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ABOUT PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

Author(s): Arto Mutanen / Language(s): English / Issue: 89/2016

Knowledge is, by definition, reliable and, hence, it can be applied to a variety of different problems. Nevertheless, in practical problem solving, we do not rely on mere truthful knowledge, but also on information which frames the practical acceptability. We are not looking for truthful solution but an optimal solution. Optimal solution is found out by optimizing some given (practical) parameters. The optimization is both theory based and practice based process. That is, practical problem solving is a human deliberation that interconnects theoretical and practical knowledge. So, the philosophical foundation of practical problem solving interconnects theoretical and practical philosophy. Especially ethical deliberation plays – or should play – central role in practical problem solving. The complexity of the advanced scientific knowledge needed in solving present day practical problems separates the people who know, from the people who do (decide). The situation makes immediate that we need some deeper pedagogical conviction: we need ecological education.

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Against Lepore and Stone’s Sceptic Account of Metaphorical Meaning

Author(s): Esther Romero,Belén Soria / Language(s): English / Issue: 47/2016

In this paper, we discuss Lepore and Stone’s account of metaphor which is based on three of Davidson’s proposals: (i) the rejection of metaphorical meanings; (ii) the rejection of metaphors as conveying metaphorical propositional contents; and (iii) the defence of analogy as the key mechanism for understanding metaphors. Lepore and Stone defend these proposals because the non-sceptic strategy on metaphorical meanings, characterized in general by the negation of (i) and (ii), fails to come to grips with neither the power of metaphor nor the explanatory resources of traditional pragmatic theories. In this paper we show not only how our non-sceptic account of metaphorical meaning as a variety of ad hoc concept eliminates these difficulties but also how it can solve two related difficulties that appear in Lepore and Stone’s account. One of them is that Lepore and Stone’s account involves the possibility of interpreting all metaphorical utterances literally (metaphors only have one meaning, the ordinary meaning) as a criterion of metaphorical identification; the other is that their proposal is not suited for explaining how speakers can agree or disagree when they use metaphorical utterances.

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An Examination of Superluminal Motion

Author(s): Argun Abrek Canbolat / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

In this work, the debate between Yuri Balashov and Hud Hudson is reviewed in terms of the views put forward by Tim Maudlin. It seems that Maudlin’s view can shed light on the debate and may ensure new discussions and perspectives. Hudson, posing an interesting thought experiment, says that superluminal motion is possible whereas Balashov argues to the contrary. If we take into account what Tim Maudlin suggests in the first chapter of his book The Metaphysics within Physics, namely, that “laws of nature ought to be accepted as ontologically primitive,” we can interpret Balashov-Hudson debate from a new perspective. It can be said that Balashov would be taking a step forward if we were to take into account Maudlin perspective.

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ASPECTS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION IN JOHN DEWEY’S VIEW

Author(s): Gabriela Pohoata,Mihaela Mocanu / Language(s): English / Issue: 04/2015

Rethinking education in a globalized world requires the analysis and thorough research of the great philosophers-educators’ works as current education claims a new philosophy which needs to be based on authentic landmarks that can be objectified under the new circumstances. From this perspective, we consider it useful and necessary to examine the contribution of the American philosopher and educator J. Dewey with a view to analyzing some of the most valuable ideas in the philosophy of education, which we think of great importance for adapting the Romanian education system to the specific of a dynamic and pragmatic youth, by rethinking the national curriculum after the American pragmatist model.

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Cooperation with Multiple Audiences

Author(s): Marilynn Johnson / Language(s): English / Issue: 47/2016

Steven Pinker proposes a game-theoretic framework to help explain the use of veiled speech in contexts where the ultimate aims of the speaker and hearer may diverge—such as cases of bribing a police officer to get out of a ticket and paying a maître d’ to get a table. This is presented as a response to what Pinker sees as the failure in H. P. Grice’s infl uential theory of meaning to recognize that speakers and hearers are not always cooperating. In this paper I argue that Pinker mischaracterizes Grice’s views on cooperation, and use this to refine a positive picture of what sort of cooperation is demanded by Grice’s Cooperative Principle. This positive picture serves to insulate the Gricean framework from objectors— including Pinker—who overstate the obligations entailed by the adoption of the Cooperative Principle. I then argue that the cases Pinker presents are best treated by recognizing that in each instance the utterance is formulated with two intentions towards two different audiences and detail a resulting revision to Pinker’s game-theoretic framework that reflects this proposal. I conclude by demonstrating how this proposed game-theoretic framework of cooperation with multiple audiences can be used to model the costs and benefits of other types of discourse, including political speech.

