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The foreword to this issue focuses on the core functional differences between the humanities and hard sciences (i.e. different approaches to such phenomena as language, translation, teamwork, writing, discipline.s history, publishing, tradition, innovation). Yet, this dichotomy is questioned in the conlusion. The author argues that whenever human artifacts are at stake, both the humanites and experimental sciences are equally hard, because they inquire the same matter, ie. how the products of human cognitive activities were created and what are their social functions. Therefore, the author calls for a new model for interdisciplinary studies.
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This article builds on C. S. Peirce’s suggestive blueprint for an inclusive outlook that grants reality to his three categories. Moving away from the usual focus on (contentious) cosmological forces, I use a modal principle to partition various ontological layers: regular sign-action (like coded language) subsumes actual signaction (like here-and-now events) which in turn subsumes possible sign-action (like qualities related to whatever would be similar to them). Once we realize that the triadic sign’s components are each answerable to this asymmetric subsumption, we obtain the means to track at which level of complexity semiosis finds itself, in a given case. Since the bulk of such a “trinitarian” metaphysics would be devoted to countenancing uninterpreted phenomena, I argue that current misgivings about sign-based ontologies are largely misplaced.
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The question of machine thinking and understanding, once initiated by Alan Turing, has puzzled scholars from various disciplines. This paper aims at investigating some of the facets involved in the topic of machine language understanding with particular interest devoted to indirect meaning comprehension (more specifically, the implicature). So far as the subject under examination – the chatbot – manages to understand directly conveyed information, still much is to be done with respect to implicit data in which everyday messages (formulated in ordinary language) abound. This situation generates a number of not only hard-science questions but also, more importantly, given the viewpoint of this paper, it gives rise to a considerable amount of philosophically- oriented and frequently neglected issues and dilemmas too. This study is a brief investigation of exactly those phenomena.
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With the revolution of October 1917 a new political process has begun in Russia. This process has not only changed the daily life of the Russian people, but also has exterminated the humanistic emotions of them. This subject has been the main question of the works of A.Platonov, who observed the sechanges on the people since the begining of the revolution. Although aforementioned difficulties expressed by some writers of that period, due to the tough stance in the works Platonov is considered to be against the regime. However, despite all the pressures he continues to express thoughts clearly. He is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century Russian literature with language, philosophy, as well as the revolution approaches; in his time he reflects the suffering of the people and challenges in society. He attracts attention both the stylistic features of literary art and thoughts of anti-regime. Some of the author’s works have been translated into Turkish. These works are “Dzhan”, “The Foundation Pit”, “Chevengur”. “The foundation Pit” which he has written up in 1930, however, published in 1987 in Russia. In his work “The foundation Pit”, he has drawn the profile of ‘new human’ which has occuerd to get her with the the socialist system. In this work are transferred painful losses, which given to achieve overall collectivization. Voşçev removed from his job because of the thoughtfulness, for the search to truth, will join the ranks of people working for the sake of this hope and in work is expressed what happened in this process. At the same time in work, against the Soviet regime’s utopian thought has created an anti-utopia. In this work the life philosophy of the villagers that live in the Soviet system and their journey to hope has been examined relative to the life philosophy of the period.
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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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The paper explores theoretical foundations of the frame from two semiotic perspectives: that of the Saussurean dyadic sign dominant in the European tradition and that of the triadic sign of the Peircean/American descent. If – within the post- Saussurean agenda – meaning can be fairly easily “framed” and closed in the field of the signified, Peirce’s concepts of interpretant and infinite semiosis implement a mechanism which inherently obliterates the frame. Given this duality of approaches, the contention “No meaning without a frame” is thus true and paradoxical at the same time, and that paradox goes far beyond the Derridean concept of the parergon, which only belongs to both the inside and the outside. The frame, as construed in this paper, is not merely a material or imaginary, inactive partition, but is itself an operational agent which isolates and delineates a text ontologically as the other of the context, and simultaneously subverts that otherness by necessitating further semiosis and its own partial self-erasure. Regarding the interrelations amongst texts and between text and context, the frame is thus envisaged, and investigated in the paper, not so much as a factor of resistance or separation, but as an osmotic boundary facilitating rather than preventing a bi-directional flow of meanings. Putting this in epistemological terms, one may say that interpretation – paradoxically again –requires an enframing of its object, but at the same time it dissolves the stipulated frame and reaches beyond it.
