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The theme „science and values“ is general enough to encompass different topical facets. Here, I am concerned with two of these, related to the answers to the following questions: „How is science, as such, construed as a value today?“ and „Are there certain types of values that in some ways determine the conceptual paths for the growth of science?”
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Science is increasingly interdisciplinary, as evidenced by empirical measures, funding initiatives, and the rise of integrative fields such as systems biology and cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, I motivate and outline an account of explanation for interdisciplinary contexts, building on recent debates about scientific perspectivism. Insights from these debates yield an inclusive list of relations between models constructed from different perspectives, which I then refine and generalize into a simple taxonomy. Within this taxonomy of relations among models, I identify the set of relations applicable to interdisciplinary contexts, discuss concepts of unification associated with each, and introduce three further constraints which furnish norms for this variety of explanation. Finally, I discuss implications of this account for a recent debate about understanding and explanation. One important consequence of my view is that explanation in interdisciplinary contexts and understanding of individual agents in those contexts are not equivalent.
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The aim of this paper is to argue that it is more plausible to approach understanding from a special type of model—the ABS/IBMs models—as a non-explanatory form following some suggestions advanced by Lipton. I will first look to the type of explanation that some authors claimed is disclosed by these models: Weisberg’s analysis of IBMs in ecology and Grüne-Yanoff’s analysis of the Anasazi model. I argue that their analyses fail to show that these models qualify as explanatory understandings. This brings us to Strevens’ “simple view,” which claims the existence of a correct explanation behind any understanding, and his strategy of dismissing the challenges posed by non-explanatory forms. I argue that this strategy incurs damaging costs on his view. In the last part we turn to Khalifa’s critique on Lipton’s proposals and argue that it is based on an unjustified construal of Lipton’s framework. I show how Khalifa’s “argumentative strategy” fails to establish the superiority of actual understanding over possible explanation.
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A phenome occurs through the many pathways of the complex net of interaction between the phenome and its environment; therefore researching and understanding how it arises requires investigation into many possible causes that are in constant interaction with each other. The most comprehensive investigations in biology are the ones in which many biologists from different sub-areas—evolutionary biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, physiology, genetics, epigenetics, ecology—have collaborated. Still, biologists do not always need to collaborate or look for the most comprehensive explanations. A more standard investigation in biology occurs within a single subarea, and uses well-defined experiments with very specific conditions. This paper is about causation and related explanation in plant phenome research and its relevance to Aristotle’s Theory of Four Causes. I argue that there are causes which resemble Aristotle’s formal, material, and efficient causes in phenotype explanation and occurrence; but causes which resemble Aristotle’s final causes occur in phenotype explanation only, not in the occurrence.
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The study presents philosophical system of Gabriel Tarde, an eminent figure in the intellectual life of France at the end of the 19th century. He enjoyed great esteem during his lifetime, but was almost forgotten after his death, being overshadowed by his opponent Émile Durkheim. His work has been revisited in the last three or four decades and his ideas have found a place in contemporary philosophy and social theory.My aim here is to present Tarde’s ideas in their basic systematic interconnection, without probing into particular fields. I consecutively discuss Tarde’s theory of primary elements of being, monads, and the universal principles of the basic spheres of the world. I then analyze Tarde’s theory of society, history and civilizations. In the conclusion, I briefly comment on some ideas in Tarde’s conceptual legacy in view of their significance for contemporary philosophy and social theory.
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Dispositions play a key role in Quine’s philosophy of language as well as in his explanations of behavior. At the same time, Quine argues that the use of dispositional explanations is a mark of immaturity in the scientific disciplines that rely on such explanations. The aim of this paper is to show why Quine’s verdict on dispositional explanations is untenable. First, it is argued that Quine does not attach importance to the fact that even the most mature theories in contemporary physics and biology quite often define their objects through the dispositional properties that these objects supposedly possess. An alternative analysis of dispositional explanations is then proposed, in terms of the inferences that these explanations allow for. The author’s analysis reveals that the inferential content which a dispositional explanation adds is often larger than the inferential content of the rival explanation that replaces the explanatory disposition with underlying structures or mechanisms. This result justifies the assertion that, at least in some cases, dispositional explanations do a better job and should therefore not be treated as a mark of scientific immaturity.