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Coordinating with Language

Author(s): Jessica Keiser / Language(s): English / Issue: 47/2016

Linguistic meaning is determined by use. But given the fact that any given expression can be used in a variety of ways, this claim marks where metasemantic inquiry begins rather than where it ends. It sets an agenda for the metasemantic project: to distinguish in a principled and explanatory way those uses that determine linguistic meaning from those that do not. The prevailing view (along with its various refinements), which privileges assertion, suffers from being at once overly liberal and overly idealized. By parsing the most prominent aims we use language to achieve, noting their relations of dependence and the specific type of uses they involve, I arrive at a novel metasemantic account: facts of linguistic meaning are determined by locutionary action.

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De Man i američka kulturna ljevica

Author(s): Richard Rorty / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 7/1996

Paul de Man je bio jedan od najomiljenijih i najutjecajnijih učitelja u posljednje vrijeme. Prvenstveno je on bio taj koji je odgovoran za pravac koji danas zovemo "dekonstrukcijom". Specifični okreti koje je izveo iz određenih Heideggerovih i Derridinih tema predstavljali su jedinstveni utjecajan doprinos onome što njegovi protivnici nekad nazivaju "politizacijom društvenih znanosti" na američkim univerzitetima. De Manova interpretacija pomenutih autora postavila je temelje za pokušaj, široko rasprostranjen u posljednje vrijeme medu američkim profesorima, ponovnog ojačavanja ljevičarske društvene kritike razvijanjem novog filozofsko-književnog oružja.

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Djuijevo pragmatističko poimanje umetnosti u knjizi "Art as Experience"

Author(s): Dušan Milenkovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 26/2016

This paper examines the aesthetics of John Dewey in light of his pragmatist philosophy, with special emphasis on Dewey’s ideas discussed in his famous book Logic, Theory of Inquiry. We analyze his views on art in close relation with his conceptions of qualitative experience and the similarities between everyday life experience and aesthetic experience. After considering certain aspects of Dewey’s critique of traditional aesthetics, the paper focuses on his rejection of the notion of “art for art’s sake” as particularly relevant when pointing out the relation between his aesthetics and his pragmatism. The paper also examines some purposes of art that Dewey mentions in his aesthetics.

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DO IGNORANT ASSESSORS CASES POSE A CHALLENGE TO RELATIVISM ABOUT EPISTEMIC MODALS?

Author(s): Heidi Furey / Language(s): English / Issue: 16/2017

Epistemic modality concerns what is possible given a body of knowledge or evidence. Cases involving epistemic modals, present an interesting semantic challenge: in order to give a semantic treatment of epistemic modals, we must explain how informational states figure in the semantic representation of these terms. According to John MacFarlane’s (2011, 2014) view – Assessor Relativism – epistemic modal claims are assessment-sensitive in that their truth depends on what is known by the assessor at the time he or she assesses the claim. Hence, truth for epistemic modal claims varies with the context of assessment. Critics of MacFarlane’s approach, such as Anthony Gillies and Kai von Fintel (2008) point to so called “ignorant assessor cases,” ones in which the assessor knows less than the speaker. They claim that such cases pose a serious problem for Assessment Relativism. I argue, however, that these cases do not uncover a flaw in the assessment relativist’s semantics. The apparent problems only seem to arise because the authors have not given adequate attention to the epistemic details of the cases. In making my argument, I present a larger methodological point about the role of epistemic data in semantic theory construction. I claim that, it is often difficult to distinguish the boundary between semantics and epistemology when discussing epistemic modals. As a result, linguists and philosophers of language sometimes fail distinguish between epistemic intuitions that are directly relevant to the semantics and those that are indirectly relevant. I conclude that we do not have to complicate the semantics of epistemic modals in order to accommodate epistemic data such as intuitions about epistemic warrant.

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Enlightenment’s faith in human creative possibilities

Author(s): Zbigniew Drozdowicz / Language(s): English / Issue: 41/2016

In this article I present an argument for the thesis that one of the most significant revaluations of the Enlightenment was the creation and popularization of faith in the effective shaping of fate by man himself. In every example the Enlightenment had been referring to the creative possibilities of human reason. However, major differences occurred in understanding this very reason and its application in the praxis between the main representatives of the period. In my remarks I recall just a few of selected representatives of the English, Scottish and French enlightenment philosophy. The broadening of that list with other names, including the representatives of other nations, would allow probably to present much more diversified variants of this Enlightenment faith which since that period is a specific distinguishing mark of modernity.