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In this paper I concern myself with The Superman Puzzle (the phenomenon of the substitution failure of co-referential proper names in simple sentences). I argue that the descriptive content associated with proper names, besides determining the proper name’s reference, function as truth-conditionally relevant adjuncts which can be used to express a manner, reason, goal, time or purpose of action. In that way a sentence with a proper name “NN is doing something” could be understood as “NN is doing something as NN” (which means “as-soand-so”). I argue that the substitution of names can fail on modified readings because the different descriptive content of proper names modifies the main predicate differently. Here I present a formal representation of modified predicates which allows one to model intuitively the different truth-conditions of sentences from The Puzzle.
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This article analyses one of the most important and interesting aspects of ancient Greek cynicism. Namely, the diagnosis of the main disease of ancient Greek civilization – the chase of surplus of pleasures – is investigated. The author of the article also explores radical temperance as the only remedy prescribed for that malignant malady together with askesis – the recipe for production of that remedy. The relevance of such a remedy to the modern form of above mentioned malady is as well analyzed. The article comes to conclusion that radical temperance once proposed by cynics is simply an overbitter and overtough tablet for unduly squeamish stomach of contemporary man. Meanwhile, the milder and softer variant of that tablet could contribute to mitigation of eternal malaise of civilization. That is, not radical but considerably milder form of temperance, which could be entitled the sense of proportion in everything; not ultimate constraint on human needs but just a reduction of consummation, could become contemporary means of prophylaxis. Similarly, askesis of ancient Greek cynics deprived of its radical dimension could become one of possible ways to achieve above mentioned sense of proportion.
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Alain Badiou i kontingencija politike
Jezici u kojima je riječ »novo« sinonimom bezuvjetnoga raskida s tradicijom u metafizičkim su temeljima dovoljno »stari« da bi imali mogućnosti istinskoga kazivanja tog imperativa vremena. Kao da umjesto njih o našem vremenu bolje govori ono neljudsko iz sklopa kibernetičke tehnologije. Programski jezici računalstva zasnovani na binarnome kôdu postali su nadmoćni simboličkoj snazi »prirodnih« jezika. Štoviše, čini se da su u svojoj zastarjelosti osuđeni na ono isto što je suvremeni francuski filozof Alain Badiou namijenio filozofiji. Da je, naime, njezina sudbina postati izložbenim »predmetom« u muzeju ukoliko ne uspije otvoriti mogućnosti nadilaženja ove epohe. A ta epoha od 19. Stoljeća za svoje presudne pojmove ima znanost, politiku i umjetnost.
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The article is devoted to a popular presentation of two important styles of thinking concerning the problem of existence of mathematical objects: Chihara's linguistic constructivism, and Hellman's modal structuralism. According to Chihara, mathematical statements should be interpreted as referring to certain linguistic construction; according to Hellman, mathematics is the science of possible structures. The motivations and main ideas are examined (without going into technical details), and the similarities and differences between these two viewpoints are highlighted.
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Sign—the basic idea of semiotics—has been explored by great many philosophers since antiquity; nevertheless, as of now we do not have its ultimate and systematic theory. Peirce proposed an original and philosophically (ontologically) grounded conception of the sign. Could there be a different ontologically based conception of the sign? Could there be developed a different and ontologically based semiotics? The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the fundamentals of semiotics can be developed starting from the ideas of Aristotle. The idea of sign might be grounded on Aristotle’s account of Being and cognition considered in terms of form and matter. Various signs can be treated in terms of form and matter. Pictures, letters are signs of form. A wedding-ring is a material sign-symbol. Many signs can be treated in terms of similarity to the objects they signify: photographs, pictures, sculptures, diagrams, graphical charts, land maps, etc. It is quite natural to treat signs in terms of form and matter. The paper shows how the sign can be defined in terms of form and matter. A concrete model of sign as similarity of form (homomorphism) to the signified object is described. The structurally treated Cartesian system of coordinates is involved for articulation of the modes of Being. Intentionality as directedness of consciousness of the sign perceiver toward the signified object is used in the account of sign.
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The field of language evolution has recently made Gricean pragmatics central to its task, particularly within comparative studies between human and non-human primate communication. The standard model of Gricean communication requires a set of complex cognitive abilities, such as belief attribution and understanding nested higher-order mental states. On this model, non-human primate communication is then of a radically different kind to ours. Moreover, the cognitive demands in the standard view are also too high for human infants, who nevertheless do engage in communication. In this paper I critically assess the standard view and contrast it with an alternative, minimal model of Gricean communication recently advanced by Richard Moore. I then raise two objections to the minimal model. The upshot is that this model is conceptually unstable and fails to constitute a suitable alternative as a middle ground between full-fledged human communication and simpler forms of non-human animal communication.
