s understanding of practical wisdom in The Sophist, as signifying “unforgettable conscience” and “conscience set into motion” is discussed as well, for a greater understanding of the pragmatic importance of both Heidegger’s phenomenon of conscience, and Aristotle’s notion of practical wisdom as lived concepts.
Lastly, Aristotle’s understanding of Friendship, as necessary for practical wisdom, will reveal a ‘calling forth to praxis’ that will hopefully ‘free’ authentically being-with from further philosophical misunderstanding, and perhaps, to greater possibilities of actuality.
Revolutionary Islam: A
Self-Cultivating Identity through Education
Aisha Raees
In this paper I want to locate a
place for pragmatism as a model of learning through cultivating growth as an
ideal norm within a traditional society. I will take
Saussure and the Metalinguistics of Ancient
Taoism
George Teschner
Saussure, in an oracular and prophetic manner, asserts in the Course in General
Linguistic that, "No one disputes the arbitrary nature of the sign, but it
is often easier to discover a truth than to assign to it its proper place.
Principle 1 [The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.]
dominates all the linguistics of language; its consequences are
numberless." Among these consequences are important ontological and
linguistic implications that have informed such claims in 20th century
Continental Philosophy as Derrida's assertion that no act of signification
transcends language, and Foucault's identification of truth and power.
Saussure's principle of the arbitrary nature of the sign is also consistent
with the emphasis on the performative nature of
language in thinkers like Austin and Wittgenstein. In the Taoism of
ancient
Science as a Human Endeavor: On the Odd Bifurcation of Science and the
Humanities
Donald Poochigian
The challenged significance of the humanities in contrast to the unchallenged significance of science descends from Logical Positivism which arose subsequent to the First World War. Reality is assumed to be what is observable. Science identifies objects and relations; humanities identify relations. Scientific objects and relations are observable; humanistic relations are unobservable. Scientific relations are numeric; humanistic relations are qualitative. Number is observable; quality is unobservable.
Science being a human social activity, though, an understanding of it is incomplete without an understanding of the human implementing it provided by the humanities. As a social activity, testimonial knowledge determines truth or falsity of scientific conclusions. Observation is determinate of science, when observation is intersubjectively unobservable. Only by testimony is observation knowable. Literature being a fundamental means of evaluating testimonial knowledge, it is essential to science.
History and philosophy determine science’s ontological content. Dependent on accidental participant values, there is no necessity in consensuses in different circumstances being consistent, inconsistencies accumulating. Science being incomplete, history and philosophy bring coherence to it by containing science within an encompassing domain. History contains it within an evolutionary domain, and philosophy contains it within an emergent domain. Thus, the humanities condition the content of science epistemologically and ontologically.
Scientific revolutions and the crisis of science: an examination of historicity and its role for the scientific community according to Thomas Kuhn and Edmund Husserl.
Aline M. Ramos
One of the greatest problems in the philosophy of science is how we can find a valid method of inquiry for it, i.e. if it is possible to begin an inquiry into the nature of science if we do not know what it is. If we lack that ontological basis, how can we even talk about the aims and progresses of science?
The aim of this paper is to show what the roles of the philosopher and historicity are in the philosophy of science, particularly in providing it with the elements which allow for its unification and progress. My approach is to start with Thomas Kuhn’s view of science and scientific progress and suggest how it could be made more robust with the aid of Edmund Husserl’s philosophy of science.
Toleration in a global world from a liberal perspective
Herzl Baruch
Should the intolerant
have the right to be tolerated? Bearing on Nazism as a movement and regime,
Popper's answer is no. Unlike Classical liberal philosophers, such as Locke,
Voltaire and Mill, who regarded toleration as a major principle to advance
liberal society, Popper's concern is how to restrict it in order "to
defend tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant" (Popper,
1945, 265). Moreover, they didn't regard being intolerant, or having intolerant
beliefs, a (good) reason to limit the scope of toleration. Challenging the
intolerant as a serious problem Popper worries that in contemporary liberal
society many good-hearted (morally) and naïve (epistemologically) liberals are
unaware of the "unpleasant condition" that endangers their society
and irresponsibly they are too far attached to toleration because they fear to
be intolerant (Popper, 1987, 17-18; 1994, 191-192). I argue that the answer to
question of tolerating the intolerant shouldn't rely only on the Nazi and alike
movement and regimes (the Apartheid regime in
The Uses and Abuses of Reproductive Technologies: Charting a Feminist
Response to the Future of Reproductive Technology
Wendy Lee
A
recent story from an Associated Press news item, “Pregnancy Outsourced to
India: Infertile Couples Look Overseas for Surrogacy”: Anand,
India—Every night in this quiet western India city, 15 pregnant women prepare
for sleep in their spacious house they share, ascending the stairs in a
procession of ballooned bellies, to bedrooms that become a landscape of soft
hills. A team of maids, cooks, and doctors look after the women whose
pregnancies would be unusual anywhere else but are common here. The young
mothers of Annand, a place famous for its milk, are
pregnant with the children of infertile couples from around the world. The
small clinic at