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FAMILY RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY POST-SUBJECTIVIST PHILOSOPHY AND ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS

Author(s): Argo Moor,Leo Luks / Language(s): English / Issue: 89/2016

Criticism of the Cartesian subject and attempts at establishing a post-subjectivist philosophy are prevalent in contemporary continental philosophy. People living in modern Western cultures are frequently characterized as residing in a permanent state of identity crisis. The question “who comes after the subject?” is topical both in philosophy and in the daily life of Western people. In this interdisciplinary study, we argue that that there are considerable family resemblances between the aims of post-subjectivist philosophy and animistic religions. We will first provide the requisite background for understanding the animistic treatment of subjectivity by describing three principles: the Principle of Unity, the Principle of Balance, and Complementary Polar Thinking. These principles further develop our treatment of the concept of network thinking, as outlined in our previous joint paper, “Networks and Hierarchies: Two Ways of Thinking”. We will then compare the animistic treatment of subjectivity with current critiques of the subject. Although we will not express a normative request for the resurrection of animism, we nonetheless cannot exclude the possibility that the study of animistic principles may provide local solutions to the postmodern crisis of the subject.

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Folklorda Örtük Ve Bozuk İşlev

Author(s): Mehmet Aça,Mehmet Ali Yolcu / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 90/2017

Altough 19th century advanture of folklore had remained limited with determining origin quest of nations and textual expansions of folk narratives, a number of approaches emerging in 20th century seem to have opened doors of analyses to understanding the folk. Both to address the folk and its culture produced by it as a whole starting from components will help us to generate a solution to ontological problems of folklore discipline as well as pragmatical solutions to current problems in understanding the folk and interpreting it, and the potential transformations and stratifications will be able to be read more rightly in this theoretical perspective. This article will start off from hypothesis that methods and approaches of functional theory which have been used up to now in folklore will be able to be reversed in some cases. It is known that functional analyses in folklore were impressed rather by Malinowski’ and Bascom’s premises, but, both researchers’ presuppositions are toward that balance and harmony in operation of the system work unerringly. However, discussions on theory are not likely to finish without clearing up these questions: Is nature of folklore always “positive”? Does each function focus on surviving social system? On which side is the effect of tention-soothing folkloric elements in structural and institutional conflicts? Is folklore an effective element on advancing and stagnating the society beyond being a simple fun means? From these questions, we are going to bring up the presence of latent function and dysfunction in folklore studies for discussion below.

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Ideomotoryczna teoria działania w ujęciu Williama Jamesa

Author(s): Adriana Schetz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 43/2015

The paper discusses the view of William James on the contribution of will to our decisions to act. According to James, our voluntary action, which for him is strongly connected with an intention to do something, occurs when the subject of the action knows its sensorimotor effects. An attempt has been made to defend James’ view and rebut popular criticisms aiming to undermine the role of knowledge in voluntary action. The paper also offers to identify a contemporary context for the ideomotor theory of action. It is argued that such a context is provided by the enactive theory of perception.

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Inspiracja artystyczna, forma znacząca i zaangażowanie

Author(s): Bogna J. Obidzinska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2015

Contemporary aesthetic thought, especially that rooted in the pragmatist tradition and apologetic for the environmental experience, tends to situate form oriented aesthetics in juxtaposition to the concept of the aesthetic engagement. In particular the notion of disinterestedness is often brought to the forefront as connected to the concept of psychic distance and disdain for the surrounding reality. This essay attempts to revise two theories strongly promoting the importance of the physical form of the objects inspiring the aesthetic experience of the artist, namely that of Clive Bell and that of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, in order to respond to the aforementioned criticisms of formalism. In particular, the concept of the perception of the form as an end-in-itself rather than as a means to a heterogenous end is analyzed with reference to its engaging character.

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Intensional profiles and different kinds of human minds. “Case studies” about Hungarian imperative-like sentence types

Author(s): Gábor Alberti,Judit Kleiber,Zsuzsanna Schnell,Veronika Szabó / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The paper offers such description of some imperative-like sentence types in potential well-formed Hungarian utterances which includes a parallel representation of the linguistically encoded intensional profiles of the sentence types and actual information states in potential interlocutors’ minds. In our representational dynamic pragma-semantics framework ℜeALIS, we demonstrate the intensional profiles of the five basic and two “fine-tuned” sentence types as members of a system enabling addressers’ of utterances to express their beliefs, desires and intentions concerning the propositional content of the given utterances as well as the addressees’ and other people’s certain beliefs, desires and intentions (concerning the propositional content, too, or each other’s thoughts). We also provide “case studies” in which actual beliefs, desires and intentions in potential interlocutors’ minds are compared to the linguistically encoded intensional profiles of Hungarian imperative-like sentence types. In this context, the listener’s task is to calculate the speaker’s intentions (and hidden motives) on the basis of the mismatches that this comparison reveals. The paper concludes with an insight into our attempts to model the mind of individuals living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This latter sub-project is relevant since our framework provides solutions to pragmatic-semantic phenomena “at the cost” of undertaking the complex task of actually representing the structure of the human mind itself – which is not impossible but requires an adequate decision of the level of abstraction and the components to be used.