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In this paper, I propose a logical-cognitive approach to argumentation and advocate an idea that argumentation presupposes that intelligent agents engaged in it are cognitively diverse. My approach to argumentation allows drawing distinctions between justification, conviction and persuasion as its different kinds. In justification agents seek to verify weak or strong coherency of an agent’s position in a dialogue. In conviction they argue to modify their partner’s position by means of demonstrating weak or strong cogency of their positions before a ‘rational judge’. My approach to argumentation employs a ‘light’ version of Dung’s abstract argumentative frameworks. It is based on Stich’s idea of agents’ cognitive diversity the epistemic aspect of which is argued to be close to Pavilionis’s conception of meaning continuum. To illustrate my contributions I use an example based on the Kitchen Debate (1959) between Khrushchev and Nixon.
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This article carries out the integral analysis of Aristotle’s concept of language. The analysis is partly set as the critique of Heidegger’s critique of Aristotle. The author refutes Heidegger’s understanding that Aristotle reduces the whole of manifestation of language to the logical function of judging (λόγος ἀποφαντικός). Made against this understanding is an investigative decision that Aristotle's concept of language – utilising the metaphysical doctrine of the four causes as the key – can be understood in its immanent quaternity, which goes to say what are Aristotle’s definitions for linguistic causa materialis, causa formalis, causa efficiens and causa finalis. The decision rests upon a clear difference between Aristotle's philosophy of understanding and philosophy of reason, as well as upon the high interpretative value of his nonthematic differentiation between categories of immediacy and categories of mediation.
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In order to make Aristotle’s philosophy better understood, I would like to provide here a brief but accurate account of the concepts of logos (discursive reason) and nous (intuitive mind), and their respective functions in his method of dialectic. Dialectic was used in all the major works of the corpus Aristotelicum, in the philosopher’s great effort to noetically grasp and philosophically explain the place of man in the cosmic order of things, and his search for eudaimonia (well-being). Since Aristotle’s conception of human nature and its potential for virtuous activity, at the ethical and political or at the intellectual levels of excellence, has deeper roots in his ontology and ousiology, such a synoptic account will be useful, for it will provide an appropriate context for the correct evaluation of the ethical and political views of this philosopher. It will become clear from our analysis that he is misunderstood by scholars in the West and in the East for different historical reasons, which will be elucidated as we proceed further into the discussion of our theme in this essay.
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This paper aims to argue the idea that, by analyzing the relationship between thought and language, Aristotle decisively contributed to the foundation of the philosophy of language. Researching language in its relations with thinking and existence, the Stagirite demonstrated that the language is not just a communication tool, but a method of knowledge or of “deciphering” the world. The word reflects the reality thought and, in this situation, is not a slave of ideas or concepts. On the contrary, it even represents a decisive factor in their elaboration. Despite its authority, Aristotelian thinking about language, along with the whole tradition that it generated, met with a strong critical reaction among contemporary philosophers, especially among those of the analytic school. My conclusion is that even if some Aristotelian theses about language are criticized by modern thinkers, this falls under the normal evolution of science. It seems excessive to hold Aristotle responsible for not providing solutions to contemporary problems. As for the rest, the Stagirite continues to be present among us and teach us extremely difficult and enlightening lessons.
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This article polemicizes with Arkadiusz Żychliński’s book Laboratoria antropofikcji: Dociekania filologiczne [Laboratories of Anthropofiction: Philological Investigations], but Musiał also departs from Żychliński’s key concepts. First, he reconstructs the book’s main points, especially Żychliński’s claim that a person’s natural way of interacting with themselves, others and the world is so-called fabulation (i.e. creating a story), which is why homo sapiens as a species was able to surpass the role of being an object in the evolutionary experiment and instead became a conscious subject in it. Żychliński also makes an innovative contribution to traditional philology in that he brings it into conversation with analytical philosophy and the philosophy of language (Donald Davidson), philosophy of mind (Daniel C. Dennett), developmental and evolutionary psychology (Michael Tomasello), and ethology. In the second part of the article Musiał polemicizes with Żychliński’s main points, pointing out – with reference to contemporary cognitivistic theory and the theory of the ‘embodied mind’ – the non-communicative nature of his concept of philology (in broader terms: the notion of fiction).
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Istočno evropska paradigma i rat na Balkanu
One always searches for some symbolic point from which one can claim that something ended and something else began, even though there are no beginnings and no endings.
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