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The problem of denoting has a long history in analytic philosophy. Its roots can be traced to its fathers, Frege and Russell. People often use names without knowing for sure whether the “objects” they name are actually denoting. Russell’s method of analysis, introduced by him in the article On Denoting (1905), largely solves the problem. One of Russell’s main reasons to apply the analysis is to enable us to meaningfully make statements about non-existent objects. Russell insists that only logically proper names denote, while descriptions and hidden descriptions must be eliminated. Quine proceeds from Russell’s theory of single descriptions and expands it. Naming is not a criterion for ontological commitment because names can be converted (paraphrased) into descriptions and Russell’s method of analysis in 1905 showed how descriptions could be eliminated. Hence, Quine’s famous slogan in On What There Is (1948) states: “to be is to be the value of a bound variable” (Quine, 1948: 594). This article aims to elucidate two questions: 1) Do “related variables” bind us? 2) Is existence a property of objects or a property of a propositional function?
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Quine criticizes two of the main theses of logical positivism: reductionism and the view that there is a distinction between analytic and synthetic statements. In the present inquiry, I present the main line of this critique and consider a possible defense of the view that there is a distinction between analytic and synthetic statements. I argue that this view can be defended by distinguishing between two senses of the word “meaning” – one in which it refers to a mental entity, and another in which it refers to a certain property of behavior. Here it must be assumed that, when we refer to “meaning” in relation to the concepts of analytic and synthetic, we use the word in the latter sense. We have reasons to believe that Quine himself would have accepted this way of defense.
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The article attempts to apply a four-valued logic to Bentham’s project for establishing a “felicific calculus”, taking into account J. S. Mill’s corrections made to Bentham. The article examines to what extent the criticisms made to Bentham, concerning the impossibility of quantifying human experience, can be avoided. Probabilistic assessments are briefly discussed and several different scenarios for many-valued estimations are proposed with regard to an individual and a group of individuals.
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Arguing with reference to magical techniques, the paper refutes the relational concept of consciousness.
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Martin Heidegger's works present no systematic critique of the philosophy of language. Despite the large number of essays he devoted to language, it cannot be said Heidegger had a developed philosophy of language. The spirit of his thinking, however, provides a basis for a Heideggerian (ontological) critique of the foundations of the philosophy of language. This paper attempts to present Martin Heidegger's point of view on the philosophy of language, to clarify his objections to it and to briefly present his alternative approach to language.
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Jung's attitude towards the Gnostics is complicated and useful more than that of any other author in the field of psychology and philosophy. His weakly critical approach to Gnosticism seems to have given to the depth psychologist’s a wide space for creative communion with their work, communion without preliminary positions. And the precision of Jung’s thought seems to correctly select that which helps a philosopher, as much as a psychiatrist, to reach new knowledge in his field without violating the basic laws of his science. The extent to which Gnosticism is immanent in Jung's theory of archetypes is a matter that will probably remain controversial, but his communion with the Gnostic texts and principles is in itself a very interesting and fruitful intellectual journey
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In imitation of a remark by Wittgenstein, in which he speaks of “Zufriedenheit”/ “contentment”, and with the help of other relevant remarks, the present brief paper tries to show the great importance the concept of “contentment” had for Wittgenstein. It is an important link between Life and Philosophy in Wittgenstein’s work, and demonstrates what he held to be the desirable way of living and philosophizing.
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The idea of pluralisation of reason in a functional sense (utilisation, application) is a condition to understand the main problem of a discussion about reason in today’s times. This will take the form of a relation between scientific rationality (one that remains the most studied from a theoretical and methodological perspective) and other types of rationality (in art, in history, in actions).
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The work initially focuses on the beneficial distinction between scenery and landscape. It will gradually introduce auxiliary concepts for the presentation of land art, thus allowing it to be conceived not as an essence, which it does not represent, but as a processuality and a pictorial gesture of expression and suggestion.
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A world in constant motion, in a state of migration turbulence, presents humanity with new challenges and risks. Globalization is a blessing or a tragedy for humanity, occasioning the problem of how to preserve one’s identity, remaining “one’s own among strangers” while, at the same time, not becoming “a stranger among one’s own.” Integration processes in the world today are met with resistance by multidirectional processes that encourage a critical engagement with all spheres of life in modern society in order to counteract forces of depersonalization and the disappearance of one's identity – one's self – as expressed in the preservation of one's ethnic group, culture, religion, and so on. This is especially evident in attempts at preserving identity within Muslim communities in European countries. Given the growing Muslim population in Europe, it has become obvious that “European” and “Islamic” values are opposed in the context of preserving one's own identity, which is increasingly manifested in a religious context. Europe today has become a hostage of its values, which are despised by many of the immigrants who have poured into its borders. These are tolerance, political correctness, multiculturalism, democracy, and freedom of speech, among others, which are perceived as weakness and indecision. Eastern mentality, habits, and traditions are sometimes very different from European ones. The author examines the transformation of Muslim identity and the compatibility of “European” and “Islamic” values. The article also presents the opinions of various researchers on this issue, and provides possible scenarios for the trajectory of events, given continued intercultural contact through immigration and given the stakes and state of this collision of values.
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