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Intentionalism versus The New Conventionalism

Author(s): Daniel W. Harris / Language(s): English / Issue: 47/2016

Are the properties of communicative acts grounded in the intentions with which they are performed, or in the conventions that govern them? The latest round in this debate has been sparked by Ernie Lepore and Matthew Stone (2015), who argue that much more of communication is conventional than we thought, and that the rest isn’t really communication after all, but merely the initiation of open-ended imaginative thought. I argue that although Lepore and Stone may be right about many of the specific cases they discuss, their big-picture, conventionalist conclusions don’t follow. My argument focuses on four phenomena that present challenges to conventionalist accounts of communication: ambiguity, indirect communication, communication by wholly unconventional means, and convention acquisition.

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Jerusalem Conquering Rome?

Author(s): Éva Kocziszky / Language(s): English / Issue: 04/1994

The review of: Nietzsche és a Parsifal. Prolegomena egy személyiségetikához (Nietzsche and Parsifal. Prolegomena to an Ethics of Personality) by Ágnes Heller; Translated by Magdolna Módos, Horror Mataphysicae series, Budapest: Századvég Kiadó—Gond, 1994, 154 pp.

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Ka određenju značenja postmoderne

Author(s): Samir Arnautovic / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 1/1998

Pitanje značenja postmoderne odavno već nije semantički orijentirano i izražava se u preispitivanju tokova otvorenih nastojanjem prevladavanja situacije u kojoj je već sve općenito izgubilo važnost u tome što je postalo poznato. U tom smislu "postmoderna" je jedna razdražujuća riječ. Ona plaši i mami (Wolfgang Welsch, Wege aus der Moderne, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1994., str.l) ona je izraz primarnosti promišljanja svih životno određenih momenata, te se u tom smislu pojavljuje kao izraz vremena. Istovremeno, upravo iz ove određenosti "postmoderna" je izraz koji više neće biti okrenut samo ka literaturi, arhitekturi i drugim oblastima umjetnosti, nego će jednako dobro biti sociološki upućena kako i filozofski, ekonomski, tako i teološki, za nju je pronađen priključak i u historiji i antropologiji, pravu i psihijatriji, teoriji kulture, geografiji i pedagogiji (W. Welsch, Ibid. str.l). Jasno je da postmoderna nije nikakvo relativiziranje stvari radi samog relativiziranja, ona nije izraz zahtjeva za partikularizacijom, čime bi bila samo novum moderne, nego potreba dekonstrukcije tradicije i perspektivističkog promišljanja zbilje. Značenje prefiksa "post" treba tražiti u višeznačnosti i spremnosti na polivalentnost u promišljanju.

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Kant's Pragmatic Anthropology and the Question of the Perfectibility of Human Nature

Author(s): Ezulike Benjamin Ofodile / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2013

There are still intelectual discussions and controversies on questions about what are the best ways to improve the quality of human life, and what establishes range and limits for the ability of science to facilitate improvement of human nature. Such an improvement preassumes and implies the open-minded approach to refining and bettering oneself, i.e. to self-improvement. This article does not claim to become a exhaustive analysis of duscussions about bettering human nature. The aim of this paper, instead, is to look for and analyse the very basis of justification of that research, and to legitimate it within Kant's viewpoint only, particularly within his anthropology. On the base of rather pragmatic attitude Kant was developing anthropology which puts emphasis on the practical and theological dimension of existence and offers rich implications on the human nature improvement issue.

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KINDNESS-THE TELEOLOGICAL CREED OF HUMAN CONDITION

Author(s): Gabriela Pohoata / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

Kindness - perhaps the most important human quality - has not given rise to philosophical research like the other virtues; there is not an ethic of kindness as there is an ethic of duty; it is not a grand concept because it is grandeur itself. What is goodness, in fact? An ethic or a cognitive virtue? Does it play any role in science or in metaphysics? Kindness today is increasingly taken for naivety, weakness, idealism, lack of pragmatism. If we refer to the great behaviors in the history of humanity such as Socrates or Jesus who, knowing the maximum suffering caused by human injustice, gave the spiritual dimension of kindness identified with justice or love, it is difficult to appreciate whether human nature is in moral progress or in a deep crisis. Addressing such an issue stems from the need to raise the awareness for the synergistic role of human kindness in our lives, in creation, from the simplest activities to science and philosophy. Kindness implies rationality, intelligence, self-control, altruism, dedication, spirit of sacrifice, heroism, forgiveness, boundless love. It is a condition of happiness, the very human being’s reason to exist